Genesis Chapter 11 - One Language, Confusion, Dispersal and the Decendents of Shem
From Man's creation until this time, mankind had one language.
Many settled in the Land of Shinar and resisted God's command to spread over the entire Earth. They set about to build a tower to reach the heavens. Jehovah took note and observed, "They are one people and one language; now there is nothing that they may have in mind to do that will be unattainable."
So Jehovah confused their languages and the people began to scatter and left off building the Tower. Because of this, the city and the tower were called "Babel".
Shem was 100 years old when he fathered Arpachshad, which was 2 years after the Flood. After Arpachshad, Shem lived 500 more years fathering sons and daughters so Shem was 600 when he died.
Arpachshad fathered Shelah when he was 35 years old and then lived 403 more years fathering sons and daughters so Arpachshad was 438 years old when he died.
Shelah lived 30 years and fathered Eber and then continued living for 403 more years, fathering sons and daughters. Shelah was 433 years when he died.
Eber was 34 years old when he fathered Peleg, and lived an additional 430 years fathereing sons and daughters. Eber was 464 years old when he died.
Peleg was 30 years old when he fathered Reu, and lived 209 years fathering sons and daughters. Peleg was 239 years old when he died.
Reu lived 32 years and fathered Serug and lived 207 years afterward, fathereing sons and daughters. Reu was 239 when he died.
Serug lived 30 years and fathered Nahor and then lived 200 years afterwards, fathering sons and daughters. Serug was 230 years old when he died.
Nahor lived 29 years and fathered Terah and then lived 119 years afterwards, fathering sons and daughters. Nahor was 148 when he died.
Terah lived 70 years and fathered Abram, Nahor and Haran.
Haran fathered Lot, Iscah and Milcah (a daughter) and died while with Terah in Ur.
Abram and Nahor took wives. Abram's wife was Sarai, Nahor's wife was Milcah. Micah was Haran's daughter.
Sarai, Abram's wife proved to be barren.
After Haran died, Terah took Abram, Lot and Sarai out of Ur and relocated to Canaan, near the city of Haran. Terah died there at age 205.
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1 comment:
Reading through this geneolgy the striking thing that jumps out is the change in life span over the generations from Noah to Abram.
Noah, born before the Flood, lived over 900 years. His son, Shem, born about a 100 years prior to the Flood, lived 600 years.
The next three generations, Arpachshad, Shelah and Eber each lived over 400 years.
Peleg, Reu and Serug each lived just over 230 to 240 years.
Nahor lived 148 years, but his son Tera lived just over 200 years.
Abram lived 175 years if I remember correctly.
Shem and Abram's lives overlapped, so as stated in a previous comment, Abram was not that far removed from Methuselah, who knew and could have spoken to Adam.
But what is more interesting here is what happened in Peleg's time. If we look at the declining lifespans, we see Peleg's father, Eber, outlived Peleg by about 220 years.
Life spans up to Peleg were in the range of 430 years. With Peleg they dropped to approximately 240 years.
We know Peleg's name means "divided" but it appears that the name meant more than just the people were divided, it appears so were the continents.
We also know that there was a sudden freeze that hit areas of Siberia, freezing animals so faast that the food is still fresh when we discover a find today.
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