Genesis 11:10-32--The Descendants of Shem

​Genesis 11:10-32 English Standard Version (ESV)
LISTEN:  https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/esv/Gen.11.10-Gen.11.32

Shem's Descendants

10 These are the generations of Shem. When Shem was 100 years old, he fathered Arpachshad two years after the flood. 11 And Shem lived after he fathered Arpachshad 500 years and had other sons and daughters.

12 When Arpachshad had lived 35 years, he fathered Shelah. 13 And Arpachshad lived after he fathered Shelah 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

14 When Shelah had lived 30 years, he fathered Eber. 15 And Shelah lived after he fathered Eber 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

16 When Eber had lived 34 years, he fathered Peleg. 17 And Eber lived after he fathered Peleg 430 years and had other sons and daughters.

18 When Peleg had lived 30 years, he fathered Reu. 19 And Peleg lived after he fathered Reu 209 years and had other sons and daughters.

20 When Reu had lived 32 years, he fathered Serug. 21 And Reu lived after he fathered Serug 207 years and had other sons and daughters.

22 When Serug had lived 30 years, he fathered Nahor. 23 And Serug lived after he fathered Nahor 200 years and had other sons and daughters.

24 When Nahor had lived 29 years, he fathered Terah. 25 And Nahor lived after he fathered Terah 119 years and had other sons and daughters.

26 When Terah had lived 70 years, he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

Terah's Descendants
27 Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot. 28 Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his kindred, in Ur of the Chaldeans. 29 And Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and Iscah. 30 Now Sarai was barren; she had no child.
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31 Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there. 32 The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.

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We're at another genealogy, which tells us that it is again time to "recap" what has happened up to this point and to be introduced to the new characters that are about to enter the narrative.  It is the close of one act while setting the stage for the next act of the play.

We are now leaving the story of Noah and his sons, specifically Shem, and we are going to start following a very specific descendant of Shem, Abram, the son of Terah (and his wife Sari).  This genealogy will establish the "royal lineage" of Abraham and tie him back the line of coming king that has passed from Adam to Seth through the Sethites to Noah to his son Shem and now through the Shemites to Terah and his son Abram.  God continues in each of these genealogies to confirm that He is at work in keeping His covenant and working towards establishing a covenant people and we'll see much more of His plan revealed in the next part of the story when God establishes the Abrahamic covenant (remember, each part of the story is marked by genealogies and covenants).

Let's pull out some important details from this genealogy.  First, it reaffirms the Flood and uses that event as a marker moving forward, as the first birth is not just given in how old the father was, but in years after the flood had occurred.

We see the phrase "had other sons and daughters" over and over again which shows us that this line is being obedient to God's command to be fruitful and multiply, but it is not for us to know the story of every person that ever lived--that is not the purpose of Genesis.  Rather, we are following the story of the rise of many nations and the rise of a particular people group that is about to emerge and be called out from among all the other nations.  While we saw the beginning of all the nations in Chapter 10 at the Tower of Babel which was caused by an act of disobedience, we are about to see God's covenant people called out and a nation created in a major act of faith and obedience to the voice of the Lord.

Let's look specifically now at verses 18-32 as these are names that we have not seen previously.  We had kind of stopped in the middle of "the story of the nations" at Peleg and didn't mention any of his descendants, but did mention the descendants of his brother--that was kind of a hint be the author that we would be coming back to talk more about Peleg and his descendants later.  We are now here to finish out that story.  We probably won't see many names that stick out to us yet, but what I do want you to notice is that after the Tower of Babel, it appears that man's life was shortened significantly.  Peleg's death at 239 years old is a significant difference from that of his father Eber that lived 474 years (and most of his forefathers like him lived somewhere between 400 and 600 years old between the Flood and the Tower of Babel).  We see history moving towards the time that God prophecies when the days of a man would be kept to 120 years.

We will now zoom in and focus on the family of Terah in the land of Ur of the Chaldeans (don't forget the name of this people group throughout the Bible it will show up again several more times).  We see that unlike the others before him that fathered their children in 30's, Terah did not father his children until his 70's, and unlike the others to this time the phrase "and he had other sons and daughters" is noticeably absent.  It appears that Terah had very few children--a very small tribe for sure.  We even see the death of a son before the death of a father.  We haven't seen that specifically in the book of Genesis since the death of Abel.  Typically the fathers and children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren and beyond coexisted (I'll post another picture soon that shows a picture of the overlap in the generations at this time).

God's plan will continue to move forward but if we fail to be obedient to God's command, God will simply use someone that will choose to be faithful and obedient, maybe even our children.  We are now going to shift to the next act of this narrative as we follow the story of Abram and his descendants.  Don't forget the people groups that we've come in contact with so far as it may be important to understand some of the geopolitical events that arise out of the events we've already discussed with Ham and his son Canaan and how that part of the family tree of Noah would be at odds with this part of the family tree--the descendants of Shem.  I think it's fair to say that Abram is about to be called to leave safety and security to head into "hostile territory," and it's understandable that Terah would stop and want to raise his family away from the influence of the Canaanites once we learn more about them.