Day 4: Genesis 10-12

(The previous post covered the end of the 2nd Dispensation. Chapter 10 began the 3rd Dispensation: Post-Flood. God shortened peoples' lives in order to give them a sense of urgency. This dispensation was also characterized by everyone speaking the same language and being of one mind. The method God used was verbal: through speaking and writing between people.)

Genesis 10
¹ Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, namely, of Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.

(Verse 1 began the genealogy of Noah. Everyone who has ever lived after the Flood came through Noah.)

² The sons of Japheth: Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.
³ And the sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.
⁴ And the sons of Javan: Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.
⁵ Of these were the isles of the nations divided in their lands, every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.

(From Japheth came the European nations.)

⁶ And the sons of Ham: Cush, and Mizraim, and Put, and Canaan.

(The Canaanites would be a great enemy to Israel throughout their history. However, the land of Canaan would be where God sent Abram and would become the Promised Land.)

⁷ And the sons of Cush: Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabteca; and the sons of Raamah: Sheba, and Dedan.
⁸ And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.
⁹ He was a mighty hunter before Jehovah: wherefore it is said, Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before Jehovah.
¹⁰ And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

(Nimrod, a mighty hunter, also founded Babel.)

¹¹ Out of that land he went forth into Assyria, and builded Nineveh, and Rehoboth-ir, and Calah,
¹² and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (the same is the great city).

(Nineveh would become famous for repenting after the Prophet Jonah confronted them.)

¹³ And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim,
¹⁴ and Pathrusim, and Casluhim (whence went forth the Philistines), and Caphtorim.

(The Philistines, another great enemy to the Israelites, also came from the descendants of Ham.)

¹⁵ And Canaan begat Sidon his first-born, and Heth,
¹⁶ and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgashite,
¹⁷ and the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite,
¹⁸ and the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanite spread abroad.
¹⁹ And the border of the Canaanite was from Sidon, as thou goest toward Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest toward Sodom and Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboiim, unto Lasha.

(Sodom and Gomorrah were mentioned.)

²⁰ These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, in their nations.

(From Ham came middle eastern and the African nations.)

²¹ And unto Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, to him also were children born.
²² The sons of Shem: Elam, and Asshur, and Arpachshad, and Lud, and Aram.
²³ And the sons of Aram: Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash.

(Job was from the "land of Uz.")

²⁴ And Arpachshad begat Shelah; and Shelah begat Eber.
²⁵ And unto Eber were born two sons: The name of the one was Peleg. For in his days was the earth divided. And his brother's name was Joktan.

(During the days of Peleg, the "Continental Drift" happened. That was when the earth divided into continents.)

²⁶ And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah,
²⁷ and Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah,
²⁸ and Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba,
²⁹ and Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab: all these were the sons of Joktan.
³⁰ And their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou goest toward Sephar, the mountain of the east.
³¹ These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations.

(From Shem came middle eastern and the Asian nations.)

³² These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and of these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.




Genesis 11
¹ And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech.

(The whole earth was of one language.)

² And it came to pass, as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.

(The people journeyed east to the land of Shinar. Shinar was an ancient name for what would become Babel and eventually Babylon.)

³ And they said one to another, Come, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar.
⁴ And they said, Come, let us build us a city, and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven, and let us make us a name; lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

(The people wanted to build a city so that they would not be scattered throughout the whole earth. They wanted to build a city that they could live in together. Remember, God gave man a command through Noah in Genesis 9:7 to multiply in the earth: to scatter. So, these people were doing the opposite of God's command.)

(This city would be high enough to reach God. This sounded like an attempt to build the new Jerusalem: The Bride (from Revelation 21) where all believers will live forever. The new Jerusalem will be 1500 miles high. Notice, they used bricks, which represented a falsification of truth. The Israelites used bricks to build while they were in Egypt (Exodus 5:7). This was an attempt to accomplish God's plan for eternity their way. This was an attempt to attain eternal life.)

⁵ And Jehovah came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
⁶ And Jehovah said, Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is what they begin to do: and now nothing will be withholden from them, which they purpose to do.

(Notice, people working together with one language are able to do anything. At the end of the Bible (Revelation 19-22), people will inhabit the new Jerusalem together, speak one language, and act together as the Bride in Marriage to Jesus. At Babel, the people used this ability to attempt to reach God in their flesh, in a physical manner, and to prevent emigration.)

⁷ Come, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.
⁸ So Jehovah scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off building the city.

(Nothing was withholding the people from what they had purposed (imagined) to do. Since they remained focused on the physical instead of the spiritual, God scattered the people and made multiple languages. God did exactly what they were trying to prevent and scattered the people. This was Just because of their focus on the physical.)

(This ended the Post-Flood Dispensation, the 3rd Dispensation. So far, all three dispensations have ended unsuccessfully and with a dispersion of people. This dispensation also ended with a "Salvation" judgment and a "Reward" judgment. The people attempted to attain Salvation by not being dispersed, so the (loss of) Salvation judgment was to scatter the people, everyone got the same effect. The Reward judgment was their languages were confounded, groups of people got different languages. Notice, this confusing of the "tongues" led to the beginning of the 4th Dispensation. In Acts 2, the "unconfusing of the tongues" began the 6th Dispensation. Pentecost began the Dispensation of Grace.)

⁹ Therefore was the name of it called Babel; because Jehovah did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did Jehovah scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

(Babel (and Babylon) meant "confusion (by mixing).")

(The following was the line of descent from Shem to Abram. Notice how the length of time people lived steadily declined...)

¹⁰ These are the generations of Shem. Shem was a hundred years old, and begat Arpachshad two years after the flood.
¹¹ and Shem lived after he begat Arpachshad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.

(Shem lived to be 600 years old.)

¹² And Arpachshad lived five and thirty years, and begat Shelah.
¹³ and Arpachshad lived after he begat Shelah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.

(Arpachshad lived to be 438 years old.)

¹⁴ And Shelah lived thirty years, and begat Eber:
¹⁵ and Shelah lived after he begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.

(Shelah lived to be 433 years old.)

¹⁶ And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg:
¹⁷ and Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters.

(Eber lived to be 464 years old.)

¹⁸ And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu:
¹⁹ and Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters.

(Peleg lived to be 239 years old.)

²⁰ And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug:
²¹ and Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters.

(Reu lived to be 239 years old.)

²² And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor:
²³ and Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.

(Serug lived to be 230 years old.)

²⁴ And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah:
²⁵ and Nahor lived after he begat Terah a hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters.

(Nahor lived to be 148 years old.)

²⁶ And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

(Terah was Abram's (Abraham) father. The following was an account of Terah's family...)

²⁷ Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And Haran begat Lot.
²⁸ And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees.

(Abram came from Shem (the father of middle eastern and the Asian nations) and lived in Ur of the Chaldees.)

²⁹ And Abram and Nahor took them 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 the father of Iscah.
³⁰ And Sarai was barren; She had no child.

(Sarai was barren. God does not cause conception (Jesus was the only exception) but God can close and open a woman's womb.)

³¹ And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there.
³² And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran.

(The following story was referenced in Hebrews 11:8 as proof that Abraham was an example of faith to us.)




Genesis 12
¹ Now Jehovah said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto the land that I will show thee:
² and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and be thou a blessing;
³ and I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I curse: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

(This was the background to the 4th Dispensation: God working through a sovereign nation, through a patriarch, to reach the other nations.)

⁴ So Abram went, as Jehovah had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.

(This was an example of grace (the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life). Abram allowed God's influence on his heart to come out in his actions. Abram was obedient. Abram was not from the land of Canaan.)

⁵ And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.
⁶ And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Shechem, unto the oak of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.
⁷ And Jehovah appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto Jehovah, who appeared unto him.
⁸ And he removed from thence unto the mountain on the east of Beth-el, and pitched his tent, having Beth-el on the west, and Ai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto Jehovah, and called upon the name of Jehovah.

(Abram built God an altar and called upon His name!)

⁹ And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South.
¹⁰ And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was sore in the land.

(Abram went near Egypt because of a famine.)

¹¹ And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon:
¹² and it will come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they will say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive.

(Abram thought he would be killed because he was married to Sarai, because of how fair a woman she was. Abram was seventy-five years old. How old was Sarai at this time?)

¹³ Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister; that it may be well with me for thy sake, and that my soul may live because of thee.

(Abram asked Sarai to save his life.)

¹⁴ And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair.
¹⁵ And the princes of Pharaoh saw her, and praised her to Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house.
¹⁶ And he dealt well with Abram for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he-asses, and men-servants, and maid-servants, and she-asses, and camels.

(The opposite happened to Abram. Sarai was so beautiful that Pharaoh actually gave to Abram.)

¹⁷ And Jehovah plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife.

(God reaches people in two ways: understanding or experience. God spoke to Pharaoh about Abram by plaguing his house (experience).)

¹⁸ And Pharaoh called Abram, and said, What is this that thou hast done unto me? why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?

(Pharaoh knew the plagues were because of Abram.)

¹⁹ why saidst thou, She is my sister, so that I took her to be my wife? now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way.
²⁰ And Pharaoh gave men charge concerning him: and they brought him on the way, and his wife, and all that he had.

(Abram's plan backfired. Pharaoh sent them away because of Abram's deception.)

(This post covered the beginning and end of the 3rd Dispensation. It took eleven chapters to cover the first three dispensations. Chapter 12 introduced the background for the 4th Dispensation. The 4th Dispensation continued for the rest of the Book of Genesis.)

Day 5