Genesis 10 & 11

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Genesis 10:1-32

“Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood. 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 By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations. 6 And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan. 7 And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtechah: 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 the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD. 10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11 Out of that land went forth Asshur [son of Shem, verse 22], and builded Nineveh, and the city of Rehoboth, and Calah, 12 and Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city. 13 And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim, 14 and Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (out of whom came Philistim,) and Cathtorim. 15 And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and Heth, 16 and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite, 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 Canaanites spread abroad. 19 And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha. 20 These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations. 21 Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber [Eber = Eberews, i.e. Hebrews], the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born. 22 The children of Shem; Elam, and Asshur [cf. verse 11], and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram. 23 And the children of Aram; Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash. 24 And Arphaxad begat Salah; and Salah begat Eber. 25 And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan. 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 unto Sephar a mount of the east. 31 These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations. 32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.”

Introduction

[Audio version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED523]

“Now if you’ve read into this, “Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.” (verse 1) it tells about the dispersion of nationalities and nations. Those of you who are reading or studying along with us, the book that you probably want to have, a long volume, is Henry Morris’s “THE GENESIS RECORD,” he’s a scientist, he’s gone on to be with the Lord. Great book, he has a little quote here that says “Even the higher critics have often admitted that the 10^th chapter of Genesis is a remarkably accurate historical document. There is no comparable catalogue of ancient nations available from any other source. It is unparalleled in its antiquity and comprehensiveness. Dr. William F. Albright universally acknowledged as the world’s leading authority on archaeology of the Near East, though himself not a believer in the infallibility of Scripture, said concerning this Table of Nations, “It stands absolutely alone in ancient literature, without a remote parallel. Even among the Greeks, where we find the closest approach to a distribution of peoples in genealogical framework, the Table of Nations remains an astonishing, accurate document.”” [that was Henry Morris directly quoting William F. Albright] So that’s what we will look at this evening, and if you know your family background, you’ll find yourself in here somewhere. But we all got off the boat together, we’re all Noah’s kids. So, look around the room, family, family. The person who bugs you the most is your brother or sister, heaven fixes all of that, but the truth is, it’s family. “Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.” (verse 1) Now we’re going to have the family of Japheth, which are basically Europeans, there was a strain that went into Asia, we’ll talk about that. [Comment: Dr. Herman Hoeh the historian for the Worldwide Church of God believed most of Japheth ended up in the Far East, China, Japan, and Southeast Asia, those peoples being the most populous in the world.] Then we’re going to come to the sons of Ham, and talk about those, Canaan comes out of that. And Ham is not cursed, but Canaan and his descendants are. And then we get to verse 21 where we come to Shem, those are the families we’re interested in, because from Shem it will take us to Abraham, and the Seed that was promised in Genesis chapter 3:15 that would destroy the head of the serpent, the Messianic line runs through Shem, so that’s where the greatest detail is given.

The Line of Japheth

But it tells us here, “The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.” (verse 2) “Gomer,” if you’re a Kraut, and all my relatives are Germans, the ancient historians said Gomer settled by the Danube River, Magog is the Scythians [eastern Scythians, the western Scythians are part of the 10 lost tribes of Israel, having moved northwest out of the Middle East 70 years after their Assyrian captivity. Also, the modern day Germans are really descended from the ancient Assyrians, who after being conquered by Nebuchadnezzar, migrated northwest up the Danube, into what is now Germany.], settled Russia [actually the western Scythians ended up in Ukraine in 500BC. before moving northwestward into Europe and the British Isles during the first 1,000 years AD.] Now Madai is the Medes, who are the Kurds today, came from this ancient family. So they are European as it were, they’re all from Japheth. Javan are the Greeks, Tubal and Meshech, northern Turkey, Armenia, would ultimately become the Muscovite’s, become part of Russia. Tiras, the Etruscans, you have Italy here, the forefathers of the Italians, Tiras. “And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.” (verse 3) Now the Ashkenaz, the German Jews still call themselves Askkenazi. Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah, Armenia still calls themselves the house of Togarmah, same thing, so they spread in that direction. “And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.” (verse 4) Javan, which are the Greeks, Elishah and Kittim are both Cyprus, Tarshish put a question mark there [the seaport of Tarshish is on the southern, Atlantic shore of Spain], some say Spain, some say out into the Atlantic, we have record from Stonehenge that Britania was involved in world trade, ah, 1500 BC [that would be the Phoenicians doing that trade], so some feel that Tarshish takes us all the way to Britain, Britannia. Kittim again is part of Cyprus. Dodanim, your translation may so Rodanim, which could be Rhodes and that area. Notice, “By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.” (verse 5) So it’s Japheth, specifically called Gentiles, “every one after his tongue,” so this is going to be after the nations are dispersed in chapter 11, looking back to the origin of these families, “and after their families,” first time mentioned in the Bible, “families,” and “in their nations.” And we follow this to 11:9, I believe, Japheth and Ham to the fifth generation, because that’s not where our interest lies, but it gives us the foundation.

The Line Of Ham

Now, “And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.” (verse 6) Hamburger, no just. My kids loved that, that there was a guy named Ham when they were little. “Cush,” which may relate to Ethiopia today, but coming off the Ark, moving eastward and southward, Cush was clearly in the area of Arabia, “Mizraim” was originally in the area of Arabia, and became the Egyptians today, clearly, and it’s in the plural, Mizraim, because it would be Upper and Lower Egypt. “Phut” today, Libya, North Africa, but again, originally migrating south to the area of Arabia, plain of Shinar, that area. And Canaan, we’ll talk more about Canaan. “And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtechah: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan.” (verse 7) Specifically now, the sons of Cush, and all of these tribes mentioned in verse 7 are in Arabia, Seba, Havilah, we hear about the incredible gold of Havilah in Solomon’s days, Sabtah, Raamah, Sabtechah, the sons of Raamah, Sheba and Dedan still tribes in Arabia. And Cush, now this is the first time we have the word “begat” in chapter 10, where it’s pointing us to something here, and we take kind of a station break and look at this character Nimrod now. “And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.” (verses 8-10) the Greeks call it Babylon, Babel is “the gate of God.” We have the description of this one, Nimrod, he began to be a mighty one in the earth, now the kings of Babylon and Assyria would be called “mighty hunters” after this. The Jerusalem Targum says “he was a mighty hunter of the souls of men, defiantly before the LORD,” there’s more here than just reads this way in the King James, that’s why it’s taking note of him. He’s the father of Babylon, he builds Babel, “the gate of God,” nurtured by Cush in some way. Babel, Babylon, and the LORD wants to give us the origin in the beginning here, because it’s a prominent, it has a prominent position through all the Scripture until of course Revelation 17 & 18, it is the source of idolatrous sorcery and Satanic religion. It produces the first idolatrous priesthood. Not Iraq today, not just the Chaldeans, but Nimrod, Semiramis his wife, Tammuz their child, if you want to read something in-depth, Alexander Hislop’s The Two Babylons is a great read, all of this is put before you in depth, because as we move through this, it isn’t until we get to Revelation 19 when Babylon is destroyed, when we finally hear from heaven Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia [this dirge for the fallen Babylon actually starts in Revelation 18:1 and goes all the way through to the beginning of Revelation 19:1-2. To read an online copy of Hislop’s The Two Babylons, log onto: https://famguardian.org/Publications/TheTwoBabylons/THE_TWO_BABYLONS.pdf also Ralph Woodrow’s Babylon Mystery Religion (out of print, but Amazon.com might have used copies).] It becomes the bane of world civilizations. Nimrod takes this wife named Semiramis and she supposedly has an immaculate conception, without sexual intimacy. She gives birth to a son named Tammuz. Tammuz is gored by an ox and he dies, he resurrects several days later, but the ancient Babylonian pictures of Semiramis and Tammuz, she’s called the Queen of the Earth, the Queen Mother of the Earth, she’s called the Matron of nations, the Queen of nations, they show a picture of her with a hallow around her head, holding a little baby, it’s the Madonna imagery with a little hallow around his head, it’s Semiramis and Tammuz, it becomes of course Astarte, Aphrodite, Venus, it becomes all of the immoral worship throughout the centuries that focuses on the ability to procreate and so forth, but we find her all the way to Revelation chapter 17, where it is a picture of the Mother of all harlots of the earth, “And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” (Revelation 17:5) and the LORD wants to make sure we see the beginnings of it here. We’re talking about it a little bit more in chapter 11 as we go over it. But look, take note of that. Can I just say this to you to jot down somewhere in the back of your mind, there’s a very interesting push today amongst Roman Catholic theologians, Muslims, you even see a picture of the Dalai Lama praying with the Lady of Fatima behind him. You have the apparitions of Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Fatima, all over, just more and more, and she’s being called the Queen of all nations, Our Lady of all Nations, Fatima where she appeared as Mohammed’s favorite daughter, that was her name, Fatima. And even the Muslims see, in the Queen of Heaven they call her, a place of unity between Christians and Islam, there’s a very strange thing that’s being pushed out there. Isaiah will prophecy like this saying “Come down and sit in the dust O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground, there is no throne O daughter of the Chaldeans, for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate. Sit thou silent, get thee into darkness O daughter of the Chaldeans, for thou shalt no more be called the Lady of Nations.” Very interesting, so just something to tuck away, something to watch, it is a resurrection of some Babylonish things, there are over 4 million petitions in the Vatican right now to make Mary the Co-Redemptress with Christ, to put Mary on one side of the cross, and Jesus on the other side of the cross. So it’s very, very interesting stuff cooking out there. We live in our little sheltered fundamentalist world and don’t ever get exposed to some of this, but it’s cooking big-time. Nimrod, “mighty hunter of the souls of men,” his kingdom, “And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.” (verse 10) Now we know that under Nebuchadnezzar, we have the measurements of the city of Babylon, it was astounding, the gardens there, one of the seven wonders of the world [that would have been much later in Nebuchadnezzar’s time, in the 600s BC]. But those who study ancient Babylon say that ultimately Babel, Erech, Accad and Calneh all bended together into one city that was between 100 square miles and 200 square miles, they estimate to be five times larger than London, the original city. It says then, verse 11, “he went” which you don’t pick up in the King James, “Out of that land went forth Asshur [son of Shem, verse 22], and builded Nineveh, and the city of Rehoboth, and Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city.” (verses 11-12) because these four suburbs merge into another huge city, just called Nineveh, which would be huge. [Comment: You would think Assur is a descendant of Ham because he’s listed here, but scrolling down to verse 22, you will see that Assur is really a son of Shem, who then becomes the founding father of the Assyrian nation, which becomes the Assyrian Empire. The Assyrians were separate peoples, a separate race from that of the Babylonians, and later on direct enemies and rivals of each other as both empires vied for world domination in the Middle East. We’ll learn later who these Assyrians became, when the Babylonian Empire finally conquered the last vestiges of the Assyrian Empire just before the rise of Nebuchadnezzar, when elements of that fallen empire then migrated out of the Middle East up along the Danube and into northwestern Europe.] So it’s hard for us to imagine that long ago a metropolis this size, but that’s what we have here in these descriptions. It says in verse 13, “And Mizraim” the ancestor to the Egyptians “begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim,” and I’m going to mispronounce some of these but you’ll never know, because I’ll just make ‘em up as I go and act like I know what I’m talking about, “and Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (out of whom came Philistim,) and Cathtorim. And Canaan” one of the children of Ham, “begat Sidon his firstborn [the Phoenicians], and Heth” ancestor of the Hittites, “and the Jebusite,” Jebus, the ancient city of Jerusalem, a Canaanite city, “and the Amorite, and the Girgasite, and the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite,” termites, all of them right there, “and the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.” (verses 13-18) So these are all the Canaanite tribes which populated the land of Canaan. Take note that here the Rephaim are not listed. As we get to Joshua and the children of Israel coming into the land, the Rephaim are named as one of the tribes in the land of Canaan, we know the Rephaim are some of the tribes of giants. The reason they’re not listed here, is because this is human offspring, with the Rephaim we have some strange things going on again, with the Anakim, the Rephaim, the Zamzummim, the Emim, these tribes of giants were again in the land, very, very strange. But interesting to take note of this. [Comment: Also take note, king David made an early alliance with king Hiram, a Phoenician king, the king of Tyre, which would end up bringing serious idolatry into the land of Israel, from Solomon, and on into the divided northern kingdom called the Kingdom of Israel, composed of the 10-northern tribes, ultimately leading to the northern Kingdom of Israel’s demise and deportation from the land, where God allowed the now powerful Assyrian Empire to conquer and deport the 10 northern tribes (see https://www.unityinchrist.com/kings/1.html). Remember, the Assyrians were the descendants of Assur, son of Shem.] Also here, it’s interesting to study these families, because there are many that are Palestinians saying they’re related to Ishmael, it’s going to mention Gaza here, it’s going to mention all the Canaanite countries, some of them never touch Ishmael, go all the way back to the descendants here of Ham in the area of Canaan. Ah, verse 19, “And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha.” the cities of the plain that would be destroyed in that destruction (cf. Genesis 18). “These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations.” (verse 20)

The Line Of Seth

“Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber [Eber = Eberews, i.e. Hebrews], the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born.” (verse 21) now this is the line we’re interested in. Take note, we all got off the boat together. If you’re European, Middle Eastern, it’s just interesting to look at some of, you know, you have the Sinite in verse 17, that’s China, Sino, Asian empire, you can trace all of these families to here. Again, when we get to the Book of Acts we see them brought back under Christ again, you have the three main characters, are Paul, whose a Shemite, the Ethiopian eunuch, whose a Hamite, and Cornelius whose a Japhethite [I question that last one, I still believe Japheth’s line ended up founding the empires of China, Japan and Southeast Asia. We’ll see whose right at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb], and you have them all gathered into one body again, kind of interesting. But here we have them spread out across the earth. Verse 21 now talks about Shem, “Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber [Eber = Eberews, i.e. Hebrews], the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born.” (verse 21) Right off the bat it says he’s the father of the children of Eber, “the brother of Japheth,” it’s telling us that Shem is the brother of Japheth, Japheth was the elder brother of Shem, “even to him were children born” the children of Shem. Now here’s the remarkable thing, the first son named is Elam, Elam is Persia, it’s Iran today. Isn’t it interesting, I’ve been to the Temple Mount at Ramadan, where there were 60,000 Muslims worshipping there, and I spoke to two of them. Very interesting, I spoke to these two wonderful old guys, we talked, and I said ‘One day I believe,’ and they told me they believe Jesus is going to return. And they told me they believe he’s going to destroy the anti-christ when he comes. They just don’t have all the information. I said ‘You know, as an American, it’s very strange for me to come here, because I can’t tell some of you apart, visually.’ and I said ‘Some of you are children of Abraham’s second wife, Keturah, some of you are from Ishmael, some of you are from Shem, you have the same blood flowing in your veins, and you guys all hate each other,’ and I said ‘but the Messiah’s going to come, and all nations are going to come and they’re going to worship on this Temple Mount together, and there’s not going to be war anymore, we’re going to beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruninghooks, and nations are not going to learn war anymore.’ And they looked at me and said ‘You really believe that, don’t you?’ I said ‘Ya,’ and they said ‘You believe in one God,’ and I said ‘Ya,’ they said ‘You’re a Muslim,’ I said ‘I’m not a Muslim, I’m a Christian.’ Very interesting, but as I look at this, it breaks your heart, you look at the news, here’s Iran, Elam, the brothers of Eber, where the Hebrews come from, Asshur…[Assur, the Assyrians] “The children of Shem; Elam, and Asshur [cf. verse 11], and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram.” (verse 22) [Again, Assur, the son of Shem, ends up in Shinar, and builds an empire city-state right next to Nimrod’s at Babel, they co-exist for awhile, but in the end become rivals vying for world domination, the known world at that time being in the Middle East.] Aram, is very interesting to study, the Arameans, they’re in Syria, there is such animosity between the Syrians and the Israelis [God in prophecy says two nation-groups will not survive as nations after Jesus’ 2^nd coming, the Edomites [modern Turkey and the Turks throughout Siberia, and the Syrians, both adamant haters of Israel and the Israelis], parts of Mesopotamia. In fact, they never really take one particular country, but their culture affects the entire Middle East, the Arameans [Aramaic is the sub-Hebrew tongue, language that some of the books of the Bible are written in]. And they did give us a language called Aramaic. Aramaic is what our Hebrew is written in today, if you have any Hebrew text, you read those, those are Hebrew words, but they’re Aramaic letters. The ancient Hebrew was a hieroglyph, it was pictorial. And it’s going to tell us here when we get to chapter 11 that all of these people spoke one language and had one tongue, one dialect. That before the Flood the whole earth spoke a single language, which was probably ancient Hebrew, because the record we have, the names that are given to us in the genealogy in chapter 5 before the Flood, they are all Hebrew root. So we’re assuming that before the languages of the earth are scattered, they all had a common root in the ancient pictorial, ancient Hebrew. So, just interesting, I look at this scene here, and in one way it saddens me, “And the children of Aram; Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash.” (verse 23) Here’s the children of Aram, he’s only got four letters, so he must have figured, let’s make it simple, Uz, Hul, Gether and Mash, we got other guys here they got more syllables in their name than all four of Aram’s sons have. I take note of this here, verse 23, Uz, because it’s easy to say, but that’s not the only reason I take note of it. It says in Job chapter 1, ‘There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job.’ So we’re going to talk about that a little bit. He is one of the sons of Aram, Uz, Hul, Gether and Mash. “And Arphaxad begat Salah; and Salah begat Eber.” (verse 24) Now Eber becomes the Haburi, Haburi takes on the idea of nomadic, people that kept flocks, but we end up getting Hebrew from Haburi. So that’s coming from Eber, you’ll take note of that here. “And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg;” his name means “division,” so it’s a kid that causes trouble, or there’s something else that’s going on, “for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan.” (verse 25) “in his days was the earth divided,” so there’s a big question, we’re going to find out that Peleg is about 100 years old when the tower of Babel is dispersed. The question that anthropologists have and archaeologists have, was there one landmass after the Flood until this time, were there land-bridges everywhere, and then, when this takes place and God confounds the languages and they spread out across the globe, because he originally told them ‘I want you to fill the earth, I want you to be fruitful and multiply, and I want you to fill the entire earth,’ and Nimrod’s going to revolt against that and say ‘Let’s build one city, let’s be in one place.’ First we find this, in 240 tribal records, a record of the Flood, all over the world. We find the same architecture, the same step pyramids amongst the Incas the Azteks, the American Indians, the Babylonians, in Egypt. It seems that this is dispersed, and with the dispersion goes the record of the Flood, goes the ideas of architecture from Babylon, there’s ideas of math, astronomy and the stars, we find very advanced among South America civilizations and so forth that are exactly the same. We find coordinates between the great pyramid and Stonehenge and the pyramids in South America, some very interesting things. So Peleg, in his days, we’re going to look at that in the next chapter, where it says the earth was divided. “and his brother’s name was Joktan. And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah,” (verse 25b-26) and I’ll read through these names, ok. “and Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah, and Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba, and Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab: all these were the sons of Joktan.” (verses 27-29) These are 13 Arabian tribes that come from Joktan, the same blood that flows in every Jew today. [I don’t see that, as Abraham’s line comes from Peleg, and not Joktan. Joktan was the brother of Peleg, but the line of Abraham comes from Peleg, not Joktan, and the Jews come from Abraham (along with the other 12 tribes of Israel that are not Judah). So I don’t know where Pastor Joe is coming from here in that statement.], thirteen Arabian tribes. Now we have a question here, Jobab, is this the Job we get the book from, Jobab? All of these were sons of Joktan, these are thirteen Arabian tribes that come from Shem. Interesting. “And their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou goest unto Sephar a mount of the east. These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations. These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.” (verses 30-32) Now that gives us the sons of Noah, dividing into the different nationalities of the earth.

Genesis 11:1-32

“And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. 3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. 4 And they said, Go to, 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. 5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. 6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. 8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. 9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. 10 These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood: 11 And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters. 12 And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah: 13 and Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters. 14 And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber: 15 and Salah lived after he begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters. 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. 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. 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. 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. 24 And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah: 25 and Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters. 26 And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. 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. 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 But Sarai was barren; she had no child. 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.”

Two Main Events Are Depicted In Genesis 11

As we come to chapter 11, oh man, what happened, as we come to chapter 11 we have two main things placed in front of us, two great facts. The building of Babylon, and the calling of Abraham [more specifically, the line of Abraham]. One of them is man’s effort to accomplish something, ‘Let us build a tower, let us make a city, let us make a name for ourselves.’ And all of man’s effort, and all of man’s ingenuity, that comes to nothing, in contrast to one individual who ends up with a name greater than anything in Babylon, revered by Muslims, Jews, Christians, people around the world, a man who was not an architect, who was not a warrior, but he was the friend of God. He walked by faith, not by sight. We have Babylon in contrast to the faith that the LORD calls all of us to. Job is somewhere in here, older than Abraham. So realize as we come to Babylon, and we see the idolatry, as we get to Abraham we’re going to find out that Abraham lived in Ur of the Chaldees, he was an idolator. His father Terah was an idolator, there were no Jews. There was a Messianic line. Abraham’s called by God, God reveals himself to Abraham, there’s a covenant made with Abraham, he has a son named Isaac, who has a son named Jacob, Jacob’s name is changed to Israel, the 12 sons of Jacob become the 12 tribes of Israel, God sets aside a family and forms a nation. But when he calls Abraham he’s an idolatrous Gentile, he was just an idolatrous man from Ur of the Chaldees. But in the background there’s a man named Job, and Job understands the True and Living God, Job understands sacrifice, Job understands that you can only approach the True and Living God through the blood of a lamb or the blood of a sacrifice. Job understands eternity, Job understands the holiness of God. We have a remarkable picture that Nimrod and this whole construction of Babylon is without excuse, because there was a knowledge of the True and Living God. This is Romans chapter 1, where they start to worship the creation more than the Creator, they go back to the stars, to the moon, the sun. Idolatry is the same today. You and I are called to the written and to the spoken Word. Our faith is audible, faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. Idolatry is always visual, and one of the things that troubles me about what’s going on, and what calls itself evangelical today, is relicts are coming back, incense is coming back, statues are coming back, pictures, frescos of Mary and Jesus are coming back, into what calls itself evangelical, that is idolatry, it’s idolatrous. It is Babylon. [Comment: now those that call themselves evangelicals have been sucked down a different rabbit hole, that of political activism, instead of trying to preach the Gospel to the world as Jesus instructed his followers to do in Matthew 28 and Mark 16, they’re trying to change America, bringing so-called Christian reform and morality into America through political legislation, politics being the pursuit of another false god. They’ve succeeded in dividing America politically, instead of preaching the precious Gospel of Jesus Christ to America, no good fruit will come of this (see https://unityinchrist.com/topical%20studies/America-ModernRomans6.htm).] But we are called to walk by faith, not by sight. And the great contrast in this chapter is going to be between Abraham and Babylon. We’ll jump in, we won’t get far. How’s that, encouraging?

Nimrod Tries To Gather Mankind Into A Giant City-State, God Comes Down & Confuses Their Language

“And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.” (verses 1-2) Now King James says “from the east,” and some guys for their own reasons are trying to twist that around today, it’s more literally “they journeyed eastward.” This is from where the Ark landed, they journeyed eastward toward the Plain of Shinar and so forth. “And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.” (verse 3) So they have the new world order here being built out of mud and slime, I’m not surprised. Slime’s an interesting word, it’s “bitumen,” it is asphalt. It was the Rockefeller family the took note of these verses in Genesis chapter 11, and said if there was bitumen laying on the surface, in the Middle East, that must mean that there are active and full oil reserves, and it was through these verses they began to invest in the Middle East and made a huge part of their fortune in oil. “they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone,” and they had an asphalt-like substance that they put into the brick as they baked it for morter, and put it between the stones, “And they said, Go to, 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.” (verse 5) now King James “may reach” is in italics, it means it’s inserted. These were sophisticated people, they knew they weren’t going to build a tower to reach to heaven, it’s ‘let us build a tower unto heaven,’ it’s a ziggurat, it was a tower that was made to worship astrology, the stars, the different houses, to come probably back and touch with the angelic activity that had taken place before the Flood, where “the sons of God came into the daughters of men,” it was dark, and it was idolatrous, whatever it was. [Comment: if 100,000 feet up brings you into the lower levels of what is considered Outer Space, the dimensions, especially height, of the New Jerusalem, given in Revelation 21:1-23, put’s God’s heavenly city, when it touches down onto what is now the area of the whole Middle East, the very top of that city will be 1,500 miles high, going right into outerspace. Only God can accomplish what man can dream about, but never accomplish. And God will, as Revelation 21 shows us, accomplish that. It will become the very home of the Bride of Christ, all believers since righteous Abel right up to the two witnesses who are slain by the Beast in Revelation chapter 11.] Ziggurat, we have these structures in different places around the world. “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.” (verse 5) Now that’s what God had told them to do, to scatter themselves, to replenish and fill the earth. But in rebellion against that, ‘no let’s stay right here, let’s pull together, let’s do this, let’s move back into this idolatry,’ and you have the birth of the Babylonish worship system, with a priesthood that is godless and so forth, borne out of system, “let us make us a name.” The names that really survive are Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, Daniel, Joseph, God can make names for anyone whose willing walk after him. This is always the motivation of the carnal mind. ‘Let’s pull together, let’s associate, let’s find people that agree with us, because it strokes us and makes us feel that maybe we’re right, let’s make a name for ourselves, let’s carve something out here.’ That’s vastly different about how God is going to call Abraham. “And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.” (verse 5) and that doesn’t mean that he can’t see, or a satellite can’t see, it just means, these are anthropomorphisms, he comes down into the scene, “And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.” (verse 6) They’re going to do whatever they want to do. Now Ephesians chapter 2, verse 2, shows that the children of disobedience are animated by the prince of the power of the air, the LORD’s looking at them, saying they’re starting this idolatrous system, there’s already this tremendous city that’s begun, and the LORD says, if we let this go, nothing is going to be restrained from them, they’re getting themselves back into this mess. [Comment: So God divided their languages, because this verse also implies much more than spiritual idolatry, but points to the creative powers of a godless mankind unleashed on the world, which modern technology, with language barriers broken down in the scientific community, modern weapons, atomic and hydrogen bombs, mankind able to destroy all life off the planet 40 times over, all brought about under this modern Babylonish systems extant today.] Now interesting, verse 7, look at what the LORD says, “Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” So just imagine this, you got this huge civilization, you got Nimrod, the mighty hunter on the earth, Semiramis, the priesthood, these cities in Nineveh and Babylon blending together into these huge metropolitan areas, and the LORD says ‘Ah, let’s go down there, let’s pull the string and confuse their language, no need for a battle or anything.’ “So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel;” which means “confusion,” it’s very interesting, it has a double meaning, “because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.” (verses 8-9) So imagine this, what was this like? You went to work in the morning, you kissed your wife good-bye, all the union guys are out there working on the tower of Babel, telling their stories, laughing, and the LORD goes snap! and confuses everybody’s language. Also they look at each other, and there’s nothing but babbling sounds coming out of everybody else’s mouths, just imagine that. You don’t even understand what your wife’s saying, Kathy and I speak the same language and I don’t even understand what she’s saying, imagine these guys go home, nothing but babbling, imagine what confusion this is, everybody’s walking away scratching their heads, yelling at each other. You can’t get offended because you don’t know what they’re saying. Just try to imagine what this scene must have been like. ‘No big war, no big battle, look at all those rebels down there, watch this, snap! Go to!’ nobody could talk to each other. Now, that’s where all of these tribes came from, we go back to chapter 10, now we know how these spread across the whole earth, with all these records of the Flood and Babel and architecture in their own languages, “and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.” (verse 9c)

The Messianic Line Of Abraham

“These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood:” (verse 10) So, in Nimrod’s day the earth is divided. “These are the generations of Shem,” that’s where we’re going to pick this up, after the confusion of Babylon because we want to get to Abraham. “And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.” (verse 11) Now you’re going to notice as we go through, Adam right after the fall would be 930 years old and so forth, after the Flood, evidently the vapour canopy gone [if there ever was one, we don’t know], ultraviolet, infrared light coming through, conditions have changed, we’re going to see life shortening as this goes on here. So he only lives to be 600, poor guy. “And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah: and Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters. And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber: and Salah lived after he begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters. And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg: and Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters. And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu: and Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters.” not nearly as long as his dad, “And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug: and Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters. And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor:” now we’re getting somewhere, “and Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters. And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah:” now this is Abraham’s father, Terah, “and Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years,” he’s just a spring chicken, this guy’s got no time on the clock, “and begat sons and daughters. And Terah lived seventy years,” late starter, “and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.” (verses 12-26) And evidently, Haran was the first-born, now this is Abram, his name would be changed to Abraham, he’s mentioned 74 times in the New Testament, he’s revered by Jews, Muslims and Christians, the father of those who believe, we’re children of Abraham by faith the Bible says. Let’s read down two verses, “Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot. And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees.” (verses 27-28) Now, Ur of the Chaldees is a sophisticated city, October 26, 1922 [24 years before I was born, to the day] Professor Leonard Wooley was sent to excavate Ur of the Chaldees from the British Museum and from the University of Pennsylvania, right here. And as they excavated Ur of the Chaldees they found steam baths, they found medical records, they found writing, they found arenas and places to perform, they found musical instruments. Abraham was a city boy, he was raised in a sophisticated environment. It tells us in Joshua 24, it says, “And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time,” speaking of the Euphrates, “even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods.” (verse 2) Joshua tells them clearly Nahor, Abram and Terah were idolators. In fact rabbinic and Jewish tradition say that Terah was an idol-maker, that was his profession in Ur of the Chaldees. We are told this in Acts chapter 7, as Stephen is about to be killed, he’s making this address, he says “Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charan, and said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee. Then came he out of the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in Charan:” (verses 2-4a) he says the God of glory appeared unto Abraham when he was in Ur of the Chaldees. So this is God’s sovereignty, God picks this man, Shem is still alive at this point in time. Noah I think lives until Abraham’s like 35 years old, there’s no reason they shouldn’t have heard of the True God. Job had to be an influence in these days, when we read through the Book of Job you hear of the great influence he had, people were amazed with him, and he gave to the poor, he cared for the less fortunate, all of those things, there was a sense of truth. And yet, God picks this idolatrous family. Isn’t it interesting? And God calls them, to come, to follow him, to walk with him. “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.” (verse 29) we’re going to find out she’s the daughter of Terah, same father, different mother, so it’s Abram’s half-sister. This is before the Levitical Law, we’re going to find some marriages here between brothers, half-sisters, cousins. When the Book of Leviticus, the Mosaic Law comes, those things are forbidden. If you know anything about gene frequency, evidently at this point, the lineage is still pure enough where there wouldn’t be a concern about recessive genes matching up and disease and retardation and some of the problems, of course as human beings we have degenerated over the thousands of years. But here he has Sarai. “and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah. But Sarai was barren; she had no child. And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son’s son,” which is Abraham’s nephew, Lot is left without a father, they take him with them, it would be Terah’s grandson, “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.” (verses 29b-31) either Haran is named after his son, or his son after the city. “And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran.” (verse 32) making Abraham probably the second son, not born until Haran, till Terah was probably about 130 years old, ah, interesting scene. God says to Abraham, if you look at verse 1 of chapter 12, “Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee.” It had that sense, “and continued to say,” does God talk to you that way? There’s nowhere in my personal history where it will ever be read, God had said, it will always be ‘God had said, and continued to say,’ trying to get through to this guy. God doesn’t talk to me one time. In fact if he wants me to do something in August, he starts now [sermon given on July 7, 2006], because he knows how thick I am, and by August right when I’m supposed to understand he’ll get through to me. So he begins to speak to Abram, he appears to Abram. It tells us this in the Book of Isaiah, it says “Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD, look unto the Rock from whence you were hewn, the hole from the pit from whence you were digged, look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you, for I called him alone, and blessed him and increased him.” God didn’t call Terah, he really didn’t call Lot [although Lot was a believer], he called Abraham, and he told Abraham ‘Separate yourself from your father’s house and your family.’ Family structure and culture in that day, evidently Terah is completely convinced something miraculous has happened to his son, maybe there was a little bit of a glow in Abraham like there was on Moses when the God of glory appeared to him. And he takes the family and goes with Abraham. That was not supposed to happen. They come to Haran and they settle there for at least 70 years. It was an oasis, it was beautiful. But the problem was, in Haran they worshipped the same female deity, the moon goddess they worshipped in Ur of the Chaldees. God had appeared to Abraham and asked him to separate himself, and it isn’t until Terah dies that Abraham begins to move forward into the things that God has called him to. And it’s a picture of the necessity sometimes in our lives as God calls us, of the natural that needs to pass away, before sometimes we get really serious about the spiritual. Now look, in the very literal sense, those of you who have lost a mother, lost a father, when I watched my dad die two years ago, I came away from that, and I’ll never be the same again, it changed me forever. When I watched him take his last breath I said ‘That’s what all of this is about, that last breath, and what’s on the other side of it.’ In a very real sense, it made me more willing to let go of my Haran’s, my creature comforts, and understand the hope of our calling in Christ. The heavenly calling of Christ is not a theological point, it’s not a psychological impetus, it is either a lifechanging truth or it is nonsense in your life. Abraham, much like us, has to come to the place where something of the natural passes and dies before he’s willing to step into all that God has for him. How often in our own lives, when we get a report from the doctor and realize, wow, this, we realize our mortality? Does it allow us to step forward and leave something behind. How often, as you and I as Christians, it says for me to live is Christ, to die is gain, you know there’s something about dying to ourselves and leaving something of that behind in order to enter into the fulness. Here we have, after the Flood, the nations of the world, here we have Nimrod, the greatest military dictator, tyrant, determining he’s going to rule things from his city, and we have a simple man that God chooses in contrast. No, he doesn’t fill out a resume’, God doesn’t say ‘You idolatrous jerk, I’m going use you anyway!’ he says ‘Abraham I’m going to bless you, and I’m going to bless them that bless you, and I’m going to curse them that curse you, I’m going to make you a blessing, through you shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.’ (Genesis 12:2-3) It didn’t happen Nimrod’s way [or Napoleon’s way, or Hitler’s way], it happened God’s way. Next week, if the Lord tarries, with everything going on in the world, who knows where we’ll be by next week, but if the Lord tarries, we’ll begin to look at the life of this remarkable, remarkable man. And there are shadows of you and I, all throughout, there are lessons, just remarkable things brought before us. And all of his humanness is displayed. When we get to Hebrews chapter 11, God makes not a single reference of any of his failings. But in Genesis, the human is brought before us, in a very remarkable way, we see his struggles, we see his doubts, we see his fears, we see his deviations from the path, we see all of these things so openly and honestly displayed in front of us. And we hear Paul in Romans 15 saying ‘The things that were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through the instruction of the Scripture might have hope,’ and so forth. I’m just excited. We’ve gotten through these first 11 chapters, these first 11 chapters were 2,000 years. It takes us from chapter 12 to the birth of Christ to cover the next 2,000 years, so the rest of the Bible to the New Testament, we slow down, at this point, in a very remarkable way. But we’ve covered almost 2,000 years of human history from the Creation to Babylon. Now we slow down, we zoom in, and start to look at the way God deals with these men and women. So, read ahead, read chapters 12 and 13 for next week, look at Sarah, look at Abraham, look at Lot, just some remarkable, remarkable lessons. And we’ll back up here to chapter 11 and get a running start before we jump in. But read ahead, let’s have the musicians come, we’ll sing a last song, let’s stand, let’s pray together…Haran means “parched,” Terah means “delay,” in the language. And sometimes we have attached to us something that makes us delay, stepping into the things that God’s called us to. And when we do that we end up parched, we end up dry. And we’re so stubborn we can be in Haran for 70 years, dry, but he finally came, he finally came…[transcript of a connective expository sermon on Genesis 10:1-32 and Genesis 11:1-32, given by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116]