Genesis 11
Notes
Transcript
What do you see?
Too often, we modern folk ask Genesis to answer modern questions, like how old is this water-covered ball that spins at 1000 mph in space while orbiting a nuclear-powered fireball?
But Genesis wasn’t written to us. It was written for us, but not to us. It was written to people asking ancient questions. What are those ancient questions?
The phrase “These are the generations of...” as an introduction is used 11 times in Genesis.
Before the Patriarchs: The need for a family of God
2:4 Heaven and earth
5:1 Adam’s line
6:9 Noah
10:1 Shem, Ham, and Japheth
11:10 Shem
The Patriarchs in the Promised Land: Establishing the family of God
11:27 Terah
25:12 Ishmael
25:19 Isaac
36:1 Esau
36:9 Esau
The Patriarchs in Egypt: Incubation for the Covenant People
37:2 Jacob
As we look, let’s ask ourselves . . . is this how we would tell this story?
Chapter 1: God arranges the furniture
Chapter 2: God puts the man in the garden and creates woman—man was incomplete without her
Chapter 3: Woman is “deceived”, both are disobedient. They experience adolescence. The serpent and the ground are cursed, but the man and the woman are not. God is merciful. God provides for his children as they leave the garden. The man names his wife “Eve”.
Chapter 4: God disapproves of Cain’s offering. Cain is emotional and has bad attitude. Cain kills Abel. Abel’s “blood cries out to me from the ground”. Cain is cursed and cannot work the land. Cain descendents develop culture, murder, and polygamy.
Chapter 5: The descendents of Seth (image of Adam) live a long time and died, except Enoch. Lamech thinks Noah will save him from the curse on the ground.
Chapter 6: Mankind multiplies and becomes corrupt (violent). God decrees a wet judgement. God warns Noah (“Rest”) and instructions on how to build and Ark.
Chapter 7: Entering the Ark and the Flood comes.
Chapter 8: God Remembered Noah
Chapter 9: A New Covenant
Chapter 10: The Table of Nations (map).
Remember that we are still answering ancient questions. “Why am I like this?”
Why am I a “Hebrew” since I don’t live in Hebron? Why is it promised?
This story (Genesis) is particularly about Israel. Our non-Israel questions won’t always get answered.
Lots of ancient cultures built pyramids. In ancient Babylon, they were called Ziggurats. Literal “stairways to heaven”, these functioned for “gods” to travel up and down to get food and clothes. Temples were either underneath or next door.
Do you have any relatives who have lived a very long time?
Would you be the good twin or the evil twin?
Do you ever feel like a background character in someone else’s story?
Is it hard to get out of your parents’ shadow?
Does God make mistakes?
Do you have a flood story?
How do you deal with unusual requests?
What if I told you it really was aliens in Genesis 6?
Have you ever had to live in a small space?
Would you ever go on Fear Factor?
When did you completely lose your patience?
When does God’s judgement feel real?
You haven’t heard the rest of the story. Is God going to save Noah?
Should God still be doing occasional floods?
Has God ever closed a door to keep you safe?
How did it feel when you were no longer lost?
Why were ancient peoples scared of eclipses?
Why do we have rules or laws? Do they do any good?
Are there natural laws that we take for granted?
How do you normally respond to good news?
Why is incest between adults such a taboo? How does it damage a family?
For what reasons would a parent disown or even curse their children or grandchildren?
Do some criminals deserve to get caught?
Is knowledge dangerous?
Would you live in a house that your kids built?
How do we talk about arrogance or conceit in our stories?
What do you do when the restaurant won’t split the check?
Christian Standard Bible Chapter 1
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.”
Christian Standard Bible Chapter 2
The LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he placed the man he had formed.
Christian Standard Bible (Chapter 3)
The LORD God said, “Since the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, he must not reach out, take from the tree of life, eat, and live forever.” So the LORD God sent him away from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.
Christian Standard Bible (Chapter 10)
Cush fathered Nimrod, who began to be powerful in the land. He was a powerful hunter in the sight of the LORD. That is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a powerful hunter in the sight of the LORD.” His kingdom started with Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. From that land he went to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, Calah, and Resen, between Nineveh and the great city Calah.
Christian Standard Bible (Chapter 11)
The whole earth had the same language and vocabulary. As people migrated from the east, they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, “Come, let’s make oven-fired bricks.” (They used brick for stone and asphalt for mortar.) And they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky. Let’s make a name for ourselves; otherwise, we will be scattered throughout the earth.”
Christian Standard Bible (Chapter 11)
Then the LORD came down to look over the city and the tower that the humans were building. The LORD said, “If they have begun to do this as one people all having the same language, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let’s go down there and confuse their language so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” So from there the LORD scattered them throughout the earth, and they stopped building the city. Therefore it is called Babylon,,, for there the LORD confused the language of the whole earth, and from there the LORD scattered them throughout the earth.
Christian Standard Bible (Chapter 11)
These are the family records of Shem. Shem lived 100 years and fathered Arpachshad two years after the flood. After he fathered Arpachshad, Shem lived 500 years and fathered other sons and daughters. Arpachshad lived 35 years and fathered Shelah. After he fathered Shelah, Arpachshad lived 403 years and fathered other sons and daughters. Shelah lived 30 years and fathered Eber. After he fathered Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and fathered other sons and daughters. Eber lived 34 years and fathered Peleg. After he fathered Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and fathered other sons and daughters. Peleg lived 30 years and fathered Reu. After he fathered Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and fathered other sons and daughters. Reu lived 32 years and fathered Serug. After he fathered Serug, Reu lived 207 years and fathered other sons and daughters. Serug lived 30 years and fathered Nahor. After he fathered Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and fathered other sons and daughters. Nahor lived 29 years and fathered Terah. After he fathered Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and fathered other sons and daughters. Terah lived 70 years and fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
Christian Standard Bible (Chapter 11)
These are the family records of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran, and Haran fathered Lot. Haran died in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans, during his father Terah’s lifetime. Abram and Nahor took wives: Abram’s wife was named Sarai, and Nahor’s wife was named Milcah. She was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah. Sarai was unable to conceive; she did not have a child. Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran’s son), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they set out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there. Terah lived 205 years and died in Haran.
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