30 | Genesis 11:5
we will be scat tered over the face of the whole earth.”
5
But the Lord came down to see the city and the tow er the peo ple were build ing. 6 The Lord said,“ If as one peo ple speak ing the same lan guage they have be gun to do this, then noth ing they plan to do will be im pos si ble for them. 7 Come, let us go down and con fuse their lan guage so they will not un der stand each oth er.”
8
So the Lord scat tered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped build ing the city. 9 That is why it was called Ba bel a— be cause there the Lord con fused the lan guage of the whole world. From there the Lord scat tered them over the face of the whole earth.
From Shem to Abram
11:10-27pp— Ge 10:21-31; 1Ch 1:17-27
10
This is the ac count of Shem’ s fam i ly line.
Two years af ter the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he be came the fa ther b of Ar phax ad.
11
And af ter he be came the fa ther of Ar phax ad, Shem lived 500 years and had oth er sons and daugh ters.
12
When Ar phax ad had lived 35 years, he be came the fa ther of She lah. 13 And af ter he be came the fa ther of She lah, Ar phax ad lived 403 years and had oth er sons and daugh ters. c
14
When She lah had lived 30 years, he be came the fa ther of Eber. 15 And af ter he be came the father of Eber, She lah lived 403 years and had oth er sons and daugh ters.
16
When Eber had lived 34 years, he be came the fa ther of Pe leg. 17 And af ter he be came the fa ther of Pe leg, Eber lived 430 years and had oth er sons and daugh ters.
18
When Pe leg had lived 30 years, he be came the fa ther of Reu. 19 And af ter he be came the fa ther of Reu, Pe leg lived 209 years and had oth er sons and daugh ters.
20
When Reu had lived 32 years, he be came the fa ther of Se rug. 21 And af ter he be came the fa ther of Se rug, Reu lived 207 years and had oth er sons and daugh ters.
22
When Se rug had lived 30 years, he be came the fa ther of Na hor. 23 And af ter he be came the fa ther of Na hor, Se rug lived 200 years and had oth er sons and daugh ters.
24
When Na hor had lived 29 years, he be came the fa ther of Te rah. 25 And af ter he be came the fa ther of Te rah, Na hor lived 119 years and had oth er sons and daugh ters.
a
9 That is, Babylon; Babel sounds like the Hebrew for confused. b
10 Father may mean ancestor; also in verses 11-25. c
12,13 Hebrew; Septuagint( see also Luke 3:35, 36 and note at Gen. 10:24) 35 years, he became the father of Cainan. 13 And after he became the father of Cainan, Arphaxad lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters, and then he died. When Cainan had lived 130 years, he became the father of Shelah. And after he became the father of Shelah, Cainan lived 330 years and had other sons and daughters
11:5 Lord came down to see This description follows the pattern seen throughout Genesis of portraying Yahweh as involved in the affairs of humanity. This line is also ironic: While the humans sought to build a tower into the heavens( v. 4), Yahweh must come down to it. 11:7 let us go down As with 1:26, this exhortation is plural. The plural indicates that Yahweh is speaking to the heavenly host or divine council( see 1:26 and note). 11:8 Lord scattered them This dispersal will eventually result in the fulfillment of Yahweh’ s command after the flood( 9:7), but at a terrible price. This event is central to understanding how nations came to worship other gods besides Yahweh who had created them( see chs. 1 – 2). This is where Yahweh shifts from focusing on all the peoples of the earth to electing Israel( see 12:1 – 3). In a sense, the Babel event marks Yahweh disowning the nations of the world as his human family in favor of electing Israel, whom he will also use to reclaim the nations as his people( Dt 32:8 – 9; 4:19 – 20; compare Isa 2:1 – 5; Hos 1:8 – 11). 11:9 it was called Babel Here, Hebrew wordplay connects God’ s confusion of language with the name for the place. The Hebrew word balal(“ to confuse”) and the Hebrew name Babel( bavel) sound similar.
11:10 – 26 This genealogy of Shem differs from that of Ge 10:21 – 31. It focuses only on firstborn sons and is more detailed than the one in ch. 10. As result, a number of names in this genealogy do not appear in 10:21 – 31. The genealogy highlights Shem in anticipation of Abram( Abraham) who is Shem’ s descendant and the patriarch with whom the genealogy culminates. In the genealogy,
Abram is the tenth generation from Shem, just as Noah was the tenth generation from Adam. This indicates that the genealogy is highlighting a specific point: As with the birth of Adam and Noah, the birth of Abram represents a turning point in human history.
11:10 account The Hebrew term used here, toledoth, marks family histories in Genesis. See note on 5:1. Arphaxad This figure is listed as the firstborn of Shem here, but in 10:22 he is listed third. The account here seems to reflect birth order, while the genealogy in ch. 10 seems to change the birth order because it is focused on the geographical distribution of people groups. 11:14 Eber The eponymous ancestor of the Hebrew people( the one whom the people group derives its name from, according to this account). See 10:21 and note. 11:16 Peleg The line of Shem described in 10:21 – 31 follows the line of Joktan, Peleg’ s brother. The line of Peleg is resumed here, leading to Abram. See note on 10:25. 11:18 Reu This descendant of Shem was not mentioned in the earlier genealogy. In the Bible, this name appears only in genealogies( 1Ch 1:25; Lk 3:35). 11:20 Serug Several of Abram’ s ancestors have names that correspond to cities in Mesopotamia. Serug is the name of a place west of Harran in northwestern Mesopotamia. 11:22 Nahor Abram’ s grandfather and brother( Ge 11:26) are both named Nahor. A city known as Nahur is located not far from Harran in northwestern Mesopotamia. 11:24 Terah Assyrian sources mention a place name