Genesis Bible Study notes- Chapter 11

1/11/2012

Chapter 11-

-Now at this time the whole earth spoke the same language and used the same words. The population moved toward the east and settled in a plain in the land of Shinar, between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers toward the south approximately 200 miles from the Persian Gulf.

-They began to make bricks of stone by burning them thoroughly as building products. They also used tar for mortar and decided to build, for themselves (not for God), a city and a tower whose top would reach into heaven. This would make a name for themselves. This ultimately meant they were rejecting their Creator and wanted to do things their own way. God saw that what they were doing was rebellious as they created this tower (probably a ziggurat type building to worship themselves, and in later reconstructions false deities). Again using the plural form of the pronoun, He stated, “Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech (Genesis 11:7).” This scattered the people abroad into their own language groups and the work halted on the tower, which became known as Babel (in other words: Confuse).

-The genealogy of Shem is visited going down to Terah; eight generations are listed. Terah becomes the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran is the father of Lot, who then is Abram’s nephew and plays a large role in the biblical history of coming into the land of Canaan with Abram. Haran dies in their homeland of Ur of the Chaldeans. Abram takes Sarai as his wife in Ur.

-Terah takes his family out of Ur in order to enter the land of Canaan and got as far as Haran, which in up north and west from Ur and also north and east of Canaan. It is here that Terah passes into eternity at the age of 205 years. Reasons for Terah deciding to uproot his family may have included the realization that the LORD was not worshipped in the place he lived. Historically, Ur is a pagan area with worship of many false deities and religious practices. In any case, the calling out to Canaan had begun and Abram would get the word from God soon in Haran that would change the course of history in every way.

Verse to Memorize: Genesis 11:7