Generations - Genesis 11:10-32

11:10-26 – As the population of the world grows and the people spread out over the land, the languages change and I assume that the cultures and spiritual beliefs did as well. These 16 verses go through the many generations that happened between the time of Noah’s son Shem and Abraham. I’m not going to go into it, but there are a couple of points to be made. The first is that “Shem lived long enough that he was contemporary with the next ten generations. In other words, he was still alive when Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were born. This circumstance is one of the reasons why some have wondered if Shem was also Melchezidek.” I hadn’t heard that some people considered Shem and Melchezidek to be the same person and it’s interesting to consider. It’s also interesting to consider just what role Shem played as the family patriarch to the faithful throughout the generations. Another interesting point comes up with the mention of the birth of Eber, Shem’s great-grandson. The IM comments, “Many scholars believe that Eber’s name was used to designate his descendants, called the Hebrews, just as Shem’s descendants were called Shemites (Semite peoples,) and Canaan’s descendants were called the Canaanites.” I think about the Israelites destroying the Canaanites when they get to the land of their inheritance, and it’s interesting to consider all these groups in terms of who their primary ancestor was. I know that most cultures put an important significance on ancestry and tradition, so it’s fascinating when we get to these settlements down the road hundreds of years later, but we can see how they got there, what their beliefs were, and who were their leaders all the way back to the flood. 11:27-32 - Finally we get to Terah who “begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot.” The mention of Lot begs the question of his significance because almost no other nieces or nephews are ever mentioned when it comes to lineage. Lot’s significance is revealed when we learn that “Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity.” There are a couple of different speculations on how Haran died, the first is from the Book of Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price that says Haran died in the famine, but there’s another “tradition” where he was martyred at the hands of idolatrous priests for professing belief in Abraham’s God after a series of personal spiritual quests. The other reason why I think Lot is significant was because, as far as I know about ancient inheritance law, after his father Haran’s death, Lot took his place as Haran’s heir and probably became the responsibility of Abraham, which would make sense that Lot is so heavily featured in the upcoming adventures. We are also introduced to the wives of Abram which is Sarai and of Nahor which is Milcah, but there’s a lineage for Milcah that I can’t follow, I don’t know if she is his niece or what. Sarai “was barren; she had no child.” It says that Terah took Abram, Sarai, and Lot “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.” And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran.” It’s important to mention the commentary from the IM saying, “Genesis 11:32 makes it appear that Terah directed his entire family to leave Ur and go to Canaan by way of Haran. Abraham 2:3-5, however, makes it clear that Abraham, under the Lord’s direction, was the leader of the group.”