Thanks for watching! Welcome to another Genesis study. Genesis chapter 11. We're going to cover from verse 10 through verse 32 and get through this chapter in this session. And we're going to start by giving a hillbilly holler out to Betty and Bob Evans. And no, they don't own the restaurant chain, but yes, they've heard all the jokes. And we love Betty and Bob, just want to give a holler out to them, let them know we love them. And also you'll see me taking a swig of my eight o'clock dark Italian roast coffee out of this wonderful mug brought to me by the All Ball family. It says, keep calm and put the coffee on. Amen. This is good stuff. But the most important thing is that we ask the Lord's help. So let's start with a word of prayer as we get into our study. Father, we thank you, Lord, for this book. And we thank you for every opportunity we have to study it. I just pray, Lord, that you'll help me as I teach. Help those who listen. We'll test everything being said by the Word of God in accordance with Acts 17.11. Help us just to continually learn so that we can apply this to our daily lives, our walk with you, but also to apply this in our witness and be able to speak intelligently about the things of God to those who ask. All these things we ask in the name of our precious Lord and Savior, who shed His blood and paid the full price for sin, was buried and rose again bodily from the grave, and has promised to return and receive all those who belong to Him unto Himself, where we will be for eternity. In Jesus' name we do pray all these things. Amen. Amen. These are the generations of Shem. That's what we would title this message if we titled the messages in these studies. But I want to make a comment just before we get into the text because we were asked Actually by several people but our comment on verse 5 it says the Lord came down and some people just wanted me to Elaborate a little one more on that. It's really not much more to say Except I didn't mention one thing. I wish I had mentioned that is the the Bible says God is a spirit John 4 24 in Genesis 11 5 says the Lord came down All right, God is a spirit. Well, the problem that I want to warn you of is in the new versions, which hopefully most all of you have junked. If you haven't, do so. They are junk. And in the Old Testament, most of them are based upon a corrupt text called the Leningrad Stuttgartentian and all this. It's just nonsense. It's a bad text. And a lot of the translators are corrupt. They're apostate and so forth. If you look at the Revised Standard Version, which came out in like 1952 as a full Bible, I think it was, it says, God is spirit. No. I mean, that's terrible if you apply that literally and across the board. God isn't just spirit. He is a spirit. He is distinct. In the English Standard Version, fast forward now to the most recent corruption, been out since about 2001, I think, and it says God is spirit. Wrong! That's pantheism. The New International Version, I think that came out in the 70s, in 1973, the year my brother was born is the reason I can remember that. God is spirit. False. That's a terrible translation. And a lot of you people, I don't mean to say a lot, too many of you people who listen to this channel too often will say, well, that new King James isn't as bad. And you know, I have a, I actually was guilty of this up until about 12 years ago or so, or no, about up to about 10 years ago. Maybe 11. I, as of the recording of this, I had a parallel. New King James and King James. And that's really what cured me of the final grasp at a new version. Year 2004, 2005, I was grasping at wanting a new version. And I didn't understand the textual thing mainly. But the New King James claimed to come from the same text. Well, here's an example. It's not a King James Bible. It says, the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, just like the corrupt text in 1 Timothy 6.10. The King James says, the love of money is the root of all evil. And on and on you'll see these changes. Well, here's another one. God is Spirit. They even capitalized the S there in the New King James, like the King James. But that's just false. God is a spirit. That's what the King James says. So when you think of the Lord coming down, He can assume a body, and He has. And throughout the Old Testament, these Theophanies, as they're called, when you see the angel of the Lord. That's the pre-incarnate Christ. That's Jesus Christ. That's why He's called the Lord by those who see Him. And then, of course, the Incarnation, when Jesus is born in Bethlehem, He is the incarnate Word of God, and He is God manifest in the flesh. And again, the New Versions take that out of the text. In 1 Timothy 3.16 it says, God was manifest in the flesh. New Versions corrupt that. So just to throw that in there as an elaboration, a little more information on Genesis 11.5 regarding the Lord coming down. And now let's move, we're gonna move steadily through the rest of this chapter. We start out with verse 10. These are the generations of Shem. Shem wasn't 100 years old and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood. And 100 years old sounds really old to have a baby. I'm 46 and I don't want any more babies. My babies were born when I was in my early 20s and by the time they were raised, I'm wore out. And it's not just because of them. I have my share of health problems and everything, but I just can't see at 46 years old, and then you think of being 100, and you say, well, they live to be 900 years. Well, that starts to change, too. And in verse 11 it says, and Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad 500 years and begat sons and daughters. So there's 600 years. That's a third less than his great-great-grandpa Methuselah. Methuselah lived 969 years, and here's Shem, and he is only living 600. You say only, but I mean, you know, that's three centuries, almost four centuries less. This is an incredible chapter because we're going to see that transition right down to where men are living around the century mark. But before that they lived nine plus centuries. It's a huge change taking place here. As we continue, verse 12, And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Selah. And verse 13, and Arphaxad lived after he begat Selah 403 years and begat sons and daughters. So that's Arphaxad living 468 years. Now, that is half, basically, I mean, give or take a few years, it's half the lifetime of Methuselah. And as you're going to see here, Shem lived longer than that. So, I mean, his dad lived to be 600 years old. And he was 100 whenever Arfaxad was born. And so you do the math and you see Arfaxad actually dies right before his dad because everybody is starting to die so much younger. You know, it only stands to reason that with the drop in the lifespan that men are going to start having children earlier. And so that's what we're going to continue to see, that age drop. And it says in verse 14, and Selah lived 30 years and begat Eber. So now we got a 30 year old having babies. And of course Eber is a name you want to remember, the father of the Hebrews. Verse 15, and Selah lived after he begat Eber 403 years and begat sons and daughters. So Selah lived 30 plus 430 that's 460 years and 460 years for a sailor Let me see 400 and they get that right he lived 30 years in verse 14 and Then 403 years. I'm sorry. That's what I knew I had that wrong 433 years old When he dies so there's a More gradual difference there, but man is there you see mankind having children earlier. They're dying younger and there's half the life span when we come to Eber in verse 16. And Eber lived four and thirty years. and begat Peleg. So he's 34 years old and Eber lived after he begat Peleg 430 years and begat sons and daughters. So that's 464 years if I've done the math there right. We have 34 plus 430 so that's 464 years. And Eber, of course, mentioned is the father of the Hebrews, but also Peleg was the one that, when he was born, is when the earth divided. And these names are just, it's just good to familiarize yourself and just have that reference. When you see the name Eber, you see the name Peleg, this information kicking up in your brain just helps. It helps you comprehend, helps you see the big picture. And of course, people will ask questions, especially about Pelag. You can get into all kinds of debates there. More power to you. Was there a Pangaea? Did the continents drift? No, I don't believe so. I believe that was when the Tower of Babel took place and the Earth was divided by languages. And when we all get to heaven, we'll find out. And those of you who don't make it to heaven, you can ask the scholars, amen? So we continue in verse 18, and Pelag lived 30 years and begat Reu. Verse 19, and Pelag lived after he begat Reu 209 years and begat sons and daughters. So there's 239 years old. Pelag living to be 239. So now we're getting real low on the life span here. Went from 469 to 239. We'll see the same thing here with Riu. It says, in verse 20, Riu lived 230 years and begat Serug. And Riu lived after he begat Serug 207 years and begat sons and daughters. So let's add that up. That's 32 plus 207. So that's 239. He lives the same age that his father did. Which means that he would have been around 230 years old when his dad died. If Peleg was 30, he would have been around 209 years old when his dad died. So Ryu didn't live much longer after his dad Peleg died. So now we come down to Serug. Serug in verse 22 lived 30 years and begat Nahor. Now if you're familiar with the reading, you're familiar with the names, you recognize Nahor. You know you're getting close to the main point. As verse 23 says, and Serug lived after he begat Nahor 200 years and begat sons and daughters. And so Nahor becomes a father at or Serug becomes a father at 30. He lives 230 and dies. Then Nahor lived 29 and 20 years and begat Terah. So we have a 29 year old having, and that sounds like a baby having babies compared to what we've seen in the past, but the lifespan continues to shrink. And look what it says in verse 25, and Nahor lived after he begat Terah and 119 years and begat sons and daughters. What's 119 plus 29? 148? 148? His dad had lived to be 230? I mean, you're talking a significant drop, a century almost, 90 years or so. And we figure this is probably representative of what's going on around the whole world with everybody. And Nahor lived after he begat Terah 119 years and begat sons and daughters, verse 26. And Terah lived 70 years and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. So all of a sudden the trend changes and Terah, he's a ripe old age when he starts having kids. And of course, you know, just like human beings are human beings, not everybody's the same. And Terah, for whatever reason, waited until he was older to have children. But we see the trend, we see the way things have changed and we're down to where people are living a century and a half rather than nine and a half centuries. Huge changes taking place and now we've come to Abram. Verse 26, Terah lived 70 years and begat Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Abram represents the focal point of the Bible from here on out. So let's continue reading what it says here verse 27 now these are the generations of Tara Tara begat Abram Nahor and Haran and Haran begat lot so Lot is Abram's nephew Tara is lots grandfather Abram is lots uncle So, verse 28, you're given that information because verse 28 says, "...and Haran died before his father, Terah, in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees." We see kind of a joint custody thing it looks like here with Tara. Grandpa Tara is going to take his grandson Lot in and help raise him. But it looks like, as we'll see in the rest of the story, that Uncle Abe takes his nephew Lot in as well and helps take care of him. And notice it says they're in Ur of the Chaldeans, and of course you should recognize the Chaldeans. The Chaldeans, Chaldean, that is in Babylon. You're going to see that in the book of Daniel especially. they're going to come out of Ur of the Chaldees. We'll see in a moment. It says in verse 29, And Abram and Nahor took them wives. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and her name will become Sarai, his will become Abraham. And the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, now watch this, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah. So, There's some additional information that explains, I have to bring up the question of incest. Folks, just like with Cain, where did Cain get his wife? It was his sister, no doubt. There's a slight possibility it could be a niece, but either ways, Brothers and sisters had to marry at the very beginning. And here you have Abram taking on Sarah as a wife. We're going to see he later explains that that's his half-sister, that Sarai is the offspring of Terah and another woman. Not Abram's mom, but another woman. So that makes them half-brother and sister. And here you have Nahor taking Milcah, who is Lot's sister. So, Nahor's marrying his own niece. Sadly, in our day, that's starting to happen again. The reason that's sad is because the reason why incest becomes against the law is the same reason you have clean and unclean meats. In those 613 laws that Moses is given, it includes things like incest because of the protection of humanity. God is doing man, especially the Jews, a favor by saying, you're not going to marry close relatives anymore because it's causing birth defects, it's causing mental problems. You know, since you come out of that garden after the fall, the DNA is corrupt, and there's a constant, man is not evolving, he is devolving, and that's why incest had to become a bad word. And here you have a man, Abram, marrying a half-sister. and it's still not been outlawed. And you also have a man marrying his niece, and that's not outlawed. So, some of those who read the Bible and watch these studies, and they'll have a real hang-up about that. Folks, Today, that is wrong. You shouldn't marry your half-sisters. You shouldn't marry nieces. Women shouldn't marry nephews. But this is a totally different era. As you can see, people are still living to be 150 years old, on average, by the time Abram comes around. And is born at least and and there's it's a totally the genetics are changing and we're seeing that Play out in this text, but today we know exactly where we are and we know that intermarriage like that is disastrous Just as a side note something you want to investigate you'll see that some of the elites are uh... ignore the scripture and followed eugenics i'd claims and and and uh... it's really a belief systems not based on science anyway And the family that Darwin was in, he was intermarrying with cousins, and close relatives intermarrying, and they thought they were going to produce a pure elite race, and instead what they got was mostly physical deformities and ailments and things, immune systems that didn't function right, but they also had terrible psychotic issues and depression, which Darwin himself suffered from. He lost a daughter because of disease that is connected to this intermarriage and all that. Folks, I don't care how smart you think you are, when you throw off the Word of God and you just start developing your own ideas and everything, it's disastrous. But of course, when you throw off the gospel of Jesus Christ and think you're going to get to heaven some other way, disastrous. And so, that's why it's so important to read and understand the scripture. You still got people today who try to use this as an excuse to intermarry. with uh... close relatives and you have this because we'll see abram taken on a car and and uh... uh... jacob you know having rachel and and river uh... uh... leah and their concubines in and it's all see it's okay to have mobile allies king david did it solomon did it was a disaster And God says it was His will from the beginning, one man and one woman. Sodomite marriage is just a blasphemous joke. But polygamy, which is next on the agenda for legalization. And polygamy is a disaster. And people will come into the Bible and just... You know, what we're going to see on Judgment Day when they stand before the Lord, they're going to admit they did it on purpose. They weren't able to see the poor innocent victims. No. They know what they're doing. They're liars. They're totally misrepresenting the scripture because they're sex freaks. Mohammed was a sex freak. Joseph Smith was a sex freak. These people are sex freaks. And they use the Bible as an excuse to have multiple wives, to marry incestuously in many cases. And then a lot of times they even, you know, pervert the scripture so that they can take on underaged girls. And Mohammed, he just claimed to have another vision from Gabriel. So he could have a six-year-old bride and then he consummated with Aisha at the age of nine. You want to go that route, you go right ahead. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his whole soul? You're going to find out if you play with the Bible like that. So verse 30, we're given this bit of information, but Sarai was barren. She had no child. And of course, that's going to be important groundwork for the future story, the account that we're going to see beginning in chapter 12 and onward. Then verse 31 in Genesis 11 says, 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. So it's a nice big chunk, a large verse. But don't lose track of the Ur of the Chaldees being where Abram came from. And the Bible's backed up. The birthplace of civilization is known to be in that area of Babylon and modern day Iraq. And that's where the Bible says that civilization came out of. And we see Abram coming along with his dad and his wife and his nephew and others coming out of Ur of the Chaldees into Canaan, which would become the promised land known as Judea. And it says they came into Haran and dwelt there. And I believe they named that place after the departed loved one, Haran. And that's what you see repeatedly through the Bible. That's what happens. And we still do it to this day. And you know when people have come over in our history of the United States of America and they came over and they would name places after a beloved king or queen or someone they left behind or a loved one who had departed or whatever. And that brings us to verse 32 in closing the chapter. And the days of Terah were 205 years and Terah died in Haran. So that's just kind of a nice ending there to Tara's life 205 years of age 700 some less than great-great-great-great-grandpa Methuselah but He died there in the name the city named after his own son, and that's how we end that chapter But we're going to see Abraham, his lifespan is cut off even more and he dies at the age of 175. We'll see that in chapter 25. And it's just interesting, here Terah is said to have lived 205 years and that's the last time in the Bible that anyone is recorded to live over two full centuries until the millennial reign of Jesus Christ when It'll be just like it was in the antediluvian age, as it's called. Antediluvian means the time before the great flood. Now, in closing, I want to mention this is a fascinating thing to get in your mind to remember as you read through Genesis. God takes us from the creation account in Genesis 1 to the birth of Abram in 12 chapters. He will now spend 13 chapters just in the life of Abraham. Now, it's obvious that God is giving us a message here about the importance of Abraham. And then, after we get past Genesis 25, it's all about descendants of Abraham. So let that sink in. Only the first twelve chapters of the entire Bible do not have something to do with Abraham and his descendants. And the only possible exception to that, of course, is the book of Job. But the book of Job itself is a very interesting tie-in. and has a lot of great spiritual truths that belong to the children of Abraham. But you can take the book of Job and set it aside if you would like, but after the first 12 chapters of the Bible, the entire rest of the Bible is about Abraham and his descendants. And as we go through the Old Testament, we're going to follow Abraham's line through Isaac, Jacob, and then the 12 sons of Jacob. They're all descendants of Abraham, but there's one tribe, Judah, which will produce the king David. Solomon and the kingly line of the southern tribe and that will culminate with the end of the Old Testament Bringing us to Matthew chapter 1 verse 1 and the New Testament beginning with the words the book of the generations of Jesus Christ the son of David the son of Abraham Right there you just got an overview of the entire Bible just by understanding what I just gave you in the last couple of minutes and And the Bible is a simple book to understand as you recognize the layout I just gave as far as the main theme, and then as you recognize the dispensations, and rightly divide, keeping everything in its proper context. As long as you do that, the Bible is not a difficult book to understand. It's God's Word. So it's so thick with information. It's so incredible with the truths it gives us. So that's why we have to take time to learn it. for God.