People and Promise

Genesis 11:10–32 “These are the generations of Shem. When Shem was 100 years old, he fathered Arpachshad two years after the flood. And Shem lived after he fathered Arpachshad 500 years and had other sons and daughters. When Arpachshad had lived 35 years, he fathered Shelah. And Arpachshad lived after he fathered Shelah 403 years and had other sons and daughters. When Shelah had lived 30 years, he fathered Eber. And Shelah lived after he fathered Eber 403 years and had other sons and daughters. When Eber had lived 34 years, he fathered Peleg. And Eber lived after he fathered Peleg 430 years and had other sons and daughters. When Peleg had lived 30 years, he fathered Reu. And Peleg lived after he fathered Reu 209 years and had other sons and daughters. When Reu had lived 32 years, he fathered Serug. And Reu lived after he fathered Serug 207 years and had other sons and daughters. When Serug had lived 30 years, he fathered Nahor. And Serug lived after he fathered Nahor 200 years and had other sons and dau…”

P.O.P.

In a sinful world, God preserves a particular people who experienced salvation by His offer of grace.

Kids

God saves by showing grace to Abraham’s family.

I. God’s grace on a particular people.

Genesis 11:10–26 “These are the generations of Shem. When Shem was 100 years old, he fathered Arpachshad two years after the flood. And Shem lived after he fathered Arpachshad 500 years and had other sons and daughters. When Arpachshad had lived 35 years, he fathered Shelah. And Arpachshad lived after he fathered Shelah 403 years and had other sons and daughters. When Shelah had lived 30 years, he fathered Eber. And Shelah lived after he fathered Eber 403 years and had other sons and daughters. When Eber had lived 34 years, he fathered Peleg. And Eber lived after he fathered Peleg 430 years and had other sons and daughters. When Peleg had lived 30 years, he fathered Reu. And Peleg lived after he fathered Reu 209 years and had other sons and daughters. When Reu had lived 32 years, he fathered Serug. And Reu lived after he fathered Serug 207 years and had other sons and daughters. When Serug had lived 30 years, he fathered Nahor. And Serug lived after he fathered Nahor 200 years and had other sons and dau…”

The narrative of Genesis is shifting. What once was general genealogies stemming from Adam began to become genealogies of God’s chosen people.

The line of Shem preserved as promised:

Genesis 9:18–28

Genesis 9:26 “He also said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant.”

A particular people:

Genesis 4 - Cain sent from the presence of the Lord in his sin, Seth provided as “God has appointed”.

Genesis 9 - Canaan cursed and left in his sin, Shem blessed and preserved.

Genesis 10 and 11 - Joktan's line is no longer mentioned, Peleg’s line is followed.

Joktan mentioned in 1 Chronicles 1 same way in the genealogy.

Genesis 11 - Arpachshad is third in line and yet the one who receives the grace from God for the chosen line.

Genesis 11 - Abram was chosen from the three sons.

Hope, life, and children

A change from previous genealogies to here is:

the absence of “and he died”.

shorter life span.

Shorter from previous genealogies, even shorter in Gen. 11:18 where starting with Peleg ages are cut in half.

Later in life when fathers have children.

A balance of effects of sin (shorter lives) and future hope (focused on the promised line).

“The omission of the ‘and he died’ refrain gives a more optimistic color to the Shemite genealogy, by focusing on birth and future hope, not on inevitable death.”

Bruce Waltke

II. God’s provision for an unlikely family.

Genesis 11:27–30 “Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot. Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his kindred, in Ur of the Chaldeans. And Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and Iscah. Now Sarai was barren; she had no child.”

Unlikely provision

Promise of redemptive son - Gen. 3:15

Providing another son - Seth

Preserving in the flood - Noah

Provision through covenant

Line of Seth continued

The chosen line of promise is met with a barren woman.

*Genesis not only speaks of the sovereign God who holds all of creation together but also the God who creates life when death reigns on the earth.

Sin is rampant:

The eating of the fruit, the killing of a brother, the boasting of sin, the sinful generations, the flood, the confusion...

Death is looming, life is shortening, fighting is happening, floods are occurring, mankind is spread far and wide, languages are confused, and barrenness is present...

God’s grace is still offered:

Common grace - generations continue and a covenant is given (the flood)

Special grace - a particular line is preserved, the land is promised, and God’s special grace is extended...

While sin is rampant and growing, and the effects of sin are always looming, God’s grace preserves his promise. Though mankind may fall into such great sin, God will not allow his promise to fade. Even in the most unlikely situations, barren women in the line of promise, the point is the people of God are to look to God for salvation.

God will use the most unlikely to save his people to show the God-centered, miraculous display of God’s work to save those who are sinful. Israel does not become God’s people because of what Abram did, or who he was, but because of what God did, and who he is.

He used a sinful, pagan, sojourning, barren people that will soon become a covenant representation creating a saved, vastly expanding, redeemed people.

“Genesis 5 stresses that death prevailed in the race, whereas Genesis 11 ‘stresses a movement away from death toward the promise, and it stresses life and expansion.”

Allen Ross

“The genealogy is moving toward a great hope.”

Kent Hughes

III. God’s promise of a particular land.

Genesis 11:31–32 “Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there. The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.”

The crazy family dynamics aside, and for later, we find God bringing his people more toward the promised land.

Canaan is the land of promise and calling (Genesis 11:31)

Abram is called by God from Ur

Genesis 15:7 “And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”

Nehemiah 9:7 “You are the Lord, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham.”

Acts 7:2–4 “And Stephen said: “Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living.”

Haran was a place of distraction.

Another important city centered on pagan moon worship.

Terah chose to settle here and Abram stayed with him until he died.

Genesis 12:1–4 “Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.”

This move was a move of faith.

Abram did not know the purpose of the move, or what awaited in the move, but obeyed the difficult move.

He moves in obedience (still removing his pagan ways, becoming distracted, and not sure why he is heading to this new land) to where God is calling him.

Hebrews 11:8 “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.”

The move of faith brings about the promised Savior.

Luke 3:23-38

Luke 3:34–38 “the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah, the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan, the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.”

Application:

God of promise and provision

As one commentator points out, “barrenness was a metaphor of hopelessness…no human power to invent a future” — like Abraham’s faith will be put to the test — Will we trust that God will fulfill His promises, even in the most unlikely of situations?

A people of faith

Abram is called by God out of sin and must follow God in faith. He follows God with only the evidence of life change and rests on the hope of God’s promises being fulfilled. Faith for Abraham is rooted in God’s future promises and not based upon what is known at the moment. — Will we be a people of faith trusting in God’s provision?

A people of obedience

Part of Abram's faith is also his obedience. We are a people who often want evidence before we will give our obedience. — Will we be a people who show full obedience to God in a sinful and fallen world?