The Covenant (Gen 11:10-32)

Introduction

If you have your Bible, please turn it to Genesis 11:10-32.

While you’re turning there, let me explain that we’re doing things just a little bit differently today. At Grace, we do what’s called expositional preaching and teaching, which means the whole goal of every sermon is to simply preach the text—to explain what it says before then applying it to our lives. The way that this is done is by examining the text so that we get a better idea of its context, what it means through a historical-grammatical means, and then we view it Christologically (what it means in light of Jesus Christ)—only then can we determine how best to apply it.

Usually, we do that through smaller pieces of Scripture—occasionally, we have sermons (like last week) that only cover nine verses, occasionally less, and sometimes more just depending on the passage itself. This morning, though we’re still looking at things expositionally, we’re taking a macro-view of the text—meaning, we’re going to start in Genesis 11:10-32, but then we’re going to pan out and look at the much larger context of the Bible in light of Genesis 11:10-32.

What this will do is three-fold: (1) it will remind us that no passage of Scripture stands in isolation—Scripture is always to be understood within its own context. (2) It will show us where exactly we are in the overall history of mankind, which will help us to see the veracity of Genesis 11:10-32 and its importance in history. (3) It will give us a chance to look at a specific doctrine in more detail—this doctrine is one that you’ve heard me mention before, though I don’t think we’ve spent a lot of time talking about it in sermons, and it’s the doctrine of covenants, but I’ll explain that later (particularly when we get towards the end of the sermon).

This morning’s sermon will be a little different, but the message is rather simple—this morning’s passage is a genealogy, but that’s not a bad thing—rather, God’s faithfulness to His people is seen through genealogies. In particular, God’s faithfulness to keep His covenants with His people is seen through genealogies.

Keep this in mind as we read Genesis 11:10-32 together.

Genesis 11:10–32 ESV

10 These are the generations of Shem. When Shem was 100 years old, he fathered Arpachshad two years after the flood. 11 And Shem lived after he fathered Arpachshad 500 years and had other sons and daughters. 12 When Arpachshad had lived 35 years, he fathered Shelah. 13 And Arpachshad lived after he fathered Shelah 403 years and had other sons and daughters. 14 When Shelah had lived 30 years, he fathered Eber. 15 And Shelah lived after he fathered Eber 403 years and had other sons and daughters. 16 When Eber had lived 34 years, he fathered Peleg. 17 And Eber lived after he fathered Peleg 430 years and had other sons and daughters. 18 When Peleg had lived 30 years, he fathered Reu. 19 And Peleg lived after he fathered Reu 209 years and had other sons and daughters. 20 When Reu had lived 32 years, he fathered Serug. 21 And Reu lived after he fathered Serug 207 years and had other sons and daughters. 22 When Serug had lived 30 years, he fathered Nahor. 23 And Serug lived after he fathered Nahor 200 years and had other sons and daughters. 24 When Nahor had lived 29 years, he fathered Terah. 25 And Nahor lived after he fathered Terah 119 years and had other sons and daughters. 26 When Terah had lived 70 years, he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran. 27 Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot. 28 Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his kindred, in Ur of the Chaldeans. 29 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. 30 Now Sarai was barren; she had no child. 31 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. 32 The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.

As we study this passage, again, we’re going to do something just a little bit different. We’re going to start with this text Genesis 11:10-32, but we aren’t exactly going to go line by line through the whole passage—that would be tedious and I would argue it would miss the point of why it’s here. Rather, this sermon will have three parts to it: (1) we will start with Genesis 11:10-32, The Genealogy—I’m going to give some observations about this genealogy and point out some details that you might not pick up on that might benefit you, (2) The Context of Genesis—we’re then going to pan out and look at this genealogy’s place within the book of Genesis—or, in other words, I want to help you see its role in the book, and then (3) The Overall Biblical Storyline—we’re going to pan out further and look at this genealogy’s purpose in the overarching storyline of the Bible. The idea this morning is rather simple—as I mentioned a few weeks ago with the previous genealogy, genealogies serve multiple purposes in the Bible. Sometimes it’s difficult to see and understand a genealogy’s purpose without taking a step back and looking at it from a higher vantage point—that’s what we’re doing today (looking from a higher vantage point). And what you’ll see as we work through this genealogy is the simple truth that God keeps His promises. I know that we’ve hit that idea a lot through this series, but I think we’d all admit that we’re liable to forget this truth, but He is absolutely faithful.

Prayer for Illumination.

The Genealogy (Gen 11:10-32)

So, our text jumps straight into this genealogy and we’re told in the very first verse a little bit of when this genealogy finds its origins—”these are the generations of Shem.”

Shem, of course, is one of Noah’s children—one of the few remaining people after the flood. And you’ll notice in v. 10 that we’re taking a step back in time.

So, last week gave us the account of The Tower of Babel, which we mentioned probably occured 100-150 years after the flood—v. 10 is actually before the Tower of Babel, “two years after the flood.”

The book of Genesis occasionally does this in that it will sometimes be chronological and occasionally it jumps around in time—and this is one of those instances.

So, Shem was 100 years old by the time of v. 10 and he father Arpachshad—his first-born son.

We know that Arpachshad was the first-born because in the Ancient Near Eastern culture, it was common for genealogies to only record the first-born sons as the genealogy rather than all the children.

After fathering Arpachshad, Shem had other sons of daughters—keep that in mind, I think people tend to neglect that phrase, they had other sons and daughters (at least, they do that with Adam and Eve a lot).

We then see that pattern throughout the rest of the chapter:

Arpachshad fathered Shelah and then had other sons and daughters.

Shelah fathered Eber and then had other sons and daughters.

Eber fathered Peleg and then had other sons and daughters.

Peleg fathered Reu and then had other sons and daughters.

Reu fathered Serug and then had other sons and daughters.

Serug fathered Nahor and then had other sons and daughters.

Nahor fathered Terah and then had other sons and daughters.

Terah then fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

We’ll come back to Terah children, but let me point out two details concerning all these other people:

First, you might recognize some of the names—for instance, (of course, you recognize Shem as being Noah’s son).

You might recognize Eber—if for no other reason than he is mentioned in the previous genealogy that we worked through.

You might remember Peleg being named for the splitting of the earth—whether that meant splitting of the people at the Tower of Babel or the literal splitting of the ground is up for debate.

Of course, you recognize Abram’s name in v. 26, but again, we’ll come back to that.

Second, notice some of the details:

This records approximately ten generations from the time of the flood—I’m not comfortable with giving you a more precise timeframe (just because the average years of life during this time period are changing).

If you read carefully, you’ll notice that the average lifespan is decreasing:

Shem lived 600 years.

Arpachshad lived 438 years.

Shelah lived 433 years.

Eber lived 464 years.

Peleg lived 239 years.

Reu lived 239 years.

Serug lived 230 years.

Nahor lived 148ish years.

and so on.

In addition, you might have noticed that this genealogy is different than the previous genealogy—the previous genealogy ended each person’s life by specifically reminding us that the person died.

This genealogy doesn’t do that and the reasoning is because this genealogy serves a different purpose.

This genealogy is intended to show us the succession between Noah to a specific person—so, the fact that people died, isn’t a priority here, but rather, the hereditary or genealogical connection is what’s actually important here.

In other words, while we could get caught up in all the details, the primary point is the succession from Noah to this next person.

We can clearly see this because just after mentioning him, the formatting of the genealogy changes.

We read in v. 26 that when “Terah had lived 70 years, he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran,” and then the emphasis shifts.

Whereas prior to this point, everything was focused on this being Shem’s genealogy, at v. 26 into v. 27, the focus shifts to Terah.

This is now Terah’s genealogy and these are now the generations of Terah and the text now focuses in on a smaller portion of Shem’s genealogy.

We see in these verses essentially a more nuclear family with names that ought to be familiar to us and we learn some important details:

Haran fathered lot, but then Haran died, which then explains why he has such a close relationship with his uncle Abram.

Abram married Sarai; his brother Nahor married Milcah—note, even in a genealogy, the Bible makes it a point to explain that Sarai was barren in v. 30.

We also see then the setting of Abram’s life—that they all went forth from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but they settled instead in the land of Haran.

Again, now all these details found throughout this genealogy are useful, but to hyper-fixate on the details of the genealogy would be foolish because the details don’t actually give us the purpose and point of the text. Rather, we need to start taking a step back from the details to better understand the point of the passage and only then can we actually apply it.

So, let’s do just that:

The Context of Genesis (Genesis)

We’re in Genesis 11:10-32, which means that we’re about a quarter of the way through the book of Genesis and there’s a specific theme throughout the book that colors everything that we’re reading.

In the book of Genesis, we’re actually told the theme of the book early on, but most people miss it in all the details, so let me just explain it today.

In Genesis 1-2, we see the creation of all things—God created all things by His very voice (though, the Bible does point out that God did form mankind out of the dust of the ground).

God created all things and all things were created very good, but it doesn’t take long for the very good creation to rebel against the Creator and in Genesis 3, we see that rebellion.

In Genesis 3, we’re told that the man and the woman were tempted to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which was condemned against and they succumbed to their temptation and ate the fruit of the tree.

In that passage, we read the curse and in the curse, we’re actually given the theme for the book of Genesis and really the whole Old Testament, let me read it to you:

God speaks to the serpent who tricked mankind in Genesis 3:14-15, which reads, “Then the LORD God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all the livestock, And more than any animal of the field; On your belly you shall go, And dust you shall eat All the days of your life;” And this is the part you need to pay close attention to, v. 15, “And I will make enemies Of you and the woman, And of your offspring and her Descendant; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise Him on the heel.” (NASB)

Depending on what translation you’re reading in Genesis 3, you’ll note that certain words in v. 15 are capitalized and that’s intentional—for instance, the Descendant of the woman is capitalized and when it refers to this Descendant being bruised by the serpent, you’ll notice the Him is capitalized.

This is to point out the divine nature of the one being spoken of. It’s not just any descendant of the woman, it’s the Descendant of the woman, whom we don’t see for quite some time in Scripture.

And what the book of Genesis does is then trace the lineage of that woman through the first few centuries of human life.

So, in Genesis 4, we see their first sons and the sin that was commited during their lifetime, which shows us two things: (1) their lineage does continue, but these clearly aren’t the Descendant that we’re waiting for. At the end of Genesis 4, we see God continue Adam and Eve’s lineage through a new son named Seth.

In Genesis 5, we then trace the lineage of Adam from Adam down to Noah and his children—and we see several details worth noting including the fact that every person from the point of the fall forward now die.

Chs. 6-11a then emphasize the increasing corruption of mankind, the need for judgment against sin; and yet, even through the midst of that, the Bible takes care to point out the lineage continuing through Noah and his family.

What we see at the end of ch. 11 is the continuation of the seed (or the offspring) of the woman in Genesis 3 through Abram.

Genesis 12-25 then traces Abram turned Abraham’s life—and what we note through those chapters is that Abraham wasn’t the promised seed, but because God called Abraham by making a covenant with him, we know that the offspring promised to the woman would come through Abraham’s seed. This is called the Abrahamic Covenant.

The Abrahamic Covenant is then extended to Abraham’s seed in Genesis 26 to his son Isaac and then through the remaining chapters of Genesis, we see the Abrahamic promise, which is really an extension of the initial promise given to the woman in Genesis 3 traced through the lineage of her children and grandchildren and her great-grandchildren and so on and so forth.

The primary idea or thread of logic through the book of Genesis is the administration of a covenant from God to His people.

Really, what it shows us is that the overall point of Genesis isn’t about Adam and Eve nor is it about Noah and the flood or Abram turned Abraham. It ultimately isn’t about these human people, it’s rather all about God keeping the promise that He made in Genesis 3 through extensions of that promise with the seed of Eve’s children.

It is this theme that has precedence in the book and you can tell because everything in this book is all about the family and the extended family of the original man and woman. That’s why we see all these genealogies through the book, that’s why the book hyper-fixates on what is to become the nation of Israel, that’s why all of this is even recorded for us.

The issue is—and this is vitally important, it’s clear that as we read through Genesis that even though these people are the seed of the woman, they’re clearly not the promised Descendant that will bruise the head of the serpent. For that, we need to take another step back and look at the overall biblical storyline and figure out exactly where this fits in.

The Overall Biblical Storyline

In the context of the Bible, Genesis stands at the very beginning and as the very beginning of the chronology of the Bible, we learn a lot about the beginning of all things.

We learn about several things that help us understand why the world is the way that it is today—that includes the issue of sin, but also the cause of suffering, the reason for pain and even death.

The reality is that Genesis provides for us a biblical foundation for viewing the world around us—including the simple truth that as David says, in sin we’ve been conceived and because of that sin, we need a Savior.

Genesis even gives us insight into where exactly this Savior would come from, that this Savior would be of the seed of the woman.

And it even tells us what exactly this Savior would do—that the serpent would bite His heal, but He would bruise the head or crush the head of the serpent.

From the book of Genesis, the Bible then traces that seed through the history of the nation of Israel. Let me show you:

The first five books of the Bible really give us the foundation of the nation of Israel, we call this the Pentateuch (the Jews call this the Torah).

So, in Genesis, we read about the beginning—our names for the first five books are from the Greek Septuagint, but in Hebrew, the name literally is translated as “in the beginning.”

Exodus tells us of the nation of Israel being rescued from Egypt in such a way that provides for their future—we call it Exodus based on the mass exodus or leaving of the Israelites. The Hebrew name focuses on the names of the leaders.

Leviticus records the Law, which we can divide into three—the Ceremonial Law, the governmental Law, and the moral Law—for the Jewish people, they follow all three sets, but for us today, we only really follow the moral law because we aren’t a theocratic nation in the sense that the Israelites were.

Numbers records some time spent in the dessert.

And Deuteronomy then records the second giving of the Law,.

The point being that the seed of the woman has now expanded and because of the extension of the covenant to Abraham and then his children—the eventual Savior will be born of the nation of Israel, so we read about the founding and really the start of the nation of Israel.

The second section of books is called the Nevi’im or we would call this the prophets and historical books.

In this section we have the major prophets like Isaiah or Jeremiah and the minor prophets like Amos, Haggai, and Malachi. Of course, there are several others, but you get the idea. We also get 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings.

The only difference between a major and minor prophet is simply the length of their writings—a major prophet is no more important than a minor prophet and vice versa.

In the prophets, the theme is the same—the prophet called by God is calling out Israel (the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham) for their sins. And the prophets are all saying, essentially—these are your sins, you need to repent. If you do, God will bless the nation of Israel, but if you don’t, God will judge the nation of Israel.

In the historical books, they’re literally tracing the history of the seed of the woman through Abraham as the nation of Israel. These books introduce different aspects of the covenant given to Abraham and the woman in that we learn that Messiah would come from the lineage of David and that

The last section of books in the Old Testament is called the Ketuvim, which includes all the books that we consider wisdom books and the Chronicles (along with Daniel).

These books again trace the lineage of the woman through Abraham and then through David.

It also gives significant wisdom for those seeking wisdom and it provides resources for the nation of Israel, which is the seed of the woman to worship the Lord, their God.

Are you catching how Genesis 11 fits in with the overall storyline of Scripture? The whole Old Testament is the tracing of the seed of the woman from Genesis 3.

The purpose of this is for God to keep the covenant that He made with the woman in Genesis 3.

This covenant is then administered differently through time, in that God expands the covenant to Abraham and his family, and then narrows the covenant to include David and his following lineage.

What we see in Genesis 11 is a continuation of God’s promise to mankind through the woman and her seed.

And this continuation of God’s promise to mankind through the woman and her seed will eventually find its culmination in and through Jesus Christ, who is the fulfillment of all the covenants that God gives to Eve, to Abraham, to David, and so forth.

These aren’t separate covenants with different purposes, but rather, they’re one covenant that is administered differently, which then gives us insight into the New Covenant, which we partake of through Jesus Christ.

As Christians, we partake in the New Covenant, but this isn’t actually a brand new covenant, but rather a different administration of the same covenant that was given throughout the Old Testament then fulfilled in Jesus Christ—God hasn’t changed—it’s the same covenant, the Covenant of Grace, which started in Genesis 3.

And we are blessed to partake in this covenant simply because of God’s grace and mercy.

Genealogies like the one in Genesis 11:10-32 exist to help us trace the Covenant of Grace from Genesis 3 until its fulfillment in Jesus Christ on the cross. It helps us to see the unity of Scripture and it reminds us that our God doesn’t change—if He makes a promise, He will fulfill that promise even if it takes several thousand years. Genesis 11:10-32 reminds us that God providentially works all things for the good of His people not because of His people, but simply because He is faithful. We can trust His covenants because He only ever is truthful.

Which leads us this morning to our application.

Application

Again, genealogies are in the Bible for specific reasons—despite our temptation to simply glance over them or skip them entirely. Sometimes, like the last genealogy, the purpose is to simply remind us that despite our own sinfulness, God’s plan never fails. Sometimes, like today’s genealogy, the purpose is to remind us that God always keeps His Word—His promises are always true because He is Truth itself.

It’s just sometimes, like today, the only way you see that in the text is by looking more at the context of the passage—both its immediate context—the book of Genesis—and it’s overall context in the storyline of the Bible. In this case, stepping back and changing our vantage point provides us with the opportunity to study more intently at the concept of God’s covenants. And, that’s really where our application comes into play today. Our application this morning has three primary points:

You can trust God with the details because He providentially works all things for your good. (Gen 11:10-32)

We really see this idea presented in the text itself—Genesis 11:10-32.

One of the primary reasons for genealogies is to allow us to trace God’s covenant through the genealogies, which we can do when we carefully read them—in this case, we trace the genealogy of the woman and the promise given to mankind through her to her seed Abram.

The details that seem unimportant to us are cared for by God. Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6) says, “do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on/ Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”

Romans 8:28-30, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son . . . and those whom He predestined, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified; and those whom He justified, He also glorified.” (Rom 8:28-30, LSB)

All things in your life—including things that seem minor—the details of life, are working for your good.

And the reality is that you will probably not see how God is using these details until much later—if ever.

Do you really think that the individuals mentioned in the genealogy had a clue what God was planning to do through them and through their family?

Yes, they knew of God’s promise to send Messiah through the seed of the woman, but do you really think that they knew exactly how that was to occur?

In your life, there are all sorts of details that seem minor—for instance, you might not understand the importance of spending daily time in the Bible or praying as often as you possibly can.

You might not even understand the importance of coming to church as often as you possibly can, but through the regularly teaching of God’s Word through the Bible, in church, and by prayer, He’s maturing you and He is growing you.

So that when you face hardship in life, you know where to turn and you know who to cry out to and depend on.

Regular Bible reading, prayer, and church might seem minor—to the extent that you’ll excuse missing it (oh, it’s just one day or it’s just church or whatever), but the frequent attention to the ordinary means of grace does just that—it shows you God’s grace and it grows you in God’s grace.

These things seem minor, but they’re important for your growth.

Likewise, you might not understand the importance of shoveling your neighbors sidewalk for them or taking your elderly mom to buy groceries, or whatever else you could think of.

They seem minor; and yet, you don’t know how God is using these things to grow you, to mature you, to make you more like Him.

You can trust God with the details because He providentially works all these details for your good.

Of course, if you can trust God with the details then, you can trust God with the big picture because His Word is always sure. (Genesis)

We really see that when we pan out and look at all of the book of Genesis.

We see how God is working through the lives of all these people—even in the nation of Israel not because of who these people are, but because of the covenant that God had made.

He promised to do something and thus, everything in the book of Genesis is headed towards that end.

And the beauty of all this is (as you could tell when we looked through the book) that the people involved are completely undeserving of all this.

God didn’t do any of this because of them—they didn’t earn any of it. God did it because He promised to do these things; and despite their sin, despite their ability to continuously fall into their temptations, God still purposed to fulfill His promise to them and through them.

We can get caught up so much in the details of our lives that we forget to look at things from the bigger picture.

Day to day, life can be difficult and you can find yourself struggling, but it helps to look at the bigger picture.

Yes, today’s a struggle, but in your life—today is actually rather small. Life is much larger than just today or even this week or this month.

Actually, if you really think about it—life is much larger than this side of eternity because your life on earth is just a tiny fraction of what is to come.

Romans 8:18-25, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the eagerly awaiting creation waits for the revealing of the sons and daughters of God . . . that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God . . . we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons and daughters, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already see? But if we hope for what we do not see, through perseverance we wait eagerly for it.” (NASB)

You can trust God with the big picture because His Word is always sure—and His Word shows us a great future face to face with Jesus Christ.

Lastly, you can trust God with the overall framework of your life because He is the main character of your life—you’re a supporting actor not the main character. (The Bible)

Your life is just like the Bible in a very specific point. It’s easy to get caught up in details and see the different stories, accounts, records, Laws, poems, and whatever else you find in the Bible and get confused and think that the main point is that story or that account, record, Law, poem, or whatever else.

In reality, if you look at the Bible as a whole, what you actually find out is that the whole Bible isn’t about Noah, it isn’t about David, it isn’t about Paul, or Peter, or any number of people that you read about.

What is the Bible actually all about—it’s all about Jesus and who He is and what He does and how He does it.

And the reasoning for that is rather simple—life is ultimately all about Jesus, which is why when the Westminster Shorter Catechism was written, they started by asking what the ultimate point of mankind was and the answer is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.

The point of life isn’t about you and just like the overall narrative of the Bible—your life is filled with stories and accounts and records and Laws and poem and whatever else you can think of, but if you think you’re the point, you’re sorely mistaken.

You aren’t actually the point of your life—Jesus is; and if He isn’t the point of your life, you really have to check your heart. Because something isn’t right if you think that you’re the point of your life—In reality, Jesus actually is the point of your life and my life and really all of our lives.

Even though we tend to think that we’re the main character in the story of our lives, the reality is Jesus is the main character, we’re just a supporting actor who gets to be in the play.

Paul in Philippians 1 makes an argument that he would actually rather be dead and be in the presence of Jesus Christ, but for whatever reason, Jesus has kept him alive and he makes the point, but in reality, his life isn’t about him rather its all about Jesus, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain . . . convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus.”

At one point in Jesus’ ministry, He teaches something that many of His disciples simply didn’t want to hear, so many of them abandoned Him and Jesus asks the twelve, “Are you also going to leave?” Peter’s response is spot on, “Peter replied, ‘Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God.” (NLT)

Both Paul and Peter got it—they weren’t the main point, they weren’t the main character, they were side-characters, supporting

You aren’t the main character of your life—Jesus is, so trust Him with your life.

What Genesis 11:10-32 teaches us is simple—you can trust Jesus. You can trust Him with the details, you can trust Him with the big picture, you can trust Him with your life because He is the main character and He works all things for your good and He keeps His Word.

Pastoral Prayer