Meet Abram

Introduction

This week is our last week in the book of Genesis this year. We will use this week to look at Genesis 11:10-32, but we will also look back on what we covered and look forward towards what we have coming up next year.

This section is a genealogical section but it connects the two halves of this book. The first half is the primeval history of the world and the second half is the patriarchal history of Israel. Now I use that term half loosely as you can see there is a lot more in the second part of Genesis. This genealogy bridges these two halves, it takes us from the primeval times to the first patriarch, Abram.

The division is v26 and 27 here in this chapter. you can see that in v10 we have a “these are the generations of” and in verse 27 we have another.

So let’s look at these passages of scripture and see how they are relevant for what we have already seen and what we are about to see in the book of Genesis.

The Story

Genesis 11:10–26 ESV

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 daughters. When Nahor had lived 29 years, he fathered Terah. And Nahor lived after he fathered Terah 119 years and had other sons and daughters. When Terah had lived 70 years, he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

So the first part gives us the generations of Shem. This is similar to what we saw previously before the tower of Babel but it is a linear genealogy. This is only tracing the line of the Messiah, the line to Christ.

This takes us from Shem who was on the ark with Noah to Abram, the great patriarch of Israel.

This genealogy is very similar in format to the one in Genesis 5 with one interesting part. Abram is 10 people away from Shem, he is also 20 people away from Adam. Both genealogies document 10 members and land on significant people.

Then we get to the second section of tonight, Genesis 11.27-32

Genesis 11:27–32 ESV

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. 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.

This information gives us some background on Abram and what is about to happen in his life. What is documented here is his life before God called him.

We see that there are three key things described in this to us. The first is the barrenness of Sari. This is a result of the curse in Genesis 3 and will be a key issue in the story going forward. The second is the movement of the family, this effects the geography of Abram which comes into play. The final thing isn the death of Terah, with his death Abram is now the man in charge.

What we will see soon in the story is the promise from God of land, seed, and blessing. Each of these promises confronts an issue in his life that is depicted in these few short verses.

The stage is set for God to move through this one man.

Where we have been

Right here where we meet Abram we are at a crux point in the book of Genesis. Before this point we have seen the history of the whole world.

It all started with the creation of everything, God spoke and it was. This is the power of our great God and we can see through this that his word will come about no matter what it is. In creation there were a few things laid out for us, God created man and woman, man is the leader, marriage is for life, and we are created in the image of God. These things give us the basis for existence on earth. They ground us in God’s design. When we live in Gods design we find the most freedom and the most enjoyment.

God gave them one command in the garden though that they were supposed to follow as an act of worship. This command was to not eat of the fruit of the tree. The problem comes though when they do just that. This introduces sin into the world which become a big issue that results in several curses.

In these curses though there is hope, it says in Genesis 3:15 “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”” There will be one to come who will make all things right, who will crush the serpent.

After the curses and the hope Adam and Eve follow Gods command to be fruitful and multiply. They have children and there is the hope that one of these sons will be the one that was promised. This is soon done away with as one murders the other. Sin is running rampant and is escalating. They have another son and this leads us down a line of people, all headed towards that one person. The first part of that line stops at a guy named Noah.

Noah has some strong potential to be the guy that we are waiting for. Sin has escalated so much that God is going to wipe clean the earth and Noah is going to save a remnant of people and animals through this event. He does just that and it is like a new creation. Things look good but then sin rears it’s ugly head once again and we see that he was a savior but he was not the savior needed and the one promised in Genesis 3.15. This begins a pattern that will continue through the Old Testament of seeing types of what is to come. These types all point toward the final fulfillment of them.

After Noah we see the line pointing towards the final savior continue. There are points that show us how the nations of the world came about and why there are so many languages. All of this leads to this genealogy we are in tonight which brings us to Abram.

Where we are going

We are now to Abram who will be called Abraham. This man will receive a promise that will echo throughout the Old Testament. He will be tested and remembered for his faith. He is the man that God uses to bring about first Judaism which leads us to Christianity. Abraham will have a son names Isaac, Isaac will have a son named Jacob. Jacobs name will be changed to Israel. He will have 12 sons and they will become the twelve tribes of Israel. It is through these men that the savior will come. One of Jacobs sons, Joseph, will become the final main character in the book of Genesis but it is not through him that the savior comes but rather his brother Judah.

This all leads to David the king, and eventually to Jesus. Jesus is the lion of the tribe of Judah, he is the offspring of Abraham, he is the one that is promised in Genesis 3.15.

So why go through all of this trouble? Why was Cain not the savior and fix everything right away? It is to glorify God and to reveal himself to us. If you remember the introduction to Genesis, I said that Genesis is a book about God. That is what is going on here. God gave us the ability to pick him or what we wanted and he knew that if he fixed it right there we would still not pick him. God is creating a history to redemption so that we can look at all of redemptive history and see how great he is and how bad we are. He painting a picture for us that all culminates at Jesus.

Conclusion

This is all a journey that God is taking us on as we travel through his word. We are seeing him at work time and time again in all of scripture. This is all leading us to the salvation that is found in Jesus. Because of our sin we need forgiveness. Jesus is the way to this forgiveness because as we see throughout redemptive history is can be found nowhere else.

To accept Jesus as your savior all you are called to do is to put your faith in him as your Lord and Savior and turn away from your sins. It says in the Bible that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved.

That is what this is all pointing towards right here in Genesis. So now it is up to you, will you hear this and not do anything with it or will you take hold of this life change today.