God Is Always Working

Introduction/Seeing the Need

Documenting one’s family tree used to involve days of searching through family albums and old courthouse records. Now various websites place historical records at our fingertips. Our ancestry is interesting to us because our family tree gives us a sense of our roots. Individuals and groups identify themselves and understand how they are like and unlike others by appealing to the past.

Genealogy is important in the Bible. Check out the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, and you’ll discover Jesus’ genealogy going from Abraham to Joseph. , a chapter often referred to as the Table of Nations, provides a lineage of Noah’s descendants. The Tower of Babel event caused the various clans to scatter, resulting in social separation and corresponding isolation. As past of this process, Shem’s descendants gradually settled in Mesopotamia (Modern Iraq and Iran), where Abram (Abraham) was born (11:27-32).

While passages like may seem tedious to modern readers, genealogies were extremely significant to ancient people groups. Tribal societies preserve records of ancestors to establish distinct identities for themselves and for the other clans with which they interact. These social identities, in turn, served as the basis for claims to land ownership, political and military alliances, channels of trade, patterns of intermarriage, and common religious observances.

Legacy - & 11:10, 27

Genesis 10:1–2 NRSV

These are the descendants of Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth; children were born to them after the flood. The descendants of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.

Genesis 11:10 NRSV

These are the descendants of Shem. When Shem was one hundred years old, he became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood;

Genesis 11:27 NRSV

Now these are the descendants of Terah. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran was the father of Lot.

opens and closes with verses that bracket the genealogies between them and reveal their purpose. Verses 1 and 32 both refer to the chapter as a record of Noah’s sons....after the flood, and verse 32 states that these lines of descent and the geographical distribution of the respective clans ultimately produce “nations” (people groups living in specific territories) that Abram and the patriarchs encounter later. The chapter rehearses the genealogies of Noah’s three sons, beginning with Japheth, who seems least influential of the three in history. Next comes Ham and then Shem, the latter being our next focus.

The Tower of Babel incident of is tied to the genealogical table of chapter 10 by the reference to Nimrod, a grandson of Noah’s son Ham, at 10:8-12. The Babel narrative serves to explain what has preceded and what will follow by connecting the development of distinct nations and cultures to the corresponding distribution of languages. Following this story, the author resumes the account of the line of Noah’s son Shem.

The list in shows that God’s earlier promise in 3:15 - that Eve’s offspring would crush the head of the serpent, an allusion to Christ’s victory on the cross - ultimately could not be stopped by the chaos following Babel. Even though Noah’s descendants are scattered and divided, God’s purpose to redeem his creation through a chosen line is not compromised. In verse 27 we see why the author focuses on Shem: it is his line that leads to Terah, the father of Abram.

In verse 27 we see why the author focuses on Shem: it is his line that leads to Terah, the father of Abram.

Journey -

Genesis 11:31–32 NRSV

Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out 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 two hundred five years; and Terah died in Haran.

Terah clan had settled in the city of Ur () - likely located in southern Mesopotamia at the mouth of the Euphrates River by the Persian Gulf (in modern Iraq). Modern archaeological research has revealed that his was among the most advanced civilizations in antiquity, with a well-developed legal and political system and a strong economy. Ur was a major trade center, and its archaeological remains are impressive for the sophistication of its buildings and infrastructure. The city was one of the wealthiest in the world at the time Abram was born there.

God worked through Noah’s family to renew the world following the flood. While God had intended for humans to spread out and populate the earth, various clans attempted to stay together and build a large city, including the Tower of Babel (11:4).

God foiled this plan by scattering them (). Generations later, however, major cities like Ur emerged, with advanced political and economic systems and religions with a multitude of deities. Another solution to human rebellion was needed.

After leaving Ur, Terah decides to stop in Harran, a town that later becomes a major stop on the caravan trade network. Harran is located in what is no southern Turkey, near the border of Syria. While this appears to be an indirect route from Ur to Canaan, it reflects the practice of traveling northwest around the Syrian desert and then southwest near the Mediterranean coast. Terah’s death leaves Abram, apparently the oldest of his children, as the head of the clan.

Terah’s death leaves Abram, apparently the oldest of his children, as the head of the clan.

What lessons did you learn from a period of the life when it seemed that you were just marking time at an in-between “Harran”? How did God use that experience to prepare you for now? What parts of the experience are usable by others?

Promise -

Genesis 12:1–4 NRSV

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. 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 the one who curses 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.

As in the days of Noah, God chooses to break the cycle of rebellion by working through an individual: Abram. He is to leave the post-Babel population centers and journey to a new land of promise.

As with Noah following the flood (), Abram’s commission emphasizes God’s ongoing plan to re-create people as a way of preserving a faithful offspring that will undo the work of Satan (3:15). Also as with Noah, God accomplishes this purpose by entering into a covenant, or contract, with an individual of outstanding faithfulness, someone who will pass the promise through the line of his descendants.

The supreme sovereign, God, offers a local tribal leader, Abram, blessings in exchange for obedience to God’s unilateral terms. These terms in the verse before us are that Abram must leave everything - including his country, his people, and even some of his more immediate relatives (his father’s household) - and undertake a journey to an unspecified location. God’s terms suggest that this is a permanent migration; there is no indication that Abram will ever return to his homeland.

God continues by stating the benefits of the covenant. First, the promise that God will produce through Abram a great nation means that Abram will have many descendants. Moreover, they will form a distinct and influential people group. This aspect of God’s promise is notable in that Abram’s wife, Sarai, has been unable to conceive children to this point in time. This problem will become a driving theme in Abram story.

The benefits of the covenant require supernatural intervention, a reality that will further demonstrate God’s power to fulfill his plans and purposes. The term great nation further implies what will be stated explicitly later: Abram is leaving his current homeland to occupy a new territory, Canaan, which will belong to his descendants.

Think about it. God told Abram to leave his land, family, and father’s household for a place he’d never been, never heard of, but one God said, “I will show you”. Further, God said, “I will make you a great nation and will bless you. I will make your name respected, and a you will be a blessing”. This stresses the divine protection Abram will enjoy as he travels and as his influence expands. He and his descendants will be a blessing not only in the political and economic sense but also, and more particularly, through their witness to the faithfulness of the one true God.

More benefits that will proceed from God’s covenant are revealed. The first implies that God will relate to other nations as those nations choose to relate to the nation that is to come from Abram. Those who ally themselves with God’s people will be rewarded for doing so, but those who stand in opposition will be fighting against God.

Another benefit reflects God’s ultimate purpose: all people groups will ultimately be blessed somehow. Abram’s descendants will thus serve to fulfill God’s original plan to create a world that Satan cannot destroy.

In what specific ways can you help your church be a blessing to those outside its walls? What does the connection between Abram’s obedience and his being a blessing have to say about your obligations?

Apparently without hesitation, Abram sets out for Canaan. This trip is the start of a nomadic existence, with Abram moving his family members, servants, and livestock from place to place while receiving no specific indication from God that the land through which he travels will belong to him in his own lifetime.

The author of Hebrews refers to Abraham as a model of faithfulness because he departed without knowing where he was going and lived as an alien in a land not his own.

How should the factor of Abraham’s age when called the affect your reaction to modern culture’s view of “retirement age,” it at all? Why?

On Abraham’s journey from Harran to Canaan, he didn’t have to deal with teenagers isolating themselves from the family adventure or with bored little ones wishing the destination had been reached. He was not troubled by holiday traffic at favorite tourist spots. However, he also did not have the advantages we modern travelers have. Unlike us, he had no maps, paper or electronic. He had neither campgrounds with civilized amenities nor roadside motels offering “all the comforts of home, including Wi-Fi. In fact, he didn’t even know where he was going.

All Abram knew was that God was calling him on the trip of a lifetime. It required that he set aside his fears of the unknown and trust in the wisdom and power of God to lead and protect him and his family.

Conclusion

For Christians, the Old Testament genealogies are significant because they demonstrate how Jesus fits into God’s grand plan of salvation. As we modern readers struggle to pronounce the ancient Hebrew names in these passages, let us not overlook what the Bible authors strive to show. They show us how God’s purposes are fulfilled from creation through the flood through Abraham and Israel and, ultimately, in Christ. That’s the legacy Christians inherit. It is a legacy pointing to eternal life.

What steps can you take to ensure the legacy of Christ in your family?

Prayer

Lord God, thank you for those who brought us to a knowledge and experience of your love and your call. May we pass on to the next generations the stories of those persons within our genealogy who have listened and responded to your call to serve. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.