Genesis 10-12

I know that genealogies might seem boring, but there are things there that can show us interesting things. For one, the sons (or children) of Japheth have some interesting names in there. One of the sons is named Tarshish – important name to the story of Jonah and at least one of the Old Testament kings. Two other children become the offspring to the Kittim and Dodanim – which in Hebrew shows us that they are complete nations. The suffix "-im" means plural in Hebrew and shows us that they are a whole people group. Also we find out that he is the father of all sea-faring peoples. We know that they settle from Philistia, parts of Egypt and up to Greece and elsewhere around the Mediterranean. Ham's offspring are the peoples of the south (read Africa) and make up the nations of Egypt and Cush most famously. We also learn that Cush's child, Nimrod starts the nation of Babylon by consolidating some of its great cities and building Nineveh. All the sons of Shem are the semitic people – the people of Eber. This is the tribe that will spawn Abram and the Hebrew nation – the Jewish people. The Lord told all the people to spread out and multiply. They chose not to do so and desire to build a city to show their greatness in Babylon.

Verse 11:16 drives me just as nuts as you, promise. I don't think God would ever feel threatened by humans, but the translation is pretty clear.

Chapter 12 introduces us to the father of the nation that becomes the hope of the world – Abram. We will be dealing with Him over the next few days, but if we were going in chronological order, Job would fit in right here. Notice that Abram is 75 and is told to leave his home. However, what is interesting is that he was already going to settle in Canaan with his dad in chapter 11 but they settle short of where they were meant to go. Now Abram is to finish the journey and follow God's call. He will be a blessing to all peoples and this is a major narrative detail that many of us miss – Abram was to be the hope of the world from the very beginning. Why you might ask? God had chosen the tiny nation of Israel (which hasn't been formed or even named yet) to be the nation that would birth the Messiah. God would use them to bring salvation back to earth.