April 19, 2018 - Day 11 - Genesis 11
I'm writing from my couch in Seattle, WA.
Genesis 11:
I found Genesis 11 pretty interesting!
This chapter opens by telling us that the whole world (remember that they could not have had a concept of the entire earth) had one language and a common speech.
SAY WHAT? Lets back up to Genesis 10 real quick. Verse 4 in chapter 10 tells us that not only did the sons of Javan spread out into their own territories with their own languages, but that the decedents of Shem (10:31) AND Ham (10:20) had their own languages as well. Well, which one is it?
So some people moved eastward and settled in Shinar (Babylonia). They get an idea to build a city with a tower to "the heavens." For whatever reason, primitive people thought "the heavens" were up towards the sky. This is, of course, a fundamental misunderstanding of reality; but we'll cut them some slack because they had no idea.
The Lord then "comes down" to check out the city and the tower. For whatever reason, the Lord didn't like that people were communicating in the same language to build this tower, so the Lord decided to scatter the people and confuse their language so they wouldn't understand each other. Okay, this is totally ridiculous. So God is threatened they are going to build a tower to what? The tallest building in the world is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, and it is 2717 feet tall. Which is real tall, but it sure as shit isn't knocking on heaven's door. In fact, if we continue to go "up," all we do is leave the atmosphere of earth, satellites do this all the time. Certainly a knowledgeable creator of the universe would understand that these Babylonians weren't going to build a tower to heaven.
Perhaps there's a deeper meaning that this metaphor is telling us. What if its just a reminder that our incredible ability to advance technology can sometimes get the best of us? Though the idea that God is separating us because we were beginning to work together is a bit disheartening. However, perhaps this was just a primitive people trying to make sense of different languages and division among people groups.
Fun fact: This tower was called Babel, which sounds like the Hebrew word for confused. This is where we got the English word "babble," as to just speak nonsense.
Next we have a bit of genealogy, but I'll summarize it real simple for you: Shem is Noah's son. Noah (recalling Genesis 5) is nine generations removed from Adam. We went over some of Shem's family in the last chapter, but the important point here is that Abram is 9 generations removed from Shem.
Abram had brothers named Haran and Nahor. Haran became the "father" of Lot. Remember that father isn't necessarily a biological father as we understand it. Abram married Sarai but she was not able to conceive. (for an untold reason)
Here comes some good old fashioned incest! Nahor married Milkah. Milkah was the daughter of Haran. So Nahor married his niece. Gross. Remember that when you're fighting for traditional biblical marriage.
Our chapter closes with Abram and his wife (Sarai) and his dad (Terah) and his nephew (Lot) setting out for Canaan, but settling in Harran, where Terah dies at a cool 205.
Genesis 11:
I found Genesis 11 pretty interesting!
This chapter opens by telling us that the whole world (remember that they could not have had a concept of the entire earth) had one language and a common speech.
SAY WHAT? Lets back up to Genesis 10 real quick. Verse 4 in chapter 10 tells us that not only did the sons of Javan spread out into their own territories with their own languages, but that the decedents of Shem (10:31) AND Ham (10:20) had their own languages as well. Well, which one is it?
So some people moved eastward and settled in Shinar (Babylonia). They get an idea to build a city with a tower to "the heavens." For whatever reason, primitive people thought "the heavens" were up towards the sky. This is, of course, a fundamental misunderstanding of reality; but we'll cut them some slack because they had no idea.
The Lord then "comes down" to check out the city and the tower. For whatever reason, the Lord didn't like that people were communicating in the same language to build this tower, so the Lord decided to scatter the people and confuse their language so they wouldn't understand each other. Okay, this is totally ridiculous. So God is threatened they are going to build a tower to what? The tallest building in the world is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, and it is 2717 feet tall. Which is real tall, but it sure as shit isn't knocking on heaven's door. In fact, if we continue to go "up," all we do is leave the atmosphere of earth, satellites do this all the time. Certainly a knowledgeable creator of the universe would understand that these Babylonians weren't going to build a tower to heaven.
Perhaps there's a deeper meaning that this metaphor is telling us. What if its just a reminder that our incredible ability to advance technology can sometimes get the best of us? Though the idea that God is separating us because we were beginning to work together is a bit disheartening. However, perhaps this was just a primitive people trying to make sense of different languages and division among people groups.
Fun fact: This tower was called Babel, which sounds like the Hebrew word for confused. This is where we got the English word "babble," as to just speak nonsense.
Next we have a bit of genealogy, but I'll summarize it real simple for you: Shem is Noah's son. Noah (recalling Genesis 5) is nine generations removed from Adam. We went over some of Shem's family in the last chapter, but the important point here is that Abram is 9 generations removed from Shem.
Abram had brothers named Haran and Nahor. Haran became the "father" of Lot. Remember that father isn't necessarily a biological father as we understand it. Abram married Sarai but she was not able to conceive. (for an untold reason)
Here comes some good old fashioned incest! Nahor married Milkah. Milkah was the daughter of Haran. So Nahor married his niece. Gross. Remember that when you're fighting for traditional biblical marriage.
Our chapter closes with Abram and his wife (Sarai) and his dad (Terah) and his nephew (Lot) setting out for Canaan, but settling in Harran, where Terah dies at a cool 205.
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