Treasures New and Old

Genesis: Chapter Eleven: Abraham’s Antecedents

This month we will continue into Chapter 11 of Genesis and take a deep dive into the Shem to Abraham generations.

Outline Reminder:

1. One language in the world (vs. 1-4)
   
2. The confusion of tongues/languages (vs. 5-9)
3. The generations from Seth to Abraham (vs. 10-32)

Genesis 11:27-32:

Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begot Lot. And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees. And Abram and Nahor took them 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 the father of Iscah. But Sarai was barren; she had no child. And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there. And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran.

Observations:

Terah’s Immediate Family Tree

(Note the colors denoting who marred whom)

• Terah

• • Sarai (different mother)
  • Abram

• • • Ishmael
    • Issac

• • • • Esau
      • Jacob

• • Haran

• • • Lot
    • Milcah (Nahor’s wife)
    • Iscah

• • Nahor and Milcah (see Genesis 22:20-24)

• • • Huz
    • Buz
    • Kemuel

• • • • Aram

• • • Chesed
    • Hazo
    • Pildash
    • Jidlaph
    • Bethuel

• • • • Laban

• • • • • Leah
        • Rachel

• • • • Rebekah

• • Nahor and Reumah

• • • Tebah
    • Gaham
    • Thalhash
    • Maachah

• Terah had more than one wife

• Sarai was Abram’s half sister

Genesis 20:12: (Abram speaking) “And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.”

• Nahor married his niece, Milcah

Lot’s Lot in Life (pun intended!)

• • Abram was Lot’s uncle
  • Lot was Abram’s nephew
  • Sarai was Lot’s aunt by blood
  • Lot was Sarai’s nephew
  • Sarai was also Lot’s aunt by marriage
  • Milcah was Lot’s sister
  • Milcah was also Lot’s aunt by marriage
  • No wonder Lot was messed up later in life! (Don’t mind this comment – just my opinion)

• Terah and family lived in the Ur of the Chaldeans area near the Persian Sea – called the Persian Gulf today – in what is the southernmost “finger” of modern Iraq or possibly just inside Kuwait. (See last month’s article.)

• Terah moved his family towards Canaan along the Euphrates River.

• Terah only made it as far as Haran. Note that is not a direct route to Canaan. It is believed that the area between the river and the coast was already becoming desert so following the river route was a better option. They would then eventually come south along the coast to get to Canaan from Haran.

• It is assumed that Terah had much sheep, goats, and cattle (Genesis 13:5: “. . . flocks, herds, and tents.”) As well as servants because Abram and Lot had much wealth and peoples to divide between themselves later on (Genesis 13:5-12). This would explain why the movement towards Canaan was slow and necessitated a route that required the band to be close to water (rivers).

• Not all of Terah’s family left Ur

• • Haran died in Ur before Terah left.
  • Only Terah (and wives?), Abram and Sarai, Lot (and his wife?) an any servants they may have had at this time.
  • Who stayed behind? Nahor and his wife Milcah and family, and Iscah (and his wife and family?).

• Nahor was named after his grandfather.

Who is Laban?

Genesis 24:29: “And Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban: and Laban ran out unto the man, unto the well.”

• See Genesis 29: Laban’s father, Bethuel, was the son of Nahor, Abraham’s older brother. In addition, Laban was thrice related by marriage to Abraham’s family: his sister, Rebecca, married Isaac, and his two daughters, Leah and Rachel, both married Jacob. Thus:

• • Laban was Abraham’s great-nephew
  • Laban was Isaac’s 2nd cousin
  • Laban was Isaac’s brother-in-law
  • Laban was Jacob’s uncle
  • Laban was Jacob’s father-in-law
  • Issac was father -in-law to his two 3rd cousins, Leah and Rachel

F.1 Abraham’s Journey to Canaan

Maranatha!

Bro. Joe

Shemur. (2023). Abrham’s Journey (en).svg. [map] Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Abraham%27s_Journey_(en).svg