05.016. Chapter 11
Instead of dispersing over the earth, as God intended, men built a city and a tower in Shinar (Babylon). They said, “… let us build us a city, and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth” (Genesis 11:4). So it was a policy of pride (to make a name for themselves) and defiance (to avoid being scattered). To us the tower may also picture fallen man’s ceaseless effort to reach heaven by his own works instead of receiving salvation as a free gift of grace.
God judged the people by confounding their language. This was the beginning of the many different languages which we have in the world today. Pentecost (Acts 2:1-11) was the reverse of Babel in the sense that every man heard the wonderful works of God in his own language.
Genesis 11:10-32 trace the line of Shem to Abram. Thus the historical record narrows from the human race to one branch of that race (the Semites) and then to one man (Abram), who becomes the head of the Hebrew nation. The rest of the Old Testament is largely a history of this nation.
Eber (Genesis 11:16-17) may be the name from which the word Hebrew comes. Hebrew means “to pass over” and may suggest crossing over the River Euphrates from Mesopotamia to Canaan.
Abram was a mighty man of faith and one of the most important men in history. Three world religions venerate him. He is mentioned in sixteen books of the Old Testament and eleven books of the New Testament. His name means “exalted father” or, as Abraham, “father of a great multitude.”
There is a mathematical problem involving the ages of Terah and Abram, and especially concerning Abram’s age when he left Haran. In Genesis 11:26 we read that Terah lived 70 years and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Abram was 75 when he left Haran (Genesis 12:4). But Acts 7:4 says that Abram left Haran after his father died, and Genesis 11:32 says that Terah died when he was 205. So Abram must have been 205 minus 70 or 135 when he left Haran, and not 75 (Genesis 12:4).
There are several possible answers to the dilemma. First, when we read “Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran,” we do not know which son was born first, or how many years there were between the sons. Abram could have been the youngest, born 60 years after the first (but named first because he was the progenitor of the Messiah). “Another [possible solution] is to follow the Samaritan text, which gives Terah’s age as 145 at death.”7
Ur of the Chaldees (Genesis 11:31), in Mesopotamia, was a center of pagan idolatry. Terah and his family traveled northwest to Haran, en route to the land of Canaan.