The book of the generations of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. (Matt. 1:1)

When Noah and his sons stepped out of the ark onto the ground that God had recently dried, God commanded them to “be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth” (Gen. 9:1). We know that the first child born after the Flood came at least within the first two years (Gen. 11:10), and, given the (still) relatively long life spans of these people, it is reasonable to believe that they were able to produce children for many years. Considering for instance the fact that Noah probably lived a few years after the birth of Abraham––his 8th-great-grandson––it isn’t all that difficult to see how the earth could become repopulated as quickly as it was. 

In this portion of the book of beginnings, we find a few more beginnings. We find the beginning of language diversification in God’s confusion of man’s language at Babel. It is probably no coincidence that our English word “babble” means “to utter meaningless and unintelligible sounds.” Today there are nearly 7,000 different languages spoken in the world (www.wycliff.org/About/statistics.aspx). While many of these can be traced back to a common mother language, it is quite clear that there are several distinct families of languages with no common origin of any kind. These language families were either developed entirely independently of one another in isolated parts of the world, or else they had they origins right here at Babel. One of the greatest challenges today in carrying the gospel to the lost of the world lies in overcoming these boundaries of communication between men of different languages. 

We also find the beginning of the Hebrew nation of Israel and a significant portion of the genealogical line that is recounted in the first chapter of Matthew’s gospel and the third chapter of Luke’s. Here we meet Abram (later Abraham), the father of the nation of Israel, who is about to be called from his homeland into a land where he will wander as a stranger for the final 100 years of his life. To this man God would declare the protoevangelium (Gal. 3:8), telling him that “in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 12:3). Thus begins a nation of people to whom God Himself would appear in fleshly form to save the world from their sins. 

After reading the text listed below, see if you can answer the following questions. 

Non-trivial Questions (Genesis 10:1–11:32) 

1. Who earned for himself the epitaph “the mighty hunter before the LORD?”
2. The Jebusites, Amorites, Girgasites, and Hivites were descendents of whom?
3. What did the men determine to build in the plain of Shinar?
4. What were the names of Terah’s three sons?
5. Which of Terah’s sons died in Ur of the Chaldees?
6. What name was given to the place into which Terah and his family moved?