Genesis Genealogy: Did You Know
There are some very interesting facts that come to light when looking at the genealogy in Genesis. Did you know that Shem was still alive at the time of Babel? And so was Noah!
I’m taking a departure from digging into a story today. While I was looking at Babel yesterday, I was wondering how long after the flood it was. I noted that there had been several generations, but didn’t know the years.
Right after the story of Babel, we are given another look at Shem’s descendants. This time, we are given the age they had specific children and how long they lived after that event. This allowed me to put together a timeline for Babel.
We are told in Genesis 10:25 that the earth was divided in the days of Peleg; one of the descendants of Shem. Since we are given his father’s age at the time of his birth (and all the ages prior to that), we see that Babel happened between 101 and 340 years after the flood. We know this range because we are told that Babel happened in Peleg’s lifetime. Noah lived 10 years PAST Peleg, so Noah saw Babel. ALL of those mentioned in Shem’s genealogy were alive at the time of Babel.
After looking back at Babel, I followed Shem’s line down through Abram. I was curious about when Terah left for Canaan. We see that Terah was 70 when he had Abram. I’m assuming Abram was the oldest of the three brothers listed. We are not told how old Haran was when he had Lot, but we see that Lot was around when Terah set out for Canaan. Most of the ages listed for having a child are in the 30’s, so I would expect at least 30 more years to have passed before Lot was born.
This addition would make Terah around 100 years old. Terah LEFT ALL his family behind, except Abram, Sari, and Lot. Even his third son Nahor and his wife stayed behind. Did you know that NOAH was still alive at the time Terah set out for Canaan?
We are not told how old Lot was when Terah set out for Canaan. He may have been older than an infant because Lot and Abram parted ways later on in Canaan because their companies were too large to stay together. But we don’t know how many years this ‘small group’ stayed in Haran. We do know that Abram was 75 when he left Terah in Haran and set out for Canaan with Lot in tow. This would make Terah 145 years old when Abram left. Terah had 60 more years left in his life when Abram followed God’s call.
It took another 25 years after being called by God before Abram/Abraham had Issac. Did you know that Shem, Arpachshad, Shelah, Eber and Serug were alive when Issac was born? Did you also know that ALL of those listed in Shem’s genealogy were alive at the time Abram was born, including Noah! Noah missed Issac’s birth by 42 years. He may have been alive when Terah set out for Canaan, but he missed Abram setting out by 17 years.
I find it very interesting to see who made it through what. I know the people had been scattered far and wide after the incident at Babel but how many grandparents did Terah pull his children away from? Was Shem close enough to visit? How about Noah? Did the men in Shem’s line bring their children to sit at Noah’s feet and hear his stories?
Another question I have is, did Terah stay in Haran after Abram left or did he return to Ur where his other son was? What made Terah leave Nahor in Ur to begin with? Did Nahor refuse to come or was he not invited on this trip?
I like getting to chart things out like this. It brings up a LOT of questions as well as answering many others. I think God gave me a spirit of curiosity for times just like this. I’m feeling pulled to dive into the story of Terah leaving Ur. Maybe we will go there tomorrow.
Father God, thank You for giving me a spirit of curiosity. NOT a spirit of doubt. I LOVE looking a little deeper in Your word to find the nuggets. I know I made this chart before, but I really didn’t pay that much attention to these details. Thank You for taking me back to it so I could find things You had hidden there. KEEP me digging Father! I don’t want to EVER feel that I have exhausted the depths of Your word. I guess I’m taking another walk with You in Your word again.
Lead Father, for Your servant is waiting. Also, keep pointing out the wonders for this little child to investigate!
