< Genesis 11 >

The instruction of God to Noah’s family was to “be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth”, for it was his will that the earth be fully inhabited (Matthew 5:5).Matthew 5:5XWaiting for response However, as the population grew the people developed a determination to resist his will and to remain concentrated in the same area of the earth. To this end they built themselves a city and a tower which also exalted themselves instead of the LORD. Therefore God intervened and, by confounding their language, dispersed them over the face of the earth.

LORD in capital letters is God's name in the original. This is not God himself but a manifestation of God, in those days it would have been an angel.

Before the confusion of tongues all spoke the same language and God intends to restore this arrangement in the future Zephaniah 3:9.Zephaniah 3:9XWaiting for response The original tongue is not identified but it was probably Hebrew as this is the language of his own people, and it is surely significant to those who watch the outworking of God’s purpose in the earth that with the rebirth of Israel as a State among the nations as prophesied, after centuries of being only a dead classical language, Hebrew is once more a living language!

Their city in the land of Shinar was called Babel, meaning confusion - this is the root of the name Babylon which became a great city in the same place and was responsible, in 605 BC, for the overthrow of God’s kingdom and people of Israel. It also became the symbol later in the Bible representing confusion of religious thought and apostasy from God’s truth Revelation 14:8,Revelation 14:8XWaiting for response Revelation 16:19,Revelation 16:19XWaiting for response Revelation 17:5Revelation 17:5XWaiting for response

5th of 11 appearances in Genesis of "the generations of" marking the beginning of a new section. There are 12 sections, this is the sixth section: the generations of Shem.

The genealogy of Noah’s son Shem through the generations to Abraham. Many genealogies are given in the Bible, the most important being those which trace the line from Adam to Jesus, of which this genealogy is a part, because it proves vital relationships which exist between Christ and those to whom God made his promises, especially Abraham.

The word Hebrew is derived from Eber. So the Hebrews were descendants of Eber, including Abraham.

6th of 11 appearances in Genesis of "the generations of" marking the beginning of a new section. There are 12 sections, this is the seventh section: the generations of Terah.

Abraham, first called Abram, lived with his father and family in the civilised and cultured city of Ur of the Chaldees, near the mouth of the River Euphrates at the head of the Persian Gulf. Here Abram received a call from God to leave his own city and go to another land which God would show him, and Abram obeyed with far reaching results, as the following chapters and the rest of the Bible reveal.