Era 1 Episode 12-Genesis 11:1-32
The Bible Breakthrough, Era1, Episode 12 - In this Episode we read about why the people were scattered; the Tower of Babel; the descendants from Shem to Abraham, and the family of Terah. Pastor Dave and Scott discover how different languages became into existence, and discuss the differences between the sons of God and the sons of man.
Era 1, Episode 12 The Bible Breakthrough Show Notes
Genesis 11:1-32
The Tower of Babel
At one time all the people of the world spoke the same language and used the same words. 2 As the people migrated to the east, they found a plain in the land of Babylonia and settled there. 3 They began saying to each other, “Let’s make bricks and harden them with fire.” (In this region bricks were used instead of stone, and tar was used for mortar.) 4 Then they said, “Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world.” 5 But the Lord came down to look at the city and the tower the people were building. 6 “Look!” he said. “The people are united, and they all speak the same language. After this, nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them! 7 Come, let’s go down and confuse the people with different languages. Then they won’t be able to understand each other.” 8 In that way, the Lord scattered them all over the world, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why the city was called Babel, because that is where the Lord confused the people with different languages. In this way he scattered them all over the world.
The Line of Descent from Shem to Abram
10 This is the account of Shem’s family. Two years after the great flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arphaxad. 11 After the birth of Arphaxad, Shem lived another 500 years and had other sons and daughters. 12 When Arphaxad was 35 years old, he became the father of Shelah. 13 After the birth of Shelah, Arphaxad lived another 403 years and had other sons and daughters. 14 When Shelah was 30 years old, he became the father of Eber. 15 After the birth of Eber, Shelah lived another 403 years and had other sons and daughters. 16 When Eber was 34 years old, he became the father of Peleg. 17 After the birth of Peleg, Eber lived another 430 years and had other sons and daughters. 18 When Peleg was 30 years old, he became the father of Reu. 19 After the birth of Reu, Peleg lived another 209 years and had other sons and daughters. 20 When Reu was 32 years old, he became the father of Serug. 21 After the birth of Serug, Reu lived another 207 years and had other sons and daughters. 22 When Serug was 30 years old, he became the father of Nahor. 23 After the birth of Nahor, Serug lived another 200 years and had other sons and daughters. 24 When Nahor was 29 years old, he became the father of Terah. 25 After the birth of Terah, Nahor lived another 119 years and had other sons and daughters. 26 After Terah was 70 years old, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
The Family of Terah
27 This is the account of Terah’s family. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran was the father of Lot. 28 But Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, the land of his birth, while his father, Terah, was still living. 29 Meanwhile, Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah. (Milcah and her sister Iscah were daughters of Nahor’s brother Haran.) 30 But Sarai was unable to become pregnant and had no children. 31 One day Terah took his son Abram, his daughter-in-law Sarai (his son Abram’s wife), and his grandson Lot (his son Haran’s child) and moved away from Ur of the Chaldeans. He was headed for the land of Canaan, but they stopped at Haran and settled there. 32 Terah lived for 205 years and died while still in Haran.
I. Facts:
- Sons of God – Religious rather than secular, the recorded ancestry of the professors of faith
- Sons of men – Secular rather than religious – they treated that which was sacred with irreverence or disrespect
The old distinction between the sons of God and the sons of men survived the flood, and now appeared again, when men began to multiply according to this distinction we have, in this chapter
A. The dispersion of the sons of men at Babel
a. Their presumptuous provoking design, which was to build a city and a tower
b. The righteous judgment of God upon them in disappointing their design, by confounding their language, and so scattering them
B. The pedigree of the sons of God down to Abraham, with a general account of his family, and removal out of his native country
II. Key Points:
- In Genesis 9:1, God blessed Noah and his sons and told them to:
A. Be fruitful and multiply
B. Fill the earth
2. Everyone spoke the same language and they all agreed to build a great city for themselves with a tower that reaches the sky.
A. This revealed the condition of their heart:
Thoughts of reflection: The blessing of Genesis 9:1 came with a command. As we read today’s Scripture, we can see that the people chose to do what they wanted as opposed to what they were told to do
i. So, as God looks into your heart, what does he see?
· Does He see how pride has led you to chase your own desires instead of His?
· Do you sometimes think you are wiser than God based on decisions you have made in your recent past?
· Do you doubt God’s promises are for you?
ii. What blessings are you missing out on because of your disobedience?
Thoughts of reflection: God observed what the people in Babylon were doing, and before judging them, He came to inspect it firsthand
· Do you believe God is present, observing what you are doing?
i. What areas of your life do you know are out of alignment with the will of God?
ii. Are you willing to make changes to line up with God’s will for your life?
iii. Do you trust He will render fair judgement?
3. Because they couldn’t understand each other
A. They stopped building
B. They began to move on, scattering all over the world as God had commanded them.
4. The genealogy from Shem leads to the introduction of Abram (Abraham), the friend of God, and his wife Sarai
5. Lifespans begin to diminish gradually from Shem (600) then to 500, and then 200 years
6. Abram leaves Ur (Babylon) with his father Terah, nephew Lot, and the rest of his family in an act of (partial) obedience. He was supposed to leave alone and go to Canaan, but only got as far as Haran (Charran) where they stayed and settled
7. Terah died in Haran
8. An interesting thought:
A. The name Terah means, “delay”
B. The name Haran means “parched, barren”
C. When Abram was in partial obedience
i. Delay and barrenness characterized his life
D. When we delay in drawing close to God
i. We also experience delay and barrenness
Thoughts of reflection: If you are you experiencing delay or barrenness in any aspect of your life
· Are you willing to bring this to God and ask Him about it?
· Are you willing to make adjustments to satisfy God?
· Do you believe God’s promises over you?
III. Application
- I want to encourage you to examine your life and ask God to reveal areas that are out of alignment
- Hopefully you can see that God keeps his word. He will accomplish His will for you, but you must be willing to surrender to Him. If you do, you will begin to see an increase in faith as you learn to trust Him
Transcript
00;00;03;19 - 00;00;23;22
Voiceover
You are listening to the Bible Breakthrough with Pastor David Engman and Scott Brekke. In this study, we will break down the Bible from B.C to A.D. chronologically while offering historical context and real-life application for today. This series is brought to you by the Breakthrough Media Network.
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Pastor Dave
Hi, my name is Pastor Dave Engman, and this is my co-host, Scott.
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Scott
Hi, everybody.
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Pastor Dave
And we want to welcome you to the Bible Breakthrough, and we want to thank you for joining us. Ultimately, our goal is to lead you into a deeper, more intimate relationship with Jesus.
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Scott
And the show notes will be linked in the description of this video.
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Pastor Dave
through:00;01;13;14 - 00;01;23;29
Scott
The questions that you should be considering as you listen and just basically be asking yourself, what does this mean and how can I apply what I'm learning to my life today?
00;01;24;24 - 00;01;59;10
Pastor Dave
Before we open the Bible and read, Let's Pray. Lord, your word teaches that the Holy Spirit will lead us and guide us into all truth. Well, Father, that is our intention today that we would read the Word that your Holy Spirit would lead us and guide us and teach us and reveal to us the things that are important for the moment of our life in this here and now. So, bless us with your presence as we open your word. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
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Scott
Amen!
00;02;03;19 - 00;02;13;23
Pastor Dave
All right, so let's open up the Bible. As Scott reads the passage Genesis 11:1-32.
00;02;14;18 - 00;02;43;15
Scott
All right! The Tower of Babel at one time, all the people of the world spoke the same language and used the same words. As the people migrated to the East, they found a plain in the land of Babylonia and settled there. They began saying to each other, “Let's make bricks and harden them with fire.” In this region, bricks were used instead of stone, and tar was used for mortar.
00;02;44;03 - 00;03;10;09
Scott
Then they said, Come, let's build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world. But the Lord came down to look at the city and the tower the people were building. “Look,” he said, “the people are united, and they all speak the same language.
00;03;10;22 - 00;03;38;29
Scott
After this, nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them. Come, let's go down and confuse the people with different languages. Then they won't be able to understand each other.” In that way, the Lord scattered them all over the world, and they stopped the building the city. That is why the city was called Babel, because that is where the Lord confused the people with different languages.
00;03;39;10 - 00;04;08;13
Scott
In this way, he scattered them all over the world. This is the account of Shem’s family. Two years after the Great Flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arphaxad. After the birth of Arphaxad Shem lived another 500 years and had other sons and daughters. When Arphaxad was 35 years old, he became the father of Shelah.
00;04;09;06 - 00;04;48;06
Scott
After the birth of Shelah, Arphaxad lived another 403 years and had other sons and daughters. When Shelah was 30 years old, he became the father of Eber. After the birth of Eber, Shelah lived another 403 years and had other sons and daughters. When Eber was 34 years old, he became the father of Peleg. After the birth of Peleg, Eber lived another 430 years and had other sons and daughters. When Peleg was 30 years old, he became the father of Reu.
00;04;48;29 - 00;05;16;12
Scott
After the birth of Reu, Peleg lived another 209 years and had other sons and daughters. When Reu was 32 years old, he became the father of Serug. After the birth of Serug, Reu lived another 207 years and had two other sons and daughters. When Serug was 30 years old, he became the father of Nahor. After the birth of Nahor
00;05;16;14 - 00;05;51;19
Scott
Serug lived another 200 years and had other sons and daughters. When Nahor was 29 years old, he became the father of Terah. After the birth of Terah, Nahor lived another 119 years, and had other sons and daughters. After Terah was 70 years old, he became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. This is the account of Terah’s family. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran, and Haran was the father of Lot.
00;05;52;07 - 00;06;25;05
Scott
But Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, the land of his birth, while his father Terah was still living. Meanwhile, Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah. (Milcah and her sister Iscah were daughters of Nahor’s brother Haran). But Sarai was unable to become pregnant and had no children.
00;06;25;05 - 00;06;58;05
Scott
One day, Terah took his son Abram, his daughter in law, Sarai, (his son Abram's wife), and his grandson Lot (his son, Haran's child), and moved away from Ur of the Chaldeans. He was headed for the land of Canaan, but he stopped at Haran and settled there. Terah lived for 205 years and died while still in Haran. All right!
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Scott
I got through it…(laughter) I got through it!
00;07;00;10 - 00;07;03;19
Pastor Dave
Well done! Those are hard names, especially when I used to saying them.
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Scott
They all seem confusing to me, but… well, let's move into the facts, Pastor. What do you see for the facts here?
00;07;15;08 - 00;07;19;18
Pastor Dave
Well… we had talked about this in the previous episode, a number of episodes ago, but…
00;07;20;10 - 00;07;34;18
Pastor Dave
I've done some time just kind of researching and studying, trying to understand a few things. Number one, Sons of God versus Sons of Men. OK. So sons of God were religious rather than secular.
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Scott
Mm hmm.
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Pastor Dave
That would be people who are religious rather than secular. Sons of God would have recorded the ancestry. They would have also been the professors of faith. OK? So, sons of God would have been that holy seed that we would see throughout the ancestors and through the genealogies.
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Pastor Dave
Sons of Men were secular, rather than religious. I thought that was interesting. They treated that which was sacred with irreverence or disrespect.
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Scott
Yup.
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Pastor Dave
(pause) So, the old distinction between the sons of God and the sons of men actually survived the flood. And now we see it appear again when men begin to multiply according to this distinction. And so, this is what we see in this chapter. The dispersion of the sons of men at battle, where we have the presumptuous provoking design, which was to build a city and a tower.
00;08;51;05 - 00;09;04;22
Pastor Dave
And it was also the righteous judgment of God upon them in disappointing their design, essentially, by confounding their language. And so, scattering them, which was his instruction to them.
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Scott
Yup! So, are you saying that there's… at this time it's just the sons of men that are building this city and the tower? Or are the sons of God intermingled with them as well?
00;09;18;03 - 00;09;36;04
Pastor Dave
Well, I mean, certainly there may have been some sons of God that were intermingled with them, but it was generally the move… once they started to populate and then started to move, they... Well, we'll get into that.
00;09;36;23 - 00;09;57;27
Pastor Dave
So, the second point is, is the pedigree of the sons of God show us from Shem to Abraham, or Abram, with the general account of his family and the removal out of his native country. So, here's some key points I just thought I'd bring up in regard to this particular discussion.
00;10;00;14 - 00;10;23;09
Pastor Dave
In Genesis 9:1, God blessed Noah and his sons, and he told them to be fruitful and he told them to multiply. (long pause) What we have here is God giving a blessing that also contained a command.
00;10;25;13 - 00;10;25;25
Scott
Hmm!
00;10;26;20 - 00;11;13;22
Pastor Dave
All right? And everyone, of course, spoke the same language, and they all agreed then to build a great city for themselves with a tower that would reach the sky. Now, this revealed the condition of their heart. Yeah. And we know from earlier, in various episodes that we've conducted, that God looks into the heart of man. At one point, he only found one righteous among them that would have been of course, Noah. Before him would have been Enoch. So, in revealing the condition of their heart, they… we can see that they were absolutely self-centered in this particular display or action. In other words, they were pride filled and lacking humility.
will.
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Pastor Dave
And it indicated… it's indicated here by their desire to be famous.
00;11;18;26 - 00;11;19;04
Scott
Yeah.
00;11;20;06 - 00;11;30;13
Pastor Dave
They were also disobedient, ignoring God's command to scatter and to fill the earth, which was indicated here, by their desire not to scatter all over the world.
00;11;31;17 - 00;11;58;09
Pastor Dave
They were fools, which is indicated here, as we just read, by the fact that they thought that essentially, they were wiser than God or Noah. And then finally they were faithless, which is indicated by the fact that they didn't believe God would never flood the earth again. Thereby they built this waterproof building to the heavens. Now, before I get into the question here, I want to run to you… or run at you… I want to say this;
00;11;59;01 - 00;12;16;00
Pastor Dave
It was at that time that they built this structure, and they used a specific kind of stone that they made as we read. Yeah. They formed brick and then they used like Noah did, when he built the Ark. They essentially used a form of tar which would have made this thing waterproof.
00;12;16;08 - 00;12;17;00
Scott
Yeah.
00;12;17;00 - 00;12;35;14
Pastor Dave
The problem they had was, is they weren't forward enough thinking to think that this was a great place to start because where they built Babylon, it was flat, and it was basically at sea level. I mean, if they really wanted to get to the heavens, they would have started three or four, 10,000 feet up in the mountains and found an area to do it.
00;12;37;00 - 00;12;58;18
Pastor Dave
So, with that, I want to just ask a question for you. OK. So I'm going to start it with this statement, the blessings of Genesis 9:1, which is not a part of the reading today, but we read last time came with that command. And as we read today’s scripture, we can see that the people choose to do what they wanted to do as opposed to what they were told to do.
00;12;59;06 - 00;13;16;00
Pastor Dave
So as God looks into your heart, or maybe even for our audience, this is something for you to consider. But Scott, as God looks in your heart, what does he see? Does he see pride, or does he see how pride as led you to chase your own desires instead of his?
00;13;16;16 - 00;13;17;11
Scott
Yeah.
00;13;17;28 - 00;13;22;27
Pastor Dave
I mean , you know, I mean, I think this is a reflection question, not necessarily do to be answered.
00;13;22;28 - 00;13;23;20
Scott
No, I know.
00;13;25;09 - 00;13;42;28
Pastor Dave
You know, this is important… because I think God does look into the heart, as we've seen multiple times, and sees things. So, you know, does he see pride? And has pride lead us to chase after our own desires? Instead of the desires that God has for us.
00;13;43;07 - 00;14;17;17
Scott
Yeah, well, I'll answer that. Sure. So, I think at a part and point in my life there was that… that, I don't know if I would say build a name for myself, but just like becoming my own was almost recognizes… as being my own self-dependent god. Like building myself up with all the things of this life had to offer. And I was like, well, if I can be successful in these things, then I'll just go on being a good person and, you know, basically, essentially providing for myself, also not relying on the Lord.
00;14;17;23 - 00;14;38;20
Scott
So, but yeah, there was, I think, a time in my life where, where I had set aside God and just tried to do things my own will, my own way. So, putting them off to the side and feeling like I could secure for myself kind of like these people, right? Or just going to just in case God's not going to do it.
00;14;38;28 - 00;14;46;27
Scott
I'll build this tower and make it for myself. So, finding security in my own, even in my own, my own hands like working with my own hands. So…
00;14;47;13 - 00;15;08;08
Pastor Dave
So, based on that, I mean, can you point to, or maybe illustrate an example or two of decisions that you've made in your recent past where you would attribute your own ability to reason or to think, as that as wiser, maybe than God, or anyone else?
00;15;08;28 - 00;16;03;25
Scott
Well, I think the thing that stood out to me before I came to know Christ was just my self-reliant on my own, my own self. So, and it wasn't ever just trusting in him completely. So, I would just do life without ever bringing things to God, without ever… even really even acknowledging that he was here. But just within my own story, it was just so self-centered, and I always thought about myself. So, I would just say, like, for one thing that really stands out was, you know, before I came on to the ministry and just my job, you know, my job was something that… sure God had worked in, but it was more of like my own self. Like, I’d go to work and make my own money and that would be the thing that would provide for my family.
00;16;03;25 - 00;16;25;03
Scott
So not saying that was sinful, but it was just something that I felt like it was on my responsibility. Because the Bible goes on to say, like, God's the one to provide everything for you. Don't worry about your daily things. Don't worry about tomorrow. So, God is the one who will provide for everything that I needed.
00;16;25;03 - 00;16;50;24
Scott
So, I'm just saying it felt like that was one aspect of my life I was just like, OK, God, I got this… I'm build my own little tower here. I don't need you for that. I don't need you for these everyday things. But really, I do! I need even… even have come to really start to notice that you know, even every single breath is a gift from the Lord. So, I need him for… to do everything in my life.
00;16;51;11 - 00;17;07;11
Pastor Dave
Do you have… has there ever been a point in your life that you can look back on and point to that would show where you doubted God's promises? For you? I mean, have you ever doubted God's promises for you?
00;17;08;07 - 00;17;10;06
Scott
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely!
00;17;12;08 - 00;17;38;04
Scott
I’m trying to think of something that stands out of doubting. I think more of the word doubt, more of like trusting that he'll… he's going to take care of me. I mean, it says in his word that he's going to provide for the birds of the air and how much more precious am I than that? So, I've doubted that. To think, well, you know, is God really going to take care of me in this aspect?
00;17;38;19 - 00;17;57;14
Scott
Because it feels like I could do that on my own! But really, he wants for me to be able to release that to him because we want to involve the Lord in all aspects of our life, not just in the ones that we get… like, we think we should choose to have them… like, oh, I need help in this area, Lord, so help me here, but not in here… I'm good there. So…
00;17;57;28 - 00;18;31;21
Pastor Dave
So, you know, in the story we just read here, what we see is… I guess we would say the sons of men… understanding that they're to receive in the blessing of multiplying, filling the earth… and going and filling the earth! And so, right out of the chutes they get not too far away from where they started, and they decided, you know what? There’s safety in numbers, we all speak this language…
00;18;31;21 - 00;18;32;06
Scott
Let's stay here!
00;18;32;07 - 00;18;47;26
Pastor Dave
Let's stay here, build a city, a big monument to ourselves. Right? So, here's a real question and maybe not one to be answered, but one for you are listening audience to ponder… what blessings are you missing out on because of your disobedience?
00;18;49;02 - 00;18;49;11
Scott
Hmm.
00;18;49;28 - 00;18;58;13
Pastor Dave
They missed out on a great blessing. They went and spent a ton of time, worked really hard, got a city started.
00;18;58;21 - 00;18;59;00
Scott
Yeah.
00;18;59;17 - 00;19;07;11
Pastor Dave
God came down and inspected what they were doing because he saw what they were doing. But he's like, I'm going to… before I render judgment, I'm going to come down and inspect it.
00;19;07;22 - 00;19;07;25
Scott
Yup.
00;19;08;09 - 00;19;32;14
Pastor Dave
And so that's the that's an inkling, if you will, or some insight into the way God works. You know, he sees what's going on, but then he draws close to inspect. And then as a result of that inspection, he renders judgment. And so, when he rendered judgment in this case, he scrambled or confused the language so they couldn't communicate anymore.
00;19;32;18 - 00;19;33;02
Scott
I mean, if you…
00;19;33;14 - 00;19;34;14
Pastor Dave
Imagine what that would be like!
00;19;34;14 - 00;19;56;24
Scott
That's what I was going to say. Can you imagine… be like everybody within, you know, the state of Minnesota speaking all the same language and then one day, all of a sudden people just started speaking all these different languages? Just like… now I can't communicate with you! Well, how am I supposed to… I can only communicate with certain people. We're going to move away and start our own area.
00;19;57;05 - 00;20;21;29
Scott
Yeah, that was just strange to me because I dove a little bit into like, you know, like how did language come to be? What was God given? And then of course, even in this story, God given, even though they thought they'd be able to just keep doing what they were doing and staying in one language. But God had other plans because of, you know, we read about the disobedience, so…
00;20;21;29 - 00;20;47;23
Scott
I thought it was interesting the KJV says, King James version says, let us make a name for ourselves and that they wanted to be seen. And I just think that that is like that's kind of a prideful statement, right? Like we want to be famous! Let us make this big old city in a big old tower for everybody else to see! You know?
00;20;47;25 - 00;21;15;27
Scott
So, I think, again, we see that… it seems like every single time we see sin, it always starts at the root of pride. It always starts with that root of pride. And same thing here, you know, disobedience to God leading into building their own thing, trying to make a name for themselves, for everybody else, to see them. To see them and kind of dismissing God again and being like, well, we're going to go do our own thing.
00;21;16;29 - 00;21;17;16
Scott
So, yeah.
00;21;17;17 - 00;21;46;21
Pastor Dave
No, that's good. So just for our listening audience, our watching audience, you know, I would just pose… we just covered the element there of God observing what the people of Babylon were doing. And before judging them, he came to inspect what they were doing firsthand. So, here's a here's some questions to ponder, I suppose. Do you believe God is present observing what you're doing?
00;21;48;19 - 00;22;13;10
Pastor Dave
In what areas of your life do you know that you're out of alignment with the will of God? And are you willing to make changes that would line up with God's will for your life? And do you trust God will render fair judgment? I mean, these are… these are all matters, I think of the heart.
00;22;13;19 - 00;22;13;27
Scott
Yeah.
00;22;14;08 - 00;22;39;11
Pastor Dave
And I think they are good to consider and ponder as we continue to walk out this journey of faith. So going back to the fact that they could now… they couldn’t understand each other, that resulted in confusion and from there resulted in the work stoppage. They stopped building.
00;22;39;11 - 00;22;40;24
Scott
They didn't finish it.
00;22;41;12 - 00;22;49;16
Pastor Dave
They began then to move on. Eventually they just got so frustrated, I imagine, that they decided it's time to move on.
00;22;50;01 - 00;23;23;24
Pastor Dave
And those that could probably understand each other… well, they probably, in a group… moved in a group, moving on scattering all over the world as God commanded them. And so, God's will was accomplished through that process. Now we read about the genealogy here from Shem that leads to the introduction of Abram, which will become Abraham eventually. Abraham is known as the friend of God.
00;23;24;15 - 00;23;27;20
Pastor Dave
The word Abram actually means “father,” right?
00;23;28;05 - 00;23;38;06
Pastor Dave
And then of course, his wife, who he married was Sarai. And we observe the life spans… and I noticed this kind of at the last minute...
00;23;39;03 - 00;23;59;29
Pastor Dave
We began to see life spans beginning to diminish in just this section of genealogy, starting with Shem, before you get to Abram. I mean, we start with 600 years. Shem was 600 when he died, and then the next sets of generations go to 500. And then eventually we end up at 200 years.
00;24;00;17 - 00;24;00;28
Scott
Yeah.
00;24;02;00 - 00;24;20;28
Pastor Dave
But this is kind of, you know, this is kind of what I think. Again, I've been stuck on a theme here as it pertains to the sections of scripture that we read. You know, some of what we're reading is like an appetizer. Some of it's like the main course. And I feel like we kind of move into a main course right here.
00;24;21;17 - 00;24;57;17
Pastor Dave
Abraham leaves earth, which is Babylon, OK? And he leaves with his father, Terah, nephew, Lot and the rest of his family in an act of partial obedience. Now, we don't really get to see that yet, and we will as time goes on in up-and-coming episodes. But it was partial obedience. He was supposed to leave alone, yet he took his father Terah and then his nephew, Lot, and the rest of his family with him where they stayed…
00;24;58;23 - 00;25;13;01
Pastor Dave
They ended up getting as far as Haran, where they stayed and settled, which is also known as is Charran, C H, A, R R A, N, Charran, where they stayed there and settled. Now there's a lot of, you know, I don’t know if there's a lot of debate about it… there's a lot of questions about why did he stop there? Because he was told to go to Canaan.
00;25;13;01 - 00;25;13;21
Scott
Yeah, that’s what I was going to say...
00;25;13;21 - 00;25;19;08
Pastor Dave
Right?
00;25;19;11 - 00;25;21;29
Scott
Why does he stop?
00;25;22;03 - 00;25;24;05
Pastor Dave
But they did stop in Haran!
00;25;24;27 - 00;25;50;15
Pastor Dave
And they stayed there for quite a while and Terah died in Haran. So, Abram's dad dies finally in Haran. Now, here's an interesting thought. The name Terah... now we've been having a lot of fun with this. And I have, especially just because I love the Hebrew meaning of names is so fascinating to me. So, the name Terah actually means delay.
00;25;51;19 - 00;25;52;00
Scott
Really?
00;25;53;04 - 00;26;41;20
Pastor Dave
So, his father, Abram's father was named Terah and his name meant delay. Now the name of Haran which was also, by the way, incidentally, one of Abram's brothers, but it was the name of the town. OK? The name Haran means parched and barren. So, when Abram was in that partial obedience, delay and barrenness characterized his life. So, here's a thought, when we delay in drawing close to God, and I'm speaking to all of us, myself included, God's desire is intimacy. I like that word. It's like… into me you see, God's desire is to see into me.
00;26;41;26 - 00;26;42;05
Scott
Yeah.
00;26;42;14 - 00;26;57;06
Pastor Dave
Intimacy. It's his desire for all humanity. Yet even those that are characterized as sons of God may be believers today… Right?
00;26;59;29 - 00;27;32;02
Pastor Dave
God's desire is that we would draw close to him. And as we draw close to him, he draws close to us. So, when we delay in drawing close to God, we put it off… This is where it’s so important… discipline, being disciplined, developing a habit, if you will, of making God a priority in your life. You know? First fruits of your crop, for example, he wants the first fruits.
00;27;32;02 - 00;27;54;21
Pastor Dave
He also wants the first fruits of our life, first fruits of our day. He wants us to draw close to him. He draws… he promises to draw close to us. We are disciplined when we draw close to him. But when we delay in that, we put it off… what happens is we also experience delay and barrenness in our own life.
00;27;55;18 - 00;28;23;22
Pastor Dave
So, the questions that come to my mind here that are that I jotted down, if you're experiencing delay or barrenness in any aspect of your life, are you willing to bring this topic to God and ask him about it? And then are you willing to make adjustments that would satisfy God? Please God? And then the last thought would be this… Do you believe in the promises of God over you?
00;28;23;27 - 00;28;33;04
Pastor Dave
Do you believe God's promises for you? You believe those. So, did you have any other further insight to this?
00;28;33;12 - 00;29;08;16
Scott
No. But just when you're talking about just delay and stuff… I think it's important to remember that… that he's with us in that delaying. I don't think obviously God leaves us, but I just think that you know, of course, you said partial obedience that he's with us in that. Because I don't know… we just feel like sometimes in the delay he's left. So, I have sometimes, but I think the encouragement is to remember that God's going to bring us through it.
00;29;08;28 - 00;29;31;06
Scott
And he's with us in that delay part. So even though maybe he didn't spur it on or know that that's like a kid walking through this thing… and like, “oh, don't go that way, or don't settle there!” All right, all right! This is the choice you’ve made, now I'm going to be with them in it, but I want to help them through it as well.
00;29;31;06 - 00;29;55;02
Pastor Dave
It's true! I mean, I don't disagree with that at all. It's very true. He is with us in the delay, but we hold the key to getting out of the delay and barrenness, and that's through simple obedience, right? So, when he left, when Abram left with his dad, and his nephew and his family. Yep, he left. Yeah.
00;29;55;03 - 00;30;22;27
Pastor Dave
That part was the part where he was obedient. The partial obedient part is the fact that he took his father and his nephew and his family with him. Yeah. And as a result of the second aspect of his… that makes this partial obedience is there was a delay when he landed in the... and, you know, the other thought, too, that strikes me is this… Sarah, eventually her name would be called, Sarai, she was barren.
00;30;24;08 - 00;30;28;13
Scott
Which is interesting because Abraham's name was father.
00;30;28;15 - 00;30;34;27
Pastor Dave
Right! Abraham stands, or means “father!” And, you know, to people that would encounter him as that.
00;30;35;07 - 00;30;43;20
Scott
And then know that his wife is barren. Right. There's got to be… obviously, moving forward, there will be something that happens there. A miracle and the Lord.
00;30;44;08 - 00;31;25;04
Pastor Dave
Absolutely! So… yeah, I thought this was… I thought this was rich. I felt like there was a lot of meat on the bones, so to speak, to chew. And there's a lot more. I mean, you know, we could camp out here on this. You could spend some time and there's so much more. But I want to move us to application because as we like to say, what good is this knowledge that we've gained if we don't, you know, and you like to say this, too, I shouldn't claim all the credit here, but what good is the knowledge we gain if we don't apply it and it's just a waste?
00;31;25;15 - 00;31;38;09
Pastor Dave
Yeah, you got it, but you never use it. So… it's just really… you kind of waste it. So, what application did you come up with here? Anything that you saw that that you'd like to bring forth to our listening audience?
00;31;39;06 - 00;32;07;11
Scott
Well, I put, you know, just recognizing, you know, like in this story, what I like to say towers obviously like in the story, but I like to even use the word “idols” because that's what I feel like… sometimes we'll set up idols or set up towers. So, what are we setting up or building ourselves today rather than continuing to trust in God remember what he says and doing what he says?
00;32;07;11 - 00;32;22;12
Scott
So, the application part, for is… recognizing maybe what we are setting up in replace of God? So… that the Lord would help us through that. And acknowledging it.
00;32;22;12 - 00;32;29;28
Pastor Dave
Well, you're right! Like the idols, right? Yeah! And that's what man, the sons of men were doing. They were building an idol unto themselves.
00;32;30;08 - 00;33;02;08
Scott
Yup. But I want to say to like the tower was something that, you know, it wasn't like it was worshiped. You know, there's different areas where they would go to worship. The tower wasn't an area for worship, but it was an image so that others would see and then they would, you know, acknowledge kind of like, you know, example what it was, you know, like Mount Rushmore, you see it and it reminds you of our founding fathers, of how the country is set up and freedom and how it was founded.
00;33;02;08 - 00;33;19;08
Scott
So just like Babel was an image that, when people saw it, they would recognize the people, but not God. So, what are we doing that we should be building up towers for the Lord so that people wouldn't see us, but they would recognize the Lord and they would recognize God?
00;33;19;17 - 00;33;23;11
Pastor Dave
All right. So, I mean, their motive was wrong! Right! And that became clear.
00;33;23;12 - 00;33;23;21
Scott
Yeah.
00;33;24;01 - 00;33;28;11
Pastor Dave
And God… that's what God saw when he looked and examined their hearts in that.
00;33;28;11 - 00;33;32;24
Scott
Yep. What about you? Application...
00;33;33;15 - 00;34;01;03
Pastor Dave
Some thoughts… I want to encourage you, our listening audience, and watching audience. I want to encourage you to examine your life and ask God to reveal, you know, the areas that might be out of alignment. And look, we are all prone to that. And we will be prone to that until we take our last breath on Earth. We're prone to the ways of the world we live in.
00;34;01;03 - 00;34;29;11
Pastor Dave
We live in a secular society, and we're prone to strive for things. And, you know, there's just a lot there that we can get caught up in if we're not careful. And I think God's desire for us is just to bring it to him, just bring it to him. So, examining yourself is just bringing… it’s thinking when recognize something that might be out of alignment, bring it to the Lord and asking him… he'll help examine that for you.
00;34;29;24 - 00;34;34;27
Pastor Dave
And he'll also help reveal things that, you know, we're out of alignment.
00;34;35;19 - 00;35;06;29
Pastor Dave
And then the other thing is, hopefully you can see that God keeps his word. And I can cite multiple sources in the scripture that we've read here where God said… he said he was going to limit man to essentially 120 years. He doesn't just, you know, he doesn't just cold turkey it, so to speak. But what we do see is that the age of life began to decrease.
00;35;07;13 - 00;35;10;24
Scott
It’s falling rapidly.
00;35;10;25 - 00;35;26;29
Pastor Dave
d we can experience today, in:00;35;26;29 - 00;35;49;09
Pastor Dave
119 years old. Not too many people make it to 100. Very, very few people make it to 119. Like, right now there's only one. Wow! And she's not even at 120… And I know that there are people that have lived longer than that. But my point is… hopefully that you can see that God keeps his word and that he will accomplish his will in your life.
00;35;50;07 - 00;36;11;03
Pastor Dave
He will accomplish His will in your life. You have a say in how long that takes. And usually, it has everything to do with your ability to obey him or partially obey him or completely disobey him. And in the case of Abram, we see it did delay him.
00;36;11;16 - 00;36;11;25
Scott
Yeah.
00;36;12;03 - 00;36;43;01
Pastor Dave
And what does that mean? So, he's going to accomplish his will in your life. But you've got to be willing to surrender to him. And if you do, you're going to begin to see an increase in faith. And that's what we want. That's the muscle… It's a gift God gives us. We can exercise our faith and build that faith muscle if you will. And as we do, we begin to learn how to trust him and, in his faithfulness, because he is faithful.
00;36;44;08 - 00;36;48;12
Scott
That's good. I like that. Yeah!
00;36;49;08 - 00;37;38;22
Pastor Dave
Amen! Look, we say this in every episode to conclude every episode that, you know, there's a reality that, you know, you might not agree with something we are talking about maybe what we're speaking of. Maybe we've got a different understanding of something and… or maybe you've come across something that you have read or have heard read to you that you're struggling with... regarding any of these episodes or any of the stuff we're talking about. Yeah, I want to just note that you're not alone. We all wrestle, we all struggle, and this is good. And it should drive us hopefully drive us closer or draw us closer to God. And then God, of course, will draw closer to us.
00;37;39;02 - 00;37;39;09
Scott
Yup.
00;37;39;20 - 00;37;52;23
Pastor Dave
A lot of people struggle, but it's OK. Just hang in there and keep coming back. We want to thank you for taking the time to listen or watch, depending on your flavor there.
00;37;53;08 - 00;38;06;02
Pastor Dave
I want to thank you, Scott, for being a part of this, as always, I love doing this journey with you. We're getting ready to move into a new era.
00;38;06;13 - 00;38;06;21
Scott
Yeah.
00;38;06;27 - 00;38;31;17
Pastor Dave
So, I'm actually pretty excited about that. So, we do look forward to our next meeting together with you in Era 2, as we read the story of Abraham in our ongoing study of this greatest story ever told, in this second era titled “God's Chosen Family.” So, thank you and God bless.
00;38;31;17 - 00;38;31;26
Scott
God Bless.
00;38;36;22 - 00;39;13;11
Voiceover
Thank you for tuning in to the Bible Breakthrough with Pastor David Engman and Scott Brekke. We hope you enjoyed today's episode and will join us again for more of the Bible from B.C to A.D. We are a volunteer driven ministry and rely on you to help us get the word out to the world. Please, like this podcast on Facebook, share it to your page and continue to listen on Apple podcast, Spotify, YouTube, or anywhere you find your favorite podcasts. This has been a broadcast of the Breakthrough Media Network.