We shall continue with
the study of the Book of Genesis this week.
(1) Some commentators describe this segment as “God’s ordinance to safeguard His program” and divide them into three aspects. Can you assign the corresponding verses to each of these aspects?
a. The propagation of life
b. The protection of life
c. The sustenance of life
(2) As God reiterates His blessing on humankind through His blessing on Noah:
a. Compare His blessing in 9:1-2 to that in 1:28. How similar are they and what might the difference be and why?
b. Compare also 9:3 to 1:29. What is the difference between the two blessings and why? It appears that there is definitely a difference between the relationship of mankind and other living creatures before and after the flood. What is the difference and why?
(3) Why should men not eat meat “that has its lifeblood still in it”? (See Lev. 17:11)
(4) For the first time, capital punishment is pronounced for the murder of a human being. What is the basis of God’s pronouncement?
(5) This small segment begins with God’s blessing of the multiplication of mankind and closes with the same blessing. Is there any special meaning or significance attached to this repetition, especially when it was pronounced right after the flood?
(6) What is the main message to you today and how can you apply it to your life?
This segment deals with the unique covenant that God made with all living things:
(1) Consider carefully the contents of this covenant:
a. What is God’s promise?
b. Is it conditional? Why?
(2) “Rainbow” means a bow (the weapon with an arc shape):
a. What kind of a sign is it?
b. Was it in existence before the flood?
c. If so, how can it be a sign?
d. If not, what might cause it to appear after the flood?
(3) With this new (or renewed) covenant in place:
a. What is the desire of God toward mankind?
b. Compare God’s relationship with mankind before and after the flood?
c. What are the responsibilities of mankind from now on?
(4) The Bible always describes God as the God who remembers (9:15). Does He really need a rainbow to make Himself remember? What does it mean for God to remember?
(5) What is the main message to you today and how can you apply it to your life?
(1) As godly as Noah was, what kind(s) of sin did he commit in v. 21? (See Hab. 2:15 and Lam. 4:21)
(2) What might the reason(s) be that could have led to his behavior?
(3) Read carefully about Ham’s action. How many acts of sin had he committed? Note that the word "saw (rā̓â)" means to look at searchingly.
(4) What does it tell you about his character?
(5) What could he have done differently?
(6) What did Shem and Japheth do that was so different?
(7) What does it tell you about their character?
(8) Was Noah’s curse on Ham too harsh? Why or why not?
(9) How has this curse materialized in history? (Note: Ham’s descendants include the Canaanites, Egyptians, Philistines, Assyrians and Babylonians.)
(10) With Shem getting the greatest blessings, it was probably his idea to cover his father. In any case, read 2 Ki. 17:20 to see if the blessings were conditional or not.
(11) What is the main message to you today and how can you apply it to your life?
This chapter is called the “Table of Nations” written so extensively that it was unparalleled in antiquity and many of the names and locations have been verified through later archaeological finds (Alter). We may not be getting a lot of “devotional” insights from this table, but I’ll try to provide some modern-day locale to some of these descendants, and suggest a few thoughts for reflection. It is perhaps helpful to point out once again that
- Ham’s descendants include some of Israel’s most bitter enemies in later history: Egypt, Philistia, Assyria and Babylon.
- Japheth’s descendants spread mainly in Anatolia and Greece.
- Shem’s descendants are that of the chosen people—the Israelites.
(1) Sons of Japheth (10:2-5)
a. Gomer: a nomadic people to the north of the Black Sea
b. Magog: Lydia
c. Madai: later Medes
d. Javan: Ionian Greeks
e. Tubal and Meshech: Phrygia (Ezek. 27:13; 38:2)
f. Ashkenaz: Scythians
g. Riphath: uncertain
h. Togarmah: Armenia
i. Elishah: probably Cyprus
j. Tarshish: Somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea
k. Kittim: southern Cyprus
l. Rodanim: Island people of Rhodes
The reference to each having its own language points to what actually happened after the Tower of Babel in chapter 11.
Food for thought:
In 9:27, Noah prophesied that the descendants of Japheth will “live in the tents of Shem”. Spiritually, what might it mean?
(2) Sons of Ham (10:6-20)
a. Cush: possible northern Nubia and Northern Sudan
b. Mizraim: Egypt
c. Put: Libya
d. Canaan: whole of Palestine, west of Jordan, including Syria
e. Seba: Northern Africa
f. Havilah: Southwest Arabia
g. Sabtah, Raamah, Sebteca, Sheba: South Arabia
h. Dedan: North Arabia
i. Concerning Nimrod: Erech (southern Iraq), Akkad and Calneh (uncertain), Shinar: (whole of Mesopotamia), Rehoboth Ir (plazas of cities), Calah (Tell Nimrud, 20 miles south of Nineveh), Resen (2.5 miles northwest of Nimrud)
Food for thought about Nimrod (whose name means “We shall rebel”):
- With the help of a map, see how large his territory was.
- How did he become so powerful? (“warrior” means “tyrant” in Hebrew)
- What kind of a king was he? [The word “before” in v. 9 means “in the estimation of” in Hebrew (Waltke, 169).]
In your reading of Ham’s descendant, Canaan, with all his territories and descendants, reflect on the prophecy spoken by Noah in 9:24-26. Do you think that they fulfilled the curse of the prophecy because of who they were because of the prophecy, or because of their moral decadence?
(3) Sons of Shem (10:21-31)
a. Note this table chooses to highlight the genealogy of Eber, because from him, the line branches into the non-elect line of Joktan and the elect line through Peleg.
b. Some scholars opine that the adjectival form “Hebrew” may come from the name, Eber.
c. Peleg: his name means division, probably points to the time of the dispersal of the people at Babel in chapter 11.
d. The descendants of Joktan (the non-elect line): cover the area of Yemen and southern Arabia.
Food for thought:
God has certainly honored his post-flood blessing in 9:1.
- Did He anticipate a recurrence of evil and wickedness of mankind (see 8:21)?
- What was acutely absent spiritually speaking in this genealogy when compared to those mentioned in previous chapters?
(4) What is the main message to you today?
(1) What was this incident preceded by?
(2) What is the significance of such a background to this story?
(3) Use your imagination to list at least five significant impacts if the whole world were to have only one language today?
(4) God was clear in His command to men to spread over the earth (Gen. 1:28 and 9:1). Why then would men be so determined not to be “scattered over the face of the whole earth”?
(5) Why did the Biblical author take the care to mention with what they used to build the tower? Of course no tower can reach the heavens, so what then is the symbolical significance of such a notion?
(6) The literal translation of the words of the Lord in v. 6 is, “All they plan to do will not be withheld from them!” (Waltke) What does it mean? Was God being jealous of them?
(7) Have human beings changed today? In what ways are they following the footsteps of these people of old in rejecting God?
(8) Did they succeed? Will the people of today succeed? Why or why not?
(9) What then is the essential message of today and how may you apply it in your life?
(1) In this genealogy, the Bible introduces us to Abram through whom all nations on earth will be blessed. What might the message be in setting this genealogy against the event of the Tower of Babel and the specific mentioning of “two years after the flood”?
(2) As much as Shem was blessed by Noah, and the line of Peleg was chosen by God, what was the spiritual condition of this chosen line when it reached the generation of Terah, the father of Abram? (see Jos. 24:2)
(3) Ur was an important center for the worship of the moon god, Sin. The Hebrew name of Terah may be related to the word, moon. In any case, how then could Abram go against the this tightly-knitted family in their worship of pagan gods?
(4) Stephen, in his speech in Acts 7:2, tells us that Abram received God’s call to leave Ur even before they were in Haran. What insight might you gain about the family dynamics of Terah’s family?
(5) What kind of test to Abram’s faith did Sarai’s barrenness present, especially in light of God’s covenant and blessing concerning multiplication and fruitfulness (9:1)?
(6) Haran was about 550 miles northwest of Ur and was also an important center of moon worship. What does their “settlement” in Haran speak of God’s calling of Abram to leave in Acts 7:2?
(7) Abram left Haran, only after his father’s death. Some scholars opine that it was a sign of his slowness of faith. What do you think?
(8) What is the main message to you today and how can you apply it to your life?
This is an event that has changed not only history, but also the destiny of mankind, and it all begins with God calling a person who responds in obedience.
(1) What does God call Abram to leave?
(2) Of these, what might be the hardest to do?
(3) What obstacles might Abram have to overcome?
(4) What does God lay out in vv. 2-3? Try to analyze them one by one to see its meaning and implication.
(5) Are they a blessing or are they a mission?
(6) How should Abram look upon it, as blessings or as a mission? What difference does it make?
(7) If you (or your parents) are an immigrant, try to recall that move:
a. How difficult was it? What might be the most difficult part of the move?
b. What was the purpose of the move?
c. Compare your move to that of Abram, as mentioned in vv. 4-5. How difficult was his move? (See Heb. 11:8 also.)
(8) While Abram’s migration was for a clear purpose from God, your move, in God’s foreknowledge and plan, also had a purpose. What might it be? Has it come to fruition? (See Jer. 29:11)
(9) Vv. 6-9 describe not only the migration of Abram, but they also convey a pattern. What is that pattern? What does it tell you about Abram?
(10) What is the main message to you today and how can you apply it to your life?