Genesis Chapter 12
The Ancestors of Shem: 11:10-23 God now narrows the field from all the nations, to the line which would become the nation of Israel. The rest of the Old Testament will deal primarily with God’s dealings with the descendants of Abraham. Kidner describes this section as “Towards the chosen people”. Concerning the genealogy in this section, Morris notes, “If there are no gaps in these chronologies, then Shem was still living at the time of Abraham, since he did not die until 502 years after the Flood. As a matter of fact, Abraham died thirty-five years before Shem! Even Noah lived after the Flood (Genesis 9:28), so that Abraham was fifty-years old when Noah died. Now none of these situations are impossible, but they do seem strange” (The Genesis Flood, p. 308). From other places in the Biblical record we know that the term “begat” does not necessarily denote a direct father-son relationship (compare Matthew 1:8 with 2 Chronicles 21-16). Hence the genealogy in this chapter may have some gaps in it. Observe that the human life-span is steadily decreasing from the pre-flood world to the time of Abraham (175) and Joseph (110). “More significantly, in view of the promised birth of Isaac, the age of parenthood has dropped to a point not far above its present level” (Genesis, Derek Kidner p. 111).
Terah: 11:26-32 The father was Abraham was Terah (TEE ruh). Since Terah died when Abraham was 75 (11:32; 12:4), it appears that Abraham was the youngest son of Terah and is placed first in this verse because of his prominence. Hence Terah’s first child was born when Terah was 70, and Abraham was born when his father was 130.
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