This verse tells us that all people spoke one language. But chapter 10
tells us that people spoke many languages. (See Genesis 10:5; Genesis
10:20; Genesis 10:31.) And chapter 10 is before chapter 11. There are
two possible explanations for this.
• Genesis usually tells us things in the order that... [ Continue Reading ]
GOD’S ANCIENT PEOPLE
GENESIS
_ALUN OWEN_
CHAPTER 11
THE TALL BUILDING AT BABEL
V1 All the people who were on the earth had one language. They all had
one set of words. V2 And men travelled from the east into the country
that is called Shinar. There they found a plain and they lived in it.
V3 An... [ Continue Reading ]
The people made bricks out of clay. Clay is a kind of soil. If clay is
wet, one can form it into bricks. Sometimes people let the sun dry the
bricks so that they become hard. Then they use the bricks to make
buildings. But these people burned their bricks. That means that they
dried them by a fire.... [ Continue Reading ]
What the people did was evil. It is not evil to build a city. But they
tried to show that they were important. They did not give honour to
God. And they thought that they were more important than God.... [ Continue Reading ]
God said, ‘Let us go.’ He did not say, ‘I will go.’ Perhaps he
said ‘us’ because he is 3 persons. He is the Father and the Son
and the Holy Spirit. And he is also one God. But it is more likely
that this is not the reason. The *Hebrew word that means ‘God’ is
like a plural word. Perhaps that is why... [ Continue Reading ]
The people called the city ‘Babel’. That could mean ‘the gate to
God’. The people thought that its top would reach heaven. (See verse
4.) But ‘Babel’ also means ‘confusion’.
So the people did not have the things that they wanted. They wanted a
city where they could live together. But God made them... [ Continue Reading ]
Nahor’s brother Haran died. After that, Nahor married Haran’s
daughter Milcah. So Nahor married his niece. In those times, a man
would marry his niece if her father had died.
TERAH AND ABRAM LEAVE UR
V31 Terah went away from Ur, which was a city in Chaldea. He took his
son Abram. He took his grand... [ Continue Reading ]
We do not know where Ur was. A city in east Mesopotamia was called Ur.
(Mesopotamia is the country that is between the river Tigris and the
river Euphrates. Nowadays it is mostly in the countries Iraq and
Syria.) That city Ur is about 1000 kilometres (600 miles) from Haran.
Many people think that Ab... [ Continue Reading ]