Okay, fellow travelers, today I will start a new habit. Getting up early enough to get the blog done first thing in the morning, instead of doing it at the end of the day. This is going to be the first hurdle for me. I am an early riser, but usually that time is consumed with preparations for going to work. So today, first things first!!

On another note; since I will be doing this study with a chronological Bible and you may not have one. We will be skipping around in your Bible.
I will list the weeks readings seven days at a time. So the next list will appear on day eight (January 8th)


Jan 1 Genesis 1,2
Jan 2 Genesis 3-5
Jan 3 Genesis 6-9
Jan 4 Genesis 10-11
Jan 5 Genesis 12-15
Jan 6 Genesis 16-19
Jan 7 Genesis 20-22

Our passage for today is found in Genesis, chapters 10 & 11.

We are continuing the study of Noah and his generations. Remember at the end of chapter 9, Noah died. So our study will now focus the nations descended from Noah. Chapter 10 opens with the genealogy of the son of Noah; Shem, Ham and japheth.

We will start where the scripture starts; with Japheth.

The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. Significantly from this line, the Bible says in 10:5; "from these the coastland peoples of the Gentiles were separated into their lands, everyone according to his language, according to their families, into their nations."
If you are not jewish, you may have descended from this line.

The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. In the line of the descendants of Ham, the Bible says in 10:8-12; "Cush begat Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, "Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, (the capital city of the kingdom of Nimrod) Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shirnar." the rest of these verses talk about the other cities that were built as part of the kingdom of Nimrod. Evidently, according to scholars, this was the beginning of urbanization, as well as being one of the great religious center of Mesopotamia. One other significant note; from the line of Ham also came the Philistines, (10:14) significant in many Biblical accounts for fighting against the Israelites.
Also mentioned in the line of Ham are the descendants of the Canaanites (10:18-19) which were dispersed in several directions, one of which was toward Sodom.

The sons of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.
Genesis 10:30 simply says that their dwelling place was from Mesha as you go toward Sephar, the mountain of the east.

Chapter 10:32; the chapter closes with this "These were the families of the sons of Noah, according to their generations, in their nations; and from these the nations ere divided on the earth after the flood."

So Noah and his sons obeyed God and multiplied and replenished the earth.

Chapter 11 begins with the fascinating story of the tower of Babel.
Everyone spoke one language so that communication was possible among all the inhabitants of the earth at this time. I have to leave for work. I'll be back.

Okay, I'm back, where were we?
In chapter 11 verses 1-4, the people decided they wanted to make a name for themselves, so they built a tower going up into heaven. The objective of the people was to make a name for themselves and settle there permanently.
But, because of their pride, God had another plan for them.
He confused their language and caused them not to be able to communicate.
The city was name Babel, because God had confused their language. And as a result they were scattered into other parts of the land according to the language they spoke.

Verses 10 through the rest of the chapter tell the genealogies of Shem.
In verse 31; Terah, one of Shem's descendants took Abram, Sarai, and Lot and went to the land of Canaan, when they came to Haran they stayed there, after two hundred and five years, Terah died there.

Do you recognize some of these names? You should Abram (Abraham) and Sarai (we would call her Sarah) and Lot....among other familiar names.
Now you know where they descended from.

Tomorrow when we look at chapters 12-15, we will begin with the covenant between Abraham and God.