Genesis 1- The Beginning of the Universe
The Biblical World
This chapter tells us the story of how the earth began.
1 In the beginning of time, God created the space and matter.
Many believe this was originally a song. CS Louis, in the creation of his “world” Narnia, had his Christ-figure sing the world into existence. I like that idea. Maybe this is the song our God sang at the beginning.
The word “God” here is “Elohim” which means “God” in the majestic, plural tense (This is the tense royalty uses to refer to themselves.) It does not mean more than one as our plural does, but a plurality of greatness. It is using a singular verb.
Psalms 90:2 says “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou are God.”
God has always existed, long before this universe was created.
Some put a gap of several million years here.
Is this correct interpretation of the Bible?
First of all, who wrote this? The traditionally accepted author is Moses, though some believe he only compiled several books written by many previous authors. These people believe Adam himself may have written down this scripture as God dictated it to him. Whoever God dictated this to, (Adam or Moses) the purpose of this scripture was to tell all those following the author in history how the earth began. Does it make sense for there to be a gap of millions of years here that is not mentioned at all anywhere in the Bible?
The entire idea of “the gap” is to allow for evolution and explain the fossil record. Millions of years of evolution, dinosaurs, and many other creatures were to have lived and died between verse one and verse two.
This is also when the devil was supposed to have been a beautiful angel, leading God’s choir. He rebelled and was kicked out of heaven with a third of the angels, those who supported him in his rebellion. (History tells us this was originally a Pagan idea which the fallen church of the Middle Ages adopted into its theology. See Satan is Not a Fallen Angel)
Do these ideas fit with the author’s purpose? No, not really. It would make no sense to leave these important pieces of history out. If they occurred, God would have included them here in Genesis when He dictated it. That is only logical.
Turns out we can easily explain all the “evidence” for the “Gap theory” (otherwise known as evolution) with the flood recorded later in this same book. Under flood conditions, coal, oil, gas, fossils, great canyons and many other supposed “proofs” of an old earth form very quickly.
For example, a minor dropped his hat in a mine that was subsequently closed for fifty years. When the mine was reopened, his hat was FULLY fossilized. It did not take millions of years as we are commonly told.
Mt. St. Helens formed a canyon 1/40th the size of the Grand Canyon but otherwise identical to the big-boy in a matter of weeks, not millions of years as the "evidence" would have suggested if the scientists hadn’t watched it formed.
Also, carbon and radon dating are based on the assumption that:
First of all, who wrote this? The traditionally accepted author is Moses, though some believe he only compiled several books written by many previous authors. These people believe Adam himself may have written down this scripture as God dictated it to him. Whoever God dictated this to, (Adam or Moses) the purpose of this scripture was to tell all those following the author in history how the earth began. Does it make sense for there to be a gap of millions of years here that is not mentioned at all anywhere in the Bible?
The entire idea of “the gap” is to allow for evolution and explain the fossil record. Millions of years of evolution, dinosaurs, and many other creatures were to have lived and died between verse one and verse two.
This is also when the devil was supposed to have been a beautiful angel, leading God’s choir. He rebelled and was kicked out of heaven with a third of the angels, those who supported him in his rebellion. (History tells us this was originally a Pagan idea which the fallen church of the Middle Ages adopted into its theology. See Satan is Not a Fallen Angel)
Do these ideas fit with the author’s purpose? No, not really. It would make no sense to leave these important pieces of history out. If they occurred, God would have included them here in Genesis when He dictated it. That is only logical.
Turns out we can easily explain all the “evidence” for the “Gap theory” (otherwise known as evolution) with the flood recorded later in this same book. Under flood conditions, coal, oil, gas, fossils, great canyons and many other supposed “proofs” of an old earth form very quickly.
For example, a minor dropped his hat in a mine that was subsequently closed for fifty years. When the mine was reopened, his hat was FULLY fossilized. It did not take millions of years as we are commonly told.
Mt. St. Helens formed a canyon 1/40th the size of the Grand Canyon but otherwise identical to the big-boy in a matter of weeks, not millions of years as the "evidence" would have suggested if the scientists hadn’t watched it formed.
Also, carbon and radon dating are based on the assumption that:
- All organisms throughout history have absorbed the same amounts of these elements,
- At the same rate as they do today,
- That the rate of absorption into our atmosphere reached saturation (which takes only 30,000 years to reach) millions of years ago (when evidence says we haven’t reached it yet!),
- And that no mother or daughter elements were lost at any time in history (unreasonable at best. Certainly a worldwide flood would have leached some of both away).
Since testing has been known to confirm one side of an animal as millions of years older than the other side of the same animal, and we get the wrong answer whenever we test something we know absolutely the death date of, we already know such testing is unreliable.
And there is NO biblical support for the “Gap Theory,” especially in this chapter.
And there is NO biblical support for the “Gap Theory,” especially in this chapter.
Satan can easily be explained with Isaiah 45:7-
“I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.”Satan was not a surprise, nor an accident. He was an intentional creation of God for the purpose of giving us a choice. Justice demands this. Without a choice, God created billions of people with no choice but to sin, no chance to turn from their sins, no hope of forgiveness for their sins, and will throw them into hell for all of eternity to punish them for their sins. This is simply not Justice.
It would also not be Justice to force billions of people to spend eternity in heaven with Him unless they chose to do so.
So we had to have a choice not to love Him, to love something else. Just as every top must have a bottom and every front must have a back, there had to be an evil counterpart to God. God created the devil just as he is today. The verses in Isaiah and other books that are used to “prove” Satan was a fallen angel are speaking about a human king who thought he was divine.
2 And the matter was shapeless and empty, and dark. And the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the matter.
Shapeless, like water. All matter was fluid.
Jesus tells us He created the world. Jesus and God are two names for the same entity.
3 And God said “Let there be light” and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good. And God divided the light from the darkness.
5 And God called the light day and the darkness He called night. And the evening and the morning was the first day.
On a simple reading this scripture is very easy to understand. God made light and separated it from dark and named them both. He did this on the first day of history.
Some, however seek to complicate things. They point out that the word “day” is from the Hebrew word “yome” which can mean “an unspecified period of time. This lets them put in a large span of time and incorporate evolution into the Bible.
However, if the author had meant “an unspecified period of time,” could he have used a better word? Yes. The Hebrew language has another word- “olem”- that means just that.
Could he have used a clearer word if he meant 24 hours? No. Hebrew has no other word that means “a day” as we know it.
Yome usually means “24 hours” or the hot time of one day. When it is used with a qualifier, such as “the evening and the morning,” it ALWAYS means 24 hours. So this “day” was a day as we know it today.
Notice that light was created without creating the sun.
6 And God said, “Let there be an atmosphere in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.”
7 And God made the atmosphere, and divided the waters which were under the atmosphere from the waters which were above the atmosphere; and it was so.
8 And God called the atmosphere Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
The word “firmament” that I have rendered atmosphere comes from the word “raw-kee-ah” which means “an expanse.” This is from the root word “rah-kah” which means:
- To pound the earth,
- to expand,
- to overlay (with thin sheets of metal,)
- beat,
- make broad,
- spread abroad (forth, over, out into plates),
- stamp,
- stretch.
Today we know there is a thin layer (about three inches) of water vapor surrounding the atmosphere. This could very well be the “waters above” spoken of in this scripture. Many Creation Scientists believe this “canopy” was about eighteen inches thick and possibly water (not vapor) at the beginning. If this is true, there would have been a literal ocean above the atmosphere as well as under, which sounds just like “the waters above and the waters below.”
This layer of water would have filtered out all harmful solar radiation. Radiation is the leading cause of mutations (which have never been observed to be good, only bad or neutral) and aging damage.
Recent genetic studies have discovered that there was a very dramatic rise in mutations about 4500 years ago. Evolutionists have no explanation for this, but Creationists simple shruge their shoulders and say “Flood. Water canopy collapsed removing our protection from solar radiation. Increased genetic damage is only to be expected at that point.”
That water canopy would also have kept the earth’s temperature at a steady 75-80 degrees, night and day, year round. This would have produced the ideal environment for plant growth making the whole planet a tropical forest.
It would also have provided maximum growth potential for all animals, possibly explaining the “giants,” such as nine-inch dragonflies, we find in the fossils. All animals can survive in tropical environments, though only a few can survive elsewhere such as the arctic or the desert.
So now we have a watery expanse, an atmosphere, and a watery expanse.
This ends our second day of history.
9 And God said, “Let the waters under the atmosphere be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear:” and it was so.
So, there was one big sea and one continent.
10 And God named the dry land Earth; and the gathered waters He named "seas." And God saw that it was good.
11 And God said, “Let the earth produce grass, the plants that produce seeds, and the tree that produces fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth:” and it was so.
12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
(A note about the English language: we do not have a truly Sex-neutral pronoun, so we use the male pronouns to mean "generic thing/it/person." Only women get pronouns dedicated just to them.)
Here God makes dry land. He brings the oceans together into one place letting the land underneath appear. It sounds like there was only one continent and one ocean at this time.
He also made the plants, each to produce after its own “kind” or “meen” in the Hebrew, meaning “to portion out, sort.” In other words, He made specific Kinds (one order higher than species, putting the wolf, coyote, and dog, or even all pit fruits [peach, plum, apricot] in the same “Kind.”) that will remain true to type. They were created with the fruit already on the plant.
14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
The reason for the sun, moon and stars was to:
1) Divide the day from the night.
2) To be signs telling us the time, seasons, days and years.
The stars were made to tell us not just when one year had ended and another begun, but to tell us which year we are in, the general directions, and what time of night it is.
God carefully placed the stars out there into their constellations.
Psalms 147:4 “He tells the number of the stars. He calls them all by their names.”
These constellations had specific meanings telling one, specific story. Josephus, the first century Jewish historian, says that Jewish tradition of the time credits Adam with being the first to name all the constellations (or the first God told the names to). They are read from Virgo the virgin (who is fallen down, holding a branch and a sheaf of seeds, surrounded by Como, a virgin nursing a baby, and Bootes, a shepherd carrying a staff to guide His sheep and a sickle to harvest the fields “ripe unto the harvest.”) to Leo the Lion (who is killing and eating Hydra the evil snake, while Corvus the crow and Crater the cup pour out God’s wrath.) The entire gospel story is contained in the stars, though not necessarily in order.
Some say all ancient (pre-Greek) people used the same symbols for each constellation and the same names for each star. If this is true, it cannot be a coincidence, but must be the result of a common ancestral story passed down from generation to generation, gradually corrupted; just like a game of “telephone.”
By the time of Greece the story had been corrupted enough to not bear a resemblance to the original, though you can detect bits and pieces of it here and there.
I do not promote the reading of horoscopes or any other astrological practice. Nor do I believe it is possible to in any way tell the future through the stars. These practices are of the devil and are used to deceive people. They are evil.
However, I do think it possible God carefully placed each star in its place to tell those ancients who didn’t have any Bible what His plan was. We don’t need this since we have the Bible. (Please read “God’s Voice in the Stars” by Kenneth C Fleming, “The Gospel in the Stars” by Joseph A Seiss, and “The Stars and Their Purpose” by Werner Gitt for further information.)
There are some nay sayers to this theory that do have some very valid points against it (such as “These constellations are only visible from the northern hemisphere. Didn’t God care about those south of the equator?”), but I don’t really think it matters much. My God is powerful enough to reveal Himself to individuals using any means He wishes, and I see nothing wrong with us using these symbols in the sky as we know them to draw others to God. Again, there is NO WAY to predict the future from the stars, other than that judgment WILL eventually come.
The sky is divided into twelve constellations with three “helpers” each (so, four symbols for each constellation). Each of these would be visible from the earth in the course of every 24 hour day if it wasn’t for the light from the sun blocking them. We simply can’t see the ones behind the sun.
As we travel around the sun in the course of a year, every constellation is hidden by her light at some point, and every constellation is visible at midnight (depending on which side of the sun we are on that month). So, you could actually tell what time of year it is simply by looking up at night and seeing what constellations are in the sky; different ones are visible in summer than winter.
As the earth rotates on a daily basis, too, the constellations appear to move along the sky just like the sun does. So, at nine o’clock at night in the winter you can see Orion on the horizon in the east, at midnight, he is directly overhead, but by five in the morning he has moved to the horizon in the west. So, we can tell time in the day time by the position of the sun, and time at night by the position of the stars.
The stars can also function as a guidance system. In fact, the US navy has once again decided to teach navigation by the stars instead of only by GPS because the stars can’t be hacked. They are reliable no matter what people do.
Polaris is also called “The North Star” and is situated directly above the North Pole. The constellation we Americans call “The Big Dipper” (The English call it “The Plow” and it has several other names all over the world.) points to it with the lip of the “bowl.” Because of its positioning, it doesn’t move in the sky. Time-lapse photography of the northern sky shows it as one point of light while all the other stars blur into streaks from their movement.
So, by finding Polaris, you know exactly which direction is north (and by default, then, which is south, east, and west). By measuring the distance from Polaris to the horizon, we can tell what latitude we are at. Professionals use a sextant, but the human fist is about 10 degrees, so if you hold your fist up and measure how many you can put between Polaris and the horizon (You have to kind of guess where the horizon would be if you have mountains in that direction like I do) you can estimate what latitude you are at. (You can learn far more about Classical Astronomy [the sky you can see with the naked eye] from “Signs and Seasons” by Jay Ryan available at http://classicalastronomy.com/
Coma- The desired son (a virgin nursing a baby. There is some evidence that there was a super nova that appeared in the baby’s head at the time of Christ. The wise men’s star?)
Centaurus- The dual natured one (Half man, half horse dying from a self-inflicted wound representing the God-man who died of His own free will.)
Bootes- The coming Shepherd holding a sickle, (ready to harvest His fields).
Libra- “You are weighed in the balance and found wanting.” (The price that covers)
Crux- a Cross. The sacrifice of Christ.
Lupus- A child or lamb (corrupted by the Greeks into a wolf) who is slain as a sacrifice.
Corona the crown- Christ’s victory over sin and death.
Scorpio- The Scorpion. (The evil seeking to wound Christ.)
Serpens- A large snake who is reaching for Corona and is wrapped around …
Ophiuchus- The wrestler. (the struggle between the Seed of the woman and Satan.)
Hercules- The mighty, victorious one
Sagittarius- The dual natured (Centaur) archer with a drawn bow (aimed at Centaurus, the other picture of the dual-natured one. He is shooting Himself. Christ’s wiling sacrifice.)
Lyra- the harp of praise.
Ara- the burning alter being poured down on the dragon.
Draco- the dragon cast down in defeat.
Capricornus- half dying goat (the perfect sacrifice), half living fish. Out of the sacrifice comes life (the fish has always been a symbol of God’s church).
Sagitta- The arrow of God’s judgment.
Aquilla- the eagle (king of the heavens) wounded by the arrow (Christ the King wounded for us).
Delphinus- a dolphin springing out of the water (our resurrection coming from Christ’s death)
Aquarius- The water-bearer pouring living water onto…
Picis Austrinus- the southern fish (God’s people)
Pegasus- the winged horse (the powerful and quick salvation of God)
Cygnus- the swan (the sure return of Christ)
Pices- the two fish (Israel of the Old Testament and the Church of the New) bound together by…
The Band- a cord fastened to the great sea monster (Christ’s church bound by sin).
Andromeda- The bride chained and bound.
Cepheus- The king coming to free His people.
Aries- the crowned lamb.
Cassiopia- The freed bride preparing for her groom.
Cetus- the sea monster to whom the fish are bound.
Perseus- the soldier who has defeated his enemy (He is carrying a severed head).
Taurus- the wild bull of judgment coming to rule.
Orion- The triumphant prince carrying the skin of his enemy, crushing the head of the snake while His heel is wounded.
Eridanus- The river of fire poured out from Orion onto His enemies.
Auriga- The shepherd holding and protecting His sheep as Christ protects us.
Gemini- the twin-natured ruler (Prince and Savior)
Lepus- originally a snake though the Greeks changed it to a rabbit (thus the name); the enemy that Orion stomps on.
Canis Major- originally a king on His throne coming in glory, not a big dog.
Canis Minor- originally a soldier coming to save His people, not a little dog.
Cancer- Not a crab, but a Middle East inn with a wall surrounding its people keeping them safe.
Ursa minor- not a little bear, but a sheepfold keeping God’s people safe in His protection.
Ursa Major- Not a big bear, but the flock gathered to her shepherd. (actually, bears are odd for these signs in the first place, since, if viewed as bears, both signs obviously have long tails and bears never do).
Argo- the ship safely arriving in the harbor bringing its passengers safely home.
Leo- the Lion of Judah, pouncing on and tearing apart His enemy...
Hydra- that old serpent, Satan.
Crater- The cup of God’s wrath poured out on His enemy.
Corvus- The Raven devouring the serpent as part of his judgment.
It is generally believed that God revealed this story of redemption and judgment to either Adam or Enoch who passed it down to his children. Noah carried it onto the ark and when the nations were scattered at the Tower of Babel each group carried the story with them. Time corrupted it, but, as I said, you can still see the Gospel story.
15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth:” and it was so.
16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: He made the stars also.
This specifically says that the sun did not create the world. Most ancient people worshiped the sun as the giver of life. This scripture specifically says “God created the sun,” not “the sun was the creator God.”
17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
The moon moves from full and bright at midnight to almost invisible at noon, depending on what time of the month it is. It takes 28 days to go from "full moon" to "new moon."
God told Israel to begin their months at the New Moon. So each month was 28 days long. This would give their year 13 months and 1 1/4 days. Oddly, to us anyway, all ancient records from before somewhere around 600BC (King Hezekiah of Judah) have 28 day months with 13 months per year. After that time all official records changed to something closer to our current system of measuring years. Could a meteor have hit earth or passed close enough to slow our rotation by that extra 1 1/4 days per year? Some believe there is enough evidence to say "Yes."
19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
20 And God said, “Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.”
The New King James says “…Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures…”
The New American Standard says “…Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures…”
“Bring forth” here does not mean the waters created or birthed life (as Evolution and Paganism teach), but that that is where God placed the first animal life (plant life already being created on land the day before.
21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moves, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
“Great whales” here is rendered “great sea monsters” in the NAS and “great sea creatures” in the NIV. The original Hebrew was “tanniym” meaning "monster, serpent, or dragon.” This certainly includes whales, but does not exclude Plesiosaur, sharks, giant carp or any other large sea creatures.
God did not divide the creatures by physical characteristics like we do. He divided them by habitat. Those things that live in the water and in the air were created on the fifth day, whether they were fish, birds, mammals, insects, reptiles or amphibians. There were some of each of our classifications in each environment.
22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.”
23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
Again, reproduction is limited to being within each animal’s own kind. There is variation within each species, such as color, size, horns, etc. But each species can only reproduce its own species. Dogs will never birth cats, whales will never birth turtles, and dinosaurs never birthed birds.
24 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind:” and it was so.
25 And God made the beast of the earth (wild animals) after his kind, and cattle (domestic animals) after their kind, and everything that creeps upon the earth (bugs, rodents, small reptiles, etc) after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
This would have included what the ancients called dragons, and we call dinosaurs.
Dragon legends from around the world are remarkably similar, and in fact, dragons are the only animals we classify as “mythical” that are common to all people groups. Even ancient art work shows the animals to be the same all over the world. This would not be possible for creatures of the imagination.
What’s more, stories from Native Americans (who had religious beliefs against going near, much less handling bones) are so detailed about these creatures their stories can be used to find fossilized nest communities.
The Chinese had the official office of “Dragon Keeper” until their Communist Revolution, and their ancient stories tell of each newly crowned emperor parading through the capital city in a dragon pulled cart.
The reason “Dragons” were declared mythical was a mistaken belief that arose during the late Middle Ages and Reformation that God would never let any “kind” of animal go extinct. So, since by the 1700’s no one could see dragons, they obviously never existed. Then their bones were discovered in the early 1800’s, but they couldn’t be called “dragon bones” because those were just myths. So they were named dinosaurs.
Other than to artificially prop up the evolutionary myth, there is no reason to not believe dragons and dinosaurs were the same thing, and that dragon stories were true, though likely exaggerated as stories of other animals occasionally were (winged horses, anyone?)
26 And God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”
This passage begins with the first (and one of the few) references to God in the plural. Instead of making God into three different entities, I believe this scripture is rendered this way to display His royalty and might.
In the Hebrew language plural words mean not just number but size. For example, my four year old son would be a “boy,” but my husband a “boys.”
This influenced the English language in reference to royalty. The Queen of England, for example, does not say “I will go to bed now.” She says “We will go to bed now” even if she is the only one leaving the room.
Around 95% of all references to God in the Bible are in the singular, and the only number applied to God by God Himself is “One” so this is the only explanation that makes sense in context with the rest of the Bible. In fact, God reverts to the singular in the very next verse.
And the Bible always uses singular verbs, adjectives, and pronouns when referring to God.
God gives complete control over the entire animal kingdom here. Man has tamed every type of creature and has the right to use them for his purposes.
27 So God created man(kind) in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.
Both man and woman were created in the image of God; the man in the image of God’s strength, logic, conqueror attributes. The woman in the image of God’s compassion, beauty, and intuition. No one human could contain the entirety of God's image. It took two beings to display all of Him.
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”
God’s first command to the human race was “Go make babies.” This command was never repealed.
The Hebrew word translated “replenish” is “mawlay” and means:
Mankind was also commanded to take control of the planet. This would require the study of the entire creation from the heavens to the core of the earth. We are still working on this and discovering more every day.
29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creeps upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat:” and it was so.
"Meat" is the 16th century English word for "food."
Humans and all animals were vegetarians at the start. There was no death.
“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:” Romans 5:12
Death was part of the curse. Jesus was the cure.
31 And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Things weren’t “very good” until after humans were made. Humans were the point of creation. The world at this time was an ideal environment for human existence; never too cold or too hot, plenty of food, no predators, no harmful radiation. Perfect.
10 And God named the dry land Earth; and the gathered waters He named "seas." And God saw that it was good.
11 And God said, “Let the earth produce grass, the plants that produce seeds, and the tree that produces fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth:” and it was so.
12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
(A note about the English language: we do not have a truly Sex-neutral pronoun, so we use the male pronouns to mean "generic thing/it/person." Only women get pronouns dedicated just to them.)
Here God makes dry land. He brings the oceans together into one place letting the land underneath appear. It sounds like there was only one continent and one ocean at this time.
He also made the plants, each to produce after its own “kind” or “meen” in the Hebrew, meaning “to portion out, sort.” In other words, He made specific Kinds (one order higher than species, putting the wolf, coyote, and dog, or even all pit fruits [peach, plum, apricot] in the same “Kind.”) that will remain true to type. They were created with the fruit already on the plant.
14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
The reason for the sun, moon and stars was to:
1) Divide the day from the night.
2) To be signs telling us the time, seasons, days and years.
The stars were made to tell us not just when one year had ended and another begun, but to tell us which year we are in, the general directions, and what time of night it is.
God carefully placed the stars out there into their constellations.
Psalms 147:4 “He tells the number of the stars. He calls them all by their names.”
These constellations had specific meanings telling one, specific story. Josephus, the first century Jewish historian, says that Jewish tradition of the time credits Adam with being the first to name all the constellations (or the first God told the names to). They are read from Virgo the virgin (who is fallen down, holding a branch and a sheaf of seeds, surrounded by Como, a virgin nursing a baby, and Bootes, a shepherd carrying a staff to guide His sheep and a sickle to harvest the fields “ripe unto the harvest.”) to Leo the Lion (who is killing and eating Hydra the evil snake, while Corvus the crow and Crater the cup pour out God’s wrath.) The entire gospel story is contained in the stars, though not necessarily in order.
Some say all ancient (pre-Greek) people used the same symbols for each constellation and the same names for each star. If this is true, it cannot be a coincidence, but must be the result of a common ancestral story passed down from generation to generation, gradually corrupted; just like a game of “telephone.”
By the time of Greece the story had been corrupted enough to not bear a resemblance to the original, though you can detect bits and pieces of it here and there.
I do not promote the reading of horoscopes or any other astrological practice. Nor do I believe it is possible to in any way tell the future through the stars. These practices are of the devil and are used to deceive people. They are evil.
However, I do think it possible God carefully placed each star in its place to tell those ancients who didn’t have any Bible what His plan was. We don’t need this since we have the Bible. (Please read “God’s Voice in the Stars” by Kenneth C Fleming, “The Gospel in the Stars” by Joseph A Seiss, and “The Stars and Their Purpose” by Werner Gitt for further information.)
There are some nay sayers to this theory that do have some very valid points against it (such as “These constellations are only visible from the northern hemisphere. Didn’t God care about those south of the equator?”), but I don’t really think it matters much. My God is powerful enough to reveal Himself to individuals using any means He wishes, and I see nothing wrong with us using these symbols in the sky as we know them to draw others to God. Again, there is NO WAY to predict the future from the stars, other than that judgment WILL eventually come.
The sky is divided into twelve constellations with three “helpers” each (so, four symbols for each constellation). Each of these would be visible from the earth in the course of every 24 hour day if it wasn’t for the light from the sun blocking them. We simply can’t see the ones behind the sun.
As we travel around the sun in the course of a year, every constellation is hidden by her light at some point, and every constellation is visible at midnight (depending on which side of the sun we are on that month). So, you could actually tell what time of year it is simply by looking up at night and seeing what constellations are in the sky; different ones are visible in summer than winter.
As the earth rotates on a daily basis, too, the constellations appear to move along the sky just like the sun does. So, at nine o’clock at night in the winter you can see Orion on the horizon in the east, at midnight, he is directly overhead, but by five in the morning he has moved to the horizon in the west. So, we can tell time in the day time by the position of the sun, and time at night by the position of the stars.
The stars can also function as a guidance system. In fact, the US navy has once again decided to teach navigation by the stars instead of only by GPS because the stars can’t be hacked. They are reliable no matter what people do.
Polaris is also called “The North Star” and is situated directly above the North Pole. The constellation we Americans call “The Big Dipper” (The English call it “The Plow” and it has several other names all over the world.) points to it with the lip of the “bowl.” Because of its positioning, it doesn’t move in the sky. Time-lapse photography of the northern sky shows it as one point of light while all the other stars blur into streaks from their movement.
So, by finding Polaris, you know exactly which direction is north (and by default, then, which is south, east, and west). By measuring the distance from Polaris to the horizon, we can tell what latitude we are at. Professionals use a sextant, but the human fist is about 10 degrees, so if you hold your fist up and measure how many you can put between Polaris and the horizon (You have to kind of guess where the horizon would be if you have mountains in that direction like I do) you can estimate what latitude you are at. (You can learn far more about Classical Astronomy [the sky you can see with the naked eye] from “Signs and Seasons” by Jay Ryan available at http://classicalastronomy.com/
The Constellations:
Virgo- The Virgin born seed of the woman (a fallen woman holding a Branch and a sheaf of wheat seeds) Deacons or helpers are:Coma- The desired son (a virgin nursing a baby. There is some evidence that there was a super nova that appeared in the baby’s head at the time of Christ. The wise men’s star?)
Centaurus- The dual natured one (Half man, half horse dying from a self-inflicted wound representing the God-man who died of His own free will.)
Bootes- The coming Shepherd holding a sickle, (ready to harvest His fields).
Libra- “You are weighed in the balance and found wanting.” (The price that covers)
Crux- a Cross. The sacrifice of Christ.
Lupus- A child or lamb (corrupted by the Greeks into a wolf) who is slain as a sacrifice.
Corona the crown- Christ’s victory over sin and death.
Scorpio- The Scorpion. (The evil seeking to wound Christ.)
Serpens- A large snake who is reaching for Corona and is wrapped around …
Ophiuchus- The wrestler. (the struggle between the Seed of the woman and Satan.)
Hercules- The mighty, victorious one
Sagittarius- The dual natured (Centaur) archer with a drawn bow (aimed at Centaurus, the other picture of the dual-natured one. He is shooting Himself. Christ’s wiling sacrifice.)
Lyra- the harp of praise.
Ara- the burning alter being poured down on the dragon.
Draco- the dragon cast down in defeat.
Capricornus- half dying goat (the perfect sacrifice), half living fish. Out of the sacrifice comes life (the fish has always been a symbol of God’s church).
Sagitta- The arrow of God’s judgment.
Aquilla- the eagle (king of the heavens) wounded by the arrow (Christ the King wounded for us).
Delphinus- a dolphin springing out of the water (our resurrection coming from Christ’s death)
Aquarius- The water-bearer pouring living water onto…
Picis Austrinus- the southern fish (God’s people)
Pegasus- the winged horse (the powerful and quick salvation of God)
Cygnus- the swan (the sure return of Christ)
Pices- the two fish (Israel of the Old Testament and the Church of the New) bound together by…
The Band- a cord fastened to the great sea monster (Christ’s church bound by sin).
Andromeda- The bride chained and bound.
Cepheus- The king coming to free His people.
Aries- the crowned lamb.
Cassiopia- The freed bride preparing for her groom.
Cetus- the sea monster to whom the fish are bound.
Perseus- the soldier who has defeated his enemy (He is carrying a severed head).
Taurus- the wild bull of judgment coming to rule.
Orion- The triumphant prince carrying the skin of his enemy, crushing the head of the snake while His heel is wounded.
Eridanus- The river of fire poured out from Orion onto His enemies.
Auriga- The shepherd holding and protecting His sheep as Christ protects us.
Gemini- the twin-natured ruler (Prince and Savior)
Lepus- originally a snake though the Greeks changed it to a rabbit (thus the name); the enemy that Orion stomps on.
Canis Major- originally a king on His throne coming in glory, not a big dog.
Canis Minor- originally a soldier coming to save His people, not a little dog.
Cancer- Not a crab, but a Middle East inn with a wall surrounding its people keeping them safe.
Ursa minor- not a little bear, but a sheepfold keeping God’s people safe in His protection.
Ursa Major- Not a big bear, but the flock gathered to her shepherd. (actually, bears are odd for these signs in the first place, since, if viewed as bears, both signs obviously have long tails and bears never do).
Argo- the ship safely arriving in the harbor bringing its passengers safely home.
Leo- the Lion of Judah, pouncing on and tearing apart His enemy...
Hydra- that old serpent, Satan.
Crater- The cup of God’s wrath poured out on His enemy.
Corvus- The Raven devouring the serpent as part of his judgment.
It is generally believed that God revealed this story of redemption and judgment to either Adam or Enoch who passed it down to his children. Noah carried it onto the ark and when the nations were scattered at the Tower of Babel each group carried the story with them. Time corrupted it, but, as I said, you can still see the Gospel story.
15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth:” and it was so.
16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: He made the stars also.
This specifically says that the sun did not create the world. Most ancient people worshiped the sun as the giver of life. This scripture specifically says “God created the sun,” not “the sun was the creator God.”
17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
The moon moves from full and bright at midnight to almost invisible at noon, depending on what time of the month it is. It takes 28 days to go from "full moon" to "new moon."
God told Israel to begin their months at the New Moon. So each month was 28 days long. This would give their year 13 months and 1 1/4 days. Oddly, to us anyway, all ancient records from before somewhere around 600BC (King Hezekiah of Judah) have 28 day months with 13 months per year. After that time all official records changed to something closer to our current system of measuring years. Could a meteor have hit earth or passed close enough to slow our rotation by that extra 1 1/4 days per year? Some believe there is enough evidence to say "Yes."
19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
20 And God said, “Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.”
The New King James says “…Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures…”
The New American Standard says “…Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures…”
“Bring forth” here does not mean the waters created or birthed life (as Evolution and Paganism teach), but that that is where God placed the first animal life (plant life already being created on land the day before.
21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moves, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
“Great whales” here is rendered “great sea monsters” in the NAS and “great sea creatures” in the NIV. The original Hebrew was “tanniym” meaning "monster, serpent, or dragon.” This certainly includes whales, but does not exclude Plesiosaur, sharks, giant carp or any other large sea creatures.
God did not divide the creatures by physical characteristics like we do. He divided them by habitat. Those things that live in the water and in the air were created on the fifth day, whether they were fish, birds, mammals, insects, reptiles or amphibians. There were some of each of our classifications in each environment.
22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.”
23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
Again, reproduction is limited to being within each animal’s own kind. There is variation within each species, such as color, size, horns, etc. But each species can only reproduce its own species. Dogs will never birth cats, whales will never birth turtles, and dinosaurs never birthed birds.
24 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind:” and it was so.
25 And God made the beast of the earth (wild animals) after his kind, and cattle (domestic animals) after their kind, and everything that creeps upon the earth (bugs, rodents, small reptiles, etc) after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
This would have included what the ancients called dragons, and we call dinosaurs.
Dragon legends from around the world are remarkably similar, and in fact, dragons are the only animals we classify as “mythical” that are common to all people groups. Even ancient art work shows the animals to be the same all over the world. This would not be possible for creatures of the imagination.
What’s more, stories from Native Americans (who had religious beliefs against going near, much less handling bones) are so detailed about these creatures their stories can be used to find fossilized nest communities.
The Chinese had the official office of “Dragon Keeper” until their Communist Revolution, and their ancient stories tell of each newly crowned emperor parading through the capital city in a dragon pulled cart.
The reason “Dragons” were declared mythical was a mistaken belief that arose during the late Middle Ages and Reformation that God would never let any “kind” of animal go extinct. So, since by the 1700’s no one could see dragons, they obviously never existed. Then their bones were discovered in the early 1800’s, but they couldn’t be called “dragon bones” because those were just myths. So they were named dinosaurs.
Other than to artificially prop up the evolutionary myth, there is no reason to not believe dragons and dinosaurs were the same thing, and that dragon stories were true, though likely exaggerated as stories of other animals occasionally were (winged horses, anyone?)
26 And God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”
This passage begins with the first (and one of the few) references to God in the plural. Instead of making God into three different entities, I believe this scripture is rendered this way to display His royalty and might.
In the Hebrew language plural words mean not just number but size. For example, my four year old son would be a “boy,” but my husband a “boys.”
This influenced the English language in reference to royalty. The Queen of England, for example, does not say “I will go to bed now.” She says “We will go to bed now” even if she is the only one leaving the room.
Around 95% of all references to God in the Bible are in the singular, and the only number applied to God by God Himself is “One” so this is the only explanation that makes sense in context with the rest of the Bible. In fact, God reverts to the singular in the very next verse.
And the Bible always uses singular verbs, adjectives, and pronouns when referring to God.
God gives complete control over the entire animal kingdom here. Man has tamed every type of creature and has the right to use them for his purposes.
27 So God created man(kind) in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.
Both man and woman were created in the image of God; the man in the image of God’s strength, logic, conqueror attributes. The woman in the image of God’s compassion, beauty, and intuition. No one human could contain the entirety of God's image. It took two beings to display all of Him.
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”
God’s first command to the human race was “Go make babies.” This command was never repealed.
The Hebrew word translated “replenish” is “mawlay” and means:
- accomplish,
- confirm,
- consecrate,
- be at an end,
- be expired,
- be fenced,
- fill,
- fulfill,
- full,
- overflow,
- fullness,
- furnish,
- gather,
- presume,
- satisfy,
- space,
- take a handful,
- have wholly.
Mankind was also commanded to take control of the planet. This would require the study of the entire creation from the heavens to the core of the earth. We are still working on this and discovering more every day.
29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creeps upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat:” and it was so.
"Meat" is the 16th century English word for "food."
Humans and all animals were vegetarians at the start. There was no death.
“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:” Romans 5:12
Death was part of the curse. Jesus was the cure.
31 And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Things weren’t “very good” until after humans were made. Humans were the point of creation. The world at this time was an ideal environment for human existence; never too cold or too hot, plenty of food, no predators, no harmful radiation. Perfect.
Notice the order of creation:
- light,
- air,
- land and plants,
- sun moon and stars,
- water and air animals,
- land animals.
Not the evolutionary order of
- matter,
- light,
- stars,
- moons and land,
- microscopic organisms,
- larger animals (water then land).
This is a major disagreement that can’t be reconciled. The Bible and evolution cannot both be true.
Also, each day could not have been ten-million years as some say. That would have had plants living for millions of years before the sun, or pollinating insects, or seed-spreading mammals.
In fact, the Bible says it hadn’t rained by the sixth day, so these plants would have had to grow for millions of years without the sun, pollination, seed spreading insects, OR rain. There are also many insects and birds that live exclusively off of certain mammals. These would have had to exist for millions of years without their necessary partners created on the sixth day if “day-age” theories were true. It simply is not possible.
Also, each day could not have been ten-million years as some say. That would have had plants living for millions of years before the sun, or pollinating insects, or seed-spreading mammals.
In fact, the Bible says it hadn’t rained by the sixth day, so these plants would have had to grow for millions of years without the sun, pollination, seed spreading insects, OR rain. There are also many insects and birds that live exclusively off of certain mammals. These would have had to exist for millions of years without their necessary partners created on the sixth day if “day-age” theories were true. It simply is not possible.
Genesis 10 & 11- The Tower of Babel
Genesis 11 should come before chapter 10. Chapter 10 tells us where everyone settled after the Tower of Babel, while 11 tells us of the Tower incident itself.
11:1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.
Noah and all his descendants spoke the same language. This would have been just a hundred or so years after they got off of the boat.
Some scientists put the Ice Age starting at about this time (One large Ice Age, not many little ones). The Great Ice Age was caused by the warm oceans left after the flood driving moisture inland which cooled and snowed in the middle of continents, building up to the great glaciers. This would have caused the coastal regions of even the very north to be warm, lush grasslands fully capable of supporting large plant eaters such as the woolly mammoth. As the oceans cooled, the moisture reduced and the interiors of the continents warmed, melting the glaciers. The cooling oceans would have caused the coasts to cool, too, making the northern coasts no longer habitable to so many large animals. The Ice Age would have lasted one to two hundred years.
2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.
3 And they said one to another, “Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar.
They were using man-made materials instead of the ones God made.
4 And they said, “Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”
God had clearly told them to fill the whole earth, but they wanted to just stay in this one place.
If you assume an average of seven children per family, and about three generations to have reproduced, there were around 7,000 people by now. Maybe even more.
Some believe that building this tower was a sign of direct disbelief in God’s promise to not flood the world again. Slime and bricks would have been reasonably waterproof. They were preparing their own place of safety for the next flood.
The “heaven” they were trying to reach was not God’s throne room. It was the lower regions of the atmosphere. And a landmark like this would have allowed them to remain as one people much easier.
The Hebrew word translated “tower” here is the word used to describe a pyramid of flowers in a garden, so the tower is likely some sort of pyramid.
5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built.
6 And the Lord said, “Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.”
Human beings can accomplish anything that enough of them will set their minds to.
7 “Go to let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.”
Once again we have the royal “Let Us.” Notice that in the rest of this chapter God is called THE (singular) LORD (also singular), and that the verbs, articles, and pronouns are also singular.
8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
One minute they were all speaking the same language and the next they were all speaking different languages. I imagine that this caused quite a few fights. You simply can’t work together on such a project if you can’t communicate.
There are only a few different types of languages in the world, though there are hundreds of different actual languages. For example, Italian, French, Spanish, and a good part of English are all called “romantic” languages because they are all descended from the Roman language of Latin. Farther back, Latin and German have the same root. The Asian and Arabic languages, however, are not even remotely related to each other or Latin. I would guess there are three major language divisions.
God divided the languages along family lines so husbands and wives and children would not be separated.
9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth; and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
Babel means “confusion.” This probably happened around 1787AH (2259BC).
10:1 Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.
2 The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras,
Japheth (the oldest) had seven sons. He probably had at least as many daughters.
3 And the sons of Gomer (Japheth’s oldest); Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.
4 And the sons of Javan (Japheth’s fourth son mentioned here); Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.
It is possible that at the time they moved from Babel this was all the male decedents of Japheth.
5 By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations;
“The isles of the Gentiles” would be the many islands in the Mediterranean. In fact, I understand the Hebrew names for the major islands in the Mediterranean are Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim still.
6 And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.
7 And the sons of Cush (Ham’s oldest); Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabecha; and the sons of Raamah (Ham’s grandson); Sheba, and Dedan.
8 And Cush begat Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one in the earth.
Cush had nine sons, one of which was Nimrod. “Nimrod” means “Rebel.” This may not have been the name given him by his parents at birth, but an earned name from adulthood due to his behavior, and possibly not even a name, but a label given by someone who didn’t want to honor him enough to give his real name.
9 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, “Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord.”
One scholar translates this, “Cush begat Nimrod; he began to be a tyrant in the earth. He was a tyrannical hunter in opposition to the Lord. Thus it is said, "Nimrod the tyrannical opponent of YHVH."
Legend says that Nimrod hunted dangerous animals (such as lions, tigers, bears, maybe Tyrannosaurus) to protect the others from them. He was also a tyrant king. He was a mighty hunter “against” the Lord, by definition.
He was not a godly man.
It is said that he died hunting and his wife claimed he became a god and she got pregnant by Immaculate Conception. Her son’s name started with a letter that strongly resembled our t and the use of the t as a religious symbol dates all the way back to this time. In fact, all pagan religions can be traced back to here.
The idea for Immaculate Conception would have come from the story in the stars (see chapter 1), already being corrupted to suit man’s purpose.
Archeologists have found many versions of the story of Gilgamesh in the Tigris and Euphrates region. These stories contain a flood account, a fight with a snake that offers eternal life, and have Gilgamesh behead the One who sent the flood. It is increasingly believed that Nimrod was Gilgamesh. If so, he was one of the most evil men to have ever lived.
10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
Nimrod was the leader of settling the area we call ancient Sumner.
When Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire, he was given 1903 years’ worth of astronomical observations, putting the founding of Babylon at 2234BC. (It is our arrogant western idea that these people couldn't keep track of their own history and left out thousands of years. As if we, living 2500 years later, know better than the people who lived at the time what really happened.)
11 Out of that land went forth Asshur, and built Nineveh, and the city Rgoboth, and Calah,
Nineveh became the capital city of the Assyrian Empire that destroyed Israel and is where Jonah went to preach.
12 And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: and the same is a great city.
13 And Mizraim (Ham’s second son) begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim,
14 And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (out of whom came Philistim,) and Caphtorim.
Mizraim had seven sons, one (or several) of which fathered the Philistines.
Mizraim himself is believed to have founded Egypt. Some ancient Egyptian records say it was founded in the year 2188BC, about 150 years before Abraham’s birth in 2038BC.
Egypt today refers to herself as "The Land of Mirz."
(An Egyptian chronicler says the Great Egyptian Empire lasted 1663 years. It was conquered by Persia in 526BC so founded in 2188BC.)
If the pre-flood world was technologically advanced enough to build a Flood-worthy boat, and the third generation was advanced enough to build a tower that would have reached the atmosphere if God hadn’t stopped it, then it is very likely Mizraim began the building of the Great Pyramids.
Evolution (today’s prevailing religion in the West) says that people began as no more than animals and have become more and more technologically advanced. However, the evidence simply doesn’t support this. We STILL don’t know how they built the pyramids! Even with all our big cranes and machines we would be hard put to repeat the project.
The fact is the actual evidence says that all peoples began VERY advanced and LOST a great deal of knowledge and skills somewhere along the way.
We know, in fact, that the later pyramids were much less advanced than the earlier ones (though the very first one or two weren’t that advanced, they were still much more advanced than the last few).
Egyptian records tell us about a visor to one of the earliest pharaohs who taught the Egyptians the math necessary to build the pyramids, as well as a great many other things. Though some speculate this visor was Abraham or Joseph, I believe it more likely it was Ham, helping his sons and grandsons with the knowledge he brought from the pre-flood world. This fits with the revised historical timeline better, actually.
The dating of the Pyramids is based, not on scientific evidence, but on the very flawed “Traditional Timeline” which is itself based on evolutionary long periods of time. If the Bible is true, than this timeline is very wrong and not to be relied on. The archeological and scientific evidence is, in fact, increasing to support the Bible’s timeline and disprove the “Traditional Timeline.”
To get more specific, the Traditional Timeline lists about two thousand years of “pre-dynasty” time in Egypt, says the pyramids were built before the discovery of the wheel, and that there were more than 30 consecutive dynasties to rule Egypt.
>We now have firm evidence that many of these dynasties ruled concurrently, and that some are mistakes; they were duplicates (one dynasty listed twice) of other dynasties (drastically shortening the history of Egypt- by more than 1000 years!
>I would think any people advanced enough to build pyramids perfectly level, perfectly square, and perfectly oriented to the stars would be advanced enough to figure out the wheel.
>And the only “proof” for much of the pre-dynasty “history” is part of a name scratched on a wall.
There is no reason to not believe this pre-dynasty time was any longer than a couple of years; no real proof it was any longer.
15 And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and Heth,
16 And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite,
17 And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite,
18 And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.
19 And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou come to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou go, unto Sodom, and Gomorra, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha.
Canaan fathered nine different countries plus two sons that evidently didn’t found their own nations. His descendants settled in what we call Palestine today. This is where the name “Land of Canaan” (that Israel was promised) came from. It was literally the land Canaan’s children settled in.
20 These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations.
21 Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born.
22 The children of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram.
Shem had five sons.
23 And the children of Aram (shem's fifth son); Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash. (4 sons)
24 And Arphaxad (Shem's third son) begat Salah; and Salah begat Eber.
Eber, Shem’s great-grandson, is where we get the term "Hebrew."
25 And unto Eber were born two sons; the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan.
Peleg means “earthquake.” Evidently part of the confusion at the Tower of Babel was an earthquake, possibly even the opening of a large fault line (thus the earth being divided- literally!) Peleg must have been born at just this time.
There is a possibility "Earthquake" was symbolic of the turmoil from the division, but I lean towards an actual earthquake, maybe accompanied by a meteor strike.
26 And Joktan (Peleg's brother) begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazamaveth, and Jerah,
27 And Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah,
28 And Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba,
29 And Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab: all these were the sons of Joktan.
That makes 13 sons!
30 And their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou go unto Sephar a mount of the east.
This family headed east.
31 These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations.
32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.
Scientists tell us there are three main ethnic divisions in humans: Caucasoid (European), Negroid (African), and Mongoloid (Asian). All human groups can be traced to one or (far more common) a mixture of these three.
The Caucasians are descended from Japheth, the Asians or Arabics from Shem, and the Negroid from Ham. The Native Americans and Polynesians are of Asian descent. Most people are actually a mixture of all three.
It is speculated that there was very little difference in skin color before the division with individuals of every shade in every family (there is less difference genetically between the whitest of white humans and the darkest of dark humans than different colored puppies in the same litter). Those who had darker shades and migrated north would not have absorbed enough vitamin D and would have suffered from Rickets, preventing them from producing very many children, while their lighter skinned siblings would have had far more children, eventually resulting in a disappearance of darker skin.
Those who had lighter shades who migrated into the very hot African interior would have succumbed to the heat and not multiplied well.
Those going east who had an extra layer of fat under their skin (giving it a yellowish tint) would have fared better than those who didn’t have this insulation in the Himalayas.
In this very gradual way, “racial characteristics” would have appeared. At least away from the Mediterranean. Around that region there would have continued enough inter-marriage to keep everyone a nice chocolate brown.
Back to chapter 11
10 These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood:
The Flood occurred in 1656AH (2390BC), so Arphaxad was born 1658AH (2388BC).
11 And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.
So Shem lived six hundred years, three hundred and fifty less than his father, dying in 2158AH (1888BC).
12 And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah;
Salah was born about 1693AH (2353BC).
11:1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.
Noah and all his descendants spoke the same language. This would have been just a hundred or so years after they got off of the boat.
Some scientists put the Ice Age starting at about this time (One large Ice Age, not many little ones). The Great Ice Age was caused by the warm oceans left after the flood driving moisture inland which cooled and snowed in the middle of continents, building up to the great glaciers. This would have caused the coastal regions of even the very north to be warm, lush grasslands fully capable of supporting large plant eaters such as the woolly mammoth. As the oceans cooled, the moisture reduced and the interiors of the continents warmed, melting the glaciers. The cooling oceans would have caused the coasts to cool, too, making the northern coasts no longer habitable to so many large animals. The Ice Age would have lasted one to two hundred years.
2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.
3 And they said one to another, “Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar.
They were using man-made materials instead of the ones God made.
4 And they said, “Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”
God had clearly told them to fill the whole earth, but they wanted to just stay in this one place.
If you assume an average of seven children per family, and about three generations to have reproduced, there were around 7,000 people by now. Maybe even more.
Some believe that building this tower was a sign of direct disbelief in God’s promise to not flood the world again. Slime and bricks would have been reasonably waterproof. They were preparing their own place of safety for the next flood.
The “heaven” they were trying to reach was not God’s throne room. It was the lower regions of the atmosphere. And a landmark like this would have allowed them to remain as one people much easier.
The Hebrew word translated “tower” here is the word used to describe a pyramid of flowers in a garden, so the tower is likely some sort of pyramid.
5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built.
6 And the Lord said, “Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.”
Human beings can accomplish anything that enough of them will set their minds to.
7 “Go to let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.”
Once again we have the royal “Let Us.” Notice that in the rest of this chapter God is called THE (singular) LORD (also singular), and that the verbs, articles, and pronouns are also singular.
8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
One minute they were all speaking the same language and the next they were all speaking different languages. I imagine that this caused quite a few fights. You simply can’t work together on such a project if you can’t communicate.
There are only a few different types of languages in the world, though there are hundreds of different actual languages. For example, Italian, French, Spanish, and a good part of English are all called “romantic” languages because they are all descended from the Roman language of Latin. Farther back, Latin and German have the same root. The Asian and Arabic languages, however, are not even remotely related to each other or Latin. I would guess there are three major language divisions.
God divided the languages along family lines so husbands and wives and children would not be separated.
9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth; and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
Babel means “confusion.” This probably happened around 1787AH (2259BC).
Let’s go back to chapter 10:
10:1 Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.
2 The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras,
Japheth (the oldest) had seven sons. He probably had at least as many daughters.
3 And the sons of Gomer (Japheth’s oldest); Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.
4 And the sons of Javan (Japheth’s fourth son mentioned here); Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.
It is possible that at the time they moved from Babel this was all the male decedents of Japheth.
5 By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations;
“The isles of the Gentiles” would be the many islands in the Mediterranean. In fact, I understand the Hebrew names for the major islands in the Mediterranean are Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim still.
6 And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.
7 And the sons of Cush (Ham’s oldest); Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabecha; and the sons of Raamah (Ham’s grandson); Sheba, and Dedan.
8 And Cush begat Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one in the earth.
Cush had nine sons, one of which was Nimrod. “Nimrod” means “Rebel.” This may not have been the name given him by his parents at birth, but an earned name from adulthood due to his behavior, and possibly not even a name, but a label given by someone who didn’t want to honor him enough to give his real name.
9 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, “Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord.”
One scholar translates this, “Cush begat Nimrod; he began to be a tyrant in the earth. He was a tyrannical hunter in opposition to the Lord. Thus it is said, "Nimrod the tyrannical opponent of YHVH."
Legend says that Nimrod hunted dangerous animals (such as lions, tigers, bears, maybe Tyrannosaurus) to protect the others from them. He was also a tyrant king. He was a mighty hunter “against” the Lord, by definition.
He was not a godly man.
It is said that he died hunting and his wife claimed he became a god and she got pregnant by Immaculate Conception. Her son’s name started with a letter that strongly resembled our t and the use of the t as a religious symbol dates all the way back to this time. In fact, all pagan religions can be traced back to here.
The idea for Immaculate Conception would have come from the story in the stars (see chapter 1), already being corrupted to suit man’s purpose.
Archeologists have found many versions of the story of Gilgamesh in the Tigris and Euphrates region. These stories contain a flood account, a fight with a snake that offers eternal life, and have Gilgamesh behead the One who sent the flood. It is increasingly believed that Nimrod was Gilgamesh. If so, he was one of the most evil men to have ever lived.
10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
Nimrod was the leader of settling the area we call ancient Sumner.
When Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire, he was given 1903 years’ worth of astronomical observations, putting the founding of Babylon at 2234BC. (It is our arrogant western idea that these people couldn't keep track of their own history and left out thousands of years. As if we, living 2500 years later, know better than the people who lived at the time what really happened.)
11 Out of that land went forth Asshur, and built Nineveh, and the city Rgoboth, and Calah,
Nineveh became the capital city of the Assyrian Empire that destroyed Israel and is where Jonah went to preach.
12 And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: and the same is a great city.
13 And Mizraim (Ham’s second son) begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim,
14 And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (out of whom came Philistim,) and Caphtorim.
Mizraim had seven sons, one (or several) of which fathered the Philistines.
Mizraim himself is believed to have founded Egypt. Some ancient Egyptian records say it was founded in the year 2188BC, about 150 years before Abraham’s birth in 2038BC.
Egypt today refers to herself as "The Land of Mirz."
(An Egyptian chronicler says the Great Egyptian Empire lasted 1663 years. It was conquered by Persia in 526BC so founded in 2188BC.)
If the pre-flood world was technologically advanced enough to build a Flood-worthy boat, and the third generation was advanced enough to build a tower that would have reached the atmosphere if God hadn’t stopped it, then it is very likely Mizraim began the building of the Great Pyramids.
Evolution (today’s prevailing religion in the West) says that people began as no more than animals and have become more and more technologically advanced. However, the evidence simply doesn’t support this. We STILL don’t know how they built the pyramids! Even with all our big cranes and machines we would be hard put to repeat the project.
The fact is the actual evidence says that all peoples began VERY advanced and LOST a great deal of knowledge and skills somewhere along the way.
We know, in fact, that the later pyramids were much less advanced than the earlier ones (though the very first one or two weren’t that advanced, they were still much more advanced than the last few).
Egyptian records tell us about a visor to one of the earliest pharaohs who taught the Egyptians the math necessary to build the pyramids, as well as a great many other things. Though some speculate this visor was Abraham or Joseph, I believe it more likely it was Ham, helping his sons and grandsons with the knowledge he brought from the pre-flood world. This fits with the revised historical timeline better, actually.
The dating of the Pyramids is based, not on scientific evidence, but on the very flawed “Traditional Timeline” which is itself based on evolutionary long periods of time. If the Bible is true, than this timeline is very wrong and not to be relied on. The archeological and scientific evidence is, in fact, increasing to support the Bible’s timeline and disprove the “Traditional Timeline.”
To get more specific, the Traditional Timeline lists about two thousand years of “pre-dynasty” time in Egypt, says the pyramids were built before the discovery of the wheel, and that there were more than 30 consecutive dynasties to rule Egypt.
>We now have firm evidence that many of these dynasties ruled concurrently, and that some are mistakes; they were duplicates (one dynasty listed twice) of other dynasties (drastically shortening the history of Egypt- by more than 1000 years!
>I would think any people advanced enough to build pyramids perfectly level, perfectly square, and perfectly oriented to the stars would be advanced enough to figure out the wheel.
>And the only “proof” for much of the pre-dynasty “history” is part of a name scratched on a wall.
There is no reason to not believe this pre-dynasty time was any longer than a couple of years; no real proof it was any longer.
15 And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and Heth,
16 And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite,
17 And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite,
18 And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.
19 And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou come to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou go, unto Sodom, and Gomorra, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha.
Canaan fathered nine different countries plus two sons that evidently didn’t found their own nations. His descendants settled in what we call Palestine today. This is where the name “Land of Canaan” (that Israel was promised) came from. It was literally the land Canaan’s children settled in.
20 These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations.
21 Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born.
22 The children of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram.
Shem had five sons.
23 And the children of Aram (shem's fifth son); Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash. (4 sons)
24 And Arphaxad (Shem's third son) begat Salah; and Salah begat Eber.
Eber, Shem’s great-grandson, is where we get the term "Hebrew."
25 And unto Eber were born two sons; the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan.
Peleg means “earthquake.” Evidently part of the confusion at the Tower of Babel was an earthquake, possibly even the opening of a large fault line (thus the earth being divided- literally!) Peleg must have been born at just this time.
There is a possibility "Earthquake" was symbolic of the turmoil from the division, but I lean towards an actual earthquake, maybe accompanied by a meteor strike.
26 And Joktan (Peleg's brother) begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazamaveth, and Jerah,
27 And Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah,
28 And Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba,
29 And Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab: all these were the sons of Joktan.
That makes 13 sons!
30 And their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou go unto Sephar a mount of the east.
This family headed east.
31 These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations.
32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.
Scientists tell us there are three main ethnic divisions in humans: Caucasoid (European), Negroid (African), and Mongoloid (Asian). All human groups can be traced to one or (far more common) a mixture of these three.
The Caucasians are descended from Japheth, the Asians or Arabics from Shem, and the Negroid from Ham. The Native Americans and Polynesians are of Asian descent. Most people are actually a mixture of all three.
It is speculated that there was very little difference in skin color before the division with individuals of every shade in every family (there is less difference genetically between the whitest of white humans and the darkest of dark humans than different colored puppies in the same litter). Those who had darker shades and migrated north would not have absorbed enough vitamin D and would have suffered from Rickets, preventing them from producing very many children, while their lighter skinned siblings would have had far more children, eventually resulting in a disappearance of darker skin.
Those who had lighter shades who migrated into the very hot African interior would have succumbed to the heat and not multiplied well.
Those going east who had an extra layer of fat under their skin (giving it a yellowish tint) would have fared better than those who didn’t have this insulation in the Himalayas.
In this very gradual way, “racial characteristics” would have appeared. At least away from the Mediterranean. Around that region there would have continued enough inter-marriage to keep everyone a nice chocolate brown.
Babylon
Back to chapter 11
10 These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood:
The Flood occurred in 1656AH (2390BC), so Arphaxad was born 1658AH (2388BC).
11 And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.
So Shem lived six hundred years, three hundred and fifty less than his father, dying in 2158AH (1888BC).
12 And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah;
Salah was born about 1693AH (2353BC).
(Or not. The Septuagint says 135, not 35. Josephus and the Dead Sea Scrolls also have the older age. In fact, they all add 100 years each to Arphaxed through Serug.
All of our modern Bibles are translated from the Masoretic text, not the Septuagint. The Masoretic text was written/ translated /assembled in the sixth century AD. It is speculated that the Jewish scholars who translated it intentionally shortened the lives of these men so Shem would still be alive at the time of Abraham, allowing them to say that he was Melchezadic and that his priesthood was passed down to Abraham and then to Isaac, Jacob, and Levi. This would invalidate the book of Hebrews claim that Jesus was a priest after the order of Melchezadic.
The Bible says that a matter is established with 2-3 witnesses. If the Septuagint, Dead Sea Scrolls, Josephous, and even some statements by Paul all agree with these older ages, they are probably true. This would add a total of 650 years to the Earth's age and erase any remaining problems between the biblical timeline and the building of the pyramids.)
13 And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.
Total of 933 years. He died in 2591 (1455BC)
14 And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber:
The father of the Hebrews. 1723AH (2323BC)
15 And Salah lived after he begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.
Total of 433 years, dying in 2156 (1890BC). He died more than 400 years before his father.
16 And Eber lived four and thirty years and begat Peleg:
Peleg was born about 1757AH (2289BC), about 101 years after the Flood.
17 And Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters.
Total of 464 years, dying in 2187AH (1859BC). The ages are getting decidedly less. This is likely due to increased radiation entering the atmosphere from the sun. We no longer have that protective water canopy (the “waters above the firmament”) to filter it out. Radiation causes mutations at the cellular level. Mutations are almost always negative, occasionally neutral (with no observations of positive mutations). Also, increased radiation causes acceleration of aging.
It is also possible there was some nutrient in the soil that was buried, and so no longer available to us through our plants, that slowed or prevented aging before the flood.
The post-flood world was just a whole lot harsher, too; likely more extreme weather, and this is when it is believed the Great Ice Age began.
18 And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu:
Reu was born about 1787AH (2259BC).
19 And Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters.
Total of 239 years, dying in 2026 (2020BC). He also died before his father.
Another drastic drop in ages. This may be due to the harshness of living in an Ice Age.
20 And Reu lived two and thirty years and begat Serug.
1787AH (2259BC).
21 And Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters.
Total of 239 years, dying in 1994AH (2052BC).
22 And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor:
1849AH (2197BC).
23 And Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.
Total of 230 years, dying in 2049AH (1997BC).
24 And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah:
1878AH (2168BC).
Just as a point of interest, Egyptian records say the “Egyptian Kingdom” lasted 1663 years. Since we know they were conquered by Persia in 526 BC, they were founded in 2188BC, somewhere between the birth of Nahor and Terah.
25 And Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters.
Total of 148 years, dying 1997AH (2049BC), dying before his dad.
26 And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
Again, we don’t know if these were triplets. Probably not. All three are just important in the future stories so all three had to be listed. The oldest (likely Haran) would have been born about 1948AH (2098BC).
Just a point of interest, the 4th century Greek historian Eubius says the first king of Greece began to reign in 2089BC, 9 years before Haran was born.
27 Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot.
This is probably the first verse written by Abraham (the previous ones in this chapter likely written by Shem), thus the need to repeat verse 26.
There are only around 290 years between the flood and this point. There is even a good chance that Abraham knew Shem, since Shem didn’t die until 2158AH (1888BC).
Legend (which is probably not true, but fun to know anyway) says that Terah ran a store for idols. He and his son had had many arguments about whether the idols were gods or not. Abraham was left in charge of the store for a day and when his dad came back, he found all but one of the idols broken and that one holding a big stick. Terah was supposed to have been angry at his son for breaking his inventory. Abraham replied “They began to argue and fight and the one beat up all the others.”
Legend also says Abraham went to live with his great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather Shem for a while.
28 And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees.
This is near Babylon, at the mouth of the Euphrates River.
29 And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah.
Abram means “High Father.” He married his half-sister, Sarai (which means “Dominative”). His brother, Nahor, married his niece, Milcah (daughter of their brother Haran and sister to Lot.)
We don’t really know who Iscah is. She (it’s a feminine word) was important enough to include here, but the Bible doesn’t tell us why. Speculation runs from her actually being Sarah (and thus Abram’s niece instead of sister as the Bible later says) to being Lot’s wife (We think Iscah means “to look back.”) We just really don’t know.
Strong's concordance says "See Sarah" as the definition for Iscah.
The laws forbidding marriage so close in a family were not written for some time yet. This early in history, the negative mutations that cause problems with such close intermarriage had not occurred yet, so there was no problem with brothers marrying sisters.
And at this time in history they weren't nearly as strict with family relations, grandpas often calling their grandsons, "son." So I guess it's possible for Abraham to call his brother's daughter, his "sister."
30 But Sarai was barren; she had no child.
Here is a point about the King James Version of the Bible that I like. When it does use a word we may not be familiar with (such as barren) it defines it for us (“she had no child.”)
31 And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there.
Terah took his son, daughter/daughter-in-law, and grandson.
Ur is south east of Babylon, towards the Persian Gulf, on the Euphrates River (See the map). Haran is north-west of Babylon, on the Euphrates, close to modern day Turkey. This town was founded by some Haran the Bible doesn’t tell us about.
32 And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran.
He left Abram and Lot there. He died in 2083AH (1963BC).
13 And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.
Total of 933 years. He died in 2591 (1455BC)
14 And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber:
The father of the Hebrews. 1723AH (2323BC)
15 And Salah lived after he begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.
Total of 433 years, dying in 2156 (1890BC). He died more than 400 years before his father.
16 And Eber lived four and thirty years and begat Peleg:
Peleg was born about 1757AH (2289BC), about 101 years after the Flood.
17 And Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters.
Total of 464 years, dying in 2187AH (1859BC). The ages are getting decidedly less. This is likely due to increased radiation entering the atmosphere from the sun. We no longer have that protective water canopy (the “waters above the firmament”) to filter it out. Radiation causes mutations at the cellular level. Mutations are almost always negative, occasionally neutral (with no observations of positive mutations). Also, increased radiation causes acceleration of aging.
It is also possible there was some nutrient in the soil that was buried, and so no longer available to us through our plants, that slowed or prevented aging before the flood.
The post-flood world was just a whole lot harsher, too; likely more extreme weather, and this is when it is believed the Great Ice Age began.
18 And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu:
Reu was born about 1787AH (2259BC).
19 And Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters.
Total of 239 years, dying in 2026 (2020BC). He also died before his father.
Another drastic drop in ages. This may be due to the harshness of living in an Ice Age.
20 And Reu lived two and thirty years and begat Serug.
1787AH (2259BC).
21 And Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters.
Total of 239 years, dying in 1994AH (2052BC).
22 And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor:
1849AH (2197BC).
23 And Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.
Total of 230 years, dying in 2049AH (1997BC).
24 And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah:
1878AH (2168BC).
Just as a point of interest, Egyptian records say the “Egyptian Kingdom” lasted 1663 years. Since we know they were conquered by Persia in 526 BC, they were founded in 2188BC, somewhere between the birth of Nahor and Terah.
25 And Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters.
Total of 148 years, dying 1997AH (2049BC), dying before his dad.
26 And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
Again, we don’t know if these were triplets. Probably not. All three are just important in the future stories so all three had to be listed. The oldest (likely Haran) would have been born about 1948AH (2098BC).
Just a point of interest, the 4th century Greek historian Eubius says the first king of Greece began to reign in 2089BC, 9 years before Haran was born.
27 Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot.
This is probably the first verse written by Abraham (the previous ones in this chapter likely written by Shem), thus the need to repeat verse 26.
There are only around 290 years between the flood and this point. There is even a good chance that Abraham knew Shem, since Shem didn’t die until 2158AH (1888BC).
Legend (which is probably not true, but fun to know anyway) says that Terah ran a store for idols. He and his son had had many arguments about whether the idols were gods or not. Abraham was left in charge of the store for a day and when his dad came back, he found all but one of the idols broken and that one holding a big stick. Terah was supposed to have been angry at his son for breaking his inventory. Abraham replied “They began to argue and fight and the one beat up all the others.”
Legend also says Abraham went to live with his great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather Shem for a while.
28 And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees.
This is near Babylon, at the mouth of the Euphrates River.
29 And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah.
Abram means “High Father.” He married his half-sister, Sarai (which means “Dominative”). His brother, Nahor, married his niece, Milcah (daughter of their brother Haran and sister to Lot.)
We don’t really know who Iscah is. She (it’s a feminine word) was important enough to include here, but the Bible doesn’t tell us why. Speculation runs from her actually being Sarah (and thus Abram’s niece instead of sister as the Bible later says) to being Lot’s wife (We think Iscah means “to look back.”) We just really don’t know.
Strong's concordance says "See Sarah" as the definition for Iscah.
The laws forbidding marriage so close in a family were not written for some time yet. This early in history, the negative mutations that cause problems with such close intermarriage had not occurred yet, so there was no problem with brothers marrying sisters.
And at this time in history they weren't nearly as strict with family relations, grandpas often calling their grandsons, "son." So I guess it's possible for Abraham to call his brother's daughter, his "sister."
30 But Sarai was barren; she had no child.
Here is a point about the King James Version of the Bible that I like. When it does use a word we may not be familiar with (such as barren) it defines it for us (“she had no child.”)
31 And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there.
Terah took his son, daughter/daughter-in-law, and grandson.
Ur is south east of Babylon, towards the Persian Gulf, on the Euphrates River (See the map). Haran is north-west of Babylon, on the Euphrates, close to modern day Turkey. This town was founded by some Haran the Bible doesn’t tell us about.
32 And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran.
He left Abram and Lot there. He died in 2083AH (1963BC).
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