Abram, Sarai and Lot returned from Egypt to the Negev. Abram had become very wealthy in silver, gold and livestock and Lot had flocks and herds too, so that quarrelling developed between Abram and Lot’s herdsmen over pasture. Abram therefore magnanimously offered for Lot to choose which land he wanted so that they could go their separate ways and live in peace. Lot chose the whole plain of the Jordan and pitched his tents near Sodom, and so Abram settled in the land of Canaan. Then God told Abram that he would give that land to him and his offspring. And so Abram built an altar to the Lord at Hebron.

God called Abram to leave Haran and go to a land which he would show him. God said he would make Abram into a great nation and that all people on earth would be blessed through him. So at my age (75!) Abram left for the land of Canaan which God said he would give to Abram’s descendants, taking with him his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot and all his possessions. However a famine led Abram to temporarily move to Egypt and Abram invented a lie saying his beautiful wife Sarai was his sister, for fear of being killed by the Egyptians after his wife! Sure enough Pharaoh fell for Sarai and took her into his harem, showering her “brother” Abram with gifts of sheep, cattle, donkeys, camels and servants! The truth only came to light when God inflicted disease on Pharoah as a consequence of his inadvertent sin, and Abram and Sarai returned to Canaan with all their entourage.

The story of the Tower of Babel fits the linguistic situation immediately after the flood when there was one language, as opposed to the multi-lingual situation which was described in chapter 10. God was not pleased when he saw man building a city with a high tower to make a name for himself. God saw such an endeavour as an embodiment of an arrogant ungodly spirit and he deliberately confused their language so as to put a stop to it. It was called the Tower of Babel (Babylon) as it sounds like the Hebrew for confused. In the second part of this chapter the genealogical tree is traced from Noah’s son Shem down to Abram, Sarai his wife and Lot. They set out from Ur of the Chaldeans with Abram’s father Haran to go to Canaan, but they settled on the way at Haran.

This chapter lays out the 3 nations formed by the descendants of Noah’s sons Japheth (the Japhethites), Ham (the Hamites) and Shem (the Semites). The Japhethites’ territories had maritime links and they spoke a number of languages. In the Hamites’ territories they also spoke different languages and of note was their hunting capacity with Nimrod called a mighty hunter. The roots of Nineveh are in this nation as are the Philistines, the Canaanites and Sodom and Gomorrah. The Semites also had their own territories and languages, and from this nation came Abraham and Sarah.

After the flood God blessed Noah and his sons, told them to be fruitful and multiply, and encouraged hunting and fishing as means of supplying their sustenance. God clearly emphasized the sanctity of human life and Noah lived to 950 years of age. God established a covenant with Noah, his descendants and all wildlife, promising never again to flood the earth, and God gave the rainbow as the sign of this everlasting covenant. Noah planted a vineyard, got drunk on the wine and ended up laying naked in his tent. His son Ham (the father of Canaan) saw him and went and told his brothers Shem and Japheth. They got a garment to cover their father and walked in backwards so as not to see their father in the nude. When Noah awoke and discovered all that had gone on he was furious with Ham and cursed his son Canaan into slavery. On the other hand Noah was pleased with Shem and Japheth and blessed the Lord for them.

The flood water began to recede and the ark came to rest on the Ararat mountains as the mountain tops reappeared from the flood. Noah decided to send out birds to do reconnaissance work on the outside situation and when a dove brought back a leaf in its beak he knew that the waters had receded a lot. 7 days later he released the dove again and when it didn’t return he knew that the flood was completely over. God told Noah’s family together with all the animals and birds that they could now leave the ark. Noah built an altar to the Lord on which he offered burnt sacrifices and God vowed never to repeat his cursing of the earth or to destroy animal life.

Noah, at 600 years of age, his wife, his sons and their wives entered the ark under God’s instructions 7 days before the start of the rain. Pairs of all animals and birds also entered the ark. When the heavy rain started it lasted for 40 days and the resultant flood lasted for 5 months with even the mountains being submerged under 20 feet of water. All human beings, animals, birds and living creatures were exterminated by this flood except those in the floating ark.

With the growth of the earth’s population came corruption, sin and violence which saddened God’s heart. God’s initial reaction was to reduce mankind’s life expectancy to 120 years. However things only got worse making God increasingly angry. God was so sorry that he had ever made mankind, animals and birds that he decided to wipe them out. However Noah walked with God and found favour in his eyes. So the Lord decided to flood the earth but save Noah’s family plus animal life. God instructed Noah to build an ark 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high with a roof on top, which was to be Noah’s family’s means of escape together with breeding pairs of all animals. Noah obeyed God.

Chapter 5 contains genealogical details of Adam’s offspring. Everyone lived long lives then. Adam lived 930 years, his son Seth lived 912 years, Adam’s grandson Enosh lived 905 years, Adam’s great-grandson Kenan lived 910 years, Adam’s great-great-grandson Mahalalel lived 895 years, Adam’s great-great-great-grandson Jared lived 962 years, and Adam’s great-great-great-great-grandson Enoch did not die but was bodily translated into heaven as a result of his walk with God. Enoch’s son Methuselah was the record holder in longevity living 969 years, his son Lamech lived 777 years and he was the father of Noah about whom we will hear a lot in the following chapters. Noah had become the father of 3 sons by the time he was 500 years old which is not bad going! 😀

Adam and Eve’s first children were born and they were called Cain and Abel. These sons made offerings to the Lord but Cain’s offering was not pleasing to God. (Why the preference is not explained) Cain eventually murdered Abel as a consequence and was severely punished by God. Over time more children and grandchildren of Adam and Eve were born. (One granddaughter was Zillah whom I highlight because I had a very special maternal Aunt of this name).

Poetically personified as a snake, the forces of evil seduced Eve, and then Adam, to disobey God’s command not to eat of the forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden. Such a fall into disobedience had catastrophic consequences on humanity and they were banished from the garden.

God, who had created man, Adam, from the dust of the earth and woman, Eve, from the man’s rib, gave them the job of caring for the Garden of Eden which he had created. God told them they could eat what they liked except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which would cause their death. The couple initially lived happily together as man and wife.

At the beginning of all things that we know the eternal God created everything and created the mechanisms for creation to develop and maintain itself. God created sun, moon, planets, stars, mountains, dry land, seas, flora and fauna. God created man and woman as his representatives and administrators of the earth.

I have this dream to write a résumé of the Bible chapter by chapter, and I have decided to start today. I am not sure how far I will get. I am not sure if I will be able to stick at it bit by bit, or whether I will find the time to do it on top of everything else that I have on my plate. But I am going to try. It will be good for my own personal edification and I hope it might be helpful to people. Perhaps it will get people who don’t read the Bible to start reading it to see if my résumé is OK!

Of course writing résumés involves some Bible interpretation and I hope people will be kind to me and bear with me. My résumés will not please everyone, but I hope it will get people to think about God’s Word even if their interpretation is different to mine. So in my next post I will start in the book of Genesis.

There are 1,189 chapters in the Protestant Bible so if I was able to cover a chapter every two days it would take me around 7 years!