Gen 11:10-32 | TNotes | STEP | 11:10 This account of Shem’s family resumes the line of Shem from 10:21-32 , now with special focus on the line leading to Abram. Only Abram and Israel are heirs to Shem’s God (see 9:26-27 ; Deut 32:8-9 ). The Babel story vividly repudiates the culture that Abram was called to abandon (Gen 12:1 ; 24:6-7 ). Together with the account of Terah’s descendants (11:27-32 ), this second account of Shem’s line forms a bridge from the universal history of chs 1–11 to the national history of Israel that begins in ch 12 . Abram is the remnant from Babel’s confused world. God called him as an act of grace whereby the fractured world of Babel would be blessed (12:3 ). • the father of: Or the ancestor of; Hebrew genealogies do not necessarily list every single generation.

11:10 ^a This account of Shem’s family resumes the line of Shem from 10:21-32 ^b, now with special focus on the line leading to Abram. Only Abram and Israel are heirs to Shem’s God (see 9:26-27 ^c; Deut 32:8-9 ^d). The Babel story vividly repudiates the culture that Abram was called to abandon (Gen 12:1 ^e; 24:6-7 ^f). Together with the account of Terah’s descendants (11:27-32 ^g), this second account of Shem’s line forms a bridge from the universal history of chs 1–11 ^h to the national history of Israel that begins in ch 12 ⁱ. Abram is the remnant from Babel’s confused world. God called him as an act of grace whereby the fractured world of Babel would be blessed (12:3 ^j).

• the father of: Or the ancestor of; Hebrew genealogies do not necessarily list every single generation.
11:18 ^k Peleg: See study note on 10:25.
Summary for Gen 11:27: 11:27–25:11 ^l This is the account (Hebrew toledoth; see study note on 2:4) of Terah’s family: What follows in 11:28–25:11 ^m are the particulars about the family descended from Terah, notably about Abraham and God’s covenant with him, and about Isaac, the child of promise, who carried forward the line and the blessing to the next generation.
Summary for Gen 11:27-32: 11:27-32 ⁿ This brief section provides a complete summary of Terah’s life and accounts for his other sons and their marriages; it also introduces Lot, Abram’s nephew, who later played a prominent role. The ancestors, including Terah and his family, were idolatrous, worshiping other gods in Mesopotamia (Josh 24:2 ^o). 11:27 ^p Nahor was the grandfather of Laban, whose daughters later became Jacob’s wives (chs 29–31 ^q).

• Lot: See profile for Lot at end of chapter.
11:28 ^r The call of Abram occurred in Ur of the Chaldeans (15:7 ^s; Acts 7:2-4 ^t), the main city of Sumer in Mesopotamia near the mouth of the Persian Gulf. The family had moved there perhaps generations before the call. Their ancestral home (“native country,” Gen 12:1 ^u) was apparently near Haran, in the region of the descendants of Shem (11:10-26 ^v); thus they settled there when they left Ur (11:31 ^w) and were later described as “Arameans” (Deut 26:5 ^x).

• land of his birth: The same Hebrew phrase is repeated in 12:1 ^y (“native country”), making Ur, not Haran, the location of Abram’s call (see 15:7 ^z; Neh 9:7 ^aa; Acts 7:2 ^ab).
11:29 ^ac Sarai means “princess” in Hebrew. No mention is made of Sarai’s parentage, perhaps to add suspense to the Abimelech story, which reveals that she was Abram’s half sister (20:9-12 ^ad). Later, the law prohibited such a marriage (Lev 18:9 ^ae; 20:17 ^af; Deut 27:22 ^ag).

• Nahor’s wife was Milcah: Milcah was Haran’s daughter and Nahor’s niece (see Gen 11:29 ^ah). Her son Bethuel was the father of Rebekah, the wife of Abram’s son Isaac (24:10 ^ai, 15 ^aj, 24 ^ak). The name Milcah is related to the Hebrew word meaning “queen.” In Akkadian, it is a title of the goddess Ishtar, the moon-god’s daughter. Terah’s name is related to the word for “moon” in Hebrew; his whole family appears to have worshiped Sin, the moon-god (see Josh 24:14 ^al).
11:30 ^am Sarai, Rebekah (25:21 ^an), and Rachel (29:31 ^ao) all suffered infertility. Sarai’s situation in particular highlights the paradox between the apparent reality and God’s promise to give many descendants (12:2 ^ap). The Israelite nation’s origin from barren women fixes its identity in the sovereignty of God, who miraculously gives children to barren women (see also 1 Sam 1:2 ^aq; 2:5 ^ar; Ps 113:9 ^as; Isa 54:1 ^at).
11:31 ^au Terah took: The text is clear that Abram’s departure from Ur was prompted by God’s calling (see study note on 11:28), but the event is described from Terah’s perspective, in keeping with the patriarchy of ancient Near Eastern culture. This cultural deference to the oldest male is evidently why Abram did not continue on to Canaan by himself at this time (see Acts 7:2-4 ^av).

• Haran was 550 miles northwest of Ur, near the Syrian-Turkish border. Despite the similar name, there is no connection with Terah’s son Haran, who had died in Ur (11:28 ^aw).

• Haran means “caravan.” Ancient commercial routes converged there, making it a key site for trade.

• Haran was also well known for the moon worship to which Terah’s family was apparently devoted (see study note on 11:29).

Profile: Lot
Lot was Abraham’s nephew and the ancestor of the Moabites and Ammonites. Like Abraham, Lot was born in Ur and accompanied Terah to Haran (Gen 11:27-32 ^ax). After Terah’s death, he joined Abraham in journeying to Canaan and Egypt.
When Lot and Abraham returned from Egypt to Canaan, their flocks and herds grew too numerous for them to live together, so Abraham gave Lot his choice of land on which to settle. Lot chose the fertile plain of the Jordan that was like “the garden of the Lord” (Gen 13:10 ^ay), and eventually he took up residence in Sodom. Lot’s increasing involvement with the completely corrupt cities of the plain compromised him.
While Lot lived in Sodom, four Mesopotamian kings defeated the kings of five towns in the area; in the subsequent plundering, they carried off Lot, his family, and his possessions (Gen 14:1-12 ^az). When word of this reached Abraham, he launched a rearguard action against the invaders and recovered the prisoners and property (14:13-16 ^ba).
Because of the wickedness of Sodom and the neighboring city of Gomorrah, God decided to destroy these towns. He sent two angelic visitors to Lot in Sodom to encourage his departure from the doomed city (Gen 19:1-15 ^bb). The city’s depravity became even more evident in an attempted homosexual attack on the visitors. Lot’s willingness to sacrifice his daughters, along with his reluctance to leave Sodom, shows how corrupt and compromised he had become. No one but his immediate family accompanied him, and his wife was destroyed when she turned back in disobedience. Soon after the destruction of Sodom, Lot’s daughters, despairing of having no husbands, got Lot drunk enough to have sexual relations with them. Their two sons, Moab and Ben-ammi, were ancestors of the Moabites and Ammonites (Gen 19:30-38 ^bc), two nations that became inveterate enemies of Israel (see Deut 23:3-6 ^bd). Despite Lot’s waywardness, Peter declares that Lot was a “righteous man who was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day” (see 2 Pet 2:6-9 ^be). This analysis of Lot may stem from Jewish interpretive tradition, as it is difficult to see in the Genesis account.

Passages for Further Study
Gen 11:27 ^bf, 31 ^bg; 12:4-5 ^bh; 13:1-14 ^bi; 14:12-16 ^bj; 19:1-38 ^bk; Deut 2:9 ^bl, 17-19 ^bm; Ps 83:4-8 ^bn; Luke 17:28-33 ^bo; 2 Pet 2:6-9 ^bp