This transcript was auto-generated. 

Here we go another list of names. What do you think might get out of this bible passage today? A long list of names some of which we might struggle to even pronounce. When I read the bible as a young Christian, I got very discouraged over things like the long list of names that appear from time to time. What do most preachers do I wonder when they come to a passage like this? Many I suspect just skip over the passage, but this is the 3rd time we've come upon such a list of names in the book of Genesis. So why are there lists of names, like this, in the Bible?  When people come up with an abridged or a youth version of the Bible, I notice the first thing they often do is cut out these long lists of names. So, what is the value of a genealogy, and can we just ignore them so that we won't be discouraged when they read the Bible?  Would the Bible really suffer if we didn't have these lists of names. So, the question comes down to what is the value of a genealogy, is it just another long list of names? 

I want us to look at this passage this of the next few episodes and ask, why is it here? Why did the early church feel like this was important enough to put it in the Bible? As we go through this passage over the next few episode, I want to do three things. I want us to look at why the passage is in the bible in the first place. I'd also like to do is look at this passage in the context, of the book of Genesis, and then the third thing I want to do is look at what this passage means for us, today. Because believe me, this passage intimately connects and relates to the rest of the Bible. So, we will not read this chapter but rather do a  survey through it as we work through the rest of this chapter. Although as always a complete transcript of this message along with the complete text is available in the Episodes notes of this podcast. Today’s passage opens by saying.

 This is the account of Shem’s family line.

(Gen 11: 10a), 

We've seen this phrase several times that before and it is extremely important. In the book of Genesis that little phrase appears I think it's 10 times and it is very clear that the writer, [Moses] is using that phrase to mark the structure and the outline of the book. This phrase is the marker that is used to distinguish the various subjects he has strung together across the entire book of Genesis. With that in mind know that this verse marks one of those important divisions in the text. What follows a list 9 men, beginning with Shem, one right after the other. Vs 11-end of the chapter. The family line of Shem through 9 generation down until someone called, Haran.

This is the account of Shem’s family line. Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father[d] of Arphaxad 11 And after he became the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters. When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah. And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters. When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber. And after he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters. When Eber had lived 34 years, he became the father of Peleg. And after he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters. When Peleg had lived 30 years, he became the father of Reu. And after he became the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters. When Reu had lived 32 years, he became the father of Serug. And after he became the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters. When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor. And after he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters. When Nahor had lived 29 years, he became the father of Terah. And after he became the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters. After Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.

This list of names doesn't tell us a whole lot about the people involved. He just tells us what they were called, how long they lived, if they had a son what age they had the child and how long they lived after that and whether they had any further children, and it does that nine times, one after the other. This genealogy here in Chapter 11 is similar to the genealogy we looked at in chapter 5, but it is interesting to note that the age for fathering has dropped dramatically since the previous list of names given a few chapters ago. So, it seems some profound changes have affected mankind. What is startling is how life expectancy has dropped, dramatically cuts it in half, in fact. So, something happened that shortened people's lives. Even if you don’t believe the years mentioned are literal, what must still jump out at you is lifespan has now been cut in half. Furthermore, with previous family trees and list of names you may remember there was always one or two individuals who stood out from that list  The outstanding person in that chapter 5 list of names was Enoch, who we are told walked with God until God took him. In the chapter 10 list of names you may remember there were two individuals who also stood out, Eber and Nimrod. In those earlier passages there was always somebody we could land on and say aahh! You know that person was significant, but you can't do that here it's just a list of people. This is someone who had a son, and this is how long they lived after that.  So, what is the bigger picture here? What's the value, what is the significance of this list? Well, we will hopefully find out in the next episode.