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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Genesis 11:10 - 11:26
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The Generation of Shem
v. 10. These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old and begat Arphaxad two years after the Flood. The genealogical table of Shem is now repeated in detail, because the narrative gradually tends toward the story of the people of God, whose progenitor was Abraham, a descendant of Shem through Eber.
v. 11. And Shem lived, after he begat Arphaxad, five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.
v. 12. And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years and begat Salah;
v. 13. and Arphaxad lived, after he begat Salah, four hundred and three years and begat sons and daughters.
v. 14. And Salah lived thirty years and begat Eber;
v. 15. and Salah lived, after he begat Eber, four hundred and three years and begat sons and daughters. Up to this point the ancestry of the Joktanites and of the Abrahamites follows the same line.
v. 16. And Eber lived four and thirty years and begat Peleg;
v. 17. and Eber lived, after he begat Peleg, four hundred and thirty years and begat sons and daughters.
v. 18. And Peleg lived thirty years and begat Reu;
v. 19. and Peleg lived, after he begat Reu, two hundred and nine years and begat sons and daughters.
v. 20. And Reu lived two and thirty years and begat Serug;
v. 21. and Reu lived, after he begat Serug, two hundred and seven years and begat sons and daughters.
v. 22. And Serug lived thirty years and begat Nahor;
v. 23. and Serug lived, after he begat Nahor, two hundred years and begat sons and daughters.
v. 24. And Nahor lived nine and twenty years and begat Terah;
v. 25. and Nahor lived, after he begat Terah, an hundred and nineteen years and begat sons and daughters. A careful comparison of this list with the genealogical table of Genesis 5 shows a very decided shortening of the average life of man after the Flood. While Noah still reached the age of 950 years, the age of man, with Arphaxad, sank down below 500 years; this again, was reduced, with Peleg, to 239 years and with Nahor to 148 years. In the short space of eight generations, therefore, the average age of man was reduced almost to the level which it has maintained since. This was due partly to the change of climate on the surface of the earth, partly to the different mode of living.
v. 26. And Terah lived seventy years and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. That is, the oldest son of Terah was born when he was seventy years old, and three sons are mentioned in this instance, Abram, afterward Abraham, as the father of the Jewish race, Nahor as the grandfather of Rebekah, and Haran as the father of Lot.