A New World Begins

CHAPTER EIGHT

GENESIS 8:1-4 “God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged;
“The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;
“And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.
“And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.”

Much is said in the Scriptures to indicate that God’s interest in his covenant people, and his care for them has often been the reason for important decisions and moves on his part. Because God “remembered Abraham” (Gen. 19:29), he made provision for Lot to escape from the cities of the plain which were destroyed. “God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob” (Exod. 2:24), and delivered the Hebrew children from Egyptian bondage.

From a scientific standpoint, the waters of the Flood would doubtless have abated in any event, but God honored his servant, Noah, by this beautiful token of his remembrance of him.

We have in these verses a very colorful description of how the ‘fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped’, followed by the gradual receding of the Flood waters until the ark rested ‘upon the mountains of Ararat’. It would be difficult to analyze the meaning of this language accurately, and with sufficient detail to know exactly all that is involved in the narrative. It is enough for us to know that in the New Testament, both Jesus and Peter confirm the record; and Peter tells us that with the drying up of the Deluge there began a new world, referred to by Paul as “this present evil world.”—Gal. 1:4

The name Ararat means ‘holy ground’. It is well to note that the word ‘mountains’ is used in the plural, and it is believed by scholars that the reference is to a mountainous district of Asia, and that it was the ancient name for a portion of Armenia. In its Biblical sense it is descriptive of the Armenian highlands—the lofty plateau which overlooks the plain of the Araxes on the north, and of Mesopotamia on the south.

It is probable that the ark rested on one of the lower portions of the range, rather than on the lofty peak to which Europeans have given the name Ararat. This latter in reality has two peaks, the higher of which is more than 17,000 feet. The lower is about 4,000 feet less. The higher peak is covered perpetually with snow for a distance of 3,000 feet down from the summit.

Many sensational and highly speculative stories recur from time to time about the ark having been discovered, buried—and thus preserved—in this snow and ice. It is quite unlikely, however, that the ark landed at so high an elevation. Great climatic changes occurred at the time of the Flood which probably left these lofty peaks embedded in ice and snow as the Flood waters receded, hence if the ark had remained on either one of them it would have been impossible for Noah and his family and the animals to have escaped.

It has been suggested that God has probably preserved the ark, and in due time will display it as a testimony to unbelievers. This hardly seems necessary in view of his plan to raise the dead, which will include Noah and his family. A testimony from them should, and will, convince all ‘doubting Thomases’; not only because they were on the scene when it occurred, but because they themselves will be living testimonies of a still greater miracle, even the resurrection of the dead!

VERSES 5-12 “And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.
“And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:
“And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.
“Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;
“But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.
“And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;
“And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.
“And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.”

Noah’s method of determining the degree to which the waters of the Flood had receded from time to time, was unique. A close study of this narrative is quite revealing. Verse four tells us that on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark rested—meaning, evidently, that the water was not deep enough over that territory to keep it afloat. But, according to the fifth verse, it was more than two months after this before the tops of the mountains were seen.

Forty days after this, Noah sent forth a raven, which did not return; then a dove, which did return. He waited another seven days, and sent forth the dove again, and it returned with an olive twig. In other words, it took five months for the waters to recede sufficiently for the ark to rest on the ground and four months after this the dove found an olive tree. This would indicate that the ark did not rest on either of the high peaks now known as Ararat, for the speed with which the waters were receding would not, in that case, have left the earth dry in so short a time thereafter.

VERSES 13,14 “And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.
“And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.”

Here again we have a very accurate statement of a date—Noah’s six hundredth and first year, the first month, and the first day of the month. This is an example of the exactness with which chronological records are kept in the Bible. It is on the basis of this sort of time keeping that we have confidence in Biblical chronology, a chronology which reveals that Adam and Eve were created more than six thousand years ago.

VERSES 15-19 “And God spake unto Noah, saying,
“Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons’ wives with thee.
“Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.
“And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him:
“Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.”

In these verses we have a completion of the narrative of the manner in which Noah and his family, as well as a nucleus of the lower animals, were transferred from the “world that then was” to this “present evil world.”—II Pet. 3:6; Gal. 1:4

VERSES 20-22 “And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
“And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.
“While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”

This is the second mention in the Scriptures of God’s servants offering sacrifice to him. The first was the case of Abel. God was pleased with Abel’s sacrifice, and he was also pleased with Noah’s. It may have been partly in anticipation of this that God commanded Noah to take more than two of all clean animals into the ark.

God’s promise that he would not again curse the earth evidently means that he would not curse it additionally. Certainly the original curse was not removed by the Flood. God’s promise not to again smite every living thing can be depended upon. When Jesus described the great tribulation with which the present world is coming to an end, he said that those days would be shortened in order to prevent the destruction of all flesh.—Matt. 24:21,22

‘While the earth remaineth …’ Other scriptures assure us that “the earth abideth forever,” and that God “created it not in vain,” but “he formed it to be inhabited.” (Eccles. 1:4; Isa. 45:18) God’s promise to maintain human life on the earth is made in this passage, (as the Marginal Translation indicates) even though the imaginations of men’s hearts are evil continually. God loves his human creatures, and has made provision for them through the redemptive work of Christ to live forever on the earth if obedient, but in the world to come “wherein dwelleth righteousness.”—II Pet. 3:13

CHAPTER NINE

VERSE 1 “And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.”

Noah and his family had demonstrated their faith in God by their obedience to him, and now God’s blessing was upon them, and through them a new world was established. God commanded Noah and his sons to be fruitful and multiply and replenish—fill—the earth. This command is very similar to the one given to Adam at the beginning of ‘the world that was’—the world that came to an end as a result of the Deluge. Just as that world became wicked and was destroyed, so the world which began with Noah and his family also became corrupt, and is designated by the Apostle Paul as “this present evil world.” (Gal. 1:4) This world is even now coming to an end in a “time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation.”—Dan. 12:1

VERSE 2 “And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.”

When God created man he gave him dominion over all the lower animals, and dominion was exercised in a peaceful manner without instilling fear into the animals. The animals, for example, were brought before Adam to be named, indicating that they were obedient to him. How different is the statement found in this verse: ‘the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth’. The reason for this change is the fact that man had fallen from perfection, and now could control the animal kingdom only through coercion.

VERSE 3 “Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.”

Probably another reason the lower animals, from this time onward, would be fearful of man was because they were to be slaughtered to provide him with food. This text indicates that meat was not eaten before the Flood. The herbs of the field had previously been given to man for food, but now the Lord also gave him meat for food.

VERSES 4-7 “But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
“And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man.
“Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
“And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.”

In these verses is given one of the early hints of the Scriptures concerning the importance of blood in God’s provision of life for man. “The life of the flesh is in the blood” (Lev. 17:11), and that is the reason the Lord emphasizes that “without shedding of blood is no remission” for sin. (Heb. 9:22) When the Scriptures speak of Jesus shedding his blood for the life of the world, the thought is that he gave his life, that he “poured out his soul unto death.”—Isa. 53:12

VERSES 8-17 “And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
“And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;
“And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.
“And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
“And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
“I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
“And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
“And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
“And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
“And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.”

The word ‘covenant’ is used seven times in these verses, indicating the great importance God attached to the promise he made never again to destroy all flesh with a flood of waters. According to the Scriptures, all flesh will not again be destroyed by any other means. Even in the great ‘time of trouble’ which brings this ‘present evil world’ to an end, we have the Lord’s promise that it will be shortened before all flesh is destroyed. (Matt. 24:22) This is another proof that the prophetic end of the world is not the destruction of the earth, but merely the end of an order of things existing on the earth. “The earth abideth forever” and is to be man’s everlasting home.—Eccles. 1:4; Isa. 45:18; Ps. 115:16

This is the first mention in the Scriptures of the rainbow. No rainbow had appeared before the Flood because of the unusual atmospheric conditions which then existed. It had not rained, the Scriptures tell us, but instead a mist went up to water the earth. (Gen. 2:5,6) This indicates that dense clouds hovered over the earth continually, and this, of course, would preclude the possibility of there being a rainbow.

The sudden precipitation of the ‘waters above the firmament’ not only caused the Flood, but also cleared the atmosphere, making possible the appearance of the rainbow. The rainbow was, therefore, an evidence that the dense canopy of vapors which previously had encircled the earth no longer existed, hence was a proof, a ‘token’, that there would never be another Flood to destroy all flesh.

VERSES 18,19 “And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan.
“These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.”

Nearly all names used in the Bible have a special significance attached to them. Shem means ‘name’, Ham means ‘hot’, or ‘sunburnt’, while Japheth means ‘enlargement’. The following chapter indicates the different portions of the earth occupied by the descendants of these three sons of Noah.

VERSES 20-27 “And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:
“And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.
“And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.
“And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness.
“And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.
“And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
“And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
“God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.”

One reason we can have confidence in the Bible is because of its frankness in relating historical facts, even though they may not always be complimentary to those involved. It tells us that Noah ‘walked with God’ (Gen. 6:9), yet does not hesitate to relate the fact of his becoming intoxicated with wine made from his own vineyard. This is the first time wine is mentioned in the Bible, and evidently because prior to the Flood the atmospheric conditions surrounding the earth were not conducive to fermentation; which might well explain why Noah became intoxicated—that is, through lack of experience. If fruit juices did not ferment prior to the Flood, Noah could not be blamed for not realizing what effect the fermented grape juice would have upon him. This narrative is furnished apparently because of its bearing on the curse placed upon Ham. We cannot determine with certainty the nature of the curse except that it involved servitude.

VERSES 28,29 “And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.
“And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.”

Noah lived to be twenty years older than Adam, who died when he was 930 years of age. Methuselah was the oldest of the ancients, living to the ripe old age of 969 years. The average length of human life decreased rapidly after the Flood. The change of atmospheric conditions may, again, have had much to do with this. There was also the fact that each succeeding generation was getting farther away from man’s original perfection. Later the general expectancy of life for fallen man was declared to be “threescore years and ten.”—Ps. 90:10

CHAPTER TEN

VERSES 1-5 “Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the Flood.
“The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.
“And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.
“And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.
“By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.”

The descendants of Japheth, meaning ‘enlargement’, occupied the ‘isles of the Gentiles’, generally supposed to be the coastlands of the Mediterranean Sea in Europe and Asia Minor. From whence they spread northward over the whole continent of Europe and a considerable portion of Asia.

VERSES 6,7 “And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.
“And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtechah: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan.”

In the Scriptures, Egypt is identified as being the land of Ham. See Psalms 78:51; 105:23; and 106:22. Cush, a son of Ham, and his descendants, the Cushites, appear to have spread along tracts extending from the higher Nile to the Euphrates and Tigris. History traces some of these descendants to Babylonia, and Ethiopia.

The name Mizraim, given to another of Ham’s sons, is a term frequently used in the Old Testament to denote Egypt. It is the plural, or dual, of Mazor, and its dual meaning probably refers to Upper and Lower Egypt. The use of this name is a further confirmation as to the territory occupied by the Hamites.

Phut was another son of Ham. The few mentions of this name in the Bible clearly indicate a country, or people of Africa, and probably not far from Egypt.—Nah. 3:9

Canaan was the fourth son of Ham, and the progenitor of the Phoenicians (Zidon), and of the various nations who, before the Israelites’ conquest, peopled the seacoast of Palestine, and generally the whole country west of the Jordan. The inhabitants of this whole area were called Canaanites.

VERSES 8-10 “And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.
“He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord.
“And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.”

The name Nimrod means ‘upstart’ or ‘rebellion’, and evidently indicates his rebellious attitude toward God. The statement that he was a ‘mighty hunter before the Lord’ might well mean that through his skill and strength in hunting he put himself ahead of the Lord in the eyes of the people. The Jewish historian, Josephus, says of him: “Nimrod persuaded mankind not to ascribe their happiness to God, but to think that his own excellency was the source of it. And he soon changed things into a tyranny, thinking there was no other way to wean men from the fear of God than by making them rely upon his own power.”

Nimrod was the founder of Babylon, and Babylon became typical of the great counterfeit system of Christianity which developed during the present Gospel Age, referred to in the Book of Revelation as “that great city which ruleth over the kings of the earth.” (Rev. 17:18) It seems evident, therefore, that even in those early days shortly after the Flood, Satan again began his efforts to oppose God and righteousness.

VERSES 11-14 “Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah,
“And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city.
“And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim,
“And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (out of whom came Philistim,) and Caphtorim.”

The Hebrew form of the name Asshur is Assyria. Through this son Nimrod extended his kingdom, and Nineveh became the capital of Assyria. It is believed that Lehabim was the progenitor of the Libyans, who later inhabited the northern part of Africa.

VERSES 15-20 “And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and Heth,
“And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite,
“And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite,
“And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.
“And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha. These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations.”

The name Heth mentioned in this genealogical list, means ‘terror’, and he is thought to be the forefather of the Hittites. While all the names mentioned in these verses recur elsewhere in the Scriptures, and the places mentioned can be identified, they are relatively unimportant insofar as the plan of God is concerned. The detail with which Moses records this information, however, is impressive, and indicates the accuracy with which historical records of that time were kept.

VERSES 21-32 “Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born.
“The children of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram.
“And the children of Aram; Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash.
“And Arphaxad begat Salah; and Salah begat Eber.
“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.
“And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah,
“And Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah,
“And Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba,
“And Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab: all these were the sons of Joktan.
“And their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou goest unto Sephar a mount of the east.
“These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations.
“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.”

The portion of the earth occupied by the descendants of Shem begins at its northwestern extremity with Lydia, and includes Syria (Asshur), Chaldea (Arphaxad), parts of Assyria (Asshur), Persia (Elam), and of the Arabian peninsula (Joktan). Modern scholars have given the name of Shemite or Semitic to the languages spoken by his real or supposed descendants.

‘By these were the nations divided in the earth after the Flood’, wrote Moses. (vs. 32) Thus does he sum up his outline of the manner in which the descendants of Noah spread out and began to fill the earth. The remarkable part of this is that no authentic historical records apart from the one thus given in the Bible furnish this information. We hear much, for instance, about the Semitic races, but no book except the Bible gives any indication of their origin, at least not in the concise manner in which it is presented in the Bible. And every archeological discovery in this ancient cradle of the race helps to substantiate the accuracy of the Biblical record.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

VERSES 1-9 “And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.
“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.
“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.
“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.
“And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
“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.
“Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.
“So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
“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.”

This is one of the most interesting chapters of the Bible. It begins with the story of men’s attempt to unite and protect themselves within the shadow of a great tower, which they were to use as a symbol of their unity. Then it tells us how God frustrated this effort, and it ends by introducing Abram (Abraham), the one through whose seed God purposed to bless all nations by uniting them under Christ, when, in the “dispensation of the fullness of times” he will “gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in him.”—Eph. 1:10

Shinar is believed to be Babylonia. It was a plains country where brick had to be used for stone, and slime for mortar. It has been suggested that Shinar was the name by which the Hebrews knew the country, and that it was probably first given to the territory by Abraham, when he went there from Ur of the Chaldees.

The motive for building the Tower of Babel is said to be that of a desire for unity: ‘Let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth’. The thought we get from this is that the name, together with the tower, were to serve as a symbol of unity and strength. It was a form of worship calculated to divert the mind from God, the only true source of oneness and protection.

God’s interference with this plan illustrates the truth elsewhere taught in the Scriptures, that while he has permitted sin to reign in the earth, it has not been without restrictions. He permits selfish man to go only so far. God is able to make the wrath of man to praise him when he so wills, otherwise he may restrain it.—Ps. 76:10

It was here that the language barriers of earth were first set up, and how effectively they have prevented all nations from forming a giant combine apart from God, and in defiance of him! It is not God’s will, however, that the nations of earth shall always be scattered and at odds with one another, for later, through Jacob he promised the coming of “Shiloh,” and said that unto him there would be a genuine gathering of the people. (Gen. 49:10) It will be then, also, that the Lord will turn to the people a pure language, and they will all call upon him, and serve him with one consent. (Zeph. 3:8,9) His glorious name, not the name of a tower, or a city, will then be the bond that will unite them in peace and in righteousness.

Here was the origin of the name Babel, meaning ‘confusion’. This later became Babylon; and the significance of the name, derived from the circumstances of its origin, is undoubtedly one of the reasons the Lord uses it in the Book of Revelation to symbolize that false system of Christianity which has so greatly confused the worship of the true God with the worship of men and of devils, and promoted conflicting, God-dishonoring creeds which blaspheme his name.

VERSES 10-32 “These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood:
“And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.
“And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah:
“And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.
“And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber:
“And Salah lived after he begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.
“And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg:
“And Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters.
“And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu:
“And Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters.
“And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug:
“And Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters.
“And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor:
“And Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.
“And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah:
“And Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters.
“And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
“Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot.
“And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees.
“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.
“But Sarai was barren; she had no child.
“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.
“And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran.”

Here we have another link in the Bible’s chronological chain. It furnishes us with the number of years from the Flood to the time when God entered into a covenant with Abraham. It was a total of 427 years.

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