Genesis 11:10-26 comments: Abram leaves his family

10 ¶  These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood: 11  And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters. 12  And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah: 13  And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters. 14  And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber: 15  And Salah lived after he begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters. 16  And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg: 17  And Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters. 18  And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu: 19  And Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters. 20  And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug: 21  And Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters. 22  And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor: 23  And Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters. 24  And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah: 25  And Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters. 26  And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

From this passage, if my math isn’t wrong, Shem, the son of Noah, lived to see Abram’s birth. Genesis 10:25 showed us that it was in Peleg’s time the earth was divided. Assuming this refers to the scattering at Babylon that took place between 101 and 310 years after the Flood. Check my math and let me know if you think I’m wrong. It happened within Peleg’s lifespan. According to 9:28 Noah himself lived 350 years after the Flood so he would have been alive as well.

    27 ¶  Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot. 28  And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees. 29  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. 30  But Sarai was barren; she had no child. 31  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. 32  And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran.

Terah took his family, Abram and Lot, his grandson, Abram’s nephew, and left Ur, an ancient city in the general geographical area of Babylon. It was a coastal city near the mouth of the Euphrates then although it is well inland now due to the coastline shifting over thousands of years. Ur was a metropolis with its patron god as Sin, in Akkadian, the moon god. A bull was one of his symbols. Remember what was said about the alphabet earlier. Some Christian writers have put forth that Sin, who was known to Ur as the god of wisdom pictured as an old man with a long, flowing beard, eventually became Allah, the god of the Muslims. Early archaeologists found in Sin’s temples the crescent moon as a symbol of his presence. I have done an extensive study, for a non-scholar, on the etymology of Allah which, while not politically correct, I think should give one pause about whom a great many of the religious adherents of the world actually worship.

God calls Abram to leave Ur, its culture, its religion, its practices, and its territory even though Terah has already led his family to Canaan, to Haran.