Advent Journey - Following the Seed From Eden to Bethlehem Sýnishorn

Day 6

LEAD ACTOR

Shem (11), Arphaxad (12), Salah (13), Eber (14), Peleg (15), Reu (16), Serug (17), Nahor (18)

Genesis 5 provides the careful genealogy from Adam to Noah – the first ten generations. Genesis 11 traces the Seed for the next ten generations.

If you glance at Genesis Chapter 10, you’ll notice the genealogies for each of Noah’s three sons – Shem, Ham and Japheth. But Chapter 11 circles back around to offer ages and life spans for just Shem’s descendants.

Why does scripture provide greater detail for just Shem’s line? Answer: Because that’s the line of the Seed.

From Noah, God routed the Seed (from Adam to Jesus) through the line of Shem. And the Bible provides greater detail for Shem’s line since the Seed is the Bible’s featured family.  

Just as the star character in a play gets special attention, the line of the Seed gets the “headliner” treatment all throughout scriptures. We’ll see this clearly throughout this Advent Journey.

Very little is known about the six fathers after Shem leading up to Nahor, except for their ages when their sons were born and the years they lived thereafter. God gives us this detail so we can piece together a working chronology.

It’s a mostly silent era in scriptures. But things are about to get very interesting for this Advent Journey.

Dig Deeper:

From Adam to Abraham is roughly 2,000 years. With the help of Genesis 5 & 11, and a calculator, we can calculate certain time periods. Go ahead – try it with your family!

a. How many years is it from Adam to Noah’s flood?

b. How many years from the flood to Abraham? 

See image for sample calculations

[Answers: a. 1,656 years, b. 292 years]