Girl Read Your BibleMuestra

God's command to Noah and His sons was to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth. As we come to chapter 10, we see them following through on God's command or at least part of it. We are given an account of the descendants of Noah's sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. They had the be fruitful and multiply part right, but they stubbornly refused to scatter and fill the earth (11:4). At one point in time, everyone spoke the same language until God confused the people with different languages. Instead of filling the earth, they decided to build a tower (known as the Tower of Babel) that reached the sky so they wouldn't have to scatter around the world. They wanted to pretty much make a name for themselves and have fame for all the wrong reasons; their heart wasn't in the right place. Not only were they willfully disobeying God's command to fill the earth, but they weren't trusting God to keep His promise to never flood the earth again. Maybe they were trying to build a tower that was waterproof to protect themselves. But their plan didn't stop God's plan; our greatest sin could never stop or ruin the plans of God.

The account of Shem's descendants is continued from Genesis 10:21–32. It’s through his family line that Abram (whose name is later changed to Abraham) comes from and eventually leads to the birth of the Messiah (Luke 3:23–38). Abram is probably one of the most famous Biblical characters of the Old Testament (he is mentioned 312 times in Scripture). Abram is married to a woman named Sarai (whose name is later changed to Sarah). They had no children (at the time) because Sarai was barren and unable to have kids, which was probably weird, being that Abram's name means "father". However, that's a story for another day. Abram's story begins as he, his wife, his father, and his nephew move from the Ur of the Chaldeans and settle in Haran. God calls Abram to leave everything he has ever known and go to a land that He will show him.

God asks Abram to leave his family and the place he lives to go somewhere he has never been or ever seen. Can you imagine the faith it took him to follow and trust that God would do exactly what He said He would do? God promises to make him into a great nation, blessing him so he can bless others. Every family on earth was going to be blessed through this one man (12:1–3). And what did Abram do? He went as the Lord told him. The text doesn't state he hesitated or even questioned God, yet he went willingly and unknowingly, and that is what you call faith! Abram and Sarai are headed to the land of Canaan, along with Abram's nephew Lot and all their wealth, but a severe famine has struck, and they are forced to go down to Egypt.

Sarai was a very beautiful woman, and Abram feared that the Egyptians would kill him to get to her, so he asked her to tell them that she was his sister instead of his wife (she was actually his half-sister). Abram made the mistake of trusting in his lie more than in God Himself. Sure enough, Pharaoh took her into his palace when he saw her. God sent terrible plagues on Pharaoh until Sarai was released. Pharaoh was angry because Abram didn't tell him that Sarai was his wife, and he gave her back and kicked them out. God preserved Sarai since it was through her line of descendants that the Messiah would be born. He wouldn't allow Pharaoh to take her as his wife.