Genesis Summary

Part 3: The story of Abraham

Chapter 11:
     All the world speaks the same language. Some people journey in the east, and settle in the land of Shinar. (The land of Shinar was located north of the Persian Gulf, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, in what would today be Iraq, or northeastern Syria. It was later called Chaldea, and later Babylon.)
     In Shinar, the people decide to build a great city with a tower that reaches up to heaven, to prove their superiority and to keep them from dispersing all over the earth (right). But God doesn't like this audacity. He causes the people to speak various languages, so that they can't understand each other. So the city and tower are left unfinished. The city there is called Babel. The people disperse all over the earth. (The city of Babel later became the main city in the kingdom of Chaldea, so the kingdom was renamed Babel. Gradually, the city and kingdom were renamed Babylon, a Greek form form of "Babel". Archeologists have located the city of Babylon in central Iraq, on the Euphrates river.)
     Then we see more of Shem's descendants. Among them is Terah. Terah lives in the city of Ur, in the kingdom of Chaldea. (Ur was a city located in southern part of Chaldea. Chaldea was later renamed Babylon. Archeologists have located the ruins of the city of Ur in southeastern Iraq, about ten miles west of the Euphrates river. The ruins of Ur are still there, but today the site is called Tell al-Mugayyar.)
     We meet Terah's family. Terah has three sons: Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Abram has a wife named Sarai, who has no children. Nahor has a wife, named Milcah, who is Haran's daughter. (Nahor married his own niece!) Haran has children of his own: they are Milcah (who married Nahor, her own uncle), Lot, and Iscah.
     While the family still lives in Ur, Terah's son Haran dies. Terah takes Abram, Sarai, and Lot, and they leave Ur to live somewhere else. They intend to go to the land of Canaan. But they stop in the city of Haran, in the land of Mesopotamia, and settle there. (This might get confusing. The city of Haran is not to be confused with the person Haran, Terah's son. Mesopotamia is the area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. By today's map, the area of Mesopotamia would be in southern Turkey, northeastern Syria, and central Iraq. Archeologists have located the ruins of the city of Haran in southeastern Turkey. The ruins of Haran are still there, but today the site is called Sultan Tepe.)
     While in the city of Haran, Terah dies.

Chapter 12:
     (Archeologists place this time to around 1800 B.C.) God tells Abram "Go to a land that I will show you, and I will make you a great nation." Abram and his family, including Sarai and Lot, leave on this journey. God leads them to the land of Canaan. (Canaan was a land on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It was located between the Mediterranean Sea on its west side, the Jordan river on its east side, Egypt on its south side, and Babylon on its north side, in what would today be the country of Israel) Here, God tells Abram "Your descendants shall become a nation. I shall give them this land." Right now, the land is lived in by the Canaanites (descendants of Canaan, the youngest son of Ham).
     There is famine in the land at the time, so Abram and his family go to Egypt for a while. (Egypt is located just south of Canaan.) In Egypt, Abram is afraid that people will want his wife Sarai, and will kill him to possess her. So he passes off Sarai as his sister, rather than his wife. The Egyptian pharaoh takes a liking to Sarai. Abram acquires sheep, cattle, camels, and slaves. When the pharaoh finds out that Sarai is actually Abram's wife, he sends Abram and his family away.

Chapter 13:
     Abram and his family go to the edge of Canaan. By now, both Abram and Lot have a lot of livestock, and there isn't enough land to accommodate all the livestock from both men. So Abram and Lot decide to separate for a while. Lot and his men settle near the city of Sodom (a city on the southern border of Canaan). The people in Sodom are wicked. Abram and his men settle in Mamre, a plain located near the city of Kiriatharba (which was later called Hebron) in the land of Canaan.

Chapter 14:
     Meanwhile, there is a battle in the land of Canaan. There are four kings: Amraphael (king of the land of Shinar), Arioch (king of the city of Ellasar), Chedorlaomer (king of the city of Elam), and Tidal (king of nations). Their leader is Chedorlaomer. Five kings have served under Chedorlaomer for years. The five are Bera (king of the city of Sodom), Birsha (king of the city of Gomorrah), Shinab (king of the city of Admah), Shemeber (king of the city of Zeboiim), and the unnamed king of the city of Bela. These five kings get together and revolt against Chedorlaomer and his three allies. All of the armies get together in the valley of Siddim, and do battle. Chedorlaomer's side wins.
     Chedorlaomer's soldiers rampage through Sodom, steal much of Lot's goods, and kidnap Lot. One of Lot's men goes to Abram for help. He finds Abram in the plain of Mamre, and tells him what happened.
     Abram has 318 armed servants. He also allies with three Adomite chiefs: Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre (whom the plain of Mamre is named after). They all take up arms and attack Chedorlaomer's men. They chase them into the area of Hobah, and smite them. Lot is rescued, and his goods are returned. The kings of Salem and Sodom reward Abraham. Abraham refuses to take any of the spoil, but lets the three Adomite chiefs take their share.

Chapter 15:
     God decides to reward Abram for helping Lot. Abram laments that he has no children. If Abram dies without having children, then his servant Eliezer will be his heir. Abram would prefer to have a son be his heir. God promises Abram "You will have many children. I will give to them a great land that stretches from the river of Egypt to the river Euphrates."

Chapter 16:
     Abram's wife Sarai can't have children. So she asks Abram to have children by her slave, Hagar. Abram agrees, and Hagar becomes pregnant. Later, Sarai is sorry for what she has done. Hagar runs away. But God convinces Hagar to go back. The place where God had confronted Hagar is at a well. The well is named Beer-lahai-roi. Hagar gives birth to Abram's son, Ishmael.

Chapter 17:
     God tells Abram: "I will make my covenant between you and me. No longer shall you be called Abram. Your name shall now be Abraham. You shall be the father of many nations. I will multiply your descendants greatly, and they shall become a nation. The nation will be in the land of Canaan, and I will be their god. Every man among you shall be circumcised. Every one of your male descendants shall be circumcised when he is eight days old, and your slaves shall be circumcised as well. An uncircumcised man will be cut off from his people because he has broken my covenant. Your wife Sarai shall now be called Sarah. She shall be the mother of nations." Abraham laughs. "I am 100, and Sarah is 90. How can we have children?" God says "Sarah will have a son. He shall be named Isaac. I will establish my covenant with Isaac and his descendants. But I haven't forgotten Ishmael. Ishmael shall have descendants and his own nation with twelve princes. But my covenant shall be with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear next year." Abraham circumcises himself, Ishmael, and his slaves.

Chapter 18:
     By now, Sarah is an old woman. She and Abraham don't believe that she can have children. But God promises that she will. This news makes Sarah laugh. Meanwhile, God tells Abraham that he intends to destroy the city of Sodom and the neighboring cities because of their wickedness. Abraham protests "There may be some good men there."

Chapter 19:
     In Sodom, Lot is visited by two angels. He lets them stay the night. That evening, all of the men of Sodom come to Lot's house and knock on the door. They want Lot's guests to be sent out to them so that they can have sex with them. Lot says "No, don't do this. Look, I have two daughters who are virgins. I'll bring them out. Do whatever you want to them. But don't do any such thing to my guests." The men attack the house. The angels smite the men at the door and blind them all.
     The angels tell Lot that God has sent them to destroy Sodom. They warn him to take his family and flee the city, but not to look back. Lot's family consists of Lot himself, his wife, and their two daughters. Lot says to the angels "There is a small city nearby. Please don't destroy that one. I shall flee to there." The angels agree. The city becomes known as Zoar.
     Lot, his wife, and his daughters flee Sodom before it is destroyed (right). But Lot's wife looks back, and she becomes a pillar of salt. Lot and his two daughters go to Zoar. (19:23,30) Afterwards, they go into the mountains. Lot is afraid to live in Zoar. So he and his daughters live in a cave.
     Lot's daughters fear that they are all alone and will never see civilization again. Then they will never marry and continue the family. So they get Lot drunk, and then they both have sex with him. The older daughter conceives, and bears Lot's son/grandson. His name is Moab. Moab's descendants become a tribe called the Moabites. The younger daughter conceives, and bears another son/grandson. His name is Ben-Ammi. Ben-Ammi's descendants become a tribe called Ammon.

Chapter 20:
     Abraham and Sarah visit the city of Gerar (a city near the southern border of Canaan). The city is ruled by a tribe of people known as the Philistines. There, again, Abraham fears that people will want his wife Sarah, and will kill him to possess her. So again he passes off Sarah as his sister, rather than his wife. The king of Gerar, Abimelech, takes a liking to Sarah. He kidnaps Sarah, and tries to have sex with her. God warns Abimelech in a dream that Sarah is Abraham's wife. Abimelech confronts Abraham. Abraham confesses "She is my wife." Abimelech gives Sarah back to Abraham.

Chapter 21:
     Finally Sarah bears a son. She remembers how God's promise that she would have children made her laugh. So she names her son "Tskhok", the Hebrew word for "laughter". (Over the centuries, the name "Tskhok" has been renamed as "Isaac", which is what Abraham's son is called today.) She has Abraham cast Hagar and Ishmael out of the family. Hagar is despondent, and wants to kill Ishmael. But God tells her "Let him live. Because Ishmael is also a son of Abraham, I will also make a great nation for him." Hagar and Ishmael go to the wilderness of Param, and Ishmael starts his own country. Meanwhile, Abraham and Abimelech make a promise of loyalty to each other. The place where they make this oath is the city of Beersheba.

Chapter 22:
     God tells Abraham "Take your son Isaac to the land of Moriah and offer him as a sacrifice to me." Abraham doesn't want to kill his son whom God had promised to him, but he reluctantly agrees. He takes Isaac to the land of Moriah, and builds a sacrificial altar. He is about to kill his son, when God stops him. God says "I just wanted to be sure that you were loyal to me." He causes a ram to get caught in a thicket, and has Abraham sacrifice the ram instead. Abraham and Isaac return to Beersheba. There, Abraham is told that his brother Nahor now has children.

Chapter 23:
     Sarah dies in the city of Kiriatharba, in Canaan (The city of Kiriatharba was later renamed Hebron). There are a local people there called the Hittites (descendants of Canaan's second son, Heth). Abraham buys a piece of land from Ephron the Hittite. The land is called Machpelah. It is located east of Mamre, where Abraham had stayed before. Abraham buries Sarah in a cave on the property.

Continued in Part 4...

Overall Summary     Part1: Adam and Eve     Part 2: Noah     Part 3: Abraham     Part 4: Jacob     Part 5: Joseph

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