Genesis 11:10-32

By this point, I am not sure if I find the list a break from some of the global catastrophes, or not. Regardless, we have another list.

At times in my reading, I welcome passages like this one. They give me a bit of a break. They slow me down. They let me ponder the text. Pondering lets me move from information to understanding.

“Your problem is not a lack of knowledge…it is a lack of understanding…because if you understood, really understood—you would have applied it by now.”

Another OUCH! (I have had many of them).

When you work in a highly technical industry, you think things like, “If I just had more knowledge, if I just knew this last bit of information, then I would be able to…”

Sometimes that is true—many times it is false. Truly.

Information alone does not lead to changed behavior.

The little episode that led to the quote above came from another one of those situations where a mistake had been made. We held our review, identified the Lessons, and what Corrective Actions we would take. The Corrective Action List was filled with people taking steps to “gain more information”—and that led to the “constructive criticism” I quoted above.

My boss was convinced that information was not the issue—understanding was.

What I just wrote was a rather long introduction to make two points: an information point and an UNDERSTANDING point (gee, I wonder which one I want you to capture…)

First the information. In the Book of Genesis there are ten origin stories. This is the structure. You will find this phrase: “This is the origin story of…” and then the text tells you something. You will find that phrase ten times.

We find it first in 2:4 where it says, “This is the origin story of the heavens and the earth.” In the King James it translates, “These are the generations of…” The NIV says, “This is the account of…”

I could get even more detailed and look at each of these 10 instances—but that would not yield the kind of understanding we need.

And I don’t know about you, but I don’t want more Bible information; I would rather have such deep understanding, that my life is transformed by God.

So, what is God up to in chapter 11?

He showed us in Chapter 10 how all the nations of the world are connected through Noah. Then he showed how, apart from Him, His people once again strayed. Now, he is taking one branch of all the people of the world (the branch that comes through Shem), and he is narrowing it down.

Why?

Because just as he worked through Adam, and then Noah, God is about to work through a man named Abram.

And this is the “bit” that we need to understand—God works through the people in His Family. In the upcoming days and weeks we will see this over and over again.