Bible Lesson for 15th November 2014 TOPIC: SHEM SCRIPTURE READING: Genesis 11 MEMORY VERSE: Genesis 11:10-11 Genesis 11:10 These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood: Genesis 11:11 And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters. Weekly Proverb: Proverbs 8:13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate. INTRODUCTION: The Bible does not say much about Shem. There is only one act of Shem mentioned. He saw many of the great events of the Bible. He was a witness of a new world. 1. Today, six and a half feet is tall for a man; a seven-foot tall man is extremely tall. Few men are taller than seven feet. What would Shem have seen in his youth? Would he have known them? Genesis 6:1-4 Genesis 6:1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, Genesis 6:2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. Genesis 6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. Genesis 6:4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. 2. Noah was the only righteous man before the flood. Shem would have been in the only righteous family on earth. What would he have seen in the neighborhood, in school, in the marketplace? Genesis 6:5 Genesis 6:5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 3. (What was the expected life span in his day?) His father, Noah, was five hundred years older than he was. His grandfather died at seven hundred and seventy-seven. Who else did he know? Genesis 5:21-27 Genesis 5:21 And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: Genesis 5:22 And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: Genesis 5:23 And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: Genesis 5:24 And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him. Genesis 5:25 And Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech. Genesis 5:26 And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters: Genesis 5:27 And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died. 4. His neighbors may have built rowboats and rafts. What did he think when his father told him and his brothers they would be building this? Had he ever seen such a thing before? Genesis 6:14-18 Genesis 6:14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. Genesis 6:15 And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. Genesis 6:16 A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. Genesis 6:17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die. Genesis 6:18 But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons wives with thee. 5. Disasters and pestilence are sorrowful events. When disaster strikes our friends and family, it stresses our emotions. How emotional would this have been for Shem? Genesis 7:15-22 Genesis 7:15 And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life. Genesis 7:16 And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in. Genesis 7:17 And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth. Genesis 7:18 And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. Genesis 7:19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. Genesis 7:20 Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered. Genesis 7:21 And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: Genesis 7:22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. 6. After the flood, did Noah or Shem become a king? Were they patriarchs of their own families? Would Shem have seen the seeds of all false religion being planted? Genesis 10:8-10 Genesis 10:8 And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. Genesis 10:9 He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD. Genesis 10:10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 7. The Bible does not say what language Shem spoke before the flood. What language did he speak after this event? Genesis 11:1-9 Genesis 11:1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. Genesis 11:2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. Genesis 11:3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. Genesis 11:4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. Genesis 11:5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. Genesis 11:6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Genesis 11:7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one anothers speech. Genesis 11:8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Genesis 11:9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. 8. There would have been cities and a culture of lawlessness before the flood. Would civilization (with laws) have been completely new to him? Genesis 6:5; Genesis 9:4-6; Genesis 10:8-12 Genesis 6:5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Genesis 9:4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. Genesis 9:5 And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every mans brother will I require the life of man. Genesis 9:6 Whoso sheddeth mans blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man. Genesis 10:8 And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. Genesis 10:9 He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD. Genesis 10:10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Genesis 10:11 Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, Genesis 10:12 And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city. 9. Shem lived to be six hundred years old. He could have seen his sons, their sons, and who else? Genesis 11:10, 11, 27; Genesis 17:15-19; Genesis 25:19-23, 24-26 Genesis 11:10 These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood: Genesis 11:11 And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters. Genesis 11:27 Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot. Genesis 17:15 And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. Genesis 17:16 And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her. Genesis 17:17 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? Genesis 17:18 And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee! Genesis 17:19 And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. Genesis 25:19 And these are the generations of Isaac, Abrahams son: Abraham begat Isaac: Genesis 25:20 And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian. Genesis 25:21 And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. Genesis 25:22 And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD. Genesis 25:23 And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger. Genesis 25:24 And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. Genesis 25:25 And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau. Genesis 25:26 And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esaus heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them. 10. The flood destroyed millions of people who lived before the flood, only eight people remained. After eleven generations of children, how many people would have been on the earth? CONCLUSION: Shem lived in two worlds. He saw the old world and the destruction of its millions of citizens, he saw the new earth, washed of the unrestrained wickedness; he also saw the building of the new world. ADDENDUM: Some assume that Shem is Melchizedek. The New Testament clearly says that Melchizedek was without mother and father. We know that Shem had both. They are not the same person. May Yah bless you as you study to show yourself a good workman who will not be ashamed of telling people the WORD of G-d. Be blessed! Shalom!!!
Posted on: Thu, 13 Nov 2014 15:20:46 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015