Genesis 11 begins the story of the Tower of Babel, where mankind decided to build a tower to the heavens in order to "make a name for ourselves." God scattered them by confusing their language so they could not communicate with each other anymore. As I mentioned in my earlier post, this is the third time Man has failed (1st being Adam's sin and 2nd being right before the flood).
In this case, God decides to work through Abraham, promising that He would make Abraham a "great nation." Abraham takes his wife and follows God.
They go to Egypt while there is a great famine in the land. Abraham decides that if they find out his wife Sarai is married to him, they will kill him in order to take her. So instead he lies to Pharoah and tells everyone that Sarai is his sister. They treat Abraham well & Pharoah takes Sarai into the palace.
Of course, God judges Pharoah for his acts, inflicting serious disease. Pharoah, after finding out, is furious, and kicks them all out of the land!
I sometimes wonder why God didn't punish Abram for lying to Pharaoh that Sarai was his wife... ? What would the story be like if he told the Pharaoh the truth?
ReplyDeleteI googled the name Nimrod, and I two entries. Interesting how a Bugs Bunny cartoon can totally change the meaning of the word now.
ReplyDelete1.A hunter. In the Bible, a mighty hunter and king of Shinar who was a grandson of Ham and a great-grandson of Noah.
2.Informal A person regarded as silly, foolish, or stupid.
[After Nimrod. Sense 2, probably from the phrase "poor little Nimrod," used by the cartoon character Bugs Bunny to mock the hapless hunter Elmer Fudd.]