Thank you for using ABC! The lessons are content rich, and it is important to slow down or take it in smaller chunks to have time for discussion with your students.

One way to break up the content is to use the lesson headings in the Studying God’s Word/Lesson Time as separate lessons. There are usually 2-3 sections per lesson marked with headings. You may choose to cover one section in the lesson one week, then teach the next section in the same lesson the following week. This should give you more time for discussion and review.

Another idea is to simplify the lesson by highlighting key points, passages, or questions you want to cover or discuss with the students and skip other sections or passages.

Jamie,

Thank you for choosing ABC for your church and for offering your comment.

As we consider our customer base, we offer VBS and Sunday school materials in ESV with adapted forms for those who prefer or only use the KJV. The vast majority of those churches would not use music that includes modern instruments and arrangements or videos like we offer with the ESV, so we offer more traditional music for them. As an example, one of the memory verse songs was recently posted on our Facebook page and received the comment "Horrible. Secular music." In my experience, this is the common attitude among those churches who would use the KJV, though yours is obviously different.

We do not have the resources to make multiple music versions for each translation, and we only offer the ESV and KJV materials and music. So we can't justify spending the money to create things that will not be used or purchased. We do try to be good stewards of the resources that many give to support our ministry, and we do not believe it would be a good use of that money to make videos and songs that only a handful would use.

I hope you understand, and I do hope ABC will be a blessing to your church family for many years.

If you have other comments or questions, we are glad to hear them. You can contact us directly at abccurriculum@answersingenesis.org (though this forum is best for technical issues).

Harold,

I assume you are referring to the Seven C's of History Timeline. The poster is an additional component you can purchase for you classroom. It is described on page 3 of the introduction under the Components heading. It is not a necessary part of the lessons, but it will be a great benefit to most classrooms.

You can purchase a print poster or a digital download at this link: https://answersingenesis.org/store/product/seven-cs-timeline-poster/

And the Seven C's will be taught in detail in lesson 11.

Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Linda,

I didn't receive this email notification until after Easter, so I trust this response is too late. We looked at the files in the downloads and everything seems to be in order. Are you saying that the instructions in the teacher guide talk about a funeral and the J&J story didn't seem to match?

Yes, we have memory verse music for all of the units. If you are using ESV, they are produced by Seeds Family Music. If you are using KJV, they are produced by Majesty Music.

Are you having trouble finding the resources in your digital downloads?

Joseph,

During the time period in question, there was much shifting of power as empires rose and fell. Northern Israel was taken into captivity by Assyria in 721 BC. Then Babylon rose in power and conquered Assyria. Under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon captured southern Judah in phases, beginning in 607 BC and completing Jerusalem’s destruction in 588 BC. Belshazzar, the next Babylonian king described in the biblical account (Daniel 5), began to rule in 555 BC. About five years earlier, in 560 BC, Darius had risen to power in Media, another world power at the time. Meanwhile, Cyrus began to rule the Persian Empire, which conquered Darius’ Median Empire. This merge of powers gave rise to the Medo-Persian Empire. Cyrus went on to conquer Babylon in 538 BC, killing Belshazzar and handing his region over to Darius, who had previously been the king of the Medes. This is why Daniel refers to him as Darius the Mede (Daniel 5:31, 11:1).

The 7 C’s of History timeline places Darius becoming king of Media prior to Belshazzar becoming king of Babylon, but Darius did not rule in Babylon until the Medo-Persian Empire conquered Belshazzar’s kingdom in 538 BC.

I hope that clarifies the information on the poster for you.

Blessings,

Roger

The issue is only within the King James Version, which is the version I assume you are using. GNV, ESV, NKJV, NASB, HCSB, NIV, YLT, and NET all indicate that Nimrod went into Assyria (Asshur) and founded Nineveh, etc. The NET includes this note: “The subject of the verb translated “went” is probably still Nimrod. However, it has also been interpreted that “Ashur went,” referring to a derivative power.[1]”

Prepositions in Hebrew are determined by context, so the “went to” vs. “went forth” is an interpretive issue. The subject of the verb, whether Nimrod or Asshur, is also an interpretive issue.

The difficulty in translating it as “Asshur went” is that the only Asshur mentioned in this genealogy is the second son of Shem and is not listed until verse 22. It seems unlikely that Asshur’s building campaign would be listed in Ham’s genealogy. Obviously, it could be referring to a different Asshur, but there is no real indication to suggest that possibility. Also, the Hebrew term is used to refer to Assyria throughout the OT (130 of 151 uses).

Looking elsewhere in Scripture, Assyria and Nimrod are equated in Micah 5:6. The same Hebrew word is translated as Asshur (Genesis 10:11) and Assyria (Micah 5:6) in the KJV. Again, this demonstrates that the translators make choices about how to interpret a word based on multiple factors. So the more-common translation of “Nimrod went to Assyria” seems to make sense of this instance where Nimrod and Assyria are connected as synonymous places.

So, I would conclude that Nimrod indeed founded those cities in the region of Assyria, but the KJV interpretation is possible if there was some unknown Asshur who was connected to Nimrod. The curriculum was written using the ESV text and then adjusted to the KJV. There may be occasional “wrinkles” like this if you are using the KJV version of the curriculum. We would appreciate if you would call these to our attention so we can make the appropriate corrections. We have adjusted the KJV lessons so it will reflect the KJV interpretation in future printings. You can email us directly at abccurriculum@answersingenesis.org.

NKJV:

8 Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord.” 10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11 From that land he went to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, 12 and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (that is the principal city).

KJV:

8 And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord. 10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11 Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, 12 And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city.

Richard, 

First, we have no clear location for where the ark landed. It was in the “mountains of Ararat,” but we have no reason to strongly connect that with the area of modern Turkey above other areas that are possible. All we can know is it was a mountain range somewhere in the area we call the Middle East today.

Second, the translators of various versions are divided on whether the people went toward the east or came from the east. Prepositions in Hebrew are based on context, and there isn’t enough context in 11:1-2 to demand one way or the other. Our ministry generally presents them coming from the mountains to the east and moving west to Shinar based on the NKJV reading (as well as KJV, ESV, and CSB ), but it could also be read as eastward or to the east as the NASB, NIV, and NET translate it.

Bottom line is that we can’t be absolutely certain about either unless we actually find the ark or can definitively determine which of those translations is the best.

Here are two articles that discuss some of the ideas about the Ark’s location:

https://answersingenesis.org/noahs-ark/noahs-ark-found/has-ark-been-found/

https://answersingenesis.org/noahs-ark/noahs-ark-found/noahs-ark-mount-ararat/

Richard, The first article you mentioned is in our Answers Research Journal. Those articles are research articles that often present new research ideas that are then challenged by other academics. There is a disclaimer on each of those articles to that effect. Our official ministry position on the location is the second location you mention, the plain of Shinar was between the rivers in modern-day Iraq, The Bible does not mention a city named Shinar in Genesis 10-11. Even in Genesis 14, the maps I am looking at in my Bible software show an area of Shinar in the same general location.

Richard,

The dates in that column reflect the month/day/year that occur in the text with respect to Noah's age. So the 2/17/600 aligns with the date in Genesis 7:11 "In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened."