The Hebrew word shem, meaning "name," appears to have some significance as a signal of structure. Humanity's essential failure was in trying to make a name for itself. In each parallel series of events, the culminating sin was humanity's attempt to become like God, rather than implicitly trusting God. Be it marriage with divine beings or a building project that gives access to heaven, they were self-deluded and were ultimately frustrated by God.
    The first attempt resulted in the flood, a destructive cleansing of the world that had become corrupted. After the second attempt, the Tower of Babel, God turned his attention to Shem, whose name in Hebrew means "name." From his line God took Abram and made a special covenant with him. God promised to make his name great and to make him into a great nation. The lesson was this: The human race would achieve blessing and distinction only through God's initiative, and not through its own engineering and scheming.
    The ancestral story comes next in chapter 2 and continues the story line of the Primeval Story. It shows how God developed a plan to bless humanity.