Post 24 "Ishmael"

Chapter 16 the Summary
*Sarai being barren giveth Hagar to Abram v1
*Hagar being affilicted for despising her mistress runneth away v4
*An angel sendeth her back to submit herself v7
*And telleth her of her child v11
*Ishmael is born v15

Hagar was Sarai's handmaid. She was an Egyptian by birth. I expect she came into the family when Abram went to Egypt during the famine in surrounding countries. It seems here that Sarai was trying to help out God a little but it was not God's plan for Hagar's son to be in the line of the nation Israel. He did, however, become the father of 12 princes and a great people, chapter 25: 12-16 . We see that after Hagar began to despise Sarai because she conceived and Sarai didn't, that Sarai wanted Abram to handle the outcome but Abram told her to deal with her handmaid. Perhaps, this is the first quarrel, written about in the Bible, between husband and wife.

(I'll insert this because I'm sure everyone is wondering. Abram and Sarai seemed to have no problem with Abram and Hagar making a baby together. I found no mention of any rebuke to them from God about the incident. We know that in the New Testament it teaches that a man should be the husband of one wife. Although, Abram did not marry Hagar, they were playing like it which is also condemned in the New Testament. There are many traditions I do not understand about early Bible days. I expect in the very early dawn of mankind there were men with several wives to expand civilization. It would certainly help explain the rapid growth in numbers. As with Sarai and Hagar, it obviously causes problems a home can do without. My only explanation is that we now have a New Testament which refines the best way to live.)

Sarai dealt harshly with Hagar and Hagar ran away. An angel found her and told her to return to Abram's family which is where she remained until Hagar was older.

Verse 11-12 "And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the Lord hath heard thy affliction. And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren."

Ishmael later married an Egyptian. Ishmael's descendants are the Ishmaelites, wild Bedouin tribes who still roam the same region. Ishmael went into the wilderness of Beersheba after he left Abram's family. The Bible says he became an archer. Chapter 21 verse 20. Abram was 86 when Ishmael was born.

"Angry?"

I hope you are not angry as you study the Bible. I've been looking around on blogs some this past week. Believe it or not non-believers talk about the Bible and God a great deal. I find that many are very angry. I also find that they are more passionate about their unbelief than many of us Bible believers are about what we do believe. I wish that that passion could be directed toward an honest, open-minded study of the Bible.

Why do people get so angry? I've heard a lot of reasons. I read them because I would like to help unravel the misconceptions about the Bible and what it says. Some are very angry because God does not just fix everything with the snap of a finger. Now, if we were robots that might be fair. He could just bring us all into the factory, shut us down and replace the faulty part. The thing is, we are not robots. We are people with free will. Remember when one of us 'disobeyed' his maker and brought sin into the blood of mankind? God did provide a cure (a fix if you like) to all the problems that disobedience caused. It was when He died on the cross. Acceptance of the cure is an individual choice. Just like in the garden.

Another reason I see is: Why does God let so many bad things happen? There are two forces in the world: Good and Evil. There are two persons at work in the world: The Lord and Satan. God is working on His timetable to accomplish the judgment of Satan and to accomplish the fullfillment of his will on earth. We get anxious because we are controlled by time. God has a timetable of His own but He is not hampered by time as we know it.

We as the created cannot just wish God out of existence. He will not make someone believe who does not wish to. Those who know Him, know that he is very polite and will ask before coming into someone's life. The world as a whole is another matter. He has a plan, which has already been written down and he will complete His plan.

I wish I could say it better. I certainly do not want to create more anger. I hope the following statement will help. There is a physical world and there is a spiritual world. When man sinned he lost his connection to the spiritual world of God. Sin seperates. When one becomes a Christian, that connection is renewed and a person begins to understand spiritual things. The Bible becomes more than a story. God becomes more than 'someone up there calling the shots'. God becomes a friend through Jesus Christ. We, as Christians, know what sin is and understand that it must be forgiven or judged. It can be forgiven instead of judged because Jesus was judged and paid the price for our personal sin and the sin of the world. We need only accept Him as that subsitute.

We are studying the Bible from Genesis and hopefully all the way through someday. We will go through and learn how God taught people the need for a blood sacrifice for sin. We will learn that the animal sacrifices were only a token of the blood of Jesus who was the final sacrifice. Come study with me and we can learn together.

"Substance" "Lamp" "Shield"

Can you find the passages these symbols represent in the lesson below?

Post 23 "I am thy shield"

Genesis 15 verse 1 "After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward."

Let's remember for a moment. We have moved through 14 chapters. We have come from Adam in the Garden and the Lord walking in the cool of the day looking for Adam. Adam said "I was afraid." Now the Lord comes to Abram and starts with 'Fear not'. Sin has caused a seperation. It is no longer the walks in the garden together. Man knows he is sinful before an awesome and perfect God.

This chapter is about immediately after Lot left for the well watered plains of Jordan. Abram is wondering about his heir. Perhaps by tradition, Abram thinks his steward will be his heir. The Lord told Abram that he was mistaken and that his heir would be his own child. Then comes the instructions to take a heifer of three years old, a she goat of three and a ram of three plus a turtledove and a young pigeon with instructions on how to lay them out. Abram must have waited for a while because he had to keep the fowls (maybe buzzards) away until sunset. v12.

A deep sleep comes over Abram v12, then a "horror of great darkness fell upon him." Here is where the Lord tells Abram of the 400 years of slavery of his people in Egypt. The Lrod also tells of them coming out of Egypt with "great substance". v14. Then the people would return to Canaan.

Verse 17 gives a stark contrast to the Lord walking in the cool of the day with Adam before sin entered. Here it is "a smoking furnace and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces."

The promise to Abram concerning the possessions of his descendants extended from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates and the lands of the people in the verses of the rest of the chapter.

There are a couple of things that point to why Abram was not allowed to take possession then. One was that the "iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full" perhaps referring to a judgment on them. Another was that Egypt would be judged. v14. It is also my belief that Abram's people were not yet great enough to possess the entire land. We will find that while under slavery they grew to great numbers with the Egyptians fearing they would outnumber even them. Then there is the great substance of verse 14. It would be tough to finance a nation without great substance. So, the nation had to grow and mature and gain some wealth before they became the actual possessors of Canaan.

The Lord has revealed more about himself. He is possessor of heaven and earth in verse 19 of the last chapter. In this chapter He is thy shield and thy exceeding great reward.
For additional reading concerning the Lord as our shield you may read: Psalm 3:3, Proverbs 30:5 and Deuteronomy 33:29. Just a little homework.

I was 'raised on' the New Testament in church although we studied the stories of the Old Testament. Actually, the Old Testament scared me some. I do not pretend to understand all the things there. After learning of the kindness that Jesus taught and the lessons on turning the other cheek, the happenings of the Old Testament seemed odd to me. I was trying to understand the ways of God and he quite frankly does not tell us everything. He moves in mysterious ways. We must remember that Satan is the enemy of God. While the saga is going on with Abram, Satan is corrupting nations which worship other gods and diggings have shown that they sacrificed children to idols. (It would make sense to me that Satan knew of the plan to make Israel a great nation and that the promise of redemption would come through that nation. I can almost picture him sitting out in the bushes somewhere listening to conversations about that promise. And so he sets out to build nations to come against Israel to stop the promise.) These nations were judged, for when they followed the leadership of Satan they also became the enemies of God. Sometimes we get to thinking that the whole thing is about us (or me) but it is not. There is a spiritual war going on around us. Satan cannot win, but he wants to inflict harm, then as now. It was about more than Abram's travels then and it is about more than our lives now. God knows the big picture while we see only a small portion. It would behoove us to accept God's wisdom and have faith that things will come out for the better because He is in control.

"Review"

We should keep what we have learned in mind as we continue our study:

1) Man has sinned and now retains a sin nature because it is passed down through the tainted blood line. Therefore, there will be actions not sanctioned by God, even in the budding nation of Israel through whom the promise is coming. Remember it was Abram's faith that counted him righteous.

2)The nation Israel will come to fulfillment in spite of Satan's attempts, along the way, to defeat, corrupt and enslave the people.

3)Part of the promise to Abraham was that in him 'all families of the earth' would be blessed. That steps outside the nation Israel to Gentiles. That includes all of us.

4)We are witnessing the birth of the nation Israel which is to be the mechanism for salvation to come to all the earth.

5)Watch for the pictures and symbolism of things happening in Genesis. In the New Testament, we will see there are many spiritual applications to events that happened physically in Genesis.

Note: It should be noted that the plan worked, even with man having freewill, because of faith in the hearts of some and because the Lord promised it would be so.

Post 22 "War" "Lot" "Tithes"

Genesis chapter 14. The entry would be too long to go verse by verse in this chapter. I will give a summary, then point out a few things.

There was a group of kings and their followers who served a king called Chedorlaomer. There came a time when they no longer wanted to and so rebelled. The next year that king brought his king friends and fought with the rebels. The rebels lost even though the king of Sodom came to fight, it seems, near the end of the conflict. Many of the king of Sodom's troops fell into slimepits that were in the area. King Chedorlaomer and his company took the people of Sodom and scooped up Lot and his people and stuff in the process. Up to this point Abram had not been involved. Now, he goes to rescue Lot.

Verse 14 "And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen and pursued them unto Dan." Verse 16 "And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot and his goods and the women also and the people."

Up to this point Abram was accumulating wealth and people. Abram was 75 years old in a couple of chapters back. By todays age that would be pretty old to be going off leading a rescue party. I find it interesting that King Chedorlaomer defeated the whole neighborhood of kings but was defeated by only 318 of Abram's troop. You just can't beat a good nighttime surprise attack.

Now we introduce Melchizedek king of Salem. He "brought forth bread and wine..." and blessed "Abram of the most high God..." Here is where Abram gave to God via Melchizedek his tithes. Let me quote a portion of Hebrews chapter 7 (I'll use small print to conserve space: For this Melchizedek, king of salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness and after that also King of salem which is King of peace: Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God, abideth a priest continually. Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils.

It goes on to tell how the Levi's were not yet born when Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek and how Levi paid tithes to Abraham at some point. Hebrews goes to great length to compare the Melchizedek priesthood to that of the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe they were one and the same. It is another study which will not fit here. Remember Melchizedek was before the law was given. We will find later that Jesus fulfilled the law and so enters grace for everyone. Before the law was given Abram " And he believed in the Lord and he counted it to him for righteousness." Verse 6 Genesis 15. Romans 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:"
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"time line"

"before the law" "the law" "grace"
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The king of Sodom offered Abram a reward for the recovery of the goods but Abram refused anything except what the young men had eaten. He in essence told the king that he did not want to take any favors to give the king room to claim credit for Abraham's prosperity. One sad note we will find in following passages is that Lot went back to Sodom.

Post 21 "Back to Bethel"

Genesis chapter 13. Even though Abraham, perhaps, should not have gone to Egypt; he came away with great riches. He journeyed back to Bethel, the house of God, to the altar and prayed. Isn't this a great picture for us? We pray and then troubles come (famine), we journey but our journey should bring us back to Bethel, to God. v1 "And Abram went up out of Egypt, he and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south." I wondered at this verse, the part where it says he went UP but also INTO THE SOUTH. Around where I come from up is always north to me. But you can also go down a mountain side and still be going north. A look at a map of the area where Abram traveled will, I think, show that the land flowed downward toward the north at this point. It appears to me that the river flows north into a lake. Any geography majors out there?

Lot has also gained riches of his own. Riches in those days were measured to a great degree in cattle. In our day, I suppose owning land would be similiar. So, you can see that as the huge flocks and herds moved over the land it would leave a wide swath of eaten grass. The travels gave the grass time to grow back. Now, the herds are too large for the land to support so the herdsmen began to bicker over the grass for their cattle. It was the herdsmen's job to feed the cattle so I can understand the strife when there was not enough. Abram saw the problem and talked to Lot about splitting up. v8 And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren. Then Abram gives Lot the choice of lands. Lot looked toward the well watered plains of Jordan and choose them. Abram dwelt in Canaan.

It is an example to us that what looks to be the best is not always the best for us. In the next chapter we will see that Lot lost everything but his two daughters.

Abram was told by the Lord to "walk through the land..." v17 "for I will give it unto thee." Then Abram goes to Hebron and builds a second altar unto the Lord.

One thing for sure Abram was a praying man.

Weigh in if you like

What lessons have we learned from our study, thusfar, that can be applied to our day and our personal lives?

Do you think the Bible is just a nice story, a historical record or a guide for personal living?

Why do you think there are so many English translations of the Bible when Shakesphere is found to be so beautiful in its present form?

Answers are moderated for commercials but not censored for opinion.

Post 20 "Abram Goes to Egypt"

Genesis 12 v1-2 "Now the Lord had said unto Abram. Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred and from thy father's house unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation and I will bless thee and make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing.

Here we have the command from the Lord for Abram to leave his country (at least a reiteration of the command) and then the promise of being blessed and being a blessing. The Lord also said he would shew (show) Abram a land. It was not a promise that Abram would posses the land at this time. Perhaps, it was meant to allow Abram the opportunity to fall in love with a place he had not yet seen. The next verse includes all of us and the balance of the Bible blossoms from this verse:

v3 And I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

You can jump ahead just for a moment and read Genesis 18 verse 10. Remember Sarah was barren but in this verse a child is promised. It reminds me of another birth that was impossible with man but not to hard for God.

Abram now journeys to the land of Canaan. Here the Lord appears to him and makes the promise that this land would be given to Abram's seed (his descendants). It was then that Abram went to a place called Bethel which means 'house of God' and there he called unto the Lord.

Next we see the beginning of a pattern, that of going down to Egypt. It is a literal journey here but is a picture of a spiritual journey we sometimes take. Sometimes things happen in our life and we wonder off into a far country spiritually. It is often circumstance that causes this journey. We could look at it like one of the valleys of life. In this case, there was a famine and Abram went down to Egypt. Although he was a man of faith and had just left Bethel, he contrived to protect himself. It seems his faith has faltered a bit as he gets Sarah (Sarai)to pose as his sister instead of his wife.** She must have been very beautiful to attract the Pharaoh's immediate attention. Issac also tries this bit of trickery later in Genesis. It seems quite human of Abram to be afraid and possibily tell a lie* here. After the Lord promised that his descendants would inherit Canaan and there was not yet a son and Abram seemed to have no problem believing all that, yet he was afraid he would be killed in Egypt which would have been impossible since God had made the promise concerning Canaan and that of Abram a great nation would come forth. Yet Abram, although favored by God, was yet a man and as such was subject to man's weakness. His problem began when he left the land of promise because things got bad. He should have known, as we should, that things change but God's promise does not. He will take care of us.

The rest of the chapter tells the story of Abram in Egypt and how plagues came to Pharaoh's house because he had taken Sarai. He returned Sarai to Abram and sent him out of the country. Abram left with great riches, v16.

Special note: In the story of Noah and the ark, we have an example of God's preserving grace. Again, in Abram and the developing nation of Israel we have the preservation of the promise which goes all the way back to Genesis 3:15 and forward to the Gospels. The world and the people are still with the sin nature but as if in a bubble in the midst of evil a nation is born to carry on and protect the promise not so different than a woman with child, yet unseen but protected against all evil. This woman, this nation will carry the promise to maturity until that star appears over a little town called Bethlehem.
*I seem to remember that Sarah was Abraham's half sister but cannot remember where I saw it.
** I found the answer while reading ahead. Sarah was Abraham's half sister. See this verse
Genesis 20:12 "And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife." The Bible is indeed the best commentary on the Bible.

I Wonder Why

I was wondering why there is no participation in the Bible study. There must be many who read but would prefer to not leave comments which is really great. I was hoping for some comments from teachers and scholars who have studied Bible history, who would give us their insight. Probably, busy is the word. Folks come to the internet to 'get things done' and quickly. I'm not fussing at you. I just wish there was some evidence that there are people online who are interested in learning more about the Bible or just going back over the wonderful story. So, if you would like to leave a short or long comment, please do so. If you just want to drop by and read the last lesson, that is great to. At least, we are adding to the presence of the scripture on this vast network.

Post 19 "Scattered" Genesis 11

Genesis chapter 11 is a tarnsition from the flood and Noah to Abraham. Abraham was known as Abram at first. V1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech." The people migrated east to Shinar. My Bible helps says this was 'probably the plain of Mesopotamina on the Euphrates and Tigiris Riers.' Gen 10:10, 11:2. I guess we all know that is Iraq.

The people had one language and they decided to build a tower that would reach heaven. V4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven..." The tower was called Babel which is Babylon in the Greek form. Jewis tradition holds that the tower was destroyed but the kingdom of Babylon persisted. Then came a day "when the Lord came down to see the city..." v3. The Lord must have been impressed for he said "...now nothing will be restrained from them..." v6. Here we see why the people scattered. This chapter compliments the previous chapter and follows the generations up to Abraham. "Go to, let us go down and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." v7

We have the whole population outlined in previous chapters but now we zero in on Abraham and his dealings with those who scattered from Babel. The saga begans with Terah leaving Ur with his family which included Abram (Abraham) and Lot. Lot was the son of Haran who was Abram's brother. Now Terah departed from Ur for Canaan but stopped in Haran. A city no doubt named for his son. Terah died in Haran which is in Mesopotamia. It is from here that Abram was commanded by the Lord to "Get thee out of thy country...". This starts the next chapter in Genesis 12:1. My map shows Haran north of modern Israel or Canaan. Or, looking at the map, it is left and up from Babylon near the mouth of the Euphrates River. I need a better map but it appears to be in modern Syria and near Antioch which was where "...the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch." Acts 11:26.

Special notes: A great deal of time has passed since Noah, as we get ready for the next chapter. The people are scattered all about and their kingdoms are well established.

Abram has taken a wife named Sarai or Sarah who was barren or as yet unable to have children.

Lot has become Abram's sidekick and departs Haran with him.

The Lord told Abram to depart his country but Abram seems to be ready to complete his earthly fathers mission of going into Canaan right away. Although they do reach Canaan the time was not right for them to stay, as we will see.

In review, we have seen the creation of mankind and the world as Adam and Eve knew it. We have seen sin enter and a judgment of water where a small number survive. Now, mankind has again multiplied and spread over great distance. Then, we are introduced to Abram who is to become Abraham. The focus narrows from all the peoples of the earth to one man and the nation he fathers. It is a great adventure we are now beginning.

"58 Second Sermon" A Most Powerful Video

http://www.youtube.com/v/SmLhyPjHVes

If you know someone who is not a Christian, this would be important for them to see.

Post 18 "Rainbow and 3 Sons"

Note: I woke up at 4am wondering how to break down Chapters 9 and 10 of Genesis to make it as simple as possible. It would be easy to get information overload here. I hope what I have done helps for from here the peoples of all the earth can be traced.

Noah becomes a husbandman after leaving the ark, makes some wine and gets drunk. His shame is seen by his son Ham. It seems to be an affirmation of verse 21 of the previous chapter, part of which reads "...man's heart is evil from his youth..."

The chapters set the world stage as far as the status of the various descendants of the sons of Noah. Such as the descendant of Ham - Nimrod who is noted as the conqueror and founder of Babylon. It challenges the Bible student as you try to trace the peoples of earth down through history. Chapter 10 gives more details. We should note that Shem's descendants carried the line of Christ from an earthly point-of-view and for prophecy sake that Magog is modern Russia and descends from Japeth.

Chapter 9 verse 13 tells of the rainbow which is the symbol representing the promise of God not to destroy the people of the earth with water again. The summary of the chapter is as follows:
First verse 13 "I do set my bow in the cloud and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth."
v1 - Be fruitful and multiply
v2- man to dominate the other creatures
v3- Food - what to eat
v4-5 - A caution
v6- Murder forbidden and penalty
v8-17 Rainbow covenant
v20 - Shame of Noah
v24-27 Prophecy for Noah's son's descendants

These notes are taken from a couple of resources and condensed here:

Ham - an inferior and servile posterity. He is the one who say Noah naked. Descendants: 1)Cush, Cushites of Chaldea, Nimrod (founded Babylon), Arabia, Ethopia 2)Mizraim - Hebrew for Egypt. 3)Phut - African people 4) Canaan - those who inhabited Canaan when the Isralites arrived.

Shem - all divine revelations come through the Semitic men. Christ descends (after the flesh) from Shem. Descendants: Jews, Arameans, Persians, Arabian, Assyrians

Japeth- the enlarged race, government, science, art. Magog (modern Russia) predominately descended from him. Reference Genesis 10: 2-7. By these the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands.
(research CI Scofield and Schaff comprehensive Bible Helps)

As you can see from this brief summary, the population is divided into three basic destinies, occupations, characters or whatever label one wishes to use. It is a very broad prophecy which helps us in studies to follow. For example, when the Bible later talks of the battles at the end of time we can see the descendants of the brothers involved. When Israel comes to the promised land of Canaan the prophecy is further filled. It helps to understand later events if one trys to remember the basic character the various peoples will have. Soon in our studies the languages will be confounded and the people disburse to the far reaches of the land.

In trying to understand the Bible, it is important to have a foundation built of the events of Genesis. We must remember the promises God makes for He does and will fulfill them. The stage is being set for the nation Israel to come on the scene. Part of that setting is that people are scattered, even into the promise land. The wondering nation will later come into contact with many of these peoples.

Post 17 "Happenings After the Flood"

I'd like to do a summary with verse references for Chapter 8 to get us going here:
*God remembered Noah v1
*The ark rested v3
*Waters decreased v5
*Mountain tops appear v5
*Raven sent forth - flies to and fro v7
*Dove sent v8
*Dove returns empty v9
*Dove sent again v10
*Dove returns with olive leaf v11
*Dove sent again - does not return v12
*Waters dried v13
*God tells Noah to leave the ark v16
*Noah leaves ark v18
*Noah builds altar and makes burnt-offerings of the clean beasts and fowls v20
*God resolves to not curse the ground for man's sake v21
*God said seasons would remain as long as the earth remains v22

In summary, Chapter 7 begins with God telling Noah to Come thou and all thy house into the ark. Chapter 8 begins with And God remembered Noah and every living thing... Chapter 9 (in the next chapter) begins And God blessed Noah...

In the last part of Chapter 8 we see God's understanding of the state of man and shows His compassion for man. for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth: neither will I again smite any more every thing living as I have done.

Special note: We will find as we go through the old testament that God reveals his attributes in a gradual way. He taught mankind and Israel in particular about himself and his ways. He did this right up to the day Jesus came. Then Jesus in a most gentle way presented the ways of God in his person and teachings. When a person accepts Jesus as Savior, their body still has a tendency to desire worldly things. Gently a new Christian is taught the things of God. The Spirit of God, which lives in the heart of every believer, helps in this process. Scripture has a new and brighter light shining on it and passages are now understood which were not clear before. It is important to not get discouraged as a new Christian. As a newborn must grow and learn, and sometimes fall, so must a new Christian learn and allow their faith to grow as they study God's word. By faith, we accept those things we do not yet understand clearly.

Prayer Request

Hi. In a couple of weeks I will have a cancer removed from near my left eye. I ask that you pray for me. This is my second round with the disease although the doctor assures me this one is not as serious and a different kind of cancer. I expect it to go well. Thought I'd take this occasion to get some freebie prayers coming my way :) .

Post 16 "God Remembered Noah"

We could call this a prelude to Chapter 8 of Genesis. It is after the judgment of the earth and Noah has been upon the waters for about 5 months. I can imagine that a little fresh air about now would be very welcome.

Before we go into the chapter I wanted to note the first line "And God remembered Noah..." Isn't it a nice thing when people remember you? I'm thinking of birthdays and anniversaries and such, or a card at Christmas time. God holds the world in His hand and people sometimes have trouble remembering Him in their thoughts. Some even deny that He exist or want to take shots at the Bible to discourage those who believe or would believe if it were not for all the doubt that is strain around. There are, no doubt, those who believe, as the devil does, and want to do as much harm to God as possible before their day comes. I have to be honest, I do not understand some of those attitudes. For example, if someone does not believe the Bible, why do they spend a lot of their life trying to discredit something they do not believe? Is it that they are concerned about humanity? Is it that they are mad at the very God they deny exist? How can you be mad at someone who does not exist? I am not trying to be mean. Obviously, I believe the Bible is true and that Jesus is the way to heaven. It is easy for me to believe that God made it all and that He loves me. Sometimes, I am afraid, people equate the bad things that happen in the world with God letting down humanity. Satan is very much alive and, for now, has certain freedom to cause havoc in the world. Sin thrives in the world. A majority of the people turn their back on God or do not have time for him. In this situation, there is still grace for those who choose to accept it. Remember we talked about freewill earlier. God's plan for salvation works in this world like the ark worked during the flood. He gave seven more days for people to choose to get onboard. During this time, the world was still evil but there was grace offerred. Today the world is an evil place but God's plan is at work to give people the opportunity to be saved from the judgment that is to come. Sin must and will be judged but still there is grace. It will be too late when the time of grace is over and the door is shut. Then comes the judgment. Noah's ark is an example to us.

Post 15 Flood Details

Some details from Chapter 7 of Genesis about the Flood.
Noah and his three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth and the wives of all four were saved in the ark. It rained for 40 days and 40 nights. The waters prevailed upon the earth 150 days. Verse 22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. It is key to note that the word 'nostrils' is used and that every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground v23. I can find nothing about the fish of the sea since they breath differently and are not upon the face of ground. My feeling is that the fish survived the flood.

Noah was 600 years old when the flood was on the earth. V11 which I have not checked against my rough chart in a previous post.

I know people have questions about fitting all those creatures in the ark and feeding them. I really do not understand the logistics of putting all that in the space available. I use to load trucks and I now a lot will fit where it seems impossible. I was also on the USS New Orleans for several months with several thousand people. Even on that ship, which was much smaller than the USS Enterprise, the below deck hangar was huge. So huge in fact that the captain's airplane sat in a corner and looked like a toy from the other side. Even though I was on it for several months, I never got around to exploring the entire ship. I can also tell you that seeing nothing but water for weeks on end would bring cheers from the men when even a small island of land would appear. A hundred and fifty days is a long time to see nothing but water. But it seems that Noah could not look out at even the water until the window was opened. Next chapter 8.

Perspective

To give us some perspective on the capabilities to build such a ship as the ark and a comparison of the size, I've inserted a navy photo of the USS Enterprise and given the different measurements.

A Navy picture of the USS Enterprise. It is 1123 ft long 257 ft wide and 250 ft high. Hold 5000 people including crew and air wing, plus planes and equipment.

The ark was 450 ft long, 75 ft wide and 45 ft high.
300 cubits, 50 cubits, 30 cubits.
My info says a cubit was 18 inches.
I think a football field is 100 yards or 300 feet.

Just thought some of this might help get our mind around the size of the ark a little better.

A hundred years or so after the command to take two of each species, God told Noah to take in seven of clean beasts acceptable for sacrifice. Exodus gives ten such beasts or seventy in all.
(Gleaned from CI Scofields notes)

Post 14 Genesis 7 "The Flood"

"And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark: for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation." v1

"For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth." v4

It had not yet rained on the earth, yet Noah believed the Lord and v5 testifies to this: "And Noah did according unto all that the Lord commanded him."

V11 "In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened."

I read of an archeologist digging where present day Iraq is located. I forget his name now. He dug a long time and came to many levels of civilization but finally he came to soil that showed no sign of civilization. He decided to dig a little deeper. After digging through much dirt with no sign of previous life, he found signs of another civilization. "How could this be?" he asked his wife. "Why, it's the flood!" She said to him.

Of course, we who believe the Bible need no such proof but it is very interesting. We should note here the grace of God. As I read this I see that God told Noah to "come thou and all thy house into the ark..." So it seems obvious to me that God was in the ark. Then there is the seven days that God still waited before the rain began. Seven days of grace for the world to enter the ark. Then in verse 16 "and the Lord shut him in". I believe God shut the door because Noah may have wanted to open it when people came in desperation to the ark after the floods started to rise. Isaiah 22:22 tells why they later had to remove the top to get out: "And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open and none shall shut and he shall shut and none shall open." A prophecy concerning Jesus. I personally believe it was He who was in the ark and said to enter and He who shut the door. He extends grace now as then, but as then grace will end someday and judgment will come.

Post 13 Genesis 6 "It's Going to Rain" A Lot!

Genesis chapter six is a discussion of the conditions before the flood that destroyed almost all of mankind. Verses 1-4 gives the general state of affairs and a warning from God. Verses 5-7 gives the reasons for judgment on the earth. Verses 8-22 is the introduction of the ark as a type of grace and instructions for preparations for Noah's survival of the flood.

The conditions of the time have often been compared to our time. Verse 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. And verse 11 The earth was corrupt before God and the earth was filled with violence.

There were giants in those days. Verse 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 cildren to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. Some believe this is a reference to angels taking wives of the earth women. I do not know. It might account for the legends of the godmen such as Zeus, Apollo and others. I have forgotten most of what I learned in that course. These men of wide acclaim however did not make it on the ark. It was another type of man that God considered worthy of saving. The last verse in the chapter tells the story. Verse 22 Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he. No matter the greatness or the number of people who know someone's name or all the great deeds they have done. It comes down to God's grace and our obedience. It was disobedience that resulted in the sin in the garden. It was grace that caused God to make the covering from an innocent animal. Noah's obedience came after he had already found grace in the eyes of the Lord. In verse 8 after the wickedness of the world is described the Bible says But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

The ark is descriibed to Noah in great detail. It was obviously the right way to build it for humanity survived in the person of Noah and his family. Noah was also a preacher II Peter 2:5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a precher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

It must have been a hard message to get across, that it was going to rain since until then a mist watered the land and not only rain but enough to destroy every living thing. Much like today, when people find it difficult to accept that Jesus really is coming back and that the earth will be judged with fire this time. We have seen it all in the movies and the movie ended and we went about our business as usual. Not so, though, with the real thing.

The ark carried Noah safely through the judgment of God. It was a safety zone from the wrath of God brought on by the wickedness of man. The conditions grieved him at his heart v6. Yet one man walked with Him and he would not forget him. I picture the grace of salvation much as the ark. We are invited into salvation and once inside we are protected from the surrounding evil and the judgment to come. As the sun appeared after many days of cloud and rain, so shall the Son appear in due time. Noah found grace before he built the ark, he built the ark out of obedience and because that was the right thing to do.

There is much in this chapter. It gives us a hint of where some old legends may have come from. A picture of just how far man will go with evil. So far that it grieves God at his heart. But it gives us a picture of grace, God's unmerited favor toward man.