Genesis 10 – Nations Were Divided…

In the previous chapter, we saw how the flood had ended, and only Noah’s family is alive. They are told to multiply and fill the Earth. God’s mission and man’s responsibility has not changed. His sons Shem and Japheth were found faithful in their father’s weakness, but Ham was cursed by God. In this chapter, the new beginning of the human race begins with a new genealogy following the offspring of the three brothers.

This will be a quite short post today, but that is mostly because there isn’t all that much material to work with here. I don’t want to focus on the names here, but rather the significance of the separation that is taking place. This is background material that we will need to know as we continue reading through the rest of the Old and even New Testament. There are divisions between these brothers before they even have children. Ham’s curse will play a significant role as we continue exploring Scripture. What is most important is that the Bible is setting the scene for the ultimate division that will take place in Chapter 11 at the Tower of Babel.

I’m not going to go over the lands that the different families ended up in, other than in the broad general sense that Shem’s family seems to generally occupy the land east of the Promised Land, being the modern day peninsula of Saudi Arabia. Japheth’s family seems to be a bit further east, as well as north of Shem’s family. Finally, Ham’s family dwell in what would later be the Promised Land as well as the Sinai Peninsula and parts of Egypt.

I would like to note here that these divisions of people groups into different places “according to their families, according to their languages, in their land and in their nations” seems to indicate that this chapter is actually post-Babel. The breaking down of language from one universally spoken to many indicates that this is not written in chronological order. The writer is giving us a picture of how the sons’ families were divided, and in the next chapter, he will show us how this came to be.

Please reference the map below for greater detail on the family divisions.

Genesis 9 – Establish My Covenant…

*I want to apologize. School has been quite stressful recently, and I’ve had very little time to devote to my blog. That said, there really are no excuses. I am sorry for my laziness. Feel free to call me out on it anytime.

We left off with Noah and his family getting off the ark and making a sacrifice to God after the flood. Picking up in Chapter 9, God now blesses Noah and his sons. Notice this blessing is tied to being fruitful and multiplying, as it was in Genesis 1 and 2. God’s purposes for man have not changed. He still desires that we thrive on the Earth. But in verse 2, it does seem that man’s relationship with the animals has changed. Animals now fear and dread man. They are now given to us for food in addition to the green plants that we had been eating. The reason for this change is not given, but it does seem significant. We have become omnivores instead of vegetarians. God does set a restriction on eating an animal’s blood. God also says that if animals or another man takes a man’s lifeblood, God will demand a reckoning. The reckoning will be the life of whatever shed the man’s blood.

In verse 6, God says that “[w]hoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed.” In our modern world, many of us consider capital punishment barbaric, or maybe even sinful. But I would like to suggest to you that this verse, along with many others, seems to suggest that God has placed the power of the sword in our hands. While God is the ultimate arbiter of justice, He does not keep that power solely to Himself. God has placed us in community, and through these communities we both live and hold each other to the commands which God has placed on the community. When these commands are broken, the community, under God’s direction, not only can, but is required to administer justice. We are God’s vice-regents here on the Earth. That does not mean that God is absent here, but that He has shared some of His power with us. He does not need us, being both omnipotent and omnipresent, but allows us many privileges because we were created in His image. Being as we represent Him, we share in many of the divine offices that He has. Administering justice, even though we sometimes do this imperfectly, is one of the things that we do which reflects His image.

Once again God tells man to be fruitful and multiply. I think, if we can take away anything from Genesis, that God desires man to thrive on the Earth. How often has He blessed us with this command? God now does something different than He had before. He now makes a covenant with Noah and his sons, along with all living things. It begins with the words, “And as for Me,” which means that this covenant is unconditional. Man nor beast have to do a thing to guarantee the promises of this covenant. This covenant will be respected regardless of other parties involved. God promises that He will never again destroy the world by a flood. This is good news! But seriously, the promise that God makes here is significant in the fact that God is setting limits on Himself, but not so much that He cannot deal with evil. He has numerous ways to deal with evil. Destroying the world by water is no longer an option, but nothing would prevent Him from destroying it by fire or simply uncreating by telling creation to cease by the power of His Word. In fact, we know from Revelation that God will indeed destroy the world again, finally and ultimately dealing with evil through the judgments described in that book by John. But to back up His promise, God makes a sign, the rainbow, which He places in the clouds. This is significant because clouds bring rain, which especially to a world which had never seen rain before the flood, would understandably be terrified by the sight of a rain cloud. This rainbow is a reminder that God will not allow the rain to drown the world and choke off life from the Earth. This covenant is everlasting, meaning that it is still in effect today.

The story takes a turn in verse 18. The focus shifts from God to man. God has made His covenant, but now man begins to return to daily life. Verse 20 says that Noah began to be a farmer, but this is probably just in contrast to his former 100 years of life as a shipbuilder. He is going back to tending the Earth, as Adam and Eve had done in the garden. Remember that these people must eat, and that the whole Earth had just been destroyed. Noah being a farmer was probably done out of necessity. However, Noah also planted a vineyard, and from that vineyard drank of the wine and became drunk. Out of his drunkenness, Noah somehow becomes naked in his tent. The story that follows is a lesson that many Christians would do well to learn.

Ham, the father of Canaan, saw Noah’s nakedness in his tent. Ham has discovered his father at a low point of sin. Noah, while being found righteous in his generation, was not completely sinless. The Bible consistently shows that even the heroes of the faith are not perfect. The only person I can think of who is not shown to fall in any particular way, besides Christ, is Joseph, though we know that he too must have sinned. This honesty with which the Bible sheds light on the imperfections of the patriarchs shows us just how real these people were. They were quite human. Ham discovers his father uncovered both figuratively and literally in shame from his sin. Instead of taking pity on his father, he delights in the fall of his father, quickly spreading the news to his brothers who were outside the tent. To the surprise of Ham, however, Shem and Japheth took a garment and covered their father’s nakedness, walking into the tent backward so they would not see their father. This was an act of mercy and love. When we see others fall, how often we jump to judgment, gossip, and delight in our righteousness in comparison to their’s. These two brothers showed love and compassion to the man who had raised them, who in a moment of weakness had fallen, but was still worthy of dignity, honor, respect, and love. How often we as Christians glory in the fall of our brothers, instantly casting them off with no possibility of redemption, offering them no mercy when we have been shown mercy infinite by Jesus.

Noah wakes from the drunkenness and knows what his younger son had done to him. He then curses Canaan, Ham’s son, telling him that he shall be a servant to his brothers. He then blesses the Lord, asking Him to make Canaan Shem’s servant, and to enlarge Japheth, to dwell in the tents of Shem. We will see later that this is exactly what happens. But is it fair that God punishes Canaan when it was his father who had sinned? The conquest of Canaan by the Jews has often been called into question, but this is the theological framework which gives legitimacy to the conquest. Sin is generational, affecting not only the one who commits it, but all those around him. Many people who struggle with certain sins find that their offspring will struggle with the same.

Finally, the chapter ends by telling us that Noah lived 950 years, and then he died. This new progenitor of the human race lived a long life, but like Adam, was imperfect, and as such, future generations would struggle with sin, becoming more and more evil. God’s dealings with sin have just begun. Even today, we see great evil around us, and only the most naive can think that the world does not need God’s intervention. Though God will not deal with evil in another flood, we do know that He will deal with it. His goodness and justice demand it.

Genesis 8 – God Remembered Noah…

Chapter 8 is the conclusion to the story we all learned in Sunday School. Noah has been warned by God of the impending flood, and has put all the animals, two of each kind, onto the ark. God has sent the waters to flood the Earth which are said to be high enough to cover the mountains. This chapter begins with the words, “Then God remembered Noah and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark.” This verse does not mean that God had in his wrath momentarily forgotten Noah and the animals, but that God had intentionally turned His attention back to Noah and the animals as He had promised. Something we can take away from the story of the flood is that God keeps His promises.

God makes a wind to pass over the Earth, subsiding the waters. This wind can also be interpreted as spirit, in which case, this story seems eerily familiar. The Spirit might be the one hovering over the waters, signifying a new act of creation. While wind is the word most translations choose, it would be foolish to assume that this is a naturalistic wind. There is clearly something supernatural going on with this wind.  He also closes the fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven. At this point the waters begin to recede continually until eventually the ark comes to rest on the mountains of Ararat. Interestingly, the mountains of Ararat is quite a broad geographical region. This has often been interpreted as Mount Ararat, which is in Turkey, but the text does not seem to suggest this at all. After ten months, the tops of the mountains can finally be seen.

Noah opens the window of the ark and sends out a raven and then a dove. Why a raven and a dove? I’ll confess that though I researched for this question for longer than time in a seminary student’s schedule should allow, I have come to the conclusion that once again, I can only offer guesses and can say almost nothing definitive. With that said, let us explore. First, Noah sends out a raven. Traditionally, ravens are seen as evil, being much like the serpent in the garden. They are deceptive and feed on the carcasses of dead creatures. They are also considered unclean, most specifically for their dietary choices. This raven kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. Noah also sends out a dove. Doves have traditionally been identified with the Holy Spirit, especially in the New Testament in connection with Jesus’ baptism. This is a clean animal which was more docile. The bird has often represented peace across diverse cultures throughout history. The question is for what purpose did Noah send out these birds? Was it for the same purpose? While some will disagree with me, I will assert that they were indeed sent out for the same purpose. That purpose is to find dry land so Noah would know when it is safe to emerge from the ark. His choice of the raven frustrated his purposes, however, because the raven is an excellent flier which could feed on the floating carcasses of the life God had destroyed in the flood. Noah’s choice of the dove was much wiser because the dove would not land on a carcass and feed on it. It would return to Noah if it could not find dry land, which is exactly what happened. I don’t want to draw out the symbolism too much further, because I think one can begin to draw conclusions that were not intended by the story. But the second time, after waiting a week, the dove came back with a freshly plucked olive leaf. This olive leaf also symbolizes peace, which is an appropriate image for a world which had just been destroyed and is now being reshaped for a new beginning for life. Finally, after another week, Noah sends out the dove, and this time it does not return at all, presumably because it has found dry land.

Noah removes the covering from the ark, now that he is convinced the waters had been dried up from the earth. Finally, God speaks to Noah, telling him to remove himself and the animals from the ark. Notice that once again, God emphasizes that the reason for this removal is so the animals can be fruitful and multiply. This seems to be quite important to God. For someone who just destroyed all life, He sure seems quite intent that life thrive on the Earth. So why the flood? The life that was on the Earth before the flood was not doing what it was intended to do. Sin had corrupted it to the point of no longer bringing glory to its Creator. Therefore, one can safely assume that life thrives when it brings glory to its Creator, and consequently stagnates when it ceases to do so. God desires life to thrive, and when we cease to do so, He must step in because of His great love for us. Noah is faithful and obeys God.

Now we see the reason God asked Noah to take seven of each of the clean animals. Noah builds an altar to the Lord and offers the clean animals to God. Good thing he brought seven of them. This is the creature bringing glory to the Creator. The Lord smells a sweet aroma. Notice that right after this offering, God says in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; not will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.” God seems to be full of promises, and with every one we grow in our understanding of who He is. One should see that God will not destroy every living thing in the same way, but that does not mean that He will never destroy them again. God will not use a worldwide flood to drown His creation, but Revelation seems to show that God has many ways to deal with evil.

This chapter concludes with a poem which promises the permanence of the seasons and cycles of the year.

Genesis 7 – All Flesh Died…

In the last chapter, we learned that Noah was an obedient servant by the grace of God. Now we will see that God fulfills His promises. He promised to destroy all living flesh in 120 years. Now that Noah has built the ark according to His specifications, God now tells him to enter the ark. He is told that he is to enter because God has seen that Noah is righteous before Him. Again, this is grace being demonstrated toward Noah. Noah is not deserving of God’s mercy, but God bestowing grace upon him makes Noah righteous.

God now tells Noah to take seven of each clean animal, two of each unclean animal, and seven of each bird of the air. This is said to keep each of the species alive on the earth after God destroys all other life on Earth. What is this all about? Once again, I do not understand exactly what is going on here. What is the significance of having clean and unclean animals? How does Noah even know which ones are which? The specifications for which animals are clean and which are unclean will not be revealed until Leviticus. Yet somehow, we must understand that Noah did indeed know which were which. But why is there a distinction at all? Is it just an arbitrary line drawn dividing some animals from others? It could be. But I’d like to suggest that things which are unclean are things God did not want as offering. We will see when Noah gets off the ark that he sacrifices some of the clean animals to God. How fortunate that he had seven of those instead of two. Fortunate or providential. I can’t begin to understand what makes something fit for offering to God or not, but I do know that we ought to do what He wants. Perhaps this is the reason that God preferred Abel’s offering in Genesis 4. Maybe this knowledge of clean and unclean was passed down from generation to generation all the way to Noah.

God now say that in seven more days he will cause it to rain for 40 days and 40 nights. Seven seems to keep popping up. What’s with the numbers? Most people who read the Bible understand that numbers can be quite significant. There are the seven days of creation. Seven clean animals. Seven days until God brings the rains. And forty days and forty nights. Why all the numbers? These numbers will be brought up repeatedly throughout the Bible. What we can say here for now is that 7 is the number of perfection or completeness and 40 seems to be a number associated with trial as well as consecration. Let’s talk a little more about 40. We know that the God is about to cause a great trial on the Earth. But at the end of the 40 days, God will establish His covenant with Noah. I think 40 makes a lot of sense here. As far as seven animals go, let’s be thankful that there were at least more than two, or we might have a few less species to enjoy today.

Once again Noah does all that he is commanded. Something all of the Old Testament heroes of the faith could be characterized by is obedience. They are not perfect, and have their moments of disobedience, but in the end, they always turn back toward God for forgiveness. If anything, let us take away this obedient example set by Noah from this chapter. Granted, he was 600 years old at the time, so I guess his wild younger days must have been long over.

Sure enough after seven days, the floodwaters come. The Bible says “all the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windows of heaven were opened.” What a beautiful way to describe a most horrifying reality. God shuts  Noah and his family and all the animals in the ark Himself. The waters increased and lifted up the massive ship. The Bible says the ark rose high above the Earth, higher than all the mountains on the Earth since it says that all the mountains were covered. The Bible states the obvious: all flesh died that moved on the Earth. Only those on the ark provided by God for salvation were saved from the waters. The last verse says the waters prevailed on the Earth for 150 days.

Now let us discuss something that many people have questioned since the beginning of time: the goodness of God. I will not attempt to address the issue completely here because massive works have been written for ages and we still haven’t solved the problem. The question? Is God really good? The term omnibenevolence means “all good”. Maybe we can agree that God is good most of the time, but all the time? Why is God destroying all the people on the Earth? Not just people, but animals too. Is He cruel, like a giant child in the sky with a magnifying glass, blasting us with fire for His enjoyment? This is something that will come up again and again. Why does God tell the Jews to commit what we would call genocide in the Promised Land? If there were people there, why would He promise it? I’m not going to provide an answer to all these questions here, but I will suggest that these are the wrong questions. Every single one of us deserve instant death. God cannot allow sin to go unchecked. He may hold back His wrath for a time, but there is no reason He has to. He holds back because of His overwhelming grace. He releases His wrath because of His overwhelming righteousness and justice. The Holy Spirit has been striving with man since creation, constantly pleading with man to turn away from his wicked ways to repentance and forgiveness. But man did not do that. He gave man 120 years to change in Genesis 6. We may not understand why God chooses to kill all life on Earth here, but let us remember, he does save Noah and his family, as well as the animals on the ark. He has not just scrapped the entire creation. He is still working with what He created. His promise to Eve that her seed would crush the serpent’s head is still going to be fulfilled. God keeps his promises. He is faithful, righteous, merciful, and just. We learn in the Bible that God is love. This is in no way different from the God that is destroying the world here. God is not just one attribute at a time, but rather, all of them all the time completely and without conflict. Being wrathful and loving for God is not a conflict. They are the same for Him. God can bring two things together that seem incompatible. The greatest example of this is Jesus after The Incarnation, being both God and man, having all the attributes of both natures.

I’ll leave you with another quote from Paradise Lost. This is a discussion taking place between Adam and the archangel Michael about the future of mankind. The wickedness of men will be addressed, but then Michael shows Adam a vision of Noah who will live a virtuous life. While this is all fictitious, I think poetry can sometimes put into words things that I have difficulty to say myself (Book XI, lines 806-838):

So all shall turn degenerate, all depraved;
Justice and temperance, truth and faith, forgot;
One man except, the only son of light
In a dark age, against example good,
Against allurement, custom, and a world
Offended: fearless of reproach and scorn,
The grand-child, with twelve sons increased, departs
From Canaan, to a land hereafter called
Egypt, divided by the river Nile;
See where it flows, disgorging at seven mouths
Into the sea: To sojourn in that land
He comes, invited by a younger son
In time of dearth; a son, whose worthy deeds
Raise him to be the second in that realm
Of Pharaoh: There he dies, and leaves his race
Growing into a nation, and now grown
Suspected to a sequent king, who seeks
To stop their overgrowth, as inmate guests
Or violence, he of their wicked ways
Shall them admonish; and before them set
The paths of righteousness, how much more safe
And full of peace; denouncing wrath to come
On their impenitence; and shall return
Of them derided, but of God observed
The one just man alive; by his command
Shall build a wondrous ark, as thou beheldst,
To save himself, and household, from amidst
A world devote to universal wrack.
No sooner he, with them of man and beast
Select for life, shall in the ark be lodged,
And sheltered round; but all the cataracts
Of Heaven set open on the Earth shall pour
Rain, day and night; all fountains of the deep,
Broke up, shall heave the ocean to usurp
Beyond all bounds; till inundation rise
Above the highest hills: Then shall this mount
Of Paradise by might of waves be moved
Out of his place, pushed by the horned flood,
With all his verdure spoiled, and trees adrift,
Down the great river to the opening gulf,
And there take root an island salt and bare,
The haunt of seals, and orcs, and sea-mews’ clang:
To teach thee that God attributes to place
No sanctity, if none be thither brought
By men who there frequent, or therein dwell.”

I’ll continue the quote in the next section. If you don’t enjoy the poetry, feel free to skip over it. The Bible is more important anyways. I just happen to love Paradise Lost and cannot allow myself not to share.

*A note on the images I use. I do not intend to offend anyone, though you will notice that many of the images I post contain nudity. These are not in any way intended to be pornographic (and if they are taken as such I think that reveals the sinfulness of man). Please understand that I use these images because I enjoy the works of the artist being used or think a painting relates to the things being discussed in a particularly useful way. Many of the modern works that might appear more modest are usually quite cheesy or cartoonish. I think the words of God are beautiful and as such, I’d like the images used on this website to also be beautiful. Unfortunately, this sometimes means that nudity will be in the images, but nudity in and of itself is not wrong. Hopefully, no one will find these offensive. Thanks for your understanding.

Genesis 6 – Thus Noah Did…

I will be honest and let you know right in the beginning that there are many things going on in Genesis 6 that I do not understand. That said, it begins the story of one of the more familiar passages in the Bible. We all know the story of Noah’s ark, but I would imagine that many of us are fuzzy over the details that we will focus on over the next three chapters (6-9). We left off in chapter 5 with an account of how Noah descended from Adam. Now the writer turns his attention from the micro (one family) to the macro (humanity in general).

We learn in verse 1 that man seems to be multiplying on the face of the earth, which is what God had commanded them to do. But we find out in verse 2 that the “sons of God” saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and took wives with them. Many scholars see these “sons of men” as fallen angels. These fallen angels (demons) are taking human women with wives, and we will see that they are having children. How is this possible? One would assume that these fallen angels must be indwelling human men. God then says, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh, yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” First, notice that the Holy Spirit is still playing an active role. It seems that the Spirit is striving with man. Though men have fallen, the Spirit calls them to repentance. But God, though patient, will not allow this to carry on forever. He sets a time limit on his patience: 120 years. After this, all bets are off and God will stop calling man to repentance and begin dealing out judgment.

This next verse confuses me, but let’s see what we can make of it. There were giants on the earth? The word used here is “nephilim”, which comes from a root meaning “to fall”. A note in my Bible says this indicates that these giants are strong men who “fell” on others in the sense of overpowering them. I guess that would mean that there were some pretty bad bullies in Noah’s day. It goes on to say that these fallen angels are having children with women, producing “mighty men who were of old, men of renown”. I don’t know much about this other than the fact that nothing good can come from an unholy union of angels and men. These children were an abomination, which caused God to look down and see the exceeding wickedness of man. This is reminiscent of Genesis 1, with God looking at His creation and judging it to be good. This is the opposite. The wickedness of man was great in the earth, and “every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually”. This is a strong indictment on the corruption of man due to his love of sin.

Verse 6 is something we are going to have to deal with, though we may find it to be difficult. “And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.” I’m going to try to deal with this in a couple of ways. First, let’s understand that God is trying to communicate with man. Even in this part where He is saying that He was sorry for making man, grieving in His heart. I’m going to suggest to you that this verse falls into the category of anthropopathism. This is a fancy word that literally means “man-feeling”. God is giving Himself human emotions in order to relate His divine feelings about a terrible situation. God does not experience emotions in the same way we do. Many of our emotions are responses to stimuli, especially when we least expect it. God, who is omniscient, is never surprised. God knew before He ever created man that we would fall into a wickedness so great that He would have to destroy us. But He still created us. We also know that God is unchanging, or immutable. So this cannot be God changing His mind about man. Rather, let us consider that God is trying to make us understand how we would feel in His position. He provided everything we need for human flourishing, but we snubbed our nose at God and break His commands (do not eat of the tree…and be fruitful and multiply, which was meant to be done between a man and a woman only). Second, I want to argue that just because we know something bad will happen in advance, we still experience pain in that moment. For example, say you know that a relative of your’s has been given a year to live by doctors. This must comfort you in some way, being able to set your affairs in order. But when that loved one passed, no matter how prepared you are, there is still a substantial amount of pain in that moment. I think the same is true here. Our sin was so great that in this moment God was sorry He had made man. That does not mean that He regretted His decision. Remember, He knew that He would feel this way, but He was willing to go through this pain and created us anyways. God is communicating the sadness of His heart in a way that we can relate to because His divine emotions would be incomprehensible. I realize that this interpretation cannot fully satisfy all the problems some might have with this verse, but I think we can use it as a springboard for further study.

God now vows to wipe out men, beasts, creeping things, and birds. I guess the creatures of the sea are not wiped out here because it must be hard to drown sea creatures. “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” I’d just like to point out that the Bible is once again accommodating God to man. This is anthropomorphism, which gives God human parts. God does not literally have eyes, but the language is used here to convey an idea about God seeing. Just wanted to point that out in order for you to see that the Bible does this quite often, making our interpretation of verse 6 somewhat more plausible. Also, the word “grace” should be heavily emphasized here. Noah does not deserve this favor, but he receives grace from God. We are told that Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations, and that Noah walked with God. Does this mean Noah was sinless? Hardly. But I think we can agree that Noah walked with God in a similar way to Enoch. He was perfect in comparison with the wicked men around him. He was just in the fact that his sin did not rule in his life, but he ruled over it. This was the problem Cain had. Noah is a confessor of his sin, which separates him from the rest of humanity. He is given the grace to do this. All of us outside of the Lord are completely sinful (non-posse non-peccare). It is by grace that we turn toward Him.

Noah is told God’s plan to destroy life on Earth. He is told to make the ark. Fortunately, God gives him some more detailed instructions. Noah must have been a wise man at the ripe old age of 500, but God helps him with the dimensions of the ark. I don’t know much about ships or “seaworthiness”, but I have read that the dimensions of the ark are quite similar to what one would expect from a vessel of this size. The dimensions given are about as large as theoretically possible for a ship made of wood to be. I’ve also read that this ship would be quite seaworthy, having excellent buoyancy.

God now tells Noah that He will establish a covenant with him. The idea of covenant will become quite important for understanding the rest of Scripture. We will look more at covenant when God officially establishes His covenant with Noah. He tells Noah that he, his wife, his sons, and his sons’ wives will be allowed on the ark. I guess it’s a good thing to know a godly man. Sometimes things just work out for you. God also tells him that he will be sharing space with two of every living animal (minus sea creatures…because they can swim), both male and female. God also tells him to make great stores of every kind of food to take with him to feed both his family and the animals. While we could debate the possibility that an ark could support all the species of animals, and whether Noah and his family could even feed all of them, what I’d like to suggest is that sometimes we have to be okay with God handling the details. I accept the authority of Scripture, and if Scripture says something, I will take it at its word because it has proven faithful in everything else I’ve read. Just because I don’t understand how something could work does not mean that it is impossible. I think it’s entirely possible that God could fit all these animals on the ark.

More importantly, the Bible tells us in verse 22, “Thus Noah did, according to all God commanded him, so he did.” Noah was obedient, down to the minute details of God’s plan. Noah was chosen to do a task, and he was given the grace to complete that task. Faithfulness to God’s commands means that we don’t argue over the details. Noah could have been thankful for being chosen, but decided that he didn’t want to build an ark quite as big as God commanded. Let’s be honest, this ark must have taken forever to have completed. But he built it to specification, ensuring the survival of his family, the animals, and the line through which Christ would come. Remember that Scripture is telling a grand narrative; a metanarrative. The story of the ark ties into the metanarrative that sin has entered the world. God deals with this sin. But God also preserves a remnant through which He would send His Son to eventually provide a way for man to be free of sin once and for all. We may think God is cruel in his judgment, but being as He is righteous, He is completely justified in His wrath against mankind. Noah finds favor through grace that he does not deserve.

Genesis 5 – And He Died…

At first glance, this chapter may appear to be only a stepping stone between two narratives; a necessary bridge between Adam and Noah. However, I want to propose that all Scripture is important for study, and that even though I’m quite sure I don’t know everything there is to know about this genealogy, there are important concepts to learn in every part of the Bible. Admittedly, genealogies can become quite monotonous, but paying attention to the details can reap rewards.

The chapter begins by telling us what this section is going to tell us. The author has just relayed the genealogy of Cain, and now it will relay the genealogy of his father, Adam. The author then reminds the reader that man was created in the likeness of God. Another thing that is mentioned is that God called them “Mankind”. If we remember the significance of giving something a name, we see that though God has given dominion of the Earth and its creatures to man, He has dominion over us. We are His vice-regents, who rule under his authority. We also learn that Cain and Abel must have been born when Adam was less than 130 years old, because this is the age when Adam becomes the father of their little brother, Seth. Notice it says he had a son in his likeness, and after his image. Because Adam was made in the image of God, this passes to future generations as well. It was not just Adam, but all of humanity which has this quality of being made in God’s image. Adam lived to be 930 years old. And then he died. This was not what he was designed to do, but because of sin, death entered the world. He did an incredibly long life, though.

Over the next few generations that the Bible will list, a pattern will become apparent. It will list how old the person was when he became of a father of the next generation that will be listed. It will then say how many years the person lived after they became a father. Then it will say that they “had sons and daughters”. Lastly, it will do some addition for us and tell us how old the person lived to be altogether, and then end with “and he died”. What can we learn from this pattern? First, we should be aware that this list is not comprehensive, but representative. What I mean by that is that we do not know every branch and every distant cousin on Adam’s family tree. What we have is what we need to have. This is the line that Christ will come from. It is also the line that we all will come from. Second, we learn that people are living an incredibly long time. I almost want to skip over this because I’m not sure how to account for it other than the progressive nature of sin. Lifespans are continually shortened throughout Genesis until the lifespans get short enough that we start to recognize them as moderns as average lifespans. Third, these men are producing families that are quite large. God gave us a command to be fruitful and multiply. It seems that these generations are doing just that, having sons and daughters. Finally, the Bible recounts that none of these men escape the curse that sin brought into the world; death. Death is actually one of the most prevalent themes in this chapter, with one glaring exception.

Seth becomes the father of Enosh; Enosh of Cainan; Cainan of Mahalalel; Mahalalel of Jared; and Jared of Enoch. Enoch stands out because he does not die. His description has a few key features. The Bible takes care to mention that Enoch walked with God. He becomes the father of Methuselah at the young age of 65. But what does it mean that he walked with God? Does it mean that he’s the only one? Or could it mean that he walked with God in a more meaningful way? I think for this question I will have to say that I do not know. I do know that in a real and meaningful way, Enoch seems to be in close communion with God. Close enough that at only 365 (a very middle-aged life during the time), the Bible says that he was not because God took him. This is incredible. Enoch seems to have spent so much time walking with God that God decided to whisk Enoch away from the Earth. I’m not sure exactly what it means that God took him, but I know that it was a result of his good relationship with God. Whether this means that he did not die and was taken to Heaven, or that God decided to call Enoch home and he died, I am mostly satisfied knowing that the Bible mentions Enoch favorably, and that he had a relationship with the Creator even though he too was marred by sin.

His son Methuselah becomes the father of Lamech. Methuselah lives longer than any other person recorded in the Bible. He eventually does die just shy of becoming a millenarian (I made that term up) at the age of 969. Now who is this Lamech? I thought we read about him in Cain’s genealogy. In fact, we did. However, I believe this is a different Lamech. Enoch was actually a name found in the Cain family tree as well, but I believe this is a different person as well. If you look at the graphic at the top of this post (which contains some misspellings), you will notice that many of the names are similar, if not the same. Cain is similar to Cainan. Enoch is the same as Enoch, and similar to Enosh. Irad is similar to Jared. Mehujael is similar to Mahalalel. Methushael is similar to Methuselah. This makes a lot of sense. These people all live in the same geographical region, and we can expect that the names of that region would be related. It’s all in the family.

Lamech becomes the father of Noah and says, “This one will comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord has cursed.” Noah would bring comfort by living a godly life. He would be the man chosen to survive the great flood sent to judge the wicked Earth. Through Noah, all future generations, but more importantly, the Messiah, would come. Noah is stated to be 500 years old, and he becomes the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

This incredible genealogy teaches us that God is still mindful of man, providentially guiding the family through which He would eventually be born. We learn that the effects of sin are passed from generation to generation, bringing the death that the serpent said we would surely not experience. We learn that in the midst of evil, there were a few men of this time, most exceptionally Enoch, who walked with God. Lastly, this is not exactly super important, but it is intriguing to me. I had never thought about the fact that Adam only missed Noah’s birth by 126 years and was around when his great great great great great great grandson Lamech turned 56. Lamech would become Noah’s father when he was 182 years old. Again, nothing Earth shattering, but interesting to think about.

Genesis 4 – My Brother’s Keeper…

Man has been banished from the Garden of Eden. Mercifully, God has allowed man to live, though he deserves death. There is more grace to come. Chapter 4 begins by saying that Adam knew Eve his wife. Well of course he knew her! This is actually a stupid seminary joke that we pull on people sometimes. We ask someone if they know s0-and-so, and when they say they do, we respond with incredulity. “You know her?” I hope you don’t mean in an Old Testament kind of way!” Like I said, seminary jokes are stupid. But the point is that the Old Testament often refers to sexual relations in this way, which is fortunate for those of us who God has given certain prudish qualities. Anyways, Adam and Eve become the parents of the first human child. Adam and Eve were full-formed when God created them, but their son Cain is born of Eve as a baby. Eve seems to have repented of her previous sin in the garden. She says she has given birth to a man (I imagine Adam and Eve can hardly believe this miracle) with the help of the Lord. These are not selfish words, but words of thanksgiving. She does not take all the credit, but gives credit to God who has given her this wonderful gift. Shortly after, she gives birth to Cain’s brother Abel. They could have possibly been twins, but the importance of the story is that they are brothers. The separation of their birth, be it minutes or decades, does not change the point of the story.

The Bible now mentions each brother’s job. Interestingly, Abel’s job is mentioned first. Abel is said to have been a keeper of sheep. Cain, though older, should have been mentioned first, but the Bible tells us after that Cain is a tiller of the field. A shepherd and a farmer. Some people have tried to allegorize this story by saying that Cain being a farmer triumphs over his brother, the nomad, thus showing how civilization came to replace our hunting and gathering days as primitive man. But I reject this, mainly because I do not see how a shepherd could not be considered part of civilization. A major part of being able to settle in one place is the domestication of animals. Also, we shall see that Cain ends up not being able to farm. This is hardly the story of civilization replacing nomadic life that some have proposed.

In the process of time (again, not super relevant to know how long) Cain brings an offering of fruit of the ground to the Lord. It seems that this might have been a requirement. I would guess that this is not something that Cain would have wanted to do, but probably did begrudgingly at the behest of his parents.  Abel also makes a sacrifice, but his is the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. Now before we get to God favoring Abel’s sacrifice, I think we should consider the fact that there might be parts of this story that are missing. While we can make conjectures (as I did just above), I think the story we have is what we are meant to have. We know that Cain and Abel both bring sacrifices. It seems that there is nothing intrinsically wrong with Cain’s sacrifice. We do know that God wants our best. Abel brings the firstborn and the choicest meat as an offering. We do not know the quality of Cain’s fruit, but there’s nothing saying that these are not the choicest of fruits. I think we can assume that this is a heart issue rather than a problem with the content of their offering.

Whatever the reason, God respects Abel and his offering and does not respect Cain and his offering. Notice, it is not just the offering that is being judged, but the person. Abel is respected and Cain is not. There must be a reason. We know that Cain’s response to the snub is quite unfavorable. The Bible says he became very angry, and his countenance fell. That’s a nice way of saying that he had murderous intentions. This is a hostile action toward God. A repentant person would ask for forgiveness for their failure to live up to their expectations. This is not Cain’s response.

The Lord speaks to Cain, omniscient as ever, still wanting Cain to have another opportunity so that he could not blame God for not knowing the truth. God asks him why he’s angry. Then He says, “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” This reminds me of the verse saying (I like the KJV here), “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8) Cain’s sinful heart makes him a target for the enemy. His sin is going to rule over him if he does not rule over it. Also, notice that God tells him if he does well that he will be accepted. I do not think this is just referring to the offering. I think this is once again dealing with a heart issue in Cain. God is the best at double-entendre. Last thing I’ll say about God’s advice here is that we were commanded to rule over the Earth. But this includes ourselves. Man cannot go around ordering all of creation without first making sure he has mastered himself (wisdom, courage, moderation).

The next word after this always gets me – “Now”. I don’t know how long this is after his conversation with God, but I can bet it wasn’t too long. “Now, Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel and murdered his brother and killed him.” Sin digs its roots deep into our hearts. We find ourselves doing things we never thought were possible. We must have constant vigilance or we too can murder our brother. Jesus shows us that we are all murderers in our hearts in the New Testament. We would all kill our brothers if we thought there would be no consequences.

God steps in, as He always does. Once again, He accommodates Himself to man, pretending to be one of us (not omniscient). He asks Cain where his brother is. Cain gives his infamous response, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” This response reeks of sarcasm. Does he realize who he is talking to? It’s almost like he’s challenging God. “If You don’t know, how could I?” Both Cain and God know this is a lie. God was once again giving man a chance to confess his sin, but instead, Cain follows his parents’ example by hiding (behind his lie) and blaming (God). God doesn’t buy it. He says that the voice of his brother’s blood cries out to Him from the ground. Because of this he curses Cain from the earth. No longer will the ground yield a crop for his hand. The image that God is painting here is the same one presented in the New Testament: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.” (Galatians 6:7) Cain has sown his brother’s blood into the ground. Therefore, he will never reap anything good out of the ground again. God says Cain is to become a fugitive and a vagabond on the Earth (this is the opposite of civilization).

Cain says this punishment is greater than he can bear. Let’s ask Abel about what Cain can bear. At least he’ll still be able to draw breath. He points out that anyone who finds him will kill him, which one can imagine might be true when everyone who is on the Earth at this point would be related to Abel. This is where God gives Cain the infamous mark. I call it infamous for two reasons. First, because it would have made Cain infamous to all the people he met, a mark of shame and guilt. But secondly, because of the terrible interpretations that this verse has been given. Here’s a poem (“On Being Brought from Africa to America”, 1773) by a famous African-American slave, Phillis Wheatley, to explain:

‘Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land,
Taught my benighted soul to understand
That there’s a God, that there’s a Saviour too:
Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.
Some view our sable race with scornful eye,
“Their colour is a diabolic die.”
Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain,
May be refin’d and join th’angelic train.”

First of all, let me explain that this poem is incredibly beautiful and worthy of its own analysis. I encourage you to read it and study on your own. Personally, I memorized it. It’s only eight lines! But notice the part I bolded. “…Negroes, black as Cain” refers to the belief that the mark of Cain actually applied to his descendants as well, and that these descendants settled in Africa. This would be the reason that black people have dark skin. It is a mark of shame meant to mark a cursed race. But this interpretation is ridiculous. First, we do not know what this mark was, but it hardly seems necessary that God mark every inch of Cain’s body. The text also never mentions that this curse is to go to his descendants. We see later that Cain’s son, Enoch, will start a city. How could he have a city if the curse applies to him as well? Cities need food, and if Cain’s curse applies to his descendants, then they would be unable to provide food for themselves sufficient to create a city. Also, notice Africans, as well African-Americans, are more than capable of producing crops from the ground. If one part of the curse clearly did not pass to future generations, why should another part of the curse? Let’s also remember that all of Cain’s offspring seem to have died during the flood. The only people who survive are Noah and his family, who are not descendants of Cain. The last thing I’ll say about this is that though this mark has been used to subjugate black people as somehow cursed and lesser, I implore you to go back to Wheatley’s poem and understand that even if Africans somehow inherited this curse, they ought not be treated any differently. We can all become Christians.

Regardless, Cain receives this mark. The mark is less of a punishment than it is an act of mercy. It is God’s response to Cain’s objection that people will kill him. The mark is meant as a warning to others that Cain is protected by God. God will repay seven-fold for anyone who should kill Cain. “Vengeance is Mine, and retribution…” (Deuteronomy 32:35) The reason God protects Cain from others seems to be partly because He has already punished Cain. No man can administer justice better than God.

Cain must now go even farther from Eden. It says that he left the presence of the Lord. Sin has that effect. He dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden. Where is this land? To be honest, I don’t know. I couldn’t tell you where Eden is either, though we know this must be somewhere in the Middle East near the Euphrates River. The word Nod, in Hebrew, means “wanderer, exile or fugitive.” Some scholars have suggested that Nod is not a geographical location, but rather it simply means that wherever Cain went would be called the “Land of the Wanderer (Nod).”

Verse 17 tells us that Cain has a wife and that he “knew” her. Where did this wife come from? She was not mentioned before. The only explanation that I have is that she must be one of Cain and Abel’s sisters. Either way, she gives him a son, Enoch. Cain also builds a city and names it after his son. There must be a significant population by this point in order to support a city. The Bible then presents a genealogy of Cain’s descendants, and that list ends with Lamech, who “took for himself two wives”. This is not the model that God set forth in the garden. While many critics of the Bible point to polygamy in the Old Testament, the presence of polygamy does not condone the act itself. We see that this is not the only sin pattern in Lamech’s life. He also has killed a man, though he claims it was in self-defense. He is so sure of his innocence that he reassures his wives that anyone who kills him, God will avenge him seventy seven-fold.

Adam and Eve are not idle either. Though they mourn the loss of their son Abel, they move forward and have another son, Seth. “For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.” Notice that Cain is no longer considered part of the family. I think that somehow this might also reveal another clue into Cain’s jealousy of Abel. It is possible that Abel might have been given the birthright of the firstborn child. This would have rightfully been Cain’s, but due to sin ruling in his life, he may have been passed over in consideration for the birthright. This seed could refer to just another child, but it may also refer to the seed (Gen 3:15) through which the serpent’s head would be crushed. We know that, in fact, Jesus does come through Seth’s line. The birthright, whether before his death or after, has officially passed from Cain and now resides with Seth.

Seth has a son and names him Enosh. This chapter concludes by saying, “Then these men began to call on the name of the Lord.” What a contrast to the family of Cain. Adam, though fallen, seems to have gotten back on track and brought his family under the leadership of the Lord. The same cannot be said for the family of Cain.

Genesis 3 – You Will Be Like God…

Chapter 3 begins with the word “Now”. When did this now take place? Once again, we are left in the dark. Adam and Eve could have enjoyed many wonderful years in the garden. Being as they were perfect, death had not entered the world yet. But unfortunately, the time of innocence did not last forever. It says that the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field that the Lord God had made. Other translations use subtle or crafty instead. What this really boils down to is deceit. We know that Satan is the Father of Lies (John 8:44). Both the apostles John and Paul identify this serpent as Satan in the New Testament (Revelation 12:9, 20:2; 2 Corinthians 11:3). We know the enemy as both the Devil and Satan. The word “Devil” in Greek, which looks like this: Διάβολος (pronounced di-ah-bo-las) means a calumniator, slanderer, accuser. “Satan” (Σατανᾶς) describes his character as the antagonist and opposition of all good while “devil” describes his relation to the saints as their accuser and calumniator. As a side note, the name “Lucifer” never occurs in the whole Bible. It only occurs in the King James translation of Isaiah 14:12. Most modern translations read “morning star” instead of Lucifer. Lucifer is a decent translation of morning star because it literally means morning star. Unfortunately, this term has come to be associated with the devil, which especially in the context of Isaiah 14, seems to be somewhat of a stretch. Not to get too far ahead of ourselves, but Isaiah 14 seems to be referring to a man, not Satan. Either way, it is good to know who this serpent is. He is the great deceiver of man, more cunning than any other creature. He stands in opposition of all that is good and is always ready to lie and condemn.

Then he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘you shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” The first words out of his mouth are already dripping with deceit. He knows good and well that God did not forbid them to eat of every tree in the garden. The serpent is accusing God of not providing food for man. That word “indeed” seems to stick out to me. Other translations say “actually” or “really”. Satan makes God’s actions appear ridiculous. “How could he actually do that?” She responds, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'” But hold on a second, that’s not actually what God said either. He prohibited eating the fruit, but touching it was not forbidden. While I would agree that touching it was probably not a good idea (what good is touching a fruit you cannot eat?) there was nothing intrinsically wrong with it, nor would it have brought on the death of man. Satan’s lie has already found its way to the heart of man because man had already twisted what God had said just enough that Satan’s “indeed” seemed somewhat more plausible. This is the importance of reading, studying, memorizing, and being in love with God’s Word. If we know God’s Word, it cannot be twisted against us. Satan tries the same thing on Jesus in the desert, but finds that Jesus knows God’s Word intimately.

Now comes the outright lie. What Satan said before was just a test to see the position of his prey. With the woman’s weak response, Satan pounces on his victim. “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” What does Satan mean when he says “you will be like God”? It says right after that they would know good from evil, but I think it goes deeper than that. This is placing man on the throne of God. Satan is proposing an image of a selfish God who does not wish to share His secrets with man. We could be like God, but He is holding us back, making us follow commands and do His will. After this, she saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to her eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make a person wise, she took the fruit and ate. These are the fleeting pleasures of sin. They didn’t flee fast enough to prevent her from sharing these temporal pleasures with her husband though. He also ate. The only true thing the devil did say was that their eyes would be opened and they would know good and evil. And were their eyes ever opened! Immediately, they feel ashamed of their nakedness, having lost their innocence, and make themselves coverings using fig leaves.

Thus ends one of the four parts of the story of the Bible. Seriously. The first part is Creation, the next part is the Fall, then Redemption, and finally Consummation or Restoration. We are living in the Redemption stage. That does not mean that the effects of the Fall are gone, but it does mean that Christ has come and made a way for the forgiveness of our sins. He is the second Adam, the sinless one, who died in our place. God took a world that was formless and void, and brought form to the world and filled the void. When things were thrown out of order, God has worked to restore things back to the way they were, or even better. What do I mean by better? I’m going to provide a rather lengthy quote (apologies) to wrap up my thoughts on the matter. In Reason for God, Tim Keller writes on page 33:

Just after the climax of the trilogy The Lord of the Rings, Sam Gamgee discovers that his friend Gandalf was not dead (as he had thought) but alive. He cries, ‘I thought you were dead! But then I thought I was dead myself! Is everything sad going to come untrue?’ The answer of Christianity to that question is—yes. Everything said is going to come untrue and it will somehow be greater for having once been broken and lost.”

He goes on to quote Dostoevsky from Chapter 34 of The Brothers Karamazov:

I believe like a child that suffering will be healed and made up for, that all the humiliating absurdity of human contradictions will vanish like a pitiful mirage, like the despicable fabrication of the impotent and infinitely small Euclidean mind of man, that in the world’s finale, at the moment of eternal harmony, something so precious will come to pass that it will suffice for all hearts, for the comforting  of all resentments, for the atonement of all the crimes of humanity, of all the blood that they’ve shed; this it will make it not only possible to forgive but to justify all that has happened.”

Finally, he quotes C.S. Lewis from The Great Divorce, followed by his own thoughts wrapping up the matter:

They say of some temporal suffering, ‘No future bliss can make up for it,’ not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory. [Keller] This is the ultimate defeat of evil and suffering. It will not only be ended but so radically vanquished that what has happened will only serve to make our future life and joy infinitely greater.”

Hopefully, you can understand the significance of these quotes to this chapter. You see, right after the Fall, God immediately enters the picture. They hear the sound of Him walking in the garden in the cool of the day. Adam and his wife now attempt to hide from the Creator of the universe. It’s kind of funny because God plays along. God calls out to Adam, “Where are you?” As if God doesn’t know. Perhaps this is a more philosophical question that God wants Adam to consider. Where has Adam gone spiritually? After all, one of the most painful effects of the Fall is separation from God. Adam has become spiritually dead even though physically he is still alive. Before accepting Christ’s atonement for our sins and acknowledging Him as Lord and Savior, this condition is true for all of humanity. God is also providing Adam with an opportunity to confess what he has done. Adam responds that he was afraid because he was naked and hid himself. God plays along again, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” God’s patience here is astonishing. He is trying to coax Adam to confess everything he had done. Unfortunately, Adam passes the buck, accusing both Eve and God for the fault. “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” Adam has already become a little devil (accuser, remember?). God questions the woman, seeing if she will take responsibility. She also becomes a little devil, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” Interestingly, both Adam and his wife tell the truth, but neither one of them show remorse for what they have done, nor are they willing to confess any wrongdoing. They admit to the eating of the fruit, but they do not admit to disobeying the Lord’s command. Rather, they say someone else made them do it.

God proceeds to start dealing with the situation. First, he curses the serpent. I will say that snakes are among my worst fears, and I’d like to think that I have biblical evidence for why that’s true. “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed.” I certainly feel that enmity. However, I think that this part of the curse, as well as what follows, applies to Satan and not the physical form of the snake. What he is saying is that there will be strife between followers of Satan (most of mankind), and seed of the woman (followers of Christ, a descendant of Eve). He then tells the outcome of that struggle. Christ will bruise the serpent’s head, and the serpent shall bruise Christ’s heel. Christians are also part of Eve’s seed, so we, along with Christ, participate in the crushing of Satan’s head. “And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly.The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” (Romans 16:20) Notice that Satan is being crushed under the feet of the church in Rome, but also by Christ, who is in them.

God then proceeds to curse the woman and Adam. Beginning with the woman, he greatly multiplies her sorrow and conception. Childbirth is done in severe pain. I’m thankful for the gift of childbirth, but often thankful I will never have to experience it myself. Because of sin, man and woman will face struggles in their relationships with one another. God created the world with a perfect harmony. Sin disrupts harmony. Roles are from God, and when they are played out correctly, harmony and peace rule. But when those roles become confused, struggles of self-will ensue, creating disunity. How many marriages end in divorce today? Too many. It is a case of men and women trying to play roles they were not meant to play.

Adam is cursed because he heeded the voice of his wife. This was another role reversal. Adam was meant to rule over his wife. He should have prevented her from eating the fruit, and once she did, he should have scorned her advice and listened to God instead. But that is not what happened. Therefore, the ground is cursed. Man must now toil to produce his food, in stark contrast to the abundance of food once available with little to no effort. All over the world, people must work hard and most barely get by. Some do not get by at all. The curse also speaks of us returning to the ground. We were made from dust and to dust we shall return. This is physical death. Spiritual death had already occurred. Adam’s physical death would not occur for 930 years. This is incredible. But though this may seem like a long and overdue life, it was not the life Adam was intended to live. Christ ended up living the life Adam should have lived, which is part of the reason Jesus is called the second Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45-49). We were made to live eternally in fellowship with God. When that connection was severed, physical death was sure to follow. But there is hope. Romans 5:12-21 says:

¹² Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—¹³ To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. ¹⁴ Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.¹⁵ But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! ¹⁶ Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. ¹⁷ For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! ¹⁸ Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. ¹⁹ For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. ²⁰ The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more,²¹ so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Only now does Adam finally name his wife Eve, and the Bible says he does this because she was the mother of all living. To cover their nakedness, God clothes them in tunics of skin. This is the first of many sacrifices to atone for the sin of man. Ultimately, it would take a sinless man to cover all the sins of man for all time. This animal was just a temporary offering. Adam and Eve should have been the ones to die. “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) Instead, God shows us a shadow of what is to come; Christ would be our substitute sacrifice. An innocent one would die in place of the guilty.

God has a sort of side conversation with Himself. It is fascinating to be able to listen in on His thoughts. He says, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil.”  In what way does God know good and evil? Are we like God because we sinned? The answer is no. We are now more like God only in our knowledge of the difference between good and evil. God, however, does not know this from firsthand experience (sin), but rather because of his omniscience. It then says that He drove man out of the garden, lest he eat of the tree of life and live forever. Hold on. Why would God not want us to live forever? The reason is because we would be stuck in our sinful state. Who wants to live forever as a wretched, sinful human being. There would be no possibility of redemption. I believe that God drove man out of the garden because eating the tree of life would have locked us in our fallen state (non posse non peccare – not able not to sin). In Revelation 22:2, we find that the tree of life makes a reappearance. It is in the New Jerusalem and brings healing to the nations. I believe that this tree might be used to lock us into our state of glory (non posse peccare – not able to sin). That is just conjecture, but the reason God drove man out of the garden of Eden must have been significant enough that He then proceeded to guard it with cherubim and a flaming sword which turned every way. The cherubim and the sword are specifically stated to be guarding the way to the tree of life. Therefore, I see our banishment from Eden as an act of mercy from God, which is incredible considering we had just sinned against Him, lied, and then even blamed Him for our sin. What a truly magnificent and merciful God we serve!

Genesis 2 – Bone of My Bones…

Many people struggle with the differences between Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. They find inconsistencies that make them question the veracity of the Bible as a whole. For example, in Genesis 1, we learn that God had created man, both male and female. But in Genesis 2, God apparently creates them again, but this time only Adam is created, and Eve only appears later after Adam cannot find a suitable helper among the animals. What is needed, however, is a differentiation in perspective. Genesis 1 is like the broad strokes an artist uses on a canvas. We learn the whole of the creation story in one short chapter. Everything is spoken of in general terms. But when we get to chapter 2, we should think of it as zooming in on one small part of the canvas. The artist is now using a much finer brush, accentuating minute details that would have been impossible from the zoomed out perspective. This is not the only reason for the close-up perspective. God is highlighting the creation of man (and woman) because man is the focus of creation and deserves the extra detail. Also, the Bible is written for man, and God wants to connect with man. The whole Bible, in fact, is God reaching out toward man. We will come to this again and again. God speaks and desires to be heard and known. Even from Genesis 2, we see that He goes to great lengths to focus His efforts in reaching out to the creature created in His own image.

One of the first things I highlighted was the repetition found at the very beginning of the chapter. What is repeated is that God had rested on the seventh day, not because He was tired, but because all of His work was finished. There was not one thing that God had left out. There are processes that look like creation to us still taking place, like the formation of new stars in nebulae across the universe, but these are not new creations, but rather, God is sustaining creation. Also, God is setting up a pattern of rest for mankind. Man was put on this Earth to multiply, fill, subdue, and rule, but we cannot do that 24/7. God did not need the rest after the six days of creation, but He blessed the seventh day and rested so that man would be able to follow this pattern. I’m currently sitting in a Chick-fil-a writing this post on a Saturday night. In half an hour, they will close their doors and not reopen them until Monday. How different this is in our day when most companies stay open seven days a week. Man was not meant to be a workaholic. We are meant to work hard, but not work hard every day until we die. There should be moments of rest where we reflect on what we have done, and dwell on things of a higher nature.

In verse 5, it says that God had not caused it to rain on the Earth, but that there was a mist (or springs) that came up from the Earth and watered the whole face of the ground. What? There are many scholars who believe that it actually never rained until the Flood occurred. This leads many to interpret Genesis 1:7 as referring to a wall of water that surrounded the Earth in the atmosphere known as the canopy theory. Whether this was a thick vapor or actual liquid is not known. All of the water on Earth (under the firmament) came up through the ground in the form of springs or geysers. I’m not really sure how I feel about this theory. I want to say it sounds ridiculous, but at the same time, it seems to most closely match the biblical text. Personally, I think there are matters that we should take a strong stand on, and others which we are more than welcome to form opinions on, but should not make them the things for which we will go into battle. This seems to be one of those. What is important is that we know God provided all the water that we needed even before it ever rained on Earth.

Notice that God gives another command in verse 16, telling Adam that he can eat of any tree in the garden except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He also lays out the consequences for failure to follow this command, namely, certain death. This command will be questioned and twisted in chapter 3 by the serpent. God goes on to say that it is not good for man to be alone. Not good? Remember, this is a zoomed in view of day 6, and God has not created woman yet. The creation of man alone was not good. The harmony of man and woman together was necessary to call day 6 good. God then brings all of the animals before Adam and he names them. Whatever he named them became their name. In the notes in my Bible, it says that naming “is an act of discerning something about the creature so as to appropriately identify it and also an act of leadership or authority over that which was named.” This means that the names themselves actually mean something that is intrinsically true about the creature. I think the same should be said about our names. One of my favorite authors, Tolkien, seemed to obsess over the names of his characters, often giving them a multitude of names. Each name meant something about that character’s personality. More than any other author I’ve come across, Tolkien seemed to understand that there’s something in a name which has power. Not to skip too far ahead, but remember that in Revelation, it speaks about how we will be given new names in heaven. I think these names will reflect something that is true about ourselves.

Anyone who knows me well also knows of my love for John Milton’s poetry. In his most famous work, Paradise Lost, he recounts the story of creation and the Fall. But before Eve is created, Adam speaks to God about his solitude in Book VIII:

He ceased, I lowly answered. To attain
The heighth and depth of thy Eternal ways
All human thoughts come short, Supreme of things;
Thou in thy self art perfect, and in thee [ 415 ]
Is no deficience found; not so is Man,
But in degree, the cause of his desire
By conversation with his like to help,
Or solace his defects. No need that thou
Shouldst propagate, already infinite; [ 420 ]
And through all numbers absolute, though One;
But Man by number is to manifest
His single imperfection, and beget
Like of his like, his Image multiplied,
In unity defective, which requires [ 425 ]
Collateral love, and dearest amity.
Thou in thy secrecy although alone,
Best with thy self accompanied, seek’st not
Social communication, yet so pleased,
Canst raise thy Creature to what heighth thou wilt [ 430 ]
Of Union or Communion, deified;
I by conversing cannot these erect
From prone, nor in their ways complacence find.”

Sorry for the lengthy quote, but I honestly feel like that best sums up the reasons for why Adam needed a companion. Through this fictional, but possible, conversation, God confirms that he had intended Adam to have a special helper all along and that he wanted Adam to freely choose to want a creature God had not yet created. So God puts Adam into a deep sleep, and takes a rib out of his side. With this rib, He forms woman. Adam, upon seeing her, says,

This is now bone of my bones,
and flesh of my flesh:
she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.”

This seems to be poetry, which would be an appropriate response for man meeting his partner. Adam says that this is the reason a man will leave his father and mother, and the two shall become one flesh as man and wife. The Bible does not recount a particular wedding ceremony, but in the last verse of chapter 2, we learn that they are indeed man and wife. We also learn that they are naked and that they have no shame. Nudity, in and of itself, is not at all dirty or sinful, but like all good things, can be twisted or loved in the wrong ways or for the wrong reasons and can become something altogether different and wrong. Their nakedness symbolizes their innocence and purity in the eyes of God. As of yet, they are still perfect. They are able to sin (God banned them from eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil), but at this point, they have not partaken of its fruit. Interestingly, the woman is not named yet. She will not receive her name until after the Fall. I’m not sure what the significance of that is, other than Eve somehow represent the woman’s role in being the mother of all the living (future humans). This is not to say that Eve did not have a significant role before the Fall, but rather, her most defining quality after the Fall is her ability to give birth to new life. This is not stated as something sexist, but just merely exploring the reason behind not naming Eve until after the Fall.

Genesis 1 – In the Beginning…

The first verse of the Bible tells us what it’s all about. God is the subject and He is the one doing all the actions that are about to follow. The Bible is a story about God and His dealings with His creation. Now when exactly was this beginning? That is something that the Bible does not answer. It is impossible for us to know. What we do know is what the Scriptures explicitly tell us. They tell us that God created the heavens and the earth in the beginning. There must have been a time before the beginning when there was nothing. We know that God has always existed. All matter has come into existence. Matter has not existed eternally. This is something that we must reject outright. Though the origin of matter (the heavens and the earth) seems somewhat nebulous as far as putting it on a timeline is concerned, we can know that there was a time when matter was not, and that there has never been a time that God was not.

Verse 2 tells us that the earth was formless and void. What could that mean? Several questions arise at this point. How long was the earth formless and void? Did God create the heavens and the earth and immediately say, “Let there be light,” or was there a period of countless years in which there was just a chaotic universe with formless matter floating around in a completely dark abyss? Something we should try to do is only attempt to answer questions definitively that are given explicit answers. This question about the length of the formless and void earth is not one of those questions. Speculation about this period is fine, but those who claim either way are not warranted by Scripture to do so. The verse also mentions that darkness was over the deep. It is worth noting here that it seems the earth is actually covered in water at this point, with no visible land. God will create land on day three, but whether that land is already there and He just makes it surface or if the earth is just completely made of water at this point is unclear to me. The end of verse two gets quite interesting as a new person shows up, namely, the Holy Spirit, who is hovering over the face of the waters. What intrigues me about this passage is that all three persons are involved in the act of creation. We learn in the New Testament that the Son is quite active in creation as well. What seems less obvious, to me at least, is what each person of the Trinity is doing in creation. The Father seems to be the one speaking. The Son seems to be the Father’s agent in creation (John 1:1-3, Colossians 1:15-17). Things get fuzzy for me when I reach the Holy Spirit. He is clearly present and active, but hovering over the waters does not tell me much about His actual role in creation. I would guess that He is in some way blessing creation, already interceding for all of creation.

Day 1 – Then (after an unknown amount of time) God (still the subject) said… I want to stop at the verb because this is actually quite important. The role of speech cannot be overstated. The writer, who I think it is safe to assume is Moses, is trying to make a point that God speaks. Moses heard God speak to Him directly (burning bush), but this is actually one of the defining qualities of our God. He speaks and intends to be understood! Let’s move on. “Let there be…” We’re stopping here again because I think this should be quite surprising for the reader. Interestingly, God is not commanding. It’s almost as if He is removing a barrier to the outpouring of light. The dam is removed and light comes flooding onto the scene. His creative power here seems astonishing. And there was light. Simple. That’s all it takes for God. He then sees that it is good. By good, I think it means that it serves the function for which God created it. God, who is perfect, cannot create a bad thing. What He can do is create things that can choose not to do that which they were created to do. This is not to reveal the limits of His power, but rather the generosity He bestowed on creation to make choices. Jesus rebukes a fig tree because it did not produce the fruit it was meant to produce (Mark 11:12-14 and 11:20-25, and Matthew 21:18-22). It was no longer good because it was no longer serving the function for which it was created. Next, God divided the light from the darkness. This division is actually quite important. Darkness and light serve different functions. They each have roles to play. Another important thing God does here is name the darkness Night and the light Day. Naming things seems to be quite important in Genesis. Names have some special significance apart from just merely differentiating between two things. Naming seems to establish some sort of power or governance. There is order in creation. Not just bringing order to chaotic matter, but also hierarchy. This will be shown more clearly later. Thus after evening and morning passed the first day.

Day 2 – To be quite honest, the second day of creation is probably the most confusing for me. It’s difficult for me to understand exactly what is going on here. Hopefully, after I share my thoughts, someone can help to correct my erroneous ways and bring me some clarity on the issue. This is the day that God creates the firmament. This firmament is in the midst of the waters and divides the waters from the waters. (What?) I’ve read multiple commentaries and could share many views on what this means, but I’m honestly perplexed as to where I stand on what is going on here. The next part of the verse is intended to clarify, but still leaves me confused. God is dividing again, this time dividing the waters which are under the firmament from the waters which are over the firmament. And it was so. This next part really confuses me. God then names the firmament Heaven. Does this mean sky? The NIV thinks so. But most of the other translations stick with heaven. I think it’s referring to the atmosphere, but it’s all so confusing for me. Comments? Thanks. I wanted to note that this is the only day that God does not go out of His way to deem good. This does not mean that it is bad, but why would God look back over every day of creation and say it was good, but not day two? I’ve read a lot of other theories attempting to explain, but I think this might be yet another mystery of day two that I will ponder for many years to come. And mercifully, the second day comes to a close.

Day 3 – Then the waters which are under the heavens (sky?) are gathered into one place and land is finally allowed to appear. Again, I’m not sure if the land is surfacing from beneath the deep or if it it just coming into existence here. Once again, creation does what God “allows” (not commands) and then God names the divisions. After naming Earth and Sea, he then judges both to be good. God then creates plant life. The earth bursts forth with grass, herbs, trees, and all sorts of other wonderfully green and leafy things. The phrase “according to its kind” comes up here for the first time. It will most certainly not be the last. What does it mean that each tree yields fruit according to its kind? Obviously, the reproduction of each kind of plant is only meant to produce that same kind of plant. Once again creation is given roles to play, and each member of creation is judged on how well it plays its own part. Some use the phrase as a defense against evolution. While I see the merit of this approach, I do not think it rules out evolution outright. But I think we will see that a strong case begins to be built up (accepting the authority of Scripture) that evolution is probably not the method God used to create man. Once again, God’s spoken word comes to fruition (see what I did there?) and He then deems it to be good. Thus ended the third day.

*———————————————*

I inserted a break here to indicate that something new starts to happen beginning in verse 14. There seems to be a pattern being followed. Let me explain. Each category of creation has already been established. Next, God will create in the subsequent days things to govern each of the previous day’s creations. It is almost as if God has painted the big picture, and now He is going back and refining His work in each of the previous days, expanding each until they are not only good, but eventually, very good. The problem was that the earth was formless and void. In the first 3 days, He has given form, and in the next 3 days, He intends to fill the void.

Day 4 – God now creates lights to divide night and day and to be for signs and seasons, as well as to reckon the passing of time. It is also meant to give light on the earth. God makes two great lights, that is, the sun and the moon, to rule the day and the night, respectively. While there was light before, now there is something which is ruling over the light, marking the passage of time. There is a structure, a hierarchy. Then, as almost an afterthought, it says that God also made the stars. Those tiny pinpricks of light that fill the sky are among the most beautiful and captivating of all of God’s works (to me at least). The sheer volume of stars and their variety in size, color, and brightness (not to mention distance) absolutely intrigue me. They are like silent ambassadors of light scattered all across the universe, pushing back the darkness. With the most powerful telescopes, it seems we cannot zoom in on a part of space that is not absolutely full of them. If I had to pick a favorite day of creation, I dare say that this would have to be it (although I’m really quite thankful for all of them, especially day 6). I’d also like to note that though the Copernican revolution has occurred, I’m not sure that it has been for the best. I do not even begin to deny the veracity of the heliocentric model for the universe, but I would like to point out that the sentiment of Earth being at the center, as it was in the geocentric model, seems closer to what God intended for us to view ourselves in relation to the rest of the cosmos. The sun, moon, and the stars were created to give light on the earth. Because of modern day astronomy as well as a vast rejection of God through the rise of atheism, many young people today feel quite insignificant. They feel trapped on an insignificant rock in a thin layer of atmosphere circling an average star (one of countless trillions) in an average galaxy (one of billions), in the vacuum of space. This is not the image God wanted to convey. Rather, we are quite special. I do not want to say outright that there is no life anywhere else in the universe, but Scripture seems to indicate that Earth is (and by extension, we are) extremely significant. Though not the geographic center, we are certainly quite central in terms of the focus of God’s creation. Moving on, God saw that it was good and yet another day passed.

Day 5 – Now the waters and the sky are to be filled with life. This is not the first life, but these are the first animals. He tells the waters to teem with life. The whole purpose behind creation seems to be coming into focus here. God seeks to have a planet with an abundance of life that thrives. So the creatures of the sea and the birds of the air are created, again according to their kind. God then sees that it is good. Then God does something that He had not done before in the previous days of creation; He blesses them. He also gives His first command, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill…” Again, it seems quite important to God that there be an abundance of life on the earth. There is also something special enough about life that it deserves a blessing. Then another day passes.

Day 6 – Finally, the meat and the potatoes. God now creates life on the land, bringing forth living creatures according to their kind. God sees that the life he created was good. But next God created man. He says, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…” This new creation is obviously quite different from the rest. First, God is referring to Himself as Us. An obvious nod at the Trinity. However, I’ve not yet taken Hebrew and would be quite interested to know exactly how this verse reads in the original language. Any Hebrew scholars out there care to share? Secondly, all previous reproductive life that God has made (plants and animals) have been make according to their kind. However, man is made in the likeness of God (imago Dei). This is quite significant, though scholars still disagree as to exactly what that means. What we can say is that God has placed an extremely high value on man, and we are made to be like Him. He also gives man dominion over all the other animals. Verse 27 says, “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.” Repetition almost always denotes significance, therefore, this verse indicates that being created in the image of God is of absolute importance. It seems man was the main reason for all the previous days of creation. Everything has been leading up to this moment. Man is the pinnacle of God’s creation. God then proceeds to bless man in a similar way that He blessed the creatures in day 5, but with one important difference. God tells man to multiply, as he did the birds and the sea creatures, but He then re-emphasizes His desire that we subdue the earth. Finally, God shows us that He has provided everything that we need. Our food was originally meant to come only from the plants (created in day 3). In fact, not just man, but all animals seem to have been vegetarians prior to the fall. God then observes everything He had made, and saw that it was very good. All that God had made seems to be in perfect harmony, especially with man on the scene to fulfill his duty as ruler over the earth. Finally, the sixth and final day comes to a close.

*I do not anticipate future posts to be nearly this long. Thanks for sticking with it and reading the whole thing. I appreciate any comments or questions. Future updates should be much shorter summaries along with a few highlights of things I found significant.