Bible Study The First Book of Moses Called Genesis

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Re: Genesis

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†. Gen 7:16b . . And the Lord shut him in.

Whump! Can't you just feel the concussion from that big ol' hatch battening down? Seemingly all by itself, the big hatch creaked shut with a powerful thud, muting all the chirps and the tweets and the snorts and the moos and the brays and the squeaks and the roars and the humming, and the growling coming from within the ark. Of a sudden, eerily, it was dead quiet as a padded cell out at Noah's ranch. No more hammering, no more sawing, no more people climbing around on scaffolding yelling to each other and passing lumber. No more pleasant aromas from Mrs. Noah's kitchen. No more wash hanging on the line. It was moving day on a grand scale.

The Hebrew word for "shut" actually means to shut up; like as when a corral gate is closed to pen livestock and/or the door of a jail cell is locked to confine a convict. In other words, Noah was held inside the ark by a door that could be opened only from the outside. That's interesting. It means that once the ark's door was sealed, Noah became a prisoner; and were he, or anybody else inside, to change their mind about going, it was too late.

†. Gen 7:17a . .The Flood continued forty days on the earth,

According to verses 10 and 11, the Flood is counted to have begun the very instant it started raining; and the date of that event is reckoned according to Noah's birthday, not according to a calendar date. Nobody knows when the second month of the 600th year of Noah's life occurred. It is impossible to tell. Some have construed it to be the Hebrew calendar's second month but that's highly unlikely. The Hebrew calendar is a religious device that wasn't introduced until the book of Exodus. No, the second month of Noah's life is simply the second month of his own 600th year of age, rather than the second month of either a civil or religious calendar year.

†. Gen 7:17b-18 . . and the waters increased and lifted the ark so that it rose above the earth. The waters swelled and increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark drifted upon the waters.

That was no week-end sailing trip. The ark drifted; viz: it was completely at the mercy and the whims of the elements. It had no means for steering, no navigational equipment, and no means of propulsion; it floated about like flotsam.

†. Gen 7:19-20 . .When the waters had swelled much more upon the earth, all the highest mountains everywhere under the sky were covered. Fifteen cubits higher did the waters swell, as the mountains were covered.

Some people feel that the Flood was only local; not all over the entire planet: like the flooding that carved the Tsango Gorge in Tibet, the legendary Missoula flooding that shaped Moses Coulee, the Western Scablands in the state of Washington, and/or the events that inundated the terrain under the Black Sea which was at one time dry land. However, rain wasn't a key factor in those floods. Theirs was ice and tectonic forces.

Genesis says "all the highest mountains everywhere under the sky" were covered. It's difficult to believe that the sky, along with the earth's highest mountains, existed only in the region where Noah lived.

But even if Noah lived in a colossal basin, when the Flood breasted the highest mountains surrounding it by 22½ feet, it would have spilled over into regions beyond Noah's much like the water that spilled from bulkhead to bulkhead of Titanic's compartments on her maiden voyage. In other words; there would have to be even higher mountains beyond Noah's in order to keep the Flood contained.

Fifteen cubits may not seem like a lot of water but when you consider the diameter of the Earth, that is an enormous amount. If cubits were 18 inches in Noah's day, that would be about 22½ feet above the highest mountains that existed on Earth at that time. How high were the highest mountains in Noah's day? Nobody really knows. But just supposing the tallest at that time was about equal to Hawaii's Mauna Loa; 13,680 feet above sea level-- about 2.6 miles.

The Earth isn't a true sphere; it's diameter being somewhat less at the poles than the equator. The equatorial radius is 3,963.4 miles and the polar radius is 3,950.1 miles. A really simple mean is 3,956.75 miles. Subtracting the difference in volume between a sphere of radius 3,956.75 miles and one of 3,959.35 (3,956.75+2.6) yields roughly 511.85 million cubic miles of liquid water on the surface of the Earth before it swelled another 22½ feet above the highest points. That's only conjecture of course because nobody really knows how deep the Flood actually was. But it does give some idea of the volume of water it took to completely inundate the planet. Those 511.85 million cubic miles of water were introduced over and above the 340 million cubic miles of indigenous water resident on the Earth to begin with.

511.85 million cubes, of one mile square each, if laid side by side like a string of toy blocks, would stretch from the Sun on out to Jupiter's orbit at perihelion; and still have a few cubes left to spare.

†. Gen 7:21-23a . . And all flesh that stirred on earth perished-- birds, cattle, beasts, and all the things that swarmed upon the earth, and all mankind. All in whose nostrils was the merest breath of life, all that was on dry land, died. All existence on earth was blotted out-- man, cattle, creeping things, and birds of the sky; they were blotted out from the earth.

If the waters were indeed deep enough to cover a mountain as high as Hawaii's Mauna Loa, then the rainfall required was beyond belief. It rained a mere forty days and forty nights yet that was enough to cover the Earth with (guessing) 13,680 feet of water plus an additional 22½ feet-- if that is truly how high the water was. Nobody really knows the elevation of the highest mountain in Noah's day so I just picked Mauna Loa arbitrarily. But to reach that elevation in only forty days would require rainfall of something like 171 inches (14¼ feet) per hour. At that rate, the Flood's waters would have reached Denver in about 15½ days.

The world's heaviest average rainfall, about 430 inches, occurs at Cherrapunji, in northeastern India. That's an annual average, not hourly. Cherrapunji's average hourly rate is a mere .049 inches compared to the Flood's 171 inches. The total for Noah's forty days, counting also the additional 22½ feet, was 164,430 inches. That factors out to an average annual rainfall of approximately 1,500,423 inches; or 125,035 feet per year: which is 23.68 miles.

†. Gen 7:23b . . Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.

Some people feel there is some question about where Cain got his wife because they don't believe in early day close-relative marriages. But this time there is certainly no doubt about intermarriage. The eight people aboard the ark were the only human beings left on the entire planet. If the race was to survive, then Noah's grandchildren would have to breed with their own first cousins.

†. Gen 7:24 . . And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days.

One of Webster's definitions of "prevail" is: to triumph. In other words; the Flood won and man lost. Humankind can dam rivers; it can divert streams, it can build sea walls, dikes, and channels, it can drain swamps and wetlands; but every one of those kinds of hydraulic engineering feats would have failed in Noah's day.

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Re: Genesis

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†. Gen 8:1a . . God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark,

Does that mean God forgot all about the ark's passengers until He realized why there was a string tied around His finger? (chuckle) No; it reaffirms that they were always on God's mind. He isn't forgetful. But what about Noah's sisters and brothers, and/or his aunts and uncles? Did God think of them too? No. Noah's kin, except those aboard the ark; were all wiped out in the Flood. He and Mrs. Noah may have had other children too; and grand children. If so, then those also perished: and their family pets too right along with them.

Out ahead, at the final judgment, many of us are going to have to watch as our own kin are condemned to eternal suffering; and thrown alive, wild eyed, shrieking, yelping, bellowing, and bawling like little children into the reservoir of liquefied flame depicted at Rev 20:11-15 and Rev 21:8. We might even be called up as witnesses to testify in the prosecution's case against them. That will be an awful ordeal.

†. Gen 8:1b-4 . . and God caused a wind to blow across the earth, and the waters subsided. The fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky were stopped up, and the rain from the sky was held back; the waters then receded steadily from the earth. At the end of one hundred and fifty days the waters diminished, so that in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.

That wind was very unnatural. There's no such thing as a global typhoon; in point of fact, a wind blowing horizontally would fail to remove the waters of the Flood from the earth anyway. It would just move the waters around and around and around. I think what we have here is not a push, but a pull; viz: a titanic vacuum cleaner; so to speak.

Note : the Flood began on the seventeenth day of the second month of Noah's life, and it rained for forty days. Then the rain stopped so the water could begin draining off and leave the ark aground. A period of exactly five months went by. Those five months are recorded as exactly 150 days. If we were to try and use the months of the Jewish calendar, the number of days would not add up to 150. Here's why.

The months of the Jewish calendar supposedly equivalent to the months of the Flood are:

Iyar........29 days
Sivan......30 days
Tammuz..29 days
Av...........30 days
Elul.........29 days
Tishri......30 days

Using the Jewish calendar, it would begin raining on the 17th of Iyar, thus flooding a total of 13 days during that month. Following would be 30 in Sivan, 29 in Tammuz, 30 in Av, 29 in Elul, and lastly 16 in Tishri. We can't count the 17th of Tishri because the ark would have gone aground on that day. The total number of days from the beginning of the Flood until the day the ark went aground, would have been, according to the Jewish calendar, 147; which is three days short of 150.

However, we can safely ignore the Jewish calendar, and just reckon the time elapsed relative to Noah's birthday. The 150 days then average out to five Noah-months of 30 days apiece. That doesn't really cause any problems because a dating method of that nature is not intended to mark off the actual passage of astronomical time in a calendar year; only the days of time elapsed during an important event such as the Flood.

So; here in Genesis, very early in the Bible, a precedent is set for specifying the length of a special kind of year: the prophetic year. Since the months in a year of this type are of thirty days apiece, then twelve such months add up to 360 days; which is 5 and one-fourth days less than a calendar year.

The prophetic year is sort of like a baker's dozen. Though a baker's dozen is not a dozen of twelve; it is nonetheless a dozen in its own right. As long as students of the Bible are aware of the existence of such a thing as a prophetic year, they won't be tripped up when they run across it in prophecy, such as Daniel's prediction regarding the time of Messiah's first advent. Here's another, yet future.

†. Rev 12:6 . . And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

†. Rev 12:14 . . And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.

Those two passages speak of a three and one-half year period of exactly 1,260 days. Well, three and one-half years on the calendar is 1,277½ days; which is 17½ days too many. But if we reckon those three and one-half years as prophetic years of 360 days each, then it comes out perfectly to 1,260 days.

The precise topographic location, where the ark went aground, was not really up on a specific mountain by the name of Ararat nor up on any other mountain for that matter. The Hebrew word for "mountains" in Gen 8:4 is haareey the plural of har (har) which doesn't always mean a prominent land mass like Everest or the Eiger; especially when it's plural. Har can also mean a range of hills or highlands; like the region of Israel where Miriam's cousin Elizabeth lived.

†. Luke 1:39-40 . . At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth.

In California, where I lived as a kid, the local elevation 35 miles east of San Diego, in the town of Alpine, was about 2,000 feet above sea level. There were plenty of meadows with pasture and good soil. In fact much of it was very good ranchland and quite a few people in that area raised horses and cows. We ourselves kept about five hundred chickens, and a few goats and calves. We lived in the mountains of San Diego; but we didn't live up on top of one of its mountains like Viejas, Lyon's , or Cuyamaca.

Another inhabited region in the continental U.S. that's elevated is the area of Denver Colorado; which is located on the western edge of the Great Plains near the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. Denver is a whole mile above sea level-- 5,280 feet. However, Denver, even though so high above sea level, isn't located on the tippy top of a mountain, nor even on the side of one; it's just located up on high ground.

The ark contained the only surviving souls of man and animal on the entire planet. Does it really make good sense to strand them up on a mountain peak where they might risk death and injury descending it?

When my wife and I visited the San Diego zoo together back in the early 1980's, we noticed that the Giraffes' area had no fence around it. The tour guide told us the Giraffes' enclosure doesn't need a fence because their area is up on a plateau 3 feet high. The Giraffes don't try to escape because they're afraid of heights. There's just no way Giraffes could've climbed down off of Turkey's Mount Ararat. It's way too steep and rugged. Those poor timid creatures would've been stranded up there and died; and so would hippos, elephants, and flightless birds like penguins.

The Hebrew word for "Ararat" is from 'Ararat (ar-aw-rat') which appears three more times in the Bible: one at 2Kgs 19:36-37, one at Isa 37:36-38, and one at Jer 51:27. The Bible's Ararat is always the country of Armenia: never a specific peak by the same name.

†. Gen 8:5 . .The waters went on diminishing until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first of the month, the tops of the mountains became visible.

Gravity assists rain to fall, and evaporation assists it to rise back up into the air. But to get the Flood's waters back on out into space to their original depositories required more power than a Saturn V rocket to overcome gravity.

Buen Camino
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Re: Genesis

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†. Gen 8:6-7a . . At the end of forty days, Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made and sent out the raven;

Although the Raven is listed in Moses' covenanted law as an unclean bird, sometimes it's an excellent choice for assisting in a divine task; for example 1Kgs 17:1-6.

The word for "Raven" is 'oreb (o-rabe') which is not a specific species of bird, but a whole family of birds now classified as Corvids; which includes Crows, Jackdaws, Jays, Magpies, Nutcrackers, and Rooks.

Ravens are classified in ornithology as song birds; although Crows don't seem to carry much of a tune. They're intelligent, sociable, and highly adaptable. Although they don't usually trust Man, they have been known to associate with him in remarkable ways.

One morning I was out in front weeding the yard when some crows down the street were raising a serious ruckus and dive-bombing back and forth across the street. One of them flew to where I was weeding and landed on a streetlight above me and cawed its fool head off; the meanwhile fluttering its wings and leaning forward and rocking as it cawed. Then it flew back and rejoined the others. Then another one, a really big barrel-chested crow, came and landed on our roof. It too cawed like mad (only louder).

Then it occurred to me they might be trying to get my attention. So I walked down to where the others were, and there in a driveway was a fledgling Crow who couldn't fly well enough to get back up in the trees from whence it fell; and a big cat was harassing it. So I brought the young Crow home and put it up on a limb in our backyard and pretty soon the others heard its cries and came to take care of it. We had to assist the fledgling back up to his limb a few more times after it soared down to the food and water we put out for its friends; but eventually its wings became strong enough to do it alone.

ps: that event took place quite a few years ago and as time went by, young crows began little by little making our backyard their playground and today, it isn't unusual to see twenty or so of all ages walking around out there like chickens in a barnyard helping themselves to the peanuts we put out for squirrels, and pecking cracked corn and sunflower chips out of the bird feeders.

†. Gen 8:7b . . it went to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth.

Ravens will eat just about anything, including carrion; and there was probably plenty of that floating around. With all the dead stuff to feast on, the raven could spend the whole day out on its own. However, no tree tops were above the water yet and crows need to get off the ground at night so it probably returned to the ark in the evening to roost. Unfortunately it must have roosted up on the roof where Noah couldn't see it. That was no help. He needed to know if it was safe yet to get out of the ark.

†. Gen 8:8-9 . .Then he sent out the dove to see whether the waters had decreased from the surface of the ground. But the dove could not find a resting place for its foot, and returned to him to the ark, for there was water over all the earth. So putting out his hand, he took it into the ark with him.

The word for "Dove" is from yownah (yo-naw') which is a general term for either a Dove or a Pigeon. Pigeons are well known for their homing instincts. So why didn't the Pigeon roost up on the roof of the ark instead of letting Noah take it inside? Well . . a Pigeon's nature is different than a Raven's. The big guys are somewhat independent, but Pigeons readily take to human care. That's probably why they are so much more common in cities than Crows; where people can feed them popcorn and bread crumbs.

Pigeons and Doves don't eat carrion; but prefer to forage on the ground for seeds. But bare ground was inaccessible at this point in time. The yownah no doubt became very hungry; and certainly knew Mr. Noah had plenty of grain on board with him back at the ark. Pigeons also prefer a roof over their heads; like docks and wharfs, and bridges and roadway overpasses. It almost seems they were actually made to live in coops; and what better coop than the ark?

†. Gen 8:10-11 . . He waited another seven days, and again sent out the dove from the ark. The dove came back to him toward evening, and there in its bill was a plucked-off olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the waters had decreased on the earth.

The word for "plucked-off" is from taraph (taw-rawf') which means: recently torn off; viz: fresh. A taraph olive leaf is alive.

It is just unbelievable that any trees survived. Even ordinary flooding is very destructive. Just southeast of Mount Ste. Helens is an area called the Lahar. It was a totally denuded region caused, not by the volcano's blast, but by water that poured down from the mountain's side when glacier and snow pack melted during the eruption in 1980. In the water's path, whole pine trees were uprooted and swept away, like hot-waxing a woman's legs; leaving nothing but bare, scraped earth. Well, Noah's flood was umpteen times more powerful than Ste. Helens' rush of water. The destruction it caused must have been beyond belief.

Old-world olives prefer a Mediterranean climate, which is probably why olives do so well in southern California. Anyway, that olive leaf is pretty good empirical evidence that the ark did not come to rest on Turkey's Mt. Ararat. It's seriously doubtful any kind of trees have ever grown up on that mountain; which is a snow-capped dormant volcano consisting of two peaks : Lesser Ararat @ 12,782 feet, and Greater Ararat @ 16,854 feet. High mountains like Ararat have what's called a timberline; which is an elevation beyond which no trees grow. The elevation of Mt. Hood's timberline zone here in Oregon is right around 6,000 feet.

†. Gen 8:12 . . He waited still another seven days and sent the dove forth; and it did not return to him any more.

Apparently the dove finally found some dry, bare ground to forage for seeds, and minute gravel for its craw.

†. Gen 8:13-14 . . In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the waters began to dry from the earth; and when Noah removed the covering of the ark, he saw that the surface of the ground was drying. And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.

It's curious that God dumped the Flood on the ground in only 40 days but utilized something like 330 to completely remove it all to the last drop.

Where in the world did all that water go? Nobody really knows. Actually, nobody really knows where it all came from in the first place. Genesis' language is just too vague. The author may not have understood it himself, but just wrote it down as best as he knew how within the language of the known science of his own day, which was pretty limited.

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Re: Genesis

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†. Gen 8:15-16 . . God spoke to Noah, saying: Come out of the ark, together with your wife, your sons, and your sons' wives.

It began to rain on the 17th day of the second month of the 600th year of Noah's life. The Earth was dry on the 27th day of the second month of his 601st year,. So, reckoning time according to prophetic months of 30 days each, and not counting the final day, Noah's crew was aboard the ark for a total of 370 days; which is roughly 5 days over a solar year, and 10 days over a prophetic year.

†. Gen 8:17 . . Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you : birds, animals, and everything that creeps on earth; and let them swarm on the earth and be fertile and increase on earth.

Noah had to let all the animals return to the wild. That must have been tough. By now he and his family were probably very attached to those creatures, even to the spiders and the flies. A lot of people were very upset here in Oregon when Keiko the Orca was taken from the Newport aquarium and moved to Iceland. You can't blame them. It's just a human weakness I guess. People love animals; what can I say. Even Wall Street sociopaths-- who would throw their own children to the wolves to protect their position --often love animals.

†. Gen 8:18-19 . . So Noah came out, together with his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives. Every animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that stirs on earth came out of the ark by families.

The word for "families" is from mishpachah (mish-paw-khaw') and means: a circle of relatives; figuratively, a class (of persons), a species (of animals) or sort (of things); by extension: a tribe or people.

Verse 19 strongly suggests that already in Noah's day living things were ranked by type because they came out of the ark according to their species. How they were ranked is uncertain. It may have been according to intelligence, and then again, maybe by usefulness to Man. Some might put the primates first because they are so smart; but I would put a higher value on beasts of burden, and any other creature that best serves Man's domestic needs; I mean, monkeys are cute but what are they really good for?

It must have been a stirring sight. Everyone soaking up the sun, stretching their legs, and feeling brisk and cheerful. Like astronauts back from a long, tedious space mission; they were all so happy to be home at last. No doubt the rats and mice probably were content to remain in the ark where it was nice and cozy, and I bet they eventually moved in with the Noahs after their new home was built. Many of the smaller creatures, like non winged insects and moles and centipedes, can't really travel very fast so it must have taken them a pretty long time to multiply and spread out; unless they found a way to hitch a ride aboard the larger animals.

The big guys would take a considerable amount of time to get back up to numbers. The gestation period of a meadow mouse is about 21 days and they can have anywhere from four to six babies at a time. At the extreme are the African elephants. Their gestation is about 660 days. So they don't multiply very fast. White rhinoceros take 480 days, cows 284, giraffes 457, zebras 365, moose 240, hippos 238, gorillas 258, and camels 406. Most of the domestic birds-- turkeys, pigeons, geese, ducks, and chickens--all incubate within a month or less. Critters with the longest gestations usually have the fewest number of babies in a litter-- typically only one; and two at the most. Since many of the clean type animals are of the larger species, and therefore would take longer to multiply, it was wise to take along seven pairs of those.

So; how did all the various species end up in their respective environs-- e.g. arctic, rain forests, deserts, and tropical islands? Nobody really knows, but we can take an educated guess.

According to an article in the October 2011 issue of National Geographic, around 56 million years ago, the Atlantic Ocean had not fully opened up and it was possible for animals to migrate from Asia through Europe and across Greenland to North America. They wouldn't have encountered a speck of ice because the earth was quite a bit warmer than today.

We suggested previously that with the knowledge we have today of the science of plate tectonics, it isn't unreasonable to assume that God simply crunched all the dry land together in order to facilitate migrations to the ark, and left the land that way until the Flood was over and it was time for the animals to go back where they came from.

Sometimes when I contemplate the earth's crust consisting of solid stone like granite, schist, and gneiss; its seems impossible to me that any force could crunch it; but in the hands of the earth's creator, what's solid to me is little more than modeling clay to its maker.

As the planet's topography underwent continual alteration by enormous geological forces, resulting in a variety of global climatic conditions, many species became isolated and underwent some interesting adaptations and mutations in order to become the highly specialized creatures that we find living around the world today.

Classical evolution per se, is, I believe, an evil fantasy because it discounts intelligent design and an outside source of all life. But Bible students have to allow for a least a degree of genetic and somatic adaptations and mutations or Genesis won't make any sense at all. It is just too unreasonable to assume that the incredible variety of life existing in our world today all existed during Noah's too. After all, every known variety of Man existing today came from just eight people. If those eight are responsible for producing all the different kinds of human life in our world today, then why couldn't the creatures aboard the ark have been the foundation for all the varieties of non human life?

So; what happened to the ark? Well; the ark was shaped like what the whiz kids call a right rectangular prism; which is nothing in the world but the shape of a common shoe box. So most of the lumber used in its construction was nice and straight; which is perfect for putting together houses, fences, barns, corrals, stables, gates, hog troughs, mangers, and outhouses.

I think it's very safe to assume Noah and his boys gradually dismantled the ark and used the wood for many other purposes, including fires. Nobody cooked or heated their homes or their bath and laundry water using refined fossil fuels and electricity in those days, so everybody needed to keep on hand a pretty fair-sized wood pile for their daily needs. There was probably plenty of drift wood left behind by the Flood, but most of that would be water logged at first. The ark's lumber, however, was treated. So underneath the pitch it was still in pretty good shape and should have been preserved for many years to come.

Some have objected that nobody in Noah's era had tools necessary for milling trees into straight pieces of lumber. Well, I've no doubt it required more than boards and planks to build a watercraft that was roughly 450' long x 75' wide x 45' high. Noah would have needed stout beams too for the framework. As to how he cut them; I don't know. But I do know that the Bible's God provided the architectural drawings. Since that's the case, it is not unreasonable to assume He also provided the tools necessary to complete the task He assigned; and very, very possibly chipped in to help out with the construction. When people fail to factor in the Bible's God, they invariably end up mystified.

Others protest that a wooden vessel the size of the ark would never withstand the pounding of waves created by the Flood without steel reinforcement. But again; those objectors typically fail to factor in the Bible God's involvement in the project. You really think He left Noah, the ark, and the only surviving beasts on the whole planet to the mercy of the elements? With the Bible's God involved, even a house of cards would have survived the Flood had He wished it to.

Buen Camino
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Re: Genesis

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†. Gen 8:20a . .Then Noah built an altar to the Lord

This is the very first mention of an altar in the Bible. I don't really know if anyone else constructed one before this. Abel and some of the others may have, but it's very difficult to be certain. At any rate, Noah's altar was dedicated to Yhvh rather than to one of the heathen deities people worshipped prior to the Flood-- and there were many.

†. Rom 1:22-23 . . Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

The tree of the knowledge of good and bad was supposed to make Man wise; or so Eve was led to believe. But in eating it, Man became a jackass who eventually abandoned the True God and went on to invent his own. The ancient Egyptian elite, who were otherwise a very bright and well educated people, regarded Scarab beetles as sacred and somehow associated with resurrection and immortality. Their chief deity was Ra; who was nothing more than our solar system's primary source of light: the Sun. There's just no excuse for that kind of nonsense.

†. Gen 8:20 . . and, taking of every clean animal and of every clean bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar.

This is the very first mention of the burnt offering. The Hebrew word is 'olah (o-law') which means: a step (or collectively, stairs, as ascending); or a holocaust (as going up in smoke).

The burnt offering was the very first sacrifice of any kind involving worship in the new world; and it set the tone for Yhvh's future association with mankind in the years to come. How Noah knew about the 'olah can only be attributed to revelation. But what's odd about the 'olah is that the word itself doesn't show up in Scripture again until the Akedah scene in the 22nd chapter. (the Akedah is the traditional title of Abraham's offering of his son Isaac)

Although 'olah can indicate a step (or collectively, stairs, as ascending); it's improper to construct an altar with stairs (Ex 20:24-26) so the ziggurats that men eventually constructed were of course offensive to God not just because ritual murders were conducted on them but also because they were essentially stairways to heaven.

Killing and burning an animal may seem a strange way to worship a god, but the ritual did in fact have spiritual significance. It instructed the offerer that were it not for his offering going up in smoke: he himself would be. In other words: an 'olah sufficed to ransom a soul from the wrath of God. A ransom of that nature is of course limited in scope. It actually only purchased the worshipper a reprieve; which Webster's defines as: a delay and/or a postponement; viz: temporary respite.

†. Gen 8:21a . .The Lord smelled a pleasant odor,

Anyone who has ever been in the kitchen when something is burning on the stove knows that overcooked meat does not give off a pleasant odor. A scented candle smells a whole lot better. But the chemical odor of the burnt offering really has little to do with it. The expression "a pleasant odor" is a biblical colloquialism that means just the opposite of something that's objectionable; for example: "I hate that woman's opinions about men. They stink."

Because of the extraordinary large number of 'olahs Noah offered, I think it's safe to assume that Noah not only offered them for himself and his family, but also to dedicate the new world to God in a manner similar to that which Solomon dedicated Israel's fresh, new Temple. (1Kgs 8:62-64)

†. Gen 8:21b . .Then the Lord said in His heart: I will never again curse the ground for man's sake,

True, Yhvh never again cursed the ground; but neither did He lift the original curse that was pronounced in the third chapter. The first curse remains, but at least God hasn't put additional burdens on the soil. In the future, the first curse is slated to be removed once and for all.

†. Rev 22:3 . . No longer will there be any curse.

†. Gen 8:21c . . although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth;

Had God encumbered the ground with additional curses He would have been entirely justified in doing so because the Flood did nothing to rectify the intrinsically evil condition of the post-Eden homo sapiens heart. So we can all thank grandpa Noah for those 'olahs because they're all that's standing between us and world-wide starvation; at least for the time being. Remember, 'olahs only obtain a reprieve; never an acquittal. (Heb 10:4)

The Great Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) is very interesting. It's a day for Jews to remember that their sins are still on the books no matter how many 'olah's they offered during the year; because the only thing that those 'olah's obtained for them was a reprieve. In other words; there's a day looming when those sins will be brought to justice. 'Olahs aren't justice. In point of fact, they're little more than posting bail.

†. Gen 8:21d . . nor will I ever again destroy every living being, as I have done.

According to the Bible, the bugs, the birds, and the beasties are just as much living beings as man; so Noah's 'olahs stood in the gap for them too.

But was every living being destroyed? No; life survived aboard the ark and made its way to the new world. So the Lord's promise has to be interpreted to mean that although all manner of life perished, it was only life on the Earth that perished. Noah and the contents of his ark were buoyed safely above it all. And the promise is qualified by the phrase "as I have done" which infers a future worldwide destruction by a means other than water. (Gen 9:11)

So Gen 8:21 doesn't mean God will never again destroy all manner of life, nor that He will never again destroy the Earth-- only that He won't repeat the method He employed the first time. In point of fact, next time, it's by fire rather than water.

†. 2Pet 3:10 . .The day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.

Note : the blackball temperature produced by a thermo-nuclear military weapon is something like 180,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Just imagine if God were to turn the atomic structure of the entire universe into one great big self-destructing thermo-nuclear chain reaction. The noise, and the heat, generated by such a detonation would be beyond one's comprehension.

†. Gen 8:22 . . So long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease.

The promise of Gen 8:22 was prefaced by "so long as the earth endures." So the Earth is definitely not eternal. It is in fact running out of time. But until the Day Of The Lord, everything will proceed as normal; which can be dangerous because people are easily lulled by the routine of status quo and fail to look far enough ahead and get ready for the future.

†. Luke 21:33-36 . . Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away. But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with over-indulgence, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and That Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.

Buen Camino
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Not A Post

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[Webers_Home]

Re: Genesis

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†. Gen 9:1 . . God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: Be fertile and increase, and fill the earth.

Divine blessings should never be construed as mandates, nor as laws, rules and/or commands. They're typically expressions of good will and/or empowerment. God included Noah in the blessing so that he and his wife could have more children if they wanted; but there's no record of any additional progeny.

The blessing God bestowed upon Noah's family is the very same blessing bestowed upon the Adams in the very beginning. Here in chapter nine is the beginning of a new generation. This new generation-- springing from Shem, Ham, and Japheth --has continued for a good many years and won't end until everything Christ predicted in Mtt 24:1-44 comes to pass.

The word for "fill" is from male' (maw-lay') and as-used in Gen 1:22, Gen 1:26-28, and Gen 6:11-13 doesn't strictly mean refill or replenish. It just means to fill or to be full of; and can apply to a bucket that's never been used as well as to a bucket that's just been emptied; or to a bucket that's half empty (or half full, depending upon one's outlook).

Here in chapter nine, male' is indicative of a pioneering family that would start afresh under different circumstances than those of the antediluvian world. The Noahs were essentially a transition team, bringing life from the old world into the current one. The new conditions effecting Shem, Ham, and Japheth's generation include a change in Man's diet, his alienation from the animal world, and the introduction of criminal justice.

†. Gen 9:2a . .The fear and the dread of you shall be upon all the beasts of the earth and upon all the birds of the sky-- everything with which the earth is astir --and upon all the fish of the sea;

Most animals bite for just one reason: fear. They become frightened, and the biting response usually isn't an act of aggression; but rather, an act of self defense. Apparently, prior to the Flood, the animal world trusted human beings; but not anymore. God instilled mistrust in the animal kingdom and it was probably done for their own good rather than Man's. However, I sure wish carpenter ants and termites had a little more respect for my feelings.

But the animal world isn't so terrified of man that it cannot overcome its fears enough to co-exist with him; even to the point of utilizing him for nourishment as Timothy Treadwell and his girlfriend Amie Huguenard discovered firsthand in 2003 when they were devoured by a Grizzly bear.

†. Gen 9:2b . . they are given into your hand.

On the surface, this doesn't appear to be a new turn of events since Man was put fully in charge of the animal kingdom right from the gun (Gen 1:26-28). However; I believe the phrase "given into your hand" indicates that nature would no longer be passive; but that Man would have to conquer nature if he wished it to bring it under his control.

†. Gen 9:3 . . Every creature that lives shall be yours to eat; as with the green grasses, I give you all these.

Man doesn't have to eat every living thing if he doesn't want to-- it's optional; since Gen 9:1-3 is clearly a blessing rather than a commandment.

But that was a critical adjustment to man's diet. Some have suggested it's because of the rigors of living in a post-Flood world; but in reality; by Noah's time, homo sapiens was simply not doing well on a diet consisting primarily of starch, sugar, and carbohydrates. Those elements may have been okay for Adam; but not any more. Now man has to either include meat in his diet or take supplements in order to avoid messing up his body's chemistry.

In particular, strict vegans need an artificial source of vitamin B12 since animal products are the only natural food sources of that vitamin. They must also be sure to get enough vitamin B2 (riboflavin) and B6, as well as adequate intakes of calcium, iron, zinc, selenium, and other minerals contained in animal products.

The experts recommend that infants and children forced
by their parents to subsist solely on a vegetarian diet be provided supplements for iron, calcium, vitamins B2, B12, and D, which are considered essential nutrients for growing children. More and more states are prosecuting parents for denying their children professional medical care for treatable conditions. I'd like to see states begin to prosecute parents for denying their children balanced meals too.

Animal fat, vilified for decades as a heart disease catalyst, is now beginning to be realized far and away better for man's heart and vascular system than vegetable substitutes. Oils derived from olives and coconuts seem the exception, but all others-- palm, soybean, rapeseed (a.k.a. canola), sunflower seed, peanut, cottonseed, and palm kernel --should be shunned as if they're out to get you.

It is actually proven to be much easier to control body fat by including meat in one's diet instead of relying heavily upon grains to do it; but how do people typically start their day? With a bowl of cereal; which, apart from the milk, is nothing in the world but a bowl of starch and carbohydrates; which the body soon converts to sugar: the very thing weight watchers need to limit. It's all in the way our bodies process fats and carbs. When the Lord said that man cannot live by bread alone (Mtt 4:4) he was right in more ways than one. Grains especially, which at one time were man's essential foods, are now not all that good for him in large quantities.

Incidentally, the Hebrew words for "green grasses" includes tender young shoots rather than only the adult plants. An excellent example of a shoot is asparagus. We typically only harvest the spears because the adult plant is not only a hideous bush, but it's not even tasty.

Note : Bible students are often curious about the disparity between what was right and wrong for Noah and what was right and wrong for Moses since the laws of God are supposedly absolutes in any era. But God-given diets are what's known as "dispensational" which means they're in effect for only a specific era, and oftentimes only for a specific people. For example: it's wrong for Moses' people to eat vultures, pigs, and/or lobsters, octopus, and clams; while for Christ's people, it makes no difference. Dispensations are an important aspect of Man's association with God; and failure to discern them can sometimes lead to unnecessary confusion in peoples' minds.

Buen Camino
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[Webers_Home]

Re: Genesis

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†. Gen 9:4 . .You must not, however, eat flesh with its life-blood in it.

That restriction is against life-blood; so then blood that cannot support life-- dead blood --is exempt.

Life-blood, is actually blood that's alive; blood that hasn't begun to spoil; viz: it's still fresh enough for a transfusion and contains enough active ingredients to carry oxygen and heal wounds.

Ancient Jews understood that verse to mean it is unlawful to eat meat that isn't dead; viz: it isn't merely uncooked; it's still viable-- fresh enough for a successful graft.

T. But flesh which is torn of the living beast, what time the life is in it, or that torn from a slaughtered animal before all the breath has gone forth, you shall not eat. (Targum Jonathan)

The way I see it: Man isn't forbidden to dine upon raw meat; only that it absolutely has to be dead with no chance of recovery. Same with blood. This law is the very first law God laid down in the new world after the Flood. It has never been repealed, and remains among the list of primary laws imposed upon Christians.

†. Acts 15:28-29 . . It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Fare well. (viz : live long and prosper)

A strangled animal still has all of its blood in it. The animal might be brain dead, and its heart may have stopped beating, but its flesh will remain alive for some time by reason of the viable blood still in its veins. Recent changes to CPR procedures include no longer giving victims mouth-to-mouth respiration for the first few minutes because the blood in a victim's system still contains useful oxygen that can save their life merely by pumping the chest as before.

Noah's Law #1 forbids Man to eat living flesh and living blood; and Christians are no exception. Because of the danger of pathogens, it was quite possibly necessary to add this limitation to the grant of liberty to eat meat, lest, instead of nourishing his body by it, Man should inadvertently destroy himself; and in this day and age of E.coli 0157:H7, 0104:H4, and salmonella; adequately cooking meat can be considered a form of self defense.

Note: E.coli bacteria exist naturally in everybody's intestinal track, both man and beast. However, 0157:H7 and 0104:H4 are mutant strains of normal E.coli typically found in industrial meats due to E.coli's reaction to the antibiotics mixed in with the grain-intense fodder fed to animals bottled up in the rather unsanitary conditions of concentrated animal feeding operations.

But meat producers like Swift, Tyson, Cargill, and National Beef would never be able to keep up with the titanic demand for fast food were they to return to sanitary, pasture-fed meat so I don't expect safer nourishment any time soon from that sector. And since most consumers prefer to spend their food dollars on cheap meat regardless of its health risks; I don't expect a large-scale return to sanitary pasture-fed meat at supermarkets and restaurants any time soon either.

The prohibition against eating living flesh and blood is neither Jewish, nor is it Christian. It's universal; because God enacted that law long before there were any Jews or Christians. All human beings are under its jurisdiction. Man can eat all the raw meat he wants; and he can eat blood too; but he has absolutely no permission to eat either blood or meat that's still alive. The animal world isn't so fussy. They routinely devour their prey alive all the time. Hopefully no one reading this will ever stoop that low. The very best way to assure that meat and its blood are dead is to cook it-- thoroughly; and double check it with a meat thermometer.

At issue with the prohibition against eating blood are the feelings of some that modern slaughter houses don't always kill animals properly. Many use a device called a captured-bolt to stun the animals and then workers slit the animals' throats while they're unconscious. Sometimes the bolt kills an animal instead of knocking it out and then all that the slaughter house has to work with is gravity because the animal's heart isn't pumping to assist. So there are those who feel no one should eat common meat because you can't guarantee the animal's blood was properly drained.

Exactly what the definition of "properly drained" is I don't know because it's impossible to drain every last drop of blood out of meat no matter how you might go about it; so the prohibition against eating blood has got to be interpreted from a practical perspective rather than from a purist's perspective.

There are cultures that poke holes in cows' necks in order to drink blood straight out of the animal utilizing its own blood pressure like a tap to fill their cups. Other cultures cut open the thorax of animals freshly taken in hunting in order to take blood-soaked bites of the animal's heart. Those examples are probably about as close to vampirism as one can get without actually joining Edward Cullen's family and undergoing the conversion process.

As a final note: Since this is an area subject to debate and personal interpretation I would highly recommend that people let their own conscience dictate their diets as per the principles stipulated in the fourteenth chapter of Romans

Buen Camino
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[Webers_Home]

Re: Genesis

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†. Gen 9:5 . . But for your own life-blood I will require a reckoning: I will require it of every beast; of man, too, will I require a reckoning for human life, of every man for that of his fellow man!

Noah's Law #2 : Capital Punishment; viz: retribution for the unjustified death of a human being. This law is also a universal law and applies to every family of Man and Beast that descends from the ark; no exceptions. Man's creator requires an investigation into the death of a human being whenever it is caused by another human being or by a member of the animal kingdom. If the killing cannot be justified, the perpetrator has to be executed at the hands of human beings: no exceptions.

†. Gen 9:6a . .Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed;

The death penalty here in Gen 9:6 is mandatory only for murder; which Webster's defines as: the crime of unlawfully killing a person; especially with malice aforethought. The key word in that definition is "unlawfully"

Capital punishment for murder isn't optional. The word "shall" indicates a mandate: and anybody who thinks they're in step with God while actively opposing the death penalty for murder has another think coming.

Some people are flabbergasted at the idea that Christians would believe in the death penalty. Well, I am flabbergasted that anybody might think that Christianity's Christ, a genetic Hebrew born under the jurisdiction of Moses' covenanted law (Gal 4:4) and underwent his religion's ritual circumcision (Lev 12:3, Luke 2:21) would frown upon his Father's mandates or, worse, organize a rebellion against either Moses or against Almighty God's sovereign authority. (Gal 5:3)

†. John 8:29 . .The one who sent me is with me; He has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases Him.

†. John 10:30 . . I and my Father are unified.

Christianity's Christ was the most compliant Jew who ever lived. He never even one time violated his Father's law nor encouraged others to do so; and had he done so, he would have demoted himself to the status of least in the kingdom of heaven.

†. Mtt 5:18-19 . . I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

†. Gen 9:6b . . For in His image did God make man.

Because of man's status as God's image, human life has a certain degree of sanctity attached to it so that murdering a human being is just as serious as murdering one of the creator's own children; ergo: refusal to enforce the death penalty for murder undervalues the sanctity and dignity of Almighty God. In addition: Those who oppose the death penalty for murder oppose God's feelings about it. They have put themselves in Satan's place, and play Satan, by openly and actively rebelling against the holy mandates of creation's God.

Leaders have a responsibility to Almighty God to protect their country's sanctity. Murder pollutes the land; and the land stays that way until the murderer is apprehended and executed. In effect then, the murderer's death becomes the country's redemption, and his death is the only atonement that will satisfy the justice of God in such cases. A number of Americans pride themselves as a God-fearing nation; and on its money is printed: In God We Trust. Yet America is grossly negligent in complying with Almighty God's sovereign edict to execute murderers.

According to Paul, executioners are God's servants. (Rom 13:1-4)

So don't ever let anyone tell you capital punishment for murder is wrong. Capital punishment for murder isn't wrong; au contraire, capital punishment for murder is divine.

†. Num 35:31-34 . .You may not accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of a capital crime; he must be put to death. Nor may you accept ransom in lieu of flight to a city of refuge, enabling one to return to live on his land before the death of the priest. You shall not pollute the land in which you live; for blood pollutes the land, and the land can have no expiation for blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it.

†. Ex 21:12-14 . . He who fatally strikes a man shall be put to death. If he did not do it by design, but it came about by an act of God, I will assign you a place to which he can flee. When a man schemes against another and kills him treacherously, you shall take him from My very altar to be put to death.

Had not Christ been in agreement with those two laws; he would have brought down a curse upon himself.

†. Deut 27:26 . . Cursed is anyone who does not affirm the terms of this law by obeying them.

Capital punishment's primary purpose isn't to deter murder, but to even the score. The scales of justice don't balance when a murderer is permitted to live out their life after unlawfully abridging another's. That simply isn't fair by anyone's standards: neither God's nor Man's.

Buen Camino
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[Webers_Home]

Re: Genesis

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†. Gen 9:7 . . Be fertile, then, and increase; abound on the earth and increase on it.

The idea conveyed here is that Man was not supposed to unite and stay in one place, but to scatter, diversify, and establish communities all over the globe.

†. Gen 9:8-10 . . And God said to Noah and to his sons with him: I now establish My covenant with you and your offspring to come, and with every living thing that is with you-- birds, cattle, and every wild beast as well --all that have come out of the ark, every living thing on earth.

Noah's covenant is an especially interesting covenant because it was made with both Man and Beast: all living things wherein is the breath of life.

Are people today Noah's offspring that were to come? Yes they are. So we should pay attention to what God told Noah and his sons. "My covenant" applies to everyone; and all the critters too. In fact, all living beings in the post-Flood world are under the jurisdiction of the covenant God made with Noah and his family.

†. Gen 9:11 . . I will maintain My covenant with you: never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.

Noah needed to hear that so he wouldn't get jumpy the next time it started to rain really hard in his neighborhood. There is still flooding going on in the world, but certainly not on the same scale as the Flood.

†. Gen 9:12-17 . . God further said: This is the sign that I set for the covenant between Me and you, and every living creature with you, for all ages to come. I have set My bow in the clouds, and it shall serve as a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth, and the bow appears in the clouds, I will remember My covenant between Me and you and every living creature among all flesh, so that the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.

. . .When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures, all flesh that is on earth. That, God said to Noah, shall be the sign of the covenant that I have established between Me and all flesh that is on earth.

Some people say Noah had never seen a rainbow before because they don't believe it ever rained in the antediluvian world. But even if it didn't rain, rainbows aren't restricted to rainy weather. They can be seen in water falls, fog, and even in icy air. Since the antediluvian world got some of its irrigation from mists, there's a pretty good chance Noah had seen at least one rainbow by the time he was six hundred years old.

Noah's covenant is still in force; as evidenced by the significant presence of rainbows in prophetic visions.

†. Ezk 1:27b-28a . .There was a radiance all about him. Like the appearance of the bow which shines in the clouds on a day of rain, such was the appearance of the surrounding radiance.

†. Rev 10:1-4 . .Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars.

Next time you see a rainbow, think of ol' grandpa Noah and think of God's promise-- to Noah, to his progeny, to all peoples on this side of the Flood, and to every creature --that the Earth will never again be destroyed by water. And remember capital punishment for murder, and remember that the animal world is accountable for taking human life.

And when you jeopardize your innocent children's future by risking their exposure to E.coli 0157:H7 and/or 0157:H4 by feeding them a fast food hamburger made with chicken-poop-fed, over-crowded, antibiotic-treated, up-to-their-knees in manure, industrially produced beef; or by risking their exposure to salmonella by feeding them a tasty dish of under-cooked, salmonella-infected Teriyaki chicken made from mass-produced, genetically-altered, antibiotic-fed, overcrowded, factory-farmed broilers; remember it was God's blessing that gave your world the green light to eat flesh so that beginning in the last half of the 20th century, everyone from thenceforth could dine on tainted meat.

†. Ps 69:22 . . Let their table become a snare before them : and that which should have been for their welfare; let it become a trap.

†. Gen 9:18 . .The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth-- Ham being the father of Canaan.

Whoever wrote this section of Genesis, wrote it long after the Flood because the Canaanites didn't exist in Noah's day; nor would they exist at all until many, many years later.

†. Gen 9:19 . .These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole world branched out.

It's remarkable that every ethnic, every tribe, every color, and every language, is rooted in just those three men. Every existing human being is alive today from the gene pool of Noah's boys and their wives-- Caucasian, Negro, Mongol, Asian, Semite, Aleut, Indians of the Americas, Pacific Islander; and even the Pigmies. Everybody is related to one of those three boys, and also related to each other in Noah.

Whenever there is war, it is truly brother against brother. The phrase "fellow man" is not just a feel-good, slap on the back acceptance of someone you might normally feel superior to or despise beyond reason; no, it's an expression that identifies human beings you are verily-- though possibly quite distantly --related to.

All the physical characteristics of the different nations and various tribes, must, therefore, have been present in the genetic constitutions of just those three men and three women. Somehow, by the regular mechanisms of genetics-- variation, adaptation, mutation, and recombination --all the various groups of nations and tribes developed from that meager post-Flood human beginning.

But what about Mr. and Mrs. Noah? Didn't they have any more children? After all, Noah still had about three hundred years left to go in his life. Well . . if the Noah's did have any more children, they must have been all girls because the writer said the world was populated by only those three brothers. So if indeed there were Noah girls, they had to find husbands from among their cousins. Those early post-Flood conditions fostered very close intermarriages; but it was harmless in those days because the human genome was still yet relatively young, strong, and uncontaminated.

Buen Camino
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[Webers_Home]

Re: Genesis

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†. Gen 9:20a . . Noah, a tiller of the soil,

There was a time when a large percentage of Americans grew their own food, but it's come to the point when some kids don't even know that where their food comes from. For example; as a young graduate student, Steven L. Hopp, co-author of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, lived in an urban neighborhood where his little backyard vegetable garden was a howling curiosity to the boys who ran wild in the alley. One day, as Steven pulled a nice long fresh carrot out of the ground, one of the boys asked him how it got in there. So after explaining some fundamentals of farming, Steven asked the boy if he could think of another vegetable that grows in the ground. After consulting with his posse, the boy responded: spaghetti?

Later in life, Steven's wife used to take her children's friends out back to the family garden to warm them up to the idea of eating vegetables; but the strategy sometimes backfired. They'd back away slowly saying: Oh maaaaan! those things touched dirt! Ewwww!

Accustomed to shopping with their moms in a well-lit, shiny supermarket stocked with pre-washed, pre-sorted, neatly piled vegetables, the kids were brought up to believe that all dirt is 100% unsanitary; and really, how could you blame them when every advertisement they see on television for sanitizers, cleansers, and detergents always portray dirt as bad?

It's not just kids who are uninformed about agriculture. When author Barbara Kingsolver once submitted some material to an editor, the editor nixed the part in the story about pineapples growing out of the ground. The editor insisted they grew on trees. In another incident, one of Barbara's friends expressed amazement when told that peas, potatoes, and spinach were "up" in Barbara's garden. The friend wanted to know how potatoes could be "up" since to their knowledge potatoes grew down in the ground rather on the surface. The friend was seriously taken aback to discover that potato plants have stems and leaves.

†. Gen 9:20b . . was the first to plant a vineyard.

Was Noah the first ever to plant a vineyard? I strongly suspect verse 20 means that he was just the first one to raise grapes in the new world; not the first ever in all of history.

†. Gen 9:21a . . He drank of the wine and became drunk,

(chuckle) Looks like gramps liked to pull a cork now and then.

Although drunkenness is a sin of excess (Eph 5:18) in Noah's day it wasn't a transgression because God had not yet ruled on it. God might frown on Noah's drunkenness as unbecoming; but really couldn't legally arraign him because it was not yet wrong to get hammered.

Where did Noah learn to make wine? Haw! It has to be the easiest of all alcoholic beverages to make because grapes come off the vine with a natural film of yeast on their skins. All you have to do is crush the grapes-- skins, yeast, and all --and let the whole mess set for a while. In no time at all you'll be your own vintner.

†. Gen 9:21b . . and he uncovered himself within his tent.

Noah was indoors, and in the privacy of his own home: so nobody should be all that shocked at him taking his clothes off. The focus of this incident isn't upon Noah anyway, but upon his wicked son Ham.

Noah's home at this point in time was a tent; which isn't the typical domicile of a man who farms. Nomads live in tents, farmers life in houses. Vineyards take time to grow to maturity and a nomad isn't likely to wait around long enough for that. So why was he living in a portable shelter instead of a permanent building? At this particular time, Noah's home was probably under construction. No doubt he put a higher priority on his livelihood than on his quality of life. A nice home is a senseless luxury when there's no food on the table.

†. Prv 24:27 . . Finish your outdoor work and get your fields ready; after that, build your house.

†. Gen 9:22a . . Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness

gasp! Didn't anyone ever teach that boy to knock first? What if his mom had been naked in there too?

†. Gen 9:22b . . and told his two brothers outside.

Ham wasn't just a little kid who stumbled into his parents' bedroom. He was a grown man, married, and quite possibly by this time his son Canaan was already born. Catching his dad naked was probably an innocent enough accident; but Ham couldn't let it go. No, he just had to broadcast it and make sport of his dad. Good grief, you'd think he would at least pull the covers so no one else would see his dad in that condition.

Ham didn't seem to respect his dad very much. It's a very black-hearted demon seed who takes pleasure in the shame and misfortune of their parents. I wonder if that's what Ham felt as he gazed down at his dad. Did it actually make him feel good to see the old gentleman wallowing in disgrace?

So although the Flood wiped out sinful people, it didn't wipe out sin did it? No, sin survived, and stowed away aboard the ark within the very family of Noah; the most righteous man on Earth; before the Flood and after the Flood. (cf. Ezk 14:13-20)

†. Gen 9:23 . . But Shem and Japheth took a cloth, placed it against both their backs and, walking backward, they covered their father's nakedness; their faces were turned the other way, so that they did not see their father's nakedness.

Good lads! Those two men respected their dad and did the right thing by him. It's only too clear that Ham despised his father. You know, when you love people, you won't demean them, nor ridicule them, nor wish them disgrace, nor do anything at all that might tarnish their reputation. Love reveals itself by always looking out for the best interests of others.

Ham's act is seen even more reprehensible when juxtaposed with the Flood. Noah's ark saved Ham's bacon, and this is how his son repaid the favor? When Noah got off the ark, he reciprocated God's kindness with gratitude and burnt offerings. Ham reciprocated his father's kindness with mockery and public disgrace. There are those among the Serpent's seed, as were Cain and Ham, who hate good simply for the very good's sake; viz: good disgusts them.

Buen Camino
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[Webers_Home]

Re: Genesis

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†. Gen 9:24-25a . .When Noah woke up from his wine and learned what his youngest son had done to him, he said: Cursed be Canaan;

I'd be curious to know exactly how Noah "learned" what his youngest son had done to him.

On the surface it appears Noah is reacting to Ham's conduct. But it's more likely he was just tardy on sharing prophetic insight into the boys' futures; and Ham's behavior served to light a fire under him to take care of neglected patriarchal duties. I believe this is a version of Isaac's wake-up call in the up coming stolen-blessing incident.

Some expositors have wrangled with Gen 9:25a and tried to figure out just exactly why Noah leveled a curse at Ham's son rather than at Ham. After all, Ham is the one on record who mocked his naked dad, not Noah's grandson Canaan. And Canaan wasn't Ham's only son; he had Cush, Mizraim, and Put too; but they aren't stated to be cursed.

I seriously don't think that "cursed" in regards to Canaan was like we typically think of a hex, or an evil spell, a damning, a jinx, or an imprecation. A cursed item in the Bible is often just simply something that lacks goodness: for example the bitter waters of Marah (Ex 15:23). The waters were intrinsically bitter; in other words; the waters were naturally bad waters rather than made bad by an act of God. Such would be Canaan: a naturally-bad man from whom no one could expect anything good to come.

A cursed person can mean that they are just simply a bad apple. There's no need to put a hex on an apple to make it go bad when it's already bad. That is what Noah saw about Canaan. He was, and would be, a demon seed who would engender a whole progeny of demon seeds; same as Cain did prior to the Flood.

Noah simply stated the obvious: that his grandson was both incorrigible and irreverent; and would never have respect for anything dear to God's heart just as Mr. Esau, whom we'll visit on down the line here in Genesis. God disliked that boy before he was even born (Rom 9:10-13). It's just a fact of life that some people come into the world with one foot already in hell before they're even old enough to eat solid food. They're the "black sheep" of humanity; and every generation seems to have its share of them. From what I've seen in my 68 years on this planet; far too many of those black sheep end up in Washington, and on Wall Street as traders, financiers, and corporate CEO's.

†. Gen 9:25b . . the lowest of slaves shall he be to his brothers.

That's a very derogatory remark, and more likely a colloquialism rather than a literal prediction; sort of like the one God made regarding the Serpent; that it would crawl on its belly and eat dirt; viz: henceforth be regarded the lowest sort of filth imaginable. Well, that was Noah's prediction regarding Canaan; and it came true. The people of the land of Canaan became so abhorrent that God, in Deut 7:1-5 and Deut 18:9-14, commanded Yhvh's people to drive them out, to exterminate them, to reject their religions, and to avoid assimilation.

†. Gen 9:26a . . And he said: Blessed be Yhvh, the god of Shem;

Yhvh (The Lord) is said to be Shem's god. But Yhvh is not said to be the god of either Ham or Japheth. Shem is the only one of the three brothers of whom it is said "Yhvh, the god of" perhaps implying that the Bible's God didn't become Shem's god just because the family he was born into worshipped that particular god, rather because Shem personally chose the Bible's God to be his god. A lot of adults are in a religion simply because that's the one they grew up with.

†. Gen 9:26b . . let Canaan be a slave to them.

The pronoun "them" would refer to the peoples that would descend from Shem.

†. Gen 9:27a . . May God enlarge Japheth,

That seems more a prayer than a prediction. Japheth is generally regarded as the father of several Gentile nations, most particularly the Romans and the Greeks, who became mighty world powers. Japheth seemed like an okay kind of guy who at least had a sense of propriety. People like him; even though maybe not particularly God-fearing, will listen to reason, and can often be persuaded to do the right thing. He proved at least that much when he assisted brother Shem to cover their dad's exposure in a discreet way. It is so cool to see someone wishing good for non-Jews so early in human history.

†. Gen 9:27b . . and let him dwell in the tents of Shem;

That doesn't necessarily mean Shem's people and Japheth's people would mingle and assimilate. The expression "dwell in the tents of" is a colloquialism sometimes used to denote compliance or conformity. Here's an example of just the opposite of what we might call dwelling in the tents of Shem.

†. Ps 84:11 . . Better one day in Your courts than a thousand [anywhere else]; I would rather stand at the threshold of God's house than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

The "tents of the wicked" regards a life style that has no place in it for the Bible's God and doesn't allow His spirit an influence in one's personal life. The remainder of that Psalm is dedicated to the kind of people of whom we could say: dwell in the tents of Shem.

†. Ps 84:12-13 . . For The Lord God is sun and shield; The Lord bestows grace and glory; He does not withhold His bounty from those who live without blame. O Lord of hosts, happy is the man who trusts in You.

People who live in the tents of the wicked, and walk where the wicked walk; sure don't walk where Shem walks. Not all of Japheth's people would dwell in the tents of Shem of course. But the idea is that Japheth's people weren't totally a bad apple like Canaan's. Many of them would become God-fearing, moral, scrupulous, and upright-- though not all of course; but at least Japheth's progeny wouldn't prove 100% incorrigible.

†. Gen 9:27c . . and let Canaan be a slave to them.

Not all of Ham's descendants would become subservient to the people of Shem and Japheth. Only those in Canaan's line.

Buen Camino
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[Webers_Home]

Re: Genesis

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†. Gen 9:28-29 . . Noah lived after the Flood 350 years. And all the days of Noah came to 950 years; then he died.

Another righteous man bites the dust. Noah lived twenty more years than Adam, but nineteen less than Methuselah-- no doubt a great role model and a tremendous influence upon the minds of all his grandchildren. He surely must have had a huge brood of them in the new world by the time his 350 post-Flood years ended.

†. Gen 10:1 . .These are the lines of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah: sons were born to them after the Flood.

Chapter ten is a tiresome list of genealogies that some have found interesting enough to devote entire books; generating a catalogue of nations connecting Noah's descendants to the ancient civilizations and even today's. But I'm going to comment upon only a few salient features.

Note : Some have attempted to date the Flood and the age of the earth using Bible genealogies. But that's an untenable way to go about it because the genealogies aren't precise enough measures of time and often contain gaps. For example:

†. Mtt 1:17 . . So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.

The usual understanding of the word "generation" is a single step in the line of descent from an ancestor and/or the average span of time between the birth of parents and that of their offspring. Well, the Bible's application of "generation" is a bit more broad. For example Mtt 24:34 where the term indicates Yhvh's people. In other words: the Jews as a people will never be exterminated; but will survive to see everything Christ predicted at Mtt 24:1-35.

So then those periods of Israel's history marked off as "fourteen generations" in Mtt 1:17 have to be interpreted to mean something different than what we might expect. I have no clue why the author of Matthew divided everyone from Abraham to Christ into three rough-hewn divisions of fourteen generations each but it doesn't surprise me when every time the tribes of Israel are listed, it's always in a group of twelve regardless of which names are included, or omitted, in the list. Same thing with the apostles. Even after the Lord's men are whittled down to eleven by the elimination of Judas; they continue to be known as the twelve.

Anyway: there are a number of places in the Bible where the term "begot" doesn't necessarily denote a direct father/son relationship but just means: became the father of. A good one is Mtt 1:8 where it says that Jehoram was the father of Uzziah. Three generations are omitted. So actually the term begot often just refers to progeny, but not always to immediate offspring.

†. Gen 10:5 . .These are the descendants of Japheth by their lands-- each with its language-- their clans and their nations.

Diverse languages didn't appear right away. First came the tower of Babel. It was after that when people's languages became what we might call "foreign".

†. Gen 10:8-9 . . Cush was the father of Nimrod, who grew to be a mighty warrior on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before The Lord; that is why it is said: Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before The Lord. The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Erech, Akkad and Calneh, in Shinar.

At first, mankind was scattered out in individual clans, and leadership was pretty much restricted to local patriarchal Dons and Sheiks. But Nimrod wasn't content with local rule. He was resolved not only to be head and shoulders above his neighbors-- not only to be eminent among them but to lord it over them. The same spirit that actuated the mighty men and the men of renown prior to the Flood, (by reason of whom the Flood came) now revived in Nimrod. There are some in whom ambition, achievement, and affectation of dominion seem to be bred in the bone. Nothing short of hell itself will humble and break the proud spirits of men such as those.

Nimrod is interesting. He's a Nephilistic personage with humble beginnings: first as a professional hunter; probably supplying meat to frontier towns and selling pelts at trading posts. That was likely Nimrod's career path up until his exploits became famous and he began to realize it was far more profitable to go into politics. Lots of great men, some good and some bad, had humble beginnings-- Abraham Lincoln, King David, and even Hitler. Timely circumstances, and fortuitous events, catapulted those blokes up to very high levels of control over their fellow men.

A contemporary case in point is US President Barak Hussein Obama: a man who had little to no chance of winning a US Senate seat had it not been for his shoo-in opponent's sexual indiscretions. From thence, the voting public's disgust with the Republican party, coupled with their infatuation with the color of Mr. Obama's skin, practically assured his election to America's highest federal office. He was but a junior senator with like zero executive experience; yet there he is flying around the world in Air Force One.

To this very day Nimrod is still known as the outdoorsman who would be king. He was such a famous icon of that day that his example became descriptive of others who worked their way to the top like he did-- men of vision, daring, energy, strong personal ambition, and dogged perseverance. The common personality trait, among such men, is their strong desire not just to govern, but to quite dominate people. There are those for whom it isn't enough to win; no, it isn't enough for people like that to win: everyone else has to lose. They don't want 50% market share, nor even 90% no, they're content with nothing less than 100%

Actually, Nimrod was one of the great men of history, though so little is written about him. He was one of the first statesmen to successfully create a sort of European Union; and it was such a solid alliance that only divine intervention could bring it down.

†. Gen 10:21a . . Sons were also born to Shem, ancestor of all the descendants of Eber

Descendants of Eber (most notably Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) became known as Eberites: a.k.a. Hebrews.

The remainder of chapter 10 amounts to little more than a registry so I don't really want to spend any more time here.

†. Gen 10:32 . .These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the Flood

What I find very interesting about the nations divided in the earth is their diversity of progress. When Europeans first went out to the far west of the continental US, they found indigenous peoples who were, from all appearances, perpetual cave men. They had never an iron age. Heck, no metal age at all; not even copper. Long, long after the Neanderthals and the Cro-Magnons evolved into Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, Spaniards, and Portuguese; the western Indian was still using stone tools, living in rudimentary shelters, and walking everywhere he went. It was like they were a people whom time forgot.

Buen Camino
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[Webers_Home]

Re: Genesis

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†. Gen 11:1 . . Everyone on earth had the same language and the same words.

The Hebrew word for "language" is from saphah (saw-faw') which means: the lip. The one for "words" is from dabar (daw-baw') which means: a word (as spoken or written)

Spoken languages are a combination of words and lips; viz: vocabulary and pronunciation; viz: accent. It's one thing to know the words of a language, but it is quite another to speak them with the correct pronunciation. In that day, everyone used the same words and spoke them with the very same accent.

†. Gen 11:2 . . And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there.

The name "Shinar" was of course given later because these early migrations were to lands heretofore uninhabited. According to Gen 10:10, Shinar became Nimrod's turf.

The amount of time elapsed between Noah's bender and this migration isn't stated in the Bible-- plus; there's really no way to tell which part of the world was "the east" in the author's day. Here in the USA, the Great Continental Divide is an east/west determinant. Funny thing is, if you're located in Phoenix Arizona, then Billings Montana is to your continental east even though geographically, it's almost directly north; so when you see directions like "east" and/or "west" in the Bible, it's probably best to NOT think compass directions. For example in the case of the Magi of Mtt 2:1. As best as we can tell, their city was somewhere east of the meridian that runs north/south through the Jordan River Valley but that kind of an east is continental rather than geographical so there's really no telling where they came from.

This particular migration was "from" the east; which means pioneers from among Noah's progeny, whose numbers at this point are totally unknown, went out west looking for greener pastures. Although the region of Shinar has not yet been precisely pinpointed, we can take a relatively educated guess at it.

†. Dan 1:1-2 . . In the third year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and laid siege to it. The Lord delivered King Jehoiakim of Judah into his power, together with some of the vessels of the House of God, and he brought them to the land of Shinar to the house of his god; he deposited the vessels in the treasury of his god.

The "Shinar" of Daniel's day is apparently the region where ancient Babylon was located. Babylon's location today is marked by a broad area of ruins just east of the Euphrates River, approximately 90 km (56 mi) south of Baghdad, Iraq. It's part of an area commonly known as the Fertile Crescent; a very large region arching across the northern part of the Syrian Desert and extending from the Nile Valley to the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. In the early post-Flood years, this region was very lush. But today much of it is arid wasteland.

†. Gen 11:3a . .They said to one another: Come, let us make bricks and burn them hard. (Brick served them as stone).

Brick are blocks of clay or other ceramic used for construction and decorative facing. Bricks may be dried in the sun but are more usually baked in a kiln. They cost relatively little, resist dampness and heat, and can actually last longer than some kinds of stone.

Brick was the chief building material of ancient Mesopotamia and Palestine. The inhabitants of Jericho in Palestine were building with brick about 9,000 years ago (7,000 bc). That's about 5,000 years before Abraham's day.

Sumerian and Babylonian builders constructed ziggurats, palaces, and city walls of sun-dried brick and covered them with more durable kiln-baked, often brilliantly glazed brick, arranged in decorative pictorial friezes. Later the Persians and the Chinese built in brick, for example, the Great Wall of China. The Romans built large structures such as baths, amphitheaters, and aqueducts in brick, which they often covered with marble facing.

†. Gen 11:3b . . and bitumen served them as mortar.

According to Webster's, bitumen is any of various mixtures of hydrocarbons (as tar) often together with their nonmetallic derivatives that occur naturally or are obtained as residues after heat-refining natural substances (e.g. petroleum).

The stuff can be deadly if one isn't careful because once your feet become stuck, they are very difficult to extract; as the museum at the La Brea tar pits in Los Angeles attests. But it's a handy building material too. Noah sealed the ark with a bituminous material, and Moses owes his life to it. (Ex 2:1-10)

Some kinds of bitumen don't stay soft; but are known to harden; e.g. La Brea. Excavators have to chip the stuff in order to extract the bones trapped in it.

†. Gen 11:4 . . And they said: Come, let us build us a city, and a tower with its top in the sky, to make a name for ourselves; else we shall be scattered all over the world.

Magnificent cities have a way of attracting tourism, commerce, and industry. People want to come and visit, and to live there. Politically, their scheme made good sense. More people equals more prosperity; resulting in more power and control over the region-- and of course the larger their tax base the more city services they could provide citizens; including an effective civil defense program.

There's nothing really intrinsically wrong in building a large beautiful city. But in their case, it wasn't the right time for it. God wanted the post-Flooders to move out and populate the entire globe, rather than accumulate in one local region.

Towers served a variety of purposes in the ancient world. Some were used as look-outs, others were used as tombs, and yet others were used as bloody altars for human sacrifices. The purpose intended for the tower of Gen 11:4 isn't stated but guessing from the wording, I'd say it was intended to be a grand monument; sort of like the 630 foot stainless steel Gateway Arch in Ste. Louis Missouri, or a magnificent minaret like the 239-foot Qutab Minar in Delhi India. Something like that would certainly go a long ways towards getting the Shinarians the renown they sought.

But their wish that the tower's top be in the sky suggests their primary motive was to use its facade to display a variety of gods. There's an ancient tower like that in India literally festooned with hundreds of gods. So if your favorite god is up there somewhere, there's no need for you to leave town and go elsewhere to worship. People love their religion. So if you give them the liberty and the means to practice it; they'll love you forever. Tolerance is good politics. If only Islamic fundamentalists understood this.

†. Gen 11:5 . .Yhvh came down to look at the city and tower that man had built,

That verse presents an interesting theological problem. Wouldn't it make better sense by saying Yhvh looked down, instead of saying the Yhvh came down? Why bother to come down? Doesn't the Bible's God see all and know all? Isn't God omniscient? Can't He see everything from right where He is?

Yes, the Bible's God can do that alright; but a certain celestial being in the Old Testament scriptures-- often labeled yhvh --is never the really big God in person. It's a divine agent who goes by the name of God, stands in for God, speaks for God, speaks as God, reports to God, and takes care of God's business in this world of ours; for example:

†. Ex 23:20-22 . . I am sending an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have made ready. Pay heed to him and obey him. Do not defy him, for he will not pardon your offenses, since My Name is in him; but if you obey him and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes.

The name of that angel is his master's name, and actually, the words Moses heard spoken at Ex 23:20-22 were spoken by that heaven-sent messenger on behalf of his master. That mysterious being is not only an enigma; but also quite frightful as anyone who's studied its activities in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy can attest. In other words: wherever the name yhvh appears in the texts of those books; it's that mysterious being.

†. Ex 24:9-11 . . Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel: and they saw the God of Israel: and there was under His feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. And upon the nobles of the children of Israel He laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink.

Did they really see the actual God? No.

†. Ex 33:20 . . He said: thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see Me, and live.

†. John 1:18 . . No one has seen God at any time.

†. John 5:37-38 . .You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor viewed Him in person.

What Moses and his entourage saw was the mysterious being whose name is his master's.

Buen Camino
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[Webers_Home]

Re: Genesis

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†. Gen 11:6 . . and Yhvh said: If, as one people with one language for all, this is how they have begun to act, then nothing that they may propose to do will be out of their reach.

To whom was Yhvh speaking when He spoke those words? Very likely to the God that Yhvh represents. I think what actually took place was that the hidden God told Yhvh about what was happening down on the planet, and Yhvh just had to go on down and see for himself: hence; Gen 11:6. This all probably sounds a bit weird, but since it's in the Bible, we have to come to grips with it one way or another that there's no question there exists a divine agent who has authority to be known by his master's name.

FAQ : how can a mysterious spirit being share God's name? Doesn't that contradict Isa 42:8? where it says: I am Yhvh: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another

ANSWER : that passage regards false gods. The mysterious messenger who goes by the name of yhvh is not a false god; but a duly authorized emissary with a right to all the respect and reverence due to the name of the one true God whose voice no one has ever heard, and whom no one has ever seen in person. Trinitarians peg that "duly authorized emissary" as the Word of John 1:1-3 and I'm inclined to agree with them.

†. Gen 11:7 . . Let us, then, go down and confound their speech there, so that they shall not understand one another's speech.

"let us" is the language of Gen 1:26 when God created man. Exactly who accompanied Yhvh on this mission isn't stated; but it's difficult to imagine Him traveling solo without an entourage of some sort. (cf. Mtt 25:31)

†. Gen 11:8 . .Thus the Lord scattered them from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city.

The language barrier was only a temporary setback because later on the city of Babylon was eventually built. But at this point in time, the world had no choice. It was just impossible to continue. Incidentally; the entire world has never again been unified in a singular endeavor like it was on that tower.

†. Gen 11:9 . .That is why it was called Babel, because there the Lord confounded the speech of the whole earth; and from there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

In time, men did branch out and colonize the whole planet. But barely anything is said in the Bible about the world in the years between Babel and Abraham. On the pages of scripture, it seems but a brief interlude, but in reality, it's truly a millenniums-wide quantum leap when taking into consideration the ice ages and regions that today are now deserts (Sahara; et al) which were once pluvial with abundant water resources and arable soil able to support developing civilizations.

Relative to the grand scale of time; Abraham was practically a modern man though he lived something like 4,000 years ago. But 4,000 years is merely a tick-tock on the earth's geological clock that's been ticking for something like 4.5 billion years. If we let 4.5 billion years represent 24 hours, then 4,000 years is about equal to .08 second. Even the 5,300 year old ice man--written up in the November 2011 edition of National Geographic Magazine --lived in the Italian portion of the Öztal Alps a mere .1 second ago relative to a 24-hour geological clock.

†. Gen 11:10a . .This is the line of Shem.

Well; that's pretty much about it for the other brothers. From now on, the Bible will direct its focus mainly upon Shem's line. But not all. Just specific ones that are connected to Abraham; and ultimately to Messiah.

Noah was a pretty simple kind of guy. He probably tore apart the ark for its wood and built a home, and barns, and whittled fence posts and split rails to corral his livestock. The rest of the ark's lumber he could distribute to his sons and grandchildren for their own ranches after setting aside enough firewood for many years to come. He more than likely stayed pretty close to where the ark went aground and stayed behind when the others migrated out west. After all, if Noah could raise food right where he was, plus his grapes, then why move away? He'd seen it all anyway and lived the adventure of a lifetime.

†. Gen 11:10b . . Shem was 100 years old when he begot Arpachshad, two years after the Flood.

That would make Shem about 97 years old when the flood began.

†. Gen 11:11 . . After the birth of Arpachshad, Shem lived 500 years and begot sons and daughters.

Each of the patriarchs probably had at least as many daughters as well as sons even though girls' names are rarely listed in the record.

†. Gen 11:12-25 . .When Arpachshad had lived 35 years, he begot Shelah. After the birth of Shelah, Arpachshad lived 403 years and begot sons and daughters . .When Nahor had lived 29 years, he begot Terah. After the birth of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and begot sons and daughters.

Included in the genealogy of Gen 11:12-25 was a man named Eber. His name carries on to this day in a people well known as Hebrews; for the Old Testament word for Hebrew is 'Ibriy (ib-ree'); which means an Eberite; viz: a descendant of Eber.

Prior, it was common for people to live nine hundred years. But at this point in the Bible, the human life span is beginning to shrink rapidly. Noah lived 950 years (about the same as his antediluvian forebears), but Shem lived only 600. It became even worse by the time of Nahor; who only lived to 148. Today, even the healthiest among us begins to decline as early as our mid thirties; with an average life expectancy of not even 80.This problem has baffled scientists for years and no one seems to know yet just why our body cells age and deteriorate so fast. Whoever solves that problem will get very rich from it, that's for sure.

†. Gen 11:26-27 . .When Terah had lived 70 years, he begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Now this is the line of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begot Lot.

By the time of Terah, Shem's line had slipped away and no longer worshipped Yhvh in spite of their solid spiritual heritage.

†. Josh 24:2-3 . .Then Joshua said to all the people: Thus said the Lord, the God of Israel; "In olden times, your forefathers-- Terah, father of Abraham and father of Nahor --lived beyond the Euphrates and worshiped other gods.

Because their dad worshipped other gods, the two brothers, Abram and Nahor, grew up as idolaters until Noah's god stepped in and broke the chain, appeared to Abram, and told him to leave his relatives, and get out of Ur.

One has to wonder what happened with Terah. His grandfathers Shem and Noah actually came off the ark and saw the Flood for themselves but that was waaaaay back when. Time has a way of turning history into legend, and anon, into myths and folklore.

NOTE : one of the problems associated with the credibility of the Flood is finding evidence for it; and a significant portion of that problem is related to the Flood's duration; which was barely over one year. It takes water millennia to erode permanent features in the earth's lithosphere. And on top of that, once the rain stopped, the Flood's waters were essentially static like a lake or a swimming pool. In order to do erosion, water has to move; as a river or a stream, or as waves along the sea shore; not stand still.

When I was a kid, the presence of sea shells and fossils way up on the sides and tops of mountains was thought to be evidence of the Flood, but now we know that they got up there by tectonic forces rather than by the Flood.

You know it hasn't been all that long that people began putting some faith in continental drift. It's been barely a century since German meteorologist Alfred Wegner proposed that Earth's dry land had once been a single continent then gradually began separating. He was soundly mocked and dismissed by his contemporary scientific community. Not anymore they don't. Now pretty near all the geological scientists are in agreement that the earth's prominent mountain ranges were produced by the grinding, colliding, and subduction of massive sections of the earth's crust.

Buen Camino
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[Webers_Home]

Re: Genesis

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†. Gen 11:28 . . Haran died in the lifetime of his father Terah, in his native land, Ur of the Chaldeans.

The Grim Reaper cares not for the age of its victims, whether young or whether old. Haran died before his dad. Many a parent has buried their children before they even had a chance to live.

You know, anybody can die; it's not all that difficult; and people don't have to be old nor do they have to be especially intelligent. Even the young, the inexperienced, and the stupid do it all the time.

†. Ecc 2:16 . . For the wise man, like the fool, will not be long remembered: in days to come both will be forgotten. Like the fool, the wise man too must die.

†. Ecc 9:10-12 . . For the time of mischance comes to all. And a man cannot even know his time. As fishes are enmeshed in a fatal net, and as birds are trapped in a snare, so men are caught at the time of calamity, when it comes upon them without warning.

†. Zch 1:5 . .Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets: do they live for ever?

†. Gen 11:29 . . Abram and Nahor took to themselves wives, the name of Abram's wife being Sarai and that of Nahor's wife Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah.

Nahor married a niece; the daughter of his brother Haran. And Abrammarried a half sister; the daughter of his father Terah (Gen 20:12). Such close marriages were later forbidden in Moses' covenanted law. But as Genesis has shown all along, at this early date close marriages were neither forbidden nor particularly dangerous from a genetic point of view, and so were not uncommon. Adam's family married among themselves; and so did Noah's. They really had no choice about it. There just weren't any other people available for spouses at the time.

Close inbreeding was neither a sin nor a problem in those days. But it sure is now. You wouldn't dare engender children with a sister or a brother or a niece nowadays. The risk of birth defects is just too high. It's notable that as longevity decreased, so did the margin of safety in marrying relatives. The quality of the human body was seriously deteriorating.

†. Gen 11:30 . . Now Sarai was barren, she had no child.

This is the very first recorded incident of a human reproductive malfunction. Other than the reduction in longevity; the human body seems to have been running on all eight cylinders up to this point. But who was the problem; was it Abram or Sarai? It was Sarai because Abraham later engendered a child by one of Sarai's servant girls.

One of the first horrors the human family witnessed was Abel's death. No one had ever seen a human being dead before. And now this. A woman who couldn't conceive. It must have been stunning and unbelievable. All the women in history up to this point were cranking out babies like rabbits and mice.

But this was double bad for Sarai. Not only could she not have a family of her own, but you know how the tabloids feed on unusual events. Well . . this was one for the books. Sarai, in her day, was a true freak of nature. Everyone would point at her and whisper in hushed tones: Look! There she is! That's the one we saw on 20/20.

She must have felt terribly inferior, and you can just imagine what that did to her self esteem too. Sarai was a gorgeous piece of work, but her womb had no more life in it than a stack of 8x11 Xerox paper.

I'm a man; so how can I possibly understand Sarai's personal grief? Only another barren woman can understand what Sarai must have felt. There are women who don't care about children. But Sarai doesn't strike me as one of those. And even if she didn't care for children, it would have still been a comfort in her mind to know that at least she could have some if she wanted to.

†. Prv 30:15-16 . .There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four things say not; "It is enough" -- the grave; the barren womb, the earth that is not filled with water; and the fire.

†. Gen 11:31a . .Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and they set out together from Ur of the Chaldeans for the land of Canaan;

Ur's ruins are approximately midway between the modern city of Baghdad Iraq, and the head of the Persian Gulf, south of the Euphrates River, on the edge of the Al Hajarah Desert. The site of Ur is known today as Tall al Muqayyar.

In antiquity, the Euphrates River flowed near the city walls; and thus Ur was favorably located for the development of commerce and for attaining political dominance. The biblical name "Ur of the Chaldees" refers to the Chaldeans, who settled in the area about 900 BC. By the 4th century BC, the city was practically forgotten, possibly as a result of a shift in the course of the Euphrates River.

Water played an important role in the location of ancient civilizations. The Sahara desert, for example, was once a pluvial region with lakes. When geological forces caused the loss of rainfall and surface water, the Sahara became the dry waste it's famed for today and consequently its inhabitants had to relocate.

Ur was enclosed by oval walls thirty feet high, which protected not only the city, but two harbors as well. Sir Leonard Woolley discovered that the inhabitants benefited from well-planned streets, and houses with high standards of sanitation. The houses appear to have been constructed to remain cool in the hot summers and some may have been two-storied. House walls adjoined the streets. Homes featured an inner courtyard onto which their rooms faced; just like Judah's home in the Charleton Heston movie Ben Hur.

†. Gen 11:31b . . but when they had come as far as Haran, they settled there.

According to Gen 12:1 and Acts 7:2-4, God took an interest in Abram while he was in Ur, before he left with Terah to travel to Haran. After sharing his vision with Terah, the dad quite possibly became interested in a new life himself, having recently lost a son. The land where he then lived held bad memories and, probably not wanting to lose touch with any more of his family if Abram were to move away, he suggested that they all travel together; which is a perfectly good idea considering the dangers they were likely to encounter en route. But the dad didn't have the heart for it really. The old gentleman decided to settle in Haran instead of going all the way to Canaan like the original plan called for.

From Ur, Canaan is dead west and just about the same distance as Haran. But instead of going directly to Canaan, they went north, following the trade routes. I think I would have too. Terah's family was a lot safer going from town to town along the fertile crescent. It would take longer to get to Canaan, but they would be in better shape upon arrival. There are some who like to keep their foot on the gas and push on through when they travel. But that is very tiring. It's far better to stop often, eat, and rest before moving on. The towns along the northern route could provide them with needed supplies for the journey too.

But Haran (modern Charran or Haraan) is too far out of the way really. It's clear up in Urfa Turkey on the trade route to Ninevah. Terah could have turned south a lot sooner and gone on down to Canaan via Damascus. But I think that by then, he'd lost interest in Canaan and decided that Haran was the place for him. And Abram, probably not wanting to leave his dad alone there, stayed on too.

Buen Camino
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[Webers_Home]

Re: Genesis

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†. Gen 11:32 . .The days of Terah came to 205 years; and Terah died in Haran.

Terah lived a relatively long life for his day. His son Abraham only lived to 175. But I sometimes wonder if Terah didn't cut his life short by staying in Haran. Did he forget about God's call to Abram to go to Canaan? Actually, Terah didn't worship Noah's god, but other gods; pagan gods. So it's only natural that he wouldn't take Yhvh's call seriously. The Bible's God wanted Abram to live down in Canaan. But because of his dad, Abram didn't go there. How sad that parents can actually be a hindrance to their children serving God whole heartedly.

My own dad was a very bad influence upon my spiritual life. It wasn't until after I moved out, and he died, that my relationship with God really took off and went somewhere. He used to get so upset with me for taking the Bible too seriously; even blaming it for keeping me from getting ahead in life. And he constantly pressured me to marry women who were of a different religion than my own. One's kin can be the ruin of an otherwise Godly person. The negative aspects of unholy kin should never be taken lightly. (cf. Deut 13:7-12)

Buen Camino
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[Webers_Home]

Re: Genesis

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†. Gen 12:1. .The Lord said to Abram: Go forth from your native land and from your father's house to the land that I will show you.

Stephen said Abram was still living in Ur, and hadn't moved up to Haran yet when God called him to leave his kin (Acts 7:2-3). There's no record of any interaction with God all the while that Abram lived in Haran. Yhvh was silent, and waiting for Abraham to get with the program and do as He said-- leave his kin and head on out to a country of God's choosing. When he finally departed, Abram was not yet informed of his precise destination. (Heb 11:8)

The Lord made several promises to Abram at this time.

†. Gen 12:2a . . I will make of you a great nation,

Greatness is arbitrary. Some say numbers best represent greatness, while others feel that accomplishments, prosperity, health, and contributions to mankind define greatness. In that last aspect; no other nation on earth has contributed more to the benefit of mankind than the people of Israel. It is through them that sinful men of all nations may obtain a full ransom from the wrath of God. Israel is also destined to become the seat of world power, economic prosperity, and the center for religious studies.

†. Gen 12:2b . . And I will bless you;

Abram became a very wealthy man; with enough male servants to field a respectable army. He also enjoyed long life and good health; and the admiration of his neighbors.

†. Gen 12:2c . . I will make your name great,

Nobody is more famous than Abraham. Even people who never heard of George Washington, Alexander the Great, Napoleon, or Genghis Khan, know about Abraham. He's connected to the three most prominent religions in the world: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. And his name is always held in the very highest regard. Abraham isn't known for nefarious deeds nor bloody conquests. He is known as the friend of God, and as a role model for all decent God-fearing people everywhere all over the world.

†. Gen 12:2d . . And you shall be a blessing.

There are some people that the world is well rid of like conceited entertainers, neighbors from hell, thin skinned defensive people with raging tempers, habitual liars, cry babies, people who falsify information and sully reputations, ruthless businessmen, con and scam artists, unscrupulous lawyers, crooked cops and dishonest politicians, insurance frauds, Wall Street sociopaths, managers on a power trip, hackers, and the like. But Abraham was none of those. He was a very gracious, honorable man; the kind of guy you would thank God for. But most of all, Abraham is the progenitor of Messiah-- the savior of the world.

†. Mtt 1:1 . . A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham

Messiah is the one who makes it possible for sinners to escape the judgment of God. You can't be a better blessing than that.

†. John 3:14-17 . . Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God so cared for the world that he donated His one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world, but to rescue the world through him.

Note : The reference to Moses' serpent is located at Num 21:4-9

Just as Moses' people were spared certain death from snake bite by doing no more nor less than looking to the serpent; so believers today are spared eternal suffering by doing no more nor less than looking to Jesus' crucifixion to remedy their default destiny in an unspeakable environment.

†. Gen 12:3a . . I will bless those who bless you

It's a good investment to always do right by the Hebrew people. Some of them are not easy to love, that's true; but never forget God's promise to Abram: "I will bless those who bless you."

†. Mtt 25:31-40 . .When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

. . .Then the King will say to those on his right: Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.

. . .Then the righteous will answer him: Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you? The King will reply: I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.

†. Gen 12:3b . . And curse him that curses you;

It is a very serious matter to mistreat Hebrew people.

†. Mtt 25:41-46 . .Then he will say to those on his left: Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.

. . .They also will answer: Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you? He will reply: I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me. Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.

It's beyond belief, but many of the German soldiers in the second world war were Christians who attended church on Sunday, sang the lovely hymns and partook the communion service; then during the week, impaled newborn Jewish infants-- thrown out of hospital windows --in midair on their bayonets. Nazi Germany, though a "Christian" nation, was just as atheistic in its political practices as communist Russia.

Note : there's no record of Abram requesting any of the above blessings. God just up and sprung them on him.

Buen Camino
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[Webers_Home]

Re: Genesis

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†. Gen 12:3c . . And all the families of the earth shall bless themselves by you.

Now we see coming into play the most important part of God's plan for Abram. At the moment God made that promise, every other family on the earth was just about totally involved in God-less religions. Even Terah, Abram's dad, had sunk into them. Individual members of Shem's clan were apparently the only ones who stayed in touch with the god of the Flood; and because of that, they had a great future ahead. But the other clans didn't. They had no future at all; just to live out their meaningless lives and die like a feral beast-- to die as human wildlife.

Through Abram, God perpetuated the knowledge of the True God. Peoples of every language, and every ethnic, have benefited from Abram's association with the Bible's God. Aren't you grateful to God for Moses, for Isaiah, for David, for Solomon, for Esther, for Gideon, for Samson, for Ezra, and for the cross of Jesus of Nazareth? Yes. Abram's existence has made all the difference for many millions of us.

†. Gen 12:4a . . Abram went forth as the Lord had commanded him,

Although Abram didn't "went forth" exactly when God told him to; he finally did go; and that's what counts. Jonah didn't "went forth" when he was told to go either, but God prepared a large fish to persuade him to stop fooling around and get a move on; and he finally complied.

Repentance is essential to reverence. Lots of Bible heroes vacillated at first when asked to follow God, but later changed their minds and got with the program. But please don't ever make a pretense at following God while down in your heart you really don't. That is not a good thing. It's better to be above board than to be wishy-washy.

†. Mtt 21:28-32 . .What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said: Son, go and work today in the vineyard. I will not; he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered: I will, sir; but he did not go. Which of the two did what his father wanted?

The unreliable son led his father to believe he was willing to help out in the fields; but in reality, his heart just wasn't in it.

†. Gen 12:4b . . and Lot went with him.

That was an err on Abram's part. He was told to leave his native land and to leave his father's house. He wasn't supposed to take any relatives along with him: and Lot wasn't a child; he was a grown man capable of operating a ranch on his own so it's not like Abram would have abandoned Lot an orphan.

†. Gen 12:4c . . Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.

That hardly seems like a sensible age to reinvent one's self and begin a new life; but Abram was relatively young yet in his own day, and still had 100 years of life left to go. To give a perspective on just how long 100 years is: it would have been only seven months ago in May that the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank, two years before WW1, eleven years before Poncho Villa's demise, and eight years before the 18th Amendment-- horse and buggy were common in New York City, and Annie Oakley and Wyatt Earp were still alive.

I was born in 1944. The average life expectancy of a man born that year is roughly 62. Abram lived to the ripe old age of 175 (Gen 25:7-8). So, at the time of his migration to Canaan, Abram was about the equivalent of me at 27.

Abram's wife Sarai was even perkier. She was nine years younger than Abram (cf. Gen 17:1 and Gen 17:17). But Sarai only lived to 127; forty-eight years less than her husband (Gen 23:1). The average life expectancy of a woman born in 1944 is about 67 years. So Sarai would have been the equivalent of 25 when they migrated to Canaan had she survived to her husband's ripe old age of 175. Precisely why Sarai's life was cut short is unknown.

†. Gen 12:5 . . Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother's son Lot, and all the wealth that they had amassed, and the persons that they had acquired in Haran; and they set out for the land of Canaan; and they arrived there.

I'm pretty sure Sarai anticipated this move. Abram had probably been talking about it ever since God appeared to him in Ur so I seriously doubt it disrupted her life like a bolt out of the blue.

From Haran (Haraan Turkey) it's well over 400 miles south to the West Bank in Palestine. You can imagine the difficulty of making such a trip what with no automobiles, no trains, no buses, no taxi cabs, no airplanes, no paved-surface highways, and no graded roads. It was all trails and dirt paths; and all on foot, or on the back of an animal, or in a cart pulled by an animal.

People traveled like that for millennia before powered conveyances were invented and became widespread. Practically all modern means of travel were invented in the 20th century AD. In only just the last 120 years or so of Man's whole existence has there been airplanes and horseless carriages. Man went from the Wright Brothers in 1903 to the moon in 1969 in just sixty-six years. The previous thousands of years before Karl Benz's production of gasoline-powered motorwagens; people were very slow moving, and travel was arduous, inconvenient, and totally earth-bound.

In short, man's greatest obstacle to migration was simply distance. For thousands of years; when Native Americans inhabiting the Great Plains needed to pull up stakes and move to better hunting grounds, they had to carry all their equipment and all their belongings either on their own backs or on sled-like contraptions called travois. Movement was totally on foot, because they had neither horses, nor mules, nor burros, nor oxen to help them; and buffalo were too wild to domesticate. Moving day for America's ancient Indian tribes was worse than a chore: it was an odyssey. Even the Kumeyaay people of San Diego County, who were essentially agrarian, had no horses to assist in farming and irrigation for better than 9,000 years before the Spanish invaded their lands in the 1700's.

It's significant that Abram wasn't required to dispose of his worldly goods in order to follow God. Abram later became an exceedingly rich man and God never once asked him to give it all away. Riches are bad only if they have such a hold upon a person that they must compromise their integrity to hang on to it. For that person, it's better to be poor. But it would be wrong to impose poverty upon everyone because not everyone is consumed with survival, avarice, and greed.

†. Gen 12:6 . . Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.

The Canaanites were Canaan's descendants-- Noah's bad-apple grandson.

The Canaanites probably didn't have complete control of the land at this time, merely a presence, same as Abram. But they were definitely in the process of getting control. By the time Joshua invaded, roughly four hundred years later, Canaan's clan was pretty well rooted in Palestine.

Abram's welfare wasn't improved by coming out west to Canaan. His home town Ur was a modern city with decent accommodations. But out on the frontier, it was rugged. Palestine in that day was no Utopia. It was more like the conditions which faced our own early day American pioneers and settlers. There were communities scattered here and there, but for the most part, it was wild, wooly, and untamed.

Abram, now paying attention to God, is going where he's told and moving in all the right directions. The next two moves are preceded by altars; upon which, we can safely assume, were offered the traditional Noah style burnt offering. Altar sites were hot-spots; viz: locations for making wireless contact with God; sort of like what the Temple at Jerusalem became in later years.

†. Gen 12:7a . .The Lord appeared to Abram

Exactly how or in what form God appeared to Abram isn't specified. God's appearances aren't always visual. Sometimes an appearance is merely an audible voice; or a dream, an angel, a burning bush, a breeze, a column of smoke, an eerie glow; or even a human being.

†. Gen 12:7b . . and said: I will assign this land to your heirs.

This is the very first instance of a Divine promise made to Abram regarding ownership of Palestine; and it probably bounced right off his skull like a sonar ping. But later on, God will repeat that promise again and again until it finally sinks in. Repetition is, after all, a proven aid to learning and memorization.

Buen Camino
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[Webers_Home]

Re: Genesis

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†. Gen 12:7c-8 . . And he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him. From there he moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and he built there an altar to the Lord and invoked the Lord by name.

Eusebius Onomasticon placed Bethel twelve Roman miles north from Jerusalem, on the road to Neapolis. The site today is represented by the modern town of Beitin, a village which stands on a knoll east of the road to Nablus; roughly 2½ miles northeast of Ramallah El-Bira.

Ai hasn't really been pinpointed yet but is identified either with the modern Haiyan, just south of the village of Deir Dibwan or with a mound, El-Tell, to the north.

This is only the second time in Scripture where it's said human beings called upon God by a name. The first was Gen 4:26. What name might Abram have used to invoke God? The name Yhvh was well known by this time, and Abram addressed God by it on numerous occasions. (e.g. Gen 13:4, 14:22, 15:8, 21:33, and 24:3)

God's demeanor towards Abram was sometimes that of a commander in wartime who doesn't tell his troops in advance the location of their next bivouac. Instead he orders them to march in a certain direction, only later telling them when to stop and set up camp. So Abram went in the direction he was commanded to go; not really knowing the destination or the why. For the time being, Abram didn't need to know the why-- he only needed to know which way.

Free now from the harmful influence of his own dad's pagan ways, Abram revived the religion of his sacred ancestors and began calling upon God the same way they did; and he got his travel orders that way too. Each time he worshipped at the altars, God told him what to do, where to go next; and sometimes even shared some personal data along with His big plans for Abram's future. Abram was doing pretty much what Adam did in the garden; meeting with God in the cool of the day; so to speak. Only Abram did it differently because he was a sinful being, whereas, in the beginning, Adam wasn't; so he didn't need an altar, at first.

†. Gen 12:9 . .Then Abram journeyed by stages toward the Negev.

"Negev" is from negeb (neh'-gheb) and means: to be parched; the south (from its drought); specifically, the Negev or southern district of Judah; occasionally Egypt (as south to Palestine). The Negev is generally considered as beginning south of Dhahiriya; which is right in between Hevron and Be'ér Sheva; and as stretching south in a series of rolling hills until the actual wilderness begins, a distance of perhaps 70 miles.

To the east, the Negev is bounded by the Dead Sea and the Arabah, and to the west the boundaries are generally Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea. It's a land of scanty springs and sparse rainfall. The character of its soil is a transition from the fertility of Canaan to the wilderness of the desert-- essentially a pastoral land, where grazing is plentiful in the early months and where camels and goats can survive, even through the long summer drought.

Today, as through most periods of history, the Negev is a land for the nomad rather than the settled inhabitant, although abundant ruins in many spots testify to better physical conditions at some periods. The east and west directions of the valleys, the general dryness, and the character of the inhabitants, have always made it a more or less isolated region without thoroughfare. The great routes pass along the coast to the west or up the Arabah to the east. Against all who would lead an army up from the south, this southern frontier of Judah presented a tough obstacle in the old days. The Negev is slated for a make-over when the Jews are returned to their homeland.

†. Isa 35:1-2 . .The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of The Lord, the excellency of our God.

Lebanon's glory of old was timber; especially cedars (1Kng 4:33). Sharon was known for its flowers (Song 2:1) and Carmel for its orchards (Isa 33:9). How God will get timber, flowers, and orchards to flourish in the Negev should be interesting.

†. Gen 12:10 . .There was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.

Famines were usually the result of things like low humidity, lack of rain, and/or plagues of insects and plant diseases.

Abram fully intended to return to Canaan just as soon as the famine ended. The move to Egypt was a temporary expedient, rather than the result of irrational panic. Famine might seem to some as an excuse for Abram to return to Haran. But Abram wasn't retreating. His destiny did not lie in Haran. It lay in Palestine-- period! --no going back.

I've heard more than one commentator say that Abram was out of God's will when he left Canaan and moved to Egypt. It is really impossible to know that for sure. Compare Gen 46:2-4 where God instructed Jacob to migrate to Egypt during a severe famine. So, I'm inclined to give Abram the benefit of the doubt. Back at Shechem, Abram began the practice of erecting altars and calling on grandpa Noah's god. Each time he moved, he built a new altar. And each time he did that, God gave him new travel orders. Since the text doesn't suggest otherwise; it should be okay to assume Abram went down to Egypt under the very same divine guidance as the other places he moved to.

†. Gen 12:11 . . As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai : I know what a beautiful woman you are.

Abram was about nine years older than Sarai; so she was over 66 years-old when this event occurred because according to Gen 12:4, Abram was seventy-five when they left Haran. Sarai was amazing. Even at 66+ years she drew admiring glances.

Abram's acknowledgement of Sarai's beauty appears to have been somewhat out of the ordinary; but that's no surprise. After a number of years of marriage, it isn't uncommon for men to take their wives for granted; and to stop taking notice of them after a while.

†. Gen 12:12 . . If the Egyptians see you, and think "She is his wife" they will kill me and let you live.

Egypt had an active presence up in and around Canaan prior to Abram's day and perhaps the conduct of their frontier consulates was somewhat less than honorable at times. So of course the people of Canaan would quite naturally assume all Egyptians were pigs just like many people today assume that all Muslims are terrorists because the terrorists who flew airplanes into the World Trade Center were Muslims.

Buen Camino
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