Sermon - AudioGenesis 4-7 - Audio
Genesis 4-7 Daily Reading
Daily Insights - Please Comment
- Genesis 5.1 lets us know the author is using other resources as he writes his account.
- Nephilim are vicious warriors who fill the world with violence.
- Noah, like Enoch, walked with God. Notice the different consequences of being faithful: Abel is murdered, Enoch escapes death, and Noah watches everyone die.
- 6.11: “corrupt” – the word means to spoil or disfigure. The creation that human beings were supposed to care for and build up has instead been spoiled and disfigured by them.
- 7.4: “Forty Days”: numbers have significance the Bible. The number 40 tells us that a critical moment is about to happen in redemptive history (cf. Jesus’ temptation that lasts 40 days which calls into question whether Jesus will remain faithful and carry out his redemptive mission).
- God is shown throughout the flood story to be the central actor. This is at odds with other flood stories (e.g. Gilgamesh Epic) where human beings are shown to be the central actors.
11 comments:
Why is Genesis 7:11-16 a virtual repeat of 7:6-10? Is this a literary device, intensifying something, giving a different perspective (ala Gen. 1 and 2)?
I find it interesting that, for a period of time, God allowed human beings to live immortal lifetimes of 900+ years (Chapter 5). Then, he limits their lifespans to 120 years (mortal). You would think that this shortening of life would have occured at The Fall.
I tried to imagine a hypothetical modern day version of Noah's leap of faith ark construction (check out that boat's dimensions). Any ideas?
For those of you in this past Sunday's 9:00AM service, can you imagine the rain during the sermon lasting 40 days/nights?
Jodi,
The most likely reason has to do with the design of a chiastic structure that seeks to put God and his faithfulness to Noah at the center.
The structure according to B.W. Anderson looks like this:
Transitional introduction (6:9–10)
1. Violence in creation (6:11–12)
2. First divine speech: resolve to destroy (6:13–22)
3. Second divine speech: “enter ark” (7:1–10)
4. Beginning of flood (7:11–16)
5. The rising flood (7:17–24)
God remembers Noah
6. The receding flood (8:1–5)
7. Drying of the earth (8:6–14)
8. Third divine speech: “leave ark” (8:15–19)
9. God’s resolve to preserve order (8:20–22)
10. Fourth divine speech: covenant (9:1–17)
Transitional conclusion (9:18–19)
Note how each feature in the first half of the story matches a corresponding feature in the second half to create a mirror-image structure (3//8, 4//7, 5//6, etc.) with its center “God remembered Noah” in 8:1.
Along the same lines of repetition as Jodi mentioned, we see the importance that is being stressed on being made in the image or "likeness" of God. If you look at 1:26-27, 5:1, and then again in 5:3 we see "image" or "likeness" used. Except 5:3 is a little different because it is not God who is "making" Seth in His image, but Adam. I wonder why this is so important to stress once again. Does it have to do with future generations knowing people born from humans are still made in the image of God and that it wasn't just Adam and Eve who came directly from God's hand? Is this listed again for the same reasons as in 1:26-27?
Also, a comment on Abel, Enoch, and Noah: Notice that all 3 men are faithful to God, and yet 2 of them had rather "rough" experiences in life. Historically, being faithful to God has come at a great cost.
Notice that in 9.6 we again come into contact with the picture of image, and its close connection to the mandate God gives Adam and Eve in the garden when we are told they are created in God's image,
5 And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man.
6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed,
for God made man in his own image.
7 And you, 1 be fruitful and multiply, teem on the earth and multiply in it.”
AE051280?,
1. This is from the ESV Study Bible on Genesis 6:3 = "God announces that because of the immoral nature of people, their days shall be 120 years. There are two possible interpretations of this number of years: either the lives of human beings will no longer exceed 120 years, or the coming of the flood is anticipated in 120 years. While the latter interpretation is simpler, the former interpretation is appealing, and would be true as a generalization even though some of those who live after the flood (e.g., Abraham) enjoy lives in excess of 120 years."
2. Rainfall - Well, by my calculations (which may be way off, I'm no Craig James), if it would have kept raining like that we would have had about .5-1 inch of rain that day. If you multiply this by 40 days you get 20-40 inches of rain.
What I find interesting in this reading is that Enoch doesn't die. My mind wandered to try and comprehend what his story possibly could have entailed... Its crazy to think that there are a couple sentences that describe Enoch, yet the story behind the story has to be incredible.
Question that came via email
Is there any significance in God only naming things on the first three days? He named day & night, heaven and land & sea and maybe named Adam or just referred to him as mankind.
Here is my take on what's going on.
To name something in the Ancient Near East was to declare authority over something. So God's naming of day, night, earth, sky and sea was a declaration that he is the unrivalled authority over everything that exists. Since the plants and trees are part of his naming the earth he has authority over them by extension.
The greater and lesser lights (Sun and moon) get no name because God wants to lessen their importance in a world where they were readily worshipped, even as he exerts authority over them by declaring that he creates them.
The animals are not names because God leaves that task for Adam (Genesis 2). Adam's naming of the animals shows his vice-regency with God and Adam's place in the creation. That God gives this task to Adam, given what we know about naming things, is a very high honor indeed.
4:7 - God is basically telling Cain that he can do better. That he has not given his best. This is interesting, but even more so is what God says after this:
"And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it." Even from the very beginning, sin was desiring us. It sounds a lot like the idea in 1 Peter 5:8-9 when talking about Satan.
Sin is always ready for us, and even the slightest sign of us not standing firm or giving way to an open door is enough for it to jump through. I think this verse in Genesis tells us a lot about the "character of sin."
According to about.com if we take the flood story at face value there would have been something like 1.1 million species showing up at the ark and there is not enough water on the earth to cover Mount Everest by 17.5 feet of water.
The flood could have been local but adequate to wipe out mankind (Boyne Mountain is not that tall), there are more species now than there were then or mountains did not exist as we know them today (which would explain why they thought that their ziggurat was really something)
Tim:
Here is some info that I feel is much more accurate about the flood and the ark.
Keep in mind that it was not "species" but in biblical terms "kind" of animals. It seems that a "kind" of animal would be one that can that can reproduce of its kind. So not 30 species of dogs. Just two dogs.
This would have brought the number of animals down drastically and once the math is applied you'll see that there was more than enough room.
Check out the link. Copy and paste into your browser.
http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/really-a-flood-and-ark
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