Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Genesis 5 & 6 - Noah Did All the Lord Commanded

LINK: Genesis 5 & 6

BACKGROUND

We have just finished the first toledot (the account of) of the creation. (Genesis 2:4-4:26). There are ten toledots in the book of Genesis. Give yourself a pat on the back. You have reached the first mile marker in this long journey through Scripture!

Genesis 5 is all about the genealogy of Adam's son, Seth. Seth means "compensation" in Hebrew. He was certainly compensation for Adam and Eve after their murderous first son, Cain, was banished as a vagrant wanderer to Nod (Nod means "wandering" in Hebrew).

What is striking in this genealogy is the contrast between the line of Cain and the line of Seth. Seth is the line that is referred to as those who "call on the name of the Lord" going down the line to the seventh son of Adam, Enoch, who "walked with God" and "the Lord took Him up." His cousin of the same seventh generation in Cain's line was Lamech (4:19-24) who killed a man and a boy. What a contrast between the godly and the ungodly.

Just as Abel is lauded in Hebrews 11, so is Enoch in verse 5: 
By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death, AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM UP, for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.
(Note that capital letters in the New American Standard Bible mean that it is an Old Testament quote.)

This line follows all the way to Noah who we meet up close in Genesis 6 where he is, like Enoch, one who "walked with God."

Before we get to the details of Noah, we have this question? Who are sons of God, the daughters of men, and the Nephilim?

I took a "Theology of the Pentateuch" class in seminary back in 1988. You would be amazed at how many pages and pages have been devoted to this one subject!

Here are three main positions:

  • The "sons of God" were the godly line of humanity (Sethites), and the "daughters of men" were the ungodly line of humanity (lineage of Cain) based on the literary context and resulting judgment on the human world. This was the position of Augustine, Luther, and Calvin.
  • The "sons of God" were angelic beings because this term is used in this way in Job, the Psalms, and Enoch 6-7 (an apocryphal book). There are possible references to this sin in 1 Peter 3:18-20 and 2 Peter 2:4. Josephus and other early Christian writers took this position. This is the more traditional view.
  • The "sons of God" were probably powerful rulers who were controlled (indwelt) by fallen angels.
Nephilim means "giants" in Hebrew. They are referred to later in Numbers when the spies come back and give their report about the land where they report they were of great size. Again, we do not know much more than that, but commentators have speculated that their "renown" was not good.

The simple fact is we do not know for sure what this all means (for what it's worth, I tend toward position #1), but what we do know is that mankind had become so corrupt to the point where "every inclination of the heart was evil." They were so wicked that God was "grieved in His heart," and that is all I really need to know.

YET, in the midst of all of this, there was Noah, who found favor in the eyes of the Lord. He was a righteous man, blameless among all those corrupt and wicked people. He walked with God! (Somehow that phrase in the midst of this passage just makes me stop in the midst of the grief and say, "Ahhhhhhhhh, there is hope.") When God told Noah that He was going to destroy the earth and he needed to build an ark, Noah did everything just as God had commanded him. He believed. He had faith. So much faith that God wanted to make a covenant with him. We will talk about that in the near future.

Noah is also in the Hebrews 11 "Hall of Faith" behind Abel and Enoch, "By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith."

Thank God for Noah.

The Scarlet Thread of Redemption

Who says that genealogies in the Bible have to be boring? Luke 3 traces Jesus' genealogy all the way back to Adam, and Noah is right on the way!

REFLECTION

In the midst of the darkness, there is light in a man named Noah who found favor in the eyes of the LORD by walking with Him. I want to be like Noah. I want to walk with God in everything I do and say! I want to walk by faith and, in reverence, pour out my life and do everything He says. It means going a different path than the ungodly ones of the world though. Hebrews even says, "he condemned the world," and I need to reflect more on that.

APPLICATION

Noah walked with God with his whole heart. I was stuck on the phrase, "Noah did ALL the Lord commanded him." He did this even when it probably seemed ridiculous to the people around him. Are you willing to walk with God like that?

My "I WILL" statement for that week was to do all that He told me to do (even if it sounded ridiculous), and what a week it was! 

One example, God told me to forward an email about family relational harmony to a friend. I did not know why. She wrote back to tell me that she was having a big conflict with her teenage son. 

Then God told me, "Tell her to call you if she needs to talk more." I do not usually push myself on people like that. It was enough for me to forward the email. (I do not like to come across as preachy.) But my commitment was to do "all the Lord commanded me to do" that week. So, I forwarded it.

A few minutes later, she called me. After I listened to her pour out her heart for about 30 minutes, God said, "Do listening prayer with her. I have some things to say to her." So, I launched right into it. An hour later, God had healed her of a deep emotional wound from the past. It was not easy, and even in the midst of the listening, I wanted to stop because her pain was so great as God did spiritual surgery on her soul, but I continued to do "all that He commanded" me to do.

I am so glad that I did "all that the Lord commanded" me!

Please join me in making this new year one in which you walk like Noah who did "all that the Lord commanded"!

PRAYER

Lord, we know that Your eyes move to and fro throughout the whole earth that You may strongly support those whose heart is completely Yours. (2 Chronicles 16:9). Lord, make us people of faith like Noah! I want to do everything as You have commanded, even if it means being alone in building something like an ark. Thank You for this example of a person of faith, Lord. Amen.

13 comments:

Katrina said...

A few thoughts --

Man's wickedness was complete, and God was sorry that he had made man. That is so sad!! In a matter of only about 1600 years, mankind had become totally corrupt except for a few godly men. In contrast, since the flood, man has had another 5000+ years to reach the current state of corruption. Not sure I have any conclusions to draw from this; I just thought it was interesting.

Noah's obedience is definitely something to emulate. He apparently preached as well as built the ark. He knew God's intention to destroy the entire earth and all of mankind except his own family. He would have talked with many people while building the ark (probably 100-120 years), yet none would repent. Such hardness of heart!

Nikki Stauber said...

Well, this is a long post, so I apologize in advance. I have just had an interesting research romp because of today's reading.
One of the intrigues had to do with the Enochs. Did you realize that both Cain and Seth have descendants named Enoch? I wonder why it is that Cain was building a CITY, which he named after his son Enoch? Were there enough people around at the time to inspire him to build a city or was it a case of "build it and they will come?" Cain was certainly worried in Ge4:14 about other people finding him and killing him- so maybe there were lots of other people about.
I discovered some interesting views on Seth's Enoch- who "walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away." He is recognized in the Talmud as a prophet turned angel and some say the Greeks think he is Mercury or Hermes. Does anyone here know anything about the Book of Enoch- it sounds like an interesting read.
Then, I rabbit-trailed down the path of the "sons of God" and "daughters of men" and the various interpretations of what that could mean. That led me to reading various ideas about Nephilim, heroes of old, extra-terrestials :)and other cultures' ideas about the mingling of men and supernatural beings.
And finally, I was impressed (and perhaps jealous in some ways) by God apparently telling Noah so clearly what He wanted Noah to do and Noah doing "everything just as God commanded him".
Sorry this is so long, today's reading just generated so much wondering and curiosity- I've just spent almost three hours with all of this and God! It's been a great morning. Thanks for your work on the BBC, Carol.
- Nikki

Carol Ann Weaver said...

Nikki! I thought, "Who is Nikki?" I click and find that this mysterious Nikki has at 365(6) blog. Hmmm.. Then I think, "Doesn't the Nikki I know have a husband of the same name?" Then, I see it, your picture! It is YOU!

So glad you have come to join the party. WOHOO!

Hey everyone! Nikki is the person who organizes all those wonderful plays I go to!

Now, I will calm down and read what you actually wrote about the passage.

Welcome aboard.

I will also read what you wrote too Katrina!

Anonymous said...

Hmmmm...I'm thinking of Katrina's comment about 1600 years. Does everyone interpret those as literal (365 days in a year?) Just curious. I guess I'm so surprised that I never stopped to think that that much time had gone by between the Fall and Noah. I would have thought maybe 50-100 years; which is what I get for usually skimming over geneologies instead of studying them!

Interesting,
Heather

Katrina said...

About those 1600 years -- Being the nerd that I am :) , several years ago I made a little bar graph that shows all those numbers of years in the genealogy text. When I finished with all the years from Adam to the flood, it stretched out to 1656 years.

Also, from my little chart, I observed that Lamech (Noah's father) didn't die until five years before the flood, and Methuselah (Noah's grandfather) died the year of the flood.

Adam was 130 before Seth was even born. It's assumed that Adam & Eve had many other children besides Cain, Abel, and Seth. They must have had daughters, too, or there wouldn't be any further generations. :)

Adam lived to see the birth of his great*6 grandson (8th generation after Adam) Lamech (father of Noah)!

Just some fun, interesting tidbits! :)

dorothy said...

"Methusaleh," I was once told means, "When he dies, it will come," referring to the flood/God's judgment on mankind. Ever wonder that Methusaleh was the Bible's oldest man recorded. He lived a record number of years, 969. Only his grandfather, Jared came close. He only lived 962 years.

When you think about Methusaleh's name, you can only marvel at God's patience and mercy for mankind. He allowed Methusaleh to live so long that sinful man may turn away from sin and chose to obey. Reminds me of 2 Peter 3:9 "The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance." (NASB)

In Greek, "Methu" means wine. Ironically later in Genesis, after the flood, Methusaleh's grandson, Noah, decides to plant a vineyard, makes some wine, and has a bit too much too drink and sleeps in his tent only wearing his birthday suit. His youngest son, Ham, finds him and reports to his older brothers rathering than covering his dad up.

No wonder the Jews consider ham or pork unkosher/unclean. According to one Rabbi, "Pork is seen as the ultimate "non-kosher" animal. The Torah considers an animal kosher if it both chews its cud AND has split hooves. The only animal species that has split hooves (trotters) and does not chew the cud is the pig family.

When you look at a pig, you will sooner notice the "split hooves" than the fact that it does not ruminate. When it lies, the pig almost seems to "show off" it's kosher qualities, as it spreads its trotters out.

So, the pig has come to represent hypocrisy, someone who shows themselves to be righteous, but is not-so-kosher on the inside. In Judaism, there is nothing more morally detestable than a spiritual charlatan."

We Americans also refer to someone being funny as "being a Ham." Whoever said the Bible was boring has not really read it.

Katrina said...

Heather asked, "Does everyone interpret those as literal (365 days in a year?) Just curious."

I never thought about it before, so the question intrigued me. Thinking about it took me back to the creation account in chapter 1 (verses 14-19). Part of the purpose for the sun, moon, and stars is to mark time. I can't think of any way those would have changed since then, so I don't know any reason why a year before the flood would be different from a year now. If they measured with a lunar year, the years would have been about 360 days instead of the 365 days of the solar year. Are there any other ways to measure a year?

Carol Ann Weaver said...

Excerpt from *Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament by Harris, Archer, and Waltke:

"The translation of the name of the Bible's elder statesman, Methuselah, seems straightforward, 'man of the spear/weapon' composed of the two Hebrew words, mat "man" and selah, 'weapon' (and comparing the second element with the Hebrew name Shelah in Gen 19:24, 11:14, 1 Chr. 1:18). It has been suggested (tsevat) that selah has nothing to do with 'spear' or any other weapon but that this represens a divine name *salah,* the god of the infernal river of the Canaanite population of Palestine and Phoenicia. Thus Methuselah means 'man of Shalah.' Nothing, however, militates against the traditional translation."

Carol Ann Weaver said...

Nikki, don't ever worry about having too long a post!

Yes, two Enochs, and a CITY when he was supposed to be a vagrant, wanderer. Pretty interesting, eh.

I didn't know that about Hermes and Mercury. Where did you find that? Very interesting.

I don't know about the Book of Enoch, but maybe someone here has the Apocrypha.

I read that about the "extra-terrestrials too. How weird!

Noah's life is the thing that captures me the most. Would I be willing to build an ark on dry land? I would like to say that I would, but I don't like to be thought of as a weirdo (Even though many think I am pretty crazy. :)).

Really appreciated your enthusiasm of three hours. Aren't bunny trails fun sometimes?

Don't ever worry about having to long of a comment. We can handle it.

Katrina, you aren't nerd for doing that. My Bible did a similar thing and put the age and time-line of the patriarchs, and who overlapped with who. I wish I could put it on the blog site for all to see.

Katrina said...

Look what I found! This looks similar to the chart I drew.

Adam to Methuselah
http://agards-bible-timeline.com/bible_timeline_online_40BC.html

To the Flood
http://agards-bible-timeline.com/bible_timeline_online_30BC.html#flood

Anonymous said...

Someone said that Adam didn't name Eve until after the Fall. I re-read everything today and noticed she was named "woman" but after the fall given the personal name of Eve. Just a side note.

Abel came in faith. In Hebrews 11:5-6 it says that "it was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying.......so you see it is impossible to please God without faith."

Noah also found favor with God because he did not follow after the popular opinions of the day. He lived by faith.

I think about all the things I let get in the way of my relationship with God. When I was in Mongolia on a short term mission it struck me how much easier it was for me to keep my focus on Christ without the distractions I live with here in America. It is so much easier to turn on the TV or read email than read my Bible for instance.

Both Noah and Enoch enjoyed a close relationship with God. Noah consitently followed God's will as well. May my children be able to say those things of me one day!

I am also very curious about Chapter 6 verse 4 where it talks about the sons of God (Nephilim)and the women of earth producing Giants. I always assumed Adam and Eve's children married to have children. But perhaps it was these "sons of God" that propagated the human race from the start. Just a thought.

Connie

Anonymous said...

In the larger scope of things this doesn't really matter, but.....

Katrina said that Noah "would have talked with many people while building the ark (probably 100-120 years), yet none would repent". I've read in children's books where it mentions Noah trying to persuade men to listen to him regarding the flood, etc. In Gen 6:18 God told Noah exactly what people would be in the ark. So Noah must have known even before he started building that no one would listen.

Just a thought, Jan

Carol Ann Weaver said...

What a great reminder about doing all that he commanded. I remember this listening prayer time with my friend, but I had forgotten that it came out of me "doing all that the Lord commanded (we still walk together at least once a month - by the way, her teenage son is now a grown man who loves God). God is so good!