Genesis 7 through 9

Genesis 7 through 9


And a short rabbit hop back to Genesis 6:3

"Then the LORD said, My Spirit shall not forever dwell and strive with man, for he also is flesh; but his days shall yet be 120 years."

or this interpretation:

"And Hashem said, My Ruach [Hakodesh] shall not always strive with Adam, for that he also is basar: yet his yamim shall be a hundred and twenty shanah."

A couple of things to note: To whom was the LORD speaking when he made this pronouncement? 

Since the LORD said it - spoke it into creation - it had to happen.  

That reminds me of a question we explored in Tim's class - about why Jesus remained silent during his court trials and accusations.  I think the reason is the same as above: If Jesus had spoken in his own defense, those words would have defined (created) a reality that would have silenced his accusers. Jesus would not have been condemned to die for us if he had spoken in his own behalf.


Onward through Genesis chapters 7 - 9.

Chapter 7
We already covered Noah finding favor with God and the conversations they had about the ark; so I won't recap all the construction information or the specifics of gathering the animals.  I will note that the instructions are very precise and specific.

I wonder if Noah and God had to revisit the ark plans from time to time, or if Noah's memory was good enough to remember all of it during the initial conversation?


Chapter 8
God "remembers" Noah and the animals and begins the drying process on the earth.  When the time is right to leave the ark, God spoke to Noah (not the whole family) saying, "Go forth of the tevah (ark), thou, and thy isha (woman), and thy banim (sons), and the nashim (women) of thy banim with thee."

Upon exiting, Noah built an altar and sacrificed to the LORD from the clean animals and birds.

Then, interestingly enough, God spoke to Himself:

" When the Lord smelled the pleasing odor [a scent of satisfaction to His heart], the Lord said to Himself, I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the imagination (the strong desire) of man’s heart is evil and wicked from his youth; neither will I ever again smite and destroy every living thing, as I have done. 

                       While the earth remains,

                    seedtime and harvest, 

                     cold and heat, 

                      summer and winter,

                    and day and night shall not cease."

Did God report on himself when relating the flood story?

Did God follow his own rule by speaking to himself (instead of thinking to himself) to create a new kingdom reality?

Also notice the promise at the end of his testimony about the behavior of the planet.  I know a lot of Bible commentators strenuously observe the Bible is not a science textbook, but this is a situation of scientific consensus versus Biblical truth.

One one side, AGW evangelists proclaim global cooling (in the 1970's) global warming (in the 2000's) and climate change (in the 2010's) would wreck the planet - bringing floods, food shortages, temperature extremes, pestilence, and widespread death.  At least they're not claiming that day and night will end.

On the other side, God's promise that the planet would have seasons until it was gone.  

I'm thankful the Bible is not a science textbook.  God would be continually rewriting it.  Instead, it is the science textbooks which much be adjusted and altered to reflect God's truth.

For instance, until 1959 - the textbooks in cosmology taught a consensus truth: the universe was eternal, infinite and unchanging.  It never had a beginning and would never have an end.  This meant there was no need for God and his creation effort. Science had proven the Bible was wrong.

But Einstein's math showed the universe had to be expanding.  He later added a fudge factor to force an equilibrium - but he never liked it, because he couldn't find a reason to add it, other than consensus peer pressure.

When Hubble and others looked upward and began to measure the light of the stars, they found everything was moving away from the earth at various speeds (measured by redshift).  That meant Einstein could erase his fudge factor. But it also meant the Earth was at the center of the universe - since everything was moving away from it.

So the scientists created another revision of the mathematical model of the universe, one that has no edge and no center. That meant everything was moving away from everything else. And that meant the Earth was no longer in a privileged spot. Science had proven the Bible was wrong by moving the Earth from a special place.

But everything moving apart meant that is was all a lot closer at one time. Since that sounded to the scientists a lot like the creation described in Genesis, they postulated a Big Bang. The universe gave birth to itself, arising from the quantum foam (areas of potentiality surrounding nothing, and surrounded by more nothing).  In essence, nothing literally became everything.  Science had proven the Bible was wrong because there's no need for God when quantum gravity is on the scene.

And with a big bang theory in hand, physicists calculated the temperature of the primodial universe.  When COBE proved their best calculations were wrong, they adjusted their math and then declared their prediction was correct, based on COBE measurements. Science had prove itself wrong or at least a big joke.

And when the new numbers showed the universe was a lot bigger than it should be, they added a fudge factor to the big bang theory.  This fudge factor canceled gravity (the thing that cause the universe to come into being) for a short while -- permitting everything to fly apart much faster than it normally could, and the factor also turned gravity back on (at its current strength) a little later. Science had proven itself weirder than science fiction.

I'm ranting; but I'll say again - the Bible *not* being a science textbook is a source of pride.

Further observations led to further tweaks in the math and the models until finally the scientists have come to a cosmology that is populated mostly by dark energy and dark matter. The tiny dab that remains is baryonic  - the stuff we can see and touch.

And the scientists (and Bible scholars) who deride the idea of a water cloud suspended over the earth becoming the waters of the flood now have to deal with the discovery of a cosmic water cloud that could fill the Earth's oceans over 2000 times.

Except for engineering, science has become consensus, fad, and fashion. I'd rather have truth.

Chapter 9

God speaks to Noah and his family, giving them blessings, a new law, instructions and more promises.

And God pronounced a blessing upon Noah and his sons and said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.  

[The anti-Christs and Malthusians say there are too many people for the planet to support and that the earth's resources are limited.]

And the fear of you and the dread and terror of you shall be upon every beast of the land, every bird of the air, all that creeps upon the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are delivered into your hand.

Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; and as I gave you the green vegetables and plants, I give you everything.

[People move from vegetarian to omnivorous.]


But you shall not eat flesh with the life of it, which is its blood.

[A commandment, and one which perplexed the disciples when Jesus told them to eat his flesh and drink his blood.]

And surely for your lifeblood I will require an accounting; from every beast I will require it; and from man, from every man [who spills another’s lifeblood] I will require a reckoning.

Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God He made man. 

[A law.]

And you, be fruitful and multiply; bring forth abundantly on the earth and multiply on it. 

[A blessing so nice, he said it twice.]

Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying,

Behold, I establish My covenant or pledge with you and with your descendants after you 

[Noah's descendants seem to cover, well - everyone.]

And with every living creature that is with you—whether the birds, the livestock, or the wild beasts of the earth along with you, as many as came out of the ark—every animal of the earth.

[And that covers everything else, except maybe fish.]

I will establish My covenant or pledge with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood; neither shall there ever again be a flood to destroy the earth and make it corrupt


[God says no more world-wide floods, and the AGW fans tell us the ice caps are melting and will flood the entire world.]

And God said, This is the token of the covenant (solemn pledge) which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations:

I set My bow [rainbow] in the cloud, and it shall be a token or sign of a covenant or solemn pledge between Me and the earth.

And it shall be that when I bring clouds over the earth and the bow [rainbow] is seen in the clouds,

I will [earnestly] remember My covenant or solemn pledge which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters will no more become a flood to destroy and make all flesh corrupt.

When the bow [rainbow] is in the clouds and I look upon it, I will [earnestly] remember the everlasting covenant or pledge between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.

And God said to Noah, This [rainbow] is the token or sign of the covenant or solemn pledge which I have established between Me and all flesh upon the earth.

[A promise from God.]