Bible Reading and Reflection
Bible Reading and Reflection
And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. (1:31)
God creates all things in 6 days. After He creates each thing, He declares it good. His creation of mankind is special. God says, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth" (1:26). Creation is good, and God's design and mandate for humankind is good in the beginning.
The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. (2:15)
God makes Adam, the first man. God makes a garden that is full of life, both plants and animals. God puts Adam in the garden with a purpose. To work: to cultivate, to till. To keep: to guard, to protect. The mandate given to mankind by God in the beginning (before The Fall) is to work and to keep God's Creation.
The LORD God said to the serpent... (:14)
As a result of Satan's deception and the disobedience of Adam and Eve, Creation is cursed. Beginning with the serpent, God pronounces a curse on each of the guilty parties. To the serpent He says that he will be cursed above all animals. He will slither on his belly and eat dust. There will be enmity between the serpent and the woman, and between his seed and her seed (or offspring). Eve and all women after her will experience pain in bearing children. There will be jealousy, strife, pain, toiling, and death. Work will be hard. Relationships will be hard. Evil will strive against good.
“One of the very first things that was revealed to us after the crash of our first parents is the doctrine of the antithesis. This is the doctrine that throughout human history, there will be constant, total war between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. War is declared in the third chapter of the Bible, the central victory is accomplished when the Lord Jesus crushed the head of the serpent at the cross, and the rest of history consists of believers in Jesus being sent out into the world in order to manhandle all the snakes they can find” (Wilson, Rules for Reformers, p150-151).
And the LORD said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground". (4:10)
Immediately after the fall of mankind into sin, the Bible records the first murder. Cain kills his own brother Abel. Similar to Adam and Eve, Cain is cursed and cast out. But God has mercy on him to reduce his punishment. Even before that, God gives Cain the opportunity two times to confess and repent (:6,9). Abel's blood cries out to God for Cain's condemnation. There would later come a Brother, who would be unjustly murdered, whose blood cries out to God, not for our condemnation however, but for our acquittal - the blood of Jesus Christ.
...and he died. (5:5)
This chapter is a genealogy of death. Death has entered the world through sin. "Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned" (Romans 5:12). The genealogy leads to Noah, who is the next major character in the storyline. Noah, whose name means 'rest', is identified as one who "shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands" (5:29). How Noah will do this is not clear yet, but it is clear that mankind is weary of working in a fallen world. Sin is taxing, physically and spiritually, and from it we desire relief. This longing will not be fulfilled by Noah, but there is One who would come who would bring rest to weary souls. "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).
When man begin to multiply on the face of the land... (:1)
The commission to go, be fruitful and multiply was the first thing God told Adam and Eve to do after He created them (Genesis 1:28). God intended for His image-bearers to multiply and fill the earth, to subdue it and have dominion over it. This commission is being fulfilled, but sadly it is not as God intended, for man is multiplying sinfulness and wickedness and not righteousness and holiness in the likeness of God.
But God has a plan, and He will fulfill it. "Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator" (Colossians 3:9-10). In Christ, God recovers the intended purpose for His creation to bear His image, and through His Church the great commission to multiply is being fulfilled.
And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood. (:7)
God sees the increasing wickedness, corruption, and violence of mankind and He determines to blot them out. God judges sin and carries out the just penalty with completeness. At the same time He shows mercy and grace to a chosen family, the family of Noah. He commands Noah to build an ark so that he and his family can escape the judgment waters of the flood. They go into the ark and escape the waters.
The salvation of Noah and his family was not ultimate, but it points to what would be. "For Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him." (1 Peter 3:18-22)
But God remembered Noah... (8:1)
God wipes out all of mankind and living creatures on the face of the earth because of their sin and corruption. But in His mercy and grace, God remembers Noah. There seems to be a sense in which this remembering is personal and specific to Noah. "Remember me, O LORD, when you show favor to your people; help me when you save them, that I may look upon the prosperity of your chosen ones, that I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation, that I may glory with your inheritance" (Ps 106:4–5). "And he said, 'Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.' And he said to him, 'Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise'" (Luke 23:42–43). God's act of remembering a person has saving effect.
Then God said to Noah, "Go out from the ark... be fruitful and multiply on the earth." (8:15-17)
The command that God gave to Adam and Eve in the garden is repeated to Noah and his family and all the creatures in the ark following the flood. It is repeated twice again in chapter 9 (:1, 7).
Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease." (8:20-22)
The flood is the most thorough execution of God's judgment in the earth in all of history. Noah and his family are saved by God's grace through the ark. When the waters subside, Noah offers a sacrifice to God. It is pleasing to Him and God makes a promise to never again curse the earth or every living creature because of man's sin.
The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. (:2-3)
Noah and his family receive a blessing from God similar to that received by Adam and Eve. They are commissioned to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. They are also given dominion over creation, but the language God uses is different. Adam and Eve were told to "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth" (1:28). God says to Noah that his relationship with the creatures of the earth will be one of fear and dread, and that Noah and his descendants will kill animals and eat them. This must be a post Fall version of the Garden Mandate that accounts for sin and death in the world.
But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 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.
Whoever sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed,
for God made man in his own image. (9:4-6)
There are things that are similar between God's mandate to Adam and Eve and His mandate to Noah and his family, and there are things that are different. To Noah, God gives animals as food, but restricts consuming the blood of the animal, which is identified as its life. And God gives a strict consequence for the murder of another human life: a life for a life. This is because "God made man in his own image." There was no death before the fall of man. Now there is murder and death. God's command protects the life of His image-bearers.
The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the people of the whole earth were dispersed. (9:18-19)
The Bible reveals that the entire population of the earth, every people group on the planet, descends from these three fathers who were the sons of Noah. Chapter 10 provides a list of the descendants. "These are the clans of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, in their nations, and from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood" (10:32).
he said, "Cursed by Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers." (9:25)
The story recorded about Noah at the end of chapter 9 is like the story recorded about Adam and Eve in chapter 3 in that it is a post-commission/creation fall into sin. The first recorded thing that humankind does after God cleans the slate by the flood is sin. It is still present and still corrupts man's nature. It will produce enmity between brothers and nations for the rest of history. Yet it is still the thing that God is resolved to eradicate from His creation.
Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. (:1)
The Tower of Babel event must have occurred before chapter 10, or at least very early on in the generations of Noah's sons, because the descendants of Noah's sons in chapter 10 are described as having their own languages (10:5, 20, 31). The Tower of Babel event takes place when they all still had the same language.
And as the people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. (:2)
This action of settling in one place is in direct disobedience to God's command to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
...let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth. (:4)
Mankind is working and cultivating the earth by building bricks (one of the first recorded pieces of technology) and a city. This reflects the imago Dei in man and the mandate given by God to work and to keep the Garden. However, because of sin, man's motive to build is for the glory of his own name and not the name of God.
"Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech." So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. (:7-8)
The city and the tower being built is the greatest achievement of Man at this point in history. Yet, God must condescend to see it (:5). This is not saying that the LORD couldn't see it from further away. He sees all things. It is a way that the author, Moses, portrays God as infinitely higher than anything Man can build or achieve. The LORD acts in opposition to Man and scatters them. When Man acts in opposition to God and seeks his own glory, the LORD acts in opposition to Man and crushes his attempts. But, when Man acts in obedience to God and seeks God's glory, the LORD blesses Man and ensures his flourishing. This is God's design. Compare and contrast the Tower of Babel with the New Jerusalem that will be at the center of the new heavens and the new earth (Revelation 21). They are both great cities where a multitude is assembled, but one is unto the LORD and one is unto Man. One will endure forever. One, and all others like it that bear resemblance to Babylon, will be destroyed.
Thought: Are the cities of human civilization always going to be centers for the exaltation of man? And is it true, therefore that the bigger the city, the greater the man-centeredness? It seems like that is true based on inference from this passage, understanding fallenness and sinful pride, and even from observing the nature of big cities and empires over the course of human history. The greater the city, the greater the pride of man.
"The narrative now moves from the general survey of humanity to the specific family from which Israel comes" (Note on 11:27-50:26, ESV Study Bible, p 70).
Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (:1-3).
So Abram went... and they set out to go to the land of Canaan... At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him (:4, 5, 6-7).
Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land (:10).
A famine caused Abram and Sarai to move from the region of the Negeb to Egypt. God is the orchestrator of the famine. Just as much as He gives the command to Abram to go in verse one, He gives command to crops and livestock, to feast and famine. He causes Abram to go where He wants him to go.
"Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake." When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful... And the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house. And for her sake he dealt well with Abram (:13-16).
But the LORD afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai... And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had (:17, 20).
So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the Negeb... And he journeyed on from the Negeb as far as Bethel... (:1, 3).
...and there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot's livestock (:7).
Lot and Abram were both wealthy men with much livestock and possessions. The area where they resided was too small to contain them both.
Then Abram said to Lot, "Let there be no strife between you and me... Separate yourself from me..." And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the LORD... (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) So Lot chose for himself the Jordan Valley... Thus they separated from each other... Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the LORD (:8-11, 13).
Lot chooses the Jordan Valley because it is so lush and fertile, like the Garden of Eden. But we will see how the sin of man multiplies in this place in the coming chapters. So much so that God will destroy the area by fire.
Abram settled in the land of Canaan... The LORD said to Abram... "Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you." So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the LORD (:14-18).
God makes a promise to Abram including land and descendants. Abram settles in the area of Hebron.
In the days of... these kings made war with... And all these joined forces in... (:1-3).
The setting and characters of this recorded account are given in the first half of this chapter. Kings of these nations make war against the kings of those nations in a geographic location known as the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea). There was a rebellion (:4). This is the first war between kings and nations recorded in the Bible.
They also took Lot, the son of Abram's brother, who was dwelling in Sodom, and his possessions, and went their way. Then one who had escaped came and told Abram... When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he led forth his trained me... and defeated them... (:12-16).
Abram is victorious in battle and rescues his nephew, Lot.
After his return... the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley). And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was a priest of God Most High.) And he blessed him... (:17-20).
Melchizedek is a significant name. This is the first mention of this name in the Bible. I believe this is also the first mention of a "priest of God Most High."
And the king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the persons, but take the good for yourself." But Abram said... "I would not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything..." (:21-24).
In faith and devotion to God, Abram refuses a reward. This must relate to God's word to Abram in the opening verse of chapter 15.
After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: "Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great" (:1).
Abram declines the reward from his victory in battle. The LORD speaks to Abram with a promise of a better reward.
But Abram said, "O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?... Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir" (:2-3).
Abram is discouraged. The reward he longs for is an heir. God promised to make Abram a great nation in chapter 12, but he is losing hope that it will come to fruition.
And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: "This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir." And he brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be." And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness (:4-6).
Father Abraham was made righteous by faith.
And he said to him, "I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess." But he said, "O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?" He said to him, "Bring me a heifer three years old..." (:7-11).
The LORD commands Abraham to prepare a sacrifice. This ritual accompanies the covenant promise that God makes with Abraham. God will fulfill His promise.
As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram... Then the LORD said to Abram, "Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years..." (:12-16).
The LORD foretells of the captivity in Egypt and the judgment of the plagues and the Exodus.
When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram... (:17-20).
Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar (:1).
Sarai grows impatient. She tells Abram to have a child by her servant girl Hagar. Abram does so, and Ishmael is born. This creates enmity between Sarai and Hagar. Sarai treats Hagar harshly so that she flees. But the LORD meets her and ministers to her.
The angel of the LORD also said to her, "I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude... Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the LORD has listened to your affliction. He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone's had against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen" (11-12).
Even though Ishmael is born out of a sinful decision by Sarai and Abram, the LORD has plans for him.