Monday Reading Notes –– Genesis 1:1 – 2:25 (January 1)
Normally, these notes will be fairly brief. However, one of my special interests is the approximately 2000 years of world history condensed down to only the first 12 chapters of Genesis. Inevitably, these notes will be lengthier than other week’s notes. There are so many foundational events and teachings in these chapters, they deserve many words. But take my word for it – I could have used many more words! To keep these notes from getting too lengthy, I address many concepts that are verifiable both biblically and scientifically without too much in depth explanation. For further explanation, go to the contact us section of the web site and submit a question for me. I’d be happy to go into more detail or direct you to other sources of information. Happy reading! I know you’ll be blessed by getting into God’s word!
Pastor Tom
Genesis 1:3-31 – There are many theories that suppose the days of creation to be metaphorical rather than literal, 24 hour days. However, the Biblical writer went to great lengths to make sure they were understood to be the ordinary days we have today, defining a “day” as the passage of evening and morning. Even the original Hebrew language seems to strengthen the point. It reads “the first day,” as if the writer is defining what day means by that first one. From then on it reads “a second day,” “a third day,” etc., as if to say make it clear that the other days continued on exactly the same as the first one. It’s hard to imagine how the Biblical author could have made the concept of 6 regular, 24 hour days any clearer than he did.
Genesis 1:11-12, 21, 24-25 – The creation account is very clear to mention that animals and plants were created and reproduce according to their “kinds.” Evolution proposes that one kind can, with time and chance, change into another kind. However, the only changes that have been conclusively documented are changes within a kind. For example, it is well documented that all domestic dogs are descended from the gray wolf, yet they are still the “dog kind.” Besides, this is certainly not an example of upward evolutionary change, as no one would claim that any type of domestic dog is better suited for survival than the gray wolf!
Genesis 1:14-18 – In the ancient world, worship of the heavenly bodies was very common. Zodiacal symbols are found in all kinds of ancient artifacts, and worship of the sun and moon is well documented. How ironic that God created the heavenly bodies to serve us! The reason He gives, in Genesis 1:14 and 15 is to help us mark time (seasons, days and years) and to give light to the earth. Though God is outside of time, He placed time markers into the world for one purpose – our benefit.
Genesis 1:20-25 – Dinosaur fossils, to many, are a great mystery of the ancient world. Yet reading the Bible carefully clears up the mystery! The sea dwelling dinosaurs (kronosaurus, plesiosaur to name two) would have been created on day 5 with all the other sea creatures, while the land dwelling dinosaurs (e.g., stegosaurus, tyrannosaurus rex, and a scientifically obsolete but still famous name - brontosaurus) would have been created with all the other land dwelling creatures on day six. This leads to some implications that fly in the face of modern evolutionary thought: namely, dinosaurs living in the recent past (not millions of years ago) and dinosaurs and humans coexisting, since humanity was also created on day six. Discoveries of multitudes of unfossilized dinosaur bones as well us the recent discovery of a t. rex femur with blood cells, blood vessels and DNA in tact point to the very real possibility of dinosaurs living much more recently than 65 million years ago. The description of behemoth in Job 40:15 – which seems to resemble a sauropod dinosaur -- and early human artwork resembling dinosaurs are just a few of many other clues we have that support the idea of dinosaurs and people living at the same time.
Genesis 1:30 – Many see a possible inconsistency with the idea of no death before the fall into sin and the existence of predatory animals. This passage, however, makes it clear that God originally designed His creation to eat only plants. “To all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move along the ground – everything that has the breath of life (Hebrew: nephesh chayah, which differentiates plant life from animal life) – I give every green plant for food.” God have people permission to eat meat after the flood, when it’s likely that the supply of other protein-rich food had diminished (see Genesis 9:3).
Genesis 2 – It has often been proposed that Genesis 1 and 2 are two different creation accounts written by two authors. If this were true, and they were compiled by a later editor, that poses no problem for the idea of God’s inspiration of the Bible, as He could have moved His writers to use the older sources He wanted. However, another very likely possibility is that Genesis 1 gives us an overview of the creation days, while Genesis two goes into more detail about certain aspects.
Genesis 2:7 – One of the aspects where more detail is given is the creation of humanity. Man is portrayed as a unique and special creation of God, the only creation of God that was given the “breath” of life, from the Hebrew word ruach which also means “spirit.” Genesis 1:27 also tells us male and female were created in the image of God. This means they were given the role of stewards over creation and were endowed with an eternal soul, as well as superior intelligence as compared to other creatures. It is also very likely human beings resemble God’s appearance in some way. Evolutionary thought gives us a much different picture, of course. It is important to note that despite the tireless searching for the missing link, any claim that it has been found has always been hotly disputed even among evolutionary scientists. There are a great many scientists who see the fossils of so called pre-humans as either the bones of a variety of extinct primates, or the bones of people who were fully human, but with unique skull traits, most of which we can still see examples of in humans living today. Neanderthal skull traits, for example, though rare, can be found in modern humans.
Genesis 2:24 – God established marriage from the very beginning. This passage defines it as a life-long joining of a man and a woman. This is an important point to remember as we wrestle in the year 2007 and beyond with marriage issues. Marriage is not a human invention, but a divine gift. If we continue to uphold it as God as designed, we will be blessed, for it is built into the framework of God’s design for the world. If we redefine it according to societal convention, we do so to our detriment.
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Tuesday Reading Notes –– Genesis 3:1–24 (January 2)
Genesis 3:1 – The Hebrew word for serpent (naghash) (BDB p. 638 a) has a broader meaning than the legless reptile we think of today. It definitely meant “snake,” at times, but the creature that confronted Eve may have been much more. Verse 14 of this same chapter makes it clear this particular serpent had legs. The same Hebrew word is used to describe the mysterious creature leviathan in Isaiah 27:1. That same creature’s extensive description in Job 41 gives the impression of something like a sea serpent. So the creature that appeared to Eve certainly may have been very large and impressive, possibly even dragon like. Dragon was a separate Hebrew word (tanneen) that at times was used interchangeably with the word serpent. Leviathan, for example, in Isaiah 27:1, was called both a serpent (naghash) and a dragon (tanneen) in the same verse (the NIV chooses to use the word monster instead of dragon. All of this calls to mind the fact that the devil, who chose the serpent/dragon as his first disguise, is personified as a dragon in the book of Revelation. It is also theorized among many creationists that the words naghash may have referred to a number of large reptilian creatures, and the word tanneen may have referred to the largest of all – dragons. Today we would call them dinosaurs. Keep in mind that the word dinosaur was not invented until the 1800s. Dragon would have been an apt word for dinosaurs for those of the ancient world. Are words like naghash and tanneen, and others like leviathan and behemoth that speak of ancient, unidentified creatures indications of the coexistence of dinosaurs and man? Possibly. Unfortunately, though the word tanneen makes almost 30 appearances in the Hebrew Old Testament, the NIV never uses the word dragon to translate it, though that is the oldest and most accepted meaning. Dragons were very much a part of the ancient world. Every civilization has its legends of various mythical creatures, but stories of dragons are universal. Consider the animals of the Chinese New Year, 11 of which are very ordinary every day creatures, with the dragon the twelfth. Could it be that the dragon was just as ordinary in history as the rest of those creatures were? Could it really be true, as legends said, that a 13th century emperor used dragons to pull his chariot? Could it be that sailor’s legends of sea monsters were not legendary but real? Consider the possibility that dinosaurs are much more recent than we are lead to believe, which must be the case if we accept the Biblical timeline. (The only other possibility is that the Bible lies about the way the world was created.) If this is true, then the mysterious naghash, tanneen, leviathan, and behemoth, fall into place as amazing, large and impressive creations of God, now extinct.
Genesis 3:1 – The serpent’s words to Eve are meant to create doubt and resentment towards God. He purposefully twists God’s words into giving the impression that God does not want them to enjoy any tree of the garden! But God prohibited them to eat from just one.
Genesis 3:15 – Many consider this to be the first messianic prophecy of the Bible. Speaking not only to the serpent, but to the devil inhabiting the serpent, God foretells a constant state of “enmity” between his offspring and the woman’s, that would result in the serpents brood being crushed. Many artistic works of Jesus’ crucifixion show Satan’s head being crushed as Christ gives his life on the cross.
Genesis 3:16-19 – God curses the earth because of sin. It could no longer be the way it was. But even in the curses, grace is found. Pain and struggle in childbirth would create a special bond between mother and child. We naturally feel more protective and proud about what comes to us through struggle. Working the ground, having to struggle just to eat every day would be the life work for humanity, leaving little time, idleness, or energy to go against God, and creating a sense of reliance on God for all things. Even death, the ultimate curse, was now for Adam and Eve the only way to return to the full relationship with God they had enjoyed before the fall. Only through death and their faith in God would they escape the physical, sinful world and be face to face with God again.
Genesis 3:21 – The garments of skin God made of Adam and Eve allude to the first animal sacrifice. The blood of the guiltless was shed for the guilty so they could be clothed with the righteousness of God. This concept of “substitutionary atonement” would find its full expression when Christ died as our substitute. He lived the innocent and perfect life we could not to earn a reward that would be transferred to us. We deserve punishment and death, but Christ took that upon himself.
Genesis 3:22-24 – Adam and Eve’s banishment from the Garden was also gracious. The tree of life still had its power. If they ate of it, they could live forever in their state of sin. But banished from it, they would die some day, to be forever resurrected into perfect eternity in the presence of God.
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Wednesday Reading Notes –– Genesis 4:1 – 6:8 (January 3)
Genesis 4:5 – Why was God’s attitude so different regarding Cain and Abel’s offerings. Something about the offering Cain brought was not right (see verse 7). Verse 3 says that Cain brought “some of the fruits of the soil,” while Abel brought the fat portions (which were considered the best portions) from the first born. Later, as the sacrificial system gets well established in Exodus and Leviticus, the first and the best is the common theme of the sacrifices that were to be brought to God. Apparently, that guideline of the first and the best was already in effect in those days, or else God could not have rightly expected Cain to “do what is right” (again, verse 7), and also, apparently, Cain brought neither.
Genesis 4:7 – God warned Cain that “sin was crouching” at his door, desiring to have him. That personification of sin as a prowling beast calls to mind 1 Peter 4:8 - 9 – “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith…” God’s advice to Cain is similar. “You must master it.” Instead, sin mastered Cain. Thankfully, because of Christ, that’s not the way it has to be. “Sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law but under grace.” (Romans 6:14)
Genesis 4:8 – Why did sin master Cain? Cain seems incapable of the kind of thoughtful introspection necessary for mastering sin. He singled out Abel as the cause for his spiritual shortcomings instead of doing right, as God had urged him to do, and committed history’s first murder with one of history’s most absurd motives.
Genesis 4:15 – Why was God merciful to Cain when it seems like Cain does not deserve mercy? In part, because Cain’s punishment of having the one thing he could do taken away from him (working the soil) was more of a punishment to him in life than in death. Also, God prefers to be gracious, and chose to have mercy on this occasion, possibly out of concern for Adam and Eve, who had already lost one son.
Genesis 4:17 – Who was Cain’s wife? The ACLU lawyer in the famous Scopes trial (regarding the legality of teaching evolution) asked that question of the Christian attorney for the prosecution. That same question makes an appearance in the movie “Contact.” For some reason, that question has become almost symbolic of all variety of doubts regarding the historicity of Genesis 1 – 11. Those who ask that question make the incorrect assumption that Cain found his wife after he had wandered from home, and that she came from a different group of humans, thus disproving the Biblical account that all humanity came from Adam and Eve. However, Genesis 5:3 makes it clear that Adam and Eve had other sons and daughters. Cain’s wife, we can assume, was his sister, who had become his wife before he murdered Abel and went into exile. Marrying his sister did not break the Biblical prohibition against incest, which didn’t take effect until some 2500 years later. The creation science assumption is that God created Adam and Eve genetically perfect. There were no mistakes in their DNA. Gradually, because of the corrupting nature of sin and the “watering down” of our gene pool over the course of hundreds of generations, genetic mistakes within modern people like us are fairly common. The chances of close relatives having the same genetic mistakes are very high, leading to a variety of known birth defects as a result of incest. Earlier in the history of humanity, genetic mistakes would have been very rare, allowing for close relations to marry and have children. This “top down” approach to genetic information is the opposite of the evolutionary “simple to complex” approach, and is the key to understanding what we see in the world around us, as I will share further in Genesis 9 when the readings turn to the post-flood world.
Genesis 4:19 – 22 – The brief account of Cain’s family gives a window into the abilities of ancient man. We are often guilty of what some have called “chronological snobbery,” that is, thinking of ourselves as more intelligent than ancient man. Do not, however, mistake an accumulation of information and technology for raw intelligence. These verses show a great capability on the part of Cain’s descendents to master such things as agriculture, music, and metallurgy. How many of us would be able to develop these things with the materials they had and no prior knowledge of their existence?
Genesis 4:26 – “At that time men began to call on the name of the Lord.” Most scholars believe this means some sort of formal worship of the Lord (Yahweh) began at that point.
Genesis 5 (Entire chapter) – The astounding old ages of Adam and his descendents cry out for explanation here. Some have said God supernaturally gave them long life to help populate the earth, since that was His will (Genesis 1:28). Others point to a more scientific explanation. I see these old ages as supporting evidence for the “top down” approach of genetic information (see comments on Genesis 4:17 above). Since God created Adam and Eve perfect before the fall into sin, their genetic information would also have been flawless. There is scientific evidence to show that cell division in the human body is limited by structures on our DNA called telomeres. Theoretically, if a person had an unlimited supply of telomeres, he/she would never die of natural causes. These first humans, being genetically superior, may well have been gifted in just such away. (Additional supporting evidence for this “rich gene pool” theory comes after the flood, when the whole human race of presumably millions of people was reduced to only 8 on board the ark, a huge loss of genetic information when millions in the human race died. Following the flood, human life spans decreased dramatically with each generation.)
Genesis 6:2 – The sons of God and the daughters of men – Many have theorized that the sons of God were angels who intermarried with human women causing the impressive race of Nephilim to come about. There is no corroborating biblical evidence for such a theory. The more likely, and most accepted, view is that the descendents of Cain were known as the “sons and daughters of men,” while the descendents of Seth were known as the “sons and daughters of God.” These two groups likely had been separate for several hundred years, but began to intermarry as time passed. This resulted in a quick plunge into moral decay, as the God fearing line of Seth began to adopt the godless practices of the Cainites. The Nephilim, which means “great ones,” (who are also mentioned in Numbers 13:32) were people of great size and, apparently, strength. Again, going back to the “top down” theory of the gene pool, before the flood it is certainly possible that more genetic information for great size and strength was within the DNA of the human race than is today, and the Nephilim quite possibly were simply those people who benefited from genetic fate giving them unusual size and physical abilities.
Genesis 6:7 – How can a loving God wipe mankind from the face of the earth, causing the deaths of millions of people? In the notes for the next reading, I’ll propose that, because of God’s patience and mercy, it was the only option He had left.
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Thursday Reading Notes –– Genesis 6:9 – 8:22 (January 4)
Genesis 6:13 – There may be many times, while reading through the Old Testament, that you say, “How could a loving God do that?” How could a loving God decide to wipe out every person on the earth? Isn’t God patient? Yes. Very patient. 1656 years had passed from creation to the flood. During those years, God had seen those who believed in Him and obeyed dwindle from many down to one man and his family (Genesis 7:1). What would have happened if He had waited just one more generation? With the environment around them, Shem, Ham and Japheth may have fallen away too. Then there would not have been a single person left to hear the voice of God and do His will. They whole human race may have been lost forever. I believe God waited until the last possible moment to send the flood so that through Noah’s family a remnant of the human race would be preserved and God’s gracious promise to Adam and Eve to send a Savior (Genesis 3:15) would be fulfilled.
Genesis 6:14-16 – Skeptics doubt the flood for a variety of reasons. For example, people will say the ark was not big enough to carry all the millions of animal species. Here’s where the “top down” concept of change in living things comes into play again. For example, rather than the hundreds of species of dogs we have today, Noah would have only needed a pair from the dog kind. This pair, because of the richness of their gene pool, was the ancestors of all the dogs we see in the world today. (For a thorough explanation of how this works, click here.) Likewise, rather than dozens of bears, only one pair would have been necessary, and on it goes with all the animal species. Dr. John Woodmorappe, in his very thorough book “Noah’s Ark: A Feasibility Study” estimates that only 16,000 animals were needed to be on the ark to give rise to all the animal species we see today. Since the ark had a capacity equal to 522 railroad box cars and enough room for over 125,000 sheep sized animals, Woodmorappe the animals, their provisions and waste disposal taking up only 60% of the ark’s capacity.
Genesis 7:4 – I will send rain on the earth… Many people theorize that there had been no rain on the earth up until that point and that a water canopy existed around the earth from which the floodwaters came. I believe there are some problems with the water canopy theory. Part of that theory is based on Genesis 2:5-6: “The Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.” While this was the case before the fall into sin, this same passage also mentions that no plant of the field had yet sprung up. After the fall came the tilling of the soil, when plants of the field became common, and presumably rain would have been needed to help water them. We can’t assume from that passage that the rain-less state of the earth continued all the way up to the time of the flood. Additionally, a canopy with enough water volume to cause the flood would have created such a tremendous greenhouse effect that the earth would have been uninhabitably hot. When Genesis 7:11 says “the floodgates of the heavens opened,” that does not necessarily refer to a water canopy was being emptied for the first time. It could just as well be a metaphor for extremely heavy rain. Though I wouldn’t rule out a water canopy entirely, it doesn’t seem to be a likely and scientifically viable possibility.
Genesis 7:6 – The fact that Noah was 500 when he is first mentioned as having his three sons (Genesis 5:32) and 600 when the floodwaters came leads many to believe it took him 100 years to build the ark. That’s not necessarily the case. We don’t know exactly when God’s call to Noah came. Regardless, it did at least take Noah and his sons several years to build the ark, perhaps even dozens. The construction of such a monstrous boat would have been a constant visual reminder to other people of at least one family’s firm belief in the oncoming flood. I believe it was God’s intention to give other people plenty of time to notice and repent. Since the ark was only 60% full of animals (see not on Genesis 6:14-16 above) there also would have been room for them to come aboard and be saved.
Genesis 7:11-12 – Dr. John Baumgartner proposes a possible physical mechanism for the flood which seems to fit the Biblical description in these two verses. Citing the relative youth of the ocean floor and presence of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge as some of the evidence, Baumgartner proposes a rapid subduction of the oceanic plates under the continental plates. In other words, the oceanic plates slid underneath the continental plates on the coasts according to Baumgartner’s theory. The oceanic plates would have split apart from each other at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where hot magma would have come up through the split, vaporizing any ocean water it contacted, causing literal geysers of steam, super saturating the earth’s atmosphere, and causing global rain. His calculations show that the rain could have come down in torrents, as much as a meter per hour as long as that process of subduction continued. It’s an interesting theory, and most creationists agree that there was probably some link between the breaking apart of the continents and the catastrophic flooding of Noah’s time.
Genesis 7:19-23 – Considering a global flood impossible, many theorize a local flood of only the Mesopotamian river valley. This, however, contradicts the Biblical witness. These verses make it clear that the coverage of the earth was complete and all life worldwide was destroyed.
Genesis 8:21 – Another argument against the local flood theory are God’s words in this verse. He promises to never send such a flood again. If it was only a local flood, God has broken his promise countless times, because local floods are common!
The Flood – General Comments – Academia of today mostly deny the possibility of a global flood, either on supposedly scientific or philosophical grounds. Below are a just a few of the clearer evidences for the flood.
- If a global flood happened, what would be the expected aftermath? Billions of dead things buried in mud laid down by water over the earth. What do we see in our world? Billions of dead things (fossils) buried in much laid down by water (geologic strata) all over the earth.
- Nearly every ancient civilization has a flood account. They vary in detail, but the main thrust is the same. Flood doubters propose all kinds of explanations for this phenomenon: it was simply “popular” to have a flood myth in ancient civilizations; or flooding caused by the retreating ice age caused primitive man to search for a supernatural explanation. There is a much simpler, obvious explanation – that all humanity came from Noah’s family, and that they passed down the flood account from generation to generation.
- All over the globe, the geologic strata or rock layers show evidence for quick accumulation and rapid run off of massive amounts of water. The Grand Canyon, for example, features bent rock layers, showing they were still soft when they were undercut and folded (meaning they were recent, not formed gradually over millions of years), and the evidence for a rapid runoff of millions of gallons of water as the mechanism that formed the canyon is so compelling that few geologists (creationist or otherwise) stick to the old theories of slow and gradual erosion of the canyon over hundreds of millions of years. Either it was caused by a lot of water in a little time, or a little water over a long time. More and more geologists are siding with the “lot of water, little time” theory.
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Friday Reading Notes –– Genesis 9:1 – 10:32 (January 5)
Genesis 9:1-3 – God restates for Noah and his family the gracious command he gave to Adam and Eve – “be fruitful and multiply.” His goal for the human race had not changed -- that there would be many of them. Why? I think the only possible explanation is that he loves people! He created us in His own image, and he delights in all the different types there are. In verse three, God officially gives Noah and his descendents permission to eat meat. Though it’s possible some people had already started doing that without this expressed consent (see Genesis 4:20), I believe this became necessary because of a lack of protein-rich food in the post flood world where the climate had changed and many varieties of plants had been wiped out.
Genesis 9:6 – Life is precious to God. He doesn’t want it to be needlessly taken. The first indications of capital punishment are seen in these words; “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed.” It’s important to note that these words do not command the practice of capital punishment. They merely allow for it if a community, society, nation, etc., deems it appropriate. God himself did not demand life for every murder. Cain and King David are two well known examples where God chose not to take life for life.
Genesis 9:11 – God gets more specific with his promise from Genesis 8:21-22. Never will there be another worldwide flood. Elsewhere the Bible tells us the earth will cease on judgment day, but the destructive force at that time will be fire, not water.
Genesis 9:19 – “These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the earth.” Could the different colors, skull morphology, eye shapes, nose shapes, hair characteristics and other physical characteristics we see in the human race really have come from one family. The science of genetics says yes! Remember the “top down” concept in God’s creation (see notes on 4:17, chapter 5, 6:2, and 6:14-16). In an ideal creation, God would have endowed the first people with a great richness of genetic variability. For example, genetics supports the idea that two people with a medium brown skin color and with the right genetic variability could give birth to children from very light to very dark and every shade in between. Science also shows that plant, animal and people groups develop more specified physical traits through dispersion and isolation, which happened at the tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9).
Genesis 9:25 – Misguided Christians have sometimes tried to associate Noah’s curse on Canaan with dark skin. Dark skin, however, is simply a product of natural selection. As people groups journeyed to warmer climates with more intense sun, those with darker skin were better able to survive and reproduce. Likewise, those with lighter skin in cooler climates with less intense or frequent sunshine were better suited to absorb the lesser vitamin D available, and would also have thrived in those environments. Noah’s curse was predicting the eventual conquest of the land of Canaan and the destruction or enslavement of Canaan’s descendents as a result (the book of Joshua deals with this time in history.)
Genesis 10 – whole chapter. This is one of those Biblical chapters that most people will skim to get to more good stuff, and that’s okay! But not that hear there is great care on the part of the writer to put all of this history into its proper context. The many nations of the earth are listed here, showing that Noah’s family did indeed give rise to all these people groups. I want to highlight several of interest.
- Japheth (v. 2) is found in literature as the father of the Greeks, along with his grandson Elishah (v. 4).
- Ashkenaz (v. 3) is identified with Germany by Jewish historians. To this day, German Jews are often called “the Ashkenazi.”
- Togarmah (v. 3) is claimed by Armenian tradition to be the father of that people group.
- Meshech (v. 2) is likely preserved in the name Muskovi, the former name of Russia and its capital, Moscow.
- For the most part, the descendents of Japheth spread all over Europe, with one major branch moving towards Persia and India.
- Cush (v. 6) is the name given in the Bible to Ethiopia.
- Mizraim (v. 6) is the Hebrew name for Egypt.
- Put (v. 6) is the name given in the Bible for Libya.
- Canaan (v. 6) is well known as the ancestor to the land of Canaan, the “Promised Land” of the later Israelites.
- Cush’s most illustrious son, Nimrod (whose name means “let us rebel”), settled in the Tigris-Euphrates valley. It is most likely he who began to build a series of cities there, including Babel and its tower. His designation as “a mighty hunter before the Lord” is a nice way of putting it. Other ancient literature calls Nimrod a tyrant, and “before the Lord” (literally in Hebrew, “in the face of the Lord”) probably meant what “in your face!” means to us today – rebellion and lack of respect.
- Of the cities mentioned in v. 10 – 12, only Rehoboth and Resen have not been identified. All others have been excavated.
- (V. 15) Sidon was father of the Phoenicians, and the rest of the names are a who’s who of Canaanite peoples.
- Eber (v. 21) was apparently the father of the Hebrews.
- Asshur (v. 22) was most likely founder of Assyria.
- Aram (v. 22) was father of the Syrians. This people group became so prominent that their language, Aramaic, was the spoken language of many nations in the region, including Jews at the time of Christ.
- Arphaxad (v. 22) was ancestor of Abraham, the bloodline of the promised Messiah.
- The division of the earth mentioned at the time of Peleg (v. 25) most likely refers to the scattering of peoples due to the confusion of languages at Babel.
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Saturday Reading Notes –– Genesis 11:1 – 12:9 (January 6)
Genesis 11:4 – The plan to build a city and tower and “not be scattered over the face of the whole earth” was directly contrary to God’s will, who commanded the post flood people to “fill the earth.” (Genesis 9:1 – see also 9:7) Also, the desire to “make a name for ourselves” was indicative of human pride rather than a focus on God. Some people also theorize that the goal was to worship the heavenly bodies. The Hebrew language simply says “a tower unto heaven.” This theory seems to be supported by the fact that among many ancient civilizations – Egyptians, Babylonians, Mayan and Aztec Indians to name a few – pyramid building was commonplace, and the purpose of many of those pyramids was worship of heavenly bodies. The signs of the zodiac are prominent in their architecture.
Genesis 11:5-7 – If that was the case, it is easy to see why God wanted to derail their project. It was in opposition to Him on many levels! This act of God, interpreted by the people as an immediate punishment, was in truth an act of mercy, causing the people to scatter throughout the world instead of plunging into a downward spiral of moral decay that had characterized the pre-flood world.
Genesis 11:9 – The Lord confused the language of the whole world. Scientists struggle to understand the origin of different language groups from an evolutionary perspective. The Babel even makes sense of the evidence. Click here for a thorough article on the development of language from a Biblical perspective.
Genesis 11:10-26 – As you read about the family line of Abraham, you notice much shorter ages of the people involved than in Genesis chapter 5. Shem was a total of 600 years old when he passed away, all the way down to Nahor 7 generations later who lived only to a youthful 148. God promised that man’s years would be shorter in Genesis 6:3, specifying that they would be only 120 years. By the time of Moses, about 600 years after Nahor, that word of God had come to pass. It appears as if God used natural processes to gradually cut down on the life spans of people. Some possibilities include:
- Less nutritious food after the flood. It is easy to see that many plants would have been completely wiped out during the flood. Some may have had important nutritional value.
- The eating of animals. Though God allowed this, presumably for the good of man, it also opened the door for many illnesses to be passed from animals to humans, not to mention the known health risks of eating meat.
- Watering down of the genetic pool. When the earth’s population was reduced from millions to 8 during the flood, much of the genetic variability that made humankind more adaptable would have been lost. Post flood humanity would have been less able to adapt to different climates, different food supplies, to be able to ward of diseases, etc.
- A harsher climate after the flood. If flood theories are true, and the continents broke up during the flood year, high mountain ranges formed because of continental plate shifting, and the world was plunged into an ice age because of pollutants in the air due to presumed volcanic activity during the flood, post flood humanity would have had a climate of greater extremes to contend with.
Genesis 12:1-9 – With Genesis twelve, the foundational history of the earth – its creation, how sin came about, its geography, how language groups and peoples came to be – draws to a close, and the history of the patriarchs begins. God called Abram and shared with him the second messianic promise of the Bible (the first was Genesis 3:15) when he said to him, “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” God also commanded Abram to move – to go to the land of Canaan. I believe God did this for two reasons. First, Abram’s extended family was lapsing into idolatry. That becomes clear when we find out that Laban, Abram’s grand-nephew, owned many household idols (Genesis 31:19). Second, God already wanted to set the stage for the ministry of his Son, which would be carried out on that very region of the earth, primarily to the people of Israel, Abram’s descendents. Strategically, that was an important area of the world for Jesus to do His work. At his time, it was controlled by the Romans, which meant the best mail system the world had ever seen, good roads, and heavy transportation. Many merchants traveled this area that was a major thoroughfare between Europe, Asia and Africa. Already at Abram’s time, God was planning for the most ideal way to send his son over 2000 years in the future.
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