Genesis 6
Summary
The population of Earth is growing, and at this time, the "sons of God saw the daughters of men" (v. 2)and began to marry them. In verse 3, the LORD makes the following declaration: "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years."
When the "sons of God" had children with the "daughters of men" they were mighty men, men of renown. They are also referred to as "giants" or "Nephilim."
God looks upon the earth, and sees that man is wicked, and that his thoughts are continually on evil. The LORD was grieved at the man He had created and decides to wipe out man and beast, creatures of the earth and fowls of the air. But, verse 8 says, "Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD."
God reveals to Noah that He is going to destroy the earth and every living thing on it. He tells Noah to build an ark, and gives him dimensions and descriptions to go by in constructing it. The LORD tells Noah that He will bring a flood upon the earth, which will destroy all flesh that contains the breath of life. But, God shows, He will form a covenant with Noah, his wife, his sons, and his sons' wives. He also commands Noah to take into the ark a male and female of each animal, as well as provisions for food. We are told that Noah did just as the LORD had told him to do.
Observations and Comments
The one passage I have always had problems with is in verse two, where it talks about the "sons of God saw the daughters of men." There are different schools of thought as to what the term "sons of God" meant. One is that the godly line, through Seth, were referred to as the "sons of God," as opposed to the line of Cain, who were ungodly. The second possibility is the view usually accepted in rabbinical circles, that the "sons of God" were actually the male children of civil rulers and magistrates of the region. The third and final option is that these were the fallen angels, who rebelled along with Lucifer and were expelled from heaven. We may never have a satisfactory answer to this question, but one is not absolute in its necessity. It does not change the authority of the Scriptures, or their accuracy. It simply shows another example of the ignorance of man.
The children of these "sons of men" were called giants, or Nephilim in Hebrew. The only other use of the term Nephilim in the Bible is in Numbers 13:33, where the Israelite spies give a false report out of a lack of faith after they do reconnaissance in the Promised Land.
In verse five, it talks about the depravity of men's hearts, which has been a problem since the Fall in the garden of Eden. It is true; every man is filled with sin apart from God, because without God's goodness, there is no virtue. Even our good intentions are nothing more than rubbish. The desire of men's hearts is evil continually, because none will seek to bring glory to God (Psalm 14:1-3, Romans 3:10-12). He alone deserves honor, praise, dominion, and thanks!
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Genesis 5, Summary
Genesis 5
Summary
The chapter begins with a genealogy of Adam, through the line of Seth. To summarize, it goes as such: Adam, the father of Seth, the father of Enosh, the father of Cainan, the father of Mahalalel, the father of Jared, the father of Enoch, the father of Methuselah, the father of Lamech, the father of Noah.
Those worthy of special note from this list are Enoch (not Cain's son from Genesis 4:17-18), who apparently did not die, because he "walked with God; and he was not, for God took him" (v. 24), and Lamech, Noah's father, who is not to be confused with Lamech, the great-great-great grandson of Cain, Seth's brother.
This short chapter ends with verse 32: "And Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth."
Summary
The chapter begins with a genealogy of Adam, through the line of Seth. To summarize, it goes as such: Adam, the father of Seth, the father of Enosh, the father of Cainan, the father of Mahalalel, the father of Jared, the father of Enoch, the father of Methuselah, the father of Lamech, the father of Noah.
Those worthy of special note from this list are Enoch (not Cain's son from Genesis 4:17-18), who apparently did not die, because he "walked with God; and he was not, for God took him" (v. 24), and Lamech, Noah's father, who is not to be confused with Lamech, the great-great-great grandson of Cain, Seth's brother.
This short chapter ends with verse 32: "And Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth."
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Genesis 4, Summary
Genesis 4
Summary
Adam and Eve have two children, the firstborn they named Cain, and the second son was Abel. Abel became a shepherd, but Cain worked the land. After some time, both men presented God with offerings. Cain gave the LORD some of the produce he had grown, Abel gave the firstborn of his flock. The LORD “had regard” (v. 4) for Abel’s offering, but not for Cain’s. Cain was furious and would not listen to God, who tried to speak wisdom to him. Cain instead lead his brother out to the field, where he killed him in his anger.
The LORD asks Cain where Abel is, and Abel tells God that he doesn’t keep up with his brother. God reveals that He knows what Cain has done, and He curses him to never again be able to reap from working the ground, and to be a restless nomad.
Cain was grieved at this punishment, and cries out to God that if anyone finds Cain, they will kill him. Therefore, God sets a mark of some kind upon Cain.
Cain had children by his wife, and his son is named Enoch. The genealogy continues down to his great-great-great grandson, Lamech. Lamech has children, and they are known for various things: his son Jabal is the father of the nomadic herdsmen, Jubal was the father of many types of musicians, Tubal-Cain made all sorts of bronze and iron tools.
Lamech laments to his wives that he has killed a man for attacking him, and calls a curse of his own against those who would retaliate.
Adam and Eve have another son, and his name is Seth. Eve is overjoyed that God has given her another son to replace Abel.
The chapter ends with the statement, “At that time people began to call on the name of the LORD.” (v. 26).
Observations and Comments
This chapter is fairly straight forward.
The last line of the chapter mentions people calling on the name of the LORD. The word used in the Hebrew for “to call” is liq-ro, which also can be understood as to proclaim, or to cry out. Apparently, this is the first time that God was actually worshipped for who He is. Adam and Eve had, for a time, had communion with God because of the absence of sin. But when they separated themselves from God through disobedience, they lost the communication they had enjoyed with Him. There apparently was no desire for worship, for admiration expressed to God from the generations between the first couple and the time of these descendents mentioned in the closing verses of this chapter.
Summary
Adam and Eve have two children, the firstborn they named Cain, and the second son was Abel. Abel became a shepherd, but Cain worked the land. After some time, both men presented God with offerings. Cain gave the LORD some of the produce he had grown, Abel gave the firstborn of his flock. The LORD “had regard” (v. 4) for Abel’s offering, but not for Cain’s. Cain was furious and would not listen to God, who tried to speak wisdom to him. Cain instead lead his brother out to the field, where he killed him in his anger.
The LORD asks Cain where Abel is, and Abel tells God that he doesn’t keep up with his brother. God reveals that He knows what Cain has done, and He curses him to never again be able to reap from working the ground, and to be a restless nomad.
Cain was grieved at this punishment, and cries out to God that if anyone finds Cain, they will kill him. Therefore, God sets a mark of some kind upon Cain.
Cain had children by his wife, and his son is named Enoch. The genealogy continues down to his great-great-great grandson, Lamech. Lamech has children, and they are known for various things: his son Jabal is the father of the nomadic herdsmen, Jubal was the father of many types of musicians, Tubal-Cain made all sorts of bronze and iron tools.
Lamech laments to his wives that he has killed a man for attacking him, and calls a curse of his own against those who would retaliate.
Adam and Eve have another son, and his name is Seth. Eve is overjoyed that God has given her another son to replace Abel.
The chapter ends with the statement, “At that time people began to call on the name of the LORD.” (v. 26).
Observations and Comments
This chapter is fairly straight forward.
The last line of the chapter mentions people calling on the name of the LORD. The word used in the Hebrew for “to call” is liq-ro, which also can be understood as to proclaim, or to cry out. Apparently, this is the first time that God was actually worshipped for who He is. Adam and Eve had, for a time, had communion with God because of the absence of sin. But when they separated themselves from God through disobedience, they lost the communication they had enjoyed with Him. There apparently was no desire for worship, for admiration expressed to God from the generations between the first couple and the time of these descendents mentioned in the closing verses of this chapter.
Genesis 3, Summary
Genesis 3
Summary
The chapter opens with the cunning serpent planting a seed of doubt in the mind of the woman. “Did God really say ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?” v. 1) The woman replies that they can, except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; if they eat of it, she relays, they will die. The serpent tells her that they would not die, but would rather “be like God, knowing good and evil.” (v. 5)
The woman takes the fruit and eats it, and also gives some to her husband. The text says that “the eyes of both of them were opened,” (v. 7) and they realized that they were naked, and hid their nakedness by sewing together fig leaves.
After this, the man and woman realize that God is coming near to them, so they hide themselves from the presence of God. God calls out to ask Adam, “Where are you?” (v. 9) The man admits that he hid from God because of his nakedness. God asks him how he knows he is naked, and wants to know if he has eaten the ‘forbidden fruit.’
Adam tells him, “the woman You gave to be with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate.” (v. 12). The LORD then directs his questioning to the woman, asking her what she has done. She, in turn, blames the serpent for the deception.
God curses the serpent with many things, and in turn the woman and the man as well. The woman is told that the pain of childbirth will be increased. The man will have to work much harder to reap from the earth, with increased labor and sweat.
Adam names his wife Eve.
God makes clothing out of animal skins for Adam and Eve. To keep him from taking also of the tree of life, the man and woman are driven out of Eden and guardians are stationed to keep them from returning.
Observations and Comments
The first thing that jumps out as me now, as has been mentioned before by others, is that the woman appears to have added to the commandment of God. When the serpent tempts her, she says that God has told them not to eat or to touch the fruit of that fateful tree. How many times have those who know God been lead into sin because of some twisting of God’s words or an erroneous memory of scripture?
After the serpent has done his best to persuade the woman to disobey God, we see a very telling verse: “Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom.” The woman was done for at this point. Her flesh had risen up and had seen its desire in this thing; she took delight in the thought of her disobedience, and coveted a wisdom that she believed would parallel God’s. It reminds me of James 1:14-15: “But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desires. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.” The tempting glance at the fruit was the conception of the sinful act, and indeed, death was the result.
When both of them, man and woman, had done this disobedient act, their eyes were opened, spiritually. They were ashamed of their nakedness. Recently in my prayer time, a thought occurred to me that relates back to this passage. I was thinking of the idea of being clothed in righteousness, which is to say clothed in Christ (Rom 13:14: “…put on the Lord Jesus Christ…”). On the day of judgment, only those who are in Christ, and have His blood as their propitiation will be seen by God as righteous, for they will be clothed in Christ, that is, the perfect righteousness of Christ. Those who have to stand in their own righteousness will realize the full meaning of Isaiah 64:6, where it states: “and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.” In the fire of God’s wrath, all self-righteousness will be burned away, and those who stand on their own will be naked and ashamed, realizing the grievous ugliness of their sin as they stand before a perfectly holy God. May many see their own fallibility, and instead put their faith in Christ, that they may not have to experience the unendurable shame of their sin when they stand before Him.
In verse 21, God makes Adam and his wife clothes out of the skins of animals. This calls to remembrance Hebrews 9:22: “According to the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” To atone for this first sin, physical death entered the world, in that some animal(s) had to die for the clothes to be made to cover their nakedness. After God instituted the Mosaic law, we see animal sacrifice being made continuously to grant the people forgiveness of sin. But no amount of lambs, bulls, etc, etc, etc could ever make a perfect sacrifice for the people. It would take a bloody sacrifice, yes, but one that would fully, completely, once-and-for-all appease the wrath of God against sin. That sacrifice came in the form of God’s own Son, Jesus. His blood covers all those who turn from sin and place their complete faith in Him for their deliverance.
Summary
The chapter opens with the cunning serpent planting a seed of doubt in the mind of the woman. “Did God really say ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?” v. 1) The woman replies that they can, except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; if they eat of it, she relays, they will die. The serpent tells her that they would not die, but would rather “be like God, knowing good and evil.” (v. 5)
The woman takes the fruit and eats it, and also gives some to her husband. The text says that “the eyes of both of them were opened,” (v. 7) and they realized that they were naked, and hid their nakedness by sewing together fig leaves.
After this, the man and woman realize that God is coming near to them, so they hide themselves from the presence of God. God calls out to ask Adam, “Where are you?” (v. 9) The man admits that he hid from God because of his nakedness. God asks him how he knows he is naked, and wants to know if he has eaten the ‘forbidden fruit.’
Adam tells him, “the woman You gave to be with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate.” (v. 12). The LORD then directs his questioning to the woman, asking her what she has done. She, in turn, blames the serpent for the deception.
God curses the serpent with many things, and in turn the woman and the man as well. The woman is told that the pain of childbirth will be increased. The man will have to work much harder to reap from the earth, with increased labor and sweat.
Adam names his wife Eve.
God makes clothing out of animal skins for Adam and Eve. To keep him from taking also of the tree of life, the man and woman are driven out of Eden and guardians are stationed to keep them from returning.
Observations and Comments
The first thing that jumps out as me now, as has been mentioned before by others, is that the woman appears to have added to the commandment of God. When the serpent tempts her, she says that God has told them not to eat or to touch the fruit of that fateful tree. How many times have those who know God been lead into sin because of some twisting of God’s words or an erroneous memory of scripture?
After the serpent has done his best to persuade the woman to disobey God, we see a very telling verse: “Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom.” The woman was done for at this point. Her flesh had risen up and had seen its desire in this thing; she took delight in the thought of her disobedience, and coveted a wisdom that she believed would parallel God’s. It reminds me of James 1:14-15: “But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desires. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.” The tempting glance at the fruit was the conception of the sinful act, and indeed, death was the result.
When both of them, man and woman, had done this disobedient act, their eyes were opened, spiritually. They were ashamed of their nakedness. Recently in my prayer time, a thought occurred to me that relates back to this passage. I was thinking of the idea of being clothed in righteousness, which is to say clothed in Christ (Rom 13:14: “…put on the Lord Jesus Christ…”). On the day of judgment, only those who are in Christ, and have His blood as their propitiation will be seen by God as righteous, for they will be clothed in Christ, that is, the perfect righteousness of Christ. Those who have to stand in their own righteousness will realize the full meaning of Isaiah 64:6, where it states: “and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.” In the fire of God’s wrath, all self-righteousness will be burned away, and those who stand on their own will be naked and ashamed, realizing the grievous ugliness of their sin as they stand before a perfectly holy God. May many see their own fallibility, and instead put their faith in Christ, that they may not have to experience the unendurable shame of their sin when they stand before Him.
In verse 21, God makes Adam and his wife clothes out of the skins of animals. This calls to remembrance Hebrews 9:22: “According to the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” To atone for this first sin, physical death entered the world, in that some animal(s) had to die for the clothes to be made to cover their nakedness. After God instituted the Mosaic law, we see animal sacrifice being made continuously to grant the people forgiveness of sin. But no amount of lambs, bulls, etc, etc, etc could ever make a perfect sacrifice for the people. It would take a bloody sacrifice, yes, but one that would fully, completely, once-and-for-all appease the wrath of God against sin. That sacrifice came in the form of God’s own Son, Jesus. His blood covers all those who turn from sin and place their complete faith in Him for their deliverance.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Genesis 2, Summary
Genesis 2
Summary
God took rest on the seventh day, blessed it, and “declared it holy” (v. 3). No plants had grown or sprouted as of yet from the ground due to the fact that the LORD had not yet made it rain. At this time, water came up out of the ground and watered the land.
Then, God formed man out of dust, and “breathed the breath of life” (v. 7) into him. By this, man became a living being. The LORD planted a garden in a place called Eden and placed the man there. God caused all trees good to eat to grow there in the garden, including the tree of life, as well as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river flowed through Eden, which sustained the garden with water. “And the LORD God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.’” (v. 16)
The man names all of the animals that God has created. God saw that the man needed a helper, so he put the man to sleep, took out a rib, and formed it into a woman. The chapter closes with the statement that both of them were naked, “yet felt no shame” (v. 25).
Observations and Comments
Why did God rest? Obviously, He did not need to. Was it simply to emphasize the importance of the Sabbath day to the Jews?
The tree of life is mentioned again, in the last book of the Bible (Rev 22:2, 14). It is there described as bearing 12 kinds of fruit, and its leaves as having healing powers.
The man and his wife were naked and without shame because, as of yet, sin had not entered into mankind, and there was nothing to be ashamed of, before God or men.
Summary
God took rest on the seventh day, blessed it, and “declared it holy” (v. 3). No plants had grown or sprouted as of yet from the ground due to the fact that the LORD had not yet made it rain. At this time, water came up out of the ground and watered the land.
Then, God formed man out of dust, and “breathed the breath of life” (v. 7) into him. By this, man became a living being. The LORD planted a garden in a place called Eden and placed the man there. God caused all trees good to eat to grow there in the garden, including the tree of life, as well as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river flowed through Eden, which sustained the garden with water. “And the LORD God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.’” (v. 16)
The man names all of the animals that God has created. God saw that the man needed a helper, so he put the man to sleep, took out a rib, and formed it into a woman. The chapter closes with the statement that both of them were naked, “yet felt no shame” (v. 25).
Observations and Comments
Why did God rest? Obviously, He did not need to. Was it simply to emphasize the importance of the Sabbath day to the Jews?
The tree of life is mentioned again, in the last book of the Bible (Rev 22:2, 14). It is there described as bearing 12 kinds of fruit, and its leaves as having healing powers.
The man and his wife were naked and without shame because, as of yet, sin had not entered into mankind, and there was nothing to be ashamed of, before God or men.
Genesis 1, Summary
Genesis 1
Summary
The opening verse of Genesis begins with the ushering in of time—“in the beginning…”
God begins to speak things into existence, starting with light, which separates the darkness. And with the establishment of the day and night, the first day is concluded. On the second day, God created the expanse, which He called “sky” (v. 8). On day three, God corralled the waters into seas and the dry land appeared. God created plants and trees upon the land. This all occurred on the third day.
On the fourth day, “God made the two great lights…” (v. 16), the sun and the moon. This was the fourth day. God created the marine animals and the birds on the fifth day. Day six was the day on which God created all of the land animals. Then God created man. He then instructed them to “be fruitful, multiply fill the earth, and subdue it.” He also said that He had provided all the plants and trees to give him food. This was the sixth day.
Observations and Comments
There are far too many things that could be discussed within this first chapter, which is certainly one of the most well-known (as well as hotly-debated) portions of scripture.
It is a subject of much speculation as to whether God simply—and I use that term with all due gravity—spoke things into existence out of sheer nothingness (ex nihilo). Many have a hard time with this concept, saying that there must have been some elementary substances from which the earth and everything else were formed. I cannot say one way or the other with absolute certainty, but I can say with no doubting, that God would have no problem speaking anything into existence. He is too far above us for most men to accept. Nothing is beyond His grasp. He is power.
Of course, verse 26 is worthy of note, because God refers to Himself in the plural form, denoting that someone else is present: “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our Image, according to Our likeness…” (emphasis mine). This, of course, points us to Jesus, who, as God, was present from the beginning of all creation (see John 1:1-3, Col 1:16). Something that has intrigued me is that He mentions creating both male and female humans here, but then there is a detailed account of the creation of Adam and Eve in chapter 2. Is this just a look ahead? I am not a biblical scholar, thus I will not speculate further.
Summary
The opening verse of Genesis begins with the ushering in of time—“in the beginning…”
God begins to speak things into existence, starting with light, which separates the darkness. And with the establishment of the day and night, the first day is concluded. On the second day, God created the expanse, which He called “sky” (v. 8). On day three, God corralled the waters into seas and the dry land appeared. God created plants and trees upon the land. This all occurred on the third day.
On the fourth day, “God made the two great lights…” (v. 16), the sun and the moon. This was the fourth day. God created the marine animals and the birds on the fifth day. Day six was the day on which God created all of the land animals. Then God created man. He then instructed them to “be fruitful, multiply fill the earth, and subdue it.” He also said that He had provided all the plants and trees to give him food. This was the sixth day.
Observations and Comments
There are far too many things that could be discussed within this first chapter, which is certainly one of the most well-known (as well as hotly-debated) portions of scripture.
It is a subject of much speculation as to whether God simply—and I use that term with all due gravity—spoke things into existence out of sheer nothingness (ex nihilo). Many have a hard time with this concept, saying that there must have been some elementary substances from which the earth and everything else were formed. I cannot say one way or the other with absolute certainty, but I can say with no doubting, that God would have no problem speaking anything into existence. He is too far above us for most men to accept. Nothing is beyond His grasp. He is power.
Of course, verse 26 is worthy of note, because God refers to Himself in the plural form, denoting that someone else is present: “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our Image, according to Our likeness…” (emphasis mine). This, of course, points us to Jesus, who, as God, was present from the beginning of all creation (see John 1:1-3, Col 1:16). Something that has intrigued me is that He mentions creating both male and female humans here, but then there is a detailed account of the creation of Adam and Eve in chapter 2. Is this just a look ahead? I am not a biblical scholar, thus I will not speculate further.
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