"The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut him in." Genesis 7:16
Again, Noah didn't just bring in the male animals or just the female animals, but he brought in both genders of every kind of animal. It also repeatedly points out that Noah is doing these things just as God commanded him to. It doesn't tell us how Noah felt about these commands or even if he went about them without grumbling or complaining about them or if he ever questioned God - it only tells us that he obeyed God.
It doesn't matter if we understand what or why God tells us to do something. Sometimes, like Noah, we can look back and understand how obeying saved us from some calamity. There are some things that we may never understand in this life, but that doesn't mean that they weren't for our benefit anyway.
Thursday, December 27, 2018
Genesis 7:15
"Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark." Genesis 7:15
This is reiterating the point that pairs of every kind of animal came to Noah and were loaded into the ark. Noah didn't leave any kind of animal out no matter how much he may have wanted to.
This is reiterating the point that pairs of every kind of animal came to Noah and were loaded into the ark. Noah didn't leave any kind of animal out no matter how much he may have wanted to.
Tuesday, December 25, 2018
Genesis 7:14
"They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings." Genesis 7:14
As God told them to, Noah and his family had every kind of animal, except of course the sea creatures, in the ark with them. Even if you say a kind of animal is a general term and referring to a pair of dogs as opposed to a specific breed, that is still a lot of animals. They certainly had their work cut out for them just caring for the creatures loaded up with them. At least temporarily, Noah and his family were zookeepers or ranchers.
As God told them to, Noah and his family had every kind of animal, except of course the sea creatures, in the ark with them. Even if you say a kind of animal is a general term and referring to a pair of dogs as opposed to a specific breed, that is still a lot of animals. They certainly had their work cut out for them just caring for the creatures loaded up with them. At least temporarily, Noah and his family were zookeepers or ranchers.
Genesis 7:13
"On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark." Genesis 7:13
So these eight people went into the ark the day the rain started.
So these eight people went into the ark the day the rain started.
Genesis 7:12
"And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights." Genesis 7:12
That's almost a month and a half that it rained. I get tired of the rain after just a day or two, can you imagine having it rain non-stop for 40 days? With all the rain, would night and day have looked much different from each other? It must have been a great relief to those eight people when the rain finally stopped and the sun peeked back out.
That's almost a month and a half that it rained. I get tired of the rain after just a day or two, can you imagine having it rain non-stop for 40 days? With all the rain, would night and day have looked much different from each other? It must have been a great relief to those eight people when the rain finally stopped and the sun peeked back out.
Genesis 7:11
"In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, on the seventeenth day of the second month - on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened." Genesis 7:11
Verse 10 tells us that the floodwater came to the earth after 7 days, and now verse 11 is specifying the month and day that the waters came. It tells us that it didn't just rain, but that springs of water came from the deep below bringing even more water to the surface. Both Bible Ref and Bible Study Tools suggest there was a great underground ocean as well as a canopy of water encircling the globe that were let loose to flood the earth.
Verse 10 tells us that the floodwater came to the earth after 7 days, and now verse 11 is specifying the month and day that the waters came. It tells us that it didn't just rain, but that springs of water came from the deep below bringing even more water to the surface. Both Bible Ref and Bible Study Tools suggest there was a great underground ocean as well as a canopy of water encircling the globe that were let loose to flood the earth.
Genesis 7:10
"And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth." Genesis 7:10
So after a week of bringing the animals into the ark, the flood starts. Does this mean it started raining or does it mean water suddenly burst forth and covered the land? I don't know.
The commentary from Bible Ref notes that the Hebrew word for "earth" used in this verse is often used for a region instead of the entire planet, so there are some that say that the flood only destroyed the regions that were inhabited by mankind.
The National Center for Science Education has an article arguing that the flood was only a local flood using scientific evidences derived from rocks and fossils left behind. BioLogos agrees that it was only a local flood saying that we should interpret the flood story through the lens of the ancient Hebrews. This article points out pretty early on that Christians have three options when scientific discoveries in God's creation seem to conflict with our interpretations of God's word. We can abandon our faith in favor of the science, deny the scientific evidence to keep our interpretation, or reconsider our interpretations of scripture - the science might not actually disagree with the Bible, but rather our interpretations of it. Evidence for God uses the scriptures to argue in favor of the local flood.
On the opposite side of the argument CBN has an article with scriptural evidence (including words from Jesus) that the flood was a global event. Likewise, Creation Ministries International also argues for a universal flood stating that such a flood would account for the rocks and fossils that cover immense areas. Don Stewart spells out a clear argument for the universal flood pointing out that about 1600 years before God told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply so there could have been several hundred million people on the earth by the time Noah built the ark and they probably wouldn't have stayed confined to the Mesopotamian valley.
The Amazing Bible Timeline with World History summarizes both sides into 7 short bullet points. Both sides seem to have valid points and some convincing arguments. Personally, I think I still lean towards the global flood, but whether the flood was a global event or just local event it is not the breaking point for my faith. Either way, God told Noah he was going to wipe out humanity except for him and his family and he did.
So after a week of bringing the animals into the ark, the flood starts. Does this mean it started raining or does it mean water suddenly burst forth and covered the land? I don't know.
The commentary from Bible Ref notes that the Hebrew word for "earth" used in this verse is often used for a region instead of the entire planet, so there are some that say that the flood only destroyed the regions that were inhabited by mankind.
The National Center for Science Education has an article arguing that the flood was only a local flood using scientific evidences derived from rocks and fossils left behind. BioLogos agrees that it was only a local flood saying that we should interpret the flood story through the lens of the ancient Hebrews. This article points out pretty early on that Christians have three options when scientific discoveries in God's creation seem to conflict with our interpretations of God's word. We can abandon our faith in favor of the science, deny the scientific evidence to keep our interpretation, or reconsider our interpretations of scripture - the science might not actually disagree with the Bible, but rather our interpretations of it. Evidence for God uses the scriptures to argue in favor of the local flood.
On the opposite side of the argument CBN has an article with scriptural evidence (including words from Jesus) that the flood was a global event. Likewise, Creation Ministries International also argues for a universal flood stating that such a flood would account for the rocks and fossils that cover immense areas. Don Stewart spells out a clear argument for the universal flood pointing out that about 1600 years before God told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply so there could have been several hundred million people on the earth by the time Noah built the ark and they probably wouldn't have stayed confined to the Mesopotamian valley.
The Amazing Bible Timeline with World History summarizes both sides into 7 short bullet points. Both sides seem to have valid points and some convincing arguments. Personally, I think I still lean towards the global flood, but whether the flood was a global event or just local event it is not the breaking point for my faith. Either way, God told Noah he was going to wipe out humanity except for him and his family and he did.
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