Today started off pretty well. I woke up, made a hot cup of coffee and started my Bible reading. Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel. “Abel was a keeper of sheep and Cain a worker of the ground.” Both brothers presented God with an offering. Cain brought an offering of fruit and Abel brought a sheep. But, the Lord only liked the sheep. Why wasn’t Cain’s offering good enough?
Was God testing him? But, why?
“If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”
-Genesis 4:7
Well, that surely pissed Cain off, because next thing we know he killed his brother. There was a quote there I had heard throughout my life, but never knew its origination until now. In fact, watching the movie “Steel Magnolias” the other day, I noticed the brothers quoted it.
“Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?”
-Genesis 4:9
Except humorously in the movie Sally Field responds with, “Your brother’s warden is more like it.”
Back to reading, it goes on to talk about all these different people, and who had which children, and it all got very confusing. Is it there to give a family tree for historical purposes? Or, are all of these people coming into play later? It seems as though the confusion of names could be there to headline into Noah, since it’s called “Adam’s Descendants to Noah.” I’m starting to realize that Noah was kind of a big deal.
“…and called his name Noah, saying, “Out of the ground that the Lord has cursed this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.”
-Genesis 5:29
By this point, God was getting pretty fed up with man and the “Increasing Corruption on Earth.” This seems to be when people’s lifespans were cut. Man apparently went from living over 900 years (which is crazy to think about), to 120 years.
“Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.”
-Genesis 6:3
Whereas Adam and all the people before this corruption were living to be much older.
“Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died.”
-Genesis 5:5
It also talked about Nephilim, or giants that lived during that time. As in “Jack and the Beanstalk,” fairy-tale giants we think of today, or was this meant symbolically; saying,
“These were the mighty men who were of old, the men renown.”
-Genesis 6:4
The corruption on earth that’s talked about seems similar to that of today. Is there a difference between then and now, or are we in store for another destruction? It’s scary to think what kind of world it was then if it were worse than life we know today.
I resonated with this section, not thinking that I am free from sin because I’m not, but because these are similar thoughts that I have about the world we live in. I struggle with today’s society and the corruption, violence, and evil in the world.
“The Lord saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.”
-Genesis 6:5-6
Noah and the flood was one of the stories from the Bible I actually remember. Who hasn’t heard of Noah and his ark, and all the animals two-by-two? I didn’t know God gave Noah the dimensions and a sort of “blueprint” for it though; and said, “This is how you are to make it…”
It’s amazing to think of Noah’s faith and discipline. God told him to do this extraordinary thing, so he did. He had to believe that the flood was coming, and that he was the chosen one to save and rebuild mankind.
“And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female.”
-Genesis 6:19
I have no idea what it is talking about when mentioning the “clean” and not “clean” animals. I thought it just said take two of all living things? But then, it goes on to say, “take seven pairs of clean animals,” and “a pair of not clean.” What in the world does that mean? Also, “seven pairs of birds.” Things like these are why I get confused and discouraged. I have no idea what any of that means…
“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.”
-Genesis 7:11-12
“On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark, they and every beast, according to its kind, and all the livestock according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, according to its kind, every winged creature. They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the Lord shut him in.”
-Genesis 7:13-16
Another reason I’ve probably never read the Bible is because I do not like to think too deeply on things I will never know for sure, or have answers to. I’m sure the more I read and study, the more I’ll understand; but right now it is difficult.
I can try to imagine what this might have been like, and how the animals were stored and fed, and what the earth looked like being covered in water, and what it may be like to have forty days and nights of rain. Water so deep that the mountains were covered!
What about all the things left on earth? Were they just buried under water or were they floating all around? Did the sea creatures swim alongside the ark? These, among many others, are the thoughts that come into my head.
“And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark.”
-Genesis 7:21-23
Well, damn! Did God do this because he was angry or heart-broken? This must have been incredibly difficult for him. Maybe all the rain was his tears?
[…] Read Day 2, Genesis 4-7 here! […]