Daily Genesis

Webers_Home · #**121** 1st November 2009, 10:58 AM

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†. Gen 9:6a . .Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed;

The death penalty here in Gen 9:6 is imposed only upon those who commit murder which Webster's defines as: the crime of unlawfully killing a person; especially with malice aforethought. The key word in that definition is "unlawfully" killing a person.

Capital punishment isn't given as an alternative to prison, nor is it open to debate. God demands it: and anybody who thinks they're in step with God while actively opposing the death penalty; is confused.

†. Num 35:31-34 . .You may not accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of a capital crime; he must be put to death. Nor may you accept ransom in lieu of flight to a city of refuge, enabling one to return to live on his land before the death of the priest. You shall not pollute the land in which you live; for blood pollutes the land, and the land can have no expiation for blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it. You shall not defile the land in which you live, in which I Myself abide, for I the Lord abide among the Israelite people.

†. Ex 21:12-14 . . He who fatally strikes a man shall be put to death. If he did not do it by design, but it came about by an act of God, I will assign you a place to which he can flee. When a man schemes against another and kills him treacherously, you shall take him from My very altar to be put to death.

†. Rom 13:3-4 . . For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.

Some people are flabbergasted at the idea that Christians would believe in the death penalty. Well, I am flabbergasted that anybody might think that Christianity's Christ, an ethnic Jew born under the jurisdiction of Moses' covenanted law (Gal 4:4) and underwent his religion's ritual circumcision (Lev 12:3, Luke 2:21) would frown upon his Father's mandates or, worse, organize a rebellion against either Moses or against Almighty God's sovereign authority (Gal 5:3). Christianity's Christ was the most conservative, fundamental Jew who ever lived. He never even one time violated his Father's law nor encouraged others to do so.

†. Mtt 5:18-19 . . I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

†. John 8:29 . .The one who sent me is with me; He has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases Him.

†. John 10:30 . . I and my Father are one.

†. John 15:10 . . If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love.

So then, if Christianity's Christ is pro death penalty, then why did he release the woman of John 8:1-11 allegedly taken in the very act of adultery?

For one thing, Christ was neither a cop nor a judge; he was merely an itinerant preacher. His opponents didn't bring the woman to him to pass sentence; but only to entrap him; viz: to see if he supported the stipulations in Moses' covenanted law regarding adulterers; which says:

†. Lev 20:10 . .The man who commits adultery with another man's wife, he who commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress, shall surely be put to death.

However, that same Moses' covenanted law stipulates that no one can be executed for a capital crime sans the testimony of a bare-bones minimum of two witnesses.

†. Deut 17:6 . . At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.

Moses also stipulated that the witnesses themselves shall be the first ones to execute justice on a condemned prisoner.

†. Deut 17:7 . .The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put the evil away from among you.

Since no one stepped forward to testify against the woman, she was free to go as Christ wasn't a legitimate witness to her alleged crime; and even if he were, his would have been the only voice against her; not the minimum of two required in capital cases.

But suppose two witnesses had stepped forward. Could they then have proceeded to stone the woman? No. The whole incident took place out in public; viz: it was only a kangaroo court; not a true court of law. Had the Scribes and Pharisees really meant business, they would have arraigned her before the Sanhedrin.

C.L.I.F.F.
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Webers_Home · #**122** 2nd November 2009, 10:51 AM

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†. Gen 9:6b . . For in His image did God make man.

Murdering a human being is just as serious as murdering God. Refusal to enforce the death penalty undervalues the person of Almighty God because Man was made in His likeness. Shouldn't it be a death offense to kill God without justification? Then it has to be a death offense to kill a human being without justification. Those who oppose the death penalty oppose God's feelings about it. They have put themselves in Satan's place, and play Satan, by openly and actively rebelling against the Creator's holy mandates.

Leaders have a responsibility to Almighty God to protect their country's sanctity. According to Num 35:31-34, murder pollutes the land; and the land stays that way until the murderer is executed. In effect then, the murderer's death becomes the country's redemption, and his death is the only atonement that will satisfy the justice of God in such cases. Americans pride themselves as a God fearing nation. And on their money is stamped: In God We Trust. Yet they are grossly neglecting to comply with Almighty God's holy edict to execute murderers.

People were at liberty to live according to the dictates of their own conscience prior to the Flood. And they were pretty much free to kill each other at will. But no more. It is the post-Flood generation's duty under God to execute human beings who take the life of their fellow man in a fit of rage like Cain did to Abel. So don't ever let anyone tell you capital punishment is wrong. Capital punishment is not wrong; au contraire, capital punishment is Divine.

†. Rom 13:3-4 . . For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same; for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath upon the one who practices evil.

The death penalty not only has binding jurisdiction in this life, but in the next one too. Capital punishment is the ultimate fate of every lost soul. They will be resurrected to stand trial, and then afterwards every one of them will be put to death by a method akin to burning at the stake.

†. Rev 20:11-15 . .Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into a reservoir of flaming liquid.

John wrote of the lake of fire in the past tense because although the judgment about which he wrote is yet future, he's already seen it; so it's certain to come to pass.

†. Rev 21:8 . . Murderers shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

C.L.I.F.F.
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Webers_Home · #**123** 3rd November 2009, 02:44 PM

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†. Gen 9:7 . . Be fertile, then, and increase; abound on the earth and increase on it.

The idea conveyed here is that Man wasn't supposed to unite and stay in one place, but to scatter, diversify, and live all over the globe.

†. Gen 9:8-10 . . And God said to Noah and to his sons with him: I now establish My covenant with you and your offspring to come, and with every living thing that is with you— birds, cattle, and every wild beast as well —all that have come out of the ark, every living thing on earth.

Noah's covenant is an especially interesting covenant because it was made with both Man and Beast: all living things wherein is the breath of life.

Are people today Noah's offspring that were to come? Yes they are. So we should pay attention to what God told Noah and his sons. "My covenant" applies to everyone; and all the critters too. In fact, all living beings in the post Flood world are under the jurisdiction of the covenant God made with Noah and his family.

†. Gen 9:11 . . I will maintain My covenant with you: never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.

Noah needed to hear that so he wouldn't get jumpy the next time it started to rain really hard in his neighborhood. There is still flooding going on in the world, but certainly not on the same scale as The Flood.

†. Gen 9:12-17 . . God further said: This is the sign that I set for the covenant between Me and you, and every living creature with you, for all ages to come. I have set My bow in the clouds, and it shall serve as a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth, and the bow appears in the clouds, I will remember My covenant between Me and you and every living creature among all flesh, so that the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures, all flesh that is on earth. That, God said to Noah, shall be the sign of the covenant that I have established between Me and all flesh that is on earth.

Some people say Noah had never seen a rainbow before because they don't believe it ever rained in the antediluvian world. But even if it didn't rain, rainbows aren't restricted to rainy weather. They can be seen in waterfalls, fog, and even in icy air. Since the antediluvian world got some of its irrigation from mists, there's a pretty good chance Noah had seen at least one rainbow by the time he was six hundred years old.

Noah's covenant is still in force; as evidenced by the significant presence of rainbows in prophetic visions.

†. Ezek 1:27b-28a . .There was a radiance all about him. Like the appearance of the bow which shines in the clouds on a day of rain, such was the appearance of the surrounding radiance.

†. Rev 10:1-4 . .Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars. He was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say: Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down.

Next time you see a rainbow, think of ol' grandpa Noah and think of God's promise— to Noah, to his offspring, to all peoples on this side of the Flood, and to every creature —that the Earth will never again be destroyed by a flood. And remember capital punishment, and remember that the animal world is accountable for taking human life. And when you get yourself a Whopper or a Happy Meal, and sit down to a hearty Thanksgiving turkey dinner, or a tasty dish of Teriyaki chicken, remember it is by God's blessing that the post Flood generation can dine on meat.

FYI: Rabbinical Judaism's version of Noah's Covenant (a.ka. The Seven Laws Of Noah) is a bit longer than Genesis' version.

1) to establish courts of justice

2) not to commit blasphemy

3) not to commit idolatry

4) not to commit incest and adultery

5) not to commit bloodshed

6) not to commit robbery; and

7) not to eat flesh cut from a living animal.

Source: Judaism 101

C.L.I.F.F.
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Webers_Home · #**124** 4th November 2009, 10:12 PM

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†. Gen 9:18 . .The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth— Ham being the father of Canaan.

Whoever wrote this section of Genesis, wrote it long after the Flood because the Canaanites didn't exist in Noah's day; nor would they exist at all until many, many years later.

†. Gen 9:19 . .These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole world branched out.

It's remarkable that every ethnic, every tribe, every color, and every language, is rooted in just those three men. Every existing human being is alive today from the gene pool of Noah's boys and their wives— Caucasian, Negro, Mongol, Asian, Semite, Aleut, Indians of the Americas, Pacific Islander; and even the Pigmies. Everybody is related to one of those three boys, and also related to each other in Noah. Whenever there is war, it is truly brother against brother. The phrase "fellow man" is not just a feel-good, slap on the back acceptance of someone you might normally feel superior to; no, it's an expression that identifies human beings you are verily— though quite distantly —related to.

All the physical characteristics of the different nations and various tribes, must, therefore, have been present in the genetic constitutions of just those three men and three women. Somehow, by the regular mechanisms of genetics— variation and recombination —all the various groups of nations and tribes developed from that meager post-Flood human beginning.

But what about Mr and Mrs Noah? Didn't they have any more children? After all, Noah still had about three hundred years left to go in his life. Well . . if the Noah's did have any more children, they must have been all girls because the writer said the world was populated by only those three brothers. So if indeed there were Noah girls, they had to find husbands from among their cousins. Those early post-Flood conditions fostered very close intermarriages; but it was harmless in those days because the human genome was still yet relatively young and strong.

†. Gen 9:20 . . Noah, the tiller of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard.

And what does that mean: he was the first ever to plant a vineyard? I strongly suspect verse 20 means that he was just the first one to raise grapes in the new world; not the first ever in all of history.

†. Gen 9:21a . . He drank of the wine and became drunk,

(chuckle) Looks like grandpa Noah liked to pull a cork now and then.

The Hebrew word for wine in Gen 9:21 is tiyrowsh (tee-roshe') and means: the expressed juice of fruit, and especially grapes, before and during fermentation; also the pulp and skins of the crushed grapes or fresh grape-juice (as just squeezed out). By implication, but rarely, fermented wine.

Tiyrowsh is somewhat ambiguous and can apply to just about any kind of fruit product, even to jams and jellies.

Another word for wine in the Old Testament is from shekar (shay-kawr') and means: an intoxicant, i.e. intensely alcoholic liquor.

Unless the Bible text makes it obvious that a fruit product is intoxicating, it's not a good idea to always assume that it is. Even a kid's drink like Welch's grape juice falls into the category of tiyrowsh. But even so, alcoholic beverages are not always a bad thing. The key to their use is moderation.

Jesus was accused of being a drunk because he enjoyed wine with his meals.

†. Mtt 11:18-19 . . For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say: He has a demon! The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say: Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax-gatherers and sinners!

Some have accused Jesus of encouraging drunkenness because he miraculously provided wine for a marriage reception in John 2:1-11. But that same logic could be used to accuse him of promoting gluttony too; since he multiplied loaves and fishes on other occasions.

To accuse Jesus of encouraging drunkenness overlooks the culture of his day, and it also assumes, without grounds, that the adults present at the wedding in Cana were irresponsible. Since there's so few facts at hand, I think we should give them all the benefit of the doubt; don't you? And anyway; so what if the wine was alcoholic? Intoxicating beverages are not inherently evil in and of themselves. It's the quantities a person imbibes that matters.

Strong drink is a gift from God.

†. Ps 104:10-15 . .You make springs gush forth in torrents; they make their way between the hills, giving drink to all the wild beasts; the wild asses slake their thirst. The birds of the sky dwell beside them and sing among the foliage. You water the mountains from Your lofts; the earth is sated from the fruit of Your work. You make the grass grow for the cattle, and herbage for man’s labor that he may get food out of the earth— wine that cheers the hearts of men, oil that makes the face shine, and bread that sustains man’s life.

The word for wine in that passage is yayin (yah'-yin) and means: to effervesce; wine (as fermented); by implication, intoxication.

So don't knock alcoholic beverages. They're a gift from God, and can even be used as a medication.

†. Luk 10:33-34 . . But a certain Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, and came to him, and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

†. 1Tim 5:23 . . Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities.

Alcoholic beverages help some people cope.

†. Prv 31:6-7 . . Give strong drink to him who is perishing, and wine to him whose life is bitter. Let him drink and forget his poverty, and remember his trouble no more.

I have met many a cheerless Christian who could benefit from a stiff drink now and then. But again, moderation is the key with all things; especially things like tobacco, alcohol, and food. It's the quantities of alcohol a person consumes that matters the most. It's not the drink itself; rather, it's excessive drinking that's condemned and discouraged. (Eph 5:18, Titus 2:3, 1Pet 4:3)

The Bible doesn't discourage drinking wine; it's against getting drunk on wine. In the same vein, church officers aren't forbidden to drink wine; rather, they're forbidden to drink much wine. (1Tim 3:3, 1Tim 3:8, Titus 1:7)

C.L.I.F.F.
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Webers_Home · #**125** 5th November 2009, 09:10 AM

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†. Gen 9:21b . . and he uncovered himself within his tent.

Noah was indoors, and in the privacy of his own home: so nobody should be all that shocked at him taking his clothes off. The focus of this incident isn't upon Noah anyway, but upon his wicked son Ham.

Noah's home at this point in time was a tent; which isn't the typical domicile of a man who farms. Nomads live in tents, farmers life in houses. Vineyards take time to grow to maturity and a nomad isn't likely to wait around long enough for that. So why was he living in a portable shelter instead of a permanent building? At this particular time, Noah's home was probably under construction. No doubt he put a higher priority on his livelihood than on his quality of life. A nice home is a senseless luxury when there's no food on the table.

†. Prv 24:27 . . Finish your outdoor work and get your fields ready; after that, build your house.

That's good advice for young people. Trades and careers should be up and running before settling down with a spouse and starting a family. People who get married too soon typically have lots of financial problems. When people are struggling to keep their heads above water, the romance suffers and devotion can die; ending in divorce, and possibly single parenthood.

†. Gen 9:22a . . Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness

(gasp!) Didn't anyone ever teach that boy to knock first? What if his mom had been naked in there too?

†. Gen 9:22b . . and told his two brothers outside.

Ham wasn't just a little kid who stumbled into his parents' bedroom. He was a grown man, married, and quite possibly by this time his son Canaan was already born. Catching his dad naked was probably an innocent enough accident; but Ham couldn't let it go. No, he just had to broadcast it and make sport of his dad. Good grief, you'd think he would at least put the covers over Noah so no one else would see him that way.

Ham didn't seem to respect his dad very much. It's a very black hearted demon seed who takes pleasure in the shame and misfortune of their parents. I wonder if that's what Ham felt as he gazed down at his dad. Did it actually make him feel good to see the old gentleman in drunken disgrace?

†. 1Cor 13:3-7 . . If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

So although the Flood wiped out sinful people, it didn't wipe out sin did it? No, sin survived, and stowed away aboard the ark within the very family of Noah; the most righteous man on Earth; before the Flood and after the Flood (cf. Ezek 14:13-20). That only goes to show you that, as in the case of Cain and Abel, it isn't unusual for otherwise good parents, through no fault of their own, to engender a wicked kid.

†. Prv 17:25 . . A stupid son is vexation for his father and a heartache for the woman who bore him.

C.L.I.F.F.
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Webers_Home · #**126** 6th November 2009, 12:38 PM

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†. Gen 9:23 . . But Shem and Japheth took a cloth, placed it against both their backs and, walking backward, they covered their father’s nakedness; their faces were turned the other way, so that they did not see their father’s nakedness.

Good lads! Those two men respected their dad and did the right thing by him. It's only too clear that Ham despised his father. You know, when you love people, you won't demean them, nor ridicule them, nor wish them disgrace, nor do anything at all that might tarnish their reputation. Love reveals itself by always looking out for the best interests of others.

Disrespect for one's elders eventually became a very serious offense.

†. Ex 21:15 . . He who strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death.

†. Lev 20:9 . . If anyone insults his father or his mother, he shall be put to death; he has insulted his father and his mother —his bloodguilt is upon him.

†. Ex 20:12 . . Honor your father and your mother, that you may long endure on the land that the Lord your God is assigning to you.

†. Eph 6:1-3 . . Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise), that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth.

Why should people respect their parents? Because it's right. People who disrespect their parents reveal a hidden contempt for Almighty God.

†. 1John 4:20 . . If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his kin, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his kin, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

Ham's act is seen even more base when juxtaposed with The Flood. Noah's ark saved Ham's butt, and this is how his son repaid the favor? When Noah got off the ark, he reciprocated God's kindness with gratitude and burnt offerings. Ham reciprocated his father's kindness with mockery and public disgrace. There are those among the Serpent's seed, as were Cain and Ham, who hate good simply for the very good's sake.

†. 1John 3:12-13 . . Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you.

One of the characteristics of the end-time era is a lack of kindness towards one's own kin.

†. 2 Tim 3:1-5 . . But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, hard-hearted towards kindred, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

C.L.I.F.F.
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Webers_Home · #**127** 7th November 2009, 10:45 AM

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†. Gen 9:24-25a . .When Noah woke up from his wine and learned what his youngest son had done to him, he said: Cursed be Canaan;

I'd be curious to know exactly how Noah "learned" what his youngest son had done to him.

On the surface it appears Noah is reacting to the incident of the wine and nudity. But it's more likely he was just tardy on sharing prophetic predictions of the boys' futures before this episode; and Ham's conduct served to light a fire under him to take care of neglected patriarchal duties.

Some expositors have wrangled with Gen 9:25a and tried to figure out just exactly why Noah leveled a curse at Ham's son rather than at Ham. After all, Ham is the one on record who mocked his naked dad, not Noah's grandson Canaan. And Canaan wasn't Ham's only son; he had Cush, Mizraim, and Put too; but the curse is leveled at only one boy.

Can people really launch curses? Wouldn't that imply human beings have supernatural powers to control history and circumstances? No, people as a rule cannot launch curses. Noah was a prophet; and in his capacity as one, he relayed information from God regarding his sons' posterities. Exactly why he chose to speak about the future of his family at this particular time is unclear; but obviously God was behind it.

Apparently Canaan, who had a wicked dad, was a demon seed, and God was already against the lad. Canaan may have even been Ham's favorite, so God's opinion surely made him feel badly for the boy. We all want the best for our kids— even bad people feel that way about their children. Canaan was Noah's grandson and it could not have given the old gentleman pleasure to reveal to the boy's dad how God felt about him.

The word for curse is from 'arar (aw-rar') and means: to execrate. Webster's defines execrate as: to declare to be evil or detestable; denounce; to detest utterly. A curse is not always a doom forced upon someone or something like in Gen 3:17. A person cursed can mean that they are just simply a bad apple. There's no need to put a hex on an apple to make it go bad when it's already bad. That is what Noah saw about Canaan. He was, and would be, a bad apple who would engender a whole colony of bad apples; same as Cain did prior to the Flood.

It's very doubtful Noah actually cast some sort of hex upon Canaan. It's more likely he simply stated the obvious: that his grandson was both incorrigible and irreverent; and would never have respect for anything dear to God's heart just as Mr. Esau, whom we'll visit on down the line here in Genesis. God hated that boy before he was even born (Rom 9:10-13). It's just a fact of life that some people come into the world with one foot already in Hell before they're even old enough to eat solid food.

The Serpent is a totally unholy creature. It never does anything good for Man nor does it ever willingly cooperate with Man's creator. It is totally anti-God; and that is what Canaan was— an unholy man who engendered an unholy, detestable posterity. Cain, the first of the Serpent's seed, engendered an unholy civilization in the antediluvian world. Canaan, himself a Serpentary offspring, went on to do the very same thing in the new world

†. Gen 9:25b . . the lowest of slaves shall he be to his brothers.

That's a very derogatory remark, and more likely a colloquialism rather than a literal prediction; sort of like the one God made regarding the Serpent; that it would crawl on its belly and eat dirt; viz: henceforth be regarded the lowest sort of filth imaginable. Well, that was Noah's prediction regarding Canaan; and it came true. The people of the land of Canaan became so abhorrent that God, in Deut 7:1-5 and Deut 18:9-14, commanded Yhvh's people Israel to drive them out, to exterminate them, to reject their religions, and to avoid intermarriage.

C.L.I.F.F.
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Webers_Home · #**128** 8th November 2009, 01:11 PM

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†. Gen 9:26a . . And he said: Blessed be The Lord, The God of Shem;

Yhvh (The Lord) is said to be Shem's god. But Yhvh is not said to be the god of either Ham or Japheth. Shem is the only one of the three brothers of whom it is said: "Yhvh, the God of" perhaps implying that the Bible's God didn't become Shem's god just because the family he was born into worshipped that particular god, rather because he personally chose the Bible's God to be his god. A lot of adults are in a religion simply because that's the one they grew up with.

†. Gen 9:26b . . let Canaan be a slave to them.

The pronoun them would refer to the peoples that would descend from Shem.

†. Gen 9:27a . . May God enlarge Japheth,

That seems more a prayer more than a prediction. Japheth is generally regarded as the father of many of the Gentile nations, most particularly the Romans and the Greeks, who became mighty world powers. Japheth seemed like an okay kind of guy who had a sense of propriety, and respected matters of right and wrong. People like him; even though not particularly religious, will listen to reason, and can often be persuaded to do the right thing. He proved at least that much when he assisted brother Shem to cover their dad's nudity in a discreet way. It is so cool to see someone wishing good for the Gentiles so early in human history.

†. Gen 9:27b . . and let him dwell in the tents of Shem;

That doesn't necessarily mean Shem's people and Japheth's people would mingle and assimilate. The expression "dwell in the tents of" is colloquialism sometimes used to denote compliance or conformity. Here's an example of just the opposite of what we might call dwelling in the tents of Shem.

†. Ps 84:11 . . Better one day in Your courts than a thousand [anywhere else]; I would rather stand at the threshold of God’s house than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

The "tents of the wicked" regards a secular life style that has no place in it for God and doesn't allow His spirit an influence in one's personal life. The remainder of that Psalm is dedicated to the kind of people of whom we could say: dwell in the tents of Shem.

†. Ps 84:12-13 . . For The Lord God is sun and shield; The Lord bestows grace and glory; He does not withhold His bounty from those who live without blame. O Lord of hosts, happy is the man who trusts in You.

People who live in the tents of the wicked and walk where the wicked walk; sure don't walk where Shem walks. Not all of Japheth's people would dwell in the tents of Shem. But the idea is that Japheth's people were not cursed like Canaan's. Many of them would become God-fearing, and be moral and live right— though not all of course.

†. Prv 2:1-15 . . My son, if you accept my words and treasure up my commandments; if you make your ear attentive to wisdom and your mind open to discernment; if you call to understanding and cry aloud to discernment, if you seek it as you do silver and search for it as for treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and attain knowledge of God.

. . For the Lord grants wisdom; knowledge and discernment are by His decree. He reserves ability for the upright and is a shield for those who live blamelessly, guarding the paths of justice, protecting the way of those loyal to Him. You will then understand what is right, just, and equitable— every good course.

. . For wisdom will enter your mind and knowledge will delight you. Foresight will protect you, and discernment will guard you. It will save you from the way of evil men, from men who speak duplicity, who leave the paths of rectitude to follow the ways of darkness, who rejoice in doing evil and exult in the duplicity of evil men, men whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their course.

Proverbs 2:1-15 is a promise made to everybody— whether Jew or Gentile makes no difference —who determine within themselves to follow the wisdom of the Bible's God. In doing so, they will "dwell in the tents of Shem"; as Ruth did.

†. Ruth 2:11-12 . . Boaz replied: I've been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband— how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. May The Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by The Lord, The God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.

†. Gen 9:27c . . and let Canaan be a slave to them."

Not all of Ham's descendants would become subservient to the people of Shem and Japheth. Only those in Canaan's line.

†. Gen 9:28-29 . . Noah lived after the Flood 350 years. And all the days of Noah came to 950 years; then he died.

Another righteous man bites the dust. Noah lived twenty more years than Adam, but nineteen less than Methuselah— no doubt a great role model and a tremendous influence upon the minds of all his grandchildren. He surely must have had a huge brood of them in the new world by the time those final 350 years ended.

C.L.I.F.F.
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Webers_Home · #**129** 9th November 2009, 10:53 AM

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†. Gen 10:1 . .These are the lines of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah: sons were born to them after the Flood.

Chapter 10 is a tiresome list of genealogies that some have found interesting enough to devote entire books to; generating a catalogue of nations connecting Noah's descendants to the ancient civilizations and even today's. But I'm going to comment upon only a few salient features.

Just a note regarding genealogies. Some have attempted to date the Flood and the tenure of mankind on the planet using Bible genealogies. But that's an untenable way to go about it because the genealogies aren't precise enough measures of time.

There are a number of places in the Bible where the term begot doesn't necessarily denote a direct father/son relationship but just means: became the father of. A good one is Mtt 1:8 where it says that Jehoram was the father of Uzziah. Three generations are omitted. So actually the term "begot" often just refers to posterity, and not always to immediate offspring.

†. Gen 10:5 . . [These are the descendants of Japheth] by their lands— each with its language— their clans and their nations.

Diverse languages didn't appear right away. First comes the tower of Babel. It was after that when people's languages became what we might call "foreign".

†. Gen 10:8-9 . . Cush was the father of Nimrod, who grew to be a mighty warrior on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before The Lord; that is why it is said: Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before The Lord. The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Erech, Akkad and Calneh, in Shinar.

At first, mankind was scattered out in individual clans, and leadership was pretty much restricted to local patriarchal Dons and Sheiks. But Nimrod wasn't content with local rule. He was resolved not only to tower above his neighbors, not only to be eminent among them, but to lord it over them. The same spirit that actuated the mighty men and the men of renown prior to the Flood, (by reason of whom the Flood came) now revived in Mr. Nimrod. There are some in whom ambition and affectation of dominion seem to be bred in the bone. Nothing short of Hell itself will humble and break the proud spirits of men such as those.

Nimrod is interesting. He had humble beginnings. At first as a hunter; supplying meat to frontier towns and selling pelts at trading posts. That was probably his profession up until his exploits became famous and he began to realize it was far more profitable to go into politics. Lots of great men, some good and some bad, had humble beginnings— Abraham Lincoln, King David, and even Hitler. Timely circumstances, and fortuitous opportunities, catapulted those otherwise insignificant men up to very high levels of control over their fellow men.

To this very day Nimrod is still known as the outdoorsman who would be king. He was such a famous icon of that day that his example became descriptive of others who worked their way to the top like he did— men of vision, daring, energy, strong personal ambition, and dogged perseverance. The common personality trait, among such men, is their strong desire not just to bear rule, but to quite dominate people. There are those for whom it isn't enough to win; no, it isn't enough for people like that to win: everyone else has to lose.

BTW: Nimrod was among Noah's grandchildren; as we all are today.

†. Gen 10:21a . . Sons were also born to Shem, ancestor of all the descendants of Eber

Descendants of Eber (most notably Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) became known as Eberites: a.k.a. Hebrews.

The remainder of chapter 10 amounts to little more than a registry and I don't really want to spend any more time here.

C.L.I.F.F.
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Webers_Home · #**130** 10th November 2009, 12:53 PM

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†. Gen 11:1 . . Everyone on earth had the same language and the same words.

Is there a difference between language and words? Oh yes, very definitely. The Hebrew word for language is from saphah (saw-faw') which means: the lip. The one for words is from dabar (daw-baw') which means: a word (as spoken or written)

Spoken languages are a combination of words and lips; viz: vocabulary and accents. It's one thing to know the words of a language, but it is quite another to speak them with the correct accent. In that day, everyone used the same words and spoke them with the very same accent.

†. Gen 11:2 . . And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there.

The name Shinar was of course given later because these early migrations were to lands heretofore uninhabited. According to Gen 10:10, Shinar became Nimrod's turf. This particular migration was from the east. The ark went aground somewhere in the highlands of Armenia. So from there, the people, whose numbers are totally unknown, went out west (actually somewhat southwest) looking for greener pastures. Although the region of Shinar has not been precisely pinpointed, we can take a relatively educated guess at it.

†. Dan 1:1-2 . . In the third year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and laid siege to it. The Lord delivered King Jehoiakim of Judah into his power, together with some of the vessels of the House of God, and he brought them to the land of Shinar to the house of his god; he deposited the vessels in the treasury of his god.

The Shinar of Daniel's day is apparently the region where Babylon was located. Babylon's location today is marked by a broad area of ruins just east of the Euphrates River, 90 km (56 mi) south of Baghdad, Iraq. It's part of an area commonly known as the Fertile Crescent; a very large region arching across the northern part of the Syrian Desert and extending from the Nile Valley to the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. In the early post Flood years, this region was very lush. But today much of it is arid wasteland.

†. Gen 11:3a . .They said to one another: Come, let us make bricks and burn them hard. (Brick served them as stone)

Brick are blocks of clay or other ceramic used for construction and decorative facing. Bricks may be dried in the sun but are more usually baked in a kiln. They cost relatively little, resist dampness and heat, and can actually last longer than some kinds of stone.

Brick was the chief building material of ancient Mesopotamia and Palestine. The inhabitants of Jericho in Palestine were building with brick about 9,000 years ago. That's about 5,000 years before Abraham's day.

Sumerian and Babylonian builders constructed ziggurats, palaces, and city walls of sun-dried brick and covered them with more durable kiln-baked, often brilliantly glazed brick, arranged in decorative pictorial friezes. Later the Persians and the Chinese built in brick, for example, the Great Wall of China. The Romans built large structures such as baths, amphitheaters, and aqueducts in brick, which they often covered with marble facing.

The invention of brick, and the skills to build with it, was possibly a technology carried over from the antediluvian world.

C.L.I.F.F.
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