13In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark; 14They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort.
15And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.
16And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.
17And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth.
18And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.
19And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.
20Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
21And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man:
22All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.
23And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.
24And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.
As you can see, the story is summarized again. It is believed that part of the reason for retelling the stories was because there was an oral tradition of the bible. We have to remember that most people could not read or write and that books were made individually, there was no printing press and the books had to be written out completely by hand. This makes it all the more amazing that when we find old bibles that they are almost 100" identical in what they say. The oral tradition was just as accurate.
In Hebrew all letters are also numbers and if one counts up the letters they get a sum, a total. In english it would work like this, if your name was Bob, then numerically it would be both 3+15+3 and 21 at the same time. Each word has a number and each sentence had a number and each book had a number. In the oral tradition people could count off the numbers to make sure that things "added up".
So after 40 days and nights of rain the waters remained on the earth for another 150 days. That means that Noah and his family spent 197 days on the ship (remember they entered 7 days before the rain began). They spent over half a year trapped on a boat feeding and cleaning up after every animal that there was and they did this knowing that when they landed everything they ever knew would be gone. Once again we see a need for a time of separation from our past before we can begin our future, a cleansing of old ways. If we are to truly attempt to be a Christian, a period of separation can also be needed before beginning our new life.
Showing posts with label Genesis 7. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Genesis 7. Show all posts
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Genesis 7: 1 - 12
1And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. 2Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.
3Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.
4For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.
5And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him.
6And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
8Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
9There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
10And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
11In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
The story of Noah and of the flood itself is interesting. The story of the great flood was common to all cultures including in the Americas. There are people who will claim that the bible got the story of the flood from the Sumerians because of the similarities; but, the American Indians and the South American Indians have similar stories and they did not get them from the Sumerians, nope, the story was known all over the world even in the ancient times before there was a written word.
A couple of minor points regarding these verses. Firstly,it restates what was said earlier and then it mentions that Noah and his family boarded the boat seven days before the flood began. I have wondered why they had to go in seven days before the rains began, I think I would have liked to stay outside as long as possible. Perhaps it was to keep them separated from the others, we just don't know; but, when God creates great transitions in people's lives, he often separates them from others for a period before beginning something new.
In either case, God opens the seas and releases the water from the sky. If we go back to earlier in Genesis we read about where God put a firmament (membrane, separation) in the sky to keep the waters separated. That is the restraint that is removed from the waters. And it rained 40 days and 40 nights, the numbers 7 and 40 both reoccur in the bible. Jesus spent 40 days and 40 nights in the desert prior to his ministry beginning, the nation of Israel spent 40 years in the desert before arriving in Israel. Many believe that 40 refers to purification and after reading about Noah this is better understood.
3Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.
4For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.
5And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him.
6And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
8Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
9There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
10And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
11In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
The story of Noah and of the flood itself is interesting. The story of the great flood was common to all cultures including in the Americas. There are people who will claim that the bible got the story of the flood from the Sumerians because of the similarities; but, the American Indians and the South American Indians have similar stories and they did not get them from the Sumerians, nope, the story was known all over the world even in the ancient times before there was a written word.
A couple of minor points regarding these verses. Firstly,it restates what was said earlier and then it mentions that Noah and his family boarded the boat seven days before the flood began. I have wondered why they had to go in seven days before the rains began, I think I would have liked to stay outside as long as possible. Perhaps it was to keep them separated from the others, we just don't know; but, when God creates great transitions in people's lives, he often separates them from others for a period before beginning something new.
In either case, God opens the seas and releases the water from the sky. If we go back to earlier in Genesis we read about where God put a firmament (membrane, separation) in the sky to keep the waters separated. That is the restraint that is removed from the waters. And it rained 40 days and 40 nights, the numbers 7 and 40 both reoccur in the bible. Jesus spent 40 days and 40 nights in the desert prior to his ministry beginning, the nation of Israel spent 40 years in the desert before arriving in Israel. Many believe that 40 refers to purification and after reading about Noah this is better understood.
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