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    January 3rd Chronological Bible Readings

    You are invited to join us on the Chronological Bible journey in 2011!  We currently have over 600 people signed up for our free weekly email filled with commentary, encouragement, and questions for reflection.  To join us on the journey in 2011 click on this link for more details and to sign up!

    Genesis 7-10:5; 1 Chronicles 1:5-7; Genesis 10:6-20; 1 Chronicles 1:8-16; Genesis 10:21-30; 1 Chronicles 1:17-23; Genesis 10:31-32
    ~ Click here to read today’s Scripture on BibleGateway.com ~ // Mobile Site Link

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    Yesterday’s Flood readings in Genesis were about judgment – today’s readings are about redemption!  Chapter 8 verse 1 stood out to me: “But God remembered Noah and all the animals in the boat.” I like that phrase “But God remembered” – but I have a hunch that it is a bit understated in God’s love and compassion for Noah and all of creation.  Verse 11 is interesting in that if you were ever wondering where our modern day peace symbol of a dove with an olive branch comes from originally – now you know – God’s peace symbol to Noah here in Genesis 8:11!  “This time, toward evening, the bird returned to him with a fresh olive leaf in its beak.”

    Noah_dove

    Below are a couple of great NASA images of where Noah’s ark landed, as we read in verse 4: “the boat came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.” (Note that Bruce Feiler’s incredible nonfiction archeology-type book “Walking The Bible: A Journey by land through the Five Books of Moses” opens up with him searching for Noah’s Ark near Mt. Ararat in Turkey.  This is a highly recommended book!) Images below courtesy of & copyrighted by ebibleteacher.com:

    Noahs20ark20220800

     

    Noahs20ark20mt20ararat20800b

    In Genesis chapter 9 verses 8 through 17 we are reading about the first major covenant of God’s in the Old Testament called the Noahic Covenant.  There are 6 more major covenant’s that we will get to later this year – The first Abrahamic covenant, The second Abrahamic covenant, The Sinaitic Covenant (Moses on Mt. Sinai), The Phinehas Covenant, the Davidic Covenant, and the New Covenant.  So – Covenants are a big deal!  God is a God of covenants!  This one is laid out in all 10 verses but can basically be summed up in verse 11: “I solemnly promise never to send another flood to kill all living creatures and destroy the earth.”  And the rainbow is given as a sign of The Noahic Covenant.

    Noah_rainbow

    Genesis chapter 9 verse 3 is intriguing.  I forgot to mention this in previous day’s posts – but, I read a commentary on the Garden of Eden and even thereafter that early descendants of Adam & Eve were strictly vegetarians – God had given Adam & Eve the fruits & plants in the Garden to eat – and then Adam’s son’s cultivated the ground for plants / food.  But here in verse 3 God is now saying that it is okay to eat animals’ meat for food: “I have given them to you for food, just as I have given you grain and vegetables.”  Very interesting.  We’ll get more details on clean and unclean animals per the Law in our OT readings early this year.

    Noah_animals

    In the remainder of chapter 9 we read about Noah’s son’s Shem, Ham and Japheth. Initially I asked myself, why is Noah so upset with Ham?  The answer lies in verse 22: “Ham, the father of Canaan, saw that his father was naked and went outside and told his brothers.”  The last 3 words of this sentence were the issue – Ham told his brothers his father was naked.  Instead of discreetly just covering up his father on his own, he broadcast the issue to his brothers.  Are there times in our life where we could discreetly take care of problems of others, or could confront the individual directly about the problem, but instead we broadcast what someone else’s problems are?  Is this the right thing to do?  Is this the godly thing to do?

    Megaphone

    There is a lot of interesting stuff going on in the genealogy in chapter 10, which is typically called The Table of Nations, but I’ll just quickly point out verses 21 & 22: “Sons were also born to Shem, the older brother of Japheth. Shem was the ancestor of all the descendants of Eber.”  Shem becomes translated in the future as Semites – i.e. Semitic peoples.  And Eber is translated in the future as Hebrew.  So, you can see that Shem’s lineage is going to be the one from where Israel comes from.  Below are two maps that help to visualize where Shem, Ham & Japheth’s descendants listed in this genealogy end up:

    Shem_ham_japheth

     

    Nations_table

    Bible.org’s commentary on today’s readings in Genesis titled “The Noahic Covenant” is at this link, “The Nakedness of Noah” is at this link, and “The Spread of the Nations” is at this link.

    Worship God:  Reading about God remembering Noah in Genesis 8:1 and reading about Jesus calling the disciples in Matthew 4 today reminded me of the fantastic song by Israel Houghton and Michael Gungor called “Friend of God.” Here’s Israel leading worship to this amazing song!


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ty0SO7IvtXM

    Are you a friend of God?  Click here to meet your eternal Friend!

    Please join us in memorizing and meditating on a verse of Scripture today: “I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.” Genesis 9:11 NIV

    Prayer Point: Pray in thanksgiving for God’s covenant to Noah. Pray in thanksgiving for God’s covenants to you. Pray in thanksgiving for God’s new covenant offered to you through the ministry of Jesus.

    Comments from You and Question of the Day: In what ways you see God’s grace to Noah and mannkind in today’s readings? Also, what verses or insights stand out to you in today’s readings?  Please post up by clicking on the “Comments” link below!

    God bless,
    Mike

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    3 responses to “January 3rd Chronological Bible Readings”

    1. John Avatar
      John

      Gen 8
      1 “But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark,…”
      Is God a forgetful old-timer weary of the job as once was potrayed on the cover of TIME (USA)? No.

      “We are told that “God remembered Noah.” Wherever Scripture uses the phrase God remembered, it marks the activity of God on behalf of these whom he so remembers. God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark. This is a charming way of saying that God thought constantly about them.” – Ray Stedman

      Gen 9
      4 “But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.”
      “There is tremendous significance in this passage. Here we are told that man may eat the flesh of animals, but not the blood. Why? Because, says God, the life is in the blood, and life is God’s property. It is never man’s property. Man does not impart life; he does not originate it and it does not belong to him. Therefore, he has no right to take life. That is what this teaches. Life is God’s property. Even in the proper taking of animal life (which is permitted man), he still must recognize the sovereignty and authority of God over life. Therefore, says God, do not eat the blood, because the blood is the life of the animal.” -Ray Stedman
      Genesis 9
      Curse or Prophecy
      All the OT characters were flawed. Even those seen as righteous. They were righteous because they believed and righteousness was imputed to them, but they were flawed.
      Noah’s drunkenness and uncovering show that Noah was flawed. What Ham did no one knows other than he looked. However, Noah awoke and found out and He let er’ rip.
      But what was Noah doing? We can ask God to curse, but can we curse someone? Noah walked with God, Noah was flawed, maybe Noah was dealing with this through God and using His words.
      I beleive Noah was prophesying. but why would God curse Canaan who was a son of Ham? One view is that whatever flaw was inherant in Ham in the viewing of his father would show up in one of his children in an intensified manner. Which one? God said it was Canaan.
      How did the Canaanites act once settled in their land?
      Merril Unger states: “The Canaanites were enslaved by one of the most terrible and degrading forms of idolatry, which encouraged their immorality. Discovered in 1929-1937, Canaanite religious literature from Ras Shamra (ancient Ugarit in North Syria) reveals the worship of the immoral gods El and Baal and the sacred courtesans Anath, Asherah and Astarte. This literature fully corroborates the OT notices of the religious debauchery and moral degradation of the Canaanites. Cult objects, figurines and literature combine to show how sex-centered was Canaanite religion, with human sacrifices, cult of serpents, sacred courtesans and eunuch priests excessively common. The sordid depths of social degradation to which the erotic aspects of Canaanite cults led can scarcely be imagined”
      http://www.ucgoc.com/bible-old/study5.htm

      (You can google plenty of other sites that will verify the nature of Canaanites thru different scientific digs)

      OK. Canaan’s descendents were morally reprehnsible, and when conquered were slaves to the descendants of Shem (semitic people).
      How about the rest of the prophecy?
      Japheth was the father of the indo-European families which was later extended into North America.
      Shem was the father of the semitic families, and the origins of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity were in that cradle. Japheth people did live in the tents (tabernacle) with the Semitics (metaphorically) and learned of their faiths.

      So the prophecy seems to have played out.

      One last note: The curse on Canaan was used to justify the slave trade in the 1500’s to late 19th century. That is false teaching. The Canannites were not dark skinned nor black as was taught at that time. Some of Hams descendants that settled in Africa and Arabis were black. But the Canaanites were not, and the curse was specifically a result of their immorality and their consequent enslavement of survivors to the Semitics (particularly the people of Israel) in that time period

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    2. CHARLOTTE WILLSON Avatar
      CHARLOTTE WILLSON

      I am here for my third day in a row…..I am full of questions and some of them are answered and some are not. some get answered only to bring more questions.
      WHAT IS A “OT CHARACTER” forgive my lack of knowledge.
      ok this one bothered me…..
      Why is Canaan the bad guy here? He did nothing it was his father and his uncles that covered themselves and their father? According to these passages they were all naked and not until Ham saw his father laying naked was this an issue. This says nothing of Hams son being there, yet he is the one cursed.
      Genesis 9
      22And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.
      23And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness.
      24And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.
      25And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
      26And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
      27God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
      ANSWER in chronological bible blog
      Genesis 9
      Curse or Prophecy
      All the OT characters were flawed. Even those seen as righteous. They were righteous because they believed and righteousness was imputed to them, but they were flawed.
      Noah’s drunkenness and uncovering show that Noah was flawed. What Ham did no one knows other than he looked. However, Noah awoke and found out and He let er’ rip.
      But what was Noah doing? We can ask God to curse, but can we curse someone? Noah walked with God, Noah was flawed, maybe Noah was dealing with this through God and using His words.
      I beleive Noah was prophesying. but why would God curse Canaan who was a son of Ham? One view is that whatever flaw was inherant in Ham in the viewing of his father would show up in one of his children in an intensified manner. Which one? God said it was Canaan.
      SO HERE YOU ARE SAYING THAT CANAAN IS GUILTY BECAUSE HE IS HIS FATHERS SON?????????????????????????????? IF THIS IS THE CASE WILL ANY OF US GET INTO HEAVEN??????????????
      GOD BLESS
      CHARLOTTE

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    3. Brenda Avatar
      Brenda

      Wow…. O.T. is Old Testament Character. I never read that any of the brothers were naked. Noah was in his own tent drunk from drinking to much and was naked. When Ham saw him he made mockery of him. It is like someone knowing something private about you a going our spreading the news for people to make fun of you. This was his Father, he should have had more respect and helped him by covering him up in the state he was in. Instead he chose to make fun of him with his brothers. Noah was a Man of God. God saw Hams heart also. The brothers did not think it was funny and did the right thing by not looking at him and covering him up. It is all about your motive and heart with God. Some things you get away with and some you don’t and some your offspring (generations) pay for later on.

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