Shem’s last book

“These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood: And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters. And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah: And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters. And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber: And Salah lived after he begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters. And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg: And Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters. And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu: And Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters. And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug: And Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters. And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor: And Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters. And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah: And Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters. And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.”

Shem added to his document before he died. While these people were all important before God they were part of Abraham’s family tree and were included for so that God would give us a complete record of events leading up to the next operative phase in the plan of salvation. It is interesting to note that Abram (Abraham) was born before Shem died and Shem was born before Lamech died and Lamech was born before Adam died. Abraham lived in the same area as Shem when he was young so there is a very close connection between Shem and the beginning. Similar to a person hearing about their grandmother’s granfather.

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(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

The LORD came down

“And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.”

Even though the Lord knew exactly what was happening on the earth, He came down so that the people who were rebelling against His authority would be sure that it was the Lord who was dealing with them and not some random and arbitrary act of nature. This was not an act that happened by chance but a deliberate act of God. The major issue was the fact that the people of the world decided that they didn’t need God any more and were acting as though they were God themselves. This was the first time that this particular sin occurred and the Lord dealt with in a particularly severe way so that the people of the world would realise that this was not acceptable before God. When organisations grow large the people involved become proud and think that they deserve the praise for the size of the organisation. These people also become corrupted and believe that they can tell God what to do. In this case God worked to make sure that the people didn’t become too proud and that they obeyed His original command to fill the earth. The Lord confused the languages and the people spread out and filled the whole earth. This was the beginning of the fear of people we don’t know. God’s design was founded on His grace. He wanted the people of the earth to realise His strength and their weakness so that they wouldn’t rely on themselves and become proud. It is God’s plan for each of His people to rely on Him, bow before His glory and accept that He is God.

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(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Let us make a name

“And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”

This section begins another excursion into God’s grace. The Lord told Noah and his descendants that they were to move out and fill the whole earth but they started to build cities instead. The idea of cities makes good sense if you try to remove God from the picture. There were wild animals where the people lived in those days and they were a danger. If the people lived together they would be able to protect themselves form the wild animals. However, God told them to spread out and trust Him rather than themselves. As soon as these people looked at the cities they had built they began to be proud of what they had achieved and think that they were better than God. Their plan was to build something to show God that they were better than He is. This is the reason that they wanted to build a tower that would reach unto heaven. God promised that sinners would die but these people wanted to make sure that they had their own share of eternity and that is why they wanted to make a name for themselves. As soon as we get big we start to believe that we don’t need God and we seek to make a great reputation for ourselves so that we can make our mark on humanity and even make an eternal reputation for ourselves. However, there is only One God and the only way to find eternity is by submitting to Him and to His will.

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(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

All the nations of the earth

“And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and Heth, And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite, And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad. And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha. These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations. Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born. The children of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram. And the children of Aram; Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash. And Arphaxad begat Salah; and Salah begat Eber. And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan. And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah, And Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah, And Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba, And Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab: all these were the sons of Joktan. And their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou goest unto Sephar a mount of the east. These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations. These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.

Apart from Noah and his family there was no one else alive on the earth. They had brought the animals through the Flood and the Lord had preserved extra clean animals so that they would have meat to eat as well as plants that they grew. But all the nations of the earth came from Noah and his sons. If you use mathematical formulae to calculate the time when there were less than ten people on earth and use the current rate of growth as well as the current population of the earth you will find that you only have to go back about five thousand years. The other interesting fact is that the oldest trees on earth are only 5000 years old as well. The historical facts as written by Noah’s family are demonstrable using data that we can check on today.

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(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

The sons of Ham

“And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan. And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtecha: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan. And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city. And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim, And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (out of whom came Philistim,)and Caphtorim.”

The Bible fills in all the space accuratley by listing the names of people who do not further the story of salvation. These people are part of the people who need to be redeemed but they are not part of the people who further the plan of salvation. Even though they are not part of the plan of salvation, the Lord still lists their names and we know that the Lord knows each one of these people and their hopes and desires. Even though we amy reject the Lord, He is always ready to hear us when we call to Him. Every time a person cries out to the Lord and acknowledges their sin the Lord hears this person and will reach out to them. These people, however, are part of the problem because they refused to obey the Lord’s commands. He told them to fill the earth but they build cities and lived close to each other. When people build cities they tend to become proud of their own achievements and think that they don’t need God anymore.

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(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

The generations of the sons of Noah

“Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood. The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras. And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah. And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.”

This section contains the colophon of Noah’s sons, probably written by Shen because his name appears first. Noah was born before Enos died, and Enos was Adam’s grandson. Shem was able to learn some of his information from his own grandfather and great grand father but he was also an eye witness to the period during which the ark was built and then the Flood came and went away again so we can take his evidence with confidence. We can accept his evidence with much more confidence than we can accept the evidence of people who lived thousands of years later and tell us that these things were written by an unknown person writing at an unknown time.,

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(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Noah died

“And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.”

Noah lived a long and worthwhile life and was responsible for keeping the line of life intact. He was the one man who did exactly what God gave him to do and he offered the rest of the world a choice to save themselves through the Flood. However, at the end of his life Noah died. He was born into a sinful world and he had to face death as well. This gives us cause for sober reflection. Everyone will die at some stage and there is only one way to insulate yourself from the eternal fires of hell. Noah believed God and he was saved from the Flood. Noah also believed God and he was saved from the eternal fires of hell. Everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ can also be saved from the eternal fires of hell. No one knows the day of their death but everyone can take steps today to make sure that they are saved from hell when they die.

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(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Another curse

“And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.”

As long as Noah was drunk, he didn’t realise what had happened but as soon as he was sober again he realised that his son had seen his shame. So much so that his other two sons had to cover his shame and that made the whole thing worse. When Adam and Eve sinned they realised that they were naked and they were ashamed so we know that nakedness is associated with sin. When the priests went up to the altar they were not allowed to climb up on steps so that they would not expose their nakedness (Exodus 20: 26). This shows that it was considered to be a serious sin in those days and Ham was guilty. He could easily have looked away, not only did he refuse to look away but he told his brothers and brought more shame into the situation. The Bible always deals with the first example of sin in a serious way so that everyone can take a warning from that example. In this case, Noah cursed his grandson, Ham’s son, for this sin. Some people have used this passage to justify slavery, however this is not a justification for slavery. Only Canaan and his descendants were cursed; this curse was fulfilled when Israel took possession of the Land of Canaan and the his descendants were enslaved by the Israelites who didn’t kill them as they were commanded. This slavery was one of the root causes of their decline into sin. Slavery can cause the slave owner to become debased and it will destroy the culture that uses it.

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(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

He was uncovered

“And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. And 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.”

The first thing that we notice about this is that Noah did his work before he built a house. He obeyed the Lord before he spent time looking after his own interests. This reminds us of the Lord Jesus Christ Who said, “Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matt 6: 31-33). Noah worked hard and then he overindulged and became drunk, so much so that he passed out inside his tent. This story is one of those parts of the Bible that shows us the true, sinful, human nature of the heroes. Noah is mentioned in Hebrews 11 as being a hero of faith but he did get drunk. It is rare for histories of that era to record that their heroes had human frailties but the Bible shows us that every person is beset by weakness. This is one of the great reasons why the Lord Jesus Christ, Almighty God Himself became a man. He had no human frailties and still died for our sins. Praise God that He came!

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(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

He planted a vineyard

“And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan. These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread. And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard”

The Lord’s command was still the same: be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. There was not a great deal of value in an earth that was empty God had created the earth so that it might belong to the people who were created in His own image. If the earth was to remain empty then there would no one to act as stewards and use the abundant resources that the Lord had made. However, all this had to come from Noah’s three children and their wives. Having fulfilled his duty to save the earth Noah got on with his life and cultivated grapes in a vineyard. There are times in our lives when we may need to pray and think carefully about decisions that we have to make but there are other times when we have to just go ahead and do what God has given us to do. In some ways Noah was the same as Abraham in Gen 15: 6 where “he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.” Heb 11: 7 reminds us that Noah was a man of faith but we are reminded here that faith always shows itself in action, that is, in obedience.

God is consistent

“And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.”

There is an old question that people ask and it goes like this:

“Can God do anything?”

Most people would say “Yes” in answer to this question.

“Well then, can God create a rock that is too big for Him to lift?”

Now there is a paradox! The answer to the first question is “No, God cannot be inconsistent.” This means that the second question can be reworded as “Can God be inconsistent?” Well the proper answer to the first question precludes the second question. The section of the Bible (Gen 9: 16, 17) above talks about God being consistent. When God sees a rainbow today He knows that He is consistent and He is reminding us that He is consistent as well. However, we have to remember that He is consistent as well. He said, “suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.” (Luke 12: 51-53) When we follow the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour we follow His footsteps and not necessarily fame and fortune.

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(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

God remembered.

“And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.”

Rainbows are formed when the sun shines into raindrops. These raindrops refract the white light going in and then reflect it off the back of the drop before refracting it again on the way out. A rainbow always occurs when we look away from the sun. This means that we won’t be blinded by looking into the sun to see the rainbow. It is very hard to hide a rainbow because it is in the sky above us and it doesn’t form till the sun comes out after rain. We are inclined to look up after rain to see if there will be more rain and we tend to look away from the sun so we will see the rainbow. This means that everyone can see that God has made a promise not to destroy all flesh. This is the second time that God remembered something in the Bible. In the first case, He remembered Noah and the waters of the Flood began to abate but in this case God made a promise to remember His promise every time there was a rainbow in the sky. There is probably a rainbow visible somewhere on the earth at every moment of time. God does not forget, in fact, when He says that He remembers He is actually reminding us to remember as well because we do forget. Our God is the active God and the fact that He remembers reminds us that He is acting all the time and He always acts for good (see Rom 8: 28).

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(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

As long as the earth remains

“And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.  And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.”

Earlier the Lord promised that He would never again kill all the animals on the earth with a flood. He also said that as long as the earth remained He would make sure that there was summer and winter, seedtime and harvest, day and night. The Lord confirmed that promise. Some people suggest that these two promises mean that this a combination of two separate traditions so this must mean that there were two documents in existence and some, very clever, editor sewed these stories together to make sure that his priorities were met in the form of the text we see today. There is a much better explanation than that. Hebrew poetry is full of parallelism, that is, the same message is repeated in various ways. This allows us to get a better meaning of the text. Now if “All scripture is given by inspiration of God.” Then God must have been the first Person to use parallelism and He made sure that Noah understood the message properly. This does not preclude the possibility that God will bring local flooding as part of the chaotic world in which we live but it does mean the whole earth will never again be flooded. God is always consistent and, as such, can always be trusted.

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(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

The life is in the blood

“But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man. And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.”

William Harvey lived from 1578 till 1657. He was the first doctor to describe how blood circulates around the body and is pumped by the heart. He qualified as a medical doctor in 1602 and worked in London, he was even the royal physician to King James 1. Before that time people believed that Galen, who lived in the second century AD was correct. He said that the body made new blood as it used the old blood up. He was unpopular at the time because many doctors would make their patients bleed so that they could get rid of the extra bad blood and cure the patient. William Harvey actually proved that God was correct when He told Noah that the life was in the blood. Blood carries oxygen and nutrients around the body and brings life to every cell. Shedding a person’s blood is the same as taking their life away and eating blood is the same as eating an animal’s life. God required that any person who took one person’s life would be forced to give up their own life as a penalty. We live in a different era where people have been affected by nearly two thousand years of Christianity and we see the value of a person’s life and we live under grace not the Law. However, it is interesting to remember that the Creator knew the way that the human body worked long before any scientist was able to discover that He is correct.

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(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

The fear of you

“And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.”

In Romans 8: 22 we read that whole of creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. This is a consequence of sin in the world. The perfect world that God made was invaded by death and everything became chaotic, random and arbitrary. The relationship between man and the other creatures was also damaged and God told Noah that the world was still damaged by sin even though He had saved Noah and his family from the Flood. There are always consequences to every action we take and we can never avoid the consequences even though God is slow to anger (Psalm 103: 8). The consequence that we have to be most concerned about is the one discussed in Matthew 10: 28. The final consequence of sin is suffering all the eternal torments of hell. It is okay to believe whatever you want to believe but if you don’t believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as your own personal Saviour you are taking a great risk. He is the door for the sheep and He is the only way for people to find eternal security without any fear of the eternal torments of hell.

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(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Consistent and Secure

“And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.”

The Lord had not forgot His purpose in creating the world and He had not changed His plan. When animals were first made they were told to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and the same command was given to Adam and Eve. They actually did what they were commanded to do in this case. When the earth was essentially empty again the Lord gave the same command and they followed His instructions again. God chose to make the earth so that is could belong to world, that is, the people whom he had made in His own image. He still wanted the world to be at rest on the earth and to enjoy all His goodness. However, God had also determined that everyone would have the consequences of the choices that they made and He had not changed His mind on that matter either. Everyone wants to have security in life and we know that God is completely consistent. Without God, there is nothing but chaos, we have no secure way of predicting anythings and being completely secure of satisfying that prediction unless we are relying on something that God has promised. If you want to have some security in your life you can also be sure if you submit to God and comply entirely with His predestined plan. That is you must believe on the Only Begotten Son of God (see John 3: 16)

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(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)