Genesis-chapter 9

9

1.So God blessed Noah and his son’s, and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 1:28

2.“And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that moves on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. Ps. 8:6

Apparently, before the flood, even though sin had entered in the world, the animals and birds were still docile towards men; either that or God made them docile again, so that they would enter the ark without fear of Noah and his family. It wasn’t until after the flood that the birds and animals from this time on would be afraid to come near man and lay down beside them, as it was from the beginning. One day though, in the kingdom of God the animals will no longer be afraid of us, and we in turn will no longer be afraid of them ( Isa. 11:6-8 ) what a glorious time it will be. So, as it was in the Beginning, God is starting over. God blesses Noah and his family to “be fruitful and multiply.” As in the man is still high above all other living things. It is through Noah’s faith in God, and his righteousness that Grace was granted to him that the world and all things in it would be delivered and start anew. “Be fruitful and multiply” says the Lord, “fill the earth;”

3. “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs.

Now this is where I have come to my conclusion (This is just my opinion only), That God first makes it okay for man to eat animals. God says that he gives every moving thing that lives for food. just as the green herbs.(even as the green herbs), so in my opinion it could be read this way: even as I have given man all the green herbs of the field to eat in the beginning, I now give you all moving things that live for food. Now this does not mean that man can eat unclean animals also. It only stands to reason that Noah (who was found righteous in God’s eyes) would know what was acceptable for him to eat in the animal kingdom. For those who think that God is contradicting himself on the laws of clean and unclean meats giving to Moses, I would like to copy a portion, from the United Church of God’s pamphlet (What Does the Bible Teach About Clean and Unclean Meats) ,chapter two, How Should We Understand Scripture: ?

The apostle Paul wrote to a fellow minister, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). When
Paul wrote these words, the Scriptures he referred to were those we now call the Old Testament. The writings that would eventually be known as the New Testament had not been accepted as Scripture; some of
them had not even been written. The Bible itself tells us we are to understand it as a unit; all Scripture is inspired as the divine guide for human conduct. By putting together all the scriptures on a given subject we allow the Bible to interpret itself and give us a complete and coherent view of God’s instruction on specific areas of life. Viewing every passage in a different context renders the Bible little more than a conflicting, contradictory collection of human writings rather than a divine revelation.
Paul’s instruction in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 shows us the foundational understanding through which we can begin to properly interpret the Bible: All of it is God’s inspired revelation. An opportunity to apply proper biblical interpretation can be found in Genesis 9:3 “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs.” Understanding this passage as part of a complete picture, we recognize it as a general statement about God providing animals for food, just as He has provided plants for human consumption. Later scriptures show that mankind should not eat every animal, just as we
should not eat every plant. The comparison “even as the green herbs” clarifies this. Consider that some species of plants, like certain animals, are highly poisonous and can be fatal if ingested. Still, the animal
kingdom provides food for us—the essential point of Genesis 9:3.
Some who adopt an inconsistent, disconnected style of biblical interpretation believe this passage reverses the distinctions
between clean and unclean animals spoken of in Genesis chapter 7. This flawed method of biblical interpretation artificially inserts beginning and ending points for God’s laws, in effect making them—and their Giver—
inconsistent and arbitrary. God simply is not like that; He is both constant and consistent (Malachi 3:6; James 1:17). God expects us to learn to properly understand and apply His Word (2 Timothy 2:15). The Bible interprets the Bible!

4. “But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is its blood.

the life of all flesh is in it’s blood. We see some of the laws of God being given here way before the time of Moses and mount Sinai; where God gave His law to Moses, for the Hebrew people (The nation of Israel), God told Moses on Mount Sinai that the blood of all flesh is to be used to purify themselves, for their souls. (Lev. 17:10-16), anyone who ate the blood were to be separated from their people.

5. “Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I will require the life of man. Ex. 21:12

If any man or beast takes the life of any man or woman, God requires, from the one who murdered (Man or beast), to be held accountable for his or hers actions. He will require that their life be taken as well. Again, this was spelled out more clearly in the Exodus when God gave Moses His laws (Exo. 21:12, 28 ).

6. “Whoever sheds man’s blood,
By man his blood shall be
shed;
For in the image of God
He made man. 1:26: Rom. 13:4

Three times, between verses’ four thru six the laws of God are being revealed to Noah. this verse speaks of the law of murder out of hate. God does distinguish between accidentally shedding blood from a man, or out of Hatred, It should stand to reason that He is not speaking of an accidental killing but a planned one. In the previous chapter Noah offered up sacrifices of the clean animals and birds to the Lord to honor him. so he knew perfectly well what God is speaking of when it comes to the shedding of blood of man, by man. God didn’t have to spell it out like He did with the Hebrew people in the Exodus account (Exo. 20:13, Exo. 21: 12-14, Num. 35:15-30) , During the Exodus and the wondering in the desert You can see How God expanded upon this law of murder, as it was required. at this point in time of the flood it was not required to go into further detail with Noah. “In the image of God He made man,” Therefore when one of His children kills another one of His children, the Lord takes it very personally. it’s as if that person was killing a part God himself (At least that’s the way I see it), That person was taking away something very precious to the Lord. Not only that but it also Grieves God in His heart to see what His creation has done to one of His own. No doubt this weighed heavy on His mind. I would venture to guess that a lot of this was going on before the flood, which is one reason God felt compelled to explain the significance of taking the life of another person to Noah.

7. And as for you, be fruitful and multiply;
Bring forth abundantly in the earth
And multiply in it.” 1:28

Do not take life from one another, rather create life and fill the earth tremendously, for this purpose I have created you, male and female, that you should be joined together as one. In my opinion this is what God is expressing to Noah, His desire to have Godly offspring, Children, Family, loving one another, in perfect harmony with each other. This is our destiny; to become children of God in His family. He will be our God and we will be His people, We will be His children, and He will be our Father ( 2 Cor. 6:16-18 ),

8. Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him saying 9. “And as for me behold, I establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you, 10. “and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth.

This covenant is not only to man, but God says that his covenant is also to every living creature that came out of the ark. It’s the only covenant of God that includes the animal kind, bird kind, and all kinds. the word “beast” is from strongs( #H2416), which is defined as alive, living, green, as in vegetation. as well as the animal kind. Lets just think about this for a minute… God is not only making a covenant with man, animal, and birds, but with the plant life also, wow! everything He made is near and dear to him. So much so that the great Creator God is making a vow not only to Mankind but also to the plants, animals, birds, “All Living Things.” God told Adam and Eve to take care of the garden (The vegetation, the plants, the herbs,) along with the animal kind, and bird kind. And He is establishing a covenant with them. This is mind boggling to me, All living things are precious to God, not just man, as we arrogantly think of ourselves. It takes me aback, and beckons me to take a much deeper look into who the Father is. for His ways are not our ways, nor his thoughts our thoughts, Who can understand them.? Through Isaiah God is speaking to all of us who would hear and listen. In verse twelve God speaks of the mountains and the trees as if they could speak like us: The mountains and the hills will sing, and the trees will clap their hands (Isa. 55:12), He speaks of the mountains and the trees as if they are His children like us, who sing and rejoice when we are happy. I see my Father in heaven from a whole new aspect of who He is. This now gives me a clearer understanding of Romans chapter eight, verses nineteen thru twenty tw0. I get much deeper understanding of these verses when Paul says, “For the earnest expectation of the creation waits for the manifestation of the sons of God.” (Rom. 8:19-22 ), Not only man, but all creation is waiting for us ( man ), to become what is our full potential; to tend to and care for our Fathers creation which He made from the beginning, to beautify His creation (the garden and all kinds of creation ), I would venture to say not only these things, but the universe, Space itself, will be magnified when we come into our own.

11. “Thus I establish my covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12. And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: vv. 13, 17; 17:11

Again God repeats that His covenant is not only for Noah and mankind, but to all living things. As blood is the life for all creatures, so to is water to all the living of His creation (Meaning the fish of the waters ), for the waters have oxygen in them that gives the sea creatures the ability to breathe. see my commentary on the strongs definition of “Living” in verse 10. Whoever drinks of the water that he gives, shall never thirst (John 4:14 ). And he who believes on me shall never thirst (John 6:35 ). For the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will feed them and will lead them to the fountains of living waters. And God will wipe away all tears from their eyes. ( Rev. 7:17). Lord come quickly !

13. “I set my rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

The rainbow we see in the sky is to be a remembrance of the promise/covenant that God made between Him and the whole earth, and those who dwell in it.

14. “It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; Ezek. 1:28 15. “and I will remember my covenant which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.

Before the flood there wasn’t really clouds in the sky., nor rain. There was, as it were, a mist in the heavens that watered the earth; the plant life, that they may grow, the animals and man itself, that they may drink of it to sustain their life, as it was in the beginning. Gen. 2:5-8

16. “The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17. And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.” v. 12

God never goes back on his word. A covenant, as mentioned in the Bible is basically a contract between two parties. As I go through my studies I will come across other covenants that God makes Between him and his people. Also as I go through my studies it will be evident that God never breaks any of his covenants. However it appears to me (in my opinion) That this covenant is strictly a one party contract with man. God promises not just Noah and his family, but in verse ten he also makes this promise to all the animals and creeping things of the earth, that he will never again destroy the earth, or any living thing that is on the earth, by the waters of the flood. This is an everlasting covenant God makes with every living creature of the flesh. However, unlike other covenants God makes, there is no promises that man has to give in order for this covenant to be kept. As a sign to mankind, God Gives us a gift from heaven, from his holiest of all holiest places; in verse thirteen God says, “I set MY rainbow in the cloud.” Ezek 1:1, 1:28. We see in these verses that Ezekiel has a vision, and in this vision Ezekiel describes what he sees in heaven and how God appears to him. Please permit me to get off the subject of the covenant here for one minute, and implore to whoever reads this, to go to Ezekiel chapter one and read the whole chapter. The description that Ezekiel gives of heaven will capture the imagination of what heaven is like, and this is but a brief glimpse of the majesty of Gods kingdom. Now I digress, we see in Ezekiel s description of heaven, that a bow is mentioned as a way to describe the likeness of the glory God. This is why I say that the rainbow is a gift from God to man. As I have been taught, up until the flood, there was never any rain on the earth. As in the beginning, there was a mist that covered the earth and this mist is what fed the plants of the earth (Gen 2:5, 6).

18. Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan. vv. 22, 25; 10:6

19. these three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated. 10:1, 32

From the time of Noah, on down to the present time (2024), The whole earth has been populated by the descendants of Noah. It is through Noah’s son Shem from whence the seed of Jesus Christ would be born. We can see this genealogy being told in Luke chapter three, beginning in verse twenty three. In verse eighteen Canaan is also mentioned along with Noah’s sons as the son of Ham. I believe the reason for this is because of what we are told about Ham, and the curse that Noah put on Ham’s son Canaan in verses twenty three thru twenty seven below. Because of Canaan’s father Ham (who saw his father Noah’s nakedness), Noah put a curse on Canaan. Ham had three other sons: Cush, Put and Mizraim. Yet Canaan is the only son of Noah’s son that is mentioned here in verse eighteen. I suppose this is to give validity to the overthrow of these people by Israel when they came into the land. Israel was the rod of God’s anger towards the Canaanites, just as God used the Assyrian people for as His rod of anger against Israel as their punishment for forsaken God (Isa. 10: 5-6), When king David gained the throne of Israel he basically vanquished the Canaanite people (See Canaan, Historical Region in the Middle East at Britannica.com) I would venture to guess that a remnant of Canaan did become servants to the Israeli nation as foretold by Noah.

20. And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. 21. Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent.

Eph. 5:18

22. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside.

We learn from verse 20 that Noah took up farming, and as part of his crop he grew grapes. God says that he gave every green herb of the field for consumption, but it is Gods gift of free will to man, as to how he will make use of the green herbs, be it for medicinal purposes, for meat, (which I believe is God intent) but as in the days of Adam and Eve: God also gave another purpose for the trees in the garden; one which is the tree of life, the other the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Just as the grapes are grown for meat or medicinal purposes, so to can they be used for evil purposes. This is the only time in the bible where we see that Noah, for whatever reason sinned against God. How Noah discovered the fermentation process of making grapes into wine is irrelevant to the story. What is important to understand, in my thought process, is the consequences one endures when they decide the way of Satan and not of God. Noah’s punishment(in my opinion) is the violation of his body by another man(his own son for that matter) who took advantage of his drunkenness, and committed a sexual act against his father. When we look in other passages of the Bible that speak of ones nakedness, this is referring to acts of sexual conduct (Compare Lev 20:11, 18, 20, 21, Hab 2:15)

23. But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father, their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.

24. So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him.

In these two verses, it is clear as to who Ham violated: Noah or Noah’s wife? In verse twenty three we see where Shem and Japheth covered Noah’s nakedness (not Noah’s wife’s nakedness), Then in verse twenty four we see that Noah discovers what Ham did to him (not his wife)

25. Then he said: 12:; 13:7
“Cursed be Canaan; Deut. 7:1-5
A servant of servants Josh. 9:1,2
He shall be to his brethren.”

26. And he said:

“Blessed be the Lord,
The God of Shem,
And may Canaan be his servant.
27. May God enlarge Japheth,
And may he dwell in the tents of Shem:
And may Canaan be his servant.”

I must first state here that there is a lot of disagreement as to why Canaan was cursed instead of Ham. Without going into great detail, let me just say that some think that it was Canaan who uncovered Noah’s nakedness and not Ham, hence the curse is on Canaan. I do not subscribe to this theory. In my opinion, it was Ham who uncovered Noah’s nakedness. Also, in my opinion, the reason why the curse was laid upon Canaan is because he is a son of Ham, maybe even the firstborn. The reason I say he might be the firstborn is that There are times in the Bible when given the genealogy of descendants, that there is no reference as to who is the eldest or firstborn. Then other times there are mentioning s of who was firstborn as in the example of the sons of Canaan. Let me just give a couple of examples:

Gen 6:10 And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth

Gen 10:15 And Canaan fathered Sidon, his first-born, and Heth,

Gen 10:22 The children of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram.

Gen 11:10 These are the generations of Shem: Shem was a hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood:

So in my opinion, the first name listed in the genealogies is not always the firstborn, as I have previously shown with the sons of Noah. We can also see where Arphaxad is mentioned twice but in my opinion it doesn’t say if he was the oldest, in the middle, or the youngest of Shem. One thing we do know for sure is that through the seed of Arphaxad comes the Messiah Jesus Christ. If he is not the firstborn, according to the list of the sons of Shem, in Gen. 11:10 then why is he given the blessing of the seed of Jesus Christ? These are just things to ponder when reading the Bible.
Just to let it be known, whoever reads my work, please take into consideration that when I come across matters such as this, that are not a clear black and white issue, that I have taken considerable amount of time in research, meditation, and prayer to help me come to my conclusions. I do not take anything I read in the Bible lightly, and will to the best of my ability stay true to the Word of God. This doesn’t mean that I have all the correct answers, and in no means am I trying to say that I know it all. I have already had to go back and edit my previous writings on a couple occasions, because of new passages I have read, or new things that came up in my research, or because of something I heard from my ministers on the Sabbath. Sometimes I have literally been driving down the road, or sitting at home, and something will come into my head, and I tell myself “you need to go back and add or change something in this part or that.”
I digress, The bottom line is that the curse is put on Canaan and his descendants, and as we will see in further studies, this curse is on the land of the Canaanites (descendants of Canaan) and the land of Canaan.

28. And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.
29. So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years and he died.

Noah died in the year 2006 AC. As we will see later on in my file “The Genealogy of Mankind,” through the seed of Adam, that Abram also known as Abraham (the father of faith), was born 12 years after Noah’s death. Shem was 448 years old at the time of Noah’s death.

Genesis-chapter 8

8

1. Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.
2. The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven were restrained. 7:11
3. And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. 7:24
4. Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. Is. 37:38; Jer. 51:27
5. And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen. 7:20

God did not forget Noah and his family, or all that was in the ark. So God caused the waters to recede back into the fountains of the deep, and he stopped the heavens above to cease from raining In the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, (Which is the month of Nisan), according to the Jewish sacred calendar. This is the exact same time when the flood began (during the months of March and April), when all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of the heavens were opened up (Gen. 7:11). The tenth month, on the first day of the month puts us in the month of Tebeth, according to the Jewish calendar. This would have been during the months of December and January. As we see in the accounting of the flood, God gives specific dates of this occurrence, Why? After careful consideration and research, The only thing that makes any sense is what was explained to me by one of the elders of my church. He went on to explain it in this way: I’m paraphrasing here, It was to give credence to God and the truth of his story. He then went on to elaborate on this. Again I am paraphrasing what he said; Throughout the centuries, and in all religions and cultures, there is an accounting of the earth, at some point in time, having been flooded with water. However only our God of the christian faith puts an exact date as to when this occurred. No other culture or religion, for whatever reason (either as to lose credibility of their own beliefs, or because of no scientific data at the time of the records of the flood), will go this far in explaining the flood.

6. So it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. 6:16

As God promised, the rain lasted forty days and forty nights. Along with the number Seven being a sign of not only perfection but also of completeness, it appears that the number forty is also a number of significance in God word (Compare Exo 24:18, 34:28, Num 14: 32-33 , Luke 4:1-2).

7. Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth.

After the rains stopped and the fountains of the deep ceased, Noah sent out raven to scout for dry land to no avail. The raven never came back into the ark, but probably perched outside the ark, flying around the waters looking for dry land.

8. He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground.
9. But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself.

As opposed to the raven, every time the dove came back to Noah, she came to him and was safely put back into the ark. I believe that the Dove described here is representative of God’s spirit being present with Noah and his family while they were in the ark waiting for the flood-waters to recede ( Matt 3:16, Mark 1:10, Luke 3:22, John 1:32).

10. And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark. 11. Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. 12. So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore.

There are three things which come to mind in these verses. First verse ten and twelve. It appears that it took a total of 21 days, in seven day increments, in which Noah would send out the dove from the ark, before the dove would return with an olive branch. This brings to mind the age of Lamech 777 years, who is the father of Noah. Remember the number seven is a sign of perfection in the bible. Verse eleven is of a spiritual nature. Like I mentioned earlier the dove is representative of God’s spirit. The olive tree, and its branches have been used symbolically in the scriptures in the Psalms and also in Hosea. Each time they are mentioned it is followed by a time of God’s wrath on the iniquities of the world. When God has cast away the wickedness from the land and the evil people He brings about peace and blessings to the land and the people of the of Israel. The olive branch is symbolic of peace and deliverance from their iniquities. The branches of the olive tree are used to describe Israel as being beautiful, and grow to be fruitful in all the land, they will live in peace and prosperity (Psalms 52, 128, Hosea 14). God said He grieved in his heart because the hearts of men were continually thinking evil thoughts. god felt so bad that He said He was sorry for what He had created. Never let it be said of you that God was sorry for the day you were born, that separation from God would be too much for me personally to bear. Noah and his family have been delivered from the cataclysmic event that had just occurred. The third thing which comes to mind is the last part of verse twelve where we see that the Dove did not return to Noah again. This brings to mind what God said in Genesis 6:3:

Gen 6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years.

In my opinion, by the dove not returning to Noah, is symbolic of what God promised in Gen. 6:3. With the exception of a few chosen men and women throughout the scriptures God’s spirit did not dwell with men again until the day of Pentecost ( Joel 2:28,29 , Acts 2: 38-41), when about three thousand people received His Spirit on that day. This prophecy of Joel has not been fulfilled completely even to this day, in the latter days (As the prophet joel spoke),God will once again pour out His Spirit in the latter days; of the end of this earth age.

13. And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed to covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry.

The six hundred and first year would bring Noah to the age of six hundred and one years old (Gen. 7:11), where it speaks of Noah being six hundred years old when the flood began. This tells us that Noah and his family were on the ark for almost a year before the earth was “dried up” from the flood. In the Jewish sacred calendar the first month would be the month of Nissan (The same month the flood waters were released from the fountains of the deep, and the windows of heaven were opened up). In regards to our Gregorian calendar this would have occurred somewhere between March and April. The covering that Noah removed is referring to pitch that was used in Gen 6:14 to protect the ark from the rains.

14. And in the second month, on the twenty seventh day of the month, the earth was dried. 7:11
15. Then God spoke to Noah saying,
16. “Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. 7:13 17. “Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” 18. So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. 19. Every animal, every creeping thing, every bird, and whatever creeps on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark. 7:2, 3

It was a total of 57 days from the time that the surface of the ground was dry to the time that the earth was dried. During this time Noah and his family stayed on the ark waiting for God’s instructions. Noah’s faith in God was strong. He waited on the Lord to tell him when it was time to leave the ark, and not of his own understanding. This is a great lesson in patience for all of us, it is one of the fruits of the Spirit that is spoken of in Galatians chapter five. for if we are led in the Spirit and not in the works of the flesh it should be clearly seen that God’s Spirit dwells in us. (Gal. 5:18-23), Noah has come to learn to be patient with the lord in the weightier matters of life, but only after years and years of God working with him and shaping him to be the man he has come to be; righteous unto the lord. Noah is mentioned as a man of faith in Hebrews eleven (Hebrews. 11:7)

20. Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took every clean animal and every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
21. And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’ sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. 22. “While the earth remains seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease. Jer. 33:20, 25

As we know from earlier passages: Of the Clean animals Noah took seven pairs, male and female, and only one pair male and female of the unclean animals. The burnt offerings that Noah sacrificed to the Lord on the altar are just one reason why God instructed Noah to take so many of the clean animals onto the ark. According to the law of God only the clean animal kind can be sacrificed to God as offerings. When the verse says that God smelled a soothing aroma, it wasn’t in a literal sense per se, but in the sense that God was pleased in the offering of Noah, or maybe it was literal, what do I know? It was only the clean animals that God would accept as a sacrifice to Him, and in chapter nine verse two, in Genesis we are told that God has now giving man every living thing that moves for food. Verse 20 above tells us that Noah offered up to God “EVERY” clean animal and clean bird, Noah wasn’t concerned about Where he and his family would get their next meal, it was Noah’s faith that God would provide, Noah’s faith is what was the soothing aroma that God smelled, not the actual scent of the animal’s meat on the altar.
Verse twenty two is the description of the covenant that God makes with Noah as he promised him (Gen 6:18). God acknowledges that man’s heart is evil early on in life, but even so, the Lord will never again destroy all living things because of man’s iniquities. This is a promise that he makes with Noah, and as we study the Bible in its entirety, we learn that God never breaks a promise/ covenant that he makes with his loyal servants. It is always man who breaks their promise to God and transgress from Him and his Law. Even still as man breaks their covenant with God He keeps his end of the bargain. I could go on and on, and show scripture after scripture, to support what I am saying here, but then that would deprive anyone who reads this from developing their own relationship with God, and learning this on their own. I actually would rather people learn this themselves, and not take my word for it, read the Bible yourself, see for your own eyes, God’s word is true, and he cannot lie, or He will cease from being who He is.

Genesis-chapter 7

7

1.Then the Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. 6:8; 2 Pet. 2:5

Noah was a righteous man who lived according the word of God. Because of this God showed Favor towards him, and will spare him, and his immediate family from this soon coming destruction of the whole earth, and all that is in it. Let us not forget Lot; God promised Abraham that He would not destroy the righteous with the wicked if he found five righteous among the cities. God found only one, Lot, in his righteousness the Lord allowed Lot to bring his family with him if the so desired to follow. Through Noah’s righteousness, his immediate family was also spared God’s wrath. God is a very loving, merciful and soft hearted God. He knows how much Noah loves his wife and sons, just as Lot to loved his wife and daughters as well. He would not destroy the whole earth and Noah’s most cherished loved ones and the same can be said of Lot. God knows that both of these men would be devastated to see their families die in such a way, besides all that; would Noah even think to obey God if he knew that He was going to kill his whole family as well? Or Lot? I look at these two events with great hope and expectation, that in the end times, If I am found worthy and righteous enough to escape from the great tribulation that our loving Father above would give me and all those found righteous enough the same consideration. albeit, Noah, Lot, and my family will still have a choice to choose if they want to come with us. Remember the story of Lot and His two son in laws, they Mocked Lot and chose not to go with him (Gen. 19:14).

2. “You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female; two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female; 6:19, Lev. 11
3. “also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of the earth.
4. “For after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made.”

For more info on clean and unclean meats you can go to the United Church of God website and either order, read, or download the pamphlet titled: What Does the Bible Teach About Clean and Unclean meats. That I have highlighted here. We notice here that the number seven is used again to describe the number of clean animals to be brought aboard the ark, as well as how many more days there will be when God begins causing the rains to flood the earth. The reason there were more clean animals than unclean is because of their importance to God when it comes to sacrifices and burnt offerings, and the fact that after the flood, in part of the covenant God makes with Noah is that He will now give man the right to eat the clean animals, fish and birds of the earth (Gen. 9: 1-3), it wasn’t until this very moment that man now had permission to eat animals for meat. Before the flood all man could eat was the plants, and herbs of the field. Even still they were still not permitted to eat all the unclean animals, fish and birds. Noah didn’t have to be told this, for the laws of clean and unclean had already been established in his time, How else would Noah know what animals were clean and unclean to bring the correct number of each kind into the ark? in chapter eight we will read that after the flood Noah will,offer up every type of clean animal and bird as a burnt offering unto the Lord. Since the clean animals will be used as offerings to the Lord, and for meat to men, it stands to reason why more clean animals came aboard the Ark. Only clean animals are accepted by God for these ceremonies. I have started my own file on the purpose of the use of the number seven and how it is always a sign of perfection in the Bible. As I go through the scriptures I will be adding to this file every time this number is mentioned in the Bible, and its significance.

5. And Noah did according to all that the Lord commanding him.
6. Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on the earth. 5:32; 9:28, 29

As we saw earlier Noah did everything that God had commanded. He never questioned God in regards to how he was supposed to get all the animals of the earth to go into the ark. Noah knew the power of God and His authority over all his creation. Therefore he had faith that God would guide the animals to him and into the ark.

7. So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his son’s wives went into the ark because of the waters of the flood.
8. Of clean animals, of animals that are unclean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the earth,
9. two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. 6:19

What a sight! that must Have been, All the animals of the world converging onto the ark. I also wonder what the people all around must have thought? when they saw all the wild beast of the field, willfully going into the ark. The animals on the ark were one male and one female, each of every kind. The purpose of this distinction is obvious: the world must be populated again, and the only way to do this is thru the opposite genders of every kind, as This was God’s purpose from the beginning of creation (Gen 1:28).

10. And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth.

Noah and his family were on the ark for seven days before the flood waters and the fountains of the deep began to cover the whole earth. Seven, the number of perfection in God’s word; What is the significance of having Noah, his family, and all the animals locked up in the ark for seven days until the flood-waters started? Maybe God waited seven days in order to test Noah’s faith. One can only imaging that after a few days his family would start to question whether or not Noah was just a mad man making this whole thing up all these years. Maybe by the seventh day his family might have been ready to leave the ark. Noah though never wavered from his faith in God. As I had noted in the previous chapter, Methuselah died in the same year as the flood, and according to Rabbi Rashi and Jewish tradition the extra seven days were for the mourning of Methuselah.

Rabbi Rashi: For in another seven days: (Sanh. 108b) These are the seven days of mourning for the righteous Methuselah, for the Holy One, blessed be He, had consideration for his honor, and delayed the retribution. Go and calculate the years of Methuselah and you will find that they ended in the six-hundredth year of Noah’s life.

11. In the sixth hundred year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12. And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.

We must keep in mind that the date of the flood is listed in verse 11: the second month (which is not to be confused with the Gregorian calendar that we use today, which would make this occurrence in February.) We must go by the Jewish sacred calendar in order to know what time of the year the flood began, and also to be able to determine the exact time of year the floods ended. There is a great article at the United Church of God website (www.ucg.org) titled: Did God Give a Calendar? By Leon Walker. This is a two page article that goes into great detail about the Hebrew calendar, and the calendar created by man. For the purpose of my writings here, I feel it is not necessary to copy the whole article, but only to present his conclusion to the argument. The following excerpt is this conclusion:

We must then ask the question, what is the origin of the Hebrew calendar? The simple answer is, we do not know. Could God have given to Moses a calendar with all of its essential elements defined? Of course, He could. Could God have used a calendar that was already in existence at that time? Of course, He could. While we do not know the history of the Hebrew calendar, we do know that God used the Jewish people to preserve His Word. Isn’t it also logical to conclude that He used the same Jewish people to preserve a calendar that will enable us to keep His Holy Days at the correct time? If we do not accept the logic of that conclusion, then we have no other alternative than to accept one of the calendars created in recent times by men with no other authority than their own. These individuals do not have any biblical basis or history to prove that their calendar is the correct one.

You can go to the website that is highlighted above to read the article in its entirety. Obviously, according to verse eleven we know that a calendar had already been established at the time that Moses was recording the events of the flood, as God and or His Spirit was revealing this to him. It’s important that we go by the Hebrew calendar in order to know exactly what time of year it was (According to the sacred calendar), and use it in comparison with the Gregorian calendar we use today to help us determine when the flood began, and ended.

There is one other thing that was just told to me by my brethren (one of the elders of my church), that must be brought to light so as to give credence to the Bible, it’s authorship, and it’s truth, and that is in regards to the mention of the Fountains of the deep in verse 11 above. first let’s take a look at the Hebrew definition of fountains. When we see what the Hebrew meaning is for fountain, then we can get a better understanding of what is being described, and how it took only forty days and nights for the whole earth to be completely covered with water.

Fountains (H4599):מעינה / מעינו / מעין: ma‛yân / ma‛yenô / ma‛yânâh: BDB Definition:
1) spring

I am going to copy a page from an article in the Vertical thought magazine, written by Amanda Stiver (who is also a contributor to the United Church of God) which describes what the fountains of the deep are.

Vertical News: Vast reservoirs of water found in the
earth mantle.
Noah’s “fountains of the deep”? Unique mineral properties help scientists find evidence of water deep inside the earth.

Inside the earth’s mantle, the rocky layer between the core and the crust, are vast water reservoirs stored in a mineral called ringwoodite. Researchers from the University of New Mexico and Northwestern University in Illinois have used the properties of ringwoodite as it melts and combines with water molecules to set parameters for analyzing seismic waves as they pass through the earth’s layers.
The result of their efforts was the discovery of a transition zone in the mantle that appears to be a stable water storage area. They posit (to assume the existence of) that the amount of water stored in the mantle may well be as large as that which is in the world’s oceans. Other researchers welcome the discovery as adding one more piece to the puzzle of how the earth’s water cycle and internal heating and cooling functions (Joseph Castro, “Found! Hidden Ocean Locked Up Deep in Earth’s Mantle,” Live Science at LiveScience.com, June 12, 2014).
Fountains of the deep…
While a stunning scientific discovery, water deep inside the earth is not a new concept for those who read the Bible. During the days of the Great Flood that God allowed during the time of Noah, it rained torrentially, which caused catastrophic flooding, but the waters of the precipitation cycle alone would likely not have been enough to cover the mountain ranges of the earth. Additional water sources were necessary. An interesting description is made about how the flood waters ceased: “The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased,” (Gen 8:2-3, NKJV). Clearly a source of water deep in the earth played a role in the flood of Noah’s time. These “fountains of the deep” released and then re-absorbed vast quantities of water. A huge storage area of water deep in the earth’s mantle very plainly fits that description.

The point I am trying to make here is this: How could Moses have known about the Fountains of the Deep during his time, when they were just recently discovered? It had to Be God almighty (who created the earth), that revealed this knowledge to him. This is a great example of the Bible’s authenticity. We will see more examples of this as we read thru the scriptures.

13. On the very same day Noah and Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with him, entered the ark- 8:1; 2 Pet. 2:5
14. They and every beast after its kind, all cattle after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, every bird of its sort. 15. And they went into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life.

16. So those that entered, male and female of all flesh went in as God had commanded him; and the Lord shut him in. 6:19

From Gen 6:19- 7:16 (a total of only 20 verses), God has mentioned four times, the fact that the animals, and the birds, all went into the ark two of each, male and female. It’s pretty obvious that God wanted to re-populate the earth once more. It’s also very obvious that God made them male and female for this purpose. He did not make a second man from the rib of Adam, instead He created a female for the purpose of joining to each other together to become as one (Gen. 2:22-24). It appears also that as soon as everyone boarded the ark Immediately the Lord shut the door. And again we see the faith of Noah as he did all that God had commanded him without hesitation.

17. Now the flood was on the earth forty days. The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. vv. 4, 12; 8:6
18. The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters.
19. And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered.
20. The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward and the mountains were covered. 8:15

Twice he says that it prevailed exceedingly, and greatly over the earth. The water was so immense that it covered even the highest mountains on the earth. It was so immense that the huge ark itself was lifted up off the ground and began to be tossed to and fro over the waters. I believe the reason for God being so specific on the details of the depth of the waters is a spiritual lesson. Just as we, as believers are baptized, by being completely submerged in water, as a sign of purification and cleansing, so to the earth had to be cleansed and purified from its iniquities (1 Pet 3:20,21).

To quote from the UCG website from one of their study guides: “ Noah believed God and committed himself to obey Him, and God saved Noah from the waters of death. Peter explained this as an anti-type of baptism that symbolizes cleaning us on the inside.”
I believe this quote from the study guide explains what I am trying to say here.

21. And all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man.
22. All in whose nostrils was the breath of the Spirit of life, and all that was on the dry land, died. 1:30; 2:7
23. So he destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. Heb. 11:7; 2 Pet. 3:5

Again God emphasizes the depth of the destruction on the earth. Twice he declares that every living thing that breaths, that wasn’t on the ark perished. Let there be no doubt as to what God just did. Notice also that God states in the KJV version that all that breath with the nostrils of the spirit of life. this tells me that The mammals of the sea, and rivers, and lakes, were spared from this destruction, and even the plant and tree kind. this would explain how after only one hundred and sixty four days from the end of the rains, that a dove could have brought back a leaf from a tree. Also I must note here that in the Septuagint (Greek) version of the old testament and the Latin Vulgate version omit the words “of the spirit” from verse 22.

24. And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days.

The rains and the Fountains of the Deep continued, non stop for forty days and nights. However the flood-waters prevailed over the whole face of the earth for one hundred and fifty days, for a total of five months. According to the calendar I am using, I calculate that the one hundred and fifty day period in which the waters prevailed over the earth would have put this in the Jewish sacred calendar month of Nisan, which in the Gregorian calendar month of March 17th. The Spring Holy days are during this period. This makes so much sense when you think about The spring Holy days (Which consist of the Passover, and the Days of Unleavened Bread), Christ is our Passover Who died for the remission of sins. in a sense isn’t this what just happened in the flood, according to the law of God; the penalty for sin is death, and this is just what happened to all but those who were in the ark. The next Spring Holy day (Immediately after Passover), is followed by The Days of Unleavened bread. Unleavened bread does not rise because of the lack of leaven, the leaven in the bread is symbolic of the piling up of sin after sin throughout the course of the year. for seven days we are not to eat any leavened bread, or even have leaven (Sin), in our house (Our bodies), The flood took, for the most part, sin out of the world for a brief time, just as we take Leaven out of our houses for seven days. In verse four were are told that Noah and his family were shut up in the ark for seven days before the flood waters began. Could this also be symbolic with the seven days of Unleavened Bread? Seven days Noah and his family were taken out of the world (full of sin), and then they were washed clean by the waters that fell upon them, also symbolic of our baptism (One of the first steps in the transformation of our lives), as Noah and his family were transformed into a new life, leaving the old life behind (Representative of the old man). Romans 6:6. The days of Unleavened Bread are representative of the christians transformation from the life as slaves to sin, leading to the penalty of death for those sins (according to the law of God), leading to the new man, not conformed to the world of the evil one, but transformed to the renewing of our mind and living a new life that you know what is good, pleasing and perfect will of God. (Rom. 12:2).

Genesis chapter 6

6

1. Now it came to pass, when man began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 1:28
2. That the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they choose.

As the years went by, men became more sinful and sought after their lustful desires of the flesh, which was not according to the spirit of God. Instead of having only one wife: which was God’s true intent of marriage between a man and a woman; as it is written: “The two shall become one” (Gen. 2: 22-24) ,man began marrying many women, according to their own passions.

3. And the Lord said,”My spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”

God did not pour out His spirit to all mankind in the Old Testament, with the exception of a handful of men. Because of this man is not of the spirit, but of the flesh; man can only live by the flesh. The spirit and the flesh cannot co-exist with one another. which is to say that man will chase after all their sinful desires of the flesh, for the flesh is carnal and subject to sin (Rom. 7:14-25), The spirit is of God and all it’s righteousness. (Rom 8:6-9). When God comes to the conclusion about not being able to always strive with man, In his merciful way, He gives man one hundred and twenty years to repent of their ways, and uses his messengers Noah, Methuselah and Lamech, to warn the people of the earth of their evil ways and to repent so that they can be spared of God’s wrath, but they would not repent. I would like to say hear that God Himself does not put even Himself above His own laws. In His law it takes two witnesses to condemn someone to death. god sent two witnesses against Sodom and Gomorrah, and He will also send two witnesses again in the latter days before the return of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

4. There were giants On the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came into the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.

Giants (H5303): נְפִל נְפִיל: nephı̂yl / nephil
BDB Definition:
1) giants, the Nephilim

Strong’s definition: From (H5307); properly, a feller, that is, a bully or tyrant: – giant.

As we can see above, The Greek definition of Giant is not what we would think of, when we hear the word giant. Now lets go a little further into detail and see what the definition of bully is, using the Webster dictionary.

Bully: BULL’Y, n. A noisy, blustering overbearing fellow, more distinguished for insolence and empty menaces, than for courage, and disposed to provoke quarrels.
BULL’Y, v.t. To insult and overbear with noise and blustering menaces.
BULL’Y,, v.i. To be noisy and quarrelsome.

Now we have a better understanding of what God is describing to us here. Like I said previously, These were men who were going to live life according to their own ways, which of course provoked Quarrels with God, God goes on to tell us that these weren’t the last of this type of sons of God. There have been men like this ever since. In the KJV, KJV+ and the ASV bibles this verse reads this way:

Gen 6:4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

What i’m trying to point out is that these giants (well renowned men of their time), raised their children to be like-minded as them “The same became mighty men which which were of old” These men were also of great importance to the people of the time. They were the leaders of the community, well respected, or maybe even feared at times. sometimes the people may have even looked up to these men. So these giants (if you will), were corrupting the minds of the people. The sons of God that are being referred to here are not talking about angels or fallen angels.

5. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 8:21

Sound familiar? Jesus warns us that in the end times, men will be the same as in the days of Noah (Matt 24:37-39), (2Ti 3:1-7). The descriptions we see in the new Testament can also be used to describe what the Lord saw in hearts of men during the times of Noah.

6. And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart.
7. so the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them. Num. 23:19

These are two very sad verses, and it brings tears to my eyes when I think of what God is going thru here. God is spilling out his guts. God has very true emotions like man (or should I say man is like God): for we were made in his image. It would be like a father seeing his son addicted to that drug, or being sentenced to prison, or living on the streets begging for money to get that quick fix, What father wouldn’t be saddened? I can imaging when God was revealing this to Moses (who wrote this book) that they both shed a tear or two. It must have been a rainy day. I can imaging the crackling of Gods voice as one’s voice sounds when they are trying to talk thru their sadness, when he spoke these words to Moses, and Moses in turn, feeling God’s pain tearing up himself. When I think of this I Can only venture to guess that God is probably getting to these same heartfelt emotions again in today’s world. Just look at how people are treating each other day in and day out. He went thru these same emotions during Jeremiah’s time and just as it was in the times of Noah, so to was it in Jeremiah’s time. God gave man ample warnings to turn from their wickedness. Yet man has the audacity to be angry with God for all the evil in the world. Man lives what, an average of 75 years nowadays? That’s a very short time to be suffering (especially if you take into account that every day we live is not always suffering), in the grand scheme of things, compared to how long God has been in existence(infinity) God has had many more days of grieving than man since the beginning, and will continue to do so till the end of this age. What about the pain and suffering that we (mankind) have caused upon God throughout time. We have taken him out of our schools, and we ask, “why does God allow all these killings of our children” He did not turn his back on us. We are the ones who Have turned our backs on him time and time again. Our Government (which if you read the first part of the Declaration Of Independence):

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness

Our forefathers recognized God and his Creation. We have taken God out of our daily lives, and sadly enough even from the pulpit. There are false doctrines being taught: saying it’s okay to go against which is unnatural to man (men lying with men and, women lying with women).
This is not to say that God is always unhappy with his children. Just as us who have been fathers have our ups and downs and emotional roller coasters, so to does our Father in heaven. I’m sure God was very happy of the birth of King David (for he was a man after God’s own heart). Or Samuel, or Noah, Moses and all the prophets who obeyed his commands: sometimes reluctantly, but nevertheless, Their love For God, wanting to please Him, and the faith in Him was pleasing to God. And I cannot leave out the most faithful man of all; the father of faith: Abraham. Abraham was willing, and according to God’s word, without hesitation, to sacrifice his only son for the Lord. He was so pleased with Abraham that he blessed him tremendously. Which leads us to God’s most precious of all: His only begotten son Jesus Christ, who Gave his life not only for mankind, but also for his father’s namesake. Talk about an emotional roller coaster; On the one hand God was well pleased for his sons willingness to sacrifice himself for the good of all, yet God had to sit there and witness the brutality that was inflicted upon his son. Those twenty four hours: or if you count the three days in the ground till the resurrection also, was an emotional roller coaster that no father would want to endure. Yet God did this because he loves Each and everyone of us dearly.
I just want to take a minute to say thank you Lord for this revelation that you have giving me. My whole purpose of this work i’m doing here is to get closer to you. I have never felt more closer to you than now, while I have meditated on this verse. It makes me want to please you even more, for I do not want my Father to be grieved in his heart for something I have done.

8. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Ex. 33:12, 13; Ps. 84:11

Noah was a righteous man who lived according the word of God. Because of this God showed Favor towards him, and will spare him, and his immediate family from the soon coming destruction of the whole earth, and all that is in it. This reminded me of a conversation that I had with one of the teachers in my church; I was concerned with the fate of my family and their salvation. The instructor quote Job 42:7-9. The point he was making, is that because he found true repentance and asked for forgiveness, and even though Jobs friends weren’t of the same mind as Job, Thru Jobs righteousness, God would forgive his friends, on behalf of his prayers and offerings. Through my righteousness, (if I am found worthy) God will also save my family from the tribulation days through my prayers, although they are still responsible for their own salvation at their appointed time. This is the same thing that happened with Noah. Not only did God find grace with Noah but thru that grace his wife, his sons and their wives, God Saved Noah’s family from the flood, but only the flood. We are all still responsible for our own salvation (1 Peter. 4:17), God did the same thing with Lot. Lot was the only righteous one the angels of the lord found when they came into Sodom and Gomorrah, and thru his righteousness his family was saved from the destruction. Compare the conversation Abraham had with God in Gen 18:22-33, and then combine that with Gen 19:12, 29, and you will see that Lot and his family was saved from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, just as Noah and his family were saved from the flood.

9. This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God.
10. And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. 10:1,32

Throughout Noah’s life he never wavered from God and his ways: he was perfect: as perfect as man can be, in God’s eyes. This is what it means when God says that Noah walked with him. Noah had three sons in his lifetime.

11. The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. Ezek. 8:17; Rom. 2:13
12. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. Ps. 14:1-3; Rom. 3:23
13. And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

Other than Noah, the rest of the people of the earth had become ruined and in utter decay because of the cruelty and injustice in the world. So God took a good look at the earth, and perceived that it was indeed in ruin and total decay, because the people of the earth were living according to their own desires and not that of God. On account of mans behavior, man has come to the point that they will utterly destroy themselves (Compare Matt 24:22). As it is in Noah’s time so shall it be on the great day of the Lord.

14. “Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch.
15. “And this is how you shall make it: the length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, and it’s width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.
16. “You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.
17. “And behold I myself am bringing the flood waters on the earth, to destroy from under the heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die.
18. “But I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark- you, your sons, your wife, and your sons wives with you.
19. And every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female.
20. “Of the birds after their kind, of the animals of their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. 7:2, 3, 9
21. “And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and shall be food for you and for them.
22. Thus Noah did; According to all that God commanded him, so he did.

Just as Abraham, Noah did not question God and willingly obeyed Him, down to the letter. Because of this obedience, God will make a covenant between Him and man. The covenant that God makes with man is an everlasting covenant that God will not break. It is always man who breaks their covenant with God first. Because man cannot keep their promises (covenant) with God, God throughout time has to establish new ones, or if you will? amend the covenants. Verses 14-16 gives us a good idea of the massive undertaking that God commands Noah to accomplish. The description of the ark is clear on the size of it. A Cubit is the equivalency of 18 inches. With this in mind we can deduce the size of the ark: 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and approximately 45 feet high. Now if we go back to Genesis 5:32:

Gen 5:32 And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Then let’s go to genesis 6:3

Gen 6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years.

And then let us take a look at Genesis 7:6

Gen 7:6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.

And I will also include genesis 11:10

Gen 11:10 These are the generations of Shem: Shem was a hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood:

Since Shem was one hundred years when he bore his first son (Arphaxad): two years after the flood, that would mean that Shem was 98 years old at the time of the flood. Now Noah begot his sons at the age of five hundred years. The Bible does not state how old Noah or any of his sons were when Noah began to build the ark. However, if we take a look at Genesis 6:18

Gen 6:18 But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee.

We can clearly see that when God first informs Noah about the flood, that his sons were already married. we do not know how old they were when they married? I believe that at the time of Genesis 6:3 Noah was around 500 years of age. since we know that Noah was born in 1056 Ac, (Gen. 5:28,29) and the flood came in the year 1656. This would have made Noah 600 years of age at the time of the flood. So it could have taken Noah anywhere from 75-100 years long to build the ark.
I believe it is important to understand how long it took Noah to build this ark, this to show how much Noah had faith in God, and also to show God’s patience with mankind. Just imagine, day in and day out, the ridicule that Noah got from the neighboring community. Noah never once took his eye off the ball, and succumb to the temptations of giving up on the ark and on God. Year in and year out he kept his faith in God, no matter the obstacles he had to overcome. Even though the Bible doesn’t say, I imagine even his own family at times thought he was nuts, and tried to persuade him to give up. The other thing I take from this is the patience that God shows with mankind, and the difference between him and us. It was 120 years between the time that God revealed his displeasure with man and his destruction of the earth. We, mankind, who live in the flesh, often times act out of impulse and make quick and foolish decisions when we become angry or grieved by what other people have done to us. God who is rich in mercy, thru Noah, still gives mankind 120 years to repent and change their ways. Undoubtedly, During this time, as Noah is being criticized, he is witnessing to the people of the pending disaster to befall them if they do not turn to God. I have said before and will say it again now, and probably even later on in my writings. If the people of Noah’s time would have just repented, and turn to God, then He would have spared their lives, just as he did with Nineveh.

Jon 3:10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.

Genesis-chapter 5

5

1. This is the book of the genealogy of Adam, In the day that God created man, He made them in the likeness of God. 1:26; 9:6
2. He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them mankind in the day they were created. 1:27, 28
3. And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.
4. After he begot Seth, the days of Adam were eight hundred years; and he had sons and daughters.
5. So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died. Heb. 9:27

As you will see at the end of this chapter, Adam lived long enough to see all his descendants down to the father of Noah, who is Lamech. Adam died in 930 AC(after creation), and Noah was born in 1056 AC (126 years after the death of Adam). Just As God promised Adam back in Gen 3:19, because of his sin, he at that moment, became mortal and was destined to die.

6. Seth lived one hundred and five years, and begot Enosh, Seth lived eight hundred and seven years, and had sons and daughters.

Enosh (H583): אנוש: ‘ĕnôsh
BDB Definition:
Enos = “man”
1) son of Seth
8. So all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years; and he died.
9. Enosh lived ninety years and begot Cainan.

Cainan (H7018): קינן: qêynân:
BDB Definition: Kenan = “possession”

10. After he begot Cainan, Enosh lived eight hundred and fifteen years, and had sons and daughters.
11. So all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years; and he died.
12. Cainan lived seventy years and begot Mahalalel.

Mahalalel (h4111):מהללאל: mahălal’êl:
BDB Definition: Mahalalel = “praise of God”

13. After he begot Mahalalel, Cainan lived eight hundred and forty years, and had sons and daughters.
14. So all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years; and he died.
15. Mahalalel lived sixty five years and begot Jared.

Jared (3382):ירד: yered:
BDB Definition: Jered or Jared = “descent”

16. After he begot Jared, Mahalalel lived eight hundred and thirty years, and had sons and daughters.
17. So all the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred and ninety five years; and he died.
18. Jared lived one hundred and sixty two years, and begot Enoch.

Enoch (H2585):חנוך: chănôk:
BDB Definition: Hanoch = “dedicated”

19. After he begot Enoch, Jared lived eight hundred years, and had sons and daughters.
20. So all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty two years; and he died.
21. Enoch lived sixty five years, and begot Methuselah. Jude 14,15

Methuselah (H4968): מתוּשׁלח: methûshelach:
BDB Definition: Methuselah = “man of the dart”

22. After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters. 9:6; Heb. 11:5
23. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty five years.
24. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.

Just as Noah was righteous in God’s eyes, so to was Enoch, I believe This is what verse twenty four is saying, when it says that Enoch “walked with God.” This verse has been misread by many scholars. Many people Have been lead to believe that this verse means that Enoch was taken up to heaven. those who believe God took Enoch up to heaven also reference Hebrews 11:5, Also known as the faith chapter. However, neither one of these verses say that he was taken up into heaven. If we are to read further down in Hebrews chapter eleven we would see that Paul Makes no distinction between Enoch and all those of the faith he listed when he says, “These all died by way of faith, not having received the promises,” Clearly Enoch did not ascend to Heaven. verse twenty four does not say where God took Enoch, it just plainly says “God took him.” Jesus himself tells us that “scripture cannot be broken” (John. 10:35), and earlier in the chapter of John Jesus said, “no one has ascended up to Heaven except He who came down from Heaven, the Son of Man who is in Heaven,” (John 3:13), Meaning that He is the only one who has ever ascended into Heaven. Therefore when people say Enoch ascended to heaven, then they would have to discard what Jesus taught in John 3:13, and Paul’s writings of Hebrews chapter eleven. Therefore they would be breaking scripture so as to fit their own narrative of their beliefs of what happens after death. So then, what does it mean in verse twenty four that “God took him?” There are many theories as to what happened to Enoch, I have only talked about the one because of its misinterpretation of scriptures and I felt compelled to clarify the truth about life immediately after death. United Church of God gives some great insight as to what could have happened to Enoch which I will copy and paste here for the reader:

How, then, can it be that Enoch was transferred elsewhere so he wouldn’t see death? God doesn’t give us all the details of what happened, but a few scenarios have been proposed that do not conflict with the fact that Enoch died as the Bible says.

It may be that God transported Enoch elsewhere to keep him from being killed at a certain time—perhaps protecting him from martyrdom at the hands of angry persecutors who didn’t like his announcement of coming divine judgment (see Jude 14-16). God likewise supernaturally transported Elijah and Philip to other places on earth (see 2 Kings 2:11; Acts 8:39).

On the other hand, we should observe that Enoch died young for his time—at age 365 while those before and after him lived into their 800s and 900s. Because of this, some speculate that God “took him” from life prematurely so that he would not have to live out his remaining centuries in a miserable world (compare Isaiah 57:1-2). His next moment of consciousness will be the resurrection. In this case, “so that he would not see death” would refer to his not having to experience the process of dying—his life ending instantly.

Still others, putting the likelihood of Enoch experiencing persecution together with his early death, have concluded that Enoch was murdered—martyred for his preaching. Enoch being taken and not found would then refer to God removing his body and burying it—as happened with Moses (Deuteronomy 34:5-6).

In this case, Enoch being taken or transferred so that he would not see death is taken as separate matter—that of him being spiritually converted, transferred from the world’s ways to God’s way of living, so that he would not see ultimate death in the lake of fire (compare Colossians 1:13; John 8:51).

Again, we don’t have enough details to know exactly what is intended. But we do know that Enoch did not skip death and go to heaven. He died, and no human being has ascended to heaven except Jesus Christ.

The bottom line is that scriptures do not clarify what happened to Enoch when God “Took him”

25. Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty seven years, and begot Lamech.
26. After he begot Lamech, Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty two years, and had sons and daughters.

Lamech (H3929): למך: lemek:
BDB Definition: Lamech = “powerful”

27. So all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty nine years; and he died.
28. Lamech lived one hundred and eighty two years, and had a son.
29. And called his name Noah, saying, “This one will comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord has cursed.”

Noah (H5146): נח: nôach:
BDB Definition: Noah = “rest”
1) son of Lamech, father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth; builder of the ark which saved his family from the destruction of the world which God sent on the world by the flood; became the new seminal head of mankind because his family were the only survivors of the flood

30. After he begot Noah, Lamech lived five hundred and ninety five years, and had sons and daughters.
31. So all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy seven years; and he died.
32. And Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah begot
Shem, Ham and Japheth. 6:10; 10:1, 32

Shem (H8035): שׁם: shêm:
BDB Definition: Shem = “name” 1) the eldest son of Noah and progenitor of the Semitic tribes

Ham(H2526): חם: châm: BDB Definition: Ham = “hot” 1) 2nd son of Noah, father of Canaan and of various peoples which were inhabitants of southern lands (noun proper masculine)
2) in late usage, a collective name for Egyptians (noun proper masculine)
3) the place where Chedorlaomer smote the Zuzim, probably in the territory of Ammonites (Gilead) east of the Jordan (noun proper locative)

Japheth (H3315): יפת: yepheth:
BDB Definition: Japheth = “opened” 1) the 3rd son of Noah whose descendants after the flood settled on the coastal lands of the Mediterranean spreading north into Europe and parts of Asia

I think most people will probably skip over the Genealogy of Adam and not pay much attention to it. I on the other hand, about a year ago (2013) thought it would be interesting to follow this genealogy. At the time, my purpose was to put a date on the flood of Noah’s time. Since then, during my growing process I have decided to carry this genealogy line to as far as the Bible records it. I have come to learn why God was so specific in the dates and the names of the descendants of Seth. Up until the time of Noah, there is one pure blood line that will eventually lead to the promised seed of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is very important according to the purpose of God. We must look at it this way: God is holy, Therefore, in order for Jesus Christ to be Holy and without sin, there must be no deviation in the bloodline leading up to the Birth of Jesus. We see in this genealogical map that the seed of Eve is handed down from generation to generation from the man. This bloodline that leads to Jesus, is handed down from son to son and not thru the daughters. I am in no way implying that women have no importance in God’s word. We see down through the Bible how women, at certain times, were used by God to carry out his purpose.
The following is my calculations, according to scripture, of the Genealogy from Adam to the flood. With the exception of Adam I use the abbreviation A.C. to stand for after creation, so as to help me in counting the years to Noah.

Adam was born 0000 BTF (before the flood)
Adam died in 0930 Ac, hence he lived 930 years.

Seth was born in 0130 AC, he lived 912 years and died in the year 1042 AC.

Enosh was born in 0235 AC, he lived 905 years and died in 1140 AC.

Cainan was born in 0325 AC, he lived 910 years and died in 1235 AC.

Mahalalel was born in 0395 AC, he lived 895 years and died in 1290 AC.

Jared was born in 0460 AC, he lived 962 years and died in 1422 AC.

Enoch was born in 622 AC, he lived 365 years and died in 987 AC.

Methuselah was born in 687 AC, he lived 969 years and died in 1656 (the year of the flood)

This would obviously mean that Methuselah knew of the coming flood and watched and maybe even helped his grandson Noah build the ark as best he could for his age. He would have been about 869 years old at the time that Noah began to build the ark. Methuselah’s died the year of the flood and the Lord did not allow him to live thru the coming flood. there is no explanation in the scriptures why God had Methuselah die the year of the flood? If there has been any reasons given by man they can only be conjectural at best. But I will give my own explanation why I think Methuselah and his son Lamech both died right before the flood. We are told in scriptures that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord (Gen 6:8), so my opinion is that Noah’s father and grandfather did not live up the level to find grace in His eyes, However, God did spare them from the horrible death thru the flood, therefore not allowing them to die with the wicked of the world of that time. and or it was only thru Noah’s righteousness that God spared them from death by the flood, Just as God also spared noah’s wife, his sons and their wives as well. Thru one man’s righteousness few were saved from the flood alone (not for salvation purposes), Just as in the days of Lot, God found one righteous man in Sodom, and thru Lot, His wife, two daughters, albeit Lots wife turned into a pillar of salt when she looked back as they were fleeing (Gen. 19:26), if Lot’s sons in law would have followed they would have been spared from the day of destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19:12-14). This is just one man’s opinion.

Lamech Was born in 0874 AC, he lived 777 years old and died in 1651 AC.

Just as his father Methuselah, Lamech knew of the flood, and the beginning of the end. according to my calculations he would have been about six hundred and sixty seven years old when Noah began building the ark, he died five years before the flood. Also another note about Lamech. He lived 777 years. The number 7 is a sign of perfection in the eyes of the Lord, just saying.

Noah was born in 1056 AC, he lived 950 years and died in 2006 AC.

Shem, Ham and Japheth were born at separate times after Noah turned five hundred. They were not triplets. We can go to other chapters later on in Genesis to show this time-line. First lets look at chapter ten (Compare Gen 10:21). So we see hear that Japheth was the oldest of Noah’s sons. We can then go to chapter nine to see that Ham was the youngest son. (Gen 9:22-24, 11:10). We know that Noah was six hundred years old when the flood waters came, since Shem was one hundred years old (two years after the flood), at the birth of Arphaxad. The only thing we do not know is the exact age of Ham. Hence the following genealogy goes something like this: Japheth was born in 1556 AC The Bible doesn’t give the account as to when Japheth Died. The only reason I can think of, is the fact that the seed of Jesus Christ comes through Shem and not Japheth.

Shem was born in 1558 AC and died in 2060 AC

Ham was born some-time after Shem, but as to when he was born is not told. In my opinion this is because of the sin Ham had committed upon his father Noah, and also, since the Seed of Jesus comes through Shem’s offspring, God does not find it necessary to give us this genealogy. It is only through the seed of Jesus Christ that is important for us to know, so as to account for the direct descendants from Adam to Jesus.

Genesis-Chapter 4

4

1.Now Adam new Eve his wife, and she conceived and
bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the Lord.” v. 17 2.Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now
Able was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the
ground. 3:23

(H7014)
קין
qayin
BDB Definition:
Kenite = “smiths”
1) eldest son of Adam and Eve and the first murderer having murdered his brother Abel (noun proper masculine)
2) the tribe from which the father-in-law of Moses was a member and which lived in the area between southern Palestine and the mountains of Sinai (noun proper gentilic)
Part of Speech: see above in Definition
A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: the same as H7013 (with a play upon the affinity to H7069)

So Eve, the mother of all living bore two sons: Cain the firstborn and Abel. Abel was a shepherd and tended to the livestock, while Cain was a farmer who grew the herbs and plants of the land. Some scholars believe that Cain and Abel were twins because of the fact that in verse one it says that Adam new his wife, and she conceived, however in verse two there is no mention of Eve conceiving again. The verse merely states that Eve bore again Cain’s brother Abel. The Bible is vague on this matter and I will not draw any conclusions to this fact. Just food for thought. Fact of the matter is we don’t know.

3. And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain
brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the lord.
Lev. 23:39,40
4. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, Lev. 27:26; Num. 18:17; Heb. 11:4
5. but he did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.

Cain brought to the Lord an offering of fruit as a sacrifice, whereas Verse four shows us that Abel gave his a firstborn of his flock (the cream of the crop) to the lord, whereas Cain may have just brought any old fruit, not his best(the first of the fruits). God is the Creator of all things, therefore all things belong to Him, including the first born of the animals or of the land. When the sacrifices were offered up top God, they were to be the firstborn, or firstfruits. Giving this offering is a show of respect to God for all He has done, and acknowledges His ownership of all things. Caine should be offering to the Lord what is rightfully His (The first of his fruits), but he didn’t. Cain took God for granted, and this attitude was of complete disrespect to God and all that He had done for him.

6. So the Lord said to Cain, “why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? James. 1:20
7. “if you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”

Cain grew both angry and sad that God had not accepted his offering. Instead of asking God for forgiveness and repenting of his offering, he instead falls into the trappings of Satan and sin, and his emotions. God even warns him of this transgression and what lies ahead if he continues on with this type of behavior. God also tells Cain that he must learn to control his emotions and not let sin control him. Just as we Christians of today have to learn to do the same. When we get baptized, with the laying of hands, and have God’s spirit inside of us, we still are of the flesh and can and do get tempted daily by Satan and sin. However with God’s Spirit we learn to recognize sin, turn from it and do what the spirit wills us to do. It sounds easy enough, but because we are of the flesh we sometimes fall short just as Paul says in Rom. 7: 14-25, God is giving Cain assurances that if he does well then God would indeed accept the offering and reward him in a just and righteous way, but if Cain does not offer up to God in a manner that is pleasing to Him, then Cain needs to be careful, because this kind of attitude in the offering could lead to the sin nature, which is always there waiting to take over and lead us down the path of unrighteousness. unfortunately in this case this is exactly what happened to Cain, the more he thought about his offering not being accepted, the more he grew angry and eventually it (The sin nature), ruled over him instead of him ruling over it.

8. Now Cain talked with Abel his brother, and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. Ex.20:13;1 John 3:12-15

Wouldn’t it be nice if we knew how the conversation went between Cain and Abel. We know that Cain ended up killing his brother later on after this conversation. I say “Later on because we are told “And it came to pass when they were in the field;” meaning sometime after the conversation. I think it would be safe to say that it probably wasn’t a very friendly conversation, with Cain being the instigator, maybe to try and provoke Abel to anger so he could have justification in his eyes to killing his brother. we can only speculate. Cain waited until the appropriate time and place to carry out his plan of revenge on his brother. All the while sin was taking control over him, where it came to a point that he had no control at all, it consumed his thoughts and actions, and he killed his brother in cold blood.

9. Then the lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know. Am I my brothers keeper?” 3:9; Deut. 15:7-9

God knows what happened to Cain. This is another rhetorical question. I believe that God is just simply testing Cain to see if he will confess his sin, repent from it, and ask for forgiveness. On the contrary, Cain tries to hide his sin by denying that he even knows what has happened to his brother. One sin leads to another and so on and so forth, like God said, “it” ( Sin), lies at it’s door and has started to overtake him in his actions and words. Cain even goes on to suggest that he is not responsible for his brother. However if we look at the referenced book (Deut. 15:7-9), we can clearly see that in God’s instruction to the Israelite s that indeed we are responsible for our brothers and sisters etc:

10. And he said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.

Again God knows what Cain did, he is simply trying to Make Cain realize the wickedness of his behavior. Trying to hide what he did to his brother he buries him in the ground to cover up his sin, hence the Lord says to him,”The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.” Just read on to the next verse.

11. “So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 3:17; 9:5,6

12. “When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on earth.”

Just as his parents didn’t show remorse and ask for forgiveness for what they did in the garden, so to Cain follows in their footsteps. Because Cain did not confess his sin, repent from it, and ask for forgiveness, God cannot let this go unpunished. I believe that had Cain done this, God, who is rich in mercy would have forgiven him. And the punishment wouldn’t have been so harsh. I say this because of the story of king David. In 2. Samuel chapters 11 we read how David committed many sins against God: including murder, However David recognized his sins, repented of them, confessed them to God, and asked for forgiveness. David would even fast for days at times. David had a pure heart and a true love for God and his ways. God knew David’s heart and recognized his sincerity and his true feeling of guilt for what he had done. This is why it is said that David was a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14, Acts. 13:22), as we see in verse 12 the curse upon Cain is to last until the day Cain dies. Cain must live his life on the run, never to settle, nor will he ever be able to farm the land again, for if he tries the land will not produce for him.

13. And Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear!
14. “Surely you have driven me out this day from the face of the ground; I shall be hidden from your face; I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth, and it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me.”
15. And the lord said to him, “Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him seven-fold.” And the Lord set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him. v. 24; Ps. 79:11

Cain, as is his sinful nature, again shows no repentance, but is only concerned for himself. He mourns, not for the pain that he has caused on his parents by the killing of their son Abel, or for that matter the pain and sadness that he brought to God for the killing of his brother, We must remember here that we all are children of God, and it grieves Him in his heart to see such an abomination committed by His children (Gen. 6:6), Instead Cain mourns for himself without concern for anyone else who was affected by his sin. Cain go so far as to say “Woe is me, everywhere I go my family will want to kill me.” However God says “not so” I will make a mark on Cain that no one should kill you and if they do then I will take vengeance on them seven times worse. (Compare Rom 12:19, Heb 10:30). It is God, and only Him who can take vengeance against Cain. Either Abel had already had children at the time of his death, this would mean that Adam and Eve would have to have had daughters already in order for him to have children, since it appears that they had no other sons until after the death of Abel, the only other ones that would want to kill Cain would have been his own parents. There are laws God gave to the Hebrews in the exodus out of Egypt regarding murder and avenging the death of a family member. From the previous chapters we read that the laws of sacrifices, offerings, and atonement for sins were already being practiced by Adam and Eve, and surely it had been passed down to both Cain and Abel, in fact it was the law of sacrifices that brought Cain to commit his murderous act upon his brother. Let’s take a look at these laws. In Numbers chapter thirty five, beginning in verse nine, God proclaims these laws concerning how to treat the person who has killed someone either by accident or purposely. He even institutes the practice of having sanctuary cities for the person who has killed someone by accident. In the law of sanctuary cities we learn of God’s mercy, grace and righteousness in His judgements. In this chapter here we see How God has made Himself the avenger of the blood of Abel. His law states that if the person is found guilty of maliciously killing someone then it falls into the hands of the family of the slain to put to death the murderer, and the people of the sanctuary city shall hand the guilty one over to the avenger to slay him (Numbers 35: 9-24), In Cains case, no one saw him kill his brother, sure God new he did it but only He saw the act, for God is the all knowing, omnipresence, and all seeing God. ( Heb. 4:13, Job. 24:31), in His law the Hebrews were told that you could not condemn someone to death unless there were two witnesses who saw the act committed (Num. 35: 30), In my humble opinion I believe that because of there being no more than one witness to the murder of Abel, God Himself, being a very righteous God who judges in righteousness, is also bound to His laws for His namesake, and therefore can not condemn Cain to death by the avenger or anyone who would want to kill him for this crime. Instead He puts a mark on Cain to let it be known that no one can kill Cain, and if so God will punish that person seven times more severe.

16. Then Cain went out from the presence of the lord in the land of Nod on the east of Eden.

Cain left Eden never to return. He also left God, never to return to him and his holiness. Cain is now, and will always be against all that is of God. The Strong’s definition for (Nod), is wandering, hence Cain was in the land of wandering, wondering further and further away from God, ina sense he was alienated from God for the rest of his life.

17. And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son-Enoch. v.1; Ps. 49:11

Enoch (H2585)
חנוך
chănôk
BDB Definition:
Hanoch = “dedicated”
1) eldest son of Cain (noun proper masculine)

Since Adam and Eve are the parents of all mankind, then it is only logical that Cains wife was either his sister, or maybe a niece. So in the beginning of being fruitful and multiplying, There was incest. This form of incest though, is ordained by God himself, God being Holy and good, is the only one who can give blessings on the early marriages of men and women. What we must also understand is that God is holy, Therefore His children must be Holy. one day the promised seed of the Messiah will come thru the blood of Adam and Eve. The blood line must be pure all the way thru. the only way to ensure this, is for this bloodline to not mix with the seed of unholy men. Later on we will see that God chooses the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to be the chosen people and a holy nation, thru which the Messiah will come. Cain, because of his actions has lost his holiness (If you will), so the seed of this Holy people will originate from Seth (The third born son of Adam and Eve). Exo 19:6, Exo 22:31, Lev 11:44-45, Lev 19:1-2, Lev 20:7. God, being God, with all his power, who can create Man from the dust of the earth, can also make sure that the deformities that come from incest over a period of time, will not be an issue in the beginning of His creation. The Hebrew meaning of Enoch is dedicated (H2585), therefore, Cain dedicated the city to his son Enoch. In my opinion. Since Cain was cursed to be a wanderer all his life, Then he probably didn’t settle in this city. Cain only lived there long enough to build it, and then turn the reigns’ over to Enoch as he grew older.

18. To Enoch was born Irad; and Irad begot Mehujael and Mehujael begot Methushael, and Methushael begot Lamech.

Irad: (h5897) עירד; ‛ı̂yrâd:
BDB Definition: Irad = “fleet”

Mehujael: (h4232): מחיּיאל / מחוּיאל: mechûyâ’êl / mechı̂yyâ’êl: BDB Definition: Mehujael = “smitten by God”

Methushael: (h4967) מתוּשׁאל: methûshâ’êl:
BDB Definition: Methusael = “who is of God”

Lamech: (h3929) למך: lemek:
BDB Definition: Lamech = “powerful”

Apparently Cain only had one child and that is Enoch. It also appears that each child after the other had only one child down to the time of Lamech, who then preceded to have four children.

19. Then Lamech took for himself two wives: the name of one was Adah, and the name of the second was Zillah. 2:24
Adah: (H5711) : עדה : ‛âdâh
BDB Definition: Adah = “ornament”
1) the 1st of the 2 wives of Lamech and mother of Jabal and Jubal

Zillah: (H6741) :צלּה: tsillâh
BDB Definition: Zillah = “shade”
1) the 2nd wife of Lamech and mother of Tubal-cain, an instructor of every craftsman in bronze and iron
20. And Adah bore Jabal.He was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock.

Jabal: (H2989): יבל: yâbâl:
BDB Definition: Jabal = “stream of water”

21. His brothers name was Jubal.He was the father of all those who play the harp and flute.

Jubal: (H3106): יוּבל: yûbâl:
BDB Definition: Jubal = “stream”

22. And as for the Zillah, she also bore Tubal-Cain, an instructor of every craftsmen in bronze and iron. And the sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah.

Tubal-Cain: (H423): תּוּבל קין: tûbal qayin:
BDB Definition: Tubal-cain = “thou will be brought of Cain”

Naamah: (H5279):נעמה: na‛ămâh:
BDB Definition: Naamah = “loveliness”

The children of Lamech were inventors, explorers and teachers.; with the exception of the one Daughter (Naamah). We have but a brief summary of the descendants of Cain; We are told about their contributions to mankind and nothing about their walk with God. Also we have no time frame as to how old Cain was when His son Lamech was born, or how old they were when they died as opposed to that of Seth’s descendants(which goes into greater detail) Being that Cain was cut off from the presence of God it appears that his descendants would also bare the burden of Cains action against his brother Abel, and would also be cut off from God.
If the ancestry of Cains descendants are of only one son (Enoch), then where did the wives of Lamech come from? There could have been enough time between Lamech having wives, and the time Seth had his daughters, in which they became old enough to marry him. In my opinion, There had to be some kind of intermingling going on between the two families of Cain, Seth and or Adam in the beginning. Because of this relationship, just as in any society, they learned from each other. Which also means that they took from one another, not only the good attributes, but also the bad ones.

23. Then Lamech said to his wives: “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;
Wives of Lamech, listen to my
speech!
For I have killed a man for
wounding me.
Even a young man for hurting
me.
24. If Cain shall be avenged
sevenfold,
Then Lamech
seventy-sevenfold.” v.15

In my reading of these two verses there are two points of significance that I get. First I must say that the only thing we know of these two murders, is that they were both done in the act of self defense. I believe what God is telling us in this story is that there is a good reason for killing another human being: and that is for the purpose of self preservation. God does not expect man to let someone else harm him without defending themselves. This is why Lamech says that “If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.” Lamech’s killing was not premeditated, or out of envy, or of hatred. Because of this, Lamech feels if God would avenge anyone who killed Cain for what he had done, sevenfold, then all the more a curse be put upon anyone who would avenge Lamech, because his actions were out of self defense, unlike Cain.
The second point of significance that I see here is that Lamech’s reference to his patriarch Cain. Cain had to bear the burden of his sin, and a part of this burden is to pass this on to his descendants. Was it Cain who passed this story on to his descendants? or was it the descendants of Seth, whose daughters that were married into Cains family. In my opinion I would venture to guess the latter. I say this because Cain never felt any remorse or signs of repentance for what he did to Abel. Cain probably wanted to forget everything that happened that day.

25. And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, “For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.” Luke.3:38

Seth: (h8352) שׁת: shêth;
BDB Definition: Seth = “compensation”

Hence we can see why Seth was named such.

26. And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then man began to call on the name of the Lord. Rom. 10:13

Enosh(h583): אנושׁ ‘ĕnôsh: BDB Definition: Enos = “man”

The reason i’m listing the Hebrew definitions of the names is because I think it fascinating to learn that there is more to a persons’ name than just the name. This verse doesn’t say that Enosh was the first to call on the Lord, it says that man then began to call on the name of the Lord. There is more to God than burnt offerings, or sacrifices (So much more) We should call on the Lord daily and not just at appointed times(Which I guess is what i’m suggesting here).
I think Adam and Eve have now come to realize that life will go on even after they are dead (that they are not the only ones who can produce of their own kind). Yes God is the true source of all living, but he does this through the process of conception between a man and a woman. One can only imagine the joy of Adam and Eve and Seth and his wife, by the birth of Enosh. they therefore gave God praise and glory for what he had blessed them with. From there on man would start calling on God in a more meaningful manner.

Genesis chapter 3

3

1. Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” 1:24,25
2. And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit
of the trees of the garden; 2:16,17
3. “but of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God
has said, “You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest
you die.’”
4. Then the serpent said to the woman,”You will not surely die.
5. “For God knows that In the day you eat of it your eyes
will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and
evil.” v. 7; Hab. 1:13
6. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food,
that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make
one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her
husband with her, and he ate.
7. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. v. 21; 2:25
8. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Jer. 23:24

This chapter starts with the downfall of mankind and the introduction of Satan and sin into the world. A lot of people say that they would not have done what Adam and Eve did and that they could have resisted Satan’s temptation. Also people who do not know the truth would also ask, why even have the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden? What was God thinking? All we have to do is go to the scriptures for these answers. ( Rev 12:3-9). From these verses we can see that Satan was able to deceive a third of the angels into rebelling against God. The Dragon spoken of in Rev 12:3 is none other than Satan himself. In the bible stars can be another name for angels ( Judges. 5:20, Job. 38: 4-7, Rev. 1:2o), These angels were in the presence of God all mighty and saw him for all his majesty and glory. So if Satan can deceive these angels, then it was no hard task to deceive man into eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Satan has been deceiving man ever since the time of the garden. So why did God put the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden? God gave us a conscious, and the ability to choose right from wrong. God doesn’t want robots that are programmed to do as he wishes. He wants every man and woman to Have the right to choose for themselves whether or not if they want to love Him, follow Him and live His way of life. You can look it it in this manner; When a person is looking for a mate to spend the rest of their life with, the one thing they look for is does this person love me for who I am, and not being pressured into loving me for fear of retribution. Deep down inside everyone is looking for true love and not being forced or coerced into loving us. We were made in the image of God, He is looking for true love and we carry that same trait. God does not force His will upon us. We see that God gave us dominion over the earth. We were to rule over all living things (Gen 1:28) Once Satan convinced Adam and Eve to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, he took over dominion of the earth from man. Sin has now entered the world. Satan is the representative of sin. Instantly Adam and Eve lost their innocence and became ashamed of their nakedness. It was sin that told them them they were naked and in turn made them feel ashamed, and covered themselves, and hid from God.

9. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
10. So he said, “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
11. And He said,”Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree which I commanded you that you should not eat? 2:17

As soon as Adam had eaten from the tree of knowledge he immediately saw that he was naked and felt ashamed and guilty. Not only for what he had done, but that he saw his nakedness for what it is. In a sense he has lost the innocence of a child, for children, when they are young, do not know how to distinguish between right from wrong, and good from evil. It’s a growing process that a child goes thru where eventually they learn of these things. So Adam has now become a man and his inner conscious tells him he is naked, and now he feels ashamed.
Where was God at this time? He was in the garden of Eden. This tells me that God was here on earth at the beginning. In verse eight we see that God was walking in the Garden, and then in verse ten Adam says that he heard God’s voice in the garden. God is dwelling with man in the garden. Now that sin has entered the world, man will no longer have direct access to Him. after the 1,000 year reign of Christ is over, God Himself will once again dwell on the earth with man (Rev 21:1-5 ). Once Satan is defeated for good (after the battle of Gog and Magog) and he is cast in the lake of fire, along with the anti-Christ and the false prophet, satan and Sin will longer be around to influence man. Then God will be able to dwell with man. God is Holy, without sin, He is the epitome of all that is righteous, and true, Therefore God cannot, and will not dwell in a place that has sin.
Before Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, man had direct access to God. There was no need for high priest or even Jesus Christ himself. Since sin had not yet entered the world there was no need for Jesus Christ to be the propitiation of man (Rom 3:25, 1 Jn 2:2, 4:10 ). Yet with that said, God new beforehand, that sin would enter the world and the knowledge of good and evil. So in His infinite wisdom He knew before the foundation of the world that we would need a savior (1Pet 1:18-20, Heb 9:26).

12. Then the man said,”The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” 2:22
13. And the Lord God said to the woman, What is this you have done? The woman said, “The serpent deceived me and I ate.”

I see this all the time in life today. No one wants to be accountable for their wrongdoings, (it’s always someones else’s fault). Adam actually blames God for his actions: he says to God “The woman whom you gave to me.” Adam is saying: that if God had not given Adam this woman, then he would not have been tempted to eat the fruit in the first place. God, being all knowing, knew what Adam and Eve had done. God was asking rhetorical questions in verses 9-13. I believe that God wanted to see how they would respond to his question: would they take responsibility for their actions of what they had done? would they ask forgiveness for disobeying Him? As we can see they tried to throw the blame on someone else. Not once does Adam and Eve acknowledge their sin and ask God for forgiveness. We can only speculate as to what would have happened if they had done so. Would God have forgiven them? I believe he would: for God is rich in mercy. But there still Has to be a price to pay for sinning. If not, then they would go on sinning. If a murderer is not punished for his crime, then what’s to stop him from doing it again? Now the punishment phase begins.

14. So the Lord God said to the serpent:
“Because you have done this,
You are cursed more than all
cattle, v. 17
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you shall go,
And you shall eat dust Is.65:25
All the days of your life,
◊15. And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your seed and
her Seed; Rom. 16:20; Rev. 12:9
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise his heel.”

Notice that God does not ask Satan any questions. There is no need. God is all too familiar with Satan’s ways and knows that he is the true cause for what has happened. God immediately begins with the punishment phase. In my opinion verses 14 gives us clues as to the characteristics of the serpent before God cursed it. First it suggest that the serpent was either above the cattle and the beast of the field or like them as far as its position on the earth. Secondly, it is, arguably suggested by many in christian faith, that the serpent originally had legs. There is also scientific proof that shows that snakes once did have legs and maybe even arms of some sort. Fossils have been found in Lebanon showing a snake with a leg at the hip area. This helps support the genesis account that the serpent was cursed to crawl on its belly all the days of its life. When you look at the beginning of verse 15 you will notice a star. According to my format for this writing, any time there is a clear star before the verse, it indicates a future fulfillment of the Messiah. This enmity that God puts between the seed of the woman and Satan are a representation of the hatred between Satan’s world of wickedness and all that is evil in the world, and the light of the world which is Jesus Christ and the church, and all that is good and righteous. The bruising of the head of Satan by her seed is accomplished by the death and Resurrection of our lord and savior Jesus Christ. the resurrection of Christ was the final blow to the head of Satan. For God himself came down to earth, Became flesh, and beat Satan as a human being. In my own take here, I see the head as a representation of life: without the head there is no life. By bruising Satan’s head he dealt the death blow to Satan. Now on the other part of the equation the bruising of the heal by Satan upon the woman’s seed is a representation of Satan’s persecution of the saints and the true church of God. Because he could only bruise the heel of the woman’s seed, he could not, or should I say cannot succeed in his bid to destroy the woman’s seed.

16. To the woman He said:

“I will greatly multiply your
sorrow and your
conception;
In pain you shall bring forth
children;
Your desire shall be for your husband, Eph. 5:22; Titus 2:4,5
And he shall rule over you.”

This punishment laid upon Eve is not only applied to her, but also to all women who will come after her until our redemption. Obviously, before sin there was no sorrow. Once sin entered the world so did sorrow, but the woman would feel more sorrow than man. If we look at the different characteristic between man and woman, it is obvious that women are far more emotional than men. Women are very fragile in this sense and let the littlest things upset them, as opposed to men who are stronger emotionally and seem to just shrug things off. Women cry more than men, they get their feelings hurt more, and when someone hurts them, they will never forget. For those men who have ever been married, you know what I’m talking about. You may have said or done something ten twenty years ago, and she will bring it up when the opportunity deems necessary. As far as conception is concerned, how many times has it been said, that until you’ve experienced childbirth you haven’t experienced pain. This is arguably one of the most painful things a human can experience. I say arguably because I myself have suffered first second and third degree burns all at once, and until you go through the fire like I have you have not experienced pain (this is according to me). The last two curses go hand in hand with one another “your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you. Maybe this desire can explain for one, why so many women will stay in an abusive relationship with their spouse or boyfriends. How many times have people said “why does she keep going back to him?” it’s that desire to be with that one particular man and that hope, that when he says he will never do it again, he means it. And because of this desire they will allow the man to rule over them in all aspects of their life. Now there are those women who won’t let the abuse continue and do leave the abuser. i’m just using this as an example. This has been the norm throughout history until the twentieth century, and the birth of the women’s rights movement.

17. Then to Adam he said, “Because you have headed the
voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I
commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: 2:17
“Cursed is the ground for your
sake; v. 14
In toil you shall eat of it
All the days of your life.

Adam did what so many people have done throughout time, and that is to disobey God, and to head the voice of others. So therefore Adam too must be punished for his part in disobeying God’s command. All the days of man’s life they will have to work hard to put food on the table for themselves and or their family.

18. Both thorns and thistles it
shall bring forth for you,
And you shall eat of the herb of
the field.
19. In the sweat of the face you
shall eat bread
Till you return to the ground,
For out of it you were taken;
For dust you are, 2:7; 5:5
And to dust you shall return.”

I know I keep saying this, but it is what it is. “Before sin entered the world,” God was providing Adam with all his needs. Now Adam will have to labor for his food. Now, not only will there be fruit and herbs growing in abundance, but now there will be “thorns and thistles” which Adam will have to work till sweat rolls down his face in order to keep his garden fruitful, until the day he dies. In sin lies death, so now that Adam has sinned, so to will he return to ground in which he was formed. Adam could have lived forever had he obeyed God, and never have experienced all that comes from knowing sin, and good and evil: pain, sorrow, to name a few, and yes even death.
20. And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was
the mother of all living. 2:23

Eve (H2332): חוּה: chavvâh
BDB Definition: Eve = “life” or “living”
1) the first woman, wife of Adam

The strong concordance and the BDB both concur that the definition of Eve is life-giver. Just a reminder to the reader; BDB is the Hebrew definition and the strong s is the Hebrew, and Greek/Aramaic interpretation.

21. Also for Adam the Lord God made tunics of skin, and
clothed them. v.7

In order for God to make the tunics of skin, there had to be a shedding of blood, and the sacrifice of the animal that the skins came from. This sacrifice and the shedding of blood is both a reminder of the penalty of sin and the atonement thereof. The nakedness of Adam And Eve is the sin part which had to be covered up. The only way to cover their nakedness, and to be reconciled with God, was to use the skin of the animal for this covering. Since Adam and Eve were the only human beings on the earth at this time, and sin had just reared its ugly head for the first time, there was yet no need for animal sacrifices. This being the case, only God could perform this ritual that would be acceptable to him. The bible doesn’t go into detail of how all this went down, it just gives us a glimpse. Therefore, in my opinion, I believe that God had Adam and Eve witness this sacrifice, this way they could pass down this ritual to their children and so on and so forth. How else would Cain and Abel know about offerings to God. This would therefore, as in the Sabbath rest, show that before the law came down through Moses on mount Sinai, men were already obliged to sacrifice to God for their sins. Abraham is proof of this. During his time, Abraham already knew how to offer sacrifices to God, and he was doing so, as commanded by God.

22. Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become
like one of Us, to know good and evil. And lest he put out his
hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”- v. 5; 12:9
23. therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of
Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.
24. So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at
the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which
turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. v.22

God said in Gen.2:17 That if Adam and Eve were to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil that they would die.

Gen 2:17 but you shall not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. For in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.

When Satan told Eve that she “surely wouldn’t die,” he was using half truths. They surely didn’t die once they ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but when they did eat of it, As God said, they began the dying process and they surely did die. I have a saying myself that goes like this, “On the day we are born we begin to die” On the day that Adam and Eve ate of the tree of knowledge they began to die. Until God’s kingdom is established here on earth: and I’m talking about after the great white throne judgment, man is not allowed access to the tree of life. In my opinion, if man could access the tree of life, then they would live in their sin forever and ever, never dying, Then it could never been said, “For the wages of sin is death,” (Rom 6:23), Also in His loving mercy, He cannot allow His creation to live in sin for eternity. Even though they that are of the world would think it would be a good thing, they don’t realize the truth, which is that sin brings misery in one form or another, therefore God cannot see His creation, made in His likeness, live in such pain and suffering. (Rev 22:1-3).

Genesis chapter 2

2

1. Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them were finished. 2. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work He had done.
3. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all his work which God had created and made.
On the seventh day God rested from all his work and created (if you will), The Sabbath day. He Blessed the seventh day and sanctified it from the rest of the days of the week.
This is the day that God set apart from all of the other days. There is more to it than just; God rested on the seventh day. We must remember God blessed this day and set it apart from all the other days of the week. If we look at Exodus

chapter 20 we can get a clearer picture of what it meant when God blessed the seventh day and sanctified (To separate), the seventh day from all the other days of the week Sabbath and why we should keep it.

Exo 20:8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Exo 20:9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work.
Exo 20:10 But the seventh day is the Sabbath of Jehovah your God. You shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger within your gates.
Exo 20:11 For in six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore Jehovah blessed the Sabbath day, and sanctified it.

Out of all the ten commandments God gives, this particular commandment is the longest of all of them. God goes into great detail concerning the Sabbath. First we are to keep the day holy. Verses 9, 10 and 11 describe how to keep it holy. First we are to do no work, nor require anyone else to do so. Not even the animals are to work. Then we are to remember that this day is God’s day, not mans. (Mark 2:27,28). God is our creator and as such we need to honor and worship him on the Sabbath. In my opinion this is the first step in developing a relationship with “Abba” Father, to get to know Him in a more personal way. God wants a relationship with us. He doesn’t want to just be our God, He wants to be our Father and our friend. He wants us get to know every fabric of His being so that one day when we grow up we will be just like Him: Holy and perfect in all His ways, righteous and loving, for love is the epitome of who He is. On the Sabbath day we come together with like minded people to learn about Him, why we are here and what our purpose is in this life.

(G5): Ἀββᾶ
Abba
Thayer Definition:
Abba = “father”
1) father, customary title used of God in prayer. Whenever it occurs in the New Testament it has the Greek interpretation joined to it, that is apparently to be explained by the fact that the Chaldee “ABBA” through frequent use in prayer, gradually acquired the nature of a most sacred proper name, to which the Greek speaking Jews added the name from their own tongue.

It’s not until we get to know our father that we can learn to understand him. God left us with this beautiful book of books that we know as the bible, telling us His- story to mankind. As we see here The Sabbath begun on the seventh day of creation, not in the books of Exodus or Leviticus when God gave his law to Moses and the Hebrew people. So when people say that the Sabbath was nailed at the cross, and done away with, and that nowadays the Sabbath can be observed on any day of the week in which each individual prefers, is just not scriptural. If the Sabbath was done away with at the cross, then it would stand to reason that Jesus and his Apostles would have told us so in their teachings and writings, but this is not the case. We see throughout the new testament that Jesus taught on the Sabbath all the time, “A was His custom.” (Mark 6:2, Luke 13:10-16). These are just a few examples in which Jesus Kept the Sabbath. Not only did he keep the Sabbath, but on a few occasions He clarified to the Pharisees and Jews on to how to keep it. If His death and resurrection was to do away with the Sabbath, I would think that He would have taken these opportunities to teach this to His followers. There is no evidence in the scriptures that He ever claimed to do away with the Saturday Sabbath. In the book of acts we see many places where the Apostles kept the Sabbath. (Acts 13:13-15, 43-44, 16:13, 17:1-2, 18:1-4), As we can see even the Apostles taught on the Sabbath after His death and resurrection Acts. 13:42 –44 stick out for me. Here the people of Antioch asking Paul and Barnabas to come back on the next Sabbath to preach to them again. This would have been the perfect time for Paul to proclaim to the people that the Saturday Sabbath was done away with, yet he did no such thing.

4. This is the history of the heavens of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and heavens,
5. before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground;
6. but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.
7. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

I was confused about verse four, for some time, so I decided that I need help in clarifying what meant in verse four. I asked a teacher of my church to come over and help me. The way he explained it to me, and also showing me what the Jews teach, he brought with him a book called The Pentateuch and the Haftorah: which I would love to get my Hands on a copy. I will put into my own words what is taught on these verses, only because I didn’t make good notes, and the copies I made had portions cut off. First I must note here that verse four is the beginning of a new thought from the previous verses. As you see: according to the format I created, verse four is in red, so as to distinguish a new paragraph. From what I gathered, and I must say this makes sense to me, That what is being described here is an explanation of how the mist of the earth is what helped plants to grow before God caused it to rain, and before man was around to till the ground. Then man was formed later. It was also explained to me that, since there is no mention of rain in the bible until the time of Noah, that all plants and trees grew from out of the mist, up until Noah’s time.

8. The lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed.
9. And out of the ground the lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

After God planted the garden of Eden God put man there. It appears to me that Adam was already around when God planted the garden of Eden,because it says that God put Adam in the garden. We can go back to chapter one of Genesis and use this chapter as our template for the order of creation. Here in chapter two God is filling in the blanks. The garden has three purposes, one is for food, the other is for the pleasure of man, and the third is for God to test man. It says plainly that God made every tree grow that is good for food. This is one reason why I claim that man was only supposed to eat the fruits of the trees and the vegetables and herbs in the garden, He doesn’t say the animals were for food.

Trees: (H6086): ‛êts
BDB Definition: 1) tree, wood, timber, stock, plank, stalk, stick, gallows.

Now if we look closer at the definition of some the words used here like stock or stalk we can see that there were more than just trees in the garden. From the Webster dictionary:

STALK, n. [G., a handle, and a stalk or stem. Gr. from the root of stall; to set.]
1. The stem, culm or main body of an herbaceous plant. Thus we speak of a stalk of wheat, rye or oats, the stalks of maiz or hemp. The stalk of herbaceous plants, answers to the stem of shrubs and trees, and denotes that which is set, the fixed part of a plant, its support; or it is a shoot.
2. The pedicle of a flower, or the peduncle that supports the fructification of a plant.
STOCK, n. [G., a stem, a staff, a stick, a block. This word coincides with stake, stick, stack; that which is set or fixed.]
1. The stem or main body of a tree or other plant; the fixed, strong, firm part; the origin and support of the branches. Job 14:7-9

I take from these definitions that there not only trees, but also plants of all types. The garden probably had a fantastic aroma about itself. I think of the lavender tree that not only has beautiful buds but the buds put out an aroma that man still use to this day for all types of fragrances, from potpourri, to perfumes and body sprays. Just use your own imagination as to beauty of the garden, and then magnify that by 1000 times and you have a sense of the magnificence of the garden.

10. Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four river-heads.
11. The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.
12. and the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there. Ex. 25:7; Num. 11:7
13. The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. 10:6
14. The name of the third river is Hiddekel; it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates. 15:18; Josh. 1:4

I have been doing some research as to the location of the garden. Before I give my conclusion, let me explain what we know about the gardens location. First, there is one river mentioned that is still called by the same name today (the Euphrates) which we know starts in modern day Turkey and runs through what is now known as Iraq and ends up in the Persian Gulf. Then we have the river Hiddekel that is mentioned as going eastward of Assyria. We know that Assyria was also located in modern day Turkey as well as parts of Iraq. Another clue as to the identification of Hiddekel is found in the book of Daniel ( Dan 10:1-4). We are given a time frame as to when Daniel was at the river Hiddekel. During this time Daniel was living in modern day Iraq as a captive from the Babylonian empire. This has led Many to believe that the river Hiddekel has to be the Tigris river, as it is known today. That leaves us with two more rivers. First Gihon. This river can also be easily located because the bible says that in encompasses the whole land of Cush. History tells us that the land of Cush is modern day Ethiopia. That leaves us with the location of the river Pishon. ( Gen 25:18 and 1Sa 15:7). Most scholars agree that Havilah is what we know as the Arabian desert. The following assertion is from the UCG article titled Searching for Eden in the Middle East by peter Eddington:

The location of the Garden of Eden is generally believed to have been in the area of what is today Iraq and neighboring countries. Some Bible scholars feel it could have been near the Persian Gulf, either on the north side near Basrah or along its western coast in Kuwait or Bahrain. Others locate it in the north near Mosul, or to the northeast near Tabriz in Iran. In any case, it’s in the area of the Middle East.

Most archealogist, scholars and churches agree with this theory. However if you notice in this article and from others I have ever read, no one is for sure where the garden existed. So this is just my opinion: God Closed up the Garden to mankind because of his fallen away in the Garden. He closed it, shut it up, and placed angels at its entrance to keep man from entering into the garden. (Gen 3:24).

15. Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. v. 8: 1:28

As we see from this verse the Garden of Eden was already in existence when Adam went into it.

16. And the Lord God commanded the man, Saying, “of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;
17. “but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat of it, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” v. 9; 3:1-7

The next two verses are very important in understanding, that when God gives a command, we should honor God by obeying Him. Just like when a father tells one of his kids not to do something. A father does this because he knows it will be harmful to them, and that it could also be harmful to other people (depending on the circumstance). As a father you only want what’s best for your children, and you do it out of love. When children disobey their father they get punished for that disobedience. Remember, God is our father and there is no difference. It wasn’t until I really gave myself 100 % to the Lord, that, as a father myself, I started to understand what God is doing, in regards to how he treats every one of us in our own lives. Once you become a father yourself, you realize that you are raising your kids in the same manner that God is raising us as his children. That is, for fathers who have spiritual upbringing themselves and living according to God’s will. There are Many places in the bible were we can find examples of consequences for disobeying God. (Deut 28:15-68), If you read all of the verse’s in parentheses, you can see what happens when a people disobey the Lord God. God warned the nation of Israel what would happen to them for their disobedience. Like any father however, when His children disobey Him, He Chastises them and gives them chances to turn back to Him and his commandments. For centuries through to His prophets, he warns them. And when the people truly repent and ask forgiveness, God who is rich in mercy forgives them and blesses them. God is very patient with people and it took 100’s of years of backsliding by the Israelite s before God said enough is enough; When that happened, God made good on his word and the curses that he said that would befall them. There are also many verses in scripture that tell us of the rewards that come from obeying God and his commandments. Compare the following: (Exo 20:5-6, Lev 26:3-12, Deu 4:40). I could go on and on with examples of what happens to a people or nations when they either obey or disobey God’s command. Many people say that the old testament was strictly for the Israelite nation, but this is not so. If you go to the new testament you can see where Jesus and the Apostles quote from the old testament frequently. Since Jesus came to earth to save all of mankind, both Jews and gentiles (non-Jewish people), God chose the Israelite nation as an example to mankind of how to follow God and his statues. Don’t get me wrong, The Israel nation are a blessed nation, and are very dear to God above all other people, but God uses them to exemplify how mankind should live. America was founded on Judeo Christian beliefs and as such was blessed tremendously for the first two hundred years. I personally believe that God blessed this nation partially because of our beliefs in Him and trying to live the way He intended all people should live. The demise of America began around the 1960’s When we took prayer out of school. June 25, 1962 to be exact, was when the Supreme court decided that prayer in schools was unconstitutional. Also during this time period There began the right to abortion issue in America. As a matter of fact in 1963, in Chicago a group calling themselves “The Abortion Counseling Service of the Chicago Women’s liberation Union: led by a group of laywomen, created an underground feminist abortion service. In the first four years of operation this group performed over 11,000 first and second trimester abortions in the United States. I got this information from a website a group called Our Bodies Ourselves, from and article written march 28, 2014, by some of their contributors. It wasn’t but ten years later that abortion became legal in the U.S. The 1960’s was also known as the sexual revolution. This led to the practice of all kinds of sexual immorality (which God Hates) including homosexuality, wife swapping, sex before marriage, and sexual promiscuity. Ever since then America has been declining. I believe this decline is solely because we have taken God out of our lives, and continue to do so even now and on a very rapid pace., But I digress. I know I kind of got off subject here, but hey! It’s what I felt from the heart, I was in the moment.

18. And the Lord God said, “it is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” 1Cor. 7:1; 11:8,9
19. out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.
1.:20, 24; Ps. 8:6

Adam (H121): אדם: ‘âdâm
BDB Definition: Adam = “red”
1) first man

20. So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. v. 18
21. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place.
22. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man he made into a woman, and he brought her to the man. 3:12; 1 Tim. 2:13
23. And Adam said:

“This is now bone of my bones
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.” 3:12; 1 Cor. 11:8,9
24. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
Prov. 5:18, 19; 18:22; Matt. 19:5,6
25. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. 3:7-10; Lev. 18:6-19; 20:11-21

I had written down once before what I took from these verses I thought it was spot on back then. So I hope I can word this the same as before. When I get intimate with my wife, and I hold her close to my body, I feel as though I cannot get close enough to her. I feel that I want to be inside her just as Eve was once in the womb of Adam. I want us to become as one, just as Jesus and God are of one mind, body, and, Spirit. A child being born of man and woman is a representation of this oneness, because in that child is a part of both the father and mother. Now because Adam and Eve have not yet eaten of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, sin had not yet entered the world, this is why they were not ashamed of their nakedness.

genesis chapter 1

The first book of Moses called

GENESIS

The first part of Genesis focuses on the beginning and spread of sin in the world and culminates in the devastating flood in the days of Noah. The second part of the book focuses on Gods dealings with one man, Abraham, through whom God promises to bring salvation and blessing to the world. Abraham and his descendants learn first hand that it was always safe to trust the Lord in times of famine, and feasting, blessing and bondage. From Abraham… to Isaac… to Jacob… to Joseph.. God’s promises begin to come to fruition in a great nation possessing a great land. Genesis is the Greek word meaning “origin,” “source”, “generation,” or “beginning” The original Hebrew title Bereshith means “In The Beginning.”

1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
John 1:1-3

Before the heavens and earth there was nothing but the self existing God, The Hebrew word used here for God is Elohim, and is plural in its meaning. This is explained in the New Testament book of John chapter one verse one, as seen referenced above. Scientist, mainly of the evolutionist theory, have throughout time used this first verse to dispute the validity of the age of the earth, according to the word of God; Saying, and rightly so, that the earth is much older than 6000 years old.(As man knows time). the problem is that the most of these scientist don’t take into account the fact that when they read scripture, they are not reading it in it’s original Hebrew language. therefore they don’t have the complete understanding of what is being written, no matter what language they are reading it in. there is much that gets lost in translating languages. If we stopped in this one verse and used it alone as the source in determining the age of the earth in comparison to the year we are now living in, then yes we would think the earth is roughly 6000 years old, but we know this to not be true because of science. Science is actually a friend of the bible. It helps to legitimize scriptures throughout in certain times. We must keep reading on into verse two, keeping in mind what was originally being written down in the Hebrew language as it is being recorded. We need to have a Strongs concordance bible to help us when we study the bible for a better understanding, at times, in our readings. I will show you, the reader, what I mean in verse two. Yes the earth is much older than 6000 years according to scripture as we read it in the English language, there is no argument here. Let us continue on to verse two and put into clarity what the bible says in verse one, and what the scientist and science says regarding the age of the earth. understand, in verse one only the Heavens and earth were created not man, any living creatures , tree and plant kind as well.

2. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

The time span from verse one and verse two could well be thousands if not millions of years apart. Verse 2 states that “The earth was”

Was:(H1961): hâyâh: BDB Definition: 1) to be, become, come to pass, exist, happen, fall out

When we look at the Hebrew meaning of the word was, we can see how words can get lost in translation from Hebrew or Greek to English. So now that we know the real meaning, that the author (Moses) is conveying here, we can come to understand that after God created the Heavens and the earth, there was some point in time that the earth “became‘ void and without form.” This could have happened not in a day, but years and years. According to my understanding. The United church of God teaches that after God created the heavens and earth: which consisted of the Angelic beings, That Lucifer: as he was known by during this time period rebelled against God and in the process was able to deceive 1/3 of the angels, to follow him in his rebellion against God. It was during this rebellion that the earth became void and without form. The United Church of God has a bible study on Genesis, titled: Understanding Genesis 1 and 2 and God’s work of creation. The following statement comes from this study:

It’s not logical to think that God would create the earth “formless and desolate” as the Good News Translation translates Genesis 1:2. We would expect God to create everything with beauty and perfection. “God is not the author of confusion” (1 Corinthians 14:33).
In fact, Isaiah 45:18 tells us, “For the LORD is God, and he created the heavens and earth and put everything in place. He made the world to be lived in, not to be a place of empty chaos” (New Living Translation). The Hebrew word here translated “empty chaos” is tohu, the same word translated “without form” in Genesis 1:2.
So what happened? Long after the original creation, a violent cataclysm occurred that caused the chaos.
The event that caused the surface of the earth to be largely destroyed is explained in our booklet Creation or Evolution: Does It Really Matter What You Believe? To summarize, God created the earth with exquisite perfection, but a cataclysm brought destruction. We don’t know how many years there were between the time of God’s creation and that cataclysm, nor do we know how many years there might have been between that cataclysm and the re-creation described in Genesis 1.
Notice Psalm 104:30: “You send forth Your Spirit, they are created; and You renew the face of the earth.” What is described beginning with Genesis 1:3 is God’s renewal of the earth and its creatures.
So, Genesis 1 and 2 should be understood as literally true. This planet is indeed very old, but most of the flora and fauna we have today, as referred to in Genesis 1, was created about 6,000 years ago. And human beings began at that time with God’s creation of Adam and Eve.

In the booklet: Creation or Evolution, on pg. 67, from the United Church of God website, you can find this explanation:

The time gap between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 is an unspecified period that could encompass-an untold span of years, accounting for the deep time that geologists and other scientist have discovered in the last two centuries. So the Bible itself solves the enigma. We do not need to artificially lengthen the seven 24-hour creation days to resolve the problem. The Reese Chronological Bible, for instance, begins Genesis with the account of John 1:1,then goes to Psalm 90:2, then goes to Genesis1:1, and next, to the verses in the Bible describing the angelic rebellion. Only afterward s does it continue to Genesis 1:2, which mentions the devastation left from that uprising. Then, starting in verse 3, we have the commencement of the week-long renewal of the earth. Culminating with the creation of Adam and Eve, the week described here occurred about 6,000 years ago.

“The Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” God’s Spirit, suspended in the air, moving to and fro across the waters in anticipation of what He was going to do.

3. Then God said, “Let there be light” and there was light. v.14 4. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 2 Cor. 4:6

The light God saw was created on the first day when He created the Heavens and the earth. the Heavens that were created consisted of everything in the celestial universe; the stars and planets (including the sun and moon), the galaxies, and nebulas, etc. etc. When God created the Heavens He had not yet set them in motion or defined them as to their purpose or place in his overall plan of creation.

5. God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. So the evening and the morning were the first day. Rev. 22:5

It is here that we now see an actual time mentioned in the bible, This is where we begin our recorded history to what we now know as 6,000 years of recorded history. Verse’s 1-5 records the first day creation. God did two things. First he created the heavens and the earth, next He brought forth the light from out of the heavens and “there was light.” In verse five God named the light day, and the darkness He called night. He then describes the evening and the morning as the first day. The United Church of God’s Bible guide; lesson 3 “Understanding Genesis chapter 1 and 2” and God’s work of creation defines the creation of a day this way:

Genesis 1:5 defines a day as consisting of a daylight portion and a dark portion. It also defines a day as being composed of an evening and a morning. (Stating “evening” before “morning” is consistent with the rest of the Bible, which defines a day as beginning with sundown.

This then tells us that a new day begins at sunset and not at 12:00 am. So, when we celebrate the Sabbath (which we will see later is celebrated on Saturday and not Sunday), We start our Sabbath rest at sunset on Friday evening. If we are to worship God in the proper way, then we must do it on His timetable and not that of man’s. Speaking of his timetable; it is here where we see God revealing the existence of days and nights, and how they are determined (Sunset to sunrise).

6. Then God said “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” 2Pet. 3:5

firmament: (H759): âqı̂ya‛ BDB Definition: 1) extended surface (solid), expanse, firmament
1a) expanse (flat as base, support)
1b) firmament (of vault of heaven supporting waters above)

The firmament that is spoken of here is what we know as the sky. What is meant here by dividing the waters from the waters is that God is dividing the waters above the sky from the waters which are on the earth.

7. Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. Ps. 19:1
8. And God called the firmament heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.

On the second day God called the firmament/sky that we see with the naked eye. In verse one of Genesis we read that God created the Heavens and earth, and as I commented on in verse three; He had not defined the purpose of the Heavens or their place in His creation of them. Here God is defining and naming the sky (as we call it), but God defined and calls the sky Heaven, a part of the three Heavens the scriptures speak about throughout the bible Gen. 1:1, Exo. 9:23, 1 Sam. 2:10, 2 Cor. 12:2, I could go on but I believe this is enough. At this point in time there is no dry land. The earth was strictly a sphere of water. The dry land does not appear until the third day. As we see; the Evening and the morning were the second day, not the morning and the evening. In Gods timeline, the evening comes before the morning or day (If you will). this is why all of God’s Sabbath s begin at sunset the night before, and ends at sunset after the day.

9. Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and the dry land appear”; and it was so. Ps. 95:5
10. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good. Jer. 5:22
11. Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. vv. 29,30 12. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to it’s kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

When God gathered the waters from the earth and the dry land appeared He called the dry land earth, the earth was basically barren, nothing but the dust. There was no life in or on it. It wasn’t until God spoke that all things came into being. His Word made all things, there was nothing that was made that was not made by and thru God’s Word. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. We know His Word as our Lord and savior Jesus Christ (John 1: 1-18), I find it interesting that the herbs, and the trees that yields seed according to it’s kind are described by God as those whose seed is in itself, the same could be said of man. Throughout the old Testament God promises Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that thru their seed all nations of the earth will be blessed ( Gen. 22: 15-18, 26: 1-4, 28: 10-14). throughout the bible God uses fruits as a metaphor when describing Jesus Christ, and the people of the earth (His elect), as first fruits unto Him, those who bear the fruits of the Spirit of God (Gal. 5: 22-25), in the Old Testament the Nation of Israel were to make certain offerings of the first fruits of their Harvest to God Those offerings whose seed is in itself ( Exo. 23:16, 19, Rom. 16:5,). Jesus Christ being the first of the first fruits to God, and we of the body of Christ are the first-fruits to follow our Lord at our appointed time, to be His, betrothed to Him and Him alone. blessed are those who have been called to the marriage supper of the Lamb ( Rev. 19:9 ).

13. So the evening and the morning were the third day.

Thus on the third day life was created. Not of the flesh kind, but in the plant and tree kind, that yields seed according to their own kind.

14. Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; v.3
15. “and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on earth”; and it was so.
16. The God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. Ps. 8:3 Rev. 21:23
17. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on earth, Jer. 31:35; 33:25
18. and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. v.3-5
19. So the evening and the day were the fourth day.

The two lights described in vs. 14-18 are a description of the creation of the moon and the sun. Vs. 16 supports this hypothesis. The sun is to rule the day while the moon will rule the night. God says that we are to use these lights “as signs and seasons, and for days and years.” we are starting to see the creation of Gods calendar taking place. The way I see it we are now in the fourth day of the year 0001ac (after creation). There are various ways in which man uses this calendar. We use it to determine when to plant our crops, to know when winter, summer, fall or autumn are approaching. The signs and seasons spoken of here are for God’s Holy days. the Hebrew for “seasons” is mo ed, or mo adah, depending on the context in which the word is used. When we look up this strongs and or BDB definition (H4150) we see that it is defined as appointed times, assembly, and even a sacred season, set feast or appointed season. These sacred feast are the festivals of the Lord; the holy days He proclaimed to the Hebrews during their exodus from Egypt. You can find His proclamation in the Book of Leviticus chapter 23, and also in Deuteronomy chapter 16 (Lev. 23, Deut. 16: 1-17https://biblia.com/books/kjv1900/Dt16.1-17), On the fourth day God created the moon, sun and stars.

20. Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens. Ps. 8:8
21. So God created sea creatures, and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Lev. 11:9-19; Ps. 104:25-27
22. And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth. 8:17
23. So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

On the fifth day God created all living things that are in the sea and that fly over the earth. This is the first time in the bible where we see God giving a blessing. The Webster dictionary defines blessed this way:

BLESS’ED, pp. Made happy or prosperous; extolled; pronounced happy.

In my opinion I look at this joyous occasion this way: God is so overjoyed in what he had just created that He wanted to do it over and over, etc. etc. The way he decides to perform this over and over is to let his creations share in his happiness and perform this miraculous feat on their own. I am sitting here right now, and thinking what the angels must have thought when they see what God had just done. Talk about the WOW! Factor, There must have been singing and dancing and celebration in the heavens on that day. I told this to my Pastor, and he embellished on this in this way, “While the Angels were so amazed at what He had done that you can just Imagine God looking over to them and saying ‘you haven’t seen nothing yet, wait till you see what I do next”. 🙂

24. Then God said, “;Let the earth bring fourth the living creature according to it’s kind: Cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to it’s kind”; and it was so.

God is not satisfied with just the birds of the air or the fish of the sea So He keeps on going. This time He creates the Cattle, creeping things and beast of the field. Why does God list cattle as separate from the beast? I looked up the definitions of the two and found these definitions in the Webster dictionary:

first cattle: In its primary sense, the word includes camels, horses, asses, all the varieties of domesticated horned beasts or the bovine genus, sheep of all kinds and goats, and perhaps swine
Beasts are described in this manner: Any four footed animal, which may be used for labor, food or sport; distinguished from fowls, insects, fishes and man; as beasts of burden, beasts of the chase, beasts of the forest. It is usually applied to large animals.

I have therefore come to this conclusion that Cattle are for domestic purposes and beasts, with the exception of man are what we consider wild animals of the forest or jungle. According to the strong concordance definition of creeping:

creeping(H7431): is described this way: remeś: reh’-mes From H7430; a reptile or any other rapidly moving animal: – that creepeth, creeping (moving) thing.

In the Webster dictionary you see creeping defined this way:

CREEPING, ppr. Moving on the belly, or close to the surface of the earth or other body; moving slowly, secretly, or silently; moving insensibly; stealing along.

So put this together and you see that the creeping things are not only snakes and such but also include the insect world.

25. And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Lev. 11:2-8, 20-23, 29-43

Again I can only imagine what is was like for God and all the hosts of heaven to see, for the first time what He had just done. To see the Dolphins and the whales heaving themselves out of the deep blue and then crashing back into the waves, The Birds like the eagle soaring through the sky, and all the animals grazing in the grass with one another running through the field and playing with each other with no worry in the world. Remember, sin had not yet entered the world and the animal kingdom was in perfect harmony with one another. I don’t think words can describe the JOY! in God’s heart. We as mankind can look forward to the promise, that one day we to will be able to share in this Joy with Him, in His coming kingdom. (Isa 11:6-9). It brings tears of joy to me when I think of this coming kingdom of God. I look forward to it with great anticipation.

Rev 21:27 And there shall in no way enter into it anything that defiles, or any making an abomination or a lie; but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Rev 22:1 And he showed me a pure river of Water of Life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.

26. Then God said, “Let us make man in our own image, according to our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27. So God created man in his own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 5:1-3;9:6; Matt 19:4

God saves his best work for last: He recreated himself, But we also find that there is another with God like him. vs. 26 says let “US” make man in “OUR” own image. This is plural meaning there was another person with God during all His creation. We know him as our Lord Jesus Christ. (John 1:1-3, 14)

28. Then God blessed them, and God said,” Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 9:7; Ps. 8:6-8

So God was so happy with His creation that he blessed the man and woman, and told them to pro-create and keep on pro-creating (not to stop with just one child or two or three). As we see latter on in the book of Genesis, Adam and Eve had many children. Why did God want Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply? It’s very simple, God wanted children. Jesus is the first Son, being the only begotten of God: (John 1:14), He created Adam and Eve because He wanted a family. Shouldn’t this be the dream of every man and woman? When God created man in His own image He was ecstatic! Just like all parents are when they see their newborn for the first time. God created us, and as such He is our father, and we should honor and obey our Father in all things. Our father in heaven commands it:

Exo 20:12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

In today’s society, in the era of abortion, one can just imagine how sad this makes our father in heaven. We are breaking a few of his commandments by committing this horrible atrocity: first we are not honoring our father which is in heaven, secondly we are committing an act of murder, and we are saying to God “I know what’s best for me, Don’t tell me how to live my life, I reject your ways”.(emphasis added throughout). This God hates, For we are God’s children and should act accordingly, for our God is holy and He wants us to be holy also. Remember we were made in his image and we defile that image by performing abortions. (Deut 12: 29-31). The other thing that I get out of this verse is the fact that God puts man in charge of the earth and all things that are on the earth. We are to subdue and have dominion over all things. Man did not evolve into this superior being that put us above all things, as the evolutionist would like for us to believe. God gave us this superiority. Unfortunately, as we will see shortly, man did not keep his dominion over the earth for very long.

29. And God said, “See I have giving you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed, to you it shall be for food. vv. 10,12
30. “Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so.

God created every herb that yields seed and every fruit tree that yields fruit for man and beast, bird and creeping things that have life for food:

Food: (H402): אכלה: ‘ôklâh
BDB Definition:
1) food
1a) food, eating
1b) object of devouring, consuming
1b1) by wild beasts (figurative)
1b2) in fire
1b3) of judgment (figurative)

In my opinion the word food can also be interpreted to mean for consumption, not only for the purpose of avoiding starvation but also for medicinal purposes. Most medicines that we use today are derived from some sort of properties, that are in the plants found throughout the world. Not known by man back at creation. But it is well known now is that a strict vegetarian diet is good for the body and mind. It has been proven that vegetarians live a longer and healthier diet than that of non vegetarians. People like the Seventh day Adventist take to heart verse 29 and are strict vegetarians. They believe, and I must say that I tend to lean this way myself, That God did not intend for man to eat animals for meat. I have talked with a minister of the Seventh Day Adventist church, as well as an elder of my church. Both churches have Valid points,but After reading about the flood I have come to the conclusion. that it wasn’t until after the flood that God gives man permission to now start eating animals as well as plants and fruits for meat ( Gen. 9:3), even though this verse says that God gave Noah all living things for food, In my opinion Noah was aware of the difference between clean and unclean meats, so God felt that he didn’t need to explain to him that unclean meats were forbidden. Way after the time of Noah, during the exodus out of Egypt the Hebrews were given specific laws on what is considered clean and unclean meats (Lev 11: 1-47). Since God and Jesus Christ both (who are one), declare they are the same today, yesterday, and always, He cannot change (Malachi 3:6, Heb. 13:8), As we know I must also say that this subject has weighed heavy on me for some time. It was when I read the book of Revelation and the story of the flood that I started to come to the conclusion that God did not intend for us to eat animals in the beginning and we will not be eating meats in God’s Kingdom. This is just one man’s humble opinion.

Rev.22:1 And he showed me a pure river of Water of Life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
Rev 22:2 In the midst of its street, and of the river, from here and from there, was the Tree of Life, which bore twelve fruits, each yielding its fruit according to one month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

These are the verses in the book of Revelation that I first questioned God’s intention as far as what we will be eating in the kingdom but I never thought too deeply about this until now.

On the sixth day God created all the creeping things, the cattle, and the beast of the field. God also created man and woman in the image of God Himself. And He blessed all living things to be fruitful and multiply.

Genesis devotional quality

Devotional quality

I will look for guidance and understanding from my church that I attend regularly: which is the United Church Of God. This church was founded by Herbert W. Armstrong in the Late to early 1920’s and 30’s. I know God has a special place for him in Heaven.The Expositors Bible commentary is another source I use in helping me to understand the bible:

As explained in the Expositors Bible Commentary, published in 1887 – 1896: Made up of 29 scholars who were all preachers representing every important branch of protestantism. This commentary may thus be regarded as an interdenominational exposition demonstrating agreement on the profound realities and essentials of the christian faith. The inception of this work took place in a time when critical and historical scholarship had arrived at mature and reliable conclusion concerning the text and truth of the Bible. What had been considered as subversive of the Christian faith was now accepted without question. To be sure, there have been changes and modifications in the attitudes towards certain subjects, but the general consensus of Biblical scholarships have been therefore affected. None of the results have undermined the accepted view of the church that the Bible is the revelation of spiritual life, imparted “by divers portions and in divers manners,” and marked by energy, variety and adaptability. The Bible continues to occupy its place as finality of supreme Authority on Religion and Morals. This is the basis on which the Expositors Bible Commentary was written.

This commentary, along with the Adam Clarke’s commentary, and the Jamieson Fausset and browns commentary are other sources I use for help in understanding the Bible. There will be numerous articles and websites that I will also use to help me along the way, which I will acknowledge as would be rightfully so. And then there is a website called Chabad.org (which is a Jewish website) that I have found can be a very helpful tool in my studies. The Following transcript is from their website that describes their beginning and what they are all about:

The Philosophy

Chabad-Lubavitch is a philosophy, a movement, and an organization. It is considered to be the most dynamic force in Jewish life today.
Lubavitch appropriately means the “city of brotherly love” The word “Chabad” is a Hebrew acronym for the three intellectual faculties of chochmah—wisdom, binah—comprehension and da’at—knowledge. The movement’s system of Jewish religious philosophy, the deepest dimension of G‑d’s Torah, teaches understanding and recognition of the Creator, the role and purpose of creation, and the importance and unique mission of each creature. This philosophy guides a person to refine and govern his or her every act and feeling through wisdom, comprehension and knowledge.
The word “Lubavitch” is the name of the town in White Russia where the movement was based for more than a century. Appropriately, the word Lubavitch in Russian means the “city of brotherly love.” The name Lubavitch conveys the essence of the responsibility and love engendered by the Chabad philosophy toward every single Jew.

The Movement
Following its inception 250 years ago, the Chabad-Lubavitch movement—a branch of Hasidism—swept through Russia and spread in surrounding countries as well. It provided scholars with answers that eluded them, and simple farmers with a love that had been denied them. Eventually the philosophy of Chabad-Lubavitch and its adherents reached almost every corner of the world and affected almost every facet of Jewish life.

The Leadership
No person or detail was too small or insignificant for their love and dedication The movement is guided by the teachings of its seven leaders (“Rebbes”), beginning with Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi of righteous memory (1745–1812). These leaders expounded upon the most refined and delicate aspects of Jewish mysticism, creating a corpus of study thousands of books strong. They personified the age-old Biblical qualities of piety and leadership. And they concerned themselves not only with Chabad-Lubavitch, but with the totality of Jewish life, spiritual and physical. No person or detail was too small or insignificant for their love and dedication.
In our generation, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson of righteous memory (1902–1994), known simply as “the Rebbe,” guided post-holocaust Jewry to safety from the ravages of that devastation.

The Organization
The origins of today’s Chabad-Lubavitch organization can be traced to the early 1940s, when the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn of righteous memory (1880–1950), appointed his son-in-law and later successor, Rabbi Menachem Mendel, to head the newly founded educational and social service arms of the movement.
Today 4,000 full-time emissary families direct more than 3,300 institutions Motivated by his profound love for every Jew and spurred by his boundless optimism and self-sacrifice, the Rebbe set into motion a dazzling array of programs, services and institutions to serve every Jew.
Today 4,000 full-time emissary families apply 250-year-old principles and philosophy to direct more than 3,300 institutions (and a workforce that numbers in the tens of thousands) dedicated to the welfare of the Jewish people worldwide.

However I will ask for Guidance from the Supreme Authority, which is God himself and his spirit. Every day before I begin my studies I will go into a short prayer and ask for this guidance.

The Journey Begins

Well then, off I go to embark onto what I know will be a journey of epic proportions (I know this sounds cliché, but its fitting, I feel) I do not know what lies ahead in this journey, or for that matter if I will be able to finish my writings. This will all be according to Gods will if I am able to finish this task. One thing I do know for sure is that no matter the outcome, that all along this journey I will develop a relationship with my father the Creator. I know 100%, that every day I study in his word is another day that I get closer to my God, my “Abba Father” and also closer to the word, which is my Lord Jesus Christ. “For in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the Word was God. John 1:1
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John 1:14