Day 3. Genesis 7-9

Genesis 7-9

Genesis 7

²Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.

This has got to be another one of those parts added later, kind of like the Gen 2:24 a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife.

This verse makes very little sense. The list of clean and unclean animals isn't given until Leviticus 11. This website, says that the flood was on May 17, 2344 BC. This one says it was in 2348. This one also says 2348. (ah, the first one is off, because it has the world being created in 4000 BC instead of 4004 BC) The last place says Moses received the law on Mount Sinai in 1491. That would mean that Noah knew what clean and unclean animals were, 853 years BEFORE the law was established that said what the clean and unclean animals were.

Some people might contend that people already knew the difference between clean and unclean animals, so there's no reason why Noah shouldn't know it.

EXCEPT, remember, everyone was a vegetarian at this point. Even the animals were vegetarian. You wouldn't need to know what was unclean if you weren't going to eat it.

³Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.

So, in Genesis 6:19 and 20 we see that it's two of every kind, including fowls. Now, in Genesis 7:3, fowls fall under the 7 rule.

⁴For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.

After Noah finished the ark, god gave him seven days before the rain. You'll note, this was the first time that it rained. Remember, according to Genesis 2:6 a mist came up from the ground to water the plants.

So, Noah was building a huge ark, that was to hold two of every sort/kind. Apologists will tell you that means that he didn't really have to take two of every style of each animal. Two dogs will have the genetic information needed to create all the dog species. Two cats should carry enough genetic information for all the felines.

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

Noah was 600. According to Genesis 5:25-29, Methuselah was 187 when Lamech was born. Lamech was 182 when Noah was born. 187+182= 369. Methuselah was 369 when Noah was born. Noah was 600 when the flood started, Methuselah died at age 969. Some people believe that when Methuselah died, that's when god started the flood. The other option, is that Methuselah died in the flood. Lamech lived 777 years, so he died 5 years before the flood.

⁸Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,

⁹There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.

Didn't it just say that of clean beasts there were 7?

¹¹In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.

¹²And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

The Hebrew calendar starts in Nissan, with the second month of Iyyar. The 17th day of the month would come out being sometime in late April to mid May (currently 17 Iyyar is May 1, last year is was May 11). According to this site, April 19, 2348 BC was the date of the flood, if you enter Iyyar 17, 1413.

¹⁶And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.

The door of the ark was shut by god.

¹⁹And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.

²⁰Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.

So the water was 15 cubits high, which is half the height of the ark. The mountains must not have been very big at that point, if they were covered by only 15 cubits (remember a cubit is roughly half a yard; so that would only be 7 yards, 21 feet) of water. That's about a two story building.

Some skeptics claim that there isn't enough water to flood the world with 21 feet of water. The Laurentide Ice Sheet, was a sheet of ice that covered most of Canada and a lot of the northern US. It was up to two miles thick. That's a lot of water.

²³And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.

²⁴And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.

The flood was only on the earth for 150 days. That'd make it October 6, 1414.

Genesis 8

¹And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged;

God had apparently forgotten Noah. Even though Noah and the animals were the only thing left, god forgot them for a while.

⁴And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.

The 17th of Tishrei comes out to October 13.

⁵And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.

The 15 cubits of water was lower than the mountains at this point.

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

⁷And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.

⁸Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;

A raven is a member of Corvum; Corvidae; Passeriformes; Aves; Chordata; Animalia.

A dove is Columbidae; Columbiformes; Aves; Chordata; Animalia.

⁹But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.

The dove came back, the raven didn't.

Noah sent the dove out again, seven days later.

¹¹And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.

It took seven days for olive trees to grow leaves back.

Noah sent it out again, 7 days later, and it didn't come back.

¹⁴And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.

I'm not going to try to calculate this date.

God told Noah to leave the ark, and take the animals with him.

²⁰And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

This is the first example of a burnt offering. Up to this point, God was walking around with people. Now, he isn't. Cain and Abel brought their offerings directly to god. Now, Noah had to make an altar, and burn them. This is the first use of the word altar.

²¹And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.

²²While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

This sounds like god made a promise not to kill everything, again. However, he didn't kill everything to begin with. There is a divine sub-clause to this contract. God promises to never AGAIN smite everything. Well, he didn't smite everything to begin with. There's a built in lie.

Genesis 9

²And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.

And now, people are to be afraid of animals. Animals are to be afraid of people. The flood created the food chain.

³Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.

After the flood, people became omnivores. Prior to it, everything was an herbivore, after the flood, everything changed.

⁴But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.

This is the first listed of the Noahide laws, also known as the seven laws of Noah. They are:

1. Prohibition of Idolatry.
2. Prohibition of Murder.
3. Prohibition of Theft.
4. Prohibition of Sexual Promiscuity.
5. Prohibition of Blasphemy.
6. Dietary Law (Gen 9:4)
7. Requirement to have Laws.

⁶Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

That's #2 on the list.

¹¹And I will establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.

Covenant is used 280 times in the bible. As you keep reading, you'll see how valuable those covenants are.

¹³I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

The rainbow is proof that god won't kill everything by a flood again.

¹⁸And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan.

That is important.

²⁰And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:

²¹And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.

Noah was just and perfect. He was also a drunk. A just and perfect drunk.

²²And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.

In Leviticus we'll see the word nakedness used a lot. Uncovering nakedness is one of the things that's prohibited... a lot. Uncovering the nakedness normally means the same as KNEW. Uncovering the Nakedness, means to have sex with.

²³And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.

Shem and Japheth covered their father.

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

If Ham just saw his drunk father laying naked, that's one thing. But "had done unto him" seems like a very ACTIVE thing. Ham raped his drunken father.

²⁵And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.

Remember, Ham was the darkest son. Canaan, can mean many things, "to be subdued", "low", "to be humbled". Why did Noah curse Canaan instead of Ham?

Genesis 9:25 is one of the main verses that has been used throughout history as a biblical basis for the approval of slavery. Specifically, a biblical basis for the enslavement of black people.

²⁹And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.

Here's some discussion points for today.

1. How did people live so long? Why don't people live that long now?
2. Did Ham rape Noah?
3. If you believe/value the bible, why don't you still support slavery? If you hold the bible to be the 100% inerrant word of god, then Genesis 9:25 says that Canaan (black people) are to be slaves.
4. Where did the clean/unclean concept come from?