Bible Study: Genesis Chapters 8-11
Last night’s readings were around the flood waters receding, the covenant of the rainbow, more the descendant of Noah, and the multiple languages on Earth.
1. Gen 8:1. Yeah…I think God – and no disrespect meant here at all – forgot about Noah for a bit. The way our Bible reads, “But then God remembered…” – as if one day He, after a bit of R&R, takes a peak down to earth and is all, Dude! Noah! I totally forgot but now I remember you! Are we cool?
2. Gen 8:4&6. Here’s that number seven again – in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day. That number, along with 40, is clearly important. A few of the sites we read up on said that the number 40 was often the period for testing or judgements…such as 40 days of fasting.
3. Gen 8:7-12. I imagine if Poe were a Christian, he would have modified The Raven to be something like:
Once upon a midnight dreary,
While Noah pondered weak and weary
Over many a days of floating at sea
While he nodded, nearly napping
Suddenly there came a tapping
Twas his raven gently rapping
Rapping at his chamber door
“Did you see land? A tree?”
Quote the raven, NEVERMORE
Ok, seriously, we were just happy to read about the dove and olive branch as this was the part of the story we were missing the other night.
4. Gen 8:20. Interesting to me that Noah sacrificed of every clean animal & bird. This must have left an odd number left to breed, and – while thankful for the land – doesn’t seem to be the smartest decision from a biodiversity perspective. I’m just saying.
5. Gen 8:21. This really struck a chord with us, and we spent some time talking about it. It had been both of our perspectives that God was never wrong – yet, he clearly states that he did something (flooded the earth and killed mankind) that he won’t ever do again. We came to the realization that he must not have regretted it, as it doesn’t say anything about regrets…just that he won’t do it again.
6. Gen 9:3-4. Back to the vegetarian discussion from the other night. Looks like it’s ok to eat anything except red meat. Yeah! I also really appreciated the rainbow covenant. Yes – I know that rainbows are a product of light and water – but they are also a display of this covenant. I love how there can be multiple truths to something.
7. Gen 9:20-29. We read the story twice (the one about Noah drinking too much wine, falling asleep in the nude, and Canaan calling it out to his brothers), and couldn’t agree on what the point of the story was. On its surface, it appeared to be one of parental respect. We thought there must be a deeper meaning, though. Something that gave us pause was that the level of nudity has so SO changed in terms of what’s “OK”. For example, Noah’s sons walked into his tent BACKWARDS in order to cover him up so they wouldn’t see their own father naked. Today, Victoria’s Secret lingerie displays are televised, products that were once personal are advertised during regular TV hours, etc. Nothing feels sacred anymore. Sad.
8. Gen 10:1-32. A bit of a struggle reading this long section on descendants of Noah. I am curious, though where the Messiah will first appear (in terms of bloodlines).
9. Gen 11:1-9. We loved how the word babel…as in, our son babels to himself all day long, came from this story! Language is an amazing thing, and having a word today that we regularly use – having its meaning originate right here – that’s pretty awesome. It will be easy to remember the name of the town (Babel) where the tall ziggurat (sp?) was built.
10. Gen 11:10-32. More descendants…or rather, sons of descendants. Where are the daughters?? Loved that we arrived at Lot, though. Know what story comes up next 🙂
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