Roaring River

Genesis: Chapter 19

The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

 

 

Be careful the choices we make. Abram gave his nephew first choice of where to take his family and flocks. Lot chose the land south of Canaan called the Great Plains because there was plentiful grazing land there for his animals. But this land included five cities, most notably Sodom and Gomorraha. He went to this region despite knowing that the people living there were living loosely – to say the least. God was not at all pleased with these people. And as the old saying goes, “if you touch dirt, you will get dirty.” So Lot, as we learned in Chapter 13 did not fare well for his choice.

God sent two angels into Sodom. Lot, who was living there, met with the angels and invited them to eat and stay in his home. Then all the men of Sodom surrounded Lot’s home and demanded he bring out the “two men” staying at his home so they could have sex with them. This crowd did not know what they were playing with (sadly many of us would miss angels in our midst, as well).

The crowd was about to break into Lot’s house to get the two visitors. The angels then blinded the Sodomite men. The angels warned Lot to get his family out of the city because they were about to destroy everyone. Lot’s family went to Zoar, a small town the angels protected.

 

But Lot’s wife looked back at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorraha and for her disobedience she was turned into a statue of salt. pLot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in a cave in the mountains.

After a time, with no other man around, the daughters plotted to get their father Lot drunk and they both became pregnant. A son, Moab, became the leader of the Moabites. Another son by the youngest daughter was Ben-Ammi, the father of the Ammonites.

While some find this story to have no evidence, the historical accounting of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is conveyed in Jewish, Christian and Islamic scriptures and is also recorded by Flavius Josephus, a Roman historian: "And the angels came to the city of the Sodomites...when the Sodomites beheld the young men, who were outstanding in beauty of appearance and who had been received into Lot’s house, they set about to do violence and outrage to their youthful beauty....Therefore, God, indignant at their bold acts, struck them with blindness, so that they were unable to find the entrance into the house, and condemned the Sodomites to destruction of the whole population."

Commentary by Norman Geisler, PhD, Archeologist:

There have been thoustands -- not hundreds -- of archeological finds in the Middle East that support the picture presented in the Old Testament including King David, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah once thought to be a myth was uncovered that all five of the cities named in Geneesis were, in fact, situated juust the way it was told in the Old Testament. There is permanaent evidence of one great conflageration that happened there.

Furthermore, aspects of the Jewish captitivity have been confirmed. Every Old Testament reference to an Assyrianian king has been confirmed. An excavation in the 1960s indicated that the Isaraelites could have entered Jerusalem through a tunnel during David's reign. Solomon's Temple has been located.

The Bible makes many references to Hittites but critics claim there is no evidence they ever existed. Digs in modern Turkey have discovered records of the Hittites.

Genesis: Chapter 18

Is Anything Too Hard for The Lord?

 

 

 

Abraham was resting in the heat of the day under a tree when three men approached. He did not realize they were angels. But even so, his nature was to be hospitable so he quickly asked Sarah and a servant to prepare a meal for these men. The men asked where his wife was and Abraham said she was inside the tent. Then the Lord proclaimed that “I will return in one year and Sarah will have a son.” Sarah overheard this and laughed at the thought of having a child at her old age.

At her challenge, God said, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”

There were no good people left in Sodom and Gomorrah

 

God then indicated to Abraham that the sins of Sodom were so great that He was going to destroy everyone living there. Abraham, in a series of challenges to God, bargained for the lives of the good people who happened to live in Sodom. First, if there are 50 good people? To which God said if Abraham could find 50 good people he would spare the whole place. Then 45, then 40, then 30, 20 and finally 10. Each time, God agreed to spare Sodom if He could find good people living there. He could not.

 

When Abraham asked God whether he was going to let the good people perish with the bad people, the answer was "will not the Judge of all the earth do it right"?

 

This means we can have absolute confidence that whatever God does, He will do what is right, because He is righteous, merciful, gracious and forgiving.

Genesis: Chapter 17

The Circumcision of Abraham

After 15 years of silence, God returns to Abram, then 99 years old. God appeared saying He would confirm His covenant. Abram fell facedown and God declared tha Abram was now Abraham and that his descendents would be kings of many nations and  that the wole land of Canaan would be his.

All males are to be circumcised. He further declared that Saria's name would now be Sarah and tha tshe would give Abraham a son. To Abraham, this seemed impossible since they were both too old to have children.

But God said she would give him a son Isaac.

So Abraham had himself circumcised and all males in his household or brought to his household were circumcised.

Genesis: Chapter 16

The Birth of Ishmael

 

How could God's plan go wrong so quickly? 

No sooner than God had made his promise to Abram than Sarai misunderstood it completely. She must have assumed this heir would not be hers since she was quite old. So she asked Abram instead to have a child with her handmaid (an Egyptian slave most likely given to them when they departed Egypt). From this union was born to Hagar a son named Ishmael.

As we might expect in a multiple marriage arrangement, jealousy flared its ugly head. Sarai claimed that Abram was paying more attention to Hagar than to her. Hagar fled, but an angel asked her to return and that her descendents would also be numerous. Hagar obediently returned.

What became of Ishmael's nation as fortold by the angel?

From my brief readings, Ishmael generally lived east of Abram. He and his children were nomadic bedouins. There was a tribal hatred of Isaac. There are some who claim that these descendents became the root of Arabs and Muslims, but this does not seem to be well founded. Correct me if I am wrong. Another reference I encountered by Robert Morey states that modern Palestinian claims to the land of Israel exist because they are descendents of Ishmael and had the same rights to God's covenant as did Isaac. There are numerous facts that discount this claim. But I found no convincing support that Ismael gave birth to the Muslim nation.

Photo by Maulleigh

Genesis: Chapter 15

The Covenant with Abram

 

In a dream, Abram heard the Lord say not to be afraid of retribution from those he just defeated for He is his shield and great is his reward. God realized that Abram had refused gifts from the King of Sodom and for his faith, he would receive even greater reward.

God makes this same promise to each of us today when we come to him with the same kind of trusting faith that Abram continuously lived out in honor of God.

But the promise of children and a legacy as large in number as dust particles on earth ... that promise even challenged Abram. He and his wife were old and beyond child bearing days. So Abram assumed God meant that this legacy would spring from Eliezer, his slave. What good is all his wealth and rewards if he has no son of his own ... Eliezer would be his inheritance. What good is success without a successor?

God corrected Abram, "Nope, Abram, you got that all wrong ... in fact your heir will still come from Saria. Count the stars and your descendents will be the same."

It is incredible when God steps into our lives to provide us with blessings. Think of what Mary must have thought when she was told she would give birth to Jesus! If God can create the universe with his word, who can doubt what he can do in our lives.

Abram was asked to bring an offering and when he did this, he fell into a deep sleep. God spoke to him in this dream and declared a covenant that while his children would be enslaved and mistreated for 400 years, in the fourth generation his heir would return and own the land from the Nile to the Euphrates.

In John 8::56, Jesus said: "“Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day; and he saw it, and was glad.” Jesus knew who followed behind Abram. God’s way of saving people has not changed from Old Testament days to now. God saved people by His grace, through their faith. While Abram was saved by faith in the One Who would come, we are saved by faith in this One Who has come. But faith is the cornerstone.

Photo above by Setimodia ... see more Biblical illustrations by Setimodia

Genesis: Chapter 14

Abram Saves Lot in a Great Battle

Several kings joined forces to defeat the King of Sodom. The Sodomites fled, many dying. The victors took Lot and his people and possessions with them. When Abram discovered that his nephew was captured, he faithfully assembled 318 of his own servants -- apparently Abram by now had enough wealth to retain a well-trained army. They counter-attacked and brought Lot safely out of captivity. But then Lot moved right back to the land near Sodom ... his downfall sealed.

Abram and Melchizedek

Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said: “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” And he gave him a tithe of all. He is the king of Salem, and Salem is the original Jerusalem, and Melchizedek is the priest of God Most High. He is a worshipper and priest of the true God, ruling over Jerusalem even in those ancient times.

Melchizedek is a God fearing righteous king and a prototype of Jesus. Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of the spoils from the great battle as a tribute of gratitude to God. The King of Sodom also offered riches to Abram, but Abram refused to accept anything from the evil Sodomite because he did not want to ow any allegiance to Sodom, but instead kept his faith with the Lord God.

In Hebrews 7:3, Paul says that Melchizedek was without father or mother, i.e. He had no parents. Paul's statement should be taken literally because he was, in fact, emphasizing the deity of Melchizedek. Melchizedek, who had been the King of Righteousness, became the Son of God and the fulfillment of the promise of Genesis 49:10.

Genesis: Chapter 13

Abram and Lot Separate

 

Both Abram and Lot had large herds that each needed larger grazing fields. This caused quarreling between Abram's and Lot's shepherds. So Abram decided they each should go separate ways so that they would not end up fighting. Their lives were shared to this point, now they go in contrasting directions.

Abram gave Lot his choice of land to live in -- even though Abram was the senior of the two.

Lot chose the lush land of Jordan, even though it was close to Sodom where the people were very evil and were already under watch by God for their incredible disobedience. This decision would lead to dishonor as he eventually walks amongst the world of self-centeredness. The decline for Lot is slow. Small choices, each a little more wrong than the last. The same path we take when we we serve ourselves instead of God.

Abram went the opposite direction -- to Canaan. The Lord came to Abram and said "as far as you can see, all this land will be yours and I will make your offspring numerous than the particles of dust on earth." Considering Abram's age, this is an amazing promise and Abram accepts it in faith.

Genesis: Chapter 12

The Lord Calls Abram

 

God asked Abram to leave Haran and promised to guide him to a new land and that He would help Abram build a great nation and that Abram will be a great blessing. Abram took Sarai, his nephew Lot, all their people and possessions. They traveled to Canaan which was inhabited by the Canaanites. Abram built an alter for God and God appeared to him. They went on to several places and at each Abram built an alter to God.

A famine struck so Abram took his people to Egypt. Because Sarai was so beautiful, Abram feared that if the Egyptians knew she was his wife that they would kill him. So he asked his wife to act as if she was his sister so they would treat hime well because of her.

When they entered Egypt, the Pharaoh heard of Sarai's beauty and she was taken to the palace. They treated Abram well for he was her "brother" and he accumulated great wealth. But the Lord did not like that the Pharaoh had taken Sarai as his own and inflicted disease on Pharaoh and his household. Pharaoh was angry at the deception and made Abram, Sarai and their people and possessions leave Egypt.

Genesis: Chapter 11

he Tower of Babel

 

The Babylonians built a brick tower to reach the heavens to make their people famous and to prevent their people from scattering over the face of the earth.

This tower replaced God as the focus of these people who built without seeking God's blessing.

God came down to see the tower and realized that if they could do such a work without being an offering to Him, then there was no limit to what they could do -- without Him. So He confused their languages and none of them could understand one another. They stopped building the city. It is now called Babel because the Lord created multiple languages and the people scattered across the whole earth.

Archaeologists have long desired to locate the Tower of Babel. They have been unfruitful in their efforts. There may be Scriptural evidence for why the ruins have not been found. The land of Shinar is shown in Zechariah 5:11 as a site for the city of Babylon. The ancient city of Babylon was located some 80 kilometers south of modern-day Baghdad, Iraq. The Bible contains 257 references to Babylon and confirms that Babel and Babylon were both located in Shinar. But it exists no longer ... utterly destroyed by God.

There is a parallel between Genesis 11:1-9 and the Book of Acts when Jesus’ promise to send the Holy Spirit. At this Pentecost event, the Apostles were all in one place when suddenly the sound of a fierce blowing wind filled the house and those present began to speak in other languages. When the resurrected Christ sent the Holy Spirit to the disciples it confirmed that the "stairway to heaven" sought by the ancients was accomplished by the power and grace of God. Not only were their spirits united, but the language barrier was broken. The disunity initiated by the scattering at the tower of Babel was reversed but this time God gets the glory. Historically, this is where God gave birth to nations.

There were ten recorded generations between Shem and Abraham. Abram married Sarai and she was barren and had no children. They settled in Haran.

Photos from Flickr by Wonders

Genesis: Chapter 10

Noah's Descendents Spread New Cultures

The sons of Japheth, Ham and Sham spread out into their own territories and each developed its own language. Japheth's descendents spread across Eurasia from the Black Sea to Spain. Ham's descendents went to Africa along the Mediterranean Sea and south. Ham's grandson Nimrod was a great warrior and he build Babylon and other cities in Asyria. Shem's descendents spread north of the Persian Gulf.

Genesis: Chapter 9

God Was Pleased with Noah

 

God blessed Noah and his sons and heir wives. Be fruitful and fill the earth. Everything on earth is food for sustanance, but not to eat meat that still has lifeblood in it.

He declared that murder was wrong. No one should kill the image of God. If anyone commits murder, that person should receive the penalty of death.

The Rainbow

The rainbow became the sign of God's covenant that never again would he flood so as to kill all living things.

Noah planted a vineyard and drank the wine and became drunk. He fell asleep naked. Noah's three sons were Ham, Shem and Japheth. Ham looked upon his naked father and told his brothers. Shem and Japhet took a garmet and backed into Noah's tent so they would not see their father's nakedness. Once awake, Noah was angry with Ham. He punished Ham by cursing Ham's son Caanan. The descendents of Shem and Japhet flourished, but the Caananites were destroyed.

Photo by Mick Walters

Genesis: Chapter 8

The Water Recedes

 

At long last, the land was again dry. Noah released all the animals. He built an alter and made a burnt offering that pleased God. God then said He never again would destroy all living creatures -- even though He knw man's inclination was self-centered and often evil.

The flood's damage and toll of death to so much of what God had created must have saddened him deeply. He just wants a positive relationship with his creation. He asks to be worshipped for who He is and for this love, mercy, compassion and forgiveness. His next plan -- sending his Son to earth -- would prove to make the biggest change in human history and lead billions of us to see God for who He is and to encourage us to love Him and to love one another. 

Genesis: Chapter 7

The Great Flood 

 

When the ark was loaded, the skys opened up with rain and water poured from caverns and underwater rivers. The flood covered the earth in 40 days (meaning a long time). The mountains were covered with water. Every living thing on earth died. The flood lasted 150 days -- nearly half a year.

My previous post described a hill of animal bones at Agate Springs. In my research, I found nearly 300 references to the flood, from all over the earth. This was a big flood.

In the year 2000, a scientific team led by Frederik Hiebert, University of Pennsylvania, found evidence deep in the Black Sea of human habitation. CNN noted that many ancient Middle Eastern cultures have legends of a great flood.

Dr. John Morris, geologist, notes that 70% of the earth's surface is covered by sedimentary rock formed when fluid settles. Within this sedimentary rock are fossils of trees buried at all angles, indicative of a marine cataclysm. Also fossilized oysters and fish are found on mountain tops all over the world.

This was a really big flood, and it left its mark on the earth.

Genesis: Chapter 6

The History of Noah and the Flood

 

With people living such long lives, the population grew rapidly. With this came sinful behavior. God gave them a 120-year warning before the flood. He's probably giving us warnings today. Are we listening any better?

Finally, God instructed Noah to build the ark. "Everything that is on earth will be destroyed by a great flood." Again, are we listening?

Noah is to gather two of every kind of animal. Noah did as he was instructed.

Was there really a flood? There are skeptics and others who find geologic evidence that is convincing -- at least to me. Non-believers are a tougher crowd, but such as discovered in 1876 at Agate Springs in northwestern Nebraska at least seems to support the possiblility of a great flood. Here there is a 10-acre hill with an outcropping carved away and exposing a huge bone bed containing the bones of rhinoceroses, camels, giant wild boars, and other animals, buried together in a confused mass as only water would deposit them. The important thing is that this massive deposit of many kinds of animals was likely made by a huge amount of water, sweeping every kind of animal into a heap.

Was this Noah's Flood? Maybe, but if not there is a lot of evidence of other floods. And on top of one of these floods floated a huge ark.

Genesis: Chapter 5

Adam to Noah

   

This chapter is mostly another genealogy, from Adam to Noah. I leave these things to those more scholarly than me. Usually, these listings catch the high points of the generations, but are not complete.

The highlights: Adam lived 930 years and his son Seth lived 912. You can have a lot of kids in nine hundred years. Methusula lasted 969 years. They must have had a better health system than we have today.

Butit seems that an awful lot of them turned out bad -- at lease in God's eyes. Otherwise he would not have caused Noah to build the Ark. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.

Photo: iStock.com

Genesis: Chapter 4

The Beginnings of Civilization

Eve "creates" a man -- her first son Cain; followed by others, most notably Abel. The next mentioned was Seth but there apparently were others, including daughters who were not listed in the first geneology.

Cain

cultivated the crops while Abel cared for the animals. The two sons brought offerings to God who was pleased a bit more by Abel who gave God the best portion while Cain did not.

God reprimanded Cain, I think \, to teach him the value of giving away the best offering rather  than being self-centered. But Cain instead became angryand jealous of Abel's favor with God. Cain led Abel into the fields where he murdered Abel.

God knew of Cain's sin and gave him the opportunity to confess. But Cain witholds the truth and asks God a rhetorical question: "Am I my brother's keeper." God punishes Cain by sending him away without God's presence. This separation is painful to Cain who now realizes his greatest sin was not believing God's earlier teaching: "If you do what is right, you will be accepted." Cain is then banished, but in an act of grace and mercy, God declares that no one els is to harm Cain.

Cain apparently took one of Adam and Eve's daughters with him to Nod. They became husband and wife and had a son called Enoch.

Adam and Eve had another son whom they named Enosh.

Photo by Gordon Plumb

Genesis: Chapter 3

The Temptation

 

God had placed Adam in the Garden of Eden and then created woman as Adam's companion. God commanded not to eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge (moral judgment). To do so they would in essence be placing themselves as equal to God.

The serpent used doubt to confuse and help Eve to self-justify eating from the Tree of Moral Judgment. She weakened and allowed the serpent (Devil) to satisfy her own desire.

They ate and could see that they were naked. First they tried to hide from God for fear He would discover their disobedience in the same way that we try to hide our sins from Him.

God called out: "Where are you?"

Adam immediately tried to blame Eve for his sine in the same way that we try to blame others when we are wrong.

Everything hangs on obedience to God.

God reacted with fury and cursed the serpent and punished Adam and Eve with a life of toil and pain and death. Then God showed his love by making clothes for them to hide their nakedness ... but still banished them from the Garden. (Men and women are so different!)

Photo credit: See http://www.flickr.com/photos/brunocake/  

Genesis: Chapter 2

There is a seeming departure of the Genesis description of Earth's creation from that described in science books. But this departure requires a micro-description rather than the macro-description intended by Moses. It is a dispute looking for an argument. It has been a long time since I studied evolution in college, but even then it seemed to have some problems for me; not from a theological point of view but from a scientific one. Too many things don't add up the way some scientists want them to add.

I am not an expert, but I still read a lot of science just cause I enjoy it. And I can see where the earth and life went through some evolving. But I see all this as God's work. It is His design and he can create things just about any way He wants to. My faith in Him comes largely because of science.

Much of this departure comes because of the word "day."

My first observation is that if this were literall true, it is still possible for God to create Earth in His own way just as He creted the Universe with a Big Bang. If he could do one that has a lot of scientific evidence, then who is to say He could not create the earth exactly as described in Genesis?

However, I see in this creation account more of a literary story than a scientific one. This comes in part from the fact that throughout the Old Testament, the word "day" is used often to mean "a long period of time" rather than a solar day. This would indicate that while the Universe was created in an instantaneous Big Bang, the Earth was created over a series of events that each took a long, long time -- maybe billions of years.

In Genesis, "day" is a translation of the Hebrew word "yom" which is used 1265 times, mostly to mean "time" and sometimes to mean a 24-hour day. When used without a definite article preceding the word yom it is more a figurative form of speech. If this is what Moses meant, then yom could mean seven very long periods of time. From this point of view, the Bible allows for the geologic ages that science has documented.

 

The creation of the Earth was a monumental, time-consuming creative process. it was only important for Moses to establish that, like the Universe, Earth was also an intelligently designed act of creation. Nature is not to be worshipped, but instead it is the Creator who is worthy of our praises, our awe and our worship.

Both the Bible and geology point to a progressive creation. Both tell us that at one time, the Earth was "formless and empty." Then came the formation of a vast primitive ocean, followed by the appearance of land. Both indicate that the earth was in darkness because the Sun's light was unable to penetrate the dense, opaque cloud of debris and water vapor that enveloped the planet. Both agree that the earliest forms of life appeared in the oceans. Both agree that plants grew on land before animals and that birds and reptiles came before mammals. Each form of life appeared abruptly.

Some Biblical scholars as James Usher used the genealogies cited in Genesis to conclude that the Earth was relateively young ... just 4,036 years from creation to Christ.

This method concludes the listings were complete with no gaps. Such "young universe" conclusions would be in needless conflict with observable scientific fact that the earth was created 10-20 billion years ago (a billion here and a billion there and pretty soon we are talking about a lot of time).

While this is a long time, it just puts fact behind how long some of the seven "days" or "ages" were. Even this time frame is not long enough for random selection to create the purposeful complexity of geology and biology. God's wisdom and care are evident all around us.