Genesis 10 & 11

Genesis chapter 10 and chapter 11

We start out with learning some of the descendants of Noah's Children. We have their names, where they lived and in some cases, what the people were known for. Nimrod was a mighty hunter and the cities of Babel, Nineveh, Asshur, and Cush are all built. We here about many of these cities in our history books, and no doubt, these are the earliest cities on earth since they were created after the flood.

At the end of the chapter, we noticed that the people were united with one tongue. We know that if you are going to accomplish anything great you need unity. The Church needs unity with each other and the Holy Ghost, and the world needs unity to accomplish endeavors as well. This all ends soon because of mans sins.

Man is never satisfied with what God gives him. There was the Garden, then man's dominion over earth, and not after a fresh start man needs to create a tower to Heaven. While on this earth, the best way to get close to God is through prayer and obedience.

While the tower is under construction God causes the people to have different languages which causes great chaos and stops the construction of the tower. Man is scattered across the earth because man can no longer be in unity. Out of this disorder comes the line of Shem that goes on to bring us Abram. Here, early on in the Bible we have the 'father of faith', and the start of his journey in obedience.

Genesis 9

Genesis chapter 9

The chapter starts off with the commandment for Noah and his sons to be fruitful and multiply. If these remnants of mankind did not want to reproduce, then man was certainly doomed. With this also came some changes with eating. In my humble interpretation it appears that they are given a command to eat animals for the first time. With this though, they are not to eat things raw, and they are to hold life precious and not waste what God has blessed them with.

They are instructed to hold human life precious as well. In what some might consider contradictory, God tells Noah that anyone that takes human life, they themselves will have their life taken. I don't find this contradictory at all. If there is someone who has no regard for human life enough to take another life, than to have that person around is a danger to all living individuals. Almost as if treating a malignant cancer, all those that would take innocent life must themselves be die for the good of the living.

By the eleventh verse we come to the important covenant with mankind. God uses the rainbow to let man know that he will never again destroy this world with water. This covenant seems all the more real and true because the Bible says it had never rained before the flood, which also means they have never seen a rainbow before. This covenant is a forerunner to the covenant of eternal life through Christ Jesus. There is no life, no deliverance, no safety without the hand of God.

Sin never seems to be far behind even for those that serve and love the Lord. This goes to show that we are to be serious and sober in our days because we don't know when temptation or sin is there to stop us. Noah plants a vineyard and enjoys the fruits of it a little too much. It appears that Ham mocks and ridicules the naked state of Noah. Noah was a good man who got drunk. Ham on the other hand appears to possess some contrary ways about him. We can speculate if more happened, but I think it does a disservice to the message being conveyed. Ham's heart was not right and his brothers took pity on their father and covered up his discretion. Is this not the example we should also have when fellow saints sin? We should do much to remedy the situation and not advertise it abroad and make it worse.

We find out that Ham is going to be cursed by the words of Noah's prophecy. That his descendants will be servants to his brothers. So many times we think our sin is a victim-less crime, but later we see that many others are usually involved in our mistakes. We need the guidance of the Holy Ghost to help us along our Christian walks. 

Genesis 5

Genesis chapter 5

In this chapter of Genesis we have all the generations of Adam to Noah. There are some noteworthy names in this chapter, but I want to cover the ages involved in this book. At the beginning of time, when sin had not done the damage to man and all living creation like it has done now, it is logical and easy ( for me anyway) to understand how men and women could live so long. We see now thanks to better diets and medical developments that the age of people does steadily creep upward. I realize that is a long way from hundreds of years old, but then again, sin has had thousands of years to shorten men's lives. To believe such things may be a matter of faith for you; it is for me.

It says in the forth chapter that starting with Enos people started to call upon the name of the Lord. For years and what must have been many of Adam and Eve's offspring, there was continued sin. Now, with this line of people, they decide to serve the Lord. This is not different than any other time in the bible or any other time in human history, it is the minority that serve God.

Enoch does something that only one other person in the bible does, and that is walk with God in such a way as to have God take him. We find out more about Enoch in the new testament, that he was faithful and a preacher. Then his son Methuselah is the longest living soul on earth. Methuselah wasn't taken by God, but he lived a long life that must have been a blessing for his service to the Lord.

After just a generation, we come to Noah and his sons. Notice also that is doesn't take long for the years a man lives to shorten quickly, and after Noah it becomes quicker still. Noah has a special name, evidently his father new that something had to change and he prophesied of some to come by naming his child Noah.

Just as thousands of years ago, it is also the same today that God blesses and smiles upon those that serve and love him. This will never change.