Bible in a Year… Day 15 (Genesis 8-11)

It’s Sunday, the start of week 3, so we’re back in Genesis today (chapters 8-11).

Today’s notes:

Genesis 9:1-3 (NIV)
¹Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. ²The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands. ³Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

I find these three verses interesting because of what is implied by a straightforward reading. Verse 2 implies that animals had no fear of man prior to this point. Verse 3 implies that men were originally vegetarians.

Anyone else ever noticed this?

Genesis 9:8-17 (NIV)
⁸Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: ⁹“I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you ¹⁰and with every living creature that was with you — the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you — every living creature on earth. ¹¹I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

¹²And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: ¹³I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, ¹⁵ I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. ¹⁶Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

¹⁷So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”

Agreements between men are generally signed and sealed in some manner. Signatures are almost always required, and it’s not uncommon to notarize things or even to apply corporate seals.

As if God’s word itself were not enough, God effectively “signs and seals” his agreement with us by providing a natural sign for all mankind to see… the natural splendor we call a rainbow.

Genesis 11:1-9 (NIV)
¹Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. ²As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.

³They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. ⁴Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

⁵But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. ⁶The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. ⁷Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

⁸So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. ⁹That is why it was called Babel — because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

I’ve often wondered why God decided it necessary to thwart the plans of man to build the tower of Babel. God is, well… God. Any plans man could make are no threat to Him.

However, thinking further about these plans, I find it’s the intent behind building the city and tower that must have offended God moreso than the structures men chose to build. A couple points that could be made of their intent:

• The city and tower appear to be built to establish their own renown. Men wanted to be known for their own accomplishments, rather than magnifying God’s splendor and glory. God would obviously be displeased by this.
• Walled cities and towers existed for the defense of the people. If men were living at peace with one another, as God intends, this city and tower would be totally unnecessary. I can see why He would choose to prevent these plans from being implemented because of the heart that must be manifest in these people to conceive plans more applicable to an existence filled with conflict than peace.
• God had commanded the people to be fruitful and multiply… to repopulate the earth following the flood. Yet these people intended to band together and establish themselves as a city or nation in a particular locale. In effect, they were telling God, “no, we won’t do what you want us to do… we will not disperse.” God had to force them to do so.

Difficulties communicating across cultures and languages are still prevalent today… a direct result of Babel. It’s important that we understand what God wanted to communicate to us by imposing this upon us.

Any other thoughts?