Genesis 8

Genesis 8-9 : After The Flood. Law and Order.

After receiving the command to ‘ go forth’ from the ark, Noah and his family and all the creatures come out to begin the work of replenishing the earth.

Genesis 8: 20-21.We are told the first thing Noah did was to build an altar to the Lord and take some of the clean animals and clean birds and sacrifice them on the altar. The smoke coming up from the burnt offering is a sweet smelling aroma to God.

As we come to the close of chapter 8 and the story of the flood and the ark, God shares His thoughts with us thru the written word:

Genesis 8:21b-22 …“never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. I will never destroy all living creatures as I have done. As long as earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”

Ever since that time- nature has been dependable based on the promise of God. Seedtime and harvest, seasons, cold and heat have been reliable and man has been able to depend on nature to feed himself and others. If Noah and his sons are to replenish the earth – they must have an environment that will allow them to do so.

God has promised He would provide it- and so He has day after day for all these centuries.

Noah is a farmer. Think about it- a farmer plows his field, sows the seed, and fertilizes and cultivates- knowing all the while that in the final analysis he is utterly dependent on forces outside himself. He knows he cannot cause the seed to germinate, or can he produce the rain and sunshine for growing and harvesting the crops. He is dependent on God. And here in Genesis 8- God promises to provide what is needed.

Going back to Genesis 6:18, God established a covenant with Noah and his family that he would preserve them through the flood. What we are seeing is that, just as with the farmer, God is working in a partnership with man. Farming is a picture of the joint venture between God and the farmer. The farmer cannot do what only God can do and God will not do what the farmer should do. So it is in the Christian’s walk.

You see- this is the way it is with God. God does His part and we do ours. We have a responsibility. We have been blessed with all spiritual blessings – God has supplied all our needs. Christ has defeated sin on the cross and given us His Holy Spirit to empower us to victory over sin. But like the farmer, like Noah, we must face up to our responsibilities. We are to obey God.

As we begin Chapter 9- we begin a new chapter the history of mankind. God has made a covenant with Noah. We must note this covenant is not only for Noah and his sons- but his descendants after him- which would include us. God establishes law and order.

God in providing a way for Noah and his family to escape fulfills the first part of the covenant- to preserve mankind through Noah.
God establishes the reliability of nature. Even though man is evil from childhood. Man is sinful by nature. But God says He will allow the rain and sunshine to fall on the just and the unjust.
In Genesis 9-verse 2- God causes fear of man to enter into the animal kingdom. What before the fall, man ruled by love, after fall man rules by fear. This would protect both man from wild animals and wild animals from evil man.
In verse 3-God changes the diet of mankind adding meat to vegetation. The subtle message in this change of diet: we are alive because other creatures or creation die on our behalf to sustain our life. If not animals, as least plants. We are dependent creatures. We have no life force of our own, it is all borrowed. That is why Jesus is the fulfillment of this truth at all points. He is the way, the truth and the life. In Him was life we read in the John 1. Now perhaps you better understand what Jesus meant when He said: “ Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. But whosoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.” ( John 6:53-54). Of course Jesus did not mean this literally but spiritually. We are to feed on Him and draw from Him his very life. Until we do – we are spiritually dead- feeding our outward man with the things of the world- but leaving a dead spirit within. So many Christians are suffering from malnutrition because they do not feed on Him thru the intake of His word. Man cannot live by bread alone- but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. ( two natures – ex: white dog and black dog)
In verses 4-6, God establishes law and order as the fifth provision of the covenant teaches the sacredness of life. We are prohibited from eating flesh with blood in it. Why? Because says God, life is in the blood.(Remember God heard Abel’s blood calling to Him.) And life is the exclusive property of God. It is God who imparts life not man. And only God can take life way. And God tells us ‘whoever sheds the blood of man by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.’ This is the instruction for capital punishment under God’s guidance to government.
The sixth provision of the covenant in verse 7, like the original commandments to Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply is given to Noah and his descendants- which I remind you includes us. You might think- I have no children- how does this apply to me? We are to witness to others- to spread the gospel to bring others to multiply the family of God who is not willing that any should perish.
In verses 8-11, God guarantees there will never again be a universal flood.
In verse 12-16- God seals His covenant with man and gives mankind a sign of assurance- the rainbow.

Behind every activity of God on our behalf is love. God is love. And all that He does is motivated by love- a love that will seek to break that stubborn pride and bring us to an end of ourselves and to trust in the One who is our Ark. Who will show us how we ought to live.

MY THREE SONS.

Genesis 9: 18-19 : “The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) These were the three sons of Noah and from them came the people who were scattered over the earth.”

The Word of God by giving us this additional information regarding Ham is turning the spotlight on an episode in the life of Ham.

Genesis 9:20-21. Noah, the farmer, has planted a vineyard which in the course of time produced fermented wine. This event would have required at least 2-3 years to plant a vineyard, grow to a fruit bearing size, harvest it , and extract the juice from the grapes. Then time also for it to ferment to become alcoholic. This is the first mention of wine in the Scriptures. The first reference to wine ( fermented) and it is connected with drunkenness.

Noah is drunk, has passed out and is exposed- naked. Ham- who again we are reminded in verse 22 is the father of Canaan saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers. Ham’s actions revealed something about his character. He did not honor his father, as Shem and Japheth were careful to do in the manner in which they covered their father’s sin. ( Love covers a multitude of sin)

Genesis 9:24-27.When Noah awoke from his wine, we are told he found out what Ham had done and prophetically pronounced a curse on Canaan- the nation, not the grandson. This curse was on a nation , not a race. We know that some of the nations of peoples that descended from Ham were the Black peoples of Africa, but the nation of Canaanites were not black skinned people- they were Caucasians. The curse was on a nation that God knew would become wicked. Noah pronounced curses and blessing based on knowledge revealed to him by God. For all prophecy comes from the Spirit of God. Noah also blessed the Lord, the God of Shem. Shem would be the one thru whom the line of the Messiah would come.

Noah also prophetically proclaims that the territory of Japheth will be enlarged or extended and may Japheth live in the tents of Shem.

As we end the chapter we are told Noah, who was the grandson of Methuselah lives to be 950 years old.

In chapter 10 we will see the nations that grew out of Noah’s three sons. We are looking at our family tree.

Let me share with you who those descendants of the Noah’s three sons are:

Shem: Hebrews, Chaldeans, Assyrians, Persians & Syrians. Shem’s descendants were called- Shemites- later shortened to Semites. Included were : Abraham, David and the Lord Jesus.

Ham: Canaanites, Egyptians, Philistines, Hittites and Amorites. They settled in Canaan, Egypt, and the rest of Africa.

Japheth: Greeks, Thracians & Sycthians the peoples of India and Europe.

Shem’s descendants were responsible for three great religions- Judaism, Muslim, and Christianity.

Japheth was promised enlargement- this is what most of us are- Europeans.

It is interesting in the New Testament we see these three groups specifically coming to Jesus: the shepherds- Hebrew; the wise men- from the East were from Arabia were of Ham’s descendants; the Greeks, descendants of Japheth, approached Phillip in John 12 and said we would like to see Jesus; and Paul tells us the Greeks looked for wisdom- so we see in the NT.. that all three people groups seek after Jesus.

At Pentecost, Peter preached to the Jews- “ Ye men of Israel..”

Phillip left a revival in Samaria to go down and preach to a single individual, in the desert, an Ethiopian man- a descendant of Ham and Peter was told to go preach the gospel to Cornelius, a Roman centurion- a descendant of Japheth.

At Calvary- all three groups were represented: the Jews ( Shem) said let his blood be on our heads and our children’s; the bearing of the cross was forced upon one Simon of Cyrene(Ham); and of course the crucifixion was carried out by the Roman govt. ( Japheth).

Genesis 10:8. Once again God shines His spotlight on another character that He would have us take notice of…Nimrod, a descendant of Ham.

Mankind has now fanned out over the Middle East like the spokes of a wheel. The Middle East is called the ‘cradle of civilization’ for this is where it all began. The three major divisions or families of man come from Noah’s three sons. The descendants of Shem given to religious endeavors. The descendants of Ham with a talent for technical and the ability to adapt to the world they live in- very clever in building things. The descendants of Japheth were given intellectual enlargement plus the widest distribution throughout Europe and India.

Nimrod is called a mighty hunter. But remains somewhat of a mysterious figure in history. He is founder of Babylon and Nineveh, two great cities of old. His center of operations was on the plains of Shinar that we will read more about in chapter 11.

Now before we meet Abraham- there is an event that takes place on the plains of Shinar recorded for us in the first verses of chapter 11. What we will see what happens when a society decides to leave God out of society.

Genesis 11- The Tower of Babel.

“ Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other-‘ Come let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.’ They used bricks instead of stone, and tar(slime) for mortar. Then they said , ‘Come let us build ourselves 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 earth.’

But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. The 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. Come, let us go down and confuse the language so they will not understand each other. So the Lord scattered them from there all over the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it is called Babel- because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world and scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

We see here in the foundations of the first Babylon what will be the same philosophies and godlessness in the last Babylon of Revelation. There will be a one world government, one world currency, one world language and one world religion. All man made.

It will be a society from which God is included only on their own terms.This is not the real God, Almighty God- but a god of their own making- which behind the curtain is really man himself. These Hamitic people were talented people who when they combined their talents were able to make significant accomplishments.

Notice they build with bricks instead of stones. God uses stone doesn’t He? They had brick for stone and slime for mortar. Brick is hardened clay- a fitting picture of a godless civilization whose heart is hardened to the Word of God. Slime is associated with filth and it is reminder of the Beast who will come at the end who is called a ‘man of sin.’

Notice this society was of one language – which means not only did they have one language they all understood- it also means they thought alike.. their minds conformed by the society in which they lived and worked. After all- you have to go along to get along.

Man was created with a desire to worship. Atheism is not a satisfying religion- nothing to worship- too barren..too pessimistic that is why Communism fell. Nothing to worship.

To satisfy their longings they would build a city and a tower. The city appealed to their souls- mind, will and emotions. The city was the center of business and culture. But there was still that longing for something spiritual so they built a tower, a ziggeraut that even modern archaeology was impressed by their talents and intelligence. At the center of all this was the motivation to make a name for themselves. In other words bring glory to themselves.

Glory to mankind is the motto of humanism. It is behind the fall of satan and the temptation of Adam and Eve- the desire to be like God. A desire that in and of itself is not wrong- the desire to be Christ-like should be the desire of every born again believer. However, the desire to be like God by being completely independent by being a person of reputation- making a name for ourselves based on a fallen world view of what is important and worthy of admiration- wealth, talent, power, possessions, appearance,etc., is what is wrong. Man searching for significance and meaning by his own accomplishments is nothing new- it is as old as the tower of babel.

Now with the building of this tower- an architectural wonder that reached high into the sky with astrological signs on the top- they had their spiritual desires met by a religious icon that kept them in contact with God- or so they wanted to believe. A God they could control- a God in a box- or more accurately a god in a tower. Who was in reality not a god at all.

God looked down and saw how man was abusing the talents and creativity He had given them to worship self instead of Him. This is why He confused their language. Any society that leaves God out will be a confused society.

Almighty God will not allow man to build a lasting society from which He is excluded.

In His famous Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus’ teaching includes, in fact starts out with the Beatitudes.

Listen to the first beatitude: “ Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

When we realize how poor- void and empty we are – that there is nothing within us we can completely depend on- that we are powerless. Then, the Lord tells us He can give us the kingdom of heaven.

These spiritually proud, self-sufficient people wanted a kingdom they had earned. A man-made kingdom symbolized by a tower. But for those of us who have realized how spiritually poor and void we are and asked the Lord to fill that void—guess what – He has become our strong tower.

Look around the world today and what you see is mankind trying to create solutions to the problems of life and the world without even consulting Almighty God.

Not to be political- but the campaign theme that resonated with the majority of the population in the United States was “ YES –WE CAN!” I can imagine the people of long ago on the plains of Shinar being encouraged by Nimrod telling them there was nothing they could not accomplish once they set their minds to it and worked together. Can you hear them shouting in unison…YES WE CAN!?

This philosophy actually sounds good to us, doesn’t it?

The truth is : I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. But apart from Him – I can do nothing. ( That is of lasting value- eternal value.)

All of the things we accumulate and possess that the world says makes us significant and gives our lives meaning- are temporary. When the game of life ends- they go back in the box.

The only thing that lasts are the Word of God, the eternal kingdom of God and the souls of men. Do not lay up your treasures on earth- where rust and moth and thieves destroy- but lay up your treasure in heaven. For where your treasure is there will your heart be also. (Matthew. 6)