GENESIS: Snoopy's Short & Snappy Review

[paradox3]

Remember the stories were created in response to a cataclysmic event and were explanations for why the event happened. They are projecting their ideas onto God

This seems very plausible to me. After attributing the Flood to God's outrage, they needed a story to explain why & how some of the earth's creatures were spared.

 

[paradox3]

Yes it does ----God's promise to Noah was that He would never Flood the Earth Again ---So this earth as we know it today will be destroyed by Fire ---this happens at the end of the 7 Year Horror that God is bringing upon this earth ---

2 Peter 3:10

Berean Standard Bible
But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and its works will be laid bare.

The relationship between the OT and NT is fascinating. I have been reading that this flood story might be the inspiration for baptism in the N T.

 

[unsafe]

The relationship between the OT and NT is fascinating. I have been reading that this flood story might be the inspiration for baptism in the N T

I think you are right in your saying this ------the water symbolizes the Baptism of the Holy Spirit as the Holy Spirit is Likened unto water ---and the only way to be saved from the Flood was through the one door of the Ark ------representing Salvation through the only one ----Jesus Christ

This is looking at Scripture through a Spiritual lens ---so good on you for your research ---and finding this nugget ---


Symbols representing the Holy Spirit

 

[paradox3]

Thanks @unsafe. We will encounter the dove in our reading tomorrow.

 

[paradox3]

Hello again. Here is Genesis 8

Snoopy's Snappy Review: it's time for hope!

Bible Gateway passage: Genesis 8 - New English Translation

But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and domestic animals that were with him in the ark. God caused a wind to blow over the earth and the waters receded. The fountains of the deep and the floodgates of heaven were closed, and the rain stopped falling from the sky. The waters kept...

www.biblegateway.com

Snoopy is happy to report that the domestic animals get a mention (v.1) in this reading! God has not forgotten Noah, his family or the animals and life goes on. How reassuring is that?

The Ark lands on Mt Ararat, the rain stops and the floodwaters recede. This takes a while as you can imagine. Noah is given hope when a dove goes out and returns with a freshly plucked olive leaf. At least some of the earth's vegetation has survived the flood!

The day comes when everyone leaves the ark. Noah builds an altar to God and sacrifices clean animals and birds of every kind. Remember that God instructed Noah to take seven pairs of these animals into the ark? (Genesis 7:2)

God is pleased with the burnt offerings.

God promises no further efforts to destroy the earth with floods even though the people's minds are inclined towards evil from childhood on.

 

[paradox3]

This narrative can definitely be read as a story of new beginnings. The NT writers will later use the image of the dove to explain the Holy Spirit at Jesus's baptism.

As an ancient story, it can still be seen as a tale of rebirth. Just imagine emerging from the Ark and rediscovering creation!

It also reflects God and human beings coming to to terms with each other before the development of the Law. Noah is accepting that he owes something to God. God, in turn, is accepting that these created beings have free will and are less than perfect.

 

[unsafe]

The Ark lands on Mt Ararat, the rain stops and the floodwaters recede.

the Scripture tells us how God made the Flood stop which is interesting as it shows how God is in Charge of the Climate ----not man as is believed today

Genesis 8
God caused a wind to blow over[b] the earth and the waters receded. 2 The fountains of the deep and the floodgates of heaven were closed,[c] and the rain stopped falling from the sky. 3 The waters kept receding steadily[d] from the earth, so that they[e] had gone down[f] by the end of the 150 days.

 

[Waterfall]

Well isn't that lovely, and no mention of the rotting dead bodies laying on the ground. Sorry to be a downer in this utopia, but perhaps we've progressed because at least now we acknowledge what is happening to those in Gaza, Israel and Ukraine and "try" to help as a country.
I'm sorry but that's what stands out for me when I read this story or myth, during these times we live in today.

 

[paradox3]

Noah is calculated to have been on the Ark for 371 days. I wonder how soon the humans and animals left behind on the earth perished? If they died quickly, the bodies were probably not rotting any longer at this point.

It is a gruesome image though no matter how you picture it.

 

[Mendalla]

The sacrifice part is interesting in that sacrificing before and after a journey was a feature of other religious traditions. Romans and Greeks for instance, would make sacrifices both to ask the gods for a safe journey and to thank them for one.

 

[Mendalla]

Noah is calculated to have been on the Ark for 371 days. I wonder how soon the humans and animals left behind on the earth perished? If they died quickly, the bodies were probably not rotting any longer at this point.

It is a gruesome image though no matter how you picture it.

Nitpicky point but if we going for reality here, I would point out that the floods would not have eliminated all aquatic life. In fact, I would suggest that a global flood would be a boon for some aquatic life. There are many scavengers in both salt and fresh water, from sharks to crabs to various fish. Perhaps the bodies were dealt with that way and the bones got washed into the oceans when the waters receded. I mean, with no explicit mention of what happened to the dead, we can pretty much speculate anything.

 

[paradox3]

Yes I was assuming the bodies were likely scavenged and just bones remained. My mind was picturing lots of bones lying around. I didn't think of the bones being swept into the oceans.

 

[Mendalla]

Since we were talking about prehistoric floods and their possibly influence on flood myths earlier, here's a couple videos on the subject of prehistoric mega-floods. The first couple, a back-to-back collaboration between PBS Eons and SciShow, are about events in North America so unlikely to have influenced the Sumerian and Hebrew flood myths, but still kind of give you an idea of what we are talking about.

And this one is in the right region (the Mediterranean) but too early for modern humans. Basically the Mediterranean dried up at one point and then refilled in what has to be one of the all-time great floods, taking the remarkably short time of only a couple years according to latest theories.

 

[paradox3]

Good morning! Here is Genesis 9:

Snoopy's Snappy Review: Watch out for wine!

Bible Gateway passage: Genesis 9 - New English Translation

God’s Covenant with Humankind through Noah - Then God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Every living creature of the earth and every bird of the sky will be terrified of you. Everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea...

www.biblegateway.com

Humankind is told to go forth and multiply and fill the earth. The animals will fear the people now. (Say what? This is getting Snoopy worried)

Humankind is given the okay to eat all living things i.e. not just the green plants. However, they are not to eat anything still containing its lifeblood. Nor are the people to murder each other. (Good rules, right?)

As a sign of God's covenant not to destroy the earth again with a flood, a rainbow appears in the sky. Noah's three sons and their descendants will populate the entire earth.

Noah tends a vineyard and becomes drunk on the wine. He lies naked in a tent and is seen by his son, Ham, the father of Canaan. Noah's other sons Shem and Japheth cover Noah up and avert their eyes so they don't see his nakedness.

Canaan is cursed by Noah and destined to be a slave.

 

[paradox3]

Interesting that the one righteous man on earth has succumbed to the fruit of the vine, isn't it?

 

[jimkenney12]

The last story justifies the mistreatment of Canaanites. This is the cultural prohibition that gave power to the command to give someone your tunic if they demand your cloak. One of the worst sins a person could commit was to see someone else naked.

 

[jimkenney12]

It is still a bizarre story.

 

[Mendalla]

Humankind is told to go forth and multiply and fill the earth. The animals will fear the people now.

And well they should. One wonders if the world we have today is what God anticipated when he gave this order. Certainly, those who wrote the story likely did not think in terms of billions of humans or an industrialized society beyond what they already had at the time (assuming it is influenced by Gilgamesh, the story would be bronze age or maybe early iron age).

 

[paradox3]

Again this story seems like it could be an attempt to explain natural phenomena. The food chain is as much a fact of nature as floodwaters. The humans will need to start hunting soon

 

[jimkenney12]

They would have returned to hunting as well as raising livestock.

It is interesting that the composers of this story believed animals were not afraid of humans before the flood