Recap:
So far we have looked at the account of creation, Adam and Eve, Adam’s family tree, (and ‘long ages’), ‘The Sons of God’ – and the reason for the Flood.
Read Genesis 6:1-22
This study starts in Genesis 6:5 – we looked at the first 4 verses last time. So:
5 The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.
What do we understand by:
Every inclination? . .a permanent leaning, a bias
Of the thoughts? . . plans, desires, responses
Of his heart? . . . . . normally where loving thoughts would come from
Was only evil? . . . . nothing good at all
All the time? . . . . . constantly, no let up.
6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.
How strong is the word Grieved?
Because man’s heart was only evil, God’s heart was filled with pain
Can someone describe the difference between the world of Noah’s day and the world envisioned by God in Genesis 1:26-31?
7 So the LORD said, I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth— men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air— for I am grieved that I have made them.
8 But Noah found favour in the eyes of the LORD.
Note here (v7) that God had every right to remove those things that he had created and start again. And (v8) apart from Abel (Genesis 4:4) and Enoch (5:24), no-one else since creation was recorded as having found favour with God.
9 This is the account of Noah.
So ends the record written by (or just owned by) Noah. His sons now take up the narrative (see 10:1) in verse 9b:
- Noah was a righteous man,
- blameless among the people of his time,
- and he walked faithfully with God.
What do we understand by the word righteous? acting in accord with divine or moral law : free from guilt or sin
In whose eyes was Noah Righteous? In the eyes of God? or his peers?
Matthew 5:20 "For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven."
We have just looked at the warped values of Noah’s society, but here we read that he was blameless among the people of his time. What does blameless mean? He had done nothing wrong, nor had he in any way encouraged wrong-doing in others.
More than that, he had a personal walk with God. This more than anything else set him apart from the other people of his day.
10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.
But not necessarily in that order! Genesis 10:21 tells us that Shem’s older brother was Japheth. But for the writer, Shem was to become the most important, being the ancestor of Abraham and the Children of Israel.
11 Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence.
12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.
Note it was the people who had corrupted their ways – no-one else could be blamed, and the punishment for sin (death) was also personal.
The next passage is very unusual – why?
Does God talk to you directly and specifically like this?
God explains his decision, the reason for it, and the way of salvation he has planned. He also explains Noah’s part in it and gives specific instructioms.
13 So God said to Noah, I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.
14 So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.
15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high.
16 Make a roof for it and finish the ark to within 18 inches of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks.
17 I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.
18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark— you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you.
19 You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you.
20 Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive.
21 You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.
22 Noah did everything just as God commanded him.
Looking at Genesis 4:17-22, How far had civilisation come by the time God sent the flood? What indications of civilisation can you find?
4v17b City
4v20 Father of those who live in tents and raise livestock.
4v21 Father of those who play the harp and flute
(And someone had to make these fairly sophisticated musical instruments)
4v22 ..forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron.
It appears then that this civilisation had had at least a bronze age and an iron age. So when in Genesis 6v14 the Lord instructs Noah to Build an ark of Cypress wood 450ft long, 75ft wide, 45ft high it appears that Noah is able to obey.
Noah would have needed specialised tree felling and hauling machinery; wagons, power tools, saws, planes, cranes, heavy lifting gear, scaffolding. We are not looking at a DIY dinghy – this is a ship 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high (6v15), using thousands of tons of square–cut, well-fitting timber.
So how advanced was Noah’s civilisation?
As advanced as the one when Jesus came?
Or even more advanced?
We often picture early bible times as being not far advanced from the Stone Age. What justification do we have for that?
Since the Ark, no-one has been able to build a wooden ship over 300 feet long without the need for steel bracing or framing, although two full size replica arks have recently been constructed, in Hong Kong and Holland – the first with concrete and glass fibre, the second with steel bracing, resting on steel barges.
It seems that the record we have of the instructions that Noah received from the Lord are only an outline. I am convinced that for this plan of salvation to work, God would have been intimately involved with Noah during the entire construction process. Of course, if this narrative was written by Noah’s son’s, they may well not have been aware of the way God spoke to Noah as construction progressed.
14 . . . make rooms in it . . . 15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high.
16 Make a roof for it and finish the ark to within 18 inches of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks.
It has been calculated that the Ark really would be large enough for all the animals and food needed. It had a capacity of 1.5 million cubic feet, and a floor area of over 101,250 sq. ft. (around 10 football pitches). Modern shipbuilders have said that its rectangular design and size meant that it would be virtually impossible for it to turn over.
How long did Noah have to build the Ark? In Genesis 5:32 we read that after Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth. We are also told in 7:6 that Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth.
In 6:18 God says to Noah you will enter the ark— you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you. This does not necessarily mean that his sons were married when God said this, so we can only guess that Noah probably had anything up to 100 years in which to complete the Ark.
Now look at verse 19: You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you.
How could Noah possibly do that?
The answer:
20 Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive.
A search on the internet reveals that migration today occurs in all major animal groups, including birds, mammals, fish, reptiles, amphibians, insects, and crustaceans. For many of these, when they set out, their destination is unknown to them.
21 You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.
Although we are told that originally (Genesis 1:29-30) man and animals ate plants, after the fall it appears that some animals became omnivorous, and some carnivores (The fossil record has examples of animals in the process of eating others when the floods came). How was Noah to feed them?
There is no good answer to that! The Ark only had an opening on the top of the top deck. The other two decks were in total darkness. Each deck was subdivided into rooms into which Noah would have placed suitable foodstuff. The animals, guided by instinct, would have found suitable places to hide. It is suggested that most animals would have entered a period of hibernation. If animals could become carnivore, presumably they could revert to being herbivore for a period?
17 I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.
18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark— you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you.
God’s decision had been made, and it was to be final. The only means of escape was through a covenant between God and Noah.
What is a covenant? A covenant is a solemn agreement to engage in or refrain from a specified action.
In this covenant what was god agreeing to? you will enter the ark— you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you.
God would save Noah and his family. But was this a conditional covenant?
19 You are to . . . 21 You are to . . .
Fortunately, for the rest of mankind, 22 Noah did everything just as God commanded him.
