Noah pleases God

From the wickedness, corruption, violence on Earth that made God willing to destroy "all flesh" on Earth, there was a single man that found favor with God. He was Noah. Noah was perfect in God's eyes. He was also only a handful of men who was described as "walked with God".

We all know the story from there. Noah obeyed God and build the Ark, then he gathered the animals in pairs to go into the Ark. On a deeper note, in v18, God specifically renewed His Covenant with Noah. The Covenant which is to be an everlasting Covenant shows God's faithfulness to His Promise.

Another thing to note is that, God being the Almighty that He is, does have the power to recreate the animals and man again if he totally destroyed all living things in the Flood. But the only humans He created directly were Adam and Eve and also the animals at Creation. After the Flood, God's plan was to let Noah and his family and the animals in the Ark to re-populate the Earth. It was not in His will to create more humans and animals after the Flood. Perhaps this indicates God's Creation was complete in the beginning, and that His Creation Work was Good. Even though man became corrupt, and God had to cause the Flood, God already  knew this before Creation - and His Creation was perfect, there was no need for another creation or plan B.

Genesis 6
⁹ This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. ¹⁰ And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 
¹¹ The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. ¹² So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

¹³ And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. ¹⁴ Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. ¹⁵ And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. ¹⁶ You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and thirddecks. ¹⁷ And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die. ¹⁸ But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁹ And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. ²⁰ Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. ²¹ And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them.” 

²² Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.

Corrupted Civilisation - Pre Flood

When God saw the evil upon the face of the Earth, he was on the verge of wiping out civilisation, except when he found favour with Noah and decided to start over with him.

The interpretation of the Scripture below has 2 vastly different intrepretations. The traditional interpretation was that the "sons of God" were from the line of Seth - the godly line - and the daughters of men were from the line of Cain. But how could godly men force themselves on corrupted women? The other thought is that "sons of God" were the corrupted line of Cain who made themselves kings and claim to be descended from gods as most ancient kings claimed. This blasphemous practice as well as polygamy (taking many daughters of man as wives) angered God so much that He regretted creating man. But in history, many kings claimed to be descended from some gods, and have concubines, eg China, India, Egypt and other civilisations; but God did not seek to destroy the world.

The interpretation above sounds very plausible and believable yet there are clearly inconsistencies. Another seemingly less believable interpretation seem to fit the Scripture better. The "sons of God" may refer to fallen angels and they mated with human females. The offspring are half angelic half human mutants called the Nephilim whose physical stature is clearly larger than humans. So the Nephilim may be the giants mentioned here as well as other parts of the Bible. If this is the case, then we could better imagine and understand why God is so outraged with this evil where human - angelic half breeds running amock in the world.

In the verses from Job 38:6-7 below, God speaks of His Creation of the universe and makes a reference to "sons of God shouted for joy". In the context of this, God mostly like refer to the angels as "sons of God" since he was describing the creation of the Universe and the early beginning.

Job 38.
 6 To what were its foundations fastened?      Or who laid its cornerstone,
 7 When the morning stars sang together,      And all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Genesis 6
¹ Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, ² that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.³ And the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive^[a] with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” ⁴ There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men whowere of old, men of renown. ⁵ Then the LORD^[b] saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. ⁶ And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. ⁷ So the LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” ⁸ But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

Geneology: Adam to Noah

The scripture below accounts for the generations from Adam to Noah via Adam's son Seth. This line produced several notable God-fearing figures, as oppose to the line of Cain which were mostly corrupted. 

Seth was special in various ways. He was favoured by God, just like his brother Abel as Seth was chosen as the one to continue the godly line of descendants. In v3, it mentioned Seth was created in the likeness and image of Adam, but this was not mentioned about Cain and Abel.

Enoch is another remarkable figure because he walked very closely with God. He was so favoured by God that God did not allow him to die yet (he may be one of the two prophets who will be killed in the Tribulation period). Instead he was taken up to God as he mysteriously disappeared. 

The next important figure is of course Noah, whose faithfulness led him to obey God to build the ark, as God chose to save Noah and his family. More about Noah later.

One very very amazing fact is that no one mentioned in the line from Adam to Noah was killed in the Great Flood. God planned it so nicely that it was until Noah's father and grandfather had died, then God brought the Flood on the world. Methuselah was 187 years old when he produced Lamech and Lamech was 182 years when he produced Noah. Noah was 600 years old when the flood came. This means Methuselah would be 187+182+600= 969 years old when the flood came. Lamech would be 182+600=782 years old when the flood came. But scripture says Lamech lived for 777 years and Methuselah lived 969 years. So God made sure he waited until all the line from Adam to Noah (except Noah) died first, then he brought the Flood. This shows God's faithfulness to His chosen ones. 

Here is a summary of the line from Adam to Noah:

Adam

Seth

Enosh

Cainan

Mahalalel

Jared

Enoch

Methuselah

Lamech

Noah


Genesis 5
 ¹ This is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. ² He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them Mankind in the day they were created. ³ And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.⁴ After he begot Seth, the days of Adam were eight hundred years; and he had sons and daughters. ⁵ So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died.
⁶ Seth lived one hundred and five years, and begot Enosh. ⁷ After he begot Enosh, Seth lived eight hundred and seven years, and had sons and daughters. ⁸ So all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years; and he died. 
⁹ Enosh lived ninety years, and begot Cainan.^[a] 10 After he begot Cainan, Enosh lived eight hundred and fifteen years, and had sons and daughters. ¹¹ So all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years; and he died. 
¹² Cainan lived seventy years, and begot Mahalalel. ¹³ After he begot Mahalalel, Cainan lived eight hundred and forty years, and had sons and daughters. ¹⁴ So all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years; and he died. 
¹⁵ Mahalalel lived sixty-five years, and begot Jared. ¹⁶ After he begot Jared, Mahalalel lived eight hundred and thirty years, and had sons and daughters. ¹⁷ So all the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred and ninety-five years; and he died. 
¹⁸ Jared lived one hundred and sixty-two years, and begot Enoch. ¹⁹ After he begot Enoch, Jared lived eight hundred years, and had sons and daughters. ²⁰ So all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years; and he died. 
²¹ Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. ²² After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters. ²³ So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. ²⁴ And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. 
²⁵ Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty-seven years, and begot Lamech. ²⁶ After he begot Lamech, Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years, and had sons and daughters. ²⁷ So all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died. 
²⁸ Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and had a son. ²⁹ And he called his name Noah, saying, “This one will comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD has cursed.” ³⁰ After he begot Noah, Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years, and had sons and daughters. ³¹ So all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years; and he died. 
³² And Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth

The Line of Cain

The bible talks about Cain's descendants (see scripture below) before talking about the main line which is Seth's descendants. It is very interesting how the line of Cain produced the various kinds of workers, crafstmen as well as in the artists. Perhaps this reveals the rebellion by man in moving away from God, and using his own intellect and skills to be self-sufficient.

As a summary of the crafts:
Cain - builder, founder of civilisations
Jabal - graziers, nomads
Jubal - musician, harpists, flutists
Tubal-Cain - blacksmiths

This scripture shows our modern society, where we have so much talents and so many different pursuits but when we don't have God in these, then they are pointless.There is nothing wrong with working hard and using our talents, however we must include God in what we do.



Genesis 4

¹⁶ So Cain went out from the LORD's presence and lived in the land of Nod, ^[f] east of Eden.
 ¹⁷ Cain lay with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch. ¹⁸ To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech.
 ¹⁹ Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah. ²⁰ Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. ²¹ His brother's name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play the harp and flute. ²² Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of ^[g] bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain's sister was Naamah.
 ²³ Lamech said to his wives,
       "Adah and Zillah, listen to me;
       wives of Lamech, hear my words.
       I have killed ^[h] a man for wounding me,
       a young man for injuring me.
 ²⁴ If Cain is avenged seven times,
       then Lamech seventy-seven times."

The First Murder

The scripture below is the account of Cain's murder of Abel. Cain, being the first born of Creation, the Crown Prince, had so much potential. But the sad fact was Cain fell so much further than Adam. His father used to walked and talked with God, and surely Cain must have known God from his father. Also the passage below shows God himself talking with Cain and that this seemed quite normal for Cain. So how can someone who know the Creator so intimately fall so far. His conversation with God after the murder shows Cain had no remorse at all.

There are suggestions why God was more pleased with Abel's gift than Cain. One suggestion is that Abel brought the "Firstborn" or Firstfruits, the very best of his products to God. No matter the reason for God's displeasure of Cain's gift, v 6-7 shows God cares for Cain when God tried to warn Cain about the dangers of being angry which could lead to sin.

To put this in practical terms, sometimes our actions displeases God. But this does not mean God's love for us is lessened. What Cain failed to do was repent, and clearly the condition of his heart is nowhere near repentance. As believer's we have His Spirit guiding us. Sometimes we do feel like Cain when we get angry at God or someone else. However, like Cain's case, the Holy Spirit will speak v6-7 to us. The choice for us is how do we respond. Do we see our wrong attitude and repent and thank God for showing us the way? The alternative is just too dangerous.

Genesis 4
 ¹ Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the LORD.” ² Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. ³ And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD. ⁴Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering, ⁵ but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.
⁶ So the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? ⁷ If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” 
⁸ Now Cain talked with Abel his brother;^[a] and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. 
⁹ Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” 
He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” 
¹⁰ And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. ¹¹ So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. ¹² When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.” 
¹³ And Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear! ¹⁴ Surely You have driven me out this day from the face of the ground; I shall be hidden from Your face; I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth, and it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me.” 
¹⁵ And the LORD said to him, “Therefore,^[b] whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the LORD set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him.

Banishment from Eden and the Tree of Life

The scripture below sheds a bit more light on the question of "The Tree of Life" which we discussed briefly in the last post. From v22, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil gives man the ability to know good and evil. Obviously this does not mean All-Knowing like God because we humans don't know so much.

The more interesting tree in this discussion is the Tree of Life which in v22 says that it gives immortality. So it appears for all the time Adam and Eve were in the Garden, they did not eat from the Tree of Life, yet God did not specifically said not to. Here we can speculate perhaps God was already teaching them about the Tree of Life. Perhaps God even promised a time in the future where they can eat from the Tree of Life. Perhaps they had an understanding that God was sanctifying / preparing them and once that is finished they can partake in the Tree of Life and achieve immortality. So perhaps because the fruits of Tree of Life were promised to man and so it did not cause so much temptation as the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Whatever the plan was for the Tree of Life, it was cut short by the First Sin. As a result of sin and man being in a sinful state, God cannot allow man to be immortal and yet sinful. Hence the Tree of Life was out of bounds. But God does not intend to keep the Tree of Life from man forever. Instead God has a plan to cleanse the sinful man and then give him immortality, only when he is cleanse, by eating the Tree of Life.

Fast forward thousands of years later, our Lord Jesus of Nazareth is that Tree of Life. When we repent and accept Him, then His sacrifice makes us clean again for God. Then only we eat from the Tree of Life - Jesus - we achieve immortality and be in the Presence of God.



Genesis 3
²² Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— ²³ therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. ²⁴ So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.




Revelations 2
7 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.”’


John 6
³⁵ And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. ³⁶ But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. ³⁷ All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. ³⁸ For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. ³⁹ This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. ⁴⁰ And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”


John 6
⁴⁴ No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. ⁴⁵ It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’^[e]Therefore everyone who has heard and learned^[f] from the Father comes to Me. ⁴⁶ Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father. ⁴⁷ Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me^[g]has everlasting life. ⁴⁸ I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹ Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. ⁵⁰ This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” 
⁵² The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?” 
⁵³ Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. ⁵⁴ Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. ⁵⁵For My flesh is food indeed,^[h] and My blood is drink indeed. ⁵⁶ He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. ⁵⁷ As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.” 

The First Deception

One of the most effective strategy in lying is to mix is with enough truth with a sprinkle of lies. It can also be called twisting the truth, but the effect is clear - it leads people way from the truth. This was how the enemy tricked man into disobedience, by presenting the truth then slightly casting doubt on just one small portion of truth - "Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”

A second point is more difficult to explain - what is wrong with knowing good and evil? Why is God trying to prevent us from knowing good and evil? Since the Renaissance, or the The Enlightenment, knowledge is put on  a pedestal by some. It seems that scientific pursuit is flying against the face of God if it turns out that God does not want us to have knowledge.

But in fact, it was not just any knowledge, it was the knowledge of good and evil referred to here. But what is wrong with knowing Good and Evil - surely God wants us to know that? Yes. I think the key point here is the disobedience in wanting to know good and evil without depending on God to teach us or show us. The sin is in disobedience, rebellion and seeking our own independence rather than dependence in God.

So is this just a test set by God? Can God simply choose this test to be on any other tree He decided that man should not eat? No - there is a practical reason for not eating the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. By eating and knowing good and evil, we can now choose to do evil things even though we know it is evil. Another consequence is thinking that we know good and evil, and not reliant on God, we can also make mistakes in the interpretation of good and evil. Hence the knowledge of Good and Evil is a dangerous thing if it comes from ourselves and not from God.

Genesis 3
¹ Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
² And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; ³ but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 
⁴ Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵ For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 
⁶ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it waspleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. ⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they werenaked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.