Hoping For Sleep

i have not been sleeping much lately.

Genesis Class Week 6

Genesis 6 – Starting over

There are three main factors in the text that led up to the flood. 1) Unspiritual marriages 6:2, 2) a deep evil twist of the human character 6:5, 3) Brutal violence 6:11.

Genesis 6:1-4

The population of the Earth was increasing. “The sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.” From verse 2 we can figure that they marriages of the two were lustful, they married for beauty and not for spiritual character. Who are these ‘sons of God’? There are 3 theories.

The sons of God

1. The sons of God are Angels. This theory is a popular one and often used because the term is used in other places in the Old Testament in reference to the Angels. It is used to justify the “heroes of old” in verse 4. That there descendents were blessed with divine abilities. This is refuted by Jesus himself in Matthew 22:30

At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.

To further support this angelic interpretation the Virgin Mary became pregnant by the Spirit of God. It may be reasonable to conclude that the same may be possible for other heavenly beings.

2. The sons of God are political leaders. This theory was purposed by Jewish scholars in the middle ages, Psalms 82:6-7 is a support to the idea.

"I said, 'You are "gods" you are all sons of the Most High.' But you will die like mere men you will fall like every other ruler."

It based on the leaders of the time, the representatives of God, may have been corrupt thus escalating the influence of corruption in the human race. It would fit that leaders in the near east would have claimed divine status, such as the Pharaohs did, also setting up harems for themselves, as did Solomon.

3. The sons of God are the descendents of Seth. The righteous descendents of Seth may have started to intermarry with the descendents of Cain. Seeking relationships of lust and not righteousness. This fits with the flow of chapters 4-6 and connecting Cain to the flood.

So which is correct? Not sure, these are the ideas that we have. However the concept of the ‘sons of God’ is foreign to us today with the emphasis of Jesus as the ‘Son of God’. Most likely it made more sense to the audience of the time.

Years of man are 120

Verse 3 is often thought to mean that the human race would not longer have long lives like those of old. However this is mostly unfounded as many of the men in the bible still had long lives after the flood. Such as: Abraham (175), Isaac (180), Jacob (147), Aaron (123), Jehoiada (130), and Job (160+). It is believed that the 120 years was rather time remaining until the purge of the earth and begin anew. Just like God gave the city of Nineveh the chance to repent in the account of Jonah.

The Nephilim

Again it is vague as to who these people were, they are only mentioned in the bible twice, here in Genesis and in Numbers when the spies are scouting out the land of Canaan. There is a notion that they were super humans and giants. However in the first part of the verse 4 it states that they were on the earth then and after the flood. If the flood was a worldwide event then no one would have escaped that God had not set aside. So there is little chance that they serviced the flood. These Nephilim may not have been the supermen that they are thought to be, but the height of sinful men. The Nephilim may gave been seekers of glory and fame, who went out of there way to prove themselves by there deeds. One other thing to consider about these great men, is that if there were the descendants of angels then why is there no record that God punished the heavenly creatures for this corruption.

Genesis 6:5-8

God’s Sorrow

In verse 5 we see that mans wickedness got to the point that he grieved that he had created them, and his heart is filled with pain. Man had escalated in sin to a point that they were twisted from what God had made. That every though and inclination was evil. Man had corrupted the whole earth so that even the animals were to be punished. Gods plan is to start over, to un-create and recreate. Only one man was righteous and found favor in Gods sight, Noah.

Genesis 6:9-22

God had a plan

Once again it stated that Noah was righteous and we find that he has 3 sons. The rest of mankind was corrupt and violent. So God calls to Noah and lays out his plan for the destruction of the world. Noah did all that the Lord told him to do.

Through The Desert

i will not be in the office tomorrow, and not having internet at home i posting the friday video a day early.

Bach To Friday

i have a habit of whistling, mostly because i do not have a radio in the car and then i get songs stuck in my head. i like t whistle classical tunes. thurday afternoon my son asked me what songs Bach did. as it is i do not ever know who did what in the classical world. so here is a little video that i found that is really cool to watch.

Genesis Class Week 5

Genesis 4 – Life Outside The Garden

Two Brothers Genesis 4:1-5

God, in his grace, gives humans another chance. He gives family a chance. Assuming that Adam and Eve were created full-grown, Cain, when he killed Abel might have been about 129 years old; for Seth was born soon after (v. 25), at which time Adam is 130 (5:3). Cain and Abel are the most significant children up to this point.

Cain – (Qayin) "With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man." (v. 1); it is credited to Cain as being the first born; he was a farmer like his father; made a sacrifice to God of some of his fruits

Abel – supposed to be the second child; was a herdsman; made a sacrifice of faith to God (Hebrews 11:4)

By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.

The sacrifices – From the end of Chapter 3 it would seem that God Instituted sacrifices when he made the skins of clothing for Adam and Eve. From verse 3 it would seem that Cain decided to bring an offering and Abel joins him. Cain’s sacrifice was produce that he grew. Verse 3 tells us that it was some fruit of the soil, and that he brought it to God as a sacrifice. The implication is that he just grabbed some produce and gave it to God. Verse 4 tells us that Abel brought the firstborn and fat portions, the choicest parts, of his flocks. Though it may have been Cain’s idea to give a sacrifice to God, Abel had the better heart in the matter.

1 John 3 12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous.

Crime and Punishment Genesis 4:6-16

Cain is not happy that his little brother is getting the attention. His sacrifice is disregarded by God. Cain did not get the response from God that he wanted, and he becomes angry. It would seem that Cain might be angry with his brother but first and foremost he is angry with God. God then warns him that if he did the right thing then he too would be accepted. Either unwilling or unable to resolve his anger he turns on his brother as a scapegoat. His brother then becomes the innocent recipient of Cain’s faulty relationship with God. He takes advantage of his brother and strikes him down, spilling his blood on the ground. The farmer has now sown the earth with blood.

Cain is the first to whom sin is attributed. God presents it as a choice. Either we choose to sin or not to sin.

After he kill his brother in a field God confronts him by asking the rhetorical question

“Where is your brother Abel?"

"I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?"

God approaches Cain as He did Cain’s parents. Where Adam and Eve tried to become like God, Cain is playing God. Sin is escalated Adam excused his sin, Cain denies his. Adam hid, fearful of God, Cain rejects to take responsibility for his.

Again the punishment is swift and fitting to the crime. Cain is cursed and the already cursed ground will not produce for him. His livelihood is taken from him and his forced to be a wanderer (nad). Cain heads east into the land of wandering (Nod) and builds a city. Cain worried about his own safety from revenge, but from whom? Adam and Eve must have had other children (v 5:4) and they were starting to populate the earth. So he was worried about revenge from the family. God then marks Cain so that no one would try to kill him, but if anyone kills him he would be repaid seven times over.

The renewal – Genesis 4:25-26

Adam and Eve have another child about this time and name him Seth “God has granted me another child in place of Abel,” this is the third and last noted child of the first couple. About this time was when people started calling on the lord.

First Snow, In Fall

well we have not reached the middle of october yet and we are already getting snow. i awoke this morning and i was making breakfast, my daughter headed out on the patio for her morning cigarette she starts to whine about there being snow. so i poked my head out of the kitchen to see a good amount of snow on the ground. so i finished making breakfast and my coffee and headed out to clean off the car.

i am not ready for winter yet and this snow stuff really sucks. i do not mind the cold, but i really dislike the snow. i guess i will be working this next week on getting somethings done for the oncoming winter. tomorrow my son has a football game and it is suppose to snow then as well. this is going to be a fun weekend all the way around.

Finally The Week Is Over

ok so i was shown this the other day and thought it was great. i hope you all enjoy.

Genesis Class Week 4

Genesis 3 – The Fall of Mankind

The garden in jeopardy – Genesis 3:1-7

We do not know the time laps from the end of chapter 2 and the beginning of chapter 3. It could have been the next day, or it could have been a hundred years later. However the Stage is set, act one has commenced; our characters are introduced, queue the protagonist.

Chapter 3 we are introduced to the serpent. Verse one tells us that the serpent is the craftiest of all the creatures. The serpent speaks, and has a recorded brief conversation with the couple. He asks a seemingly innocent question. He does not outright call God a liar but he twists his words to imply that He is lying to them. After a reply from the woman he challenges Gods Truthfulness. He attacks the word of God head-on and questions Gods motives of withholding the fruit from them. He plants the seed of doubt in her mind.

After reevaluating the fruit and deciding that it was pleasing to the eye and useful for gaining wisdom she took and ate and gave some to her husband, who was there also. They then obeyed the animal, the opposite of what God had set up, and willfully disobeyed Gods command. The fruit did gain them knowledge, knowledge of the fact that they were naked. They are no longer innocent, they are vulnerable. So then try to cover up what they had done and make clothes out of fig leaves.

The garden lost – Genesis 3:8-19

Act two opens with God on the seen. The man and the woman hear God walking in the garden. And they hide, “Oh No! Dads home!”. God calls out them with a rhetorical question “Where are you?”, as if God did not already know. They come out and ashamed of there nakedness they report that they were afraid and hid. God asked the man out right did you eat and disobey me? The man who was silent in the last scene now tries to sidestep the question and shifts the blame back to the woman. It is telling in his language that he also want s to blame God for giving him this woman.

God then turns to the woman, asking for her side of the story. She answers the question acknowledging that she was tricked by the serpent. Here the oneness of the man and the woman is torn apart. The serpent is not given the chance to defend itself.

Punishment is dealt out swiftly in reverse order. Unlike the serpent, the man and woman were not cursed. The punishments of all three are twofold.

The serpent is cursed to crawl on his belly and eat the dust, and that there will be enmity between the serpent and the offspring of the woman.

Genesis 3:15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."(This is the first prophetic scripture pointing to Jesus.)

The woman is punished with increased pain in childbirth. Not that childbirth is the punishment but that it would be more painful. This does not imply that Eve had already had children but it also does not rule it out either. The second punishment is that she would have desire for her husband and he will rule over her. This is not to imply that women are inferior to men. This punishment is based around the domestic environment. The phrase “rule over” is the same as God is ruler of the universe and we are to rule over the earth and the animals that is described in chapter 1 and 2. We are responsible for there care not to lord it over them.

The Man is addressed in verse 17 and is rebuked for having listened to his wife and not the word of God. Here the earth is cursed. In chapter 2, man is given meaningful work, now he will have to work the whole earth and the ground will not yield it fruits willingly. Work has now become drudgery. He is also faced with mortality, the fact that one day he will die. Likely mortal before, rebellion against the creator of life forced death to become the center of our existence.

Expulsion from the garden – Genesis 3:20-24

The final scene demonstrates Gods love for the couple. Though he is forced to remove them from the garden and the tree of life, also the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he provides for them coverings made from animal skins. Now the animals that were entrusted to the man’s care are now to be there source of clothing. Conflict is the result of human rebellion. Human questioning of the divine intent and motive propels the world into disorder, alienation, and struggle. The human couple tragically alters each of their relationships: 1) there relationship with their creator; 2) their relationship with each other; 3) their relationship with the rest of the created order.

There is hope in chapter 4 of renewal with the first recorded birth.

Alone At Work

so i am the only person on the help desk tonight.