First off, I want to say that I know it has been a little while since the last post. I've gotten carried away with reading books such as "God Without Religion", "The Book of Negroes", and now I have started "127 Hours" (all of which are outstanding books by the way). I have to admit I haven't done as much Bible Reading as I was intending, and even missed a few days. Anyway. with that in mind...here are my thoughts for the little that I have read in the past few days, it goes from right after The Flood, up to Hagar and Ishmael:
After the Flood, God gives a covenant with Noah in the form of a rainbow. It was meant to be a symbol of God not judging the Earth (in that form) ever again. It's kind of ironic now that the rainbow is the symbol of the most judged group of people currently on earth (at least, from the perspective of Christians). I like the idea of God creating a permanent symbol. Something to remind us of his judgement, while at the same time reminding us of his mercy and love. It's also important to note the similarity between God's command with Adam and Eve and God's command with Noah and his family. Both are, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth" (He also gives this command to the animals). Does the almost word for word replica of the command point towards a mythical/poetic understanding of one or both stories? Perhaps. As I have said before, I believe in the evidence of a major biblical flood (whether or not it was literally worldwide is debatable), and so to read this story as pure fiction is kind of pushing the limits. However, it still is important to remember that the stories of Genesis would have been verbally passed down from generation to generation, and so the storytellers probably would have wanted to make the stories easier to understand, and to flow together, and what easier way to do that than with repetition? Does that mean that he story of Noah is false and made up? No. Does it mean that some aspects of the story may have been embellished to keep the story exciting, and memorable? Absolutely.
Soon after the flood, and the rainbow covenant, Noah gets drunk and lies naked with no shame in front of his family. One of Noah's sons, Ham, sees this, and tells his brothers about it. Shem and Japheth go and cover their father with a blanket. When Noah finds outs...he curses Ham, and says that he will become a slave to his brothers. That's a bit harsh don't you think? Of course, it is hard to relate to the culture here (for us in North America anyway). North Americans are a lot less aware of 'shame'. We seem to have no shame anymore. In this biblical culture, however (and in most other parts of the current world) shame is everything. The LAST thing you want to do is bring shame to yourself, and your family. When Ham sees his father naked, and goes and tells others to come see as well (probably with laughter and glee, saying something like "look at our father lying naked...isn't that hilarious!", he is bringing intense shame on his father. So...i it harsh to then curse Ham to be a slave? Still, perhaps yes...but at least we can understand that shame in that culture was not something to be messed with. Probably a good lesson for us today too...lets stop trying to shame others, ourselves and our families (even if the result isn't being cursed into slavery).
We then enter another genealogy. This one gets interensting in the middle, with the mention of Nimrod (which, happens to be one of the most unfortunate names in the history of the world). However, as awkward as the name is...he more than made up for it. The Bible says: "he grew up to be a mighty warrior on the earth", and we learn that the "first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Erech, Akkad, and Calneh". He was a fierce and mighty warrior, a great hunter and he established at least 4 kingdoms. WOW! Makes you wonder why Nimrod is such an insult (or at least it was when we were like 10). Sounds to me like Nimrod should be left as a killer nickname for people like 300's Leonidus, and Braveheart. Those two are such nimrods!
Next comes one of the most popular stories of Genesis. The Tower of Babel. Everyone gets together and wants to build a tower to heaven. God then punishes them by creating different languages and sending them all over the world (thus, the birth of the nations). So...why is it such a big deal that they wanted to build a tower? Well, from what I understand (and I definitely could be WAY off on this, so don't quote me), the buildin of a tower wasn't necessarily the sin. The main problem comes in the REASON for the tower. They built it so that, "we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth (11:4)". They didn't want to be spread out over the Earth. Which is in direct contradiction to God's command with Noah, that he be fruitful and multiply and fill the Earth. It wasn't that they wanted to build a tall skyscraper...it's that they wanted to ignore their purpose, and more importantly, ignore God's plan! THAT is the problem...and still is for us today.
Next comes Abram (soon to become Abraham). Right away, when we meet Abram, we see him in the midst of great faih. "Go to the land that I (God) will show you". Who would leave, and go somewhere...without knowing where they are going? It would be like hopping on a plane and deciding to move to wherever it lands. (of ourse, in Abram's case it would be hopping on a camel and wandering around until God says, STOP!). Abram is an interesting man. He is the main Patriarch. He is the Father of Judaism, Islam and Christianity...and yet he was messed up. As much faith as he had in God at one point, he was extremely little faith at others. For example...Abram lies about his wife Sarai, and says she is his sister (so that the Pharaoh wouldn't kill him). He doesn't trust that God would spare him. Later on, after God promises that he will have a son, he takes his wifes maidservant and has a child with her, instead of trusting God to give him a son through his wife. (Now, it should be noted that it is his wife that suggests that he have a baby with her servant...but he still agrees to it. It should also be noted that, between Job's wife, Eve eating the apple, and Abram's wife Sarai not trusting God-and then becoming an abusive mistress to her servant, women aren't exactly the Heroes of the early Bible).
While God's plan was slightly diverted...God still blesses Hagar (the servant), and says that she will have a son whom will be named Ishmael (the first child named BY God before his birth). Ishmael, as we know, became the Son of Islam (Abram is the Father, as mentioned above). Just think what our world would be like now if Sarai didn't deceve Abram into sleeping with her servant. There may be peace in the Middle East (or probably not...as someone else would have been born, and some other twist of fate would have gotten us here). However, it does make you realize that every decision can have a HUGE impact on the future. Who knows what your child will grow to be, or what your decision to turn left instead of right may lead to? Not saying that choosing a large coffee with cream over a medium black coffee will make a major "butterfly effect" impact...but does make you think about stuff.
Well...that's where I am now. Hagar and Ishmael. Abram is still without a son, but we know that it will happen very soon (and then what will happen after that). I find that, as I read this through chronologically, I am left with a greater sense that every story is connected. That, every story is part of one larger story. It's easy to read each individual story as it's own individual entity. It doesn't help that we teach kids each story on its on in Sunday School. One day we talk about David, the next day Daniel, and then Adam and Eve...We don't connect them. We don't show that they are all part of God's bigger story! WE ARE PART OF GOD'S BIGGER STORY. We are important to God, and to God's plan. We may never recieve a direct order from God to go to a land that he will show us, or be told to build an ark...but we are still important! Don't ever forget that.
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