Genesis Chapter 9 – The Noahic Covenant: The Specifics of the Covenant November 24, 2008
Posted by Clint Rodgers in Genesis Bible Study.Tags: Genesis, Genesis 9, Genesis Bible Study, God, God and Man, Jesus Christ, Man, the flood, The Holy Spirit, The Noahic Covenant
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Genesis 9 – The Noahic Covenant: The Specifics of the Covenant
1And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
2And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.
3Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.
Here in Genesis chapter nine is what is known as the Noahic covenant. There are eight total covenants in Scripture:
1. The Edenic covenant – Genesis 2
15And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
16And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
17But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
2. The Adamic covenant – Genesis 3
14And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
15And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
16Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
17And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
18Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
19In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
3. The Noahic covenant –
4. The Abrahamic covenant – Genesis 12
1Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
2And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
5. The Mosaic covenant – Exodus 20
1And God spake all these words, saying,
2I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
4Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
5Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
6And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
7Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
8Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
12Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
13Thou shalt not kill.
14Thou shalt not commit adultery.
15Thou shalt not steal.
16Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
17Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.
6. Palestinian covenant – Deuteronomy 30
1And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee,
2And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul;
3That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee.
4If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee:
5And the LORD thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers.
6And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.
7And the LORD thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee.
8And thou shalt return and obey the voice of the LORD, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day.
9And the LORD thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the LORD will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers:
10If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.
11For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off.
12It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
13Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
14But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.
15See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;
16In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.
17But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;
18I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.
19I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
20That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
7. Davidic covenant – 2 Samuel 7
1And it came to pass, when the king sat in his house, and the LORD had given him rest round about from all his enemies;
2That the king said unto Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in an house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains.
3And Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in thine heart; for the LORD is with thee.
4And it came to pass that night, that the word of the LORD came unto Nathan, saying,
5Go and tell my servant David, Thus saith the LORD, Shalt thou build me an house for me to dwell in?
6Whereas I have not dwelt in any house since the time that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle.
7In all the places wherein I have walked with all the children of Israel spake I a word with any of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people Israel, saying, Why build ye not me an house of cedar?
8Now therefore so shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel:
9And I was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name, like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth.
10Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime,
11And as since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies. Also the LORD telleth thee that he will make thee an house.
12And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.
13He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.
14I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:
15But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee.
16And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.
8. The New covenant – Hebrews 8
1Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;
2A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.
3For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer.
4For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law:
5Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.
6But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.
7For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.
8For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
9Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
11And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
13In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.
Genesis 7 – The Great Flood November 12, 2008
Posted by Clint Rodgers in Genesis Bible Study.Tags: Genesis, Genesis 7, Genesis Bible Study, God, Jesus Christ, Man, Noah, The Bible, the flood, The Holy Spirit
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Genesis 7
The Great Flood
1 Then the LORD said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.
That call still goes out today
Jesus said
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.(Matthew 11:28)
He bids us to come to salvation
Jesus is He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens (Revelation 3:7).
2 You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female; two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female; 3 also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of all the earth. 4 For after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made.” 5 And Noah did according to all that the LORD commanded him. 6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on the earth.
7 So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood. 8 Of clean animals, of animals that are unclean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the earth, 9 two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth. 11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. 12 And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.
13 On the very same day Noah and Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark— 14 they and every beast after its kind, all cattle after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. 15 And they went into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life. 16 So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the LORD shut him in.
Notice that the Lord shut the door. This is an important thing if we are to picture the ark as salvation and Jesus Christ as the Door to the ark. Jesus is He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens (Revelation 3:7). Then only God can shut The Door. The Door is open right now but one day it will be closed
Matthew 7:21-23
21Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
17 Now the flood was on the earth forty days. The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. 18 The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters. 19
Forty days has always seemed to be a time of testing in the Bible. It would have taken another test of faith in order to watch these new flood waters falling and rising up out of the earth and the sky because they had never seen it.
And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. 20 The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. 21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. 22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died.
(David Guzik) Enduringword.com
The description of the flood in this passage is so complete and specific that it is impossible to reconcile a local flood with the Biblical record. Despite the claims of some, this was a global deluge.
i. If this were not a global flood, then the ark itself would be unnecessary. If this were only a local flood, then God’s promise to never again bring such a flood is false. If this were only a local flood, the Bible is wrong when it traces all of humanity back to Noah’s sons and other passages that speak of a universal flood (such as Psalm 104:5-9 and 2 Peter 3:5-6).
ii. Literally hundreds of people groups have their own accounts and legends of the flood. One of the most remarkable is the Babylonian account, which is similar to the Genesis account in many ways and is clearly drawn from it. Since all mankind came from Noah’s sons, all mankind remembers the flood.
iii. Boice specifically cites the legends of the Samo-Kubo tribe of New Guinea, the Athapascan Indians of America, the Papago Indians of Arizona, Brazilian tribes, Peruvian Indians, African Hottentots, natives of Greenland, native Hawaiian islanders, Hindus, Chinese, Egyptians, Greeks, Persians, Australian natives, the Welsh, Celts, Druids, Siberians, and Lithuanians.
iv. Of the more than 200 cultures that have their own account of the flood the following aspects of the story are common:
88% describe a favored family
70% attribute survival to a boat
95% say the sole cause of the catastrophe is a flood
66% say that the disaster is due to man’s wickedness
67% record that animals are also saved
57% describe that the survivors end up on a mountain
Many of the accounts also specifically mention birds being sent out, a rainbow, and eight persons being saved
23 So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. 24 And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days.
This is an example of the awesome and humbling power of God. He had placed a boundary for the seas and waters during creation
Job 38
The LORD Reveals His Omnipotence to Job
1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said:
2 “Who is this who darkens counsel
By words without knowledge?
3 Now prepare yourself like a man;
I will question you, and you shall answer Me.
4 “ Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding.
5 Who determined its measurements?
Surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
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?
8 “Or who shut in the sea with doors,
When it burst forth and issued from the womb;
9 When I made the clouds its garment,
And thick darkness its swaddling band;
10 When I fixed My limit for it,
And set bars and doors;
11 When I said,
‘This far you may come, but no farther,
And here your proud waves must stop!’
12 “Have you commanded the morning since your days began,
And caused the dawn to know its place,
13 That it might take hold of the ends of the earth,
And the wicked be shaken out of it?
14 It takes on form like clay under a seal,
And stands out like a garment.
15 From the wicked their light is withheld,
And the upraised arm is broken.
16 “Have you entered the springs of the sea?
Or have you walked in search of the depths?
17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you?
Or have you seen the doors of the shadow of death?
18 Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth?
Tell Me, if you know all this.
19 “ Where is the way to the dwelling of light?
And darkness, where is its place,
20 That you may take it to its territory,
That you may know the paths to its home?
21 Do you know it, because you were born then,
Or because the number of your days is great?
22 “Have you entered the treasury of snow,
Or have you seen the treasury of hail,
23 Which I have reserved for the time of trouble,
For the day of battle and war?
24 By what way is light diffused,
Or the east wind scattered over the earth?
25 “Who has divided a channel for the overflowing water,
Or a path for the thunderbolt,
26 To cause it to rain on a land where there is no one,
A wilderness in which there is no man;
27 To satisfy the desolate waste,
And cause to spring forth the growth of tender grass?
28 Has the rain a father?
Or who has begotten the drops of dew?
29 From whose womb comes the ice?
And the frost of heaven, who gives it birth?
30 The waters harden like stone,
And the surface of the deep is frozen.
31 “Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades,
Or loose the belt of Orion?
32 Can you bring out Mazzaroth[a] in its season?
Or can you guide the Great Bear with its cubs?
33 Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?
Can you set their dominion over the earth?
34 “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,
That an abundance of water may cover you?
35 Can you send out lightnings, that they may go,
And say to you, ‘Here we are!’?
36 Who has put wisdom in the mind?[b]
Or who has given understanding to the heart?
37 Who can number the clouds by wisdom?
Or who can pour out the bottles of heaven,
38 When the dust hardens in clumps,
And the clods cling together?
39 “Can you hunt the prey for the lion,
Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
40 When they crouch in their dens,
Or lurk in their lairs to lie in wait?
41 Who provides food for the raven,
When its young ones cry to God,
And wander about for lack of food?
And yet here He takes that boundary away. What an Awesome, Wondrous, Mighty God!!!! He takes care of His creation and all of life is in His perfect, gracious, powerful Hands
Here we see His judgment of a wicked and perverse generation who had no regard for the truth and for God
We also see His mercy for those who simply believe in faith and obedience
We have discussed the shadows and types that this episode represents but it also represents something in this generations very near future.
Matthew 24
35Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
36But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
37But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Luke 17
26And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.
27They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.
28Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;
29But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.
30Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.
Hebrews 11:7
By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
This points AD 70 but it also points far beyond to a time that has yet to be seen
Matthew 24
1And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.
2And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
3And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
4And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
5For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
6And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8All these are the beginning of sorrows.
9Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.
10And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
11And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
12And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
13But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
14And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
15When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
16Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
17Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
18Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
19And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
20But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
21For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.
23Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
24For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
25Behold, I have told you before.
26Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.
27For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
28For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
29Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
30And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
We also see an end times drama being depicted through the lives of Enoch and Noah during the Genesis record.
Here the tribulation is pictured in the flood
Enoch would represent the church, those who are In Christ
Noah and Lot would represent believers (Jewish and Gentile) who are saved during the tribulation
Primarily the verses mentioning Lot and his wife apply to those who escape at the abomination of desolation at the midpoint of the tribulation. Lot’s wife represents those who hesitate at this time while Lot typifies those who quickly flee without turning back.
Yet they also represent those who did not want to leave the comfort of the beast (Lot’s wife) and those who would not take the mark, those who were trusting in the Lord
Genesis 6:13-22 – The Destruction of all things Part 2 November 11, 2008
Posted by Clint Rodgers in Genesis Bible Study.Tags: flood, Genesis, Genesis 6, Genesis Bible Study, God, Jesus Christ, legends of the Jews, Man, Noah, The Bible, The Holy Spirit
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The Legends of the Jews
by Louis Ginzberg
Volume I
THE INMATES OF THE ARK
The ark was completed according to the instructions laid down in the Book of Raziel. Noah’s next task was gathering in the animals. No less than thirty-two species of birds and three hundred and sixty-five of reptiles he had to take along with him. But God ordered the animals to repair to the ark, and they trooped thither, and Noah did not have to do so much as stretch out a finger.[24] Indeed, more appeared than were required to come, and God instructed him to sit at the door of the ark and note which of the animals lay down as they reached the entrance and which stood. The former belonged in the ark, but not the latter. Taking up his post as he had been commanded, Noah observed a lioness with her two cubs. All three beasts crouched. But the two young ones began to struggle with the mother, and she arose and stood up next to them. Then Noah led the two cubs into the ark. The wild beasts, and the cattle, and the birds which were not accepted remained standing about the ark all of seven days, for the assembling of the animals happened one week before the flood began to descend. On the day whereon they came to the ark, the sun was darkened, and the foundations of the earth trembled, and lightning flashed, and the thunder boomed, as never before. And yet the sinners remained impenitent. In naught did they change their wicked doings during those last seven days.
When finally the flood broke loose, seven hundred thousand of the children of men gathered around the ark, and implored Noah to grant them protection. With a loud voice he replied, and said: “Are ye not those who were rebellious toward God, saying, ‘There is no God’? Therefore He has brought ruin upon you, to annihilate you and destroy you from the face of the earth. Have I not been prophesying this unto you these hundred and twenty years, and you would not give heed unto the voice of God? Yet now you desire to be kept alive!” Then the sinners cried out: “So be it! We all are ready now to turn back to God, if only thou wilt open the door of thy ark to receive us, that we may live and not die.” Noah made answer, and said: “That ye do now, when your need presses hard upon you. Why did you not turn to God during all the hundred and twenty years which the Lord appointed unto you as the term of repentance? Now do ye come, and ye speak thus, because distress besets your lives. Therefore God will not hearken unto you and give you ear; naught will you accomplish!”
The crowd of sinners tried to take the entrance to the ark by storm, but the wild beasts keeping watch around the ark set upon them, and many were slain, while the rest escaped, only to meet death in the waters of the flood.[25] The water alone could not have made an end of them, for they were giants in stature and strength. When Noah threatened them with the scourge of God, they would make reply: “If the waters of the flood come from above, they will never reach up to our necks; and if they come from below, the soles of our feet are large enough to dam up the springs.” But God bade each drop pass through Gehenna before it fell to earth, and the hot rain scalded the skin of the sinners. The punishment that overtook them was befitting their crime. As their sensual desires had made them hot, and inflamed them to immoral excesses, so they were chastised by means of heated water.[26]
Not even in the hour of the death struggle could the sinners suppress their vile instincts. When the water began to stream up out of the springs, they threw their little children into them, to choke the flood.[27]
It was by the grace of God, not on account of his merits, that Noah found shelter in the ark before the overwhelming force of the waters.[28] Although he was better than his contemporaries, he was yet not worthy of having wonders done for his sake. He had so little faith that he did not enter the ark until the waters had risen to his knees. With him his pious wife Naamah, the daughter of Enosh, escaped the peril, and his three sons, and the wives of his three sons.”
Noah had not married until he was four hundred and ninety-eight years old. Then the Lord had bidden him to take a wife unto himself. He had not desired to bring children into the world, seeing that they would all have to perish in the flood, and he had only three sons, born unto him shortly before the deluge came.[30] God had given him so small a number of offspring that he might be spared the necessity of building the ark on an overlarge scale in case they turned out to be pious. And if not, if they, too, were depraved like the rest of their generation, sorrow over their destruction would but be increased in proportion to their number.[31]
As Noah and his family were the only ones not to have a share in the corruptness of the age, so the animals received into the ark were such as had led a natural life. For the animals of the time were as immoral as the men: the dog united with the wolf, the cock with the pea-fowl, and many others paid no heed to sexual purity. Those that were saved were such as had kept themselves untainted.[32]
Before the flood the number of unclean animals had been greater than the number of the clean. Afterward the ratio was reversed, because while seven pairs of clean animals were preserved in the ark, but two pairs of the unclean were preserved.[33]
One animal, the reem, Noah could not take into the ark. On account of its huge size it could not find room therein. Noah therefore tied it to the ark, and it ran on behind.[34] Also, he could not make space for the giant Og, the king of Bashan. He sat on top of the ark securely, and in this way escaped the flood of waters. Noah doled out his food to him daily, through a hole, because Og had promised that he and his descendants would serve him as slaves in perpetuity.[35]
Two creatures of a most peculiar kind also found refuge in the ark. Among the beings that came to Noah there was Falsehood asking for shelter. He was denied admission, because he had no companion, and Noah was taking in the animals only by pairs. Falsehood went off to seek a partner, and he met Misfortune, whom he associated with himself on the condition that she might appropriate what Falsehood earned. The pair were then accepted in the ark. When they left it, Falsehood noticed that whatever he gathered together disappeared at once, and he betook himself to his companion to seek an explanation, which she gave him in the following words, “Did we not agree to the condition that I might take what you earn?” and Falsehood had to depart empty-handed.”
THE FLOOD
The assembling of the animals in the ark was but the smaller part of the task imposed upon Noah. His chief difficulty was to provide food for a year and accommodations for them. Long afterward Shem, the son of Noah, related to Eliezer, the servant of Abraham, the tale of their experiences with the animals in the ark. This is what he said: “We had sore troubles in the ark. The day animals had to be fed by day, and the night animals by night. My father knew not what food to give to the little zikta. Once he cut a pomegranate in half, and a worm dropped out of the fruit, and was devoured by the zikta. Thenceforth my father would knead bran, and let it stand until it bred worms, which were fed to the animal. The lion suffered with a fever all the time, and therefore he did not annoy the others, because he did not relish dry food. The animal urshana my father found sleeping in a corner of the vessel, and he asked him whether he needed nothing to eat. He answered, and said: ‘I saw thou wast very busy, and I did not wish to add to thy cares.’ Whereupon my father said, ‘May it be the will of the Lord to keep thee alive forever,’ and the blessing was realized.”[37]
The difficulties were increased when the flood began to toss the ark from side to side. All inside of it were shaken up like lentils in a pot. The lions began to roar, the oxen lowed, the wolves howled, and all the animals gave vent to their agony, each through the sounds it had the power to utter.
Also Noah and his sons, thinking that death was nigh, broke into tears. Noah prayed to God: “O Lord, help us, for we are not able to bear the evil that encompasses us. The billows surge about us, the streams of destruction make us afraid, and death stares us in the face. O hear our prayer, deliver us, incline Thyself unto us, and be gracious unto us! Redeem us and save us!”[38]
The flood was produced by a union of the male waters, which are above the firmament, and the female waters issuing from the earth.[39] The upper waters rushed through the space left when God removed two stars out of the constellation Pleiades. Afterward, to put a stop to the flood, God had to transfer two stars from the constellation of the Bear to the constellation of the Pleiades. That is why the Bear runs after the Pleiades. She wants her two children back, but they will be restored to her only in the future world.[40]
There were other changes among the celestial spheres during the year of the flood. All the time it lasted, the sun and the moon shed no light, whence Noah was called by his name, “the resting one,” for in his life the sun and the moon rested. The ark was illuminated by a precious stone, the light of which was more brilliant by night than by day, so enabling Noah to distinguish between day and night.[41]
The duration of the flood was a whole year. It began on the seventeenth day of Heshwan, and the rain continued for forty days, until the twenty-seventh of Kislew. The punishment corresponded to the crime of the sinful generation. They had led immoral lives, and begotten bastard children, whose embryonic state lasts forty days. From the twenty seventh of Kislew until the first of Siwan, a period of one hundred and fifty days, the water stood at one and the same height, fifteen ells above the earth. During that time all the wicked were destroyed, each one receiving the punishment due to him.[42] Cain was among those that perished, and thus the death of Abel was avenged.[43] So powerful were the waters in working havoc that the corpse of Adam was not spared in its grave.[44]
On the first of Siwan the waters began to abate, a quarter of an ell a day, and at the end of sixty days, on the tenth day of Ab, the summits of the mountains showed themselves. But many days before, on the tenth of Tammuz, Noah had sent forth the raven, and a week later the dove, on the first of her three sallies, repeated at intervals of a week. It took from the first of Ab until the first of Tishri for the waters to subside wholly from the face of the earth. Even then the soil was so miry that the dwellers in the ark had to remain within until the twenty-seventh day of Heshwan, completing a full sun year, consisting of twelve moons and eleven days.[45]
Noah had experienced difficulty all along in ascertaining the state of the waters. When he desired to dispatch the raven, the bird said: “The Lord, thy Master, hates me, and thou dost hate me, too. Thy Master hates me, for He bade thee take seven pairs of the clean animals into the ark, and but two pairs of the unclean animals, to which I belong. Thou hatest me, for thou dost not choose, as a messenger, a bird of one of the kinds of which there are seven pairs in the ark, but thou sendest me, and of my kind there is but one pair. Suppose, now, I should perish by reason of heat or cold, would not the world be the poorer by a whole species of animals? Or can it be that thou hast cast a lustful eye upon my mate, and desirest to rid thyself of me?” Where unto Noah made answer, and said: “Wretch! I must live apart from my own wife in the ark. How much less would such thoughts occur to my mind as thou imputest to me!”[46]
The raven’s errand had no success, for when he saw the body of a dead man, he set to work to devour it, and did not execute the orders given to him by Noah. Thereupon the dove was sent out. Toward evening she returned with an olive leaf in her bill, plucked upon the Mount of Olives at Jerusalem, for the Holy Land had not been ravaged by the deluge. As she plucked it, she said to God: “O Lord of the world, let my food be as bitter as the olive, but do Thou give it to me from Thy hand, rather than it should be sweet, and I be delivered into the power of men.”[47]
Genesis 6:13-22 – The Destruction of all things November 11, 2008
Posted by Clint Rodgers in Genesis Bible Study.Tags: Genesis, Genesis 6, Genesis Bible Study, God, Jesus Christ, Man, Noah, The Bible, the flood, The Holy Spirit
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Genesis 6:13-22 The Destruction of all things
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.
Now let’s look back at something wonderful. It is another example of the evidence of just how and why Noah found grace in the eyes of God.
In Genesis 5:32, it tells us that Noah was 500 years old when his boys, Shem, Ham, and Japheth were born.
God had already proclaimed that man would have 120 years on the earth to get things right (another act of grace on God’s part) but man did not listen and he did not change.
This means that Noah received this call from God when he was 480 years old. 20 years before his sons were born. The flood occurs when Noah is 600 or 120 years from the call for the destruction of mankind.
14 Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch.
The word “pitch” here is translated from the Hebrew word “Kaphar” which means
“atonement, purge, reconciliation, reconcile, forgive, purge away, pacify, atonement…made, merciful, cleansed, disannulled, appease, put off, pardon”
So Noah was to “cleanse” or “cover” “atone” the ark, inside and outside.
This recalls what Jesus Christ has done for us.
The pitch would protect the precious cargo inside the ark while keeping the foreign things out.
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 third decks. 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.
The ark is a picture of salvation.
Hebrews 11:7
By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
1Peter 3:20
Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
2Peter 2:5
And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth [person], a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
The door of the ark is a picture of Jesus Christ.
The window is a picture of the access of the Holy Spirit in our lives
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.
1Peter 3
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us[e] to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, 19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, 20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited[f] in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. 21 There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.
So what is this thing called baptism?
Some say that it is the sign of salvation and they will proclaim that only when you are physically baptized will you be saved.
Others say that it is merely for show and that we do it to join the Church.
But baptism is not salvation and it is more than just confirmation. It is more than a show for others to see but it is not a salvation through works.
This thing called baptism is a symbol, a covenant with our Lord as well as a means for ministry.
What can we learn from baptism?
In the waters of preparation
1) We die in submission to God in baptism.
Matthew 3:13-17
We know from verse 15 that John did not think that it was proper for him to be baptizing Jesus for the remission of sins. Why? Because he grew up around Jesus. He saw how sinless Jesus was and is. He knew that there was no sin to repent of in Jesus. So he said “No, You should be washing me!” Yet Jesus told him to permit it because He said it was “To fulfill all righteousness.”
He was acting out something. He was doing something, not for sin, but for the Father and for us.
2) We die to sin in baptism
1 Peter 3:21-22
Noah’s name means rest and is similar to the verb meaning comfort.
This is a picture of our dying to sin through the waters of the Spirit (John 4:14)
When we are indwelled with the Spirit of God at salvation, we receive a new nature, a nature that is not from birth, but from God. A nature that is like the new one that Noah saw after the flood. Genesis 6:17, an uncorrupted nature.
Everything in the earth had to die and everything earthly has to die within us.
Will we still stumble and fall? Yes, just like Noah, but as we live in Christ, we die to sin daily (Romans 12:1-2) and we live in Christ through His resurrection
3) We die to self in baptism
Jonah
Jonah’s name means dove. Jonah spent three days in the whale and he is a picture of our dying to self through the resurrection of Jesus
Matthew 12:38-40
John 12:23-26
These verses take on a whole new meaning when we seek to live like Christ
Matthew 10:39, 16:25
In the waters of separation
Going through the waters of the covenant
Numbers 31:23
Genesis 8:21-22
Noah was in Christ (Figuratively) in the ark for 40 days and 40 nights through the water.
The water took away what was unclean and God made a covenant with the new nature
The sign of this covenant was the rainbow
Exodus 34:28
Moses and the children of Israel had gone through the Red Sea.
Moses spent 40 days and nights with God on the mountain. He came back with the Ten Commandments or a covenant with Israel
Exodus 20-24:8
The sign was circumcision
Jesus went through the water of baptism. He spent 40 days and nights in the wilderness before being tempted. He came back with the Kingdom manifesto (The Sermon on the Mount) the guide for new Kingdom living or a covenant for Christians
The sign for us is the Holy Spirit
Ephesians 1:13
Because we are washed by the Word of God (Ephesians 5:26)
John 4:10-15, 7:37-39
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.
We will not get into reasons for a global flood or why there must have been one. Those who read it after Moses wrote it believed it because God said it and that is all the reason and need to believe it. Many folks would rather spend time looking for the ark or looking for reasons why there was or was not a global flood. God said that all flesh would die on the earth and I for one believe Him because I believe His Word
Genesis Chapter 2:15-3:1-24 – The Corruption of All Things Part 9 October 20, 2008
Posted by Clint Rodgers in Genesis Bible Study.Tags: Adam and Eve, Genesis, Genesis Bible Study, God, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Man, The Bible, The Story of Man
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Man’s present day condition
A) The fallacies
1. Man is dirt and therefore cannot be saved.
2. Man is divine and therefore need not be saved.
B) The facts
1. The natural man
1 Corinth 2:14
All unsaved men (natural) are spiritually depraved.
A) Negative aspects of depravity
1. Depravity does not mean that all unsaved men and women are as depraved as they can become.
2. Depravity does not hold that a sinner has no sense of God or good and evil.
3. Depravity does not teach that an unsaved man can’t admire the noble, or even perform noble acts.
B) Positive aspects of depravity
Romans 8:7-8
1. Depravity means that all sinners are capable of all wicked things.
2. Depravity teaches that no sinner has the power to please God.
2. The carnal man
1 Corinth 3:1-3
Here Paul describes a Christian who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, but who still allows himself to be controlled by the passion of the flesh.
3. The spirit indwelt man
1 Corinth 2:15
6. His destiny
There is more to this life than life itself
Job 14:1-2,14
Job 19:25-26
Mankind has asked 3 questions through the ages.
1. Where did I come from?
2. Why am I here?
3. Where am I going?
A) False views concerning the destiny of man
1. Nirvana
An Oriental Hindu philosophy that has moved its way into Christianity at times.
This philosophy teaches that at death a man ceases to exist personally and is absorbed by a great life giving principle in the universe.
The small ripple in a large ocean principle
Example: Scientology
The Bible clearly refutes this
1. Man does not cease to exist – Matt 17:3
Moses dies 2,000 years earlier and Elijah had departed over seven centuries back and they both appeared on the mount of transfiguration.
2. Man has a destiny – 1 Corinth 15:12-20
3. Saved men have a different destiny than the unsaved men – 1 Corinth 15:42-49, luke 16:19-31
2. Restorationism or universalism
This belief states that in a future life all men will be given a second chance to make the choice for God that they did not make during their life.
This is refuted by
1. man has a choice – Prov 29:1
2. The choice is clear – Job 3:3
3. God gave us this choice – John 3:16-21
4. His Son Jesus Christ is the only way – John 14:6
3. Materialism
An atheistic belief that man, upon death, forever ceases to be and quietly rots into nothingness.
This has been described as knowing the price of everything but the value of nothing
Man can have victory over death – 1 Corinth 15:50-57
4. Annihilationism
This belief teaches that all the ungodly will someday litterally be uncreated or annihilated by God.
Example: Jehovah’s witnesses
This is refuted by
1. Man will exist in the afterlife – Matthew 25:46
Revelation 14:9-11
5. Soul sleep
This belief states that the soul sleeps between death and the resurrection
This is refuted by
1. We are absent from the body – 2 Corinth 5:6-9
2. We are with Christ – Phil 1:23-24
3. We could possibly have a temporary body in heaven – Revelations 6:9-12
6. Purgatory
The Roman Catholic belief that all those who die at peace with the church but are not perfect must undergo partial and purifying sufferings. However this is only for those who die in venial (lesser) sins because all who die in mortal sins are condemned to hell. this teaches that ones stay in purgatory can be shortened by the gifts or services rendered by their loved ones to the church in their names
This is refuted by
1. man does not need the gifts of a priest – Heb 9:11-14
2. Christ is our one and only High priest – Heb 9;24-28
3. Christ paid the price for our sins – Heb 10:12-17
7. Limbo
Another aspect of Roman Catholic theology which teaches that all unbaptized children and the mentally incapacitated upon death proceed to a place of natural happiness but not heaven
Children and the mentally challenged go to heaven – Matthew 18:1-10
8. Reincarnation
The belief in the rebirth of the soul. this is fundamental to most beliefs in India. As one sows in this life he will reap in the next life. Good deeds result in a better state of rebirth and bad deeds result in a worse state of rebirth.
B) man’s destiny according to Scripture
1) Before the cross
Where was the abode of the dead prior to Calvary?
Most scholars believe that before Christ’s death all men’s souls descended to an abode located somewhere in the earth, usually in its core known as Hades in the New Testament and Sheol in the Old Testament.
There were two sections of Hades, one for the saved and one for the lost. This separated saved section was known as Paradise and at times referred to as Abraham’s bosom. The two sections were separated by a great gulf.
Luke 16:22
Luke 23:43
A number of extremely interesting conclusions may be derived from Luke 16:19-31
A) The activities of angels in carrying believers to their reward.
B) The possibility of a temporary preresurrection body for the saved and unsaved.
C) The irony of an occupant in hell wanting to become a soul winner
D) The nature od the rich mans request to send Lazarus to testify to his lost brothers. This request was denied because it simply would not work.
Christ did raise a man named Lazarus a few months later after telling this to the people and it did not cause anyone to be converted. Actually the Pharisee planned to kill Jesus all the more and if necessary to also murder the resurrected Lazarus.
John 12:10-11
Many think this situation was changed after Christ had made full payment for believer’s sins at Calvary. Many believe that He descended into Hades and depopulate Paradise to bring the Saints to be with Him before their resurrection.
Ephesians 4:8-10
1 Peter 3:18-32
2) After the cross
The situation of the unsaved dead remained and remains the same (Rev 20:11-19)
Unsaved man will remain there until after the millenium (Rev 20:5)
There is a glorious change concerning the state of those who follow Christ
Acts 7:55-60
Phil 1:21-23
2 Corinth 5:8
According to these verses both Stephen and Paul are now in the heavens along with all other believers who have died and all are with Christ.
This place is referred to as the third heaven
2 Corinth 12:1-4
Man is headed for one of two places in the future.
Heaven – Revelation 21-22:1-5
1) The saved can look forward to a better place – 2 Peter 3:10-13
2) Heaven is the place where:
A) Christians will enter into His rest
Psalms 95:7-11
Hebrews 3:7-19, 4:1-10
B) There are many mansions prepared for us
John 14:1-6
C) As Christians we are already citizens
Phillipians 3:20-21
D) We have an inheritance reserved for us
1 Peter 1:3-5
Matthew 25:34
Hell
1) The worldly person is headed for a place of doom – 2 Peter 2:4-11
2) Hell is a place:
Of utter darkness – Matthew 25:30
Of everlasting fire and brimstone – Matthew 25:41, Revelation 21:8
Of everlasting punishment – Matthew 25:46
Of everlasting torment – Luke 16:19-31, Mark 9:43-48
Where the fire is never quenched – Revelation 21:8 (sulfur – such fire is never ending)
Where the darkness is never lightened – Matthew 25:30 (Imagine complete darkness. No contact with anyone or anything except weeping and gnashing of teeth, no form to your surroundings no end and no sides)
Where the anguish is never relieved – Matthew 13:41-42 , Luke 16:24
Where the condition is never changed – Matthew 23:33
Where guilt is never canceled – Luke 16:25-26
Rabbinic Judaism
Gehenna is defined in rabbinic literature. It is sometimes translated as “Hell”, but this doesn’t effectively convey its meaning. In Judaism, Gehenna is not hell, but rather a sort of Purgatory where one is judged based on their life’s deeds. The Kabbalah describes it as a “waiting room” (commonly translated as an “entry way”) for all souls (not just the wicked). The overwhelming majority of rabbinic thought maintains that people are not in Gehenna forever; the longest that one can be there is said to be 12 months, however there has been the occasional noted exception. Some consider it a spiritual forge where the soul is purified for its eventual ascent to Olam Habah (heb. עולם הבא; lit. “The world to come”, often viewed as analogous to Heaven). This is also mentioned in the Kabbalah, where the soul is described as breaking, like the flame of a candle lighting another: the part of the soul that ascends being pure, and the “unfinished” piece being reborn.
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Ancient Greek religion
Another source for the modern idea of ‘Hell’ is the Greek and Roman Tartarus, a place in which conquered gods, men and other spirits were punished. Tartarus formed part of Hades in Greek mythology and Roman mythology, but Hades also included Elysium, a place for the reward for those who lead virtuous lives, whilst others spent their afterlife in the asphodels fields. Like most ancient (pre-Christian) religions, the underworld was not viewed as negatively as it is in Christianity
Islam
The Muslim belief in jahannam (in Arabic: جهنم) (similar to Hebrew ge-hinnom and resembles that of other Abrahamic religions). In the Qur’an, the holy book of Islam, there are literal descriptions of the condemned in a fiery Hell, as contrasted to the garden-like Paradise enjoyed by righteous believers.
The meaning of jahannam is to do with hotness (whereas in Hebrew Gehenna is said to mean a narrow deep valley). The word for paradise is jannah which means garden.
In addition, Heaven and Hell are split into many levels depending on the actions taken in life, where punishment is given depending on the level of evil done in life, and good is separated into other levels depending on how well one followed Allah (God) while alive.
There is an equal number of mentions of both hell and paradise in the Qur’an.
The Qur’an also says that some of those who are damned to hell are not damned forever, but instead for an indefinite period of time. When Judgement Day comes, the formerly damned will be judged as to whether or not they may enter into Paradise. In any case, there is good reason to believe that punishment in hell is not meant to actually last eternally, but instead serves as a basis for spiritual rectification.[1]
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Chinese and Japanese religions
main article: Di Yu, the Chinese Hell and Japanese Hell
The structure of Hell is remarkably complex in many Chinese and Japanese religions. The ruler of Hell has to deal with politics, just as human rulers do. Hell is the subject of many folk stories and manga. In many such stories, people in hell are able to die again.
See Di Yu for more information on Chinese Hell.
The Chinese depiction of Hell doesn’t necessarily mean a long time suffering for those who enter Hell, nor does it mean that person is bad. The Chinese view Hell as similar to a present day passport or immigration control station. In a Chinese funeral, they burn many Hell Bank Notes for the dead. With this Hell money, the dead person can bribe the ruler of Hell, and spend the rest of the money either in Hell or in Heaven.
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Taoism
Taoism has a slightly nebulous version of Hell. Some claim it has no Hell at all, but – particularly in its home country China – popular belief endows Taoist Hell with many deities and spirits who punish sin in a variety of horrible ways.
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Hinduism
In Hinduism, there are contradictions as to whether or not there is a hell. For some it is a metaphor for a conscience. But in Mahabharata there is a mention of the Pandavas and the Kauravas going to hell. Hells are also described in various Puranas and other scriptures.
It is believed that people who commit ‘paap’ (sin) go to hell and have to go through the punishments in accordance to the sins they committed. The god Yama, who is also the god of death, is the king of hell. The detailed accounts of all the sins committed by an individual are supposed to be kept by Chitragupta who is the record keeper in Yama’s court. Chitragupta reads out the sins committed and Yama orders the appropriate punishments to be given to the individuals. These punishments include dipping in boiling oil, burning in fire, torture using various weapons etc. in various hells. Individuals who finish their quota of the punishments are reborn according to their karma. All of the created are imperfect and thus have at least one sin to their record, but if one has led a generally pious life, one ascends to Heaven, or Swarga after a brief period of expiation in hell.
Tour of Vedic universe
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Buddhism
As diverse as other religions, there are many beliefs about Hell in Buddhism.
Most of the schools of thought, Theravāda, Mahāyāna, and Vajrayāna would acknowledge several hells, which are places of great suffering for those who commit evil actions, such as cold hells and hot hells. Like all the different realms within cyclic existence, an existence in hell is temporary for its inhabitants. Those with sufficiently negative karma are reborn there, where they stay until their specific negative karma has been used up, at which point they are reborn in another realm, such as that of humans, of hungry ghosts, of animals, of asuras, of devas, or of Naraka (Hell) all according to the individual’s karma.
Zen does not really focus or use the idea of Hell. Rather, consider this koan:
A roshi meets two students in the garden. To them, he asks, “where is Hell?”
“In Heaven,” the first student replies.
The roshi humphs, disappointedly. He then looks at the second.
“In the flower by your foot,” the second replies. He then bends down and kisses it. The first student bows, enlightened.
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Bahá’í Faith
Bahá’ís do not accept Hell as a place, but rather as a state of being. “Heaven is nearness to Me and Hell is separation from Me.” – Bahá’u'lláh
The thing is that it doesn’t matter what man tries to create and speculate to make himself feel better. Hell and the lake of fire are real. One day man will either dwell in heaven or hell and it is man’s choice up until the end of their lives. Unsaved man has no one but himself to blame if he does not end up in heaven.
Genesis Chapter 2:15-3:1-24 – The Corruption of All Things Part 8 October 20, 2008
Posted by Clint Rodgers in Genesis Bible Study.Tags: Adam and Eve, Genesis, Genesis Bible Study, God, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Man, The Bible, The Story of Man
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The redemption of God
Genesis 3:9-24
We are now introduced to the redemptive attributes of God.
1) His holiness as He deals with sin
God pronounces a five-fold judgment sentence
A) Upon the man
Genesis 3:17
God curses the serpent, Satan, and the soil, but not mankind
Adam
A) The labor of the toil of the ground
The ground was cursed because of man (the rose had no thorns)
The pain of labor is a reminder of man’s transgression.
B) He would have to work to support his family.
B) Upon the woman
Genesis 3:16
Eve
A) Labor pains are a reminder of Eve’s transgression as well as a reminder of the curse of sin on each person
The heritage of sin moves from father to son in conception
The suffering in childbirth is not so much a direct result of judgment from God but rather the direct result of sin. Sin always causes suffering, sickness, seperation, and sorrow. The woman’s joy in childbirth would be saddened by the pain of it
B) Her desire would be to her husband.
The word deisre can also mean “an attempt to ursurp or control”
We can paraphrase these last two lines as “you will now have a tendency to dominate your husband and he will have a tendency to act like a tyrant over you.” The battle of the sexes has begun as each strives for control or domination over the other. Jesus is the only answer to this problem
C) Upon all nature
Genesis 3:18
The whole earth
The curse was over the whole earth. Suffering was pronounced on man due to his fall and all suffering can be traced back to the fall of man.
The rose now has thorns (Romans 8:19-22)
At this point the scientific principle called “The second law of thermodynamics” came into being. This law states that when energy is transformed from one state to another, some of it is turned into heat energy which becomes useless. In other words, this universe is like a wound up clock that is slowly running down
Psalm 102:26
Hebrews 1:11-12
The curse of death
All sickness is healable except death. We will all die if Jesus tarries (Hebrews 9:27)
In Adam we die.
In Christ we live
Romans 5:12-22
Adam is blamed not Eve
They both are guilty but when Adam partook of sin, He transgressed against God willingly with both eyes open knowing it was sin
Before we had had a pair working together in sweet accord toward God with no sin. Now their eyes were opened and they began to die. They knew that there was something wrong between themselves and God. God expelled them from Eden in an act of grace so they couldn’t eat of the tree of life and remain this fallen state forever with no hope of reconciliation.
D) Upon the serpent
Genesis 3:14
This implies that before this the serpent had some other body form
E) Upon the devil
Genesis 3:15
The thrilling prediction of the cross and the resurrection
We are introduced to the Savior’s great victory over Satan
This all important verse is known as the “Proto-Evangel” The first gospel
Romans 16:20
Isaiah 53:5
When Jesus went to the cross, He was bruised on His heel, meaning He suffered a terrible temporary injury. In His resurrection He defeated His enemy from that moment on. Satan has been living on borrowed time ever since. he has already been defeated and only the announcement needs to be given.
Adam and Eve would experience a 7-fold sentence of their sin.
A) Shame – Gen 3:7
B) Fear – Gen 3:8-10
C) Discord – Passing the buck – Gen 3:12-13
D) Death
1. Physical and spiritual
E) Suffering – Gen 3:16
F) Weariness of labor – Gen 3:17-19
G) Separation – Gen 3:22-24
2) God’s grace is seen as He deals with sinners
A) In seeking Adam (Genesis 3:9)
The Bible is God’s search for man (Luke 15)
In all these parables, a search is called for that which is lost:
For the lost sheep
For the lost coin
For the lost son
Luke 19:10
B) In promising the Savior (Genesis 3:15)
C) In clothing them (Genesis 3:21)
Righteousness and salvation are likened to right clothes
Although we are not specifically told so, it would seem probable that an innocent animal had to die so that Adam and his wife might be clothed
Isaiah 53:5-6
1 Peter 3:18
D) In removing them from the garden (Genesis 3:22-24)
Man’s expulsion from the garden was really an act of grace, because if they had eaten from the tree of everlasting life they would have lived forever in this sinful state with no chance for redemption
Could they have stopped before they took the fruit?
James 1:13-15
When?
Before she even spoke to Satan. Sin does not force itself on the unwilling but is chosen because of its attractiveness (1 Corinthians 10:12-13)
Who does God call for?
“Adam, where are you?”
Each question gives them an opportunity to confess. God knew where they were.
Who told you you were naked?
Have you eaten from the tree?
Adam blames Eve, Eve blames the serpent
How long were Adam and Eve in the garden?
It appears from scripture that they spent a very short time in Eden (Genesis 4:1)
Will we see Adam in heaven?
We know he was created perfect and we know he sinned but was he saved?
A) God clothed Adam and Eve in animal skins
Genesis 3:21
Doubtless some innocent animal had to die for their sins to provide the clothing. this act would have been a type of salvation
Genesis 4:4
Abel knew the right way to worship God by the sacrifice that he gave to God and this seems to assume that he gained this knowledge from Adam who must have learned it from God.
The theories used to explain the fall.
Where the effects of Adam’s fall merely confined to himself or do they continue to make themselves known in our lives today?
1) Liberals – They say it is only a legend
2) Pelagians – They believe that Adam’s sin only affected himself.
3) Arminians – They believe that while Adam’s sin weakened his will to remain sinless, it did not destroy the possibility.
4) Agustines position – Adam’s sin corrupted all mankind
Romans 5:12
In the New Testament Paul distinguishes between sin and sins.
Sin – The root of my problem is a reference to my corrupted nature which I received from Adam,
Sins – The fruit of my problem is a reference to those actions resulting from my corrupted nature.
Romans 3:23
For all have sinned (present tense) in Adam and are (present time, in daily experience) falling short of God’s glory(every day)
Genesis Chapter 2:15-3:1-24 – The Corruption of All Things Part 7 October 20, 2008
Posted by Clint Rodgers in Genesis Bible Study.Tags: Adam and Eve, Genesis, Genesis Bible Study, God, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Man, The Bible, The Story of Man
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The sin of Adam
He became the first sinner (Genesis 3:6)
Romans 5:12
He attempts (at first) to hide his nakedness from God (Genesis 3:8)
We have the first example of man made religion in history. They tried to cover themselves with fig leaves. Religion is any attempt to clothe ourselves apart from the righteousness of Christ. Adam and Eve tried it with fig leaves. Men today try it with education, church membership, baptism, tithing, confirmation, good workd, secret rituals, etc, but all to no avail
Isaiah 64:6
Luke 18:11-12
Christ cursed the fig tree and He denounced religion right after that(Mark 11:12-19). Religion merely covers our sins and it will separate us from God. God searched for man in the garden not man searching for God.
Genesis 3:9
Where are you?
Adam and Eve had eaten the fruit on the tree of knowledge of good and evil and now something had happened. Something was now different between God and man. Adam and Eve knew they were naked and they became embarrassed when they heard God in the garden. So God asks them this question. He didn’t need to know what they had done. He didn’t need to know where they were but man did. Adam needed to know what he had done and he needed to realize it. Sometimes we are oblivious to something that we are doing or have done while we are in the very act of doing it and sometimes we need to speak it, to talk about it to realize what we have been doing. To realize what we have done. This even goes with sin in our lives. Adam needed to know that he had sinned. He needed to know that he had broken fellowship with God and that this fellowship was lost. Now man was in a fallen and sinful state. Of course Adam did realize what he had done and instead of taking the blame he reacted in a way that we all do from time to time. He played the blame game. He told God that it was God’s fault because He had given him the woman.
Am I that way?
Are you?
Do we blame everyone else instead of ourselves. We are told to confess our sins and He will forgive us. He won’t beat us over the head with them. He won’t bring them up again later when we are in a good mood. He won’t dwell on them. (One of the greatest things about the way Jesus dealt with people was that He didn’t dwell on their sins, He dealt with their sins but He didn’t dwell on them)
We need to come to the Lord with a right heart. A heart that is not interested in blaming others. A heart ready to confess and repent and receive renewed fellowship with Him.
So where was Adam?
Was he too busy working?
Where was Adam?
Where was he when Eve was tempted by the serpent?
Was he too busy working?
We all need to work but sometimes we take it to the extreme. I know I did. Many times men feel that work defines them and while an honest days work is good for man, it should not take all his time and energy. I worked alot for a long time. I felt that it was my duty to work and that I had to be at work because things would not get done right without me. I spent long days and some weekends working, thinking that I was helping my family out by making so much money, yet all the while I was actually cutting myself off from my family. I was staying away so I didn’t have to bother with them. I put work before them every time. No question. That does not happen now. I work every day of the week, I do the best I can and I work as though I am working for the Lord but I don’t bring it home and I put my family before work.
What did Adam teach at home?
Did he teach what God said or what he thought God should have said?
Eve added to God’s Word when she had dialogue with the serpent. She added “Do not touch it (the tree) lest you die!”
Where did she get her information? Did she decide this or was she taught by Adam?
Of course we don’t really know but it can help us realize just how much responsibility men and women have in teaching in the home.
If this originated from Adam then she never had a chance. The serpent was able to use this to trick her. You see this is what happens when we try to add legalism to God’s Word. We start out with the right idea. We say “Well God says that women should wear dresses and so I will make it so that all women can wear in church is dresses and if they wear a dress suit or pants, well I will kick them out.”
Or the same with makeup, or music, or men having to speak in wear certain things or pass certain strange tests before being able to teach or preach. The list could go on and on. The problem is that when we put restrictions on ourselves outside of God’s Word. When we want to add to God’s Word to make things even better, we set ourselves up fot trouble because we or others will eventually revolt against whatever has been set up to supposedly help us out.
Where was Adam?
Where am I?
Where are you?
Am I teaching my family what God says or what I think He should have said.
How do you teach your children the Bible?
We are told to teach our children at all times about His Word and I don’t always live up to that. Things get in the way or I let my own problems and worries take me away from this responsibility. Remember men and women. That husband or that wife, those children are a gift from God and He has given them to us because He trusts us enough to let us borrow them to love and cherish. But we are also responsible for them.
Let them learn just how good and gracious the Lord is in our lives.
Genesis 3:11
“Who told you that you were naked?”
Adam and Eve had taken the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They had given in to the temptation from the serpent and now their eyes wer opened. Now they knew what sin was. They knew what it meant to be against God, to be out of fellowship with Him.
They now had knowledge but it was not the kind of knowledge that God wanted them to know. This was not the knowledge that they would have gained by just being with God, having the right fellowship with Him. They wanted what they didn’t need. They wanted to be like God. They felt that He was holding something back from them, and actually He was, and they wanted it no matter the cost.
So they took the easy way. They took what seemed to be a short cut, if you will and now they were completely in sin, but we can’t beat them up.
When God placed Adam in the garden, He supplied everything for him. Adam lived in complete existence with God. He didn’t need anything, but something had to happen. God placed man in the garden, He supplied for his every need, yet something was missing, and the tree was a symbol for it. Man needed to make a choice otherwise how could man have free will. God placed the tree in the garden and told Adam not to eat the fruit from it. Now there is no way to guess just how many probable different trees that were in the garden or the probable endless variety of fruit for Adam and his wife. Man now had to make a choice. Either it was for God or for his own needs, his own wants and man made that choice.
The serpent told them “You will be like God! You will know what God knows!”
“You will know what He is hiding from you!”
So they took the fruit and they ate it and now their eyes were wide open yet now they were blinded by sin and now they were dying and headed for eternal seperation from God.
How do we know sin?
Through the Law.
The Law is the knowledge of sin.
Romans 3:20
We know sin through the Law.
The Law revives sin
Romans 7:5
The Law strengthens sin
1 Corinthians 15:56
and now every man and woman born from Adam and Eve on is born under sin and marked for death.
We can’t get mad at Adam or blame them because we would have done the same thing or maybe even worse for that matter, the point is that God knew what choice man would make even though man has free will. He knows the end from the beginning and He supplied a Lamb for us. Jesus Christ is called the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
The curse of the tree; the curse on the tree
Now we are in sin, we are not only like the serpent in that we are against God because of sin. We are snakes of sin and we have not only been infected by the venom of transgression we are the snakes because we are sin and we have no way of saving ourselves because we don’t have the antidote.
We are made free from the Law through Jesus Christ(Romans 8:2-4)
1 Peter 2:24
Notice that in Scripture that the cross is called a tree (Galatians 3:10-13)
Jesus came to this earth to die for us. He came to redeem us from the curse of the Law. He became sin, He became a curse for us.
Read John 3:14-18
and Numbers 21:4-9
The children of Israel had been saved by God. He had taken them out of Egypt. He had supplied their way and their provisions, but they continued to complain and whine. So God gives them something to complain about. He sends snakes among them. Fiery snakes (this either refers to their color or the burning of their venom) Many people were bit and many died. They came to Moses and exclaimed “We have sinned against God! Please pray for us and ask God to take these snakes away!” So Moses prayed and God told him to make a serpent and set it upon a pole and anyone who looked at the serpent on the pole would be saved from death.
The Law is like the snakes venom. It teaches us a lesson. Paul calls the Law our schoolmaster (Galatians 3:24-25) The Law is there to make us realize that we are sinners and that we are in need of a Savior because we can’t save ourselves.
And like the children of Israel looked to the serpent on the pole, the snake of sin, we need to look to Jesus (Who became sin for us) because He is the only way to salvation. Jesus took many things for us on the cross.
He took our sins. He became sin for us.
He took our suffering. The suffering that we deserved.
He took our separation. The separation that we were destined for
He took it all for us when He was nailed to the cross.
He heals the death, the sting of sin, but that is just the beginning.
Jesus Christ lives!!! He is not dead. He was raised up from the grave and He lives at the Fathers’ Right Hand. And we live now because He lives. When you accept Jesus as your savior, you are freed from the sting of sin and the hurt of death. He gives us newness of Life. Accept His payment for your sins today and live through Him. Praise the name of Jesus!!!!!!!!!!!
Four lessons from the fig leaves and the fact that God coated them with skins:
1) Man must have adequate covering to approach God.
You can’t come to God on the basis of your good works. You must come just as you are, a sinner
Luke 18:9-14
2) Fig leaves are unacceptable
They are homemade and God does not take a homemade garment
3) God must provide the covering
4) The covering is obtained only through Jesus Christ
John 14:6
He attempts (at last) to hide himself from God (Genesis 3:8) Psalms 139:7
Notice the temptation comes from an outside source. they were not created with a sin nature and they had no reason to know of sin. They had only the ability to choose not to sin and it was the choice to sin that was all the more despicable. This brought on the sin nature of man. Now I have something within me that likes to sin. It isn’t that the devil makes us do anything, it is that we want to
You will be like God
The serpent actually told them the truth. Their eyes were opened but their ability to freely communicate and fellowship with God was disrupted (Genesis 3:8) and he hid from God. The carnal natural man wants to hide from the light (John 3:19-20)
Genesis Chapter 2:15-3:1-24 – The Corruption of All Things Part 6 October 20, 2008
Posted by Clint Rodgers in Genesis Bible Study.Tags: Adam and Eve, Genesis, Genesis Bible Study, God, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Man, The Bible, The Story of Man
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Genesis 3:9
Where are you?
Adam and Eve had eaten the fruit on the tree of knowledge of good and evil and now something had happened. Something was now different between God and man. Adam and Eve knew they were naked and they became embarrassed when they heard God in the garden. So God asks them this question. He didn’t need to know what they had done. He didn’t need to know where they were but man did. Adam needed to know what he had done and he needed to realize it. Sometimes we are oblivious to something that we are doing or have done while we are in the very act of doing it and sometimes we need to speak it, to talk about it to realize what we have been doing. To realize what we have done. This even goes with sin in our lives. Adam needed to know that he had sinned. He needed to know that he had broken fellowship with God and that this fellowship was lost. Now man was in a fallen and sinful state. Of course Adam did realize what he had done and instead of taking the blame he reacted in a way that we all do from time to time. He played the blame game. He told God that it was God’s fault because He had given him the woman.
Am I that way?
Are you?
Do we blame everyone else instead of ourselves. We are told to confess our sins and He will forgive us. He won’t beat us over the head with them. He won’t bring them up again later when we are in a good mood. He won’t dwell on them. (One of the greatest things about the way Jesus dealt with people was that He didn’t dwell on their sins, He dealt with their sins but He didn’t dwell on them)
We need to come to the Lord with a right heart. A heart that is not interested in blaming others. A heart ready to confess and repent and receive renewed fellowship with Him.
So where was Adam?
Was he too busy working?
Where was Adam?
Where was he when Eve was tempted by the serpent?
Was he too busy working?
We all need to work but sometimes we take it to the extreme. I know I did. Many times men feel that work defines them and while an honest days work is good for man, it should not take all his time and energy. I worked alot for a long time. I felt that it was my duty to work and that I had to be at work because things would not get done right without me. I spent long days and some weekends working, thinking that I was helping my family out by making so much money, yet all the while I was actually cutting myself off from my family. I was staying away so I didn’t have to bother with them. I put work before them every time. No question. That does not happen now. I work every day of the week, I do the best I can and I work as though I am working for the Lord but I don’t bring it home and I put my family before work.
What did Adam teach at home?
Did he teach what God said or what he thought God should have said?
Eve added to God’s Word when she had dialogue with the serpent. She added “Do not touch it (the tree) lest you die!”
Where did she get her information? Did she decide this or was she taught by Adam?
Of course we don’t really know but it can help us realize just how much responsibility men and women have in teaching in the home.
If this originated from Adam then she never had a chance. The serpent was able to use this to trick her. You see this is what happens when we try to add legalism to God’s Word. We start out with the right idea. We say “Well God says that women should wear dresses and so I will make it so that all women can wear in church is dresses and if they wear a dress suit or pants, well I will kick them out.”
Or the same with makeup, or music, or men having to speak in wear certain things or pass certain strange tests before being able to teach or preach. The list could go on and on. The problem is that when we put restrictions on ourselves outside of God’s Word. When we want to add to God’s Word to make things even better, we set ourselves up fot trouble because we or others will eventually revolt against whatever has been set up to supposedly help us out.
Where was Adam?
Where am I?
Where are you?
Am I teaching my family what God says or what I think He should have said.
How do you teach your children the Bible?
We are told to teach our children at all times about His Word and I don’t always live up to that. Things get in the way or I let my own problems and worries take me away from this responsibility. Remember men and women. That husband or that wife, those children are a gift from God and He has given them to us because He trusts us enough to let us borrow them to love and cherish. But we are also responsible for them.
Let them learn just how good and gracious the Lord is in our lives.
Genesis Chapter 2:15-3:1-24 – The Corruption of All Things Part 5 October 20, 2008
Posted by Clint Rodgers in Genesis Bible Study.Tags: Adam and Eve, Genesis, Genesis Bible Study, God, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Man, The Bible, The Story of Man
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The devastation of all things
The subtly of Satan
Genesis 3:1-6
Satan speaks through the serpent. The Hebrew word for cunning sounds like naked in 2:25
Adam and Eve were naked in innocence. The serpent was crafty and sneaky.
First of all Adam and Eve did not have sex with the serpent. To beguile means to entice
H5377
נשׁא
nâshâ’
naw-shaw’
A primitive root; to lead astray, that is, (mentally) to delude, or (morally) to seduce: – beguile, deceive, X greatly, X utterly.
G2603
καταβραβεύω
katabrabeuō
kat-ab-rab-yoo’-o
From G2596 and G1018 (in its original sense); to award the price against, that is, (figuratively) to defraud (of salvation): – beguile of reward.
He begins by doubting God’s word
Genesis 3:1
“Yea hath God said…?”
Not that he did not use the divine name Yahweh. (Look in Job)
He ends by denying God’s word
Genesis 3:4
“Ye shall not surely die”
The first lie
Lying was Satan’s craft from the beginning (John 8:44)
He called God a liar
The three deadly temptations in this world
1 John 2:15-17
1) The lust of the flesh
She saw that the tree was good for food
2) The lust of the eyes
She saw that the tree was pleasant to the eyes
3) The pride of life
And the tree would make one wise
Jesus would later be tempted in a similar manner by the devil in the wilderness (Matthew 4:3-10)
The two mistakes of Eve
1) She debated with Satan (Genesis 3:1-2)
2) She added to God’s word (Genesis 3:3-5)
How did Eve know God’s command?
Did she know already because she was a part of Adam?
Did she know because Adam told her what God had commanded?
If Adam had told her then was it Adam who actually added to God’s word. This is how you act when you don’t want someone to mess with something. Did Adam tell her “Don’t eat that fruit! Don’t even touch the tree! Stay away from it! God doesn’t even want us to go near it!”
Did he do this because he would leave her alone to go and tend the garden?
Genesis Chapter 2:15-3:1-24 – The Corruption of All Things Part 4 October 20, 2008
Posted by Clint Rodgers in Genesis Bible Study.Tags: Adam and Eve, Genesis, Genesis Bible Study, God, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Man, The Bible, The Story of Man
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Life of Adam and Eve
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The Life of Adam and Eve is a Jewish pseudepigraphical writing, the original of which was perhaps written around 70 BCE.
Pseudepigraphy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from Pseudepigrapha)
Pseudepigrapha (from the Greek words pseudos = false and epigrapho = write) describes texts whose claimed authorship is unfounded in actuality. The authenticity or value of the work itself, which is a separate question for experienced readers, often becomes sentimentally entangled in association. Yet few Hebrew scholars would insist that the Song of Solomon was written by the king of Israel, or ascribe the Book of Enoch to the prophet Enoch. Few Christian scholars would insist today that the Second Epistle of John was written by the “Beloved Disciple.” Nevertheless, in some cases, especially for books belonging to a religious canon, the question of whether a text is pseudepigraphical elicits sensations of loyalty and can become a matter of heavy dispute: though the inherent value of the text is not called in question, the weight of a revered or even apostolic author lends authority to a text. This is the essential motivation for pseudepigraphy in the first place.
Pseudepigraphy also covers the false ascription of names of authors to works, even to perfectly authentic works that make no such claim within their text. Thus a widely accepted but incorrect attribution of authorship may make a perfectly authentic text pseudepigraphical.
On a related note, a famous name assumed by the author of a work is an allonym.
These at least are the basic and original meanings of the terms.
There have probably been pseudepigrapha almost from the invention of full writing. For example ancient Greek authors often refer to texts which claimed to be by Orpheus or his pupil Musaeus but which attributions were generally disregarded.
Biblical studies
In Biblical studies, pseudepigrapha refers particularly to works which purport to be written by individuals mentioned in either the Old and New Testaments or by persons involved in Jewish or Christian religious study or history. These works can also be written about Biblical matters, often in such a way that they appear to be as authoritative as works which have been included in the many versions of the Judeo-Christian scriptures. Eusebius of Caesarea Historia ecclesiae 6,12 indicates this usage dates back at least to Serapion whom he records to have said: But those writings which are falsely inscribed with their name (ta pseudepigraphs), we as experienced persons reject…
Many such works were also referred to as Apocrypha, which originally connoted “secret writings”, those that were rejected for liturgical public reading. An example of a text that is both apocryphal and pseudepigraphical is the Odes of Solomon (http://www.miseri.edu/users/davies/thomas/odes.htm), pseudepigraphical because not actually written by Solomon but instead a collection of early Christian (first to second century) hymns and poems, originally written not in Hebrew in the Syriac language, apocryphal because not accepted either in the Tanach nor the New Testament.
But Protestants have also applied the word Apocrypha to texts found in the Roman Catholic scriptures which were not found in Hebrew manuscripts. Roman Catholics called those texts “deuterocanonical“. Accordingly, there arose in Protestant Biblical scholarship an extended use of the term pseudepigrapha for works that appeared as though they ought to be part of the Bibical canon, because of the authorship ascribed to them, but which stood outside both the canons recognized by Protestants and Catholics. These works were also outside the particular set of books that Roman Catholics called deuterocanonical and to which Protestants had generally applied the term Apocryphal. The term accordingly as now used often among both Protestants and Roman Catholics, allegedly for the clarity it brings to discussion, may make it difficult to discuss questions of pseudepigraphical authorship of canonical books dispassionately with an unsophisticated audience.
To confuse the matter, some churches accept books as canonical which Roman Catholics and almost all Protestant denominations consider pseudepigraphical or at best of much less authority. And some churches reject books that both Roman Catholics and Protestants accept. The same is true of some Jewish sects. These are matters more appropriately discussed at Apocrypha.
There is a tendency not to use the word pseudepigrapha when describing works later than about 300C.E. when referring to Biblical matters. But see Gospel of Barnabas, Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius, and the author traditionally referred to as the “Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite“—a classic example of pseudepigraphy. There is also a category of modern pseudepigrapha.
Examples of Old Testament pseudepigrapha are the Ethiopian Book of Enoch, Jubilees, both of which are canonical in the Abyssinian Church of Ethiopia); the Life of Adam and Eve and the Pseudo-Philo. Examples of New Testament pseudepigrapha (but here also likely to be called New Testament Apocrypha) are the Gospel of Peter, the attribution of the Epistle to the Laodiceans to Paul, and Acts of Thomas, which few would claim was actually written by Thomas.
Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudepigraphy“
Life of Adam and Eve
The Life of Adam and Eve is a Jewish pseudepigraphical writing, the original of which was perhaps written around 70 BCE.
The texts that have survived are later variants written in Greek, Latin, Slavonic, Armenian, Georgian and Coptic (fragments only). These obviously go back for the most part to a single source and contain (except for obvious inserts in individual texts) no undeniable Christian teaching. Each language version contains material unique to itself as well as variations in the texts found in that language in what appears and doesn’t appear. The Greek variant was confusingly and incorrectly called Apocalypsis Mosis ‘Apocalypse of Moses‘ by Tischendorf, its first editor, and the name has stuck.
What appear to be extracts are also found in other later texts such as the Cave of Treasures.
The story begins immediately after Adam and Eve’s exile from the Garden of Eden and continues to the death of Adam and then the death of Eve. There is no trace of the common story found elsewhere that Cain and Abel had twin sisters and Cain’s killing of Abel is passed over quickly. We are told however that Adam and Eve had thirty sons and thirty daughters.
For other pseudepigraphical works about Adam and Eve see Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan, Apocalypse of Adam and Testament of Adam.
The Adam and Eve Archive is an ongoing project by Gary Anderson and Michael E. Stone to present all the original texts in the original languages and in translation. It currently contains English translations of the most important texts and also a synopsis guide allowing the viewer to easily jump from a section in one source to the parallel sections in other sources
Adam and Eve
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
“Adam” and “Eve” redirect here. For other uses, see Adam (disambiguation) and Eve (disambiguation).
According to the Book of Genesis of the Bible and to the Qur’an, Adam was the first man created by God. Adam’s mate, Eve (or Hawa) was either created from his rib (Genesis 2.21-22), or created at the same time (Genesis 1.27) as Adam, depending on which part of Genesis is read and how it is interpreted. Depending on which tradition is believed, she may or may not have been the first woman, or Adam’s first wife.
Adam—אָדָם in Standard Hebrew, ʾĀḏām in Tiberian Hebrew, and آدم (ʾĀdam) in Arabic—means “man,” “earthy,” or “red.” Eve—חַוָּה (Ḥavva) in Standard Hebrew, Ḥawwāh in Tiberian Hebrew, and حواء (Ḥawwāʾ) in Arabic—means “living.” In Aramaic (חיויה,חיווי,xywy)— means snake.
“God created man [i.e. Adam] in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” According to this account, Adam was absolutely the first man whom God created. He was formed out of the dust of the earth (hence his name, which means “red earth”), and God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and gave him dominion over all the lower creatures (Gen. 1:26; 2:7).
According to the text, he died aged 930 years (the interpretation of how long a “year” is meant to be interpreted is the subject of much debate). Judaism holds the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron as the traditional burial place of Adam and Eve.
Later tales
In the Book of Jubilees, a daughter (Awân) is born to Adam and Eve after the birth of Abel, Seth, a daughter named Azûrâ, and nine other sons who are not named. Cain later marries Awân and Seth marries Azûrâ. But according to Genesis Rabba and other later sources, Cain had a twin sister and Abel had two twin sisters or Cain had a twin sister named Lebuda and Abel a twin sister named Qelimath. In The Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan, Cain’s twin sister is named Luluwa, and Abel’s twin sister is named Aklia.
There are a number of pseudepigraphical works about Adam and Eve:
· The Life of Adam and Eve in variant versions,
· The Testament of Adam,
· The Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan,
· The Gnostic Apocalypse of Adam.
According to some traditions, Adam had an earlier mate, Lilith.
A tradition not found in the Bible text holds that the forbidden fruit was an apple. The larynx in the human throat has been called Adam’s apple because of a notion that it was caused by the forbidden fruit sticking in the throat of Adam.
Some Biblical scholars have placed the Garden of Eden in what is now the Persian Gulf region. Others have suggested a location in Anatolia (Asia Minor)). Biblical geography had four rivers flowing from it: Tigris, Euphrates, Pishon and Gihon.
Adam in Islam
The Qur’an tells the story of Adam and Eve mainly in 2:30-39, 7:11-25, 15:26-44, 17:61-65, 20:115-124, 38:71-85. Eve is not mentioned by name in the Qur’an, but referred to as Adam’s spouse; however, her name is given in Islamic tradition as Hawwa, as in Hebrew.
While Adam is regarded as the first human in Islam, he is also seen as a prophet, in the sense that he was one of the people to whom God spoke. In the Qur’an, Allah (God) creates Adam of clay, and then told him “Be!” and he was. When God had announced his intention of creating Adam, the angels expressed dismay, asking why he would create a being that would do evil. But when He “taught Adam the names,” they saw that he knew more than they, and learned from Adam.
When God orders the angels to bow to Adam, the jinn Iblis (approximately equivalent to Satan) refuses due to his pride and is summarily banished from the heavens. However, he promises God that he will lead as many humans astray as he can, to which God replies that those who will it will follow Satan, while those who will it will follow God.
Adam and Eve were sent to live in the Garden of Eden. They were allowed to live as they pleased there, but not to taste the fruit from a certain tree. However, they both eventually succumbed to the temptation of Satan, who promised them immortality if they ate from it, and ate; they then saw their nakedness and covered themselves with leaves. God punished them by sending them out into the earth amid mutual enmity, but then took mercy upon them; warning them not to follow Satan, he promised them that all would be well for those who followed God’s guidance, while those who rejected it would suffer hellfire.
The Qur’an also describes the two sons of Adam (named Qabil and Habil in Islamic tradition, but not mentioned by name in the Qur’an) that correspond to Cain and Abel. Islamic traditions also hold that Adam’s Peak in Sri Lanka has an enormous footprint of Adam.
Liberal movements within Islam have used God’s command to bow before Adam as a means of supporting human rights.
Apocalypse of Adam
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The Apocalypse of Adam discovered in 1945 as part of the Nag Hammadi Library is a Gnostic work written in Coptic. It has no necessary references to Christianity and it is accordingly debated whether it is a Christian Gnostic work or an example of Jewish Gnosticism. It proclaims some sort of Sethian Gnosticism.
Adam in his 700th year tells Seth how he learned a word of knowledge of the eternal God from Eve and that he and Eve were indeed more powerful than their supposed creator. But that knowledge was lost in the fall when the subcreator separated Adam and Eve. Adam relates how three mysterious strangers brought about Seth’s begetting and so a preservation of this knowledge. Adam then prophecies at length attempts of the subcreator god to destroy mankind, including the prophecy of the great Deluge and of attempted destruction by fire but an Illuminator will come in the end. When the Illuminator comes, thirteen kingdoms proclaim thirteen different standard but conflicting birth legends about the Illuminator, but only the “generation without a king” proclaims the truth.
Non-Gnostic last words of Adam to Seth are found in Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan, the Life of Adam and Eve and the Testament of Adam.
[ Testament of Adam
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The Testament of Adam is a Christian pseudepigraphical work extant in Syriac and Arabic. The earliest manuscript is dated to the 6th century, but the text is 4th century CE in origin, probably composed in Edessa. It purports to relate the final words of Adam to his son Seth in which he speaks of prayer and then prophesies both the coming of the Messiah and the Great Flood.
Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan is a Christian pseudepigraphical work found in Ethiopic and Arabic, 5th century CE at earliest.
It was first translated from the Ethiopian version into German by Dillman, “Das christliche Adambuch” (Göttingen, 1853) translated into English by S. C. Malan as The Book of Adam and Eve, also called The Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan, 1882 London, Williams and Norgate, ISBN 0766145999.
About half of Malan’s translation is included as the “First Book of Adam and Eve” and the “Second Book of Adam and Eve” in the anthology The Forgotten Books of Eden (Alpha House, 1927), a volume many times reissued on its own (ISBN 051730886X, ISBN 1564596362, ISBN 0529033852) and combined with The Lost Books of Eden as The Lost Books of the Bible and the Forgotten Books of Eden (ISBN 0452009448, ISBN 1881316637, ISBN 9995244381).
The work begins immediately after the expulsion from the Garden of Eden and ends with the testmament and translation of Enoch.
Great emphasis on Adam’s sorrow and helplessness in the world outside the garden. The Sons of God who appear in Genesis are identified as the children of Seth and the Daughters of Men as women descended from Cain who successfully tempt most of the Sethites under the instigation of Genum son of Lamech, this Genum seemingly a conflation of the Biblical Jubal and Tubal-Cain.
For other pseudepigraphical books on Adam and Eve see Life of Adam and Eve, Apocalypse of Adam and Testament of Adam.
Other books concerning the life of Adam and Eve are The Apocalypse of Moses
and The Slavonic Adam and Eve
ix 1 And eighteen days passed by; then Satan was wroth and transformed himself into the brightness of angels, and went away to the river
2 Tigris to Eve, and found her weeping, and the devil himself pretended to grieve with her, and he began to weep and said to her: ‘Come out of the river and lament no more. Cease now from sorrow and moans. Why art thou anxious
3 and thy husband Adam? The Lord God hath heard your groaning and hath accepted your penitence, and all we angels have entreated on your behalf, and made supplication to the Lord;
4 and he hath sent me to bring you out of the water and give you the nourishment which you had in paradise, and for which you are crying
5 out. Now come out of the water and I will conduct you to the place where your victual hath been made ready.’
x 1 But Eve heard and believed and went out of the water of the river, and her flesh was (trembling)
2 like grass, from the chill of the water. And when she had gone out, she fell on the earth and the devil raised her up and led her to Adam.
3 But when Adam had seen her and the devil with her, he wept and cried aloud and said: ‘O Eve, Eve, where is the labour of thy penitence?
4 How hast thou been again ensnared by our adversary, by whose means we have been estranged from our abode in paradise and spiritual joy?’
xi 1 And when she heard this, Eve understood that (it was) the devil (who) had persuaded her to go out of the river; and she fell on her face on the earth and her sorrow and groaning and wailing
2 was redoubled. And she cried out and said: ‘Woe unto thee, thou devil. Why dost thou attack us for no cause? What hast thou to do with us? What have we done to thee? for thou pursuest us with craft? Or why doth thy malice
3 assail us? Have we taken away thy glory and caused thee to be without honour? Why dost thou harry us, thou enemy (and persecute us) to the death in wickedness and envy?’
xii 1 And with a heavy sigh, the devil spake: ‘O Adam! all my hostility, envy, and sorrow is for thee, since it is for thee that I have been expelled from my glory, which I possessed in the heavens
2 in the midst of the angels and for thee was I cast out in the earth.’ Adam answered, ‘What dost
3 thou tell me? What have I done to thee or what is my fault against thee? Seeing that thou hast received no harm or injury from us, why dost thou pursue us?’
xiii 1 The devil replied, ‘Adam, what dost thou tell me? It is for thy sake that I have been hurled
2 from that place. When thou wast formed. I was hurled out of the presence of God and banished from the company of the angels. When God blew into thee the breath of life and thy face and likeness was made in the image of God, Michael also brought thee and made (us) worship thee in the sight of God; and God the Lord spake: Here is Adam. I have made thee in our image and likeness.’
xiv 1 And Michael went out and called all the angels saying:
‘Worship the image of God as the Lord God hath commanded.’
And Michael himself worshipped first; then he called me and said: ‘Worship the image of God
3 the Lord.’ And I answered, ‘I have no (need) to worship Adam.’ And since Michael kept urging me to worship, I said to him, ‘Why dost thou urge me? I will not worship an inferior and younger being (than I). I am his senior in the Creation, before he was made was I already made. It is his duty to worship me.’
xv 1,2 When the angels, who were under me, heard this, they refused to worship him. And Michael saith, ‘Worship the image of God, but if thou wilt not worship him, the Lord God will be wrath
3 with thee.’ And I said, ‘If He be wrath with me, I will set my seat above the stars of heaven and will be like the Highest.’
xvi 1 And God the Lord was wrath with me and banished me and my angels from our glory; and on
2 thy account were we expelled from our abodes into this world and hurled on the earth. And
3 straightway we were overcome with grief, since we had been spoiled of so great glory. And we
4 were grieved when we saw thee in such joy and luxury. And with guile I cheated thy wife and caused thee to be expelled through her (doing) from thy joy and luxury, as I have been driven out of my glory.
xvii 1 When Adam heard the devil say this, he cried out and wept and spake: ‘O Lord my God, my life is in thy hands. Banish this Adversary far from me, who seeketh to destroy my soul, and give 2,3 me his glory which he himself hath lost.’ And at that moment, the devil vanished before him. But Adam endured in his penance, standing for forty days (on end) in the water of Jordan.
