Genesis 8-9

v. 1 - "And God remembered Noah and every living thing

....that was with him in the ark"

v. 2 - "the rain from heaven was restrained"- literally, was

shut up.

v. 3 - For 150 days - the flood had prevailed destroying the

world that then was - II Pet. 3:6 - the earth had been

purged of the wicked hordes that had made its

physical beauty only a mockery.

Can it be that modern science, especially modern-pseudo-

science has misinterpreted the flood and has misrepresented

evolution - the fossils in geological strata speak eloquently of

death - could it be that the record in the rocks is not a

testimony to evolution but rather to God's sovereign power

and judgment on sin!???!!

v. 4 - "And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the

seventeenth day of the month" - on this date the

children of Israel passed over the Red Sea and

Jesus Christ arose again from the dead!

Pulpit Commentary - "Supposing the Flood to have begun in Marchesvan, the 2nd month of the civil year (about the beginning of November) - we have the remarkable coincidences that on the 17th day of Abib (about the beginning of April) the ark rested

on Mt. Ararat, the Israelites passed over the Red Sea and our Lord rose from the dead" - Speaker's Commentary

v. 17 - The Scripture is clear in insisting that "every beast,

every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever

creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth

out of the ark - all the earth's present dry-land animals

are descendants of those that were on the ark.

Henry Morris says in The Genesis Record that modern

computer studies have shown, that the geographical center of

the earth 's land areas is located within a short distance of

Mount Ararat, a coincidence that can hardly be other than

providential!

v. 21 -

Generations of the past, our own generation and those yet

to be born have benefited from Noah's sacrifice of

intercession and God's response to it

ch. 9

v. 1 - "Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth"

v. 5 - Whosoever or whatsoever kills a human being forfeits

their life - it is the law of God - the Siberian tiger that

killed the young man in San Francisco last week

is/was under the ban of God - also any person who

commits murder is under the ban according to

verse 6.

"will I require it" - the word "require" is a judicial term, God

here as Judge, exacts a strict and severe penalty for the

infraction of this sacred law.

v. 6 - "by man" - man acting as God's instrument and

agent!

All men are responsible to see that this justice is

executed - judges role in this laxity - the first court

that I remember being called liberal was the Warren

Court - Sat. Dec. 29, 2007 - I was watching the fifth game

of the 1969 World Series - Tony Kubek was on the

sidelines and interviewed Earl Warren - not about

this of course but there have many judges and many

lawyers that have played a role in the deliberate

disobedience of this commandment from the God of

all the earth -

"shall" - an imperative command which enjoins

capital punishment - Why? "for in the image of

God made He man"

Romans 13:1-4

What is happening in our day is the undermining of

a great principle designed by God for the good of

all people - "they shall fear" - our age is apparently

running headlong into a parallel of the times before

the Flood when we study the life histories of Cain

and Lamech - remember the early TV show - "This

is Your Life" - someday each of our lives will be

highlighted by none other than Jehovah God when

we each are individually brought before Him.

Evidently, before the Flood, each person was able to

act quite independently of all restraints except those

of his own conscience and self-interest - this led to a

state of violence and anarchy - God instituted

government, especially the authority for capital

punishment, equipping man with the means to

prevent similar conditions after the Flood that

occurred before the Flood. (expound on notes

about Cain and Abel)

The liberal element of our society, esp. the ACLU

and their lawyers, misinterpret God's command

along the lines of II Pet. 3:16.

The prohibition against killing - "Thou shalt not

kill" plainly applies to murder, not to judicial

executions.

vs. 9-17 - the establishment of God's covenant and

promise to man never to destroy the earth again

by water -

The rainbow in the sky can not help but arrest the

attention of man - it is perpetual, applicable to the end of time!

The same Lord who had seen them safely through the Flood

would also protect and provide for them in the future!

And the witness of the rainbow, spanning from one end of

heaven to the other, would remind them that God's promises

were from eternity to eternity, from beginning to end!

vs. 20-24 - Noah's let down and Ham's mistake/sin!

This is the first mention of wine in the Bible. There is

scarcely a sin to which intoxication may not lead - the only

cure for drunkenness is to "be filled with the Spirit" -

Eph. 5:18

I would like to think that Noah had been under quite a

strain for the last hundred or so years but that is no

excuse - as far as the time frame - Canaan was Ham's

fourth child and all were born after the Flood.

In this instance the sins associated with drunkenness are

shame, degradation of father and son, alienation of

brethren, human slavery - all spawning from intemperance

and self-indulgence.

vs. 25-27 - The Noahic Prophecy - according to Acts 17:26, God

has a specific time, place and purpose for each nation

throughout the ages - the major purpose for each

national entity was "that they should seek the Lord"

God had purposed for man to fill the earth with physical

descendants - ch. 1:28, 9:1 but man's greatest responsibility

was to fill the earth "with the knowledge of the Lord" -

Isaiah 11:9, Habakkuk 2:14.

Man had three duties to perform as stewards of God's

creation - (1) spiritual - receiving, preserving and teaching

the knowledge of the Word of God (2) intellectual - learning

about and teaching about the world which God created and

(3) physical - providing the material needs for man's comfort.

This corresponds to the threefold nature of man - spirit, soul

and body.

Every person has to some degree, all three capacities but

often only one of them predominates - some people are

controlled by physical appetites, some by intellectual

pursuits and some by spiritual mindedness - this can

and does often apply to nations.

For the most part, in my opinion, the United States of

America was complete and well rounded up until about

1960 - since we have become materialistically and physically

minded to the point of rejecting our spiritual responsibilities

and denying our nature which is made in the image of God?

Take an athletic man, the most perfect specimen of athletic

training, bone, flesh, and sinew, if that is all, he is but 1/3

of a man and useless to society; send him to the schools

and cram his mind full, he is but 2/3 of a man and dangerous

as well as useless. Put Christ in his heart to control and

urge his purpose and you have an ideal, complete man -

all 3/3 of him.

v. 25 - "Cursed be Canaan" - this is the second curse

on a human being - the first was on Cain.

"a servant of servants shall he be to his brethren"

Hamites - predominantly interested in physical things

Japhethites - predominantly curious and leaders in

intellectual thought

Semites - dominated by religious motivations centered

in monotheism.

There are allowances for individual differences - a

descendant of Ham may be very spiritually minded and

become a fruitful servant of the true God - a particular

descendant of Japheth could be dull of mind but skillful

in technological devices - a particular Semite could be

an atheist as I mentioned Carl Sagan last week!

v. 29 - As prolonged as was the life of Noah "who found

grace in the eyes of the Lord" - his 950 years

came to an end at last "and he died"