January 9, 2023
Big Idea
We can trust God when we don't know how things will turn out.
These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.
9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11 Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 13 And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, 1 6:13 Hebrew The end of all flesh has come before me for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 14 Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. 2 6:14 An unknown kind of tree; transliterated from Hebrew Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. 15 This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits, 3 6:15 A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. 16 Make a roof 4 6:16 Or skylight for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks. 17 For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. 19 And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. 20 Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive. 21 Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up. It shall serve as food for you and for them.” 22 Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.
1 Then the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. 2 Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, 5 7:2 Or seven of each kind of clean animal the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, 3 and seven pairs 6 7:3 Or seven of each kind of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. 4 For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing 7 7:4 Hebrew all existence; also verse 23 that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.” 5 And Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him.
6 Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth. 7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood. 8 Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, 9 two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. 12 And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. 13 On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark, 14 they and every beast, according to its kind, and all the livestock according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, according to its kind, and every bird, according to its kind, every winged creature. 15 They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. 16 And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the LORD shut him in.
17 The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. 18 The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters. 19 And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. 20 The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits 8 7:20 A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters deep. 21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. 23 He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. 24 And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.
The water's warm. Let's jump in! Here's the stage the story sets: Humanity forfeits their place with God in the garden for their autonomy. Autonomy has now brought them to a place where they are effectively destroying the earth and each other, all the good that God created. The story calls back to the creation story in several ways. In both, we find similar opening lines (Genesis 2:4, 6:9), stark contrasts between the results of God's creation and the results of man's efforts (Genesis 1:31, 6:12), and the same chaotic waters that God tamed in the beginning are allowed to prevail once again (Genesis 7:24).
Up to this point, God's patient love for humanity has been thick. But now God sees the earth and humankind as corrupt (Hebrew: sahat, also the word for destruction). Man is on a poor trajectory toward his own self-sahat, and what God is going to do is to speed up the process to bring about what inevitably is going to come by their own hands (Genesis 6:13). But He has not given up on humanity, preparing to make His first covenant with humanity through a man named Noah.
Noah is described as righteous, blameless, and one who walked with God. If we've been reading closely, he is the third person in the story thus far to be described in this way. Adam walked with God in the garden, Enoch walked with God before being taken up, and now we come to Noah. His obedience is noted three times in this story (Genesis 6:22, 7:5, 7:9) and three times in the Old and New Testaments. Noah, Daniel, and Job are the three righteous men Ezekiel uses as examples of righteousness in his warning to the Israelites in Ezekiel 14:14. In the New Testament, Noah is listed in Hebrews 11:7 among the great cloud of witnesses. These witnesses saw themselves as strangers and exiles on earth, seeking a better homeland—a heavenly one. We are all called to be God's witnesses who desire this better homeland He has prepared, and He is not ashamed to be called our God (Hebrews 11:16).
This month's memory verse
We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
1. Noah is described as one who walked with God. Often, we positively describe other Christians as "running hard after Jesus." Why do you think we tend to say the latter? What's unhelpful about this phrase?
2. What does it mean to walk with God? What does it mean to seek a better homeland today? What Scriptures come to mind?
3. God did not include instructions for a rudder when asking Noah to build the ark. Noah was protected by God (Genesis 7:16) and at His mercy, without control of the ship. Is there a situation in your life that involves a lack of control?
4. God uses the word covenant for the first time in Genesis 6:18. What does the word covenant mean? What does it mean for God to have a covenant with you?
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