Thursday, January 3, 2013

New beginnings--Gen 7-9

God went ahead with the plan, Noah got in the ark with his family and all the animals, and things got very wet for over a year and then dried out.  So what changed?

Many people died.  The remaining leadership worshipped God for His rescue and God made several promises:
  • Even though people are pretty bad, I'll never curse all of the earth because of them.  (Wesley notes that the Hebrew text carries the idea of never again adding to the curse on the ground like the flood had done)
  • I'll never again destroy all living creatures
  • Some things will remain consistent:
    • seedtime and harvest
    • cold and heat
    • summer and winter
    • day and night
Some other things changed too.  Man began to eat meat and animals began to fear us.  Rains came and went.  An eye for an eye became the rule of creation, with the first example being a life for a life.  That meant that accountability was to be personal and immediate.  God made the first covenant with all life on the earth, and gave us rainbows as a sign.  It also appears that people (or at least Noah) didn't get drunk before this either, because Noah certainly couldn't handle his wine. 

 The one thing that hadn't changed was God.  He still didn't like sin.  He still was willing and eager to continue a relationship with mankind.  He still is even now. 

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