Noach (Rest)

Torah: Genesis 6:9 – 11:32 Haftarah: Isaiah 54:1-55:5 Brit Chadasha: Matthew 24:34-44

I didn’t talk about the verses which ended last week’s reading, but this week I need to mention them.  I think these few verses lay the foundation for the story of Noah and why the Creator was upset with mankind.

Genesis 6:1-4  And it came to be, when men began to increase on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of Elohim saw the daughters of men, that they were good. And they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. And יהוה said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever in his going astray. He is flesh, and his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of Elohim came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, the men of name

Question: Who was responsible for the flood?

I know that this is debatable and I’m not saying my view is the only correct one.  Most people assume that the wicked caused the flood to happen.  Religion and self righteousness has taught us to point the finger at everyone else.  When we see something in scripture about the wicked, our automatic religious response is, “I can’t be wicked because I’m a believer.”  Let us look at two scriptures that many of us are very familiar with.

2 Chronicles 7:14  if My people upon whom My Name is called, shall humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their evil ways, then I shall hear from the heavens, and forgive their sin and heal their land. 

Proverbs 16:25  There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. 

The first passage is referring to the people of YHVH and if they will turn from THEIR wicked ways then YHVH will hear and heal.  The second passage deals with our religious attitudes.  Religion teaches us that we are always right and the rest of those who aren’t religious are doomed to the lake of fire.  Proverbs tells us something totally different.  I think it would a good idea to read this Proverb daily.

I personally like to focus more on the sons of YHVH and place the majority of the responsibility on them.  Why?  If you read Genesis 6:1-4, you will find that the sons of YHVH began to mix with the daughters of men which caused the sons of YHVH to “go astray”.  They produced offspring that ultimately filled the land with a generation that didn’t know nor submit to the Creator’s authority.  This led to producing a profane generation because the holy, the sons of YHVH, mixed with the profane, the daughters of men of renown.  My point is that possibly the flood never would have happened if the sons of YHVH would have been responsible and been a light to the nations.  Instead they allowed the ways of the nations to overtake them and draw them away from the Creator of the Universe which produced wickedness and corruption.  This wickedness and corruption eventually filled the land with violence.

Genesis 6:13  and Elohim said to Noaḥ, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them. And see, I am going to destroy them from the earth.

I will finish my point by defining wickedness and evil.

Genesis 6:5  And יהוה saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Question:  What comes to your mind when you hear the word wickedness?

Possibly you thought about baby killers, murderers, rapists, thieves, dictators, or politicians.  All of these mentioned do fall into the category of wicked and evil.  The only problem is our culture as well as religion has defined this word to the point that it has lost its scriptural meaning.  When we think of these descriptions to identify what wickedness means, our culture and western thought tells us, I’m not a baby killer.  I’m not a murderer.  I’m not a rapist.  I’m not a thief, dictator, or politician so since I’m not one of these types of people then I am not wicked.  See how our culture and western thinking has distorted this?  The Hebrew word for wickedness is rah which means to spoil by breaking into pieces or cause to be good for nothing.  The picture we are given from the Hebrew is this.  I have a bowl and this bowl is used to make salads.  I take this bowl and throw it on the ground breaking it into a hundred tiny little pieces.  That is considered rah or wicked because I have spoiled ’the function’ of what that bowl was created to be and do.  When the sons of YHVH began to mix the holy with the profane by taking the daughters of men of renown as wives.  This was considered to be wicked because the mixture caused the sons of YHVH to forfeit their ability to be the light to the nations.

Who says we can’t be perfect

Genesis 6:9  These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with YHVH.

Genesis 17:1  And it came to be when Aḇram was ninety-nine years old, that יהוה appeared to Aḇram and said to him, “I am Ěl Shaddai – walk before Me and be perfect.

I always wondered about verses like these.  I grew up hearing messages about how ‘bad’ the ‘law’ was and how it didn’t work.  How nobody could keep it and so forth and so on.  I was left in a state of confusion when I read where the Eternal commanded folks to be perfect.  My thought was if we can’t achieve perfection then why in the world would the Creator ask us to be/do something that we can’t carry out.

Let’s look at this word that’s translated as perfect in our Scriptures.  The reason why I couldn’t understand this word was because I never looked up the scriptural definition of the word perfect.  The Hebrew word is (תמים) taw meem which means to be complete, without blemish, integrity and is also used to mean require nothing more.  This passage in Genesis 6:9 is portraying to you and me that Noah was a man of YHVH basically to put it in modern day terms.  As I mentioned in last week’s commentary, I believe that Adam and Eve had Torah or at least some form of Torah.  I also believe that Noah had some form of Torah as well because he was righteous.

Psalm 119:1  Blessed are the perfect in the way, who walk in the Torah of יהוה!

Deuteronomy 6:24-25  And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day.  And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us.

Here we have a few verses referring to those who walk in the “law” = Torah (the instructions and teachings of YHVH) and the benefits one can gain from being obedient to the Father.  The word perfect in Psalms 119 is the same word that was used in the passage describing Noah.  The Hebrew goes onto say something else interesting.  The phrase, in the way, means a course or path that is walked down or it could even be said a mode of life.  There is a New Testament passage where Y’shua commands us to be complete.  I wanted to add it here for those who think the New Testament says or means something new to us today.

Matthew 5:48  “Therefore, be perfect, as your Father in the heavens is perfect.

This is very important because of the time that Noah found himself living in.  I hear justifications and excuses as to why folks aren’t living right today.  Many times it is usually brought up about how dark the times are and the pressure to conform to our friends and the world around us.  I don’t want to be harsh here but what about Noah and his family?  Could it be said that they were living in some of the darkest times that the world had known?  I mean it was so dark and wickedness prevailed so much that the Creator had to literally wipe mankind off the face of the map save Noah and his family.  It had gotten to the point, in my opinion, where wickedness was so prevalent that it was the only thing that was being reproduced.

Genesis 6:11  And the earth was corrupt before Elohim, and the earth was filled with violence.

The Hebrew word for corrupt is (ותשׁחת) shaw kath which means to decay or a state of decomposition.  Also, this word is used in the Scriptures in order to point out something that is in a degenerate state and no longer can be reversed.  I mentioned that the word means decay so let me give an example from Scripture that will clarify this.

Exodus 32:7-8  And יהוה said to Mosheh, “Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Mitsrayim have corrupted themselves. “They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a moulded calf, and have bowed themselves to it and slaughtered to it, and said, ‘This is your mighty one, O Yisra’ĕl, who brought you out of the land of Mitsrayim!’ ”

Here we see this same word corrupt being used to point out that the children of Israel had turned away from the commandments of the Eternal.  Remember over and over we are taught in the Torah that obedience brings life and blessings and disobedience brings curses and death.  What happens when something dies?  The process of decay begins.  These were the days that Noah found himself living in and ‘death, corruption and violence’ was all around him and his family.

The Hebrew word for violence is (חמס) cha mas and it said that the earth was full of this.  The word violence doesn’t really do justice for you and me when we read this because we have our own definition of what violence is such as murderers, abusers, and aggression and rightly because these actions are associated with violence.  Scripture paints this word in a clearer light than our cultural definition does.  This word violence gives us the picture of unjust gain and is also used as evil to the extent of evading the Torah.

Is this not exactly what we have going on today in our society from governments, politicians, people in society, and even some religious people?  This word violence is also used to portray how a falcon snatches its prey.  Do you remember last week where I pointed out how the Creator commanded the fish to go fill the waters and man was to fill the earth?  If not let us review briefly.  The word fill there is maw law which means to fill up with meaning or give full meaning to and it is the same word that is translated as fulfill in Matthew 5:17.  The Scripture is telling us that the earth was full, maw law, with unjust gain, evil to the extent of evading the Torah and folks not caring about anyone else but themselves.  The earth was full of this and what happens when a cup fills up?  It overflows and no longer can contain what is being placed into it.  This is why the Father had to send the flood to ‘cleanse’ the earth because there was more corruption being produced than righteousness.

Now we would all want to point the finger at Hollywood and our society and the world around us, and we would be correct in doing so because of all the corruption and wickedness that is around us but in reference to a falcon snatching its prey, I think there is something that we must look at.  Falcons don’t care how deep they dig their talons into their prey when they swoop in to grab them.  They don’t care if their prey is going to be injured or traumatized from their attack or even if they cause broken bones to their prey in their attack.

How about you and me today when we use our words and even actions against a brother or sister when we swoop down and attack them like they are prey? When we are in attack mode, what about the damage that we do to others?  Something for us to think about because it isn’t always Hollywood or the evil folks around us that help add to the violence in the earth.  This is why it is so important that we watch what we do and say. We have enough people adding to the violence in the earth daily.  It just isn’t healthy for the people of Yahweh to strengthen what is going on in this violence filled world in which we live.

Life for the eight of us

Genesis 7:13  On that same day Noaḥ and Shĕm and Ḥam and Yepheth, the sons of Noaḥ, and Noaḥ’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, went into the ark,

The Torah over and over talks about those who obey the Father receive life.  This week we see a clear example of this principle.  There were eight people who not only listened to Noah but did what he told them.  They were obeying the Eternal because Noah told them what the Father told him.  We all know the story of how the family of eight entered the ark and were the only humans who survived the destruction of the flood.  I don’t find it a coincidence that there were eight of them and the number eight represents new beginnings.

The letter chet ח is the eighth letter in the Hebrew alphabet and is associated with life.  If you look closely at the letter, it resembles a doorway.  Remember when the Israelites left Egypt?  What did they put on the doorposts and lintel?  The blood in the form of the letter chet in which they received life and a new beginning.  The same thing happens when we apply the blood of Y’shua to the doorpost of our heart.  We receive life and a new beginning.  Again, the New Testament doesn’t give us something “new” it just gives us what is true.

What an honor, privilege and great responsibility to be the man and family that repopulated the earth after the flood.  Not just only that but what a great way for the Creator to continue His plan of restoration using a man who the Scriptures refer to as righteous and complete.  This should be an encouragement for us to ‘stay in the ark’ or stay inside the Father’s house because that is where we find grace,safety, provision, blessings and life.  Outside of the ‘ark’,  the Father’s house, is a different story and we see what happened to those stayed outside due to their disobedience and rebellion.

Bricks or Stones; You Decide

In order to share what I want to share next; I have to thank my good friend Brad Scott for pointing this out to me.  So let us look at religion and where it began.

Genesis- 11:1-3  And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar.  

The Hebrew word for east is qedem, which in its root form means ancient or old.  Here it mentions these folks journeying from the east or better stated going away from the east, going away from the God of Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob.

Remember the Garden was planted eastward in Eden and when Messiah returns it will be from the East.  Clearly the picture here is folks walking away from the Creator of the Universe.  One more point here is before they built the tower, in their hearts they had already walked away from the God of Israel.  Shinar was east of the garden.

In verse 4 we see the mention of building a tower.  What I find interesting is when their hearts wandered then the next thing was their minds, and the last thing was their behavior starts to express their hearts and minds.  Sounds just like what we see going on today in our society.  We don’t find these folks seeking the counsel of Yahweh asking Him for his advice and input about building a tower that reached to heaven.  Possibly there was a doctrine floating around out there that said the day of building stone towers ‘had been done away with’ and a ‘new’ way using bricks took the place of stones.  Maybe they felt that all of Yahweh’s word didn’t really apply to them anymore.  We see this pattern today in mankind.

Something very important to note is that this tower was made of bricks instead of stone.  Has anyone stopped to think why the Bible is so specific here in distinguishing what the tower was made of?  I submit to you that the reason why is the beginning of religions or religious systems!!  Why do I say that?  Well easy bricks are MAN MADE and stones are made by YHVH.  Bricks are something that MAN MIXES together to produce and stones are made by the Creator.  The picture of what is happening here already happened in the Garden.  Why?  The whole concept of mixing started there.  All Adam & Eve had to do in the Garden was walk around and pick fruit off of trees.  After their disobedience, Scripture says they will eat bread by the sweat of their brow.  In order to make bread there has to be a MIXING together of ingredients to form bread.  It didn’t grow on trees in the Garden after their disobedience.  Yahweh’s purpose from the beginning never has been MIXING.  This is very evident in the Garden because everything started out PURE.  Man has caused the MIXING and this carries us right over to the tower of Babel and the making of the bricks (mixing of things to make something).

Men are to blame and not Yahweh.  It has never been His “law”, the Torah, that has been the problem.  It’s always been MAN that has been the problem.  Even in the hard to understand passages in the New Testament that many misinterpret.  Hebrews 8 is a fine example.  I was taught that this chapter was teaching against the Torah or the old covenant until one day I read slowly what it says.  Hebrews 8:8 says for finding fault with THEM… it doesn’t say finding fault with it.  So unless the old covenant was a person, which it wasn’t, then this passage has been extremely misinterpreted.  The context was referring to PEOPLE (the them) instead of referring to the old covenant.  We read what we believe & don’t believe what we read.

Let us continue looking at the tower.  Something else interesting is we find them wandering away from the God of Israel and creeping slowly but surely to the days of Noah before the flood.  Is this déjà vu?  No, we see this today.  Man has wandered away from the Ancient of Days because he hasn’t kept the commandments and is creeping closer to the days of Noah before the flood again.  So how does this tie into bricks and stones.  Well Peter tells us we are to be living stones.  Stones come in all shapes, forms, sizes, colors, and weight.  Bricks on the other hand look exactly the same.

You know you are in a religious system or religion when everyone has to believe exactly the same thing, wear certain types of clothing, or when your fellowship tries to wrestle you into conforming to ‘their’ man made images, appearance, and doctrines.  We are told to conform to the image of Y’shua (Romans 8:29) and interestingly enough Scripture doesn’t tell us what He looked like but it does tell us how He functioned.

Many folks are more interested in what the form of something is rather than the function.  How many times have we judged others just by what clothes they wear or how they might comb their hair?  My point is don’t be a brick (mixture); be a living stone that not only conforms to the image of Y’shua the Messiah but functions like Him as well.

Thought for the Week

Matthew 24:38  “For as they were in the days before the flood, eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noaḥ entered into the ark,

In the days BEFORE the flood is where we see why the flood happened.  People no longer obeyed the Creator of the Universe nor His commandments and rebellion was the  dominant trend of the day.  Exactly what is taking place today!  Yahweh definitely declares the end out of the beginning. (Isaiah 46:10)  Selah!