Reading the Bible-Day Two

OK, I did read Wednesday night. However I found myself falling asleep while reading the study notes. So obviously no post. Yesterday I got crunchy and made yogurt and mayo (lacto-fermented, no less) and then got busy with our supper. Last night the Boss went to a game with his friends and the Peanuts and I were busy here. No reading of any kind got done. But I am catching up today. Tonight is the Diva's big night...Jr. Cheerleading camp is over and they cheer at half time for the JV game. We might stay for the varsity game too...playing our favorite rivals down the road. In other words, be patient with me.

So, here's the story of Cain and Abel through the beginning of Noah's story.

Genesis 4-7

Kretzmann

When growing up I was under the impression that Cain's gift was not as good as Abel's. That for some reason God rejected the grain offering in favor of the sacrifice of lambs. I don't know if that was actually taught to me by a Sunday school teacher or if it just struck me that way. However, throughout the OT there are references to grain offerings. In fact they're even commanded in the Law. He obviously looks with favor upon those. So there must be some other reason for Cain's offering to be looked upon less favorably than Abel's. It's pointed out in the study notes that perhaps it had to do with the way in which it was presented, something to do with their hearts. Not the act itself, but perhaps the motivation?

God asks him a rhetorical question, giving him the opportunity to confess his sin, but Cain fails to do that as well. Instead he is "cursed from the ground", meaning that the soil Adam was given to work is now no longer going to yield anything to Cain. Even now Cain has no repentance...he's more concerned with the impact of the consequences on him than he is with his dead brother and the gravity of what he's done. He also equates his expulsion from the land with being separated from God, the worst kind of punishment. However, God shows Cain, through the mark, that He still cares for him.

Later, one of Cain's descendants, Lamech, boasts to his wives that he has killed a man for wounding him. According to the ancient Near Eastern form of justice (as described in the OT as "eye for an eye") he should have only wounded the man in return. However he brags to his wives that he has exceeded this and goes on to brag that his revenge is greater than Cain's on Abel. (Though I would hope that if Cain had still been alive he would have shared some words of wisdom, learned the hard way, with Lamech.)

This "eye for an eye" thing is still prevalent in the Middle East today. Even among Christians, Christ's teachings against it is largely unknown. I actually had to argue this point with the Cousins this summer. Revenge, getting even, and hitting back harder is ingrained into them...by their church teachers, of all things!

This chapter began with a murder and through the course of it sin has spread and morphed. Lamech takes God's gift of marriage and abuses it by practicing polygamy and then murders in retaliation for wounding. However, there is also the birth of Seth, showing that God will not allow His promise to be undone by human sinfulness. Satan may have gotten hold of Cain and caused the death of Abel, but now there's Seth, who will carry on the promise.

Chapter 5 is a listing of Adam's descendants to Noah. It makes for neat reading but I want to point out Enoch. "When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him."

Wow! I can just say, "Wow!" This has been one of my favorite verses since I was a kid. In that one sentence is Enoch's whole life story. Can you imagine? Having your life summed up in a sentence like that? From TLSB: "God took him. Unique in the Bible. The only other place that God is said to "take' someone deals with God taking Adam and placing him in the garden (2:15). In this instance, God took Enoch into heaven. The uniqueness of this event inspired considerable interest in Enoch in later generations. During the intertestamental period, some writers used Enoch as a character in a number of speculative works, which they pretended he had written. These were eventually collected into a work known today as 1 Enoch [see note, Jude 14-15]. Other works in Enoch's name (2 Enoch and 3 Enoch) date from even later periods." (TLSB p. 23)

OK, there's a reference to Jude 14-15. Let's check it out: ^"14It was also about these that Enoch,^A)">(A) the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying,^B)">(B) 'Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, ¹⁵^C)">(C) to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have^D)">(D) committed in such an ungodly way, and of all^E)">(E) the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.' " The note for this in TLSB says: "Jude takes an example from Jewish tradition about the mysterious OT figure Enoch. His quotation is from the book of 1 Enoch, an account of Enoch's teachings and activities. Like many of the Jewish pseudepigrapha, this book attempts to fill in details about an interesting biblical character. Portions of 1 Enoch were written in Aram as early as the second century BC, though they may have been written originally in Hbr and could be much older. Jude quotes 1 Enoch, a popularly known work, as an exemplary description of false teachers and the judgment they must face, much as preachers today cite popular writings for sermon illustrations." (TLSB p. 2131)

Now we're coming up on the reference to the "sons of God" and "daughters of man". I've heard so many cornball stories about who the "sons of God" refer to, including aliens coming to seed the planet. Blech! Others hold that the "sons of God" refer to angels, which contradicts what Jesus taught about the nature of angels in Matthew and what Moses taught about "kinds" in chapters 9 and 10. Here's the correct version. The "sons of God" refer to the Sethites, or those who were faithful believers of God and "daughters of man" refer to the Godless unbelievers, Cainites. When they took "any they chose" they took from both Sethite and Cainite women, as long as they were attractive. Not the first time we'll see trouble coming about due to choosing your wife based upon her looks rather than her character. So the line of Seth, through whom would come the Seed, is becoming more and more corrupted by sin.

As a result, while their physical bodies were strong, their spirits were weak and sinful. The rulers of the day were tyrants and feared, but at the same time, admired for their strength. Does this sound familiar? Who are some of the popular "heroes" today? I can think of plenty who are admired for their strength, looks, talents, etc. but are at the same time hated for their character, or lack of it. Yet still they're famous. They're popular. You can't turn on the TV without hearing what brand of toilet paper they buy. And here we find Noah...

The flood. The great myth. The story we remember from our childhoods but as adults tend to think of as just a story that explains the rainbow. Not so fast...there is plenty of corroborating evidence for this flood, including the Epic of Gilgamesh and similar flood stories from cultures across several continents.

Gen 7:5 "And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him." Luther: "The particular praise of Noah's faith is that he stays on the royal road; he adds nothing, changes nothing, and takes nothing away from god's directive". (AE 2:77) Too bad Eve didn't do the same. Part of what got her in trouble with the snake was her lack of care with quoting God precisely and falling into Satan's trap.

This faith of Noah's is the same faith that helped him to raise 3 sons in what had to be a horrible environment. Today we complain the sorry state of public schools and other influences on our children. We have nothing to complain about. We really don't. Noah's generation was so bad that God decided to wipe them completely out.

The notes in TLSB refer to the terror that Noah and his family must have experienced during the flood. Yes, they were locked away in the ark, but they still experienced the force of the waters and probably heard the screams of their friends and neighbors outside in the water. I love the following note: "Faithful Noah and his family experience the greatest horror this earth has known, but the ark carries them up and away from the destruction and total devastation of the great flood. Although dwarfed by Noah's experience, all Christians experience turbulence in their lives that can lead them to the brink of despair. but through Noah, God has demonstrated that He will lift up and save His faithful people whom He has cleansed in Holy Baptism." (TLSB p. 26)

OK, I'm still working through how I want to do this. Part of the reason I'm reading through the Bible again is that I have TLSB. I want to reread the Bible with all the great notes. I'm still trying to decide though how to post. I can't just sit and type out all the notes. Besides the legal ramifications of that I wouldn't anyway. I have a life! I'm still trying to decide how much of my post will be reflection and how much of it will be things learned. Are the two even separable? I will continue to post links to the texts and to Kretzmann, even though it's always the same link to the latter with you doing the plugging in.

Also, I've had a lousy start to this project. I will NOT give up though. I want to see this through. By doing this online I have some accountability. My excuses might work with God, Who gives me the false impression of agreement with His silence, but Who I know really knows what I'm really up to when I forget, am too tired, too busy, too...whatever.

So, by typing out these posts I see my sorry excuses and think...do I honestly believe that God is falling for that drivel? So, for any of you who might be following along, thank you for the accountability.

Now for yesterday's post which hasn't happened because it took so long to do Wednesday's today...It's after 2 and the kids get home in less than 2 hours. It would seem like enough time but this one took forever and I haven't had lunch yet. So I really need to come up with a better way of doing this. So, I'm going to read while I eat my lunch and try to come up with something typing out. Because I still need to do today's reading. Which I can still do tonight even if I don't post until tomorrow. Tomorrow! The weekend! Three kids home and arguing! Yikes!