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Category: Pentateuch Genesis-Deuteronomy

IN THE BEGINNING… Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy – Pentateuch [5 books] It’s the LAW of GOD!
Forgive us our trespasses. Jesus teaches many lessons from these books of the Bible and we have forgotten MANY of the issues and applications to our 21st century life. How can you SHARE from the beginning of the Bible with your SOCIAL ‘Friends’ and talk of Jesus as Lord? Please TITLE your post by the topic, not the verse. Include links to scriptures and helpful references. — Please post or tell us in a COMMENT how you talk of Jesus through this topic and these Old Testament scriptures.

  • Disaster From Disobedience, A Savior From Before Eden – 8

    A Savior From Before Eden

    I introduced this series about a savior, Christ Jesus, who had confirmed to the religious authorities: “Before Abraham was, I AM!” Our evidence in Disaster From Disobedience, A Savior From Before Eden – 1  points back toward Jesus, our personal savior, who was here before the first adam. 

    We then examined Adam’s relationship with God both before and after original sin. Disobedience and consequence of sin follows. Brief glances at scripture will confirm man’s disobedience to the Lord God. Just from part 1 of our series scriptures about disobedience include: Exodus, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel and the Gospels of Luke and John.

    Scripture – Reading, Study & Application

    We have spent nearly a month [June 2018] just scratching the surface of man’s disobedience to God. Although I have touched on topics preceding the narrative of Genesis, we have much more to consider.

    Our most recent look at Noah brings us only to Genesis 9, on page 15 of 1804 in my HCSB. I could easily envision a ‘Disaster from Disobedience – 30,’ but this is neither a novel nor exhaustive commentary. Today our brief attention spans require both an end to this series and connection to the next. 

    I trust the Lord will lead you deeper into scripture, revealing personal application of good and evil. I encourage you to study books of the New and Old Testaments in depth. To remain obedient to the Lord, we must apply the truth of scripture to our daily lives. Pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

    These serial scriptural posts designed to incite specific study contain frequent links to Bible verses and study. Take a look as you read.

    Before Israel, Before Abraham and After Noah

    Moses’ five books do not and cannot explain everything. Yet in addition to creation, good and evil, sin, law and some subsequent history, parts of the Pentateuch  provide God-given foundation to scripture’s purposeful truth. I would point you to a handful of concepts not to be missed in these scriptures.

    Noah demonstrates one principle on dry land related to knowing good and evil, after the Lord’s cleansing and recreation of mankind. Although related to worship by Abel and Cain, this principle of good remains more important than any historical detail of the flood.

    The rainbow becomes symbol of the Lord’s agreement. Sacrifice by Noah to the Lord is man’s continuing evidence of faithfulness, gratitude and obedience. Worship of the Lord always requires sacrifice. And right relationship with the Lord becomes a most-personal committed relationship.

    The principle of this solemn agreement is known as covenant.

    Covenant, consequential promise to inviolable truth.

    We cannot study it in any detail here, but covenant always connects a sacrifice to an action with a sealed approval. 

    There is no good without God and no disobedience without disbelief.

    Therefore, inviolable truth always relates both to the Lord and our relationship to others of mankind.

    Truth has no foundation without God and human life no purpose without relationship to both our loving Creator and our fellow man.

    Israel, Abraham, Joseph and other Jews

    One concept important to our understanding of the Lord and promise involves the who, what, where and why of God’s chosen. It is a promised land, you  are a chosen people. Again, concepts too important to slight, yet this series’ focus is on broken promises, followed by inclusion of others in the Lord’s redemptive plan.

    (You can learn much more about God’s redemptive plan by study of adoption;  an inclusive personal demonstration of God’s love we will not explore here.)

    Moses explains nations and outlines their genealogies. Israel had been redeemed by the Lord from Egypt, where Joseph became powerful in the land. Understand that Joseph’s father Jacob holds promise of the Lord’s inheritance for his twelve sons. 

    Genesis 28:

    Isaac summoned Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him: “Don’t take a wife from the Canaanite women… 

    3 May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you so that you become an assembly of peoples. 4 May God give you and your offspring the blessing of Abraham so that you may possess the land where you live as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham.”

    Doesn’t this blessing sound somewhat familiar, like the Lord’s command to Adam and also to Noah?

    ‘Be fruitful and multiply…”

    But Jacob is a liar and a deceiver. For he has purchased the blessing of the firstborn, Esau, who had no regard for the Lord. Now Jacob fears the fate of Abel, murdered at the hands of his brother.

    Although the Lord will drive his descendants into Egypt from the promised land, Jacob will receive an inheritance. 

    10 Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. 11 He reached a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set. He took one of the stones from the place, put it there at his head, and lay down in that place…

    “I am Yahweh, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your offspring the land that you are now sleeping on. 14 Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out toward the west, the east, the north, and the south. All the peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 15 Look, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

    There it is: God’s promise, as Jacob flees this ‘promised land,‘ an oft-repeated scenario in Israel’s history.

    Does it seem a familiar story, a middle-east refugee fleeing danger in one land and living as an alien in another?

    Israel’s Serial Soap Opera

    So Jacob’s story gains in complexity (once again, not examined here) and the drama continues. He has four wives (not recommended) and twelve sons. (Daughters receive no inheritance and seldom receive mentions in these genealogies).

    Many years pass and a married Jacob with children hears of and fears Esau’s approach. Once again Jacob hears from the Lord. In fact, he wrestles with the Lord (a most personal encounter).

    Genesis 32:

    Here is first mention of “Israel,” because the LORD makes Israel Jacob’s new name.

    27 “What is your name?” the man asked.

    “Jacob,” he replied.

    32:28 וַיֹּאמֶר לֹא יַעֲקֹב יֵאָמֵר עֹוד שִׁמְךָ כִּי אִם־יִשְׂרָאֵל כִּֽי־שָׂרִיתָ עִם־אֱלֹהִים וְעִם־אֲנָשִׁים וַתּוּכָֽל׃

    28 “Your name will no longer be Jacob,” He said. “It will be Israel because you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.”

    29 Then Jacob asked Him, “Please tell me Your name.”

    But He answered, “Why do you ask My name?” And He blessed him there.

    Before Israel, God Prevails

    Jesus the Messiah proclaimed, “before Abraham was, I AM!” His reference means more than genealogy, place, Law, leadership or religion, per se. 

    Israel’s father was Isaac,  יִצְחָק Yitschaq (laughter), given by the Lord when a childless old couple doubted any possibility of fulfillment of a promise in their old age.  In fact, controversy yet remains about the first born of Abraham and Hagar, the Egyptian. 

    The continuing drama of Genesis 17 could warrant much more study; but let us concede the meaning of Israel’s name. God prevails. Yes, God prevails even when life drives us in a direction away from God’s promises.

    The Lord’s covenant though Abraham is confirmed:

    18 So Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael were acceptable to You!”

    19 But God said, “No. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. I will confirm My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his future offspring.

    Before Abraham, many descendants of Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth chose between good and evil as they populated God’s creation. And we will see in our next series a continuing theme of disobedience to God by Israel’s descendants as well.

    Why would the Lord choose Israel as a people led by Him? Remember Jacob’s new name means, God prevails.

    Joseph and Israel’s Eleven Other Sons

    We have not yet spoken of the Law of Moses and its defining choices of good and evil. The sojourn of Israel into Egypt and back is yet another story and illustration that God prevails. 

    If you have never noticed a connection between Genesis and Exodus, you may want to focus on Joseph. We tend to see Israel (Jacob) and then Moses and later David as most important to Israel’s history. Yet we often overlook the role and connection of Israel’s preeminent son, Joseph.

    A continuing theme of man since Adam has been disobedience, a theme which we will continue. Moses will give us God’s Law and Joseph will demonstrate God’s goodness. 

    May the Lord walk with you in the wilderness of your heart.

    To be continued in our next series, God willing…

     

     

     

  • Disaster From Disobedience, A Savior From Before Eden – 7

    By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. – Hebrews 11:7 KJV

    Godly Fear

    Most of us have a challenge to our faith in God from one of two extremes. Some fear God so much that they cannot relate to the Lord’s Fatherly love for those who love Him.

    Other believers assume an automatic entry into heaven because, they say, “I am a Christian,” or I was born into a godly family. They assume a personal acceptance by a loving God they do not know and fail to follow. May God have mercy on their souls.

    And of course in addition to believers in between these two extremes are those who have no fear of the Lord. These are godless fools turned toward evil with no desire for the wisdom of God or desire to do good in place of their evil.

    He said to mankind, “The fear of the Lord is this: wisdom. And to turn from evil is understanding.” – Job 28:8

    Adam and Eve and their early descendants had a personal relationship with the Living God even after the fall. They could ask God personally for the wisdom to do good rather than turning toward evil. Yet through the generations refusal of the Lord’s advice to choose good over evil has fallen on more and more deaf ears.

    Genesis 5:

    4 Adam lived 800 years after the birth of Seth, and he fathered other sons and daughters. 5 So Adam’s life lasted 930 years; then he died…

    23 So Enoch’s life lasted 365 years. 24 Enoch walked with God; then he was not there because God took him…

    32 Noah was 500 years old, and he fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

    Time passes (hard to know how many score of generations by today’s lifetimes) and man forgets God. Almighty God our Creator becomes as irrelevant to their sin-filled lives as the Lord is to many in these last days.

    And the Lord said, “My Spirit will not remain with mankind forever, because they are corrupt. Their days will be 120 years.” – Genesis 6:3

    Apocalypse of Impending Disaster

    If you do not have a relationship with the all-knowing God, who will tell you with accuracy the disaster which draws near? And now that man has the discernment to judge between good and evil, how can you know what is good without listening to God?

    In fact, as it was in the later days of God’s true Prophets, no man listened to the Living God except one.

    Judgment Decreed

    5 When the Lord saw that man’s wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every scheme his mind thought of was nothing but evil all the time, 6 the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 Then the Lord said, “I will wipe off from the face of the earth mankind, whom I created, together with the animals, creatures that crawl, and birds of the sky—for I regret that I made them.” 8 Noah, however, found favor in the sight of the Lord.

    Man has not only disobeyed the Creator, but grieves the most loving heart of the Father of man created in His own image.

    Now a different relationship with the Living God will begin, one of fear.

    Genesis 6:17 “Understand that I am bringing a flood—floodwaters on the earth to destroy every creature under heaven with the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will die. 

    Of course for those who disdained God lost in the flood, fear was short-lived until their terrible deaths. But for all who would witness the great power of the LORD in the days since Noah, the Lord God Almighty evokes fear.

    Genesis 7:

    Then the Lord said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you alone are righteous before Me in this generation.

    You know the rest, or at least you think that you know the rest.

    6 Noah was 600 years old when the flood came and water covered the earth.

    It seems like a fearful children’s story. All the men and women and children of the earth were destroyed in the Lord’s cleansing flood. The potter has begun again with one man, Noah, from which He will reform the clay of His own creation.

    Are you like those who perished having no fear of the Lord or respect for the only man to hear God’s heart? (Read above of the potter and the clay, heading the fear of righteous men.)

    24 And the waters surged on the earth 150 days.

    Genesis 8:

    5 The waters continued to recede until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were visible.

    The Lord’s Promise
    15 Then God spoke to Noah, 16 “Come out of the ark, you, your wife, your sons, and your sons’ wives with you. 17 Bring out all the living creatures that are with you—

    20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord. He took some of every kind of clean animal and every kind of clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

    You and your family are the only living survivors of the earth’s worst disaster. And the Lord had warned the the evil of mankind had brought man to our own destruction. What does Noah then do? Worship! Noah thanks God for His great mercy.

    21 When the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, He said to Himself,

    “I will never again curse the ground because of man, even though man’s inclination is evil from his youth. And I will never again strike down every living thing as I have done…

    Thank God, I say; thank the Lord, re-formed clay of our Creator.

    To be continued…

  • Disaster From Disobedience, A Savior From Before Eden – 6

    Instruction in Good and Evil

    This is My command: Love one another as I have loved you. – John 15:12

    The Lord loved the work of His creation, especially man, made in his own image. Adam and Eve were more special and blessed than any of God’s created ones. The Lord had been like a father instructing them and walking beside the man and the woman in Eden.

    In our last look at Adam’s temptation and original sin we established the radical change required now that man knew good and evil. At first Adam had only one rule to obey. The Lord commanded. DO NOT desire the knowledge of good and evil. That’s it; don’t eat that fruit! Everything else? Fine.

    Now man will require some instruction as to what is good and what is evil. Not so easy. The Lord will instruct them.

    Adam and Eve have children (after all, not only was it pleasurable and fulfilling, but the Lord had commanded it). These first parents had a relationship with God and could ask the Lord for help with their children.  (We do that, right? … or at least we should.)

    God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.” – Genesis 1:28

    God had instructed them like a loving father; now these original parents will instruct their children in that same love. Children who know nothing of evil and have never seen paradise will learn of good and evil, with God’s help.

    Godly Instruction in Good and Evil

    You will recognize sin leading to a later Commandment, ‘Thou shalt not murder;’ but note other sins present here as well.  Our familiarity with two of Adam’s sons, Cain and Abel, could obscure some of the Lord’s instruction. 

    Your full consideration of Scripture linked here is always welcome, however let’s read just an excerpt.

    Genesis 4:

    6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you furious? And why do you look despondent?

    For our instruction in good and evil, note the Lord’s two descriptive emotions: furious and despondent. Think of your own emotions related to jealousy or envy of another, as was the case with Cain of Abel.

    “Why art thou wroth,” reads the King James, for translation from Hebrew of Charah  חָרָה  speaks of a burning anger.

    Do you suppose that Adam, also now knowing good and evil instructed his sons in righteousness? What parent doesn’t? And for that matter what parent does not also need the help of the Lord?

    (God help me with this child! What parent has not made this plea?)

    The other emotion mentioned also causes us much anguish, perhaps as consequence of our powerless ability to please others. Again, the King James translates, “and why is thy countenance fallen?”

    Despondent is apt image of the fallen face of one so disappointed. If we have eyes to see the face of another we can always see it, just as a face may also reflect radiant joy.

    Our sin and guilt will cause a fallen countenance, translated from the Hebrew: פָּנִים paniym or face נָפַל naphal or fall. After man’s fall, a fallen face due to our inability to please the Lord.

    What instruction could the Lord have for the son of Adam about his fallen condition?

    A Caution to choose Good and not Evil

    Genesis 4:7 If you do what is right, won’t you be accepted? 

    We do not automatically receive God’s blessing. The Lord instructs us to consider our choices. 

    In this case, Abel had received blessing, but Cain’s offering to the Lord was not accepted. It begs a weighty question for us when we fall short of the Lord’s expectation (and we all do at times).

    What should I do to be accepted by God?

    The Lord’s answer seems so simple, ‘do what is right,’ yet it comes with a caution as well.

    But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door.

    Again, a helpful picture, ‘sin crouching at the door.’ This is actually the Bible’s first reference to sin, חַטָּאָת chatta’ath, from the root word חָטָא, meaning ‘to miss the mark.’ I can easily picture the Lord’s caution to not trip over the obstacle of sin before the doorstep of heaven.

    Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”

    Do you also find it interesting that the Lord personifies sin here as having desire for you?

    Desire is certainly a human trait; but as we learned from Satan’s fall, also an angelic trait. 

    Sin! crouching at our door: its desire is for you and for me.

    But we must rule over it, says the Lord. We must defeat sin in the great and ongoing battle between good and evil.

    Cain failed and sinned. Yet do not condemn Cain like the son of another, but rather have pity for him like you would your own son. And have compassion on other sinners. With God’s help some who fall short will do good and gain the Lord’s acceptance. And in Christ even a sinner like you and me has hope.

    Now That We Have the Knowledge of Good and Evil

    Perhaps on occasion your face falls at the thought of our past and inevitable sin. For the task of our earthly knowledge of good and evil weighs heavily upon us. ‘There is no one righteous, not even one.’

    For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. – Romans 3:23

    Do you recall that Adam and Eve had more sons? For we are sons of Seth, Son of Adam. Therefore our instruction in good and evil must progress.

    The Lord will not only give us the Law through Moses, but also redeem us from our sin by the Son of Man.

    To be continued…