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Mon, 03/01/2011

GENESIS 8

Commentary

by Bunmi Olubode

The mercy of God and the reward of righteousness

Up until now we have read about the wonderful works of God, the evil of sin and Gods judgment upon man and the earth. But for the sake of one man’s righteousness i.e. Noah, all human beings and living creatures would have perished. Does this remind you of someone else? It reminds me of the gift and grace of God to us all in Jesus Christ, by whose righteousness we now have the promises of God.

In chapter 8, we join Noah in the ark where he and all living creatures are peacefully coexisting with one another, the lion and the gazelle, the tiger and the antelope, the cat and the mouse all enveloped in the mercy of God all awaiting His deliverance. Once again in his faithfulness, God turns his full attention to Noah and brings them out into a new beginning, a cleaned up and dry earth.

Noah responds with a thanksgiving offering that provokes God to establish a covenant with human beings and all living creatures and to restore the blessing of Adam on Noah and his sons. The stage is set for the continuation of the human race.

The origin of governments

And so the sons of Noah begin to multiply in the earth. As men begin to multiply in the earth, we also observe the beginnings of the building of cities, the formation of governments, the emergence of mighty rulers i.e. Nimrod of whom it is written by other commentators (The Targum of Jonathan, Mathew Henry) that he was a tyrannical ruler and founder of the city of Babel. Some even consider him as the worlds first dictator. Either way, we see from the text that he was not satisfied with building one city but he went from the land of Shinar into Assyria where he built other cities including Nineveh. Perhaps he was just a great builder or was he driven by the quest for power and dominion?

Can we see any parallels in today’s world?

The situation in Babel was of concern to God; the action of the people was in direct contravention to his instruction to “fill the earth”. They decide to build the tower to “make a name for themselves as they do not want to be scattered across the earth” God was not prepared to let this continue and so He intervened. We can be comforted by this account knowing that there comes a time when God will intervene in our cities and governments. For us as Christians, this is a certainty when we ask Him to do so.

Introduction to Abram

Through the lineage of Shem, we are introduced to Abram with whom God establishes His covenant of redemption. Abram starts on the first leg of his journey away from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan but they stop [in fact the Bible uses the word “settle”] at Harran. One must wonder why did they stop? What held them there? Did they lose their focus and forget the fact that they were meant to be going to Canaan? It is interesting to note that the origins of Terah’s name mean ‘delay’ or ‘wilderness’. Harran was a city in Mesopotamia devoted to an Assyrian moon god. Did these have anything to do with it? One can only wonder if idolatry kept them there.

We must be aware that on our journey to what God has promised us or is calling us to that we do not settle for second best or less than He has in mind for us or allow ourselves to get distracted by where we are.