Abraham - Part 1

Entry - Nine


Some of these chapters are pretty straight through; So, I won’t spend too much time on them... just point out a thing or two, here, and there. Okay:

GENESIS
Chapter 12:1-3 “Now the LORD had siad unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.....”

Now, why would the LORD command Abram to leave his extended family and his father’s house??? Again, it seems like the whole story is not there..., but we can look at past patterns of the children of man; and see that the LORD doesn’t separate families... unless they are becoming wicked; then, he separates the faithful ones from the disobedient ones. Obviously, Abram was faithful, along with Lot his nephew, son to Abram’s deceased brother Haran; and other people that followed them. So, Abram, his wife Sarai; Lot, his wife, and some other people traveled into the land of Canaan, and Sichem, and the plain of Moreh. As Abram stopped by those lands; he build an altar, and called upon the LORD, who appeared to him, and said that, he would give that land unto his seed: Genesis Chapter 12:7 “And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land; and there builded he an altar unto the LORD who appeared unto him.” So, we know that the altar tradition has been going on since the time of Adam... We can also know that the altar was not only to make an offering unto the LORD, but to also call upon him: 12:8 “....and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.” Now, in Chapter 13; Abram and Lot have to separate because they were so rich in cattle, and in silver, and gold. They couldn’t travel together any longer. They needed their space for their animals to feed properly. There was not enough food for all their animals and people they were traveling with; so, they had to go their separate ways to survive. And, so they did. In Chapter 14 we read that nine kings go to war against each other:
Amraphel king of Shinar
Arioch king of Ellasar
Chedorlaomer king of Elam
Tidal king of nations

These four kings made war against, these five kings:
Bera king of Sodom
Birsha king of Gomorrah
Shinab king of Admah
Shemeber king of Zeboiim
Zoar king of Bela

In the process of the war; Lot was captured along with his goods to say the least. When Abram finds out he goes out with 318 of his servants to rescue his nephew whom he calls his brother. So, this tells us that Abram, though he was a man of God; he knew how to fight in battle... this is something that some, don’t think about. Some prophets of God were also warriors in times of war... they were not mild and weak physically. So, Abram rescues Lot, and his people, and all of his goods. Now in Chapter 14:18 we are introduced to a King, King of a place called Salem: This King is not just any king; He is a righteous king. He is also The Priest of God..... Again, we are missing information on this High Priest Melchizedek....Now, here is another ritual that we see from time to time in the Old Testament. The priests have bread and wine that they set apart as sacred. Only certain people could eat it and blessed it... like a priest or a prophet. Chapter 14:18 “... And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God....” Melchizedek blesses Abram. In Chapter 15; Abram was in his eighties (now, around this time; people were not living as long as they used to... Terah, Abram’s father lived 205 yrs old (see Chap. 11:32). Their life expand was under 200 yrs... it seemed...) Anyway, Abram was in his eighties when the LORD promised him that he would have a seed of his own bowels as an heir: and have a numberless generation. Abram believed the LORD. He also told him that the promised land (Canaan and the surrounded area) would not be his seeds for at least a couple of hundred years. That they first would be, not only strangers, but servants unto a different land; and those people would afflict them for 400 years - before they leave that land... but when they'd leave that land; they would not come out empty handed; they would “...come out with great substance” He also tells Abram that he would live to “..a good old age.”
Genesis15:13-15 “... And he said unto Abram, know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not heirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.”

In Chapter16 The LORD didn’t tell Abram at this time how his seed was to come about.. Sarai gave Abram his Egyptian maid Hagar as his second wife; that she may have children for her.... (it seemed that the custom was that the main wife could claim any children that her maid had as her own. Hagar became wife to Abram, but she was still Sarai’s maid). It seemed that once Hagar got pregnant - Hagar must have looked down on Sarai, because Sarai couldn’t have any children at the time. Sarai complained to Abram, and He reminded her that Hagar was still her maid. Sarai apparently was hard on Hagar, and put her in her place; that Hagar ran away from her. An angel appeared to Hagar and told her to go back and submit to Sarai... He told her that she would have a son, and to name him Ishmael; he told her that her seed would be numberless. So, with that encouragement, Hagar went back to Sarai.
Genesis 16:4 - 11 “... And he went into Hagar and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the LORD judge between me and thee. But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, theymaid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water...... And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands..... I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude...... thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael....”

Abram was 86 yrs old when Ishmael was born (Chap.16:16). In Chapter 17 Abram was 99 yrs old when the LORD appeared unto him, and told him, he would be father of many nations; and princes would come out of him. He changed his name to Abraham, and Sarai to Sarah. He commands him to circumcise every male child eight days old and older... he told him that it would be a token of their covenant with him. That’s how they would know their own. He told him that Sarai would bare him a son and to name him Isaac. Abraham was happy to know that Sarah would give him a son in their old age. He was also concern for Ishmael... The LORD let him know that although his chosen covenant would be with Isaac and his seed: Ishmael would also be blessed. He would also multiply him greatly; bless him with twelve princes, and make him a great nation... But Isaac and his seed would be the main covenant. Abraham gets circumcise at 99 yrs old, and Ishmael at 13 yrs old.
Genesis 17:4 - 22 “As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.... kings shall come out of thee... This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcise.... And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you... And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be... and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her. Then Abraham fell upon his face and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old bear? And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant will I establish with Isaac which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this time in the next year. And he left off talking with him and God went up from Abraham..”

Note: Here again is another proof that God is not a mist or energy floating around... He appeared to Abraham; talks with him; and then goes up..”And he left off talking with him and God went up from Abraham..”. So, Abraham saw God going up If God was a mist or energy of some sort... Abraham would have used different words to describe the mist or energy...like; white mist or whatever color it showed up; ...feel his energy, or something like that, to describe the energy...

These chapters are not that confusing, but I just thought I’d summarize them, and point out a few things here, and there. Well, we’ll continue with the story of Abraham, and his family in the next two or three entries. Have a nice week!

JC

The Tower of Babel - Abraham’s Generation

Entry - Eight


Now that Noah and his children had multiplied and replenished the earth: it was natural that they all spoke the same language... Even from the time of Adam. As the natural man goes, and Satan roaming around the land; it is only a matter of time before most people began to be wicked again.. It doesn’t say how it all started, but we have a glimpse of it through Canaan the son of Ham. It would only be natural for him to get angry at Noah, his uncles, and siblings for being curse to serve them. He probably was resentful and much more. How would you feel if you were, not asked, ..but told... that you and you children were to become the servants of your family??? If you were disrespectful in the first place, wouldn’t that make you angry... to technically be disown among your own, and be placed below them???

Anyway, the people began to be wicked again. Remember, Noah and his children knew a lot of what happened before the flood. They heard the teachings of their ancestors first hand... I’m sure they taught this new generations a lot of those same things.... Don’t you think ? Wouldn’t you want your children and grandchildren, great grandchildren ...and so on ... to know what you know about your family and God; and teach them what you were taught??? I know you would, because through generations that’s exactly what we’ve tend to do; as nations, and as individuals; we instinctively want to teach our children about our traditions and beliefs. So with this in mind; if they knew they were doing bad; and knew they would be in trouble with God... and they obviously knew that the LORD would separated them, and they didn’t want that... they wanted to become one city “strength in numbers” you might say.. “And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth”... They probably saw heavenly beings coming down from heaven, from time to time. they probably thought they could out smart Heavenly Father, or something... and think they could still get to Heaven on their own by building a tower that could reach up to where they assumed it was Heaven. So, the people were becoming corrupted again; those that were corrupted were making others corrupted.....

GENESIS
Chapter 11:1-9 “And the Whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.
2) 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.
3) And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.
4) And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heave; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
5) And they LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
6) And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
7) Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.
8) So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
9) Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.


So, The LORD saw their tower; and saw that the people were working together on building this tower... he saw that they were all on the same page... sort of thing... He saw that as long as they could talk to each other, they would continue to corrupt each other, more, and more, until all would be lost.... again. As a parent, would you want that? Would you want to lose your children again??? What would most parents do??? most parents try to separate the bad influence from those that are still under their influence, or that are young.. Right??? Well, that’s what he sort of did.... He knew that there was no hope for the future children, if they were born into all that corruption.... the LORD said “....the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them. Which they have imagined to do.” So, how can he prevent that without destroying them? ... He not only cause for them to be separated, but cut off their communication. By them not understanding each other, they couldn’t continue their project to get to heaven... they probably tried to find those that they could understand and make their own little group; and move away from those they couldn’t understand... isn’t that what we do, even today, even within the same country??? For the most part, those that speak the same language, make their own little town, their own little world, if possible. We are no different in nature than they were. God is the same today as he was then..

You can tell that the Lord didn’t want to destroy them... it doesn’t say they were as bad, or wicked as the people before the flood.... at least they were not at that point... yet.. From the time Adam left the garden to the time of the flood; it was around 1656 years give, or take before the LORD decide to start over with the Human race... He is not so hasty to get rid of anyone.. He is fair. He gives plenty of chances for people to change their ways.. So, it wasn’t that long yet; when the tower of Babel was build -(After the flood); I would say between 100 and 200 plus years, give or take... How do I know that??? .. Well, Noah lived 350 years more, after the flood... The tower of Babel seemed to have happened before Abraham was born. Noah was around 895 years old when Abraham was born (that’s about 295 years after the flood, so the tower of Babel happened during the first 250 years give or take)
... Abraham was around 55 years old, when Noah died... So, Abraham must have met Noah in his life time... especially if Abraham was a righteous man. After all, he became next in line to keep these records... Noah’s language and that of Abraham’s must have been the same. Wouldn’t it make sense that those that were righteous would understand each other; keep the same language?
Here is the timeline of Noah and Abraham :

Noah lived 950 years. After the flood he lived 350 years. He was:
600 yrs old when Arphaxad was born; son of Shem
635 yrs old when Salah was born
670 yrs old when Eber was born
704 yrs old when Peleg was born
734 yrs old when Reu was born
766 yrs old when Serug was born
796 yrs old when Nahor was born
825 yrs old when Tehar was born; father to Abraham
895 yrs old when Abraham was born

If you want to check it out for yourself; do the math on Genesis 11:10-27.

Food for thought: on verse 7 “Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language...” Was the LORD with someone else??? It implies that there is more than one individual.. Could “God” and the “LORD” be two separate beings??? If you look back on previous chapters - you’ll notice that there is “God” and “The LORD God”, and Most of the time is “The LORD”. Notice that the word LORD is all capitalized??? It would make sense if he is LORD of Lords (which are the earthly Lords). The emphasis on the Capitalize word “ LORD” as signifying the highest of the Lords, don’t you think???. Now “God” is not used as often as LORD. In the beginning of the creation we see the word name “God” more often .. You could say; God and LORD are inter changeable, and I might agree,... but when “us” is use, then it makes me think that there might be two individuals; one is God the Highest, and the other is LORD of Lords, which The LORD would still be a God, but, not the Highest God... Just food for thought. We’ll talk more about this, later on. Just keep it in mind.

This is it for now. I hope this entry gives you more understanding as to God’s dealing with man. The next entry will be on Abram. Keep pondering the scriptures, and don’t forget to pray before you read them....

JC

Noah and His Family ...continues

Entry - Seven


Hello again, It has been over a month since I last wrote. I’ve been so busy I didn’t even realized how fast time went by. I’m not giving up on this writing though. I do want people to want to search the scriptures more, and also enjoy them at the same time.. So I’m back. Before I move on; I feel the need to give you a little history of the translation of the Bible because if you are aware of this brief history it will help you understand passages that don’t make any sense when you read them. We are staring to come across some of them that are somewhat obvious, so here we go:

As I mentioned before, the Bible has been translated many times throughout the centuries ... or years. John Wycliffe an Oxford professor, scholar, and theologian was the first man to hand write the first English translation of the Bible back in 1380 AD. He was a rebel in the eyes of the religious leaders back in the 1370's. Religious leaders did not want people to read the Bible... Only religious scholars and religious leaders were allow to read them. They only read what they wanted the people to know. They even change the context on the wording to fit their agenda or purposes. Many books were omitted for translations. Religious leaders didn’t want the Bible to be translated to any language, or be read in any other than Latin, even though Latin was not the original language of the Bible...these kind of actions cause a lot of contentions among certain religious scholars and theologians; it caused loads of deaths. Issues of translations, who can, and can’t read the Scriptures; who can have them, and so forth; it’s what caused the separation of church and create different sects of religion. The people rebelled through the years... and little by little through hundreds of years these sacred books have lost a lot of the true wording of what these prophets truly wrote. So, we are now left with some incomplete writings... which make it confusing at times to understand. This is why it’s so important to invite the Spirit of the Lord to help us fill in the blanks whenever possible or get the main idea and message of what the prophets of old where writing about. I like to read the King James version because it is the oldest available, and it is the least translated in our times... even though the King James version was translated in the 1600s (1611); far from the1300's - it is still the oldest we have available to us. It is not perfect, but it is more accurate than any other out there right now.... unless you can get your hands on some older than King James, or the German, Hebrew or Greek translations. Some say that the old German translation is the most nearly correct translation of these sacred books. The Bible is only the word of God through his prophets as far as it’s translated correctly, some parts of the Bible have been addition or subtractions that religious leaders made to benefit their agenda to control the people in those times... when some people, and some religious leaders like Martin Luther would want people to have the more accurate teachings of the Bible..those in religious power would come after them and persecute them or kill them... So the fact is that as much as we want to say the Bible is perfect.. It is not. Not because of the teachings found in them, but because of those that meddled with it to fit their agenda. The only true witness of what is of God, and what is of man’s meddled, it’s the Spirit. Don’t take me wrong. A lot of what is found in there is true and it’s a record of those people, and some truths have been omitted that can show the consistency of the character of God more plainly, and clearly on his dealing with man. The Bible is not complete: books have been omitted, words have been changed; as to how much? Hard to say.... at least for me it is. That’s why you need to be open minded as you read and let the Spirit guide you as to the message that it bears. The Bible still has a lot of history, and truth of God’s dealing with man. Incomplete.... But, It is still sacred.

Where am I getting this information? Well, it is everywhere in history... all you need to do is read ancient history or look up in the internet the timeline of the Bible or it’s translations timeline and you’ll come up with some of what I’m saying and much, much more... Here is one of many links you can look up, if you want (if you can’t click on it, just copy and paste the link):

http://www.greatsite.com/timeline-english-bible-history/

As I was saying before; one of the best ways to tackle the scriptures is to first look at the characters and their story without prejudice and above all with the Spirit of the Lord. Ponder their story and see what the Spirit tells you... then, go back and read them all over again, and again, and again, and again... and you’ll find that every time you read them; the stories become more real and clearer. You begin to discern each time Heavenly Father’s character and his nature. His nature is not for him to be a mystery to us, but for us to get to know him better; of his love for us; his dealing with man throughout time. He doesn’t want to be a mystery to us, but a Father. Our Heavenly Father. This has been the biggest argument about him throughout time among man. The scriptures clear this out if we read them, and ponder them with an open mind to let the Spirit guide us as to what these prophets recorded in their time. This is a life time procedure because the Bible is not perfectly translated ... unfortunately too many people have meddled with its translation...but the message it’s still there.

Here is an example of something that doesn’t make any sense as to what really happened :

GENESIS
In chapter 9:20-27 it talks about how Noah was drunken and one of his sons Ham saw his nakedness: his other two brethren Shem and Japheth covered their father’s nakedness without looking at him. When Noah woke up and knew what Ham had done, he cursed Canaan, his children, and his future generations... Now, isn’t it a bit too harsh to say the least to punish his grandson and his seed by making them slaves just because Ham saw him naked??? What about Ham’s other sons, Why not them also??? It is not logical... worse things have been done than this. It is not withing God’s characters, nor Noah’s to place such a long curse upon a person for seeing the nakedness of their father. We can assume many things, but from what we know of God so far; this action doesn’t make any sense, it’s out of character.. So there’s got to be information missing... Ham must’ve seen and/or done things that he knew were definitely prohibited in that tent, but he acted upon it anyway. After all, Noah was the prophet of God and he was probably in charged of sacred things that no one could see or hold except the Lord’s Prophet.. Or something like that.. What does Canaan have to do with any of this??? The thing is, there’s got to be more to the story than what it’s written. What makes me think that??? Well, if you think about it... the Ark of the Covenant was only allowed to be handled and opened by those in authority which were the prophets, and the Levites which are the descendants of Levi one of the twelve sons of Jacob (Israel): If anybody else touched it, or handled it... they died. We’ll talk about the Ark of the Covenant in later chapters when we get there. The thing is, only because they were the sons of Noah, it didn’t mean that they had access to everything Noah had access to; when it involved sacred matters. I’m sure Noah had sacred records with him when he, and his family went into the Ark. I’m sure we don’t have the complete story of Noah, before the flood. Through out time the prophets were required to keep records. Even from the beginning... how else would we have these records? History it self says that wordings and books were literally omitted from these records. Here are the verses:

[20] And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:
[21] And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.
[22] And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.
[23] And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.
[24] And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.
[25] And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
[26] And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
[27] God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.


So, from this verse Genesis 9:25 we know that Canaan and his descendants would become not just servants, but servants of servants, which means that they would be the lowest of the lowest of people; not being consider of equality among men. Canaan and his descendants would become servants to his brethren which would be “everyone else. Would that be right??? Now, food for thought.... Why was Canaan cursed and not his other siblings, or even Ham his father??? Wasn’t Ham the one that went into the tent??? or could it be that the text was changed and it wasn’t Ham the one that went into the tent, but Canaan??? ...

Genesis 10 gives you the descendants of the sons of Noah: Canaan’s is Chap. 10:15-19

Just for your personal interest: It can be hard to follow Canaan’s lineage throughout the Bible; you have to make a lot of notes to keep up as to who came from whom. I will try from time to time to point out, who is who as to their linage, and give you the reference as to chapter and verse: but as an over all view of who came from whom in the Bible; see the link below, it gives you and idea: The link below from Wikipedia.org, gives you and idea of who might be the descendants of Ham, and Canaan. A lot of the information there seems to back up the Bible’s lineages of their characters.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_Nations


I hope you enjoy this entry. I hope you are becoming more open minded as to how you are seeing these sacred accounts. They will only enhance your mind and understanding. Have a great week

JC

Noah and His Family

Entry - Six

Hello, I hope you found my last entry interesting. I got so excited about telling you about Noah knowing, Enos, the Grandson of Adam: and of how he heard about the garden of Eden, and all those stories from the Grandson of Adam.- That I forgot to give you Enos’ time line so that you can see who was still alive during Noah’s time. Again, you can do the math your selves if you wish.


Enos lived 905 years. He was the Grandson of Adam, and son of Seth. He was:
90 yrs old when Cainan was born
160 yrs old when Mahalaleel was born
225 yrs old when Jared was born
387 yrs old when Enoch was born
452 yrs old when Methuselah was born
639 yrs old when Lamech was born
821 yrs old when Noah was born; Noah was about 84 yrs old when Enos died.

Moving right along: As the human race was multiplying they were expose to Satan, and apparently they were very easily swayed by him. Some of those men he swayed were famous it seems, or very influential: Genesis 6:4 “....the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.” The LORD said that he would give men 120 years before he withdraws his Spirit from them, and bring the flood. Genesis 4:3 “The LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man(human race), for he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.” He saw how wicked the people had become, inside and out of their souls that he became very “grieved” Genesis 4:6 “And it repented the LORD that he had made man(human race) on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.” I know you think you know the story, but have you picture this in your mind? The American Heritage Dictionary says that; “To grieve is To hurt. To be sorrowful; to lament; mour; pain.” ... With this definition in mind... Imagine this: The LORD God, deeply in pain, very, very sad,.. NOT angry, but deeply sad, deeply in pain in his heart, in other words Broken Hearted to see sooo many of his precious children, not only going astray, but become very wicked in their hearts and in their actions. ... Remember, these people did not have faith in God,... they had knowledge. They knew God. A lot of them had heard his instructions from Adam, Seth, Enos... and so on. They KNEW for a fact about the teachings of God, and his existence; and they also KNEW about Satan. They were exposed to both facts. They openly rebelled and chose to follow Satan. Heavenly Father saw that, and it hurt him deeply... “...it grieved him at his heart” ... also, if Adam and Eve lived for so long... don’t you think that they might also be broken hearted, deeply sad, and hurt to see so many of their children openly rebel against them, and God??? Now, picture this: If you’re a parent or a sibling who loves God... how would you feel to see your own flesh and blood who once was very good, and had a witness that God loves him/her and now starts to hang out in a gang, or with drug addicts or idolize a killer, a rapist, a thief, a Satan’s worshiper; or all of the above??? How would you feel when they don’t want to listen to you, or don’t want to be around you... they completely reject you and your love, and chooses those bad influences over you??? That can cause intense pain... especially to a parent. It is almost unbearable to even think about it. Just the thought - it is too much ...And I’m only talking about one child..... Now can you imagine hundreds of them??? Maybe thousands?? If you can hardly bear to see one of your children go in a terrible direction, even though you might have five or ten children of your own... you still suffer for that one that left you.... right??? I know you would.. It is only natural, because you had that child and loved that child, because he/she is your own flesh and blood. Now picture how Adam and Eve must have felt... they raised a lot of these children, they once nursed them and held them and kiss them and gave them all the love a parent could give... No wonder Eve was so happy to bear Seth, and know that he was going to be like Abel. Now, if God is the creator of us all, and feels much, much more, and loves us much, much more than we can possible comprehend... how much more intense were his emotions, how do you think he felt to see so many of his children choose Satan over him, whom hasn’t done any thing for them, whom hasn’t sacrifice any thing for them??? I wouldn’t even be surprised if the LORD God cried to see them walk away from him... his children... the ones he created the earth for; to see them turn their backs away from him. Even then, the LORD gave them 120 years to repent before the flood. As parents, we also shed tears for our children, we do everything in our power to help them; but when some hit a point of no return... some parents move on, and leave them to their own consequences. Or throw them out of their homes...and so on. But if they get their act together, they are welcomed back home.. Right? Heavenly Father is no different; He knew they were at a point of no return.. He knew that if he let them go on, they would destroyed all that he worked for...they would continue to corrupt all of his children. They knew too much evil Wouldn’t you do the same? Wouldn’t you kick-out, or ask the rebellious child to move out so that he/she would not corrupt the rest of your children; that they may have a better chance at life?? Ponder what I just wrote. God loves us, he wants us to be happy, just like any other parent. How can I tell? Well, he has shown us his feelings or how he feels when we don’t choose him. Think of Cain, and his children; think of these children now... When the LORD sees that there is no turning back for these children: He decides to destroy them and start over again with all flesh.. but he is going to give them 120 years before he destroys them... Again on Genesis 4:3,7-9,11-13 “The LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man(human race), for he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years... And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air.... But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. ... Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. ...The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” From these verses we can say that even the animals have been corrupted... Well, most of them; for there was Noah, his wife with three of his children and their wives who were righteous; and the animals that went with them in the Ark. Noah probably had more than three children, after all he was over 400 years old when Shem, Ham, and Japheth were born; and out of all of them; only three were righteous, with their wives . The three brothers were in their late 90's when they went into the Ark That means that they also had children; They also had to leave their children behind due to their wickedness... How sad is that??? Again, why am I telling you this, when you know the story? Well, I want to point out that God is no different then us when it comes to parenting... on a much higher level then us, but none the less the same as to wanting us to be happy and doing things for us to be happy, correcting us, and praising us when necessary. He is more fair and just though. Look, he gave the people 120 years to repent... isn’t that more than fair? You can tell that he doesn’t want to destroy them, for why else would he give them that much time? He loves them in spite of their evilness... well, obviously they didn’t repent, so they were drown. I’m pretty sure It was extremely sad for the LORD to see all those people drown before him. After the flood, the Lord promised not to flood the earth again, nor destroy all living thing again... and why did HE promise this?... he promised it for our sake. He made a covenant with Noah and his sons: Genesis 8:21 “... I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.” Notice that he doesn’t say “man’s(human race) heart is evil from” birth... but instead, he says that is evil from youth... which would make sense, because children don’t sin, they only do what they see others do,.... But, youth... they know better, so they act upon knowledge of good and bad. They know the difference between good and bad. Children don’t; at least not at first.

Anyway, after the flood which lasted over a year by the time it dried up; and Noah and his family were able to leave the Ark- “God blessed Noah and his sons and said unto them to Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.” Genesis 9:1. So, Remember Noah is only 601 years old. He was also included when “God ...said to Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.” Noah lived 950 years.. So he had another 350 years to multiply and replenish the earth. His children had a little bit more time. We know from Genesis that at least Shem lived about 600 years. He was about 98 years old when the flood stopped. The three brothers were in their late 90's when they went into the Ark. Genesis 11:10-11 “... Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxas two years after the flood: And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.” : So maybe his two other brothers lived as long, give or take. Anyway, Noah and his sons continued to multiply as they were told to do. God gave them instructions just like he instructed Adam and Eve. It is interesting... When the Lord instructed Adam and Eve about food outside of the garden; it doesn’t say anything about eating animal flesh... at least I didn’t see it. He tells them about toiling the ground and eating herbs, but nothing on animal meat.... Maybe he told him and we don’t know about it. (Remember, the Bible was translated many times before it was translated to the English language, and during the dark ages; there were things withheld from the people by their religious leaders. So the Bible is not complete: There are books that are missing... for one, there are all those patriarchs from Adam, and after Adam that must have written about what they taught their children... it obviously implies that they taught them to pray and make offerings to the Lord, and if the children were turning away from God, they must have said some things to them to try to reason with them. I doubt it that they just let them walk away without a fight for their lives: to help them repent. Isn’t that what good parents do???) Food for thought. Anyway, going back to Adam and Eve and their eating instructions; it shows that they sacrifice animals, but nothing on eating animal meat.. Now, when he instructs Noah, He puts him in charge of the animals, but He also tells him that now the animals will fear them; that “Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for them; even as the green herb” Genesis 9:2-3 “ And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.” He also told them that they can eat the meat, BUT not the blood nor the flesh that it is still alive. Blood signifies life. Were the people before the flood so wicked that they ate animals or flesh that was still alive while they ate it? They definitely committed murder.. They learned it from Cain. Well, God definitely set new rules after the flood, which causes one to think that he did it to prevent some of the same things from happening again with this new beginnings of man. He places the penalty for murder, which seemed to not have been necessarily demanded before the flood. At least not this way. He is more stern with the consequences; Again, maybe so that man may think twice before committing some thing this great: Genesis 9:4-6 “But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed for in the image of God made he man.” Again, here is another scriptures that indicates that God is not a mist nor energy. He again reminds us that we are made in his image which means appearance, likeness; which means that if we have arms and legs and so forth, he must also have them... common sense. No mystery there. He is a perfect, glorify being who looks like us, or more like, we look like him in appearance. From the above scripture we can see that he wants us to know how sacred is our body. He wants us to have respect for it: “for in the image of God made he man”shouldn’t we revere that knowledge???

One last thought: Most people think that the covenant God made about the rainbow was with Noah, BUT the covenant was NOT only with Noah, but with his sons and ALL FLESH - including animals: Genesis9:9- 13,16“... I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth. And I will establish my covenant with you;... And God said, this is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth... And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.” (Perpetual means everlasting, lasting for eternity:... indefinitely,.. unlimited duration). Isn’t this a wonderful, and very thoughtful promise. God could have made this covenant with Noah: He didn’t need to include anyone else, Yet, He loves all of us, He loves all his creations that he includes every living thing on the earth. How loving of a parent is he??? He loves us immensely, beyond our comprehension. Ponder this.

I have one more entry on Noah and his family. I hope you can see how real and personal our Heavenly Father is with his children... and he’s still is with us...if we let him. Thank you for reading the Blog. I hope it continues to intrigue you enough to Ponder the scriptures as you read them. Thank you.

JC

Noah

Entry - Five

I know I told you that Entry # four would be about Noah, but ended talking about Cain and Abel: I needed to cover their story to try and clarify some things such as: Punishment vs Consequences... Just in case you didn’t catch on to that. Thus far, the Lord has not punished anyone... They have all been consequences of actions. "The American Heritage Dictionary" says:
“Punish - To handle roughly; injure; hurt; mistreatment. Punish usually means subjecting someone to loss of freedom or money or to physical pain for wrong doing.”

“Consequence - That which logically or naturally follows from an action or condition; an effect; result. The relation of a result to its cause. A logical result or inference.”

Using this definitions of punishment and consequence: we can safely say that punishment doesn’t necessarily relates to the bad choice one makes... no matter what one does wrong; he/she will lose freedom and will be mistreated etc.... Question: does the Lord punishes us??? Has he punish the people in these sacred books??? ... So far I haven’t seen any punishment from the Lord... I have seen consequences of bad actions... The Lord has not taken anyone’s freedom. He hasn’t hurt anyone. The individual has chosen the bad action knowing fully well - the consequence of that bad action. If they hurt, it is because they chose to get hurt. A bad Consequence is not Punishment; it is simply the logical result related to an action. We shall see more example of good and bad actions and the consequences there of.

Moving along - Have you notice some chapters in the scriptures that are pretty much a list of names of people’s generations? I used to skip those list of names. Some chapters where full of them... I thought they were boring, and had no guilt skipping them. I couldn’t even pronounce half of their names anyway. I knew they were important, but I just couldn’t see the excitement of knowing who was who.... until now! Ponder this::

During the time of Adam; people used to live over 900 years old. The oldest recorded in the Bible is (Jared) 962 years old. The last of those men were Noah, who lived 950 years and his children. Now let me go back to Adam and Eve for a moment and point something out before I go on, on this subject:.. If Adam and Eve started having children right away; which would make sense, and they were both 130 years old when they had Seth; they were not a small family. Eve must’ve had Seth shortly after Cain left, otherwise she wouldn’t have made the connection of Seth being the replacement sort of thing for Abel. And Cain must’ve had children of his own before he left Adam and Eve. Some of Cain’s brothers and sisters were easily between 1 - 100 plus years old. .. Which means that they also had children and some of their children had children too. We don’t even know if there were twins, triples, quadruples and so forth...it’s possible... Adam and Eve could easily have had about four-five generations of children within those 130 years of life. Why am I pointing this out? Well, because some people think that during the time of Cain and Abel, there were only the four of them, which it is not true, for why else would Cain be afraid of those who would seek him and try to kill him? Or have a wife? If Adam and Eve were obedient to God.. Which THEY were.. Don’t you think they would continually have children almost from the moment they left the garden???... and just like any family, I’m sure there were good and bad children, but obviously not as bad as Cain, or they would have mentioned it. Abel seemed to be exceptionally good, which means Seth was also exceptionally good, for why else would they go through the trouble of recording his generations??? It seems that they probably kept a record of the names of their children somewhere, but the one that was preserved for us to have was that of Seth, and of those of his children that were exceptionally obedient to the Lord. They were not necessarily the first born. Seth was definitely not the first born, neither did Enos his son.... Look, he was 105 years old when Enos was born... any obedient child of God would do as he was commanded by the Lord from the beginning... To “multiply and replenish the earth” he would have started a lot sooner then 105 years old. Remember, posterity has been a great factor throughout the ages. More accurately, since the beginning. It was, and it is in our conscious and subconscious mind to have children, to have a posterity... now days, if people don’t feel the same ways; it is because they choose to not feel that way: But if they honestly search their conscious; they will find that their souls yearns for a posterity.

Anyway, after Cain’s and Abel’s story; we read about Noah and his family.... Now here is the fun part about the list of generations... I wanted to know who of those great patriarchs was still alive when Noah was born: (I think is great when I hear of people that still have their great, great, grand parents alive.) I used to think that Noah was born many centuries after Adam and Seth...But, look at this: Noah didn’t meet Adam; Adam had died ONLY about 126 years earlier. He didn’t meet Seth either. Seth died ONLY 14 years earlier.... He did meet Seth’s son Enos. Enos lived about 84 more years after the birth of Noah... isn’t that AMAZING??? Noah could have learned all about our first parent from Adam’s grandson. The generation gap wasn’t that far way. Noah new a patriarch that actually knew Adam for many years... HOW COOL is that??? Genesis 5 gives you the names and years of the righteous patriarchs that came through Seth. You can check the math if you want. NOTE: some of Seth’s children had the same names as some of Cain’s children... so beware and don’t get confuse as to who is who.

Adam lived 930 years. He was:
130 yrs old when Seth was born - (Seth was 105 when Enos was born)
235 yrs old when Enos was born - (Enos was 90 when Cainan was born)
325 yrs old when Cainan was born - (Cainan was 70 when Mahalaleel was born)
395 yrs old when Mahalaleel was born - (Mahalaleel was 65 when Jared was born)
460 yrs old when Jared was born - (Jared was 162 when Enoch was born)
622 yrs old when Enoch was born - (Enoch was 65 when Methuselah was born)
687 yrs old when Methuselah was born - (Methuselah was 187 when Lamech was born)
874 yrs old when Lamech was born - (Lamech was182 when Noah was born)
Noah was born 126 years after Adam Passed away.

You can do this same pattern with each of these patriarchs. Remember, these are not the only children they had... they had many, many more after them... But these men are the main ones that were exceptional in the Lord’s doing.

Another interesting thing is that all these patriarchs died before the flood... Lamech, Noah’s father died about five years before the flood. And his grandfather Methuselah died in the year of the flood: when Noah was about 600 yrs old. It would make sense if Methuselah died just before the flood came about... especially if he was a righteous man. Don’t you think???

Well, I hope this bit of information helps you a little - to see why it is important to have these names. I’ll wait for the next entry to talk about Noah, and some of the things I noticed while I read about that time. Thank you.

JC

Cain and Abel

Entry - Four

Hello, Again, I hope you found my last entry helpful. This week I’ll talk about Cain and Abel. Here it goes:

GENESIS
... Now that Adam and Eve are out of the garden; they now understood how to be “fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth” they also learned how to work the land to provide food and shelter. It seems logical that the Lord taught them how to do it before he sent them out of the garden. He for sure showed them how to make clothing for themselves. Here is yet another scripture that indicates that God is not a mist or energy.. He made clothes. He didn’t give them a pattern; he didn’t draw them a picture of how to make clothes... He made them clothes and dressed them. Plain and simple: Genesis 3:21 “... Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.” ...Then he sent them out of the garden. He didn’t sent them out naked. Unprepared. Genesis 2:23 “Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken.” See how personal and loving the Lord was with Adam and Eve? Just like any good parent; He didn’t sent them out unprepared. He first told them what they would be dealing with- out of the garden: He defined each of their roles and told them the consequences of partaking of the fruit: And caused them to council with each other from then on before any decisions were taken: Then HE made them clothes. So, Heavenly Father is just like any good parent... with the exception that he is perfect... But his actions are no different than any good loving parent. If your children are to progress you must first teach them, and give them the tools to learn and grow; to know right from wrong; good and evil... Then at the appropriate time allow them to go on, on their own. Right? We all know that. Why am I pointing this out???... Because I’m trying to show you through the scriptures that God is like us on a much higher plane or scale. That he is (for lack of words) caring, and loving, and real, and he feels deeply. Loves deeply. He can also get upset, and jealous like any other parent that has a disobedient child. Or one that rejects his love for someone else... I will show you all these kinds of emotions that he shows, and the Whys.... but remember, he can control them much, much, much better than us. He is beyond our level. Never the less his emotions and feelings are like ours: Ours, being on a much, much, much smaller scale. Have you ever thought that perhaps these things are written in the scriptures to show us that aside from being our creator he was foremost our FATHER??? And to let us know and teach us about him.. His personality, his character, his sense of humor (Oh yes, I will show you his sense of humor later on, as we go), the type of parent he is; how personal he can be with each and everyone of us and so forth if.... we only let him. IF we simply read the scriptures as they are with no prejudice as to try to interpret them; we can see the stories of these people and God’s dealing with them: .. With love, sternness, patience, jealousy and all those other emotions that parents feel as they raise their children. Don’t you think that through our experience of parenthood he might be trying to show us how he feels about us: That we may see a little bit through his eyes???

Now, going back to Adam and Eve: We don’t know how soon after leaving the garden did they start having children. We don’t know if Cain and Abel were their first children either..(at least not from Genesis). We do know that Cain was born first and Abel second: But this lack of information doesn’t and shouldn’t take away from what is going on... “Cain was a tiller of the ground (farmer???)”, “And Abel was a keeper of sheep,” Genesis 4:1-2 “And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain,..... And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.” Now remember, If Satan was able to get into the garden, then he was definitely outside of the garden, right??? Okay. The story of Cain and Abel is pretty straight through: Abel offered the firstlings of his flock; Cain didn’t. He just gave “an offering unto the LORD”... Remember the Lord has always asked for the FIRST of everything. Doesn’t settle for less. He doesn’t say it here, but in later chapters he makes it clear... That would make sense that he would first established this ritual with Adam and Eve; that they would then teach their children to offer offerings unto the Lord, don’t you think??? Anyway, the Lord doesn’t accept Cain’s offerings. Cain is mad and it shows. The Lord questions him about his attitude and lets him know in form of a question that if he had done right, wouldn’t he be accepted? (Of course he would ). He also gave him a warning that if he doesn’t get his act together “sin lieth at the door.” (Satan is always at the door waiting for us to let our guard down; don’t you think??.) Genesis 4:3-7 “And in the process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? An Why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.” Some people think that Cain will rule over Satan in the end.... if that’s the case? Then this sentence would make sense. Satan was behind the murder... Moving along, Cain did not listen to the Lord.. He went and killed his brother out of jealousy. Murder is now introduced into the world. The Lord had warned Cain about his attitude and consequences (remember, English was not the language the Bible was first written in; so we may not have the complete translation of these books.. Keep that in mind. There might be more to the story than what we see here in Genesis.) Cain knew perfectly well what he was doing and that there would be consequences; And he thought he could hide it... Now look back; the Lord is very consistent.. from Adam’s time in the garden: The Lord always warned his children about certain things and the consequences if they disobeyed... His punishment were not punishment, BUT consequences of those particular actions...example: Fire burns; you are told that if you place your hand in the fire, you will be burn. Right? Well, if you don’t take heed to that information, than, you get burn... is that punishment??? NO, it is the consequence tied to that action that made you suffer. Did the Lord punish you? NO, you chose to be burned, by not obeying that information. I know, you might still not agree.. It’s okay, there will be plenty of examples in these books to see what I mean. This is only the beginning of the stories, so there will be plenty of repetitious actions in these books for you to read. Okay. The Lord makes sure that every consequence is connected to the sin. Look at this: After Cain killed Abel out of jealousy because of Abel’s better offering, and tries to hide it. Look at what the Lord says to him: Genesis 4:10-15 “.... What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand; When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.” Now, the murder was based on jealousy over a righteous offering; the offering was based on the labor they performed: Cain was a tiller of the earth. He was now banned from farming the earth. The earth would not help him in his tilling anymore. He would now be cast out from tilling the earth, and his family.. He would now be a wanderer and will hide from the Lord... It seemed that Cain loved to till the earth; you can see his pain in verse13 “And Cain said unto the LORD, my punishment is greater than I can bear” He goes on to break down what hurts him: “Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.” He never says he is sorry for killing his brother... He is in pain for being caught, and now, not to be able to labor in what he loves, to not be able to talk to God: to not be able to be with his parents, or have a home: be on the run, and last but not least... afraid that his other siblings might look for him and kill him for what he had done. Adam and Eve might have been horribly broken hearted and sad, but they probably wouldn’t kill him. By this time, it is apparent that Adam and Eve have had a lot more children. And Satan was on the loose.. He is not loyal to anyone. Not even Cain. Cain knew that his siblings would look for him and kill him.. And with good reason.

Now, think logical...if you had a son that committed murder; would you want another child of yours to do like wise??? Neither did the Lord... He did not want any more of his children to commit that sin. Maybe he multiplied the consequences to prevent them from doing so, and gave Cain a mark to prevent others from finding him. Wouldn’t you do the same??? Wouldn’t you also, make the consequences greater to make it harder for them to want to do it??? “... And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.” Well, you could say that the Lord was being kind to Cain and protected him from his other siblings by setting a mark upon him... Maybe, but it would make more sense to want to prevent his other children from making the same mistake as Cain... The Lord did show kindness to him though; he could have vanish him somehow; instead he allow him to walk away with his wife and have a posterity. The Lord knew that Cain would never be happy with himself; no matter how hard he tried to make a family of his own. He took a life; the Lord made him paid with the same token sort of thing. He shut him out from the life he could have had.. never to till the earth, or see his parents and especially not be able to see the face of God again... How do I know that? Common sense... how would you feel to be fired from THE JOB of a life time, the job that you love? You have been kicked out of your home, and know that your own siblings could kill you if they find you? That your parents are heartbroken, that you can never see your parents again, nor be able to see God’s face and communicate with Him, the creator of all things??? That’s pretty hard to bear. Sometimes it is easier to die than to live with the consequences of your bad actions; don’t you think?

After Cain left, he built a city with his posterity, but we don’t hear any more about him after that: ..could he have walked away from his family; trying to hide from his own misery of what he could have had, and therefore become a vagabond??? ... Just wondering; after all, there are people that are wanderers and vagabonds roaming around because they are running away from their past, whatever it may be. Cain wouldn’t seem any different from these men. The pain can be so intense that it can make you bitter, miserable and not want to be around others. Anyway, just food for thought. Moving on... From his posterity we can see that none were tillers of the earth. They dwell in tents, raised cattle, some handle the harp and organ (there was music from instruments even back then). Others, instructors “of every artificer in brass and iron” I ask you: were did some people get the notion that in the beginning the human race was ignorant, barbaric or came from Apes??? From the beginning all these people seem very smart, and civil in many ways. Genesis 4:20-22 “And Asah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle. ... Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ. ...Tuval-cain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron:” Sadly enough, some of Cain’s children wanted to out do his evil act.. More accurately his great, great, great grandson Lamech He sounded like he was bragging. Apparently everyone new the story of Cain, and what he did to his brother ...Genesis 4:23-24 “And Lamech said unto his wives..... hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.” Isn’t that what happens sometimes when we set a bad example to our children or posterity: they want to out do the bad actions?

Meanwhile, Adam and Eve were comforted by a new son Seth: Genesis 4:25 “And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.” She seemed to be saying that in gratitude to God for giving her another son as good as Abel.

This is a bitter sweet story I think. It is important to ponder these stories because it will help you understand how consistent and just is God. The more we understand the beginning the more the rest of the stories make sense as to the actions of God towards man (by man, I mean all the human race. In the American Heritage Dictionary it says: Man.. Any human being, regardless of sex or age; a member of the human race; a person. The human race; mankind.” A lot of people think the Bible is sexist because of the word “MAN” well, if we use the dictionary’s definition, then we know the Bible is NOT sexist. The LORD is not sexist... on the contrary we are all equal in his sight with different roles to play, but none less important; as you will continue to see through out the scriptures.

Well, this is all for now. Again, I hope you find this intriguing enough to go back and check out this chapter. Thank you.

JC

Adam and Eve

Entry - Three

Hello again, Let’s see how long it takes me this time to write this last entry on Adam and Eve. Here we go.... Just a reminder: Don’t forget to PRAY before reading the scriptures. It is crucial to your understanding; if you want to know the interpretation of the Spirit of the Lord. Be open minded. Relax, Let the Spirit teach you and show you what he wants you to know. But, don’t just read.... Meditate, Ponder what you read. See what the author is trying to show you. Don’t interpreted it, just try to see what’s going on.

Okay, here are some words from my last entry that you need to consider again; plus four more:


To Rule over someone or some things is not the same as to have Dominion over someone or something. Here is the difference: In the America Heritage Dictionary one of the definitions says “Rule... Governing power..” Same dictionary: “Govern ... guide; direct; regulate...”
To have Dominion : Same dictionary. “Control,..Ownership of property, especially of land, and the right to its disposition.”

Help: “To give assistant; to aid... To contribute to in some way.... To give relief.”

Meet: “To come together. To come into conjunction; be joined...fit..”...”Fit... To be appropriate or suitable.”

Transgression: It is wrong because someone says it is wrong: like driving without a license; parking on a NO parking or a red zone, or parking longer than two hours on a two hour zone; looking at your notes while taking a test...and so forth... All of these are wrong because someone said it is wrong.


Sin: It is Inherently Morally wrong. You know WITHOUT question that it is wrong: like robbing: killing someone on purpose, having intimate relations out of wedlocks etc.. Doing things that you know fully well THEY ARE morally wrong is sin..


Subtil: subtle, crafty, sly, elusive. “Characterized by craft or slyness; devious.”

Death: termination of life; Technically - the Separation of body and spirit: The body goes back to the earth; The spirit goes somewhere else....

Side Note: Some people like to believed that God is a Man, others that God is a Woman: Here is another example of plain and simple, yet many have made it into a big mystery:
If Adam was the first man and Eve the first woman on earth, Where did he get the notion of father and mother??? Two separate individuals.. Genesis 2:24 “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother...” Don’t you think that if we were created in his image; male and female; then there must have been both in heaven? If Adam consider God his father, then there must have been someone he called mother? Our own spirit testifies of that. No mystery there, just common sense. Simple and straight forward. Remember, The scriptures are simple. Picture the stories in your mind and see what the Spirit shows you.


GENESIS
Last time I mentioned how the Lord himself brought the animals to Adam and let Adam named them. How he also brought Eve to him. Now, up to this point their roles were not officially defined. They were both to care for the animals, and the garden... unofficially Adam was responsible for the custody of everything that was created. The Lord instructed him concerning the garden, and allowed him to name the animals that He himself brought to him... that he may care for them, and have dominion over then in a righteous and loving way; this happened before Eve came a long. When Eve was introduced to Adam, he recognized her as part of him. He saw her as his equal. She was as important to him as the right leg is to the left leg; as the heart is to the mind... One cannot do without the other... even thought they play different roles in a body. Unofficially Adam was the head keeper, and Eve was his aid, his partner. Just like the body... the head leads the body in an obvious way; but so does the heart in an unobtrusive way. Together they are one. They are complete. And it works better when the mind and the heart are in agreement with each other: United in the same purpose. That’s how you know when you’re doing something right, or you’re on the right track. Your mind and your heart are in harmony.

Up to this point it was not necessary to define their roles. They were like children, not knowing right from wrong. They walked around naked, and didn’t think anything of it. It makes you think that the garden must have had a perfectly nice warm weather: Genesis 2:25 “And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.” They didn’t know any better.

It doesn’t say how long Adam and Eve were in the garden before the “serpent” approached Eve. Genesis 3:1 “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.” If we use the definition of the dictionary of the word “subtle” then, it tells us that the serpent was not the more or most trustworthy and honorable in character of all the animals. One can see why Satan, Lucifer chose that creature to possess or speak through to Eve and deceive her. Now, many people view Eve as the weak link between Adam and Eve. Eve was not weak, neither was Adam. They were teachable and smart...Ponder this: Adam named all the animals, he came up with hundredth of names. Read again how he spoke of Eve... and Ignorant person would not speak that way... now Eve, she didn’t just do what the serpent wanted her to do... the serpent had to reason with her and used a lot of truth with a little lie mix together. (This technic is still in use; Satan will use about 90% truth, 10% lie, and that 10% is what can leads us astray). Now read this and picture it in your mind: Genesis 3:1- 5“....And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it. Neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Now, Eve only knew what she was told to do and not to do by God: and repeated that to the serpent. Then Satan said through the serpent ONE lie, and the rest truth; the lie; “Ye shall not surely die..” up to that point, death did not exist. The Lord assure them; they would die if they touched or ate from that particular tree. Now, remember we don’t know how long Adam and Eve were in the garden. They were like children.... children are teachable and always eager to learn something new. They don’t know things; unless we show them or stimulate their brains... With this in mind... After the serpent told Eve that God knew that if she ate of that fruit that her eyes would be open and be like the gods “knowing good and evil.” which was true. She would know right from wrong, BUT NOT before she ate the fruit... SHE had to eat the fruit to know the difference... Now, did she commit SIN? NO, she didn’t. She TRANSGRESSED; she only knew it was wrong because the Lord said it, not because she knew the difference. The same goes for Adam.... After the serpent gave Eve this new information of her eyes being open and “knowing good and evil...” Read what was spinning in her mind: Genesis 3:6-7 “...And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.” Eve had no reason to distrust the serpent, and hearing knew information about eyes being open; which she understood as an opportunity to becoming wise: It seems appealing; Don’t you think? I ask you; Who doesn’t want to learn new things? Any normal person would jump at the chance to better themselves. Eve is no difference.... think about it??? Here is her opportunity to grow. To understand things better. They were blessed by God to “be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth.” If she could eat of the fruits of the trees, then the trees were producing fruit; if the trees were producing, maybe everything else were multiplying except for them. If they were following all of God’s instructions wouldn’t you think they might wonder how to go about and “be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth.” ... They were like children... they didn’t know how. Or didn’t make the connection. They were obedient though. No matter, whatever she was thinking in her mind, she wanted to learn more, but probably didn’t realized she wanted to learn until Satan made her aware of the possibilities through the serpent.

Well, it is obvious that Eve was not near Adam when the serpent approached Eve; could it possibly be that he did this on purpose to get Eve alone because Adam would dismiss the serpent immediately??? Who’s to say that the serpent didn’t approach Adam first and Adam turned him down??? It would make sense that the serpent would approach Adam first since it was obvious he was the main keeper... Adam named the serpent, so the serpent knew who the main keeper was... so did Satan. Going back to Eve. If she was by herself when Satan approached her she had to go find Adam and give him some of the fruit....Why did Adam partake of the fruit??? He could have said NO. If you recall Genesis 2:23-24 he called Eve bones of his bones, flesh of his flesh, and pronounced that “a man ... shall cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh.” plus the Lord blessed them to “be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth.” He might have understood that by Eve eating of the forbidden fruit; they would be separated and would not be able to fulfill the Lord’s commandments to “be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth.” If the Lord trusted Adam to name the animals, Adam must’ve been a very honorable and worthy man. We can see a glimpse of that again when he sees Eve. I ask you: If Adam was honorable and obedient to God; would he have let Eve be separated from him after what he said about her??? Obviously he did the right thing and ate the fruit, but you ponder that moment. After they both ate the fruit (it must have taken a few minutes after they ate the fruit) “the eyes of them both were opened,....” they seemed to be together when that happened; otherwise Eve would have been embarrassed to see Adam naked... don’t you think??? As soon they noticed they were naked they made themselves aprons

Another interesting thing, in Genesis 3:8 “... And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.” This is another scriptures that indicates that God is not a mist or energy; for mist crawls, and energy flows... people walk. Another interesting fact is that God seems to personally visit Adam and Eve in the garden .. It doesn’t say how often he did it, but enough for Adam and Eve to recognize his voice and his foot steps. It says that he was walking “in the cool of the day...” When does the day starts to cool?? Most likely towards evening; late afternoon. If you think about it; the Lord must’ve walked with Adam to show him the garden and show him the trees and everything else in it. He brought him the animals; that must have taken some time to name them all. He also brought Eve to Adam.

Have you ever heard the phrase: “pass the buck?” I think I know where it started. After Adam and Eve had their eyes open and began to see right from wrong and saw they were naked; they began to experience fear and embarrassment. They were afraid to let the Lord see them naked. Look at what happened next; read the dialogue: Genesis 3:9-14 “And the LORD God called unto Adam and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” Then the Lord asked him about who told him that he was naked, and asked him if he had eaten of the forbidden fruit? Now, Adam could have just admitted that he ate of the fruit of the tree of good and evil, and leave it at that, but look at what happened next: God speaking: “... Who told thee that thou was naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.” So, Adam said Eve gave him the fruit, and Eve said that the serpent deceived her. Consciously they were telling the truth, the way it happened; subconsciously they were passing the buck.... that’s what we call being human, not being perfect. They were no longer in a perfect state. They were now going to learn about consequences of actions. They would learn about good and evil, joy and pain; Eve’s conception would be painful, but joyful after wards. She wasn’t cursed... if that was a curse; women would not have children. It is through that painful conception that they understand the extreme joy of having a child: And that joy makes them forget that painful experience; as opposed to having pain from appendicitis or a bullet on your thigh. No one wants to have that kind of experience repeated.

Eve’s role was now defined; she was to aid Adam and he would rule over her. Now, remember the dictionary’s definition of rule? If we read it with that meaning... Adam had NO dominion over her, he was to rule over her which it’s different: “Govern ... guide; direct; regulate” that could mean that she was to council with him, and make decisions with him.... Adam was now to work for their food; the land was not going to provide for them anymore. He now had to toiled and sweat for it... but again... food taste better when we have worked for it... when we have earned it. They had also become subjected to death. Now that they knew the consequences; the Lord needed to remove them from the garden... If he didn’t remove them they would be tempted to eat of the tree of life and they would live forever in their imperfect state, and that would not be good because they would never be allow to be in the presence of God again.... later in the scriptures we learn that no unclean thing can enter into his presence. So he removed them from the garden and placed “Cherubims and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life” Imagine seeing those angels and a scary, cool flaming sword that turns every way guarding that side of the garden where the tree of life was planted... Amazing because it actually happen.

This entry was a little longer than the others, but I felt it necessary to explain certain things. I hope it makes you want to go back and look at those chapters and ponder them. Thank you.

JC