I started the next commentary last year. Though I am still early in the project, I wanted to post what I have.
I am very happy with the Genesis project and hope it blesses you, also.
Leave comments about either book and if they are thoughtful and scripture based, I will work them in. Feel free to ask questions, also. Being the writer does not make one a great proof-reader. There may be errors or something that is not explained as clear as I think it is. I want to publish the best work I can so your help is welcome.
This has been a slow slog, recently, because of the nature of the Tabernacle. There is significance behind everything the Father tells us to do, but I’m finding it difficult to recognize and communicate that significance. He spent a lot of ink on it, so it means much more than I am seeing. I’m praying revelation will help me around this obstacle,
I have neglected this blog from several months as I concentrated on completing this work and I think the result is spectacular (though I might be bias about my own work).
We are commanded to write our own Torah (Deuteronomy 31:19). Torah is how Christ walked and he commanded we walk like him. Knowing someone is essential to being able to love them. Christ was the Word made flesh (John 1:14). Can we fully know him if we do not know the Word? Do we want to fully know him?
The Old Testament was all that Yeshua had – it was all the apostles had. The apostles walked in the faith of Christ and we are commanded to do so, also (“He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” – 1John 2:6). Christ is throughout the Old Testament (even if he was not physically present) and the Gospels help us to recognize that evidence (evidence that I try to record in this commentary). The New Testament supplements the Old Testament, it does not replace it (as if it was in error).
I have sought to examine each Verse and each word of each Verse, within my capabilities, for my learning. I have written this to be engaging so anyone who begins reading it, at any point in the book, will become intrigued and continue – with the hope that it will spark a desire in you to do the same, so that you have a springboard for writing your own Torah.
Here are a few interesting topics that few question:
Why a talking snake?
What were the Nephilim and why did their presence necessitate a world-wide catastrophe?
Why is Enoch the only person said to have “walked with Elohim”?
How many decades did Noah take building the ark? What was it like to float across the face of the waters for many months
Why did Noah curse his grandson when it was his son that sinned?
How many sons did Abraham have? Why so many?
Why did Abraham send Eliezer to Haran with eight camels laden with treasure to get a wife for Isaac, but Isaac sent Jacob to Haran with nothing?
Why did Esau sell his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of soup?
Why didn’t Yahweh ever share with Jacob what happened to his beloved Joseph?
In the Beginning goes in-depth into the Scriptures. A careful examination of the Hebrew, of the historical accounts, of the extra-biblical texts, of the insights of scholars, of the science, and of our own capacity of reason yields a truly wonderful insight into the great men and women of faith. They are not only our examples, but they were also the people our Savior looked to to strengthen his faith.
It is filled with charts, maps, artwork, and mirth (who decreed that the study of the Word must be stoic?). This is like no commentary you have every seen, and your commentary should be equally unique. I pray this provokes a deeper understanding of the Torah and inspires you to make the Word your own.
The following is continuation of the Flood narrative (Noah’s Flood 6 and Noah’s Flood 7) based on the research I have been doing for the Torah commentary I am writing. If you have ever wanted to know more than was available with a simple reading of the Scripture, this will help.
Genesis 6 – The Purpose of the Flood
Genesis 7 – The Deluge
Genesis 8 – The Flood Abates
Dennis Prager has a good commentary (Rational Bible: Genesis), but he doesn’t dig deep into the Flood story. His analysis is more notable in other areas of the Word.
1 And Elohim remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and Elohim made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged; 2 The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;
Genesis 8:1-2
The narrative picks up again at the forty day mark when he stopped the rain.
“Elohim remembered Noah” – this expression is used numerous times and means that Yahweh took action. He doesn’t forget the only eight people He has saved.
“wind” – ruwach / roo’-akh [H7307] wind; by resemblance breath, i.e. a sensible (or even violent) exhalation.
“asswaged” – shakak / shaw-kak’ [H7918] a primitive root; to weave (i.e. lay) a trap; figuratively, (through the idea of secreting) to allay (passions; physically, abate a flood):–appease, assuage, make to cease, pacify, set.
Elohim’s ‘breath’ blew upon the face of the flood and the waters were calmed. The first forty days were very tumultuous – the humans and the animals would have been traumatized by it.
And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.
Genesis 8:3
The land began to break through the flood waters. Part of this may have been the upheaval of the tectonic plates and the new formation of mountains. Noah and his family are only halfway through their ordeal.
And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.
Genesis 8:4
Like any large ship, much of the hull is underwater. It would have eventually become shallow enough to run aground, even though it may have still been completely surrounded by water.
5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen. 6 And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:
Genesis 8:5-6
Forty days after the mountain tops appear, not the initial forty days of rain.
7 And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth. 8 Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;
Genesis 8:7-8
Noah releases a raven and a dove. The raven does not return, but we can surmise that it survived the 45 days between its release and Noah opening the ark because ravens are unclean (carnivores and scavengers are unclean) and there were only two. We still have them today. As a scavenger, it would have found ample ‘food’ floating on the waters.
But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.
Genesis 8:9
The dove came back to the window because it could find no place to land. The raven may have landed on some flotsam or even on another part of the ark away from the window.
10 And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark; 11 And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.
Genesis 8:10-11
The ‘window’ may not have given Noah a view of the area surrounding the ark, this is why he had to rely on the olive twig in the dove’s mouth to know the waters were abated.
12 And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more. 13 And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry. 14 And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried. 15 And Elohim spake unto Noah, saying, 16 Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons’ wives with thee.
Genesis 8:12-16
Noah removes the side door and the ground is no longer covered in water, but it is probably still a soggy mess. This is why Elohim waits an additional 55 days before telling Noah to go forth from the ark.
Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.
Genesis 8:17
Just like at the beginning, in the Garden, All life is to go into the land and be fruitful and multiply.
18 And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him: 19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark. 20 And Noah builded an altar unto Yahweh; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
Genesis 8:18-20
Noah sacrifices to Yahweh of all the clean beasts. Despite the ordeal they have been through, they are still alive and Noah shows his appreciation and seeks a propitiation of their sins through the sacrifice.
And Yahweh smelled a sweet savour; and Yahweh said in his heart, 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.
Genesis 8:21
Yahweh has a sense of smell? This is a figure of speech (personification) where Yahweh is said to smell to emphasize His appreciation of Noah’s sacrifice.
Yahweh’s heart (personification, again), which is always good, is contrasted with the heart of mankind, which is always evil (Jeremiah 17:9). Remember this when someone is violating the Torah, but exclaims, “God knows my heart.” Yes, he does, and He is not impressed. (see also, Matthew 15:18-19 and Mark 7:20-23)
Yahweh vows to never again destroy the Earth, but that does not leave out the possibility that man may destroy it, or at least a large portion of existing life forms [RB].
While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
Genesis 8:22
“While the earth remaineth” – this implies that the Earth may cease to exist – we know that the earth in its current form will cease to exist when it is purged by fire on the Day of the Lord (2Peter 3:10-13). Man’s ability to destroy all is near impossible. Launching all nuclear weapons would substantially reduce the populations of the higher life forms, but some life would still remain.
The seasons are first mentioned here, meaning that they may be more pronounced after the Flood. The climate was probably more temperate before the destruction of the ice canopy.
This was intended to be a three part series but the story of Ham, his indiscretion, and the seemingly explainable cursing of Ham’s son, Canaan, is important in showing that man is habitually evil and needs a savior.
There was a television documentary entitled, “Scared Straight” (1978) that put juvenile delinquents into jail with hardened criminals who lectured them on the brutality of prison. This was supposed to change the lives of the young ne’er-do-wells by showing them the grievous fate they faced if they did not change their lives. The lethality of the Flood failed to change the nature of man.
Look for “Noah’s Flood – a Timeline (9)” . . . or maybe I’ll go with a more descriptive title since the story continues, but the Flood timeline is completed in this blog.
The following is continuation of the Flood narrative based on the research I have been doing for the Torah I am writing. If you have ever wanted to know more than was available with a simple reading of the Scripture, this will help.
Genesis 6 – The Purpose of the Flood
Genesis 7 – The Deluge
Genesis 8 – The Flood abates
Genesis 7 is lacking in details, so Biblically endorsed – extra biblical sources are needed. These include, but are not limited to, the Book of Jasher (“written in the book of Jasher” – 2Samuel 1:18 and Joshua 10:13); The First book of Enoch (referred to as 1Enoch); and the Book of Jubilees.
John Henry
Though they are not considered canon, they contain details and stories that the Hebrews would have known and understood, much like early American folklore. Those that know the story of John Henry do not believe a lone man dug a tunnel through a mountain, faster than a machine invented for that purpose, only to die as he finished. They do understood and are disquieted by the idea of man being replaced by a machine.
Dennis Prager has a good commentary (Rational Bible: Genesis), but he doesn’t dig deep into the Flood story. His analysis is more notable in other areas of the Word.
I also borrowed (down-right stole, baby!) material from Jon McPherson’s commentary on Genesis located at his website, Berean Breadcrumbs. I marked where Jon made me dig deeper because his analysis using the shortcut, [BBC].
And Yahweh said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
Genesis 7:1
“Righteous” – tsaddiyq / tsad-deek’ [H6662] just:–just, lawful, righteous (man). see H6663 – tsadaq / tsaw-dak’ [H6663] a primitive root; to be (causatively, make) right (in a moral or forensic sense):–cleanse, clear self, (be, do) just(-ice, -ify, -ify self), (be turn to) righteous(-ness).
Yahweh reminds us, again, that Noah was righteous . . . he did not make himself righteous.
2 Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. 3Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.
Genesis 7:2-3
7:2 Clean and unclean animals were already understood to be a thing before they were annotated in the Law by Moses.
Many are amazed to find out that Noah was commanded to take more than two of certain animals unto the ark. He needed more than two of the clean beasts, because he made a sacrifice to Yahweh when they all disembarked after the Flood (verse 8:20-21). This would have led to the extinction of most of the clean animals if he had only taken two.
7:3 One might surmise that any multitude of birds would have found their way onto the ark once the waters buried their roosting places, but the ark had only one window and it stayed closed the first forty days during the worst of the storms. The birds could have landed on the ark, but they would have been unable to get to the food stored inside.
For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.
Genesis 7:4
This reads that ‘the destruction begins in seven days’ and corresponds with verse 10. Speculation is that Methuselah died and Noah’s family mourned for seven days. Another supposition is that Noah’s sons married their wives immediately before the flood and the seven days were necessary for the couples to “fulfill the [wedding] week”.
“forty days and forty nights” – like the expression, “the evening and the morning” speak to a specific number of day – in this case, forty (see the note at verse 7:17-18).
And Noah did according unto all that Yahweh commanded him.
Genesis 7:5
One of the reasons Noah was called righteous.
6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth. 7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood. 8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth, 9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as Elohim had commanded Noah. 10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
Genesis 7:6-10
7:6-10 repeat of some of the earlier information.
7:9 This is not a contradiction of verse 2. It is not saying ‘only’ two of every animal, but rather that each animal had a mate. This also reiterates Yahweh preference for monogamy. Polygamy is never banned, but it is never seen as an ideal relationship in all the references to it in the Word.
7:10 Water is a cleansing agent. Moses is told that when the people become unclean, or impure, that washing themselves with water was part of the ritual for restoring the person back to an unpolluted state.
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
Genesis 7:11
Water beneath the crust of the Earth (Psalms 33:7; 136:6) is under intense pressure. The results are seen in numerous springs that spew forth worldwide. The further underground that the pockets of water reside, the greater the pressure because of the weight of the ground above it.
A large meteor collision in Greenland, like the one in Chicxulub, Mexico (could they have been two chunks of the same meteor?) could have broken up the ice layer around the Earth as well as split the crust of the Earth to such a degree that the water underneath would have burst free from their deep basins. This combination of the fountains of the great deep and the sub-zero ice could be responsible for the flood and the ice-age (Walter Brown, Fountains of the Great Deep – Hydroplate Theory).
And on that day, the Lord caused the whole earth to shake, and the sun darkened, and the foundations of the world raged, and the whole earth was moved violently, and the lightning flashed, and the thunder roared, and all the fountains in the earth were broken up, such as was not known to the inhabitants before; and God did this mighty act, in order to terrify the sons of men, that there might be no more evil upon earth.
Jasher 6:11
Yahweh rained down judgment on man, at His choosing, in several recorded incidents: Sodom and Gomorrah – Genesis 19:15-25; grievous fire and hail – Exodus 9:22-25; Elijah and the contest with the prophets of Ba’al – Exodus 18:30-39.
Something sudden and catastrophic would have been required to produce flash-frozen Mammoths that were both still standing and that had food in their mouths (Did the Frozen Mammoths Die in the Flood or in the Ice Age?), and animals fossilized at the moment of giving birth (Stunning Fossils: Mother Giving Birth). These types of phenomenon (along with many others)the ones mentioned in the introduction of the Torah I am writing) could not happen naturally and are lasting evidence of the great Flood (Anomalies and Misplaced Fossils).
And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
Genesis 7:12
The “rains” lasted 40 days and nights. The flood created by the rains lasted nearly a year. The seventeenth day of the second month (verse 7:11) through the first day of the first month (verse 8:13).
13 In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark; 14 They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort. 15 And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.
Genesis 7:13-15
7:13-15 One again, the animals are referred to as “after their kind” unlike the animals that are outside the ark, many of which would have been hybrids.
And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as Elohim had commanded him: and Yahweh shut him in.
Genesis 7:16
Elohim, himself, shuts them into the ark.
17 And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth. 18 And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.
Genesis 7:17-18
“The flood was forty days upon the earth” – the number forty is not always an exact number, but it denotes a time of significance (e.g., Israel wandering in the wilderness; Christ in the wilderness). This is probably the literal number of the days that the waters continued to rise based on the use “forty days and forty night” in verse 4. Whenever the Word uses ‘day and night’, it is being definitive.
The ark “went upon the face of the waters.” It only needed to float and not capsize. It did not need to steer – there was no where to go.
And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.
Genesis 7:19
All the high hills were covered – the great mountains probably did not exist, yet. When water vapor condenses into rain droplets, it releases heat in a process referred to as ‘latent heat of condensation’. If the flood had been high enough to cover Mount Everest, it would have cooked everyone in the ark, causing their death.
The great mountains would have been formed by the shifting tectonic plates that had been forced by the violence of the waters escaping their deep basins. Most mountain ranges run generally North and South, as do the great trenches in the ocean.
Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
Genesis 7:20
Fifteen cubits equals 262.5 feet (80 meters).
It is unclear whether the water was 262 feet above sea level (one would still be able to see the torch held aloft by the Statue of Liberty had it existed, then) or 262 feet above the highest hilltop. I believe the latter since the great pyramid is 481 feet tall – it is reported to have been built 200 years before the flood (Brian Handwerk – National Geographic – Pyramids at Giza).
Josephus writes that “a great pillar” (the great pyramid) was built to store special wisdom (the many writings of Enoch? – 1Enoch 82:1-3) and protect it from a predicted flood (Flavius Josephus – The Antiquities of the Jews: 1.2.3.). Isaiah also refers to the Great Pyramid as a pillar (Isaiah 19:19).
21 And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: 22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.
Genesis 7:21-22
The ark would have been known to everyone (it was the largest wooden ship ever built), so when the rains continued and the flooding began, 700,000 men and women descended on the ark and demanded admittance.
The animals still surrounding the ark (the ones not chosen to be admitted to the ark) were probably also trying to get in the ark. With the window sealed, none could get in, but the commotion of the animals and men clamoring over the vessel must have been unnerving. The frustrated animals proceeded to attack the frustrated men and drive them off (Jasher 6:16-25).
And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.
Genesis 7:23
When we choose to be baptized, we symbolically end our old life and begin anew with Yeshua (the living waters – John 7:38) as our Lord and Savior. [BBC]
And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.
Genesis 7:24
The waters quit raising after forty days but the slow abatement of the flood water meant the Earth remained covered for another 110 days.
The Hebrew calendar has twelve months, each with only 28 days. Leap Months are added at different intervals to correct for the seasons.
Next week I plan to expound upon Chapter 8 – The abatement of the Flood waters.
The following is based on the research I have been doing for the Torah I am writing. If you have ever wanted to know more than was available with a simple reading of the Scripture, this will help.
Genesis 6 – The purpose for the Flood
Genesis 7 – The Deluge
Genesis 8 – The Flood abates
Genesis 6 is lacking in details, so Biblically endorsed – extra biblical sources are needed. These include, but are not limited to, the Book of Jasher (“written in the book of Jasher” – 2Samuel 1:18 and Joshua 10:13); The First book of Enoch (referred to as 1Enoch); and the Book of Jubilees.
Though they are not considered canon, they contain details and stories that the Hebrews would have known and understood, much like early American folklore. Those that know the story of John Henry do not believe a lone man dug a tunnel through a mountain, faster than a machine invented for that purpose, only to die as he finished. They do understood and are disquieted by the idea of man being replaced by a machine.
Dennis Prager has a good commentary (Rational Bible: Genesis), but he doesn’t dig deep into the Flood story. His analysis is more notable in other areas of the Word.
I also borrowed (down-right stole, baby!) material from Jon McPherson’s commentary on Genesis located at his website, Berean Breadcrumbs. I marked where Jon made me dig deeper because his analysis using the shortcut, [BBC].
1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, 2 That the sons of Elohim saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. 3 And Yahweh said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. 4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of Elohim came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. 5 And Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Genesis 6:1-5
Elohim decides to destroy the entire world and this is all that is recorded? I want to believe there is more than this going on because I am a little scared of a divine being that destroys billions of souls because He is displeased.
The story of the “the sons of Elohim” (the Watchers), their children, and the need to destroy the entire Earth because of their incursion is vital to understand or the rest of the Word or it will insufficiently reflect the struggle between the powers, the principalities, the rulers of the darkness, and the spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6:12).
Verse 2: “sons of Elohim” – ben / bane [H1121] a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc.
These are not literal ‘sons’ as Yeshua was or as we think of the definition. Neither are they ancestors of Seth (which is a popular hypothesis). “Sons of God” or “Watchers” are referred to in Job 38:1-7 and Daniel 4 and always refer to angelic beings.
These are some (200) of the watcher angels (the Watchers) that were assigned to the Earth to protect and watch over mankind (1Enoch 15:1-3).
Verse 3: Many teach that Yahweh will limit man’s lifespan to only 120 years, but many of the post-flood patriarchs lived longer than this (as do some people, today). This is probably a reference to the time between His judgment and the execution of His judgment when the Flood will destroy man.
Man had 120 years to repent and escape punishment (see the notes at verse 18). They refused.
Verse 4: “giants” – nphiyl / nef-eel’ [H5303] properly, a feller, i.e. a bully or tyrant:–giant. “Feller” refers to the fallen ones – the word “giant” does not capture the wickedness of the Watchers and their children, which is why the Hebrew word Nephilim will be used to describe this corrupted race.
“renown” – shem / shame [H8034] a primitive word (the idea of a conspicuous position); an appellation, as a mark or memorial of individuality; by implication honor, authority, character:–+ base, (in-)fame(-ous), named(-d), renown, report.
They received the praise of men, but they did not do things worthy of praise – they were infamous.
Some kind of genetic corruption had to take place for the women to bare children that were not after their kind.
Most people that claim to have been abducted by ‘extra-terrestrials’ tell similar stories to each other of medical experiments to their reproductive organs. The aliens (most likely devil spirits) may be seeking to replicate (or improve upon) the genetic engineering accomplished by the original Watchers.
Yeshua warns that the end-times will be as the days of Noah, before the flood (Luke 17:26).
Verse 5 1Enoch goes into detail of the angel incursion, even listing the names of the angels that led the rebellion (1Enoch 6-10). The angels are brought to justice and none of the other angels would advocate for them because of the severity of the punishment Yahweh exacts upon them (1Enoch 10; 68; Jubilees 5). They are forced to ask a human (Enoch) to intercede with Elohim for some leniency (1Enoch 12-16).
When Elohim creates the heavens and the Earth, He tells all His creation to multiply “after their kind” (within their species). The mixing of angel seed with human seed produced a race of giants (Nephilim) that were as tall as cedar trees (i.e., dozens of feet tall – Amos 2:1) and corrupted the DNA of mankind which was “the image of Elohim”.
The Watchers also instructed man on how to mix metals, genetically alter animals and food, astrology, magic, and all other forms of lawlessness (Jasher 4).
Mankind reveled in this new knowledge and worshipped the angels that gave it to them as gods. They also worshipped the men who were adroit at practicing the forbidden knowledge as gods. This wickedness is the result of Adam and Eve’s first venture into partaking of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
The fallen ones wanted to show they were like the Almighty – that they, too, could create new life and were, therefore, worthy of the praise that man bestowed upon Yahweh. Their new species was a corruption of the original, not a new creation.
The vast size of the Nephilim caused them to consume all of man’s abundance and then to consume man, himself, to satisfy their appetites (1Enoch 7:3-6).
The original Nephilim killed each other off (I assume because of the limited resources to sustain them) in what the Greeks referred to as “the Clash of the Titans”, but since they were not part of Elohim’s Creation, their souls could not be gathered unto Yahweh. Their spirits still inhabit the Earth and are known as evil spirits or demons (Enoch 15-16). They continually seek a host that they can possess (the possessed men and the herd of pigs – Matthew 8:28-33).
Man no longer was governed by conscience because they became led by their new knowledge and the gods that gave them this knowledge. They believed anything was capable or allowed (“Do what thou wilt” – tenet of the Church of Satan).
And it repented Yahweh that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
Genesis 6:6
Yahweh “repented”? If Yahweh has perfect fore-knowledge, wouldn’t He have known that man would turn out this way? Did He know, plan for the eventually (Yeshua), and still have His heart crushed when it came about?
Man was the only part of Creation that Elohim referred to as “very good” and now He was greatly grieved that He had made him. Imagine the grief of a Godly couple who raise a model child that becomes a serial killer.
7 And Yahweh 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; for it repenteth me that I have made them. 8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of Yahweh.
Genesis 6:7-8
Yahweh determines that man must perish for the sake of the Creation before it is completely corrupted. Only Noah found grace in the eyes of Yahweh, but his life was not enough to overcome the combined wickedness of everyone and everything else.
“Grace” – chen / khane [H2580] graciousness, i.e. subjective (kindness, favor) or objective (beauty):–favour, grace(-ious), pleasant, precious, (well-)favoured.
Grace has always been available to mankind, but they generally spurn the one, true Elohim, for gods or doctrines of their own making. The modern doctrine that states we must live by grace or follow the Law is a false doctrine – they are not opposed to each other. [BBC]
We receive grace (“unmerited favor”) when we accept the Covenant (marriage pact) offered by the Father – obeying the law is the evidence that we have accepted the Covenant.
Noah is not said to have ‘earned’ grace – it was given to him. We cannot earn it today, either – it is the gift of Yeshua to those who confess and believe.
9 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with Elohim. 10 And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Genesis 6:9-10
“perfect in his generations” – tamiym / taw-meem’ [H8549] entire (literally, figuratively or morally); also (as noun) integrity, truth:–without blemish, complete, full, perfect, sincerely (-ity), sound, without spot, undefiled, upright(-ly), whole.
If Noah is being compared with his generation (which, truthfully, is the only way to judge historical people), whose ‘every thought was evil continually’, then it does not give a very descriptive idea of how just a man he was.
The fact that he “walks with Elohim” (the same phrase used to describe Enoch in verses 5:22 & 5:24) gives us an indication that Noah was an exceptionally good man.
It can be surmised that Noah’s DNA was not corrupted (“perfect”) and the following verses would then surmise that this was the case for his three sons.
11 The earth also was corrupt before Elohim, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And Elohim looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
Genesis 6:11-12
“Corrupt” – shachath / shaw- khath’ [H7843] a primitive root; to decay, i.e. (causatively) ruin (literally or figuratively):–batter, cast off, corrupt(-er, thing), destroy(-er, -uction), lose, mar, perish, spill, spoiler, X utterly, waste.
The earth was corrupted (polluted to the point of ruin – genetically modified plants?) as was man (genetically modified DNA?) and animals (hybrids). It is no coincidence that every ancient culture made depictions of hybrid humans / animals.
These chimeras (e.g., satyrs, minotaurs, centaurs, sphinx) may have actually existed, which may account for why the animals were also needed to be destroyed in the Flood (the graphic is taken from a larger chart produced by Simon E. Davies).
2Samuel 23:20 refers to the slaying of two “lionlike men of Moab”. A strong person within a tribe may be symbolically referred to as “the Lion of Judah” or “the Lion of the Desert” (Omar Mukhtar) to connote strength and leadership, but “lionlike” suggests a genetic mingling of men who sought to embrace the physical power of a lion.
Other such hybrids have been recorded to have been born alive as late as the late fifteenth century.
Marvel Studios is a multi-billion dollar media enterprise that fantasizes about humans altering their DNA with drugs or animal DNA to make enhancements to man’s physical body (e.g., Spiderman, Captain America, Black Panther). What child didn’t want to fly like Superman or climb buildings like Spiderman?
Athletes already use steroids and human growth hormones (HGHs) to enhance their speed and strength. Chances are, there will always be people ready do anything to intensify their abilities.
Transhumanism is man’s attempts to enhance sensory reception, physical ability, cognitive capacity, and extend life – indefinitely. “. . . ye shall be as gods” (Genesis 3:5)
Experiments that the Nazis and Japanese did on prisoners were especially evil, but also a natural byproduct of evolutionary thought. ‘Some species and/or races are inferior – what kinds of things can be done to make ourselves even more superior?’ Let’s test them on the inferior, first.
What scientists are doing, today, that is not being advertised is the scary stuff that happened before Noah and that Yeshua warned would happen in the end times (Transhumanism – Chuck Missler – 2013)
13 And Elohim 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. 14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. 15 And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. 16 A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. 17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.
Genesis 6:13-17
Elohim shares His plan with Noah, which must have seemed extraordinary, for the Earth had not experienced any recorded rain (a mist came up from the Earth – Genesis 2:6) and definitely there had not been a flood like the one He was outlining.
Noah does not argue with Elohim as Abram does in verses 18:23-33 when He determines to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Noah has witnessed the giants and the hybrids and understands how wicked they are. He knew it is only a matter of time until all of mankind (including his family) and the Creation is consumed by this evil.
Still, Noah and his grandfather, Methuselah continue to witness to the people on the Earth, using the words given to them by Elohim, to call man to repentance (Jasher 5:6-9). Oh, and they are also building a really, really big boat.
“Gopher” – gopher / go’-fer [H1613] from an unused root, probably meaning to house in; a kind of tree or wood (as used for building), apparently the cypress:– gopher.
Gopher wood is not readily translated and is only used this one time. Many Bible translations refer to it as Cypress because of its durability and resinous nature.
There is also a good argument for it being an Acacia tree, as this was the wood used to build the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 25:10-13). [BBC]
“Pitch” – kopher / ko’-fer) [H3724] properly, a cover, i.e. (literally) a village (as covered in); (specifically) bitumen (as used for coating), and the henna plant (as used for dyeing); figuratively, a redemption-price:–bribe, camphire, pitch, ransom, satisfaction, sum of money, village.
The pitch is obviously a substance spread on the wood to make the ship water-tight, but there also appears to be a play on words here, in a couple of different ways:
Cover the gopher with kopher?
The occupants of the ark are their own village.
Redemption (ransom) from the coming deluge.
Verse 15: “Cubit” – ‘ammah / am-maw’ [H520] properly, a mother (i.e. unit of measure, or the fore-arm (below the elbow), i.e. a cubit; also a door-base (as a bond of the entrance):–cubit, measure, post.
The cubit is a unit of measure that is marked by the length of the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. Not an exact, universal measurement, but Noah was probably building the ship by himself (his sons are not old enough, yet) so Elohim would have based the measurements off of Noah’s forearm.
The cubit in ancient Israel is generally believed to be approximately 17.5 inches (Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words – “Cubit”). This would make the dimensions of the ark 437.5 feet long (nearly 1.5 football fields) by 73 feet wide by 43.75 feet tall.
We do not know where Noah built the ark, but these dimensions beg several questions:
Was it built close to a body of water? Even if it was, Noah still would have been constantly mocked for it immensity.
Since every thought of the men of the day was continually evil, how often was the work vandalized? Did it have heavenly protection?
Did anyone help Noah build the ark? Elohim tells Noah about His plans after his three sons are born, so Noah was at least 500 years old and Methuselah at least 869. His sons would not have been any help for 13-14 years or about 85 years before the Flood.
Any servants or craftsmen that would help would expect a place on the ark.
Verse 16: It was to have three stories and one window. The rains would be so torrential that having numerous portals would be dangerous, though a system for collecting rain-water for drinking would have been essential as would a means of removing human and animal waste.
I once read that the base of the ark would have had a shaft in it that was open at the bottom, but tall enough to be above the waterline. This would keep the ark from sinking, but the pressure created as the ark rose and fell in the sea would also help to push out bad air and force in good air. Recirculation of air would have been nearly impossible with only one window. The shaft would have made removal of waste easier, also.
An ark (tebah / tay-baw’ [H8392]) does not need to be steered (see also, Moses’ basket – Exodus 2 and the Ark of the Covenant – Exodus 25). Yahweh determines the direction of its movements.
Noah is not asked to build a boat that he thinks is sufficient. He is given specific instructions from Elohim on what he must do in order to be saved. Salvation is achieved by accepting Yahweh’s design and our free-will choice of acting in coordination with that design [BBC]. The same still holds true, today.
Verse 17: Yahweh appears to give the reason for the big boat after telling Noah to make the big boat.
Verse 18: Now it appears that Noah was told after he had his three sons and they were married (approximately 70 years before the Flood?). This gives a shorter time frame in which Noah could have built the ark, but it also gives him 3 – 6 additional helpers.
This could also be a recording of another of the several times that Elohim spoke to Noah about the Flood. The timing of the conversation is not as important as the content of the conversation.
Yahweh’s pronouncement could have come earlier and been prophetic concerning Noah’s children and their spouses, giving Noah more time to build the ark alone. This could also be a recording of another of the several times that Elohim spoke to Noah about the Flood. The timing of the conversation is not as important as the content of the conversation. Neither interpretation is contradictory.
“Covenant” – briyth / ber-eeth’ [H1285] from 1262 (in the sense of cutting (like 1254)); a compact (because made by passing between pieces of flesh):–confederacy, (con-)feder(-ate), covenant, league.
A covenant is not a simple contract which makes provision for the possibly of a party defaulting. It is a solemn agreement between two (or more) consenting adults with the expectation of a life-long commitment (e.g., marriage)
Verse 18 is to be contrasted with verses 9-10. Noah and his sons are ‘perfect’ – the sons’ wives are never described the same way. Their corruption could explain Nephilim traits in humans after the Flood.
Verses 19-20: These verses are to be contrasted with verse 17. The animals on the ark are chosen “after their kind”. This verbiage mirrors how the animals are described in the Creation narrative. The animals to be destroyed by the Flood in verse 17 have no such verbiage – their DNA was probably corrupted by experiments done by evil men who learned forbidden knowledge from the Watchers.
Verse 21: If many of the animals had become carnivores after the expulsion of man from the Garden, they reverted back to vegetarianism for the time they were living in the ark.
One can certainly learn a tremendous amount of knowledge in 600 years, but was Noah knowledgeable about ship-building? The ark is the largest wooden ship ever built and would required very great attention to detail to ensure it could withstand the violence of the flood.
Noah probably knew about animal husbandry, but where would he have gotten the knowledge necessary to know how much provision was needed for every animal that would occupy the ark?
The Word obviously does not record every instruction that Elohim gave to Noah, much like what happens with Moses, later.
Verse 22: Salvation is dependent on doing “according to all that Elohim command[s]”. This is still the case, today. Yeshua tells us that not one “jot or tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. (Matthew 5:18; Luke 16:17).
Noah’s faith was not enough to save him, he had to pick up a hammer, also [BBC]. “Grace without works is dead.” (James 2:20)
Next week I will expound upon Chapter 7. I am currently working on Chapter 8 – hopefully it will be ready for the week, after.
Christians claim that Paul ‘clearly writes that the Law is done away with through Yeshua.’ If fact all of Christianity is based on the ‘clear’ understanding that Paul taught there is a new doctrine and a new covenant.
Yet Peter (who got the same revelations) tells us that Paul’s letters are “hard to understand” and that ignorant and unstable people twist his words to their own destruction (2 Peter 3:15-17). Peter lived at the same time as Paul – they shared the same language, customs, and faith, so we can assume that he knew Paul better than we do, so if Peter said that Paul’s words on the law of God were difficult to understand, then his words on the law of God are indeed difficult to understand.
We have no reason to doubt Peter’s first hand testimony about Paul’s letters in the first century. Peter obviously read those letters and knew the subject matter intimately. Who are we to say anything different 2,000 years of history and culture removed? Paul certainly did not become any easier to understand. So using Paul to say that “we are not under the law of God” is nothing new . . . Peter already warned us some 2,000 years ago about that error, and in fact, he called it the error of lawless people. So let us begin examining some of the reasons Paul is so difficult to understand.
We should want to be very careful in understanding Paul in matters of the law of God. It is very easy to make Paul appear as though he is contradicting himself. Thus, there are at least six problems we all should attempt to avoid in our reading of Paul. Meaning anytime we read Paul, to take Peter’s warning into consideration, we want to make sure that we do the following to avoid the six common problems in understanding him.
1) We need to examine the back of the Bible in light of the front of the Book. The Bible constantly reuses Biblical terms that are already defined for us if we are willing to seek them out. We need to examine the Bible holistically, and not ignore what was already written in the Word. Remember, there was no “New Testament” in the time of Paul.
2) We need to make sure that we are not verse plucking out of Paul’s letters. Paul’s teachings bring in the wealth of knowledge he acquired over decades of learning – he did not dabble in sound-bites. We also need to remember that a letter is a letter and is intended to be read from front to back. We also need to recognize that the letters are not to us, but to a specific group of people with specific problems.
3) We also need to not place so much trust in man. Just because our favorite teacher, pastor, etc., gives their own opinion on how to understand Paul, that does not mean you should not challenge that perspective and Test Everything. Even in the first century, Peter mentioned that self-proclaimed teachers and experts were making the same mistake of using Paul to teach against the Law of God. We do not want to fall into the same trap, especially since Peter specifically warned us beforehand.
4) We also need to realize, that just like there are popular debates today, there were popular debates that were occurring in the first century. There were Jewish sects and denominations each with their own corrupted views of the Scriptures. Many times, Paul is teaching against a particular Jewish sect, and their doctrine, not the Law of God. This is revealed using historical evidence, and even Paul’s own letters.
5) All of us have a past, preconceived ideas and glasses that we use to read the Scriptures. We need to be aware of those glasses, and be willing to take them off to see the Scriptures with our own eyes, to understand what the Bible really says. Sometimes this involves goings slow and taking a deep breath. Sometimes the best approach is to assume nothing, and Test Everything.
6) Lastly, we need to understand that Paul uses the word “law” in many different contexts and ways, at least six different ways:
(1) the Law of Sin (Romans 7:23-25)
(2) the Law of Sin and Death (Romans 8:12)
(3) the Law of Faith (Romans 3:27)
(4) the Law of Righteousness (Romans 9:31)
(5) the Law of God (Romans 3:31; 7:22-25; 8:17)
(6) the Law of Christ (Romans 8:2; 1Corinthians 9:21)
We need to understand which “law” Paul is writing about; use context to define these laws; and understand how they relate, or don’t relate to us in the faith.
119 Ministries has a wonderful, multi-video, in-depth examination of Paul and his writing entitled, “The Pauline Paradox”. Make the time.
On the morning of February 27, 1990. Task Force 1-64th Armor was advancing on the Jalibah Airfield, in Southeast Iraq. After coming under indirect (artillery and mortar) fire, TF 1-64 altered their route to the airfield and Task Force 3-69th Armor (the tank battalion flanking it to the South) became mis-oriented and fell behind TF 1-64.
In the confusion, TF 3-69 fired upon TF 1-64 (which should not have been forward of 3-69 except for the altered route and 3-69 failing to notice their change in route), believing it to be Iraqi forces trying to escape.
Bradley C-23 was struck by two 120mm depleted uranium shells – causing numerous injuries, but miraculously, none were life-threatening.
Bradley C-11 was struck by a 120mm tank round that penetrated the troop compartment. The shell ignited the anti-tank rocket that was on Private John Hutto’s lap, in anticipation of a dismounted assault on the airfield.
The round severed a leg from Hutto, who died of his wounds in flight to a medical facility. Two others lost a leg and the rest of the crew suffered injuries from the sympathetic explosions resulting from the tank round striking the anti-tank round.
Specialist Andy Alaniz was the driver of Bradley C-22 when a tank round ripped through the vehicle’s engine block and the driver’s compartment, killing him instantly. He is the soldier in the body bag that being mourned by Sergeant Ken Kozakiewicz and Corporal Michael Tsangarakis (bandaged face) in the photo above.
This is why you celebrate Memorial Day. You celebrate those that would have lived full lives had they not served their nation and left their lives on a foreign battlefield:
PFC John W. Hutto, 19, Andalusia, AL
SP4 Andy Alaniz, 20, Corpus Christi, TX
The vulnerable moment was seen around the world, running on the cover of Parade magazine. The photo buoyed Alaniz’s high school sweetheart, who became a 19-year-old, pregnant widow.
“I don’t see my husband in a body bag – I see a man crying. I see my husband surrounded by people that loved him. This picture shows the true meaning of war. Not everybody came home.”
Many believe and teach that the Bible is a collection of made-up stories (“many” include Christian leaders who do not believe in the divine authorship of the Word). Believing that the Word is a man-made construct ignores the many proofs the Torah contains that argue for its authenticity (The Bible: You Can Believe It! – John Schoenheit). Click on the link to read it online or on the book to purchase it at Amazon.
The God of the Bible is so revolutionary when compared to the gods of the pagans (and even the gods worshiped today – e.g., Allah is a contradiction of the God of the Torah, not another name for Him), that human progress could not have happened without His identification and adherence to the Word He gave to His people.
Here are over a dozen reasons why the God of the Torah is the most important “idea” in the history of the world:
1. The God introduced by the Torah is the first god in history to have been entirely above and beyond nature. One of the first things God tells humans is to exercise dominion over nature.
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Genesis 1:26-28
This liberated humanity from believing it was controlled by nature, a revolution that made moral and scientific progress possible. Man was able to understand that he could study and ‘control’ nature, not worship and be vulnerable to its extremes.
A second consequence of God being above nature is humans are not part of nature – meaning that just as we are to control the natural world outside us, we are to control our own human nature within us as well. We are to govern our lives by moral law, not by human nature. Animals and nature have no concept of morality, only of existence. We are to do more than just exist.
2. The God of the Bible is not identified as a sexual being. Though identified as, “He”, this is a neutral term in the same way that “man” or “mankind” may refer to men and women. Neither sex is more closely identified as “Godlike” as it is in pagan religions.
If God were referred to as “she”, this would instantly assign God a gender, where the term, “He”, does not. Pagans regularly assign their gods a gender and also introduce a whole bevvy of sexual entanglements and intrigues between gods and goddesses, and even between gods and humans.
Genesis 6 introduces the narrative of renegade angels cohabitating with human woman, but God puts a stop to it, destroys the off-spring (the Flood), and severely punishes the angels responsible.
3. The God introduced by the Torah brought universal morality into the world. Pagan religions depict gods that are restricted to a people (tribe) or to a territory.
Only if a moral God is universal (encompassing all of humanity and the entire world), is morality universal. Morality was no longer local or individual. Cultures do not need to be universal. The world can be enriched by multiple cultures, but morality must be universal. Morality that is not universal is a local custom.
4. The moral God introduced by the Torah means morality is real. “Good” and “evil” are not merely individual or societal opinions, but objectively real.
5. The God introduced by the Torah morally judges every human being. There had never been a concept like this. And it became a major reason for Jew-hatred. People do not like to be judged, and the people who introduced the idea of a God who morally judges people have paid a terrible price for bringing the idea into the world. The social psychologist Ernest van den Haag wrote:
Fundamental to [anti-Semitism] though seldom explicit and conscious is hostility to the Jewish belief in one God. . . . [The Jews’] invisible God not only insisted on being the one and only and allpowerful God-Creator and Lord of everything, and the only rightful claimant to worship – He also developed into a moral God. . . . No wonder [the Jews] are the target of all those who resent His domination.
The Jewish Mystique, 1977
No doubt, some of the current aggressive atheism is due to an animosity toward the idea there is a God Who will judge all of us by a code they find too restrictive. The Satanic church advocates “Do what thou wilst.” It is a better fit for those who abhor moral conduct . . . and consequently seek destruction.
6. The just and good God introduced by the Torah gives humanity hope. One of those hopes is there is ultimate justice. We witness scores of instances of injustice on a daily basis (especially if you watch the news) and few ever face just consequences for their immoral behavior.
The belief that God judges humans means both the good and the evil will get what they ultimately deserve is the basis for belief in life after death. Even though justice is rarely served in this world, there is a good God who will ultimately set things right, though maybe not in our lifetime.
7. The God introduced by the Torah introduced holiness – the elevation of human beings from animals to creatures created in the divine image.
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy.
8. The God introduced by the Torah gives every individual unprecedented self-worth. Since all humans are created in God’s image and the Earth was created for man, each of us is infinitely valuable. Every person has the right to say, “For my sake was the world created.”
Remind yourself of this when you are feeling despair. There is some special mission and task only you can accomplish.
9. The God introduced by the Torah is necessary for human brotherhood. Since we all have the same Father, we are all brothers and sisters. As the Prophet Malachi asked:
Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?
Malachi 2:10
10. The God introduced by the Torah began the long journey to belief in human equality – solely as a result of the Torah statement that each of us is created in God’s image. The thinking that some humans are inferior to others is what makes slavery possible.
Slavery was abolished on a wide scale first in the Western world by Christians who were rooted in the Torah and the rest of the Bible and who specifically cited the Torah doctrine that all humans are created in God’s image.
11. The God introduced by the Torah is incorporeal (no body; not physical). This opened the human mind to abstract thought by enabling humans to think in terms of a reality beyond that which is accessible to our senses.
It also negates the image at the beginning of this blog – God as depicted on the Sistine Chapel by Michaelangelo.
12. The God introduced by the Torah teaches us the physical is not the only reality. Consequently, there can be non-physical realities such as a soul, an afterlife, and morality.
13. The God introduced by the Torah means there is ultimate meaning to existence and to each of our lives. Without this Creator, existence is random and purposeless.
People making up meanings for their lives can be a good thing (at least, when that meaning is moral). Many things – evil ideologies are the most obvious example – that give people meaning are not moral. Still, these made-up meanings are nothing more than artificial constructs if they are not tied to a universal morality (like the one of the God of the Torah).
An atheist professor once summarized the work of another atheist philosopher:
Ultimately, our lives are meaningless. Evolution is blind and serves no intrinsic purpose; in a cosmic sense, we each live for an insignificant amount of time. . . .
[David] Benatar, a professor of philosophy at the University of Cape Town, argues that humans can enjoy “terrestrial” [earthly] meanings – nurturing children, fighting for the rights of refugees, composing a symphony or making a delicious breakfast, for example. . . . Nevertheless, we are each but a “blip in cosmic time and space.” Mr. Benatar insists that most of us are terminally anxious about this lack of cosmic meaning. . . .
I [Joanna Bourke] did a very unscientific poll of my friends. None of them believe that there is some wider purpose to human existence.
14. The God introduced by the Torah gives human beings free will. If we are only material beings (like the dust of which we are composed), everything we do is determined by our genes and by our environment. Only if we have a non-material soul can we rise above our genes and our environment and act autonomously.
The secular denial of anything beyond the physical deprives human beings of free will. That is why Clarence Darrow, one of the most famous criminal defense lawyers in American history (as well as America’s most famous religious skeptic), opposed all punishment of criminals:
All people are products of two things, and two things only – their heredity and environment. And they act in exact accord with the heredity which they took from all the past and for which they are in no wise responsible, and the environment.
The just and good God introduced by the Torah gave humanity hope that we are not subjects, locked in a chaste system, and that there is ultimate justice.
15. The God introduced by the Torah teaches might is not right. It is God Who determines what is right, not displays of strength and force.
“Survival of the Fittest” has been the unofficial motto of every tyrannical regime. Since they wield great might, they have the ‘right’ to rule in any way that they see fit. Your survival is of little consequence to them, but it is to the God of the Torah.
16. Finally, the God introduced by the Torah made human moral progress possible. Indeed, the Torah invented human moral progress.
In the words of New York University historian Henry Bamford Parkes,
Judaism [starting with the Torah] repudiated the cyclic view of history held by all other ancient peoples and affirmed that it was a meaningful process leading to the gradual regeneration of humanity. This was the origin of the Western belief in progress . . . .
Henry Bamford Parkes, The Divine Order: Western Culture in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (New York: Knopf, 1969
What was “the cyclic view of history” referred to by Professor Parkes? In ancient civilizations, life was a cycle, meaning nothing changed from generation to generation. Every generation essentially repeated what came before it. There was therefore no such thing as moral progress – indeed, the word “progress” would have been meaningless. Then came the Torah and its God and life was no longer to be a cycle, but a line – a line moving forward toward a moral goal.
Man’s attempts to create a system of moral laws, with the Torah as their basis (like the early American legal system), to rule himself rather than the whims of monarchs or dictators more closely resembles the moral progress envisioned by Yahweh in the book of Judges.
Man’s recognition of, and identification with, the God of the Torah is the most essential idea in World history and especially in our lives today. As the world continues to plunge headlong into tyranny and hedonism, we must personally know and embrace the God of creation (the God of the Torah) and His son.
Ignoring His identity has dreadful consequences today, and in the world to come.
NOTE: I borrowed heavily from Dennis Prager’s Rational Bible: Exodus and added my own analysis. Click the link to read online or the book to purchase from the Prager Store.
Building on my last blog about Natural Selection and the genetic story concerning dogs, let’s look at how “race” developed amongst humans. We are all the same species, but we do have many physical differences. How did the races develop?
First, we need an incident that separated man across the face of the Earth. If you are an atheist, you may want to attribute it to ‘wanderlust’. If you are a believer, the obvious incident would be the Tower of Babel.
5 And the LORD came down to see the city [Babel] 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.
Genesis 11:5-9
Nimrod built the first, ‘great’ cities mentioned in Scripture. According to the Book of Jasher (chapter 9), the people intended to build the tower tall enough to access heaven, kill God, and place Nimrod upon the heavenly throne. I’m not saying this is a great plan or that there was any chance of success – evil doesn’t always need to have a logical basis.
The Book of Jubilees confides that 600,000 men worked for 43 years to build it, so there was a very large group of people that were unified in the evil plans of Nimrod.
Yahweh “confounded” their language and the people presumably separated themselves into groups that spoke the same language. People tend to do this when they find themselves in a foreign land . . . they tend to gravitate towards people with the same culture and language (e.g., Little Italy, Chinatown)
As a side note, all these people already had the same culture and the same religion, so after the confusing of the tongues, they maintained the same gods but their gods now had multiple different names. This is why so many pagan religions appear to worship the same gods.
As was the case with our dogs, humans (all descended from Noah) moved to different areas with different climates and adapted to their new surroundings . . . or died.
Adaptations like skin color (melanoma helps protect against the harmful effects of the ultra-violet rays of the Sun) and body mass (more padding is better in colder climates).
Over time, these genetic differences became identifiable traits for different groups of people, but it did not change anyone into a different species. It did help to identify people as an ‘outsider’ making it easier to discriminate against them.
People within the group (or race) were preferred to those outside the group. Often, people inside the group openly manifested their dislike and/or distrust of the outsiders.
Wars pitted different groups against each other, and because the other group was not as strong, they were thought of as an inferior race. Since they are inferior, it is okay to kill them, loot them, and enslave them.
Race-based discrimination has multiple sources, many of which preceded Darwin, but evolutionary theory gave “a powerful push to a scientific version of racism that still impacts us today,” said John West, vice president and a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute. (Darwin’s Racism)
In other words, Darwin ‘scientifically’ legitimated racism.
Four decades after the United States outlawed slavery, Samuel Phillips Verner purchased a young Mbuti pygmy man named Ota Benga from slave traders in the Congo for the World’s Fair exhibit. In 1906, officials at the Bronx Zoo in New York City put Benga in a cage with an orangutan. When two African American clergymen raised objections to his inhumane treatment, The New York Times responded with an article assuring people that “the pygmies … are very low in the human scale.”
We are quick to cancel books, today, based on racism, but Darwin’s book, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life (1842), is an exceptionally racist tome, but its principles are required learning in our schools.
In The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871), Darwin claims that “the civilized races of man will almost certainly exterminate and replace the savage races throughout the world. At the same time the anthropomorphous apes . . . will no doubt be extertimated.”
The term “Anthropomorphous apes” is used to reference “the negro or Australian [aborigine] and the gorilla.”
Racism was no longer just a personal prejudice; it was now science and science embraced it wholeheartedly.
The Eugenics movement rose in the 1880s with a book by Darwin’s cousin, Francis Galton. Inquiries into Human Fertility and its Development (1883) coined the term, “eugenics” which is Greek for “good in stock”
Eugenics sought to guide evolution through ‘planned’ selection rather than the randomness of natural selection. The “higher races” would be more successful by harnessing the “overwhelming power of heredity.”
Many countries adopted eugenic policies, intended to improve the quality of their populations’ genetic stock. Such programs included both positive measures, such as encouraging individuals deemed particularly “fit” to reproduce, and negative measures, such as marriage prohibitions and forced sterilization of people deemed unfit for reproduction. Those deemed “unfit to reproduce” often included people with mental or physical disabilities, people who scored in the low ranges on different IQ tests, criminals and “deviants”, and members of disfavored minority groups.
In Mein Kampf (1924), [Adolf] Hitler quoted American eugenic ideology and openly displayed a thorough knowledge of American eugenics. “There is today one state,” wrote Hitler, “in which at least weak beginnings toward a better conception [of immigration] are noticeable. Of course, it is not our model German Republic, but the United States.”
Hitler proudly told his comrades just how closely he followed the progress of the American eugenics’ movement. “I have studied with great interest,” he told a fellow Nazi, “the laws of several American states concerning prevention of reproduction by people whose progeny would, in all probability, be of no value or be injurious to the racial stock.”
Hitler even wrote a fan letter to American eugenic leader Madison Grant calling his race-based eugenics book, The Passing of the Great Race his “bible.”
The brutality of the Nazi’s “Final Solution” brought discredit to the eugenics’ movement, but its goals are still being worked towards by groups like Planned Parenthood, who base 86% of their abortion clinics close to minority neighborhoods.
Belief in evolution does not make someone a Nazi, but you cannot be a Nazi (or a Communist, which killed many, many more people than the Nazis did) without belief in evolution.
The Christian or Believer stand should be that we are all the same race, the human race. Science supports what Genesis told us thousands of years ago.
Scientists have long suspected that the racial categories recognized by society are not reflected on the genetic level.
But the more closely that researchers examine the human genome — the complement of genetic material encased in the heart of almost every cell of the body — the more most of them are convinced that the standard labels used to distinguish people by “race” have little or no biological meaning.
The criteria that people use for race are based entirely on external features that we are programmed to recognize.
But the genes that explain the phenotypic differences between populations only represent a tiny part of our genome, confirming once again that the concept of ‘race’ from a genetic standpoint has been abolished.
With modern molecular evolutionary techniques, we can find over time genes in any one local area of humanity that are shared by all of humanity throughout time. There are no distinct branches, no distinct lineages. By this modern definition for race, there are no races in humanity.
Race is an industry that haters and dividers use to amass fame and fortune. It is a political tool used to bludgeon opponents and the adherents of it are sought after to gain advantage by perpetuating lies that have been disproven for decades.
Democrats seek to intensify the lie through the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in our schools. They are literally teaching that some children are sub-standard. Darwin would be so proud.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. asked that his children be judged ‘by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin’. He choose to say “color of their skin” rather than use the term, “race”. Interesting.
This is definitely not the stand of the Democratic Party today.
We all have color in our skin. A white man is not white in the same way a black man is not black. We all have differing shades of brown and that is genetic.
So what shade were Adam and Eve?
If they were ‘white’, as depicted in numerous movies, then the ability to pigment to darker colors would not exist.
The same would be true if they were ‘black’, as is presupposed if man originated in Africa. There would be no variation to produce light-skinned children
If the Creator gave them variety in their genes, then they would be able to produce children of many shades.
Because of this variety, parents can even produce twins of different shades.
Can we give a collective, “Awwwwwwwwwwwww”?
What the facts show is that there are differences among us, but they stem from culture, not race.
If someone tells you, “I don’t see color”, then they are being disingenuous (unless, of course, they are blind).
Even color-blind people see shades.
We need to get to the point where we do look to the content of character rather than the color of skin. Based on the content of the character of most politicians and their operatives, they can never allow us to reach that point, so they will continue to try to divide us by ‘race’.
You must decide, will you base your thinking on God’s Word or man’s imaginations? In God’s Word, there are two races: Believers and Unbelievers. We get to choose which one we want to belong to.
26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Galatians 3:26-29
We are one in Christ who believe (have faith) and act according to His Word (“put on Christ”).
14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial [Satan]? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
2Corinthians 6:14-18
Stop believing the way the World wants you to believe. Stand for something eternal and true. Stand on God’s Word.
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Romans 12:1-2
Be reasonable – don’t be a bigot. Renew your mind to what is good and perfect.
Seems like an odd title – we’ve been taught that they are the same thing. At least, that Natural Selection is the vehicle that makes Evolution possible.
An honest examination shows that Natural Selection actually disproves Evolution.
In previous blogs, I deposited that Darwinian evolution was an unproven theory that is being used to attempt to negate the idea that there is a Creator – It is past time to provide the evidence.
National Geographic defines natural selection as:
. . . the process through which populations of living organisms adapt and change. Individuals in a population are naturally variable, meaning that they are all different in some ways. This variation means that some individuals have traits better suited to the environment than others. Individuals with adaptive traits—traits that give them some advantage—are more likely to survive and reproduce. These individuals then pass the adaptive traits on to their offspring. Over time, these advantageous traits become more common in the population. Through this process of natural selection, favorable traits are transmitted through generations.
Natural selection can lead to speciation, where one species gives rise to a new and distinctly different species. It is one of the processes that drives evolution and helps to explain the diversity of life on Earth (https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/natural-selection/).
Disclaimer: I am not disputing that “natural selection” takes place, nor that it can give rise to new species. I will argue that natural selection is not a catalyst for the evolution of organisms to become different and/or better organisms.
Darwinian evolution teaches that man evolved over millions of years from primordial goo through several animal states. This evolution had thousands of steps as that goo developed beneficial mutations that enabled it to better survive, which traits were passed on to each of its many ancestors, which also had beneficial mutations (or, as Kent Hovind states it, “From goo to you, by way of the zoo”).
Natural selection does not provide the actual mutation, it only determines what is better for the organism or worse, giving benefit or handicap to the organism. It then “selects” the better because the worse is more likely to die off sooner. The definitive statement about variations fails to recognize that these variations are a loss of genetic material, not an enhancement of genetics.
Let us look at an actual scenario rather than unsupported claims.
The wolf is the ancestor of all domesticated dogs. The Great Dane and the Yorkshire Terrier (which look nothing alike) are part of the same species, but the wolf and the coyote (which do look alike) are not of the same species.
The genetics of every organism have traits (e.g., large or small, dark or light) that they received from their parent organism. Some genes are referred to as “dominant” (physically visible) and the others as “recessive” (present, but not physically visible if there is a corresponding dominant gene).
If we say that “A” (or “a”) is one trait and “B” (or “b”) is another, then we see that both of these fictional parents have dominant and recessive genes. This is overly simplified since the number of genes that determine an organisms overall development is over a million.
Using just these three traits, we have 27 different gene combinations (3 x 3 x 3 = 27), of which only ten are depicted. If you took all the million plus genes and did every combination, then you are looking at a rather large number.
Going back to our much simpler illustration, let us look at one trait – hair. If two dogs have genes for both short hair (“S”) and long hair (“L”),
then the puppies have the possibility of several gene combinations.
The Short hair pup and the Long hair pup have less genetic variation than their parents have and the only way for their children to regain that variation is to mate them with another dog that has that variant. Mating the Long hair dominant dog with another Long hair dominant dog will produce a long-haired dog.
This is the essence of dog-breeding. Breeders mate specific dogs in order to eliminate certain traits. Mating dogs with small tails, over time, eliminates the trait for long tails inside that breed.
This is obviously not Natural Selection since the Breeders (an intelligent designer?) made the selection, but in both cases, it is a choice that eliminates information, not adds information.
Atheists ask, “How could Noah have gotten all the thousands of species on the ark?” The answer is, “He didn’t.”
19 And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. 20 Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.
Genesis 6:19-20
“After their kind”.
Kind: [H4327] (miyn / meen) from an unused root meaning to portion out; a sort, i.e. species:–kind.
Strong’s Hebrew Concordance
Noah wasn’t required to take great danes, poodles, and beagles. He needed to take a ‘dog kind’ which became the ancestor of all the dog breeds we have today.
The next protestation is then, “How could we get all the dog breeds in only 4300 years?” Breeders are able to get ‘pure-bred’ animals in only hundreds of years. The varieties of dogs and their adaptation to their climates is simple to imagine.
Dogs have several litters of pups in a normal life span. Those pups grow up and have several litters, most of which all have several litters, which continues for thousands of generations, culminating in lots of dogs.
The dogs obviously don’t stay in the same place (anyone who thinks so has never driven around their neighborhood for hours searching for a dog that escaped the yard). As they moved to different climates, natural selection would favor the traits that gave it a better chance of surviving in that new climate.
Dogs that migrated into colder climates would be more successful with thicker, longer hair and dogs that migrated into hotter climates would be more successful with less, or shorter, hair. The longer the dogs stayed in these areas, the less likely the other trait would manifest itself, until it was completely eliminated from the gene pool for those specific dogs.
Once, again, this is natural selection, but it is not evolution. We are looking at a loss of information, not the gaining of new and/or superior information.
Natural selection requires lots of information, some of which is eliminated over time. This is what the Biblical, creation model would suggest, but it is not compatible with the evolutionary theory proposed by Darwin that is still taught in our schools despite its many, substantial, flawed concepts (just one of scores of articles that can be found on the subject is at What Are the Top Three Flaws in Darwinian Evolution, as Taught Today in PublicSchools? – Evolution News and Science Today)
The complete title of Darwin’s book, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, is a fairly racist sounding inscription. Of course, it sounds racist because it is.
That is the topic for a future blog.
Darwin claims (and teachers teach) that his theory scientifically explains how species originated and improved over ‘lesser’ evolved species. This is just not true (or as I like to call it, “a damn lie from the pit of hell”).
His example of big-beaked finches and small beaked finches benefiting from the climate of the Galápagos island group did not demonstrate what the finches evolved from. They were still finches – some with large beaks and some with smaller beaks. Just like human schnozolas.
Science introduces vast amounts of time to try to overcome the problems of evolving from a ‘lower’ to a ‘higher’ species, but that just compounds the problem of natural selection, loss of information, and gene mutation (which is almost never beneficial to the organism).
Natural Selection argues for a superior organism that changes over time to become a less diverse organism through the loss of genetic material. This probably explains how the first humans were able to live as long as 900+ years. It also argues for Yahweh’s instruction to not marry close relatives (if you believe the creation narrative, you believe we are all related) after over a thousand years of inter-marriage (ostensibly, Adam’s children marrying each other, Abram marrying his half-sister, etc.).
Darwin ignored Yahweh’s directive and married his first cousin (which was still commonplace among European ‘elites’). The upper-class did not want to dilute the superiority of their progeny by marrying commoners.
With savages, the weak in body or mind are soon eliminated; and those that survive commonly exhibit a vigorous state of health. We civilized men, on the other hand, do our utmost to check the process of elimination. We build asylums for the imbecile, the maimed and the sick; we institute poor-laws; and our medical men exert their utmost skill to save the life of every one to the last moment. There is reason to believe that vaccination has preserved thousands, who from a weak constitution would formerly have succumbed to small-pox. Thus the weak members of civilized societies propagate their kind. No one who has attended to the breeding of domestic animals will doubt that this must be highly injurious to the race of man. It is surprising how soon a want of care, or care wrongly directed, leads to the degeneration of a domestic race; but excepting in the case of man himself,hardly anyone is so ignorant as to allow his worst animals to breed.
Charles Darwin, 1871
The Darwin’s ten children were frequently ill and three did not survive to adulthood. Of the seven that did survive, some reports say that three were infertile.
The couple’s son, Charles, passed away while just a toddler, daughter Henrietta was bedridden for years with digestive illnesses, and Horace and Elizabeth suffered from frequent convulsions. It seemed that every child had at least some malady, leading Charles to despair, “We are a wretched family & ought to be exterminated.”
Evolution and Natural Selection are not kindred spirits as atheistic scientists and other elites want us to believe. Natural selection begs for an original, intelligent designer that created something ‘near perfect’ that corrupted over time. That sounds too much like “God” to those that do not want to believe in a higher power or the laws that He has instituted.
Evolution must unquestioningly be taught in our schools because evidence of a Creator weakens their claim to a superior intellect as long as someone or something is substantially wiser. Scientists, politicians, and other ‘influencers’ are the gods of this world and they do not want the next generation to believe otherwise.
They will, and have, use the media, the courts, and other means of intimidation to stop any questioning of their Darwinian religion. Exposing children to any legitimacy of the existence of God opens the door to Godly morality (which they do not wish to be bound by) and the promise of an afterlife (which evolutionary theory cannot account for).
Evolution is their religious dogma and must never be questioned – especially by facts and evidence.
