1792 Coins

Before you get into this post, you should probably read the disclaimer from the previous post, Bible Babble (Genesis 1:1-31).

Genesis 7:1-24

Go ahead and read through that real quick, I’ll wait…

Well we discussed the prospect of Noah and the Ark in the previous chapter. As as side bar, I have a hard time hearing the most basic and benign message from God. I don't trust my judgment enough to discern whether it's my own head, or God speaking. Imagine taking notes on that message from God. "God I'm listening to what you have to speak into my life." Then rather than a simple message like, "Love your brother as yourself," he gets, "Noah, this is God, get a pencil, paper, and an abacus. Make an ark, a monstrous boat, I'll explain why later. And make it X cubits by Y cubits, I'll explain later what a cubit is." I think there is a reason why God has not 'blessed' me with such a word from the Lord. God doesn't have time to hold my hand through the note taking, drawing, gathering of supplies and tools, much less the actual building of such a thing.

At this point in the book, God tells Noah, "You and your whole family need to pack it up and get aboard, because I'm about to turn it loose on the rest of these folks, and you're the only ones worth saving." He continues with, "You need to make sure that there are seven pairs of every clean animal on the earth on that boat with you all. You only need to grab a couple pairs of the unclean animals. Don't forget seven pairs of all the birds, too. That way your descendants can enjoy their descendants for years to come. Oh, and you need to get all that ready this week, because next week I'm going to flush and wash my hands of this mess."

Noah wasn't about to disobey God now, so he did just as he was told. He gathered up seven sets of all the clean animals and birds, two sets of the unclean animals, his family and hopped on the boat when the rain started to fall. Now this all hit when Noah was about 600 years old, 600 years, 2 months, and 17 days to be exact. Yes, this is a date you'd put on your calendar. Not only was this a turning point for the planet and its inhabitants, but it also marked the first time the concept of rain had been experienced, ever. I think after taking detailed notes from God and constructing a boat big enough to house at least a couple pairs of every animal on the planet and my family, to the amusement of my neighbors and onlookers, I would remember the day my crazy behavior was confirmed as wisdom and not just 'crazy talk.'

Noah had obviously gotten the lesson in Leviticus, among other places, about which animals were clean vs. unclean. For the sake of visualization, let's give a brief rundown of which bunch would have seven sets as opposed to two. Clean would be any animal with cloven or split hooves that chews cud. So camels chew cud, but no hooves, split or otherwise, thus, unclean. Pigs have the split hooves, but don't chew cud, thus, also unclean. Horses, would be out on both counts, no split hooves, no cud chewing, unclean. Now what about lizards and snakes, they weren't even classified as animals in this definition, because they 'creepeth on the earth' as well as 'creepeth folks out' and thus, really unclean. There were also specific rules about which birds were clean and unclean, as with the creatures in the sea for the sake of food and sacrifice, but neither are relevant on the boat for a couple of reasons. First if it lives in the water, its getting a bigger backyard to play in, and God said to pull seven sets of all the birds. I would assume that all the insects, barring things like locusts, grasshoppers, crickets, and the like were also brought in sets of two.

Ok, so now the rain starts to fall, water starts to rise, and Noah, his family, and a whole slew of animals pile onto this boat just like God told them to do. So Shem, Ham, and Japheth, along with their families were all present, too, although with a name like Ham, I'd think he'd be classified as unclean. God made sure that the door was all sealed shut once they were all aboard, and I'm sure He gave them the 'keep all arms and legs on board the ride at all times, and do not exit the ride until it comes to a full and complete stop' speech. Now the rain poured for 40 days and 40 nights, which is still a record for the ole rain gauge. This was enough water to cover all the land, all the mountain tops, float the boat well above what used to be 'sea-level,' 15 cubits worth.

Needless to say that humans and animals can only tread water so long in a torrential downpour. So whether you want to count the 40 days and nights of constant rain, or the 150 days that the water kept land hidden from sight and reach, is irrelevant. Bottom line, if you weren't a bird, weren't built for underwater life, and weren't on the boat, your days were numbered as well, namely a pretty small number. With no respect of species or intelligence, if you required land to walk on and air to breathe and weren't on the boat, man, bug, snake, horse, chicken, lion, tiger, or bear, oh my, you were no more.

Chapter 7 ends there.  Chapter 8 continues next.

That said, Jesus became the last lifeboat to hop aboard. The last ark of safety against the end of the world. There will be those who are sealed up in the name of Jesus and make it, and those who mock the idea and don't make it. Just because you haven't seen it rain before doesn't mean that a flood isn't coming, make sure that you don't miss the boat.

As always, feel free to comment or ask questions about any of the ideas shared in this post.

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