Alpha Omega

The next several chapters are a story of an ancient flood in the Tigris and Euphrates Valley and how one servant of God and his family were saved from the devastation. Although the story of Noe is very similar to several mythical tales involving the flooding of ancient Mesopotamia, it does have several notable differences.

First of all, one should not have any concerns with the biblical account because the Tigris and Euphrates Valley flooded frequently in ancient times and the story of Noe is just a narrative of one of the many floods to have occurred there. However, it is obvious that someone edited the story and intertwined both the Priestly account and the Yahwist rendition in order to create his own story.

Secondly, the differences between the the Priestly and Yahwist versions are probably due to the differences in the two methods of telling the same story by the two authors. There is no problem here either because both descriptions essentially say the same thing. That is, there was a flood in ancient Mesopotamia and, through our Lord’s intervention, one servant of God and his family were saved from its destruction. The many similarities between the two accounts confirm this.

Finally, it is not the story of the flood that is important here. What is important is our Lord’s message to an ever increasing materialistic world. The story of Noe and the flood is the method that God chose in which to convey His message. What our Lord wishes to reveal through this story is a prophecy of what was at the time of Noe and what will be at the consummation of the world.

Verse one describes an increasing world population devoted to satisfying the physical senses (the flesh). The phrase daughters were born to them reveal that secular minded people are populating the earth as opposed to spiritual minded children of God. That is, this secularism and materialism has become so appealing that even the the sons of God (v.2) are forsaking their religious obligations and following after the worldly goals of the temporal minded individuals, (v.4). Thus, they are marrying the daughters of men,(v.2).

This does not mean to insinuate that material goals and secularism are profane in the eyes of our Lord. On the contrary, God gave the earth to man for his own use. There is nothing wrong with seeking materialistic or worldly goals. However, our Lord does not expect His children to place material and secular goals above heavenly goals. This is exactly what many individuals have done. This is because man’s flesh is weak. He is more inclined to satisfy the desires of the body over the needs of the soul.

This is what has angered God, that man has “much thought for the body, but none for the soul.” Hence, mankind’s sojourn here on earth will not be of a long duration. The one hundred twenty years (v.3) represent this short period of time.

The giants and mighty men of old (v.4) reveal those who are filled with materialism and worldly goals. They are giants because their love of the flesh is great. The fifth verse describes just how great is their desire to satisfy their craving for materialistic and sensualistic goals. They will do anything in order to obtain their desires. Thus, their wickedness is great and their heart is bent upon evil at all times.

The next verse describes the great anger and hurt of God due to this secularism and sensualism of mankind. This materialism brings spiritual blindness and prevents one from understanding the word of God. Verse seven says that God made the decision to destroy mankind from the face of the earth. What our Lord reveals here is that secularism blinds the soul to truth. The closer a person is to total hedonism, the harder it is for him to understand the word of God. It will also prevent such a person from hearing any warning call from God of an approaching doom.

But God was pleased with the faith of one of His servants. That is, one child of God heard our Lord’s warning of an impending doom. Which is to say that Noe’s faith in God and his lack of materialism also gave him the ability to perceive and understand the word of God. God’s warning call is to everyone. But Noe was the only person to hear it because he was the only person who did not allow materialism and secularism to govern his life.

Noe understood God when He communicated with him and commanded him to build an Ark in which to save himself and his family (Gen.6:9-18). One should note that his building of an ark large enough to save all the animals of the world is symbolic of our Lord’s heavenly ark — one large enough to save all mankind.

It is important to note that the whole world was not flooded several thousand years ago; nor is there enough water on this earth to cause such a flood. What was flooded was the world that was known to Noe during his own lifetime. This was the Tigris and Euphrates Valley of ancient Mesopotamia.

Apparently what happened was that there were quite a number of days of rain during the spring when the rivers are at their crests, due to the melting snows in the mountains. The rivers then overflowed their banks, which led to the flooding of the valley and the resulting destruction that accompany such catastrophes. (This was similar to the flooding of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers in the spring of 1993.)

In fact, archaeologists have discovered that such flooding and devastation occurred numerous times in ancient Mesopotamia. Thus, it does not matter that the biblical account parallels other myths. The myths could easily be stories of other floods.

Never-the-less, after the rains finally ceased Noe probably saw nothing but sky and water. One must not forget about the lack of scientific knowledge of this ancient child of God. Noe probably believed — as did everyone else at that time — that the earth was flat and at the center of the universe. To him the edge of the earth was where it met the sky on the horizon. Since he saw nothing but sky and water, he believed that the whole world flooded. Consequently, this is the story that he passed on to his descendants and this is the story that has come down through the ages.

It says in verses nineteen and twenty that our Lord commanded Noe to take every living creature of all flesh, . . . two of every sort shall go in with thee. Noe did not take two of every living creature on the earth. He could not have built an ark that large. Not even the R.M.S. Titanic was that large. Noe took his farm animals, other domesticated animals and any animals of ancient Mesopotamia that he could catch and put into a cage. Noe took with him into the Ark the animals of his world that he knew existed.

However, in chapter seven it says that Noe was commanded to take seven males and seven females of the clean beasts (v.2) and two each of the males and two females of the unclean beasts (v.3). Besides manifesting the differences between the Priestly version (chapter six) and the Yahwist version (chapter seven), this also illustrates that by Noe’s time religious beliefs had come into prevalence that involved ritually clean and unclean animals. The clean beasts are those that Noe’s tribal law allowed him to eat and the unclean beasts are those that he was forbidden by tribal ritual to eat.

As to why the two versions differ in the number of animals, one does not know. One must leave this type of information to those theologians with whom this is concerned to figure out.

Noe then offered up a sacrifice of thanksgiving to our Lord. It would have been unthinkable for Noe to offer up an unclean beast to God, for such would be like offering up unholy prayers. Hence, Noe offers up some of his clean beasts as thanksgiving to our Lord for saving him and his family from the flood waters. A scene such as this was probably repeated by the survivors of the valley each time the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers overflowed their banks. Only this time, according to the biblical story, everyone perished except Noe and his family.

God did not actually smell the sweet odor of the Noe’s holocaust; (v.21) such would be anthropomorphic. This verse manifests our Lord’s acceptance of Noe’s humility.

The statement the imagination and thought of man’s heart are prone to evil from his youth (v.21) implies that one obtains wisdom with age. That is, it is during one’s youth, when a person is less likely to have the wisdom that comes with age, that a person is more likely to commit acts of corruption and other foul deeds that stem from a lack of wisdom.

Finally, our Lord’s promise not to destroy every living soul (v.21) manifests His commitment to warn His children of the approaching consummation of the world when it should come. This promise is to remain firm until the end of time (v.22).

Chapter nine opens with God again giving the earth to mankind (Gen.9:1-3) just as He did in the beginning (Gen.1:28-30). God then repeats the warning to all that the taking of another person’s life is the most heinous of all crimes and such will not go unpunished (v.5-6). Thus, capital punishment is abhorrent to God.

One should note that many bibles indicate that this punishment must be his own death administered by man. However, neither the Latin Vulgate nor the Douay-Rheims give this kind of explanation. St. Jerome wrote: Quicumque effuderit humanum sanguinem, fundetur sanguis illius. When translated this means: whoever shall shed (pour out) human blood, his blood will be poured out (v.6).

Nowhere does the verse imply that mankind has the authority to take another person’s life or that a person must be put to death as retribution for evil acts. On the contrary, when properly translated the verse clearly implies that the death of the malefactor is in God’s hands.

Our Lord then establishes a covenant with all His children through His servant Noe.

After giving the aforementioned instructions against murder and capital punishment, our Lord establishes His covenant with all mankind. God also gives all mankind the sign of this perpetual covenant of God’s love for mankind: The appearance of a rainbow in the sky. Thus, whenever one sees a rainbow in the sky, it should remind him of God’s mercy and protection against evil. There is no indication in these verses that rainbows did not exist before this time.

God merely wishes to point out that He uses common events, normal courses of action and socially accepted norms in order to bring His message to His children. It is Satan and his evil henchmen and vile pseudo-Christians who use cheap gimmicks, glamorous displays of sensationalism and gaudy feats of trickery in order to lure the unsuspecting into their traps.

Our Lord does not have to resort to such practices because His love alone is enough to confirm any message He may give to one of His children. One should also note that God has never resorted to such practices and it is doubtful that He ever will employ such practices.

From the continuation of the narration in chapter nine one could assume that Noe was a farmer of some kind (v.20). But he could have been a wine merchant, for he planted a vineyard (v.20) and, after drinking some wine, became drunk and fell asleep in the nude (v.21). Noe’s son, Cham, then ridiculed his actions (v.22), but his other sons, Sem and Japheth, exonerated his condition (v.23).

Upon waking and finding out what the boy had done (v.24), Noe cursed him and all his descendants (v.25) and prophesied that they would be servants of the descendants of Sem and Japheth (v.26-27).

This story of the drunkenness and nudity of Noe implies that the later enslavement of the Canaanites by Israel was a form of justification due to the Canaanites religious beliefs, their incestuous actions and their sexual acts with animals (Lev.18:3-23).

Besides bestiality and incest, other sexual perversions would include urophilia, coprophilia, necrophilia and sex with those who are not old enough (pedophilia) or mature enough to know what they are doing (mentally handicapped) and unprotected sex with those who have a pathology. That is, adult nudity and sex are moral as long as what one is doing is with someone whom one loves and it is safe, consensual and non-exploitive among those involved.

Chapter ten is basically the work of the Priestly author. However, a later editor inserted material from the Yahwist tradition into what appears to be a narration of the descendants of Noe’s three sons, Sem, Cham, and Japheth.

This chapter actually relates to the neighbors of ancient Israel. It is an enumeration of the nations of the ancient Near East. One gets this from verse five.

The story that is presented is a classification of the world and the various populations that were known to the people of ancient Israel. From verses five, twenty and thirty-one one learns that the relationship is arranged primarily on language, ancestry, geographic and political differences rather than ethnic and religious considerations. Theologically it emphasizes the oneness of all human beings and asserts the brotherhood of all mankind.

That is, the human race is in a real sense one large extended family and each person should treat his neighbor accordingly. That is why this chapter has the world population as coming from the three sons of Noe. Although this may not be literally true; it is true theologically, because God made His covenant with all mankind through Noe by using a universal sign — the rainbow — to seal this covenant. In this way, Noe represents a father figure for all mankind.

The opening verses of chapter eleven continue this basic unity of all mankind. These verses are a story about the tower of Babel and the “scattering” of the people of the earth.

These verses show all mankind working together toward one goal. Although the story uses ancient traditions about the ziggurats and the temple towers of Babylonia, its meaning is to manifest that all mankind is working toward the one goal of trying to understanding God. Man will not cease in his efforts until he understands that for which he is searching (v.6).

However, some men are like wax, while others are like wet clay. Just as the warmth of the sun causes these two materials to react differently, so too does God’s presence among men cause them to react differently. This is why verse seven says that mankind becomes confused when our Lord comes to them.

This is because each person perceives God differently, and no two people have the same understanding of God. It is as though several deaf, dumb and blind children are trying to communicate with each other about something that none of them have more than a rudimentary knowledge. The only way that they can ever hope to accomplish anything is through logical, rational cooperation with each other, not by arguing, bickering and warring among themselves.

It is man’s pride, not our Lord, that scatters the people and confuses them in their search (v.8). Mankind will stay bewildered as long as he holds onto his pride and looks to himself instead of toward truth and justice for the answers to his problems.

The bible is not a science book; it is a book of religious truth. The purpose of the Holy Scriptures is to guide man along correct religious and moral beliefs and actions. The purpose of the opening chapters of Genesis is to give the scriptures a tangible and believable foundation. The Holy Bible has no other purpose and those who propagate otherwise are deceivers. Hence, this trilogy does not mean to suggest that the Holy Bible is a book of scientific fact.

Nor does this book propose a scientific theory based upon the Holy Scriptures. Rather, it is a religious treatise based upon scientific fact. It uses the scientific discoveries of man as stepping stones in conjunction with the opening chapters of Genesis in order to prove the theory. Although the opening chapters of Genesis may be paralleled with some scientific truths, the remainder of the Holy Bible is devoted to revealing moral and theological truths.

Besides, the Holy Scriptures cannot be used as a basis for scientific theory because they hold no scientific theories. Even the book of Genesis is submissive to science. It was not until after man learned about the creation process, through the scientific method, that Genesis could be interpreted.

This was pointed out because there may be some individuals who will try to “scientifically interpret” other passages in the scriptures that appear on the surface to defy logic and reason. The story of Jonah and the whale, Josue stopping the sun in its path for a day (Jos.10:11-13), the taking of Elias into heaven by a flaming chariot (4Ki.2:1-11) and Jesus Christ walking on water (Mt.14:22-36) and calming a storm (Lk.8:22-26) are classic stories that deny scientific truth that some fundamentalist may try to “scientifically interpret.”

However, these stories are in the bible in order to explain theological truths, not scientific facts. These stories cannot be scientifically interpreted. Anyone who would try to scientifically interpret these, or any other scriptural passage, is misinterpreting the Holy Bible. In fact, anyone who is using the Holy Bible in order to “prove” his beliefs, is misinterpreting the scriptures. One must use science to prove his beliefs.

One may wonder then, how such stories got in the bible. That is, what is their original source? Many of them were probably dreams or visions that the author had and then wrote down. For example, in the story about Jonah it mentions that he was asleep (Jnh.1:5). It is just possible that the whole prophecy was a nightmare that Jonah had for not doing God’s will, and then a dream of salvation when he finally decided to do our Lord’s will (Jnh.2:1-11). Over the years subsequent editing changed the story.

However, such does not alter the theological truth that God wanted to reveal therein. Hence, one need not worry about those passages in the Holy Scriptures that appear on the surface to deny scientific truth and logic. In such passages, it is a theological truth that God wishes to explain, not a scientific one.

Now that the opening chapters of Genesis are explained one need not disregard them in favor of a scientific explanation of the creation of the universe, the earth, life and man. Both the Holy Bible and science proclaim the same truth. The only difference is that the opening chapters of Genesis give a brief, general description, while scientific explanations give a more detailed and precise description. A true child of God would be wise to accept both descriptions of the creation, for to do otherwise is to keep fallacies in one’s beliefs.

Here is the magnificence of God. Just as it has taken mankind years of research and thousands of science books to reveal all the information held by the DNA molecule, so too our Lord reveals with just a few words in the book of Genesis that information about the creation process that has taken mankind years of research and thousands of science books to explain. One can only recall and expound upon the prophecy of St. John the Apostle.

Alpha Omega

The Ark and the Covenant