17.9.06
Noah's Ark
God saw the lawlessness of the world and decided to "destroy" the living, who had been "destroying" the world. The same verb is used, as if God carried on the destruction humans started. It often happens that people blame God for the disasters we brough upon ourselves, from the great wars to global warming.
So, God decided to save Noah, his wife, his sons and their wives. God's act of destruction is not the final word. While doing it, God also preserves.
God ordered Noah to build a 450 x 75 x 45 feet "chest", rendered as "ark", and Noah did as he was told, no question asked. The material for the ark was gopher wood -whatever that is. The ark was completely enclosed, except for one door and a window.
There have been speculations as to where the ark rests. See for instance MSNBC's "Explorers plan quest in search of Noah's Ark".
The first covenant between mankind and God takes place: God swears he will keep Noah and co. safe in the ark. A covenant is an agreement between two parties. Here, God is king, but he respects the free-will of people. God then orders Noah to take with him two of every animal "according to its kind" and enter the ark with his household.
Another tradition that found its way into the text seems to indicate that the animals, two by two, came to the ark without Noah's intervention. An editor of the text also wrote that there were seven pairs of each animal OK for food and sacrifice and one pair of each of the others. The account is rather opaque.
Most scholars agree that this episode in Genesis is an amalgam of different traditions. These traditions follow the same pattern but differ in their details: Hence the verse about a pair of every animal getting in the ark and the other verse about 7 pairs of animals.
But once every required person and animal was in the ark, God shut the door on them. They were all going to stay in for over 10 months.
So, God decided to save Noah, his wife, his sons and their wives. God's act of destruction is not the final word. While doing it, God also preserves.
God ordered Noah to build a 450 x 75 x 45 feet "chest", rendered as "ark", and Noah did as he was told, no question asked. The material for the ark was gopher wood -whatever that is. The ark was completely enclosed, except for one door and a window.
There have been speculations as to where the ark rests. See for instance MSNBC's "Explorers plan quest in search of Noah's Ark".
The first covenant between mankind and God takes place: God swears he will keep Noah and co. safe in the ark. A covenant is an agreement between two parties. Here, God is king, but he respects the free-will of people. God then orders Noah to take with him two of every animal "according to its kind" and enter the ark with his household.
Another tradition that found its way into the text seems to indicate that the animals, two by two, came to the ark without Noah's intervention. An editor of the text also wrote that there were seven pairs of each animal OK for food and sacrifice and one pair of each of the others. The account is rather opaque.
Most scholars agree that this episode in Genesis is an amalgam of different traditions. These traditions follow the same pattern but differ in their details: Hence the verse about a pair of every animal getting in the ark and the other verse about 7 pairs of animals.
But once every required person and animal was in the ark, God shut the door on them. They were all going to stay in for over 10 months.
# poster: Mormon(s) of another kind at 14:38 
