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†. Gen 6:8 . . But Noah found favor with The Lord.
The word for "favor" is from chen (khane) and means: graciousness.
Translators sometimes render chen as grace. It can be either grace or favor;
but the important thing is that The Lord didn't find chen with Noah. No, just
the opposite-- Noah found chen with The Lord.
Webster's defines "graciousness" as merciful, compassionate, kind,
courteous, cordial, affable, genial, and sociable. Those are all good qualities,
and the very things you would expect to see in someone you loved and
trusted-- like your spouse or a very close friend.
†. Gen 6:9 . .This is the line of Noah.-- Noah was a righteous man; he
was blameless in his era; Noah walked with God.
Is that verse saying Noah was flawless? No; perfection in the Bible means
something altogether different than what you'd expect. The Hebrew word for
"blameless" is tamiym (taw-meem') which just simply means entire; in other
words; no pieces missing and everything in working order; for example:
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, Yhvh appeared to him and said: I
am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless. (Gen 17:1-2)
Well; I can assure you that Mr. Abram was never flawless; nevertheless he
was blameless; and he was also a prophet; which in the Old Testament
indicates an inspired man. So then; what we're looking at in the "blameless"
man is a sinner whose sins are not an issue. Pretty amazing.
No doubt Noah had plenty of sinful thoughts in his head right along with
everybody else before the Flood, and no doubt those thoughts contributed
their fair share towards the sadness God felt because of man's wickedness;
but nevertheless; Noah was blameless-- and that's because unlike Cain who
walked away from God, Noah walked with God; in other words: Noah let
himself be seen in the light instead of avoiding the light.
"This is the condemnation: that the light has come into the world, and men
loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For
everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest
his deeds should be exposed." (John 3:19-20)
The other thing said of Noah was that he was righteous. The Hebrew word is
tsaddiyq (tsad-deek') which means: just.
Webster's provides several definitions of "just", but perhaps the ones best
suited for our purpose are: conscientious, honest, honorable, right,
scrupulous, true, dependable, reliable, tried, trustworthy, dispassionate,
equal, equitable, impartial, nondiscriminatory, objective, unbiased,
uncolored, and unprejudiced. So then, Noah was not only religious to his
fingertips; but he was a pretty decent guy to boot.
The most incredible thing about Noah was his degree of piety in a world
gone mad with evil. He must have endured an enormous amount of
opposition, ridicule, criticism, and thoughtless remarks. Yet he persisted and
didn't cave in to the thinking of his neighbors and friends; nor of his brothers
and sisters, nor of his nieces and nephews, nor of any of the rest of his kin.
Only his wife, and his three sons and their wives responded to Noah's
preaching; yet he continued to warn people about the Flood right up to the
end.
To the majority of modern intellectuals, Noah is merely a mythical character,
and to them his ark and its animals are nothing but a story-book menagerie
for children's coloring books. To them, it is much too naïve to give any
serious consideration to Noah being an historical person. However, later
writers of the Bible felt differently. God lists Noah among three of the most
righteous men in Bible history.
"Son of man, when a land sins against Me by persistent unfaithfulness, I will
stretch out My hand against it; I will cut off its supply of bread, send famine
on it, and cut off man and beast from it. Even if these three men, Noah,
Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver only themselves by their
righteousness: testifies Yhvh God." (Ezk 14:13-14)
Noah was actually a nobody in his day; eclipsed by the nephiyl types. They
got all the press, the publicity, and the notoriety while God's man went
marginalized and largely ignored.
†. Gen 6:10 . . Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Were those the only kids Noah had? And no daughters? I seriously doubt it.
Noah was six hundred when the flood began. It is unlikely that a healthy,
hard working, robust man would live that long without engendering a much
larger family than three; especially in those days without birth control. But
these three boys are the only ones that count now because they're going on
the ark with their dad.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
†. Gen 6:8 . . But Noah found favor with The Lord.
The word for "favor" is from chen (khane) and means: graciousness.
Translators sometimes render chen as grace. It can be either grace or favor;
but the important thing is that The Lord didn't find chen with Noah. No, just
the opposite-- Noah found chen with The Lord.
Webster's defines "graciousness" as merciful, compassionate, kind,
courteous, cordial, affable, genial, and sociable. Those are all good qualities,
and the very things you would expect to see in someone you loved and
trusted-- like your spouse or a very close friend.
†. Gen 6:9 . .This is the line of Noah.-- Noah was a righteous man; he
was blameless in his era; Noah walked with God.
Is that verse saying Noah was flawless? No; perfection in the Bible means
something altogether different than what you'd expect. The Hebrew word for
"blameless" is tamiym (taw-meem') which just simply means entire; in other
words; no pieces missing and everything in working order; for example:
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, Yhvh appeared to him and said: I
am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless. (Gen 17:1-2)
Well; I can assure you that Mr. Abram was never flawless; nevertheless he
was blameless; and he was also a prophet; which in the Old Testament
indicates an inspired man. So then; what we're looking at in the "blameless"
man is a sinner whose sins are not an issue. Pretty amazing.
No doubt Noah had plenty of sinful thoughts in his head right along with
everybody else before the Flood, and no doubt those thoughts contributed
their fair share towards the sadness God felt because of man's wickedness;
but nevertheless; Noah was blameless-- and that's because unlike Cain who
walked away from God, Noah walked with God; in other words: Noah let
himself be seen in the light instead of avoiding the light.
"This is the condemnation: that the light has come into the world, and men
loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For
everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest
his deeds should be exposed." (John 3:19-20)
The other thing said of Noah was that he was righteous. The Hebrew word is
tsaddiyq (tsad-deek') which means: just.
Webster's provides several definitions of "just", but perhaps the ones best
suited for our purpose are: conscientious, honest, honorable, right,
scrupulous, true, dependable, reliable, tried, trustworthy, dispassionate,
equal, equitable, impartial, nondiscriminatory, objective, unbiased,
uncolored, and unprejudiced. So then, Noah was not only religious to his
fingertips; but he was a pretty decent guy to boot.
The most incredible thing about Noah was his degree of piety in a world
gone mad with evil. He must have endured an enormous amount of
opposition, ridicule, criticism, and thoughtless remarks. Yet he persisted and
didn't cave in to the thinking of his neighbors and friends; nor of his brothers
and sisters, nor of his nieces and nephews, nor of any of the rest of his kin.
Only his wife, and his three sons and their wives responded to Noah's
preaching; yet he continued to warn people about the Flood right up to the
end.
To the majority of modern intellectuals, Noah is merely a mythical character,
and to them his ark and its animals are nothing but a story-book menagerie
for children's coloring books. To them, it is much too naïve to give any
serious consideration to Noah being an historical person. However, later
writers of the Bible felt differently. God lists Noah among three of the most
righteous men in Bible history.
"Son of man, when a land sins against Me by persistent unfaithfulness, I will
stretch out My hand against it; I will cut off its supply of bread, send famine
on it, and cut off man and beast from it. Even if these three men, Noah,
Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver only themselves by their
righteousness: testifies Yhvh God." (Ezk 14:13-14)
Noah was actually a nobody in his day; eclipsed by the nephiyl types. They
got all the press, the publicity, and the notoriety while God's man went
marginalized and largely ignored.
†. Gen 6:10 . . Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Were those the only kids Noah had? And no daughters? I seriously doubt it.
Noah was six hundred when the flood began. It is unlikely that a healthy,
hard working, robust man would live that long without engendering a much
larger family than three; especially in those days without birth control. But
these three boys are the only ones that count now because they're going on
the ark with their dad.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=