Genesis 7:13

Genesis 7:13 says, 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;  These were the people who would repopulate the earth.  We really aren't told much about Noah's children's relationship with God, but I believe that they must have at least followed the example of Noah.  Verse fourteen states, 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.  All the animals were also aboard the ark.  Verse fifteen adds, And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.   Though they went in two by two, we know that the clean animals had seven pairs going in.  I don't believe that Noah had to go hunt and herd the animals, but more that God brought them there and lined them up.  I do have to wonder what people around Noah felt by this time, with a giant boat sitting on dry land being filled with animals, but they were not interested enough to begin to look to Noah or God for answers.  There may be people today who are curious about what is going on in the church, or Christianity, but they are not interested enough to find out.  Like those around Noah, they will miss salvation if they only remain curious.  Verse sixteen says,  And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.  We are told that they went in as God commanded them and God shut them in.  When we go to God through faith in Christ as our Savior and Lord, which is what God commands us to do for salvation, then God shuts, or seals, us into His kingdom.  Once we accept Christ, we are God's children forever.  God seals our salvation.  Verse seventeen declares, 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.  The flood came, just as God had said it would, and Noah and everyone and everything on the ark were safe.  God always keeps His promises.  Verse eighteen adds, And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.  This simply says that as the waiter rose that the ark rose with it.  Verse nineteen continues, And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.  Verse twenty concludes, Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.  This flood didn't just cover the low areas, but covered the mountains as well.  There was no other place of sanctuary outside the ark, and there is no place of sanctuary spiritually today outside of faith in Christ.  Verse twenty-one says, 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:  All the animals on land and all the people on the earth died.  Verse twenty-two adds, All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.  The fish survived, because they lived in the water.  Verse twenty-three states, 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.  Verse twenty-four concludes, And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.  The earth was covered with water for one hundred and fifty days.

Genesis 7'1

Genesis 7:1 says, And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.  God instructed Noah to go into the ark with his family.  Though following God's instructions to build the ark was important, going into the Ark was what would ultimately save Noah and his family.  Salvation is already provided for every person, but until we enter into a personal relationship with God through faith in Christ as our Savior and Lord, we cannot be saved.  Verse two states, 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.  I know we normally say that Noah took two of every animal into the ark, but he took seven pairs of the clean animals.  Since God is the One Who declared animals as clean or unclean, I am sure He was able to specify which animals were which to Noah.  Then verse three adds, Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.  Also, the birds were taken aboard in pairs of seven.  Verse four declares, 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.  Noah and his family and the animals were to be in the ark seven days before the rain started.  I am not sure if the significance of the seven days was because that was the duration of God's creative activity or not, but what He had declared good at the end of that first week He now declared very bad.  I personally am not certain that this was the first time that it had rained, but it is the first time rain is mentioned.  Verse five says, And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him.  Noah had obeyed God in building the ark, and now he obeyed God in doing what God had commanded him to do about getting in the ark.  We cannot be saved by simply getting ready to some day follow Christ.  We must fully enter into that personal relationship with Christ.  Verse six states, And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.  Verse seven adds,, 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.  Noah's whole family went into the ark.  We could debate whether the rest of Noah's family were saved because of his faith in God, but even if they were physically saved by the faith of Noah, their spiritual salvation was still dependent on their own belief in God.  We may do everything possible to bring our children to salvation, but each must make their own personal choice in order to be saved.  Verse eight states, Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,  Verse nine adds, There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.  Though this says they went in two by two, it also says that they went as God had ordered, so there would have been seven pairs of the clean beasts going in two by two.  Verse ten declares, And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.  After a week, the rain came, as God had said it would.  The rains lasted for forty days.  God could have easily flood the earth in the blink of an eye, but He chose this method.  We do not need to question God's methods, but we need to simply obey His word.  Verse eleven adds,  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.  Not only was the earth flooded by rain, but it was also flooded by the fountains of the deep.  Verse twelve adds, And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.  As already stated, the time to flood the earth lasted for forty days.

Genesis 6:11

Genesis 6:11 says, The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.  We can debate whether the conditions a person lives in or the way they are raised lead a person to sin, but God had created a good world and it was soon totally corrupt.  We might say that after being evicted from the garden of Eden that the world had been cursed, but I believe that this simply meant that people were going to have to work to meet their needs instead of them being provided for by God.  We certainly know that  Adam and Eve lived in a perfect environment, and still they sinned.  Verse twelve states, And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.  When God looked at the world that He had created and called good, He saw that it was totally corrupt.  Sin grows rapidly when people turn away from God.  Verse thirteen declares, And God 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.  God warned Noah of the coming destruction.  Noah was said to have found grace in the eyes of God, and this one righteous man kept the world from being totally destroyed.  I believe that the righteous, the followers of Christ, reaching out to the lost, keep the world from being destroyed today.  Verse fourteen says, Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.  God told Noah to make an ark, or a giant boat.  Even though Noah had found grace, he had to obey God's instructions to be saved.  In order to claim salvation today, we must obey God's instructions to accept salvation through faith in Christ as our Savior and Lord.  Verse fifteen states, 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. Then verse sixteen adds, 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.  This tells us how big the ark was to be, but all we really need to know was that it was big enough for God's purpose.  When we live by faith, we need to realize that God will always provide for our needs in order for us to do His will.  Verse seventeen declares, 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.  God pronounced the coming destruction of all flesh through a flood.  Then verse eighteen proclaims, But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee.  God established a covenant with Noah.  God would save Noah and his family.  God establishes a covenant with each individual who accepts Christ today.  He will save us, but our family cannot be saved by our faith.  Each person must accept Christ as Savior and Lord for themselves.  Still, if we live by faith we may lead our family to that same faith.  Verse nineteen states, 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.  Noah was also tasked with saving the other animals.  We today are to work to maintain God's creation.  Verse twenty adds, 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.  Noah was to gather a pair of all living creatures to keep them from being totally destroyed.  Then verse twenty-one adds,  And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.  Noah was to take enough food for his family and all the animals.  Not only did Noah have to build the ark, but he had to gather the animals and food as well.  He could only do this by acting from faith.  If we see what seems like an impossible task we feel that God is calling us to do, remember Noah and his task.  God will not call us to do something that He does not equip us to do.  Verse twenty-seven declares, Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.  Like Noah, we do not need to question God but we need to simply do what God instructs us to do.

Genesis 6:1

Genesis 6:1 says, And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,  God had intended for people to multiply and populate the earth, and they were doing so.  This does not mean that it was happening in accordance with God's will.  Verse two states, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.  Matthew Henry says this means that those men that God had given life to, who should have been as sons to Him, were not guided by God's Spirit when they chose wives.  They simply looked for the women who looked the best.  We cannot be guided simply by physical looks when we are looking for a spouse, but must be guided by the Holy Spirit if we want the best marriage.  Verse three declares, And the LORD 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.  God was displeased with mankind, but He didn't immediately destroy them.  God gave a warning that people had one hundred and twenty years to repent or they would face destruction.  God is always patient in His grace before He comes to people in judgment.  Still, we can be certain that God's judgment will come.  Verse four says, There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of renown.  Though some attempt to interpret this as some lesser god or angels having children with human wives and creating a race of giants, if we believe God, we know that there are no other gods and that angels are a different form of creation than mankind.  Though people may have looked like giants to those around them, they were still just people.  No matter how big and important people may feel today, they are still simply a part of God's creation and powerless before Him.  Verse five proclaims, And GOD 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.  God saw the wickedness of people, those that were to be the very best of His creation.  As such, God had given them free will.  We today are still the ultimate of God's creation, but we can still choose to ignore or defy Him.  Verse six adds, And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.  Mankind had become so evil that God was regretting having created them, and He was grieved because of it.  If we turn away from God continually, He will be grieved at our creation, of the life that He gives us.  Verse six declares, And the LORD 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.  God said that He was going to destroy not only mankind but all animals as well.  The world was created to follow the laws of God and people were to care for the other animals.  If there were no people, there was no need for the other animals. Unlike people, animals simply live life and pass from existence at death, so this wasn't a harsh sentence for them.  God was not going to act out of anger, but out of disappointment and grief over the actions of people.  Verse eight states, But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.  There was one man, Noah, who was still following God.  Noah found grace in the eyes of God.  We need to be like Noah today, living for God so that He might delay the coming destruction of the world so that others will have a chance to repent and come to God.  Verse nine adds, These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.  I don't believe that this means that Noah never sinned, but that he attempted to live by faith in God.  One person walking with God can have a great impact on the world.  Verse ten says, And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.  Noah's sons would be a part of the saving of mankind.

Genesis 5:18

Genesis 5:18 says, And Jared lived an hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch:  Verse nineteen states, And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:  Verse twenty adds, And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died.  Verse twenty-one states, And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah:  Then verse twenty-two declares,  And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:  We are told that Enoch walked with God.  I believe that Enoch had a very close personal spiritual relationship with God, and not that he walked with God physically.  Verse twenty-three states, And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years:  Then verse twenty-four proclaims, And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.  Enoch is one of only two people who thee Bible tells us never died.  When Enoch was three-hundred and sixty-five years old, God took him on to heaven.  Verse twenty-five states, And Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech:  Verse twenty-six adds, And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters:  Then verse twenty-seven adds, And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died.  The only thing of significance about Methuselah is that he lived longer than anyone else listed in the Bible.  Verse twenty-eight says, And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son:  Verse twenty-nine states, And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed.  We are told that Noah was to be a comfort to the people, but he became the one through whom mankind would be physically saved.  Verse thirty adds, And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters:  Verse thirty-one concludes, And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died.  Verse thirty two states, And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.  Instead of one son, three sons of Noah are named.

Genesis 5:1

Genesis 5:1 says, This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;  We are told that this book, or chapter will give the genealogy of Adam, and are reminded that Adam was created by God in the image of God.  Verse two states, Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.  God created both men and women.  Verse three says, And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:  We are not told about the birth of Cain and Abel, but of Seth when Adam was one hundred and thirty years old, and the genealogy will be followed through Seth.  Verse four states, And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters:  We are told that Adam lived for eight hundred years after Seth was born, and he had more sons and daughters, about whom we have no information.  Verse five declares, And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.  Adam and Eve had not eaten of the tree of life, so after nine hundred and thirty years he died.  Physical death and suffering were a result of disobedience to God, and everlasting life with God can only be restored through our faith in Christ.  The next several verses list Seth and his descendants.  The only thing we might note is that all the descendants were not listed.  Verse six says, And Seth lived an hundred and five years, and begat Enos: Verse seven adds, And Seth lived after he begat Enos eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters:  Verse eight concludes, And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years: and he died.  Verse nine states, And Enos lived ninety years, and begat Cainan:  Verse ten adds, And Enos lived after he begat Cainan eight hundred and fifteen years, and begat sons and daughters:  Verse eleven concludes,  And all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years: and he died. Verse twelve states, And Cainan lived seventy years, and begat Mahalaleel:  Verse thirteen adds, And Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters:  Verse fourteen concludes, And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years: and he died.  Verse fifteen states, And Mahalaleel lived sixty and five years, and begat Jared:  Verse sixteen adds, And Mahalaleel lived after he begat Jared eight hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters:  Verse seventeen concludes, And all the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred ninety and five years: and he died.

Genesis 4:18

Genesis 4:18 says, And unto Enoch was born Irad: and Irad begat Mehujael: and Mehujael begat Methusael: and Methusael begat Lamech.  This is simply a list of the descendants of Cain, and there is nothing much to add to it.  The earth was being populated is about all that we might say.  Verse nineteen states, And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. In  this verse, we see that God's concept of marriage was already being corrupted.  What we must always remember is that marriage is an institution created by God, where a man and a woman become one flesh under the authority of God.  No man made law is ever going to change that, but unfortunately we too often leave God out of marriage.  Verse twenty says, And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle.  This verse tells us of the occupation of the descendants of one of the sons of Adah, Jabal and his descendants.  The raised cattle.  Verse twenty-one adds, And his brother’s name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ.   Adah's other son, Jubal, and his descendants were musicians.  Verse twenty-two declares, And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah.  Zillah, the other wife of Lamech, had a son named Tubalcain,, and he was a metal smith, I guess would be accurate.  Zillah also had a daughter named Naamah, and we are not told what she did.  Verse twenty-three declares, And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt.  Though we are not told who, we are told that Lamech called his wives to him and told them that he had killed a young man.  We are not told why or how he did this, but simply the fact that he did.  He knew that he had done wrong.  I guess confessing to his wives was a good thing, but it did not change the facts.  Confessing our sins, especially to those closest to us may be a good thing, but it does not excuse the sin.  Verse twenty-four adds, If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.  Lamech felt that his punishment would be much greater than Cain's was.  No sin is punished any greater for one person than it is for another.  All sin leads to death, to everlasting separation from God, unless we accept forgiveness through Christ.  Verse twenty-five states, And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.  I am not sure how much time passed, but at some point Adam and Eve had another son named Seth, whom Eve said was another seed because Abel had been killed.  He was not a replacement for Abel though.  I do not believe that one child can ever replace another, but can only be another blessing themself.  Verse twenty-six declares, And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.  Even though Adam and Eve had walked with God in the garden of Eden, we are told that with the birth of Enos, the son of Seth, people began to call on the name of the LORD, or the only real God.  No matter how close our parents may be or have been to God, we must call on Him individually to be saved.