5: The genealogy of mankind
The ten generations from Adam to Noah. Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah
6: 1-8. Prelude to the Flood. the sons of the rulers … the Nephilim
6:11. Now the earth had become corrupt before God; and the earth had become filled with robbery. 12. And God saw the earth and behold it was corrupted, for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth.
6: 9-10. Noah.
9. He feared only God, and was not enticed by astrology, and surely not by idolatry.
11-12. The behavior of people deteriorated.
But once people develop the habit of sinning, they gradually lose their shame, and immoral behavior becomes the accepted – even the required – norm. … Though this is not the gravest kind of sin, it is morally damaging in the extreme, because thievery with the letter of the law weakens the conscience and corrupts the social fabric.
13-22. The decree
7: 1-10. The final call.
7: 10-24. The Flood inundates the world.
7: 21-22. God spared the fish, because they did not participate in Man’s sins.
8:1. … God caused a spirit to pass over the earth, and the water subsided.
8:11. … and behold! an olive leaf it had plucked with its bill!
21. … since the imagery of man’s heart is evil from his youth;
8: 1-8. The waters recede.
7. Sending forth the raven.
8-12. The dove.
By bringing back a bitter olive leaf in its mouth, the dove was saying symbolically, “Better that my food be bitter but from God’s hand, than sweet as honey but dependent on mortal man. … even the bitterest food eaten in freedom is better than the sweetest food given in servitude.
21. Man receives the Evil Inclination from birth before he has the wisdom and maturity to combat it [meaning that man’s animal instincts are inborn, while the intellect and spiritual desire for self-improvement must be inculcated and developed with time and maturity].
22. “For believers there are no questions; for non-believers there are no answers.”
9:1-15. Rebuilding a ruined world: God’s Covenant with Noah. … these two resolutions are translated into the combination blessing and charge that God conferred upon Noah and his progeny.
4. flesh is prohibited while life is still in the animal.
The Rainbow: An Eternal Covenant.
18-19. Asia was taken by Shem; Africa by Ham; and Europe by Japheth.
20. The intoxication and shame of Noah.
22. Ham enjoyed the sight of his father’s dishevelment and drunkenness.
25. The curse is that from birth the Canaanites will be steeped in the culture of slavery and not seriously desire freedom. The descendants of Shem and Japheth, however, will have a nobler spirit; they will always crave freedom, even if they are enslaved.
27. Noah’s blessing states that Japheth’s gift is important and beautiful, but only if it is placed at the service of the spiritual truths represented by Shem; otherwise, it can be not only dissipated but harmful.
10: The descendants of Noah; the seventy nations. page 47
10:8-10. Nimrod. Nimrod ensnared men with his words and incited them to rebel against God. He was the forerunner of the hypocrite who drapes himself in robes of piety in order to deceive the masses. His first conquest was Babel, … the center of Babylonian Empire.
- sojourner
- subjugation
- toil
- blot
- sapling
- inculcate
- robberu
- gopher
- pitch
- covertly
- replenish
- relent
- brevity
- deluge
- emanate
- scalding
- Mt. Ararat
- bulge
- upheaval
- strata
- plight
- seething
- carrion
- denude
- imagery
- rejuvenate
- smite
- abeyance
- confer
- abrogate
- allay
- condone
- harbinger
- promulgate
- bleak
- bestir
- dishevelment
- castrate
- leer
- meritorious
- steep
- incite