Читать книгу Blessed to Bless - Tim Sean Youmans - Страница 17

7

Noah and the Great Flood

Read the entire story of Noah and the ark in one sitting. It is four chapters, or as I like to say, four pages. Don’t read what follows here until you have done that first. It is Genesis chapters 6–9:17.

How is it that children are not completely freaked out by this story?

Antediluvian. Before the flood.

This is a story about God’s wrath, with one exception—the grace given to one man and his family.

I always say, don’t underestimate the ability of a boat, cute animals, and a rainbow to soften a story. Keep in mind that children tend to tacitly trust what grown-ups tell them. They assume that the people drowned by God must have been so completely corrupt to have deserved their demise. But I wonder, how many children are disturbed by the whole thing? Think about the premise for a child: do something bad, and God will drown you! That’s rough.

Deluge. Another word for flood.

The earth was “corrupt” and “filled with violence.” At the end of the story it establishes a foundational concept for those who commit violence—blood for blood, life for life. When you commit violence against a human that is created in the image of God, you are committing an act of violence against that image, and your life is to be taken in response. Look again at Genesis 9:5–6.

There is a kind of dark irony; God is heartbroken by comprehensive violence, so he commits comprehensive violence. That is a stark notion. It’s sad, and the text says it makes God sad and regretful. Violence breaks God’s heart.

This is the first time the measurement of a cubit is mentioned in the Bible. It was generally considered the length from a man’s elbow to the tips of his fingers, about 18 inches.

God says that Noah will be the last patriarch who lives an extraordinarily long life (Gen. 6:3). After Noah a human being’s years will not surpass 120 years. Noah lived 950 years.

Noah sends out a black raven before the dove. This could be a literary device, a black bird being a sign of foreboding. The white dove and the olive branch eventually have come to represent peace. Why? Because after the flood, in the wake of God ridding the earth of violence, peace can now exist.

Olive branch. When the dove returned with an olive branch, it was a sign that there was land. The earth had been washed of violence.

That’s all for this chapter. We will consider what happens after Noah gets off the boat, particularly the rarely reported story of Noah getting drunk and cursing his grandson and descendants forever.

If you have time in the next couple of weeks, watch Darren Aronofsky’s film Noah. Most of what he did was rooted in Jewish and Christian interpretations of the story and the practice of Jewish Midrash. Watching it will offer you a different perspective to consider.

Apocalypse. Typically associated with the end of the world, but actually means “to reveal” something. A story about the end of the world is an apocalypse in that God reveals the coming destruction to someone, like he did to Noah.

Questions for Reflection or Discussion

1. Most people were familiar with this story as a child. Was this story scary to you when you were younger? Why or why not?

2. Violence makes God sad in this story. Talk about the value of human life and discuss the different kinds of violence in the world today.