Genesis 6:9-11:32
Isaiah 66:1-24
Introduction
Noah finds favor in the eyes of God. His life marks the end of a major period of history and the beginning of another. His arrival brings hope for mankind’s return to the high estate that has been lost. Noah, the righteous man, is selected of God, destined to lead his generation out of corruption and wickedness which have spread throughout the world. The old world with its evil people is to be eradicated and a new world begun, with Noah and his family as a nucleus. Thus chosen, Noah and his sons build the ark as they prepare for the watery doom to be unleashed upon the world.Genesis 8:1-12
1 Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. 2 The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. 3 And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. 4 Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. 5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen. 6 So it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. 7 Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. 8 He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground. 9 But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself. 10 And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark. 11 Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. 12 So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore. (NKJ)
Strong's 02142 zakar {zaw-kar'}
Meaning: to remember, recall, call to mind, to be brought to remembrance, be remembered, be thought of, be brought to mind, to mention, to record, to make a memorial, make remembrance
Then God remembered Noah…and every living thing…in the ark. Do we really believe the Lord forgot about Noah and everyone and everything on board the ark? After all, they were the last remaining survivors of mankind and the animal kingdom. If God forgot about them He would have to start over in creating man and animals, planting trees, fruit, etc., and it was not part of His plan to do so. God knew sin would not be destroyed through the flood as long as man were allowed to live, but He had chosen the most righteous of that generation and would bring him and his family through the flood and have them repopulate the earth. We know as soon as the flood waters receded Noah planted a vineyard. He proceeded to make wine and become intoxicated, then fell asleep in a drunken stupor where his son Ham saw him naked. Something unclean may or may not have happened.
Another thought that comes to mind is why Ham is mentioned in conjunction with his son Canaan. It is possible Canaan committed the sin, but that his father Ham knew what happened and shared it with his brothers, who then proceeded to cover their father’s nakedness without ever looking at him. This tells us that those who follow the Lord and His ways do their best to try to cover up sin so it will not influence those who are weaker in their walk.
Ham’s actions tell us sin did not cause him to change his attitude in any way, and he saw no cause to hide his sin or that of his son.
It is once again a sad commentary on the state of humankind that sin has existed from almost the beginning, it never changes as time marches on, and from it mankind fails to learn anything.
Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 2 but his delight is in the Torah of the LORD, and on his Torah he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. 4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. 5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; (ESV)
The Torah is the standard by which the Almighty judges all of mankind, and those who choose to follow the Torah are following in the footsteps of the Messiah. The Torah was there in the beginning. It was the living Word of the Holy One through which everything there is was created. His standards for His creation were embedded with the Torah. It exists in mankind and it exists in the creation itself. Every tree, mountain, stream, etc. is founded on principles of Torah. Torah is deep within each and every one of us, and all we have to do is look inward to see it. We have been created in the image of our Creator, and that image is Yeshua, the Son of the Most High God. He is the visible reflection of an invisible God, to whom all mankind must come in order to be forgiven for their sin. The Jewish sages teach that man can overcome sin by doing good deeds, following the commandments in the Torah and by praying. While all of these things are good, none of them can redeem us from the penalty of our sins. Man needs forgiveness from God in order to receive redemption. Ham did not receive redemption from his father, Noah, for what he, or he and his son Canaan had done to Noah.
Genesis 9:24 So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him. 25 Then he said: "Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants He shall be to his brethren." (NKJ)
Noah cursed Canaan, not Ham, and placed Canaan in servitude to his brothers, while lifting up Shem and Japheth. Canaan would become the name of the land the Holy One of Israel would give as a promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who were descendants of Shem. Interestingly Shem’s name in Hebrew means “name.” So Shem receives the name of name, perhaps in remembrance of the Lord, whose name we toss about without the proper respect due the Creator of the universe? Maybe we are to do as our Jewish brethren do and address our Creator as simply HaShem – the Name? I cannot draw an absolute answer to this, but once more we have some food for thought found in the pages of the Bible. As we begin to explore this new Torah cycle we will probably wind up with more questions than answers, and you know what? It does not matter, because this is how we learn about the Lord Almighty. His purpose for bringing us into existence is to have fellowship with Him. He desires to walk with us and talk with us. Can you imagine that? The Creator of the universe wants to talk things over with us. He desires our opinion, but at the same time He knows it was because of our questioning nature we sought answers and wound up believing the lies the enemy brought forth through the serpent. It was because the Holy One allowed us to think for ourselves that we became sinners. Our nature has what is called a good inclination and an evil inclination, and within each one of us is the ability to make the right choices. When we try to blame our choices on everyone but ourselves we are not taking responsibility for our actions. Our society today is just like that. We play the blame game claiming it is everyone else ’s fault - this is not taking hold of our sin and owning up to it, but is an attempt to pass the buck to someone else.
Genesis 4:7 "If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it." (NKJ)
The Almighty spoke these words to Cain after Cain’s offering was rejected by the Lord. It was after this that Cain killed his brother Abel, the first killing ever to take place with one human shedding the blood of another. It would take the blood of another human to redeem the blood shed by Cain, but even more important than that it would take the shed blood of the Lamb of God to redeem both man and Creation from the stain of sin.
1 Peter 1:18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Messiah, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. (ESV)
The promise has always been there for us to grab hold of even when we might have thought it was not. The promise was there before the beginning of time and will be there until the Holy One says the time of redemption is done.
Isaiah 66:18-23The reason I decided with last year’s Torah cycle to stop pulling out a Scripture from the Apostolic Scriptures was I did not want to become confined by selected Scriptures, preferring to leave myself open to the leading of the Ruach HaKodesh – the Holy Spirit. While the Torah and Haphtarah cycle are fixed and have been for a very long time, the addition of Scripture from the Apostolic Scriptures is new. No fixed order has arisen, with a few offering various choices. There is nothing wrong with this, but I felt the need to explain why I no longer do it. I feel through the Torah and Haphtarah portions there will be enough opportunity to share various Scriptures from throughout the Bible, showing how all Scripture comes together to edify the reader.
18 "For I know their works and their thoughts, and the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see my glory, 19 and I will set a sign among them. And from them I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands far away, that have not heard my fame or seen my glory. And they shall declare my glory among the nations. 20 And they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations as an offering to the LORD, on horses and in chariots and in litters and on mules and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the LORD, just as the Israelites bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD. 21 And some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says the LORD. 22 "For as the new heavens and the new earth that I make shall remain before me, says the LORD, so shall your offspring and your name remain. 23 From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the LORD. (ESV)
In this week’s Haphtarah portion we are near the end of the book of Isaiah where all things are beginning to draw to a close in His plan. The Almighty knows the thoughts and works of mankind and knows who is for Him and who is against Him. He leaves the choice up to each one of us. He will bring the nations to Jerusalem where they will worship at the throne of the Most High and His Son Yeshua the Messiah. The hope found in those words is overwhelming and we should grab hold of them and hold them close to us. As the world spins out of control, only by holding fast to Him will we be able to find ourselves in the place He promised to us. He will gather to Himself all the remnant of Israel and bring them together out of all the nations where He had scattered them. He will bring them home to the mountain of the Lord and call out Priests and Levites to serve in the new temple in the New Jerusalem. There will no longer be a need for a Temple because the Father and Son will be the living Temple where all the redeemed of mankind, past, present and future will be gathered together.
He will bring about a new heaven and new earth finally cleansed from the stain of sin.
2 Peter 3:10 However, the Day of the Lord will come "like a thief." On that Day the heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will melt and disintegrate, and the earth and everything in it will be burned up. 11 Since everything is going to be destroyed like this, what kind of people should you be? You should lead holy and godly lives, 12 as you wait for the Day of God and work to hasten its coming. That Day will bring on the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt from the heat; 13 but we, following along with his promise, wait for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness will be at home. 14 Therefore, dear friends, as you look for these things, do everything you can to be found by him without spot or defect and at peace. 15 And think of our Lord's patience as deliverance, just as our dear brother Sha'ul also wrote you, following the wisdom God gave him. 16 Indeed, he speaks about these things in all his letters. They contain some things that are hard to understand, things which the uninstructed and unstable distort, to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. 17 But you, dear friends, since you know this in advance, guard yourselves; so that you will not be led away by the errors of the wicked and fall from your own secure position. 18 And keep growing in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Deliverer, Yeshua the Messiah. To him be the glory, both now and forever! Amen. (CJB)
The writers of the Apostolic Scriptures drew on the prophets to further the promise of the Lord’s plan. This shows us the continuity of Scripture and that no piece of the Almighty’s word sits apart from the rest of it. They are all connected in one way or another, and an attempt by anyone to separate the word of the Lord in an effort to try to tear down the Holy One of Israel will bring down the wrath of the Lord on that person or persons. Don’t allow the enemy to steal your joy by whispering lies in your ear. Shut him out and hold fast to the truth because we know the truth will set us free.
John 8:32 And you will know the truth and that truth will set you free." (MGI)
Amen and Amen!
Blessings,
Mordecai Silver
Torah Man says: “To err is human, but to really foul things up requires a computer.”