Wickedness in the world
Continuing to review Genesis 6–8 in our Precept Ministries study, this time, we will look at all the references to the LORD. As was discussed earlier, “LORD” capitalized translates YHWH — Yahweh, the name that goes with covenant. This is his most sacred name — so sacred that some Jews will not write it lest they misuse it. Exodus 20:7 says you shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. Instead, they will use G-d as a substitute.
As we read Genesis 6–8, we learn about the LORD. The biblical text reveals a lot of insights about him. The LORD said his Spirit would not contend with humans forever, for we are mortal. Their days would be 120 years, meaning that God would give people 120 years to repent before his patience would run out, and the flood would commence. That is because the LORD saw how great the human race's wickedness had become on the earth and that every inclination of the human heart's thoughts was only evil all the time. The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the planet, and his heart was distraught. So the LORD said he would wipe from the face of the earth the human race he had created — and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground — for he regretted that he had made them. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. So the LORD told Noah and his family to go into the ark because God found Noah righteous in his generation. Noah was righteous because he did all the LORD commanded him. So the LORD told Noah how to make all of the preparations. Then, after it all was complete and everyone and everything was in it, the LORD shut them in. After the flood was over, the first thing Noah did when he got off the ark approximately a year later was to build an altar to the LORD and sacrifice burnt offerings on it using some of the clean animals and birds. The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.”
Now, it’s time to consolidate the main things we learned about Noah. Lamech became the father of Noah at 182 years old. After Noah was born, Lamech lived 595 years and had other sons and daughters. After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. As we saw above, Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD because Noah was a righteous man. He was blameless among the people of his time because he walked faithfully with God. Sometime after Noah had three sons — Shem, Ham, and Japheth —God said to Noah, he would end all people, for the earth was filled with violence because of them. So Noah did all that the LORD commanded him. Noah was 600 years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. Noah, his wife, children, their wives, and the animals that God commanded Noah to make room for entered the ark to escape the flood's waters. The water surge started in the second month and the 17th day of the 600th year of Noah’s life. That was the same day those eight people entered the ark. When the flood was over, the only living things left were Noah, his family, and the ark's animals. God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded. Noah would send birds out one at a time until one soon returned with a freshly plucked olive leaf. Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth. By the first day of the first month of Noah’s six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. By the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the earth was completely dry. Then God told Noah and everyone in the ark to come out of it. Afterward, Noah built an altar to the LORD and sacrificed burnt offerings on it.
I have already recorded many facts about Noah, but there are other references to complete the list aside from Genesis 9:1–10:1, which we will study in another post. Luke 3:36 reminds New Testament readers that Noah was the son of Lamech. 1 Chronicles 1:4 reminds Old Testament readers that Shem, Ham, and Japheth were Noah’s sons. Hebrews 11:7 highlights Noah’s faith, saying that Noah built the ark by faith when warned about things not yet seen. Noah built an ark in holy fear to save his family. Noah’s faith condemned the world because he had it, which displayed that they didn’t. So Noah became an heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith. As such, Isaiah 54:9 reminds of God’s promise that water would never again cover the earth like it did in the days of Noah. The LORD told Ezekiel in 14:12–23 if a country sins against him by being unfaithful, even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, they could only save themselves by their righteousness. They could not even save their sons and daughters. In Matthew 24:37–38 and Luke 17:26–27, Jesus compared his future return to the days of Noah. In the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying, and being given in marriage. That continued up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. 2 Peter 2:5 says God did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people. But he protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and the seven members of his family. To those who were disobedient long ago, God waited patiently in the days of Noah while Noah was building the ark. When the above verses mention Noah’s name, the subject at hand is wickedness in the world and how it highlighted God’s mercy and judgment at the same time.
We also talked about Enoch recently. There are many similarities between Enoch and Noah. Like Noah, Genesis 5:22 and Hebrews 11:5 say Enoch walked faithfully with God. 1 Chronicles 1:3 and Luke 3:37 highlight the fact that Enoch and Noah are in the same genealogy, the genealogy of Jesus. Jude 1:14 shows that Enoch, like Noah, were both preachers of righteousness. These verses highlight the need for all of us to walk faithfully with God, just as these men did. There is no room for compromise, especially since the devil’s children have no intention of compromising with us in today’s world.
