†. Gen 8:20a . .Then Noah built an altar to the Lord
This is the very first mention of an altar in the Bible. I don't really know if
anyone else constructed one before this. Abel and some of the others may
have, but it's very difficult to be certain. At any rate, Noah's altar was
dedicated to Yhvh rather than to one of the heathen deities people
worshipped prior to the Flood-- and there were many.
†. Rom 1:22-23 . . Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and
exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like
mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
The tree of the knowledge of good and bad was supposed to make Man
wise; or so Eve was led to believe. But in eating it, Man became a jackass
who eventually abandoned the True God and went on to invent his own. The
ancient Egyptian elite, who were otherwise a very bright and well educated
people, regarded Scarab beetles as sacred and somehow associated with
resurrection and immortality. Their chief deity was Ra; who was nothing
more than our solar system's primary source of light: the Sun. There's just
no excuse for that kind of nonsense.
†. Gen 8:20 . . and, taking of every clean animal and of every clean
bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar.
This is the very first mention of the burnt offering. The Hebrew word is 'olah
(o-law') which means: a step (or collectively, stairs, as ascending); or a
holocaust (as going up in smoke).
The burnt offering was the very first sacrifice of any kind involving worship
in the new world; and it set the tone for Yhvh's future association with
mankind in the years to come. How Noah knew about the 'olah can only be
attributed to revelation. But what's odd about the 'olah is that the word itself
doesn't show up in Scripture again until the Akedah event in the 22[sup]nd[/sup]
chapter. (the Akedah is the traditional title of Abraham's offering of his son
Isaac)
Although 'olah can indicate a step (or collectively, stairs, as ascending); it's
improper to construct an altar with stairs (Ex 20:24-26) so that the ritual
ziggurats that man eventually constructed were of course offensive to God
not just because sacrificial murders were conducted on them but also
because they were essentially stairways to heaven.
Killing and burning an animal may seem a strange way to worship a god, but
the ritual did in fact have spiritual significance. It instructed the offerer that
were it not for his offering going up in smoke: he himself would be. In other
words, an 'olah sufficed to ransom a soul from the wrath of God. A ransom
of that nature is of course limited in scope. It actually only purchased the
worshipper a reprieve; which Webster's defines as: a delay and/or a
postponement; viz: temporary respite.
†. Gen 8:21a . .The Lord smelled a pleasant odor,
Anyone who has ever been in the kitchen when something is burning on the
stove knows that overcooked meat does not give off a pleasant odor. A
scented candle smells a whole lot better. But the chemical odor of the burnt
offering really has little to do with it. The expression "a pleasant odor" is a
biblical colloquialism that means just the opposite of something that's
objectionable; for example: "I hate that woman's opinions about men. They
stink."
Because of the extraordinary large number of 'olahs Noah offered, I think it's
safe to assume that Noah not only offered them for himself and his family,
but also to dedicate the new world to God in a manner similar to that which
Solomon dedicated Israel's fresh, new Temple. (1Kgs 8:62-64)
†. Gen 8:21b . .Then the Lord said in His heart: I will never again
curse the ground for man's sake,
True, Yhvh never again cursed the ground; but neither did He lift the original
curse that was pronounced in the third chapter. The first curse remains, but
at least God hasn't put additional burdens on the soil. In the future, the first
curse is slated to be removed once and for all.
†. Rev 22:3 . . No longer will there be any curse.
†. Gen 8:21c . . although the imagination of man's heart is evil from
his youth;
Had God encumbered the ground with additional curses He would have been
entirely justified in doing so because the Flood did nothing to rectify the
intrinsically evil condition of the post-Eden homo sapiens heart. So we can
all thank grandpa Noah for those 'olahs because they're all that's standing
between us and world-wide starvation; at least for the time being.
Remember, 'olahs only obtain a reprieve; never an acquittal.
†. Gen 8:21d . . nor will I ever again destroy every living being, as I
have done.
According to the Bible: the bugs, the birds, and the beasties are just as
much living beings as man; so Noah's 'olahs stood in the gap for them too.
But was every living being destroyed? No; life survived aboard the ark and
made its way to the new world. So the Lord's promise has to be interpreted
to mean that although all manner of life perished, it was only life on the
Earth that perished. Noah and the contents of his ark were buoyed safely
above it all. And the promise is qualified by the phrase "as I have done"
which infers a future worldwide destruction by a means other than water.
(Gen 9:11)
So Gen 8:21 doesn't mean God will never again destroy all manner of life,
nor that He will never again destroy the Earth-- only that He won't repeat
the method He employed the first time. In point of fact, next time, it's by
fire rather than water.
†. 2Pet 3:10 . .The day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the
heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with
intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.
Note : The blackball temperature produced by a thermo-nuclear weapon is
something like 180,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Just imagine if God were to
detonate one big enough to destroy the entire cosmos. The noise, and the
heat, generated by such a device would be beyond one's comprehension.
†. Gen 8:22 . . So long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease.
The promise of Gen 8:22 was prefaced by "so long as the earth endures." So
the Earth is definitely not eternal. It is in fact running out of time. But until
the Day Of The Lord, everything will proceed as normal; which can be
dangerous because people are easily lulled by the routine of status quo and
fail to look far enough ahead and get ready for the future.
†. Luke 21:33-36 . . Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by
no means pass away. But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be
weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and That
Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who
dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always that
you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to
pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.
Cont.
/
This is the very first mention of an altar in the Bible. I don't really know if
anyone else constructed one before this. Abel and some of the others may
have, but it's very difficult to be certain. At any rate, Noah's altar was
dedicated to Yhvh rather than to one of the heathen deities people
worshipped prior to the Flood-- and there were many.
†. Rom 1:22-23 . . Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and
exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like
mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
The tree of the knowledge of good and bad was supposed to make Man
wise; or so Eve was led to believe. But in eating it, Man became a jackass
who eventually abandoned the True God and went on to invent his own. The
ancient Egyptian elite, who were otherwise a very bright and well educated
people, regarded Scarab beetles as sacred and somehow associated with
resurrection and immortality. Their chief deity was Ra; who was nothing
more than our solar system's primary source of light: the Sun. There's just
no excuse for that kind of nonsense.
†. Gen 8:20 . . and, taking of every clean animal and of every clean
bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar.
This is the very first mention of the burnt offering. The Hebrew word is 'olah
(o-law') which means: a step (or collectively, stairs, as ascending); or a
holocaust (as going up in smoke).
The burnt offering was the very first sacrifice of any kind involving worship
in the new world; and it set the tone for Yhvh's future association with
mankind in the years to come. How Noah knew about the 'olah can only be
attributed to revelation. But what's odd about the 'olah is that the word itself
doesn't show up in Scripture again until the Akedah event in the 22[sup]nd[/sup]
chapter. (the Akedah is the traditional title of Abraham's offering of his son
Isaac)
Although 'olah can indicate a step (or collectively, stairs, as ascending); it's
improper to construct an altar with stairs (Ex 20:24-26) so that the ritual
ziggurats that man eventually constructed were of course offensive to God
not just because sacrificial murders were conducted on them but also
because they were essentially stairways to heaven.
Killing and burning an animal may seem a strange way to worship a god, but
the ritual did in fact have spiritual significance. It instructed the offerer that
were it not for his offering going up in smoke: he himself would be. In other
words, an 'olah sufficed to ransom a soul from the wrath of God. A ransom
of that nature is of course limited in scope. It actually only purchased the
worshipper a reprieve; which Webster's defines as: a delay and/or a
postponement; viz: temporary respite.
†. Gen 8:21a . .The Lord smelled a pleasant odor,
Anyone who has ever been in the kitchen when something is burning on the
stove knows that overcooked meat does not give off a pleasant odor. A
scented candle smells a whole lot better. But the chemical odor of the burnt
offering really has little to do with it. The expression "a pleasant odor" is a
biblical colloquialism that means just the opposite of something that's
objectionable; for example: "I hate that woman's opinions about men. They
stink."
Because of the extraordinary large number of 'olahs Noah offered, I think it's
safe to assume that Noah not only offered them for himself and his family,
but also to dedicate the new world to God in a manner similar to that which
Solomon dedicated Israel's fresh, new Temple. (1Kgs 8:62-64)
†. Gen 8:21b . .Then the Lord said in His heart: I will never again
curse the ground for man's sake,
True, Yhvh never again cursed the ground; but neither did He lift the original
curse that was pronounced in the third chapter. The first curse remains, but
at least God hasn't put additional burdens on the soil. In the future, the first
curse is slated to be removed once and for all.
†. Rev 22:3 . . No longer will there be any curse.
†. Gen 8:21c . . although the imagination of man's heart is evil from
his youth;
Had God encumbered the ground with additional curses He would have been
entirely justified in doing so because the Flood did nothing to rectify the
intrinsically evil condition of the post-Eden homo sapiens heart. So we can
all thank grandpa Noah for those 'olahs because they're all that's standing
between us and world-wide starvation; at least for the time being.
Remember, 'olahs only obtain a reprieve; never an acquittal.
†. Gen 8:21d . . nor will I ever again destroy every living being, as I
have done.
According to the Bible: the bugs, the birds, and the beasties are just as
much living beings as man; so Noah's 'olahs stood in the gap for them too.
But was every living being destroyed? No; life survived aboard the ark and
made its way to the new world. So the Lord's promise has to be interpreted
to mean that although all manner of life perished, it was only life on the
Earth that perished. Noah and the contents of his ark were buoyed safely
above it all. And the promise is qualified by the phrase "as I have done"
which infers a future worldwide destruction by a means other than water.
(Gen 9:11)
So Gen 8:21 doesn't mean God will never again destroy all manner of life,
nor that He will never again destroy the Earth-- only that He won't repeat
the method He employed the first time. In point of fact, next time, it's by
fire rather than water.
†. 2Pet 3:10 . .The day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the
heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with
intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.
Note : The blackball temperature produced by a thermo-nuclear weapon is
something like 180,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Just imagine if God were to
detonate one big enough to destroy the entire cosmos. The noise, and the
heat, generated by such a device would be beyond one's comprehension.
†. Gen 8:22 . . So long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease.
The promise of Gen 8:22 was prefaced by "so long as the earth endures." So
the Earth is definitely not eternal. It is in fact running out of time. But until
the Day Of The Lord, everything will proceed as normal; which can be
dangerous because people are easily lulled by the routine of status quo and
fail to look far enough ahead and get ready for the future.
†. Luke 21:33-36 . . Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by
no means pass away. But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be
weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and That
Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who
dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always that
you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to
pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.
Cont.
/
