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Genesis 8:20-21c
● 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 according to Rom 1:22-23 there were
many.
● 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 scene in the 22nd
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
ziggurats that man eventually constructed were of course offensive to God
not just because ritual murders were conducted on them but also because
they were essentially stairways to heaven.
Killing and burning on such a scale as Noah's can be taken as a ritual
intended to dedicate the post Flood world to God; sort of like the quantity of
Solomon's sacrifices that he offered to dedicate the new Temple. (1Kgs
8:62-64)
● 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."
● 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. According to Rev
22:3, the first curse is slated to be removed once and for all.
● Gen 8:21c . . although the imagination of man's heart is evil from
his youth;
Albert Einstein once stated: "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over
again and expecting different results."
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 human heart. However, God is a
sensible person not easily given to futility.
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Genesis 8:20-21c
● 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 according to Rom 1:22-23 there were
many.
● 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 scene in the 22nd
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
ziggurats that man eventually constructed were of course offensive to God
not just because ritual murders were conducted on them but also because
they were essentially stairways to heaven.
Killing and burning on such a scale as Noah's can be taken as a ritual
intended to dedicate the post Flood world to God; sort of like the quantity of
Solomon's sacrifices that he offered to dedicate the new Temple. (1Kgs
8:62-64)
● 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."
● 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. According to Rev
22:3, the first curse is slated to be removed once and for all.
● Gen 8:21c . . although the imagination of man's heart is evil from
his youth;
Albert Einstein once stated: "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over
again and expecting different results."
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 human heart. However, God is a
sensible person not easily given to futility.
/