January 7, 2013 – Genesis 7

Click here to read Genesis 7 on BibleGateway.com

Can I share a pet peeve with you? Actually, I have several pet peeves, like when you’re eating a box of oreos and your kids keep whining like “we haven’t eaten in three days, Daddy. Can’t we please have one oreo?” Seriously. If you want to eat, go get a job and stop wasting all your money on diapers. I don’t know if that’s really a pet peeve; just seems so obvious. But, for something a little more universal, let’s look at a biblical pet peeve. Go and ask ten people who Noah was. At least eight of them will say “the guy with the ark.”  Then ask how long he was on the ark. Almost everyone will say forty days. It’s just common knowledge. The problem is it’s not true.

EIGHTEEN SCORE AND FIFTEEN DAYS

In Genesis 7, we learn that Noah gathered up his own personal zoo and packs them all into his big ole barge. But when the waters come, it’s not only rain; the waters also come up from the “springs of the deep.” In other words, somehow water came up as well as down, possibly as geysers or something similar. This downpour lasts for forty days, as most people know, but Noah and his family don’t come out immediately after the rain stops. In fact, the flood covers the earth for 150 days. But even now, the Noah’s don’t get to come out. In chapter 7, it says that the rains came when Noah was 600 on the “17th day of the second month,” and chapter 8 says that they came out of the ark when he was 601 on “27th day of the second month.” In other words, they were on the ark for one year and ten days, or 375 days. That’s a long cry from 40 days.

So what’s the peeve? So many people are “certain” of what the Bible says without actually reading it. It seems that we are all guilty of this. How many times have you heard people quote “God helps those who help themselves” as if it’s in the Bible? (it’s not.) Or that we all have a guardian angel (not mentioned in the Bible). Or that “God works in mysterious ways”? None of these things are in the Bible, but they sound so good we figure they must be in there somewhere.

HEZEKIAH 15:12

It seems that the more one reads the Bible, the more one is surprised as much by what is not there as what is. For example, did you know that many English translations do not even have the word “lucifer” in them? True story. Many people who actually manage to read the whole Bible make comments such as “I never imagined that was in the Bible,” especially when it comes to some of the more violent and racy parts. The truth is the Bible reflects reality and who we are as people, which is sometimes surprising, sometimes shocking, sometimes disgusting, and sometimes inspiring. But more importantly, it’s about who God is, and therefore it seems like it might be fairly important to actually see what He tells us about Himself. Just my opinion.

Since it’s January, let’s make a deal. As we move through the Bible for these little readings, let’s agree to actually read the chapter. I’ll even put a handy-dandy little link at the top of the page for you to click on. All you have to do is click and read. That way, when we finish going through the Bible, hopefully we’ll actually know what the Bible says, rather than what somebody heard somebody say about what sounds like it might be in the Bible. Not to mention that God may just say a thing or two to us in the process. Pretty sweet.

Guess I better feed these kids. Oreo wrappers are edible, right?