Noah - Webster Entrance

Genesis 7:2-5 Take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, and also seven of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made." And Noah did all that the LORD commanded him.

God is now starting to reiterate His orders. Noah is being told, very specifically, the types of animals he needs to have on the ark. God tells Noah that he will need seven of every kind of bird - male and female. First of all, they're birds - do they really need a home? Maybe some bird houses on the top of the ark. Some newspapers lining the deck - maybe that's where the term "poop deck" comes from. . . All joking aside, this was another monumental task for Noah to accomplish.

God tells him again that it will rain for forty days and nights. Verse 5 is a repeat "Noah is obedient". If there is something in the Bible - it's in there for a very good reason - and we need to note that. But if there is something in the Bible TWICE that means it's REALLY important. Look at the birth and death of Jesus - that's covered over several books of the Bible and repeated numerous times - pretty important stuff. The fact the God tells us again and again that Noah is obedient is very important.

This is just the opposite of Jonah, whom we discussed previously, Jonah didn't obey God and look what happened - he got swallowed by a whale. I guess he hadn't heard about Noah and his obedience. If we don't take the time to study what other people have done in their walk with Christ, then we won't know what to expect. It's easy for us to ask our friends how a teacher was that they had in class and how good they were, or to try a product that worked well on a co-worker, yet we won't pick up our Bible and daily read how others made it through their Christian life. So don't yell at your kids until you read the life of Sarah and don't talk bad about your husband until you read the life of Joseph and don't gripe about your physical ailments until you read the life of Job and don't complain about your job until you read the life of Noah.

Tamar - The Setup

Genesis 38:1 At that time, Judah left his brothers and went down to stay with a man of Adullam named Hirah.

This if the beginning verse of the chapter that is going to introduce us to Tamar. It is important to understand a little of what has happened up to this point.

Judah is one of the sons of Jacob. Jacob is the one who's brother was Esau and their father was Isaac. Isaac was the son of Abraham and Sarah - remember the old couple and how Abraham was told to sacrifice Isaac? Now that we have the history, we can note that Judah is the great-grandson of Abraham.

A good portion of what is meant to be grasped here in this chapter would be lost without knowing the history. The story of Jacob (Judah's father) and his family is quite the soap opera - and I may go into that in a later blog, but for now - we'll talk about Judah - his son.

Obviously this man comes from a line of Godly men - I mean, he's the great-grandson of a man God promised would be the father of nations! Genesis 17:5-8 However, as human as we often are - so was Judah. When the verse states "At this time" - It's referring to the time when Judah helped sell his little brother Joseph into slavery - don't forget about ripping his colorful coat. Not only that - but he's associating himself with an Adullamite - remember what we said about hanging out with the wrong people.

We all make bad decisions - even as God's children- the question is, when will we realize it - and how many people will we hurt until we do realize it? Thus begins the story of Tamar...