January 04, 2012

4 - Powerful Man & Towers

Tower of Babel by: Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1526/1530–1569)

Chareen's Thoughts: 

Today as I was reading I noticed that Ham's grandson (Noah's great grandson) Nimrod was a man of note. He is noted as the first powerful man on earth.  He was a powerful hunter in the sight of the LORD.Genesis 10:8-9 In the bible he is noted as a powerful hunter in the sight of the Lord and yet he is credited with building the Tower of Babel !  His name means to 'rebel against God'.  The Jewish historian Josephus writes about him and his terrible character in his historical chronicles. It amazes me how in the space of three generations a man can turn from God and forget (even though he was living with his grandfather and great grandfather who were on the Ark !)

As I was reading about Noah and him planting a vineyard (the word calls him a man of the soil), I had always thought of him as a carpenter because he built the ark but now I realise he was a farmer. What an amazing job he managed to do building an ark.  How wonderful that he was equiped to look after the animals because he was a man of the soil.  He had a good understanding of what was needed.

Then I read about him becoming drunk and uncovering himself,  all about his son Ham's disrespectful response. I thought about the world today and how nakedness is becoming so common and is becoming the new normal.  I am struck by the way that Noah cursed Ham and Ham's descendents.

I found it encouraging that teaching my children to be modest and cover up is the right thing to do.  God clothed Adam and Eve and He set the standard of covering up. In this story Noah shows that children looking at their parents nakedness is not a good thing and carries penalties.

Genesis 11:1-9 Ah the famous tower that brought about the many languages among us. It amazes me that the LORD came down and had a look.  I wonder if they knew that God Himself was standing watching them ? He thought carefully of a consequence for their actions and then acted upon it.  He was just land gentle and spread the people out over the whole earth.

I must confess I am not fond of reading genealogies. Name upon name and most of them I can not pronounce.... I was reminded today to see it as a lesson of how God pays attention to detail.  He is concerned about every detail.

Blessings

Chareen

For Further reading:

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...