Sometimes It's Just That Simple

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Genesis 6:9-22

Noah and the Flood

9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 13 And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 14 Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. 15 This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. 16 Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks. 17 For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. 19 And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. 20 Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive. 21 Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up. It shall serve as food for you and for them.”

22 Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.

 
 

“Noah did everything just as God commanded him.”

Sometimes, it’s just that simple. How can you be obedient today?

 

See, Desire, Take

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Today’s reading is one of the most obscure and difficult in the entire Bible. Below the reading I’ve done my best to offer a little bit of commentary.

 

Genesis 6:1-8

1 When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.”

4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.

5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil contin- ually. 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

 
 

Genesis 6:1-8 is a very strange and confusing passage. Some quick thoughts:

  • The entire prologue of the Bible (Genesis 1-11) is about how the creatures God made rebelled against his rule, from the Garden of Eden to the Tower of Babel.

  • This is the pattern of that rebellion: they “see” what they want, desire it as “good”, and they “take” it.

 

See → Desire → Take

 

  • In the Garden, the woman sees the fruit, desires it as good, and takes it.

  • In the Garden, the man and the woman wanted to become godlike.

  • Here, there is a reverse rebellion: the angelic/spiritual beings God created want to cross the boundary and become united with humanity.

  • The sons of God “see” the human women, desire them as “good” (the word translated “attractive” in v.2 is the Hebrew word for “good”), and they “take” them.

  • It’s the same pattern of rebellion.

  • A note on the “sons of God”: every time the phrase “sons of God” appears in the Old Testament, it signifies the angelic/ spiritual beings that God made.

  • It seems reasonable to conclude that the serpent in Genesis 3 is a rebellious spiritual being.

  • Genesis 6 is telling us (in terse language) of one form the rebellion of these spiritual beings took.

  • Just as God will not allow humanity to marry technological progress with human wickedness (the story of Babel in Genesis 11, which we’ll read next week), so here God will not allow the fallen spiritual beings to combine with humanity.

 

Don’t trust your own desires—trust God’s word to give you guidance today

 

A Cool Fact About Adam's Family Tree

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Genesis 5:1-32

Adam’s Descendants to Noah

1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. 2 Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created.

3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. 4 The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters. 5 Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died.

6 When Seth had lived 105 years, he fathered Enosh. 7 Seth lived after he fathered Enosh 807 years and had other sons and daughters. 8 Thus all the days of Seth were 912 years, and he died.

9 When Enosh had lived 90 years, he fathered Kenan. 10 Enosh lived after he fathered Kenan 815 years and had other sons and daughters. 11 Thus all the days of Enosh were 905 years, and he died.

12 When Kenan had lived 70 years, he fathered Mahalalel. 13 Kenan lived after he fathered Mahalalel 840 years and had other sons and daughters. 14 Thus all the days of Kenan were 910 years, and he died.

15 When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he fathered Jared. 16 Mahalalel lived after he fathered Jared 830 years and had other sons and daughters. 17 Thus all the days of Mahalalel were 895 years, and he died.

18 When Jared had lived 162 years, he fathered Enoch. 19 Jared lived after he fathered Enoch 800 years and had other sons and daughters. 20 Thus all the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died.

21 When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. 22 Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23 Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. 24 Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.

25 When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he fathered Lamech.
26 Methuselah lived after he fathered Lamech 782 years and had other sons and daughters. 27 Thus all the days of Methuselah were 969 years, and he died.

28 When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son 29 and called his name Noah, saying, “Out of the ground that the Lord has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.” 30 Lamech lived after he fathered Noah 595 years and had other sons and daughters. 31 Thus all the days of Lamech were 777 years, and he died.

32 After Noah was 500 years old, Noah fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

 
 

With the birth of Seth to Adam and Eve, things look promising. But, a few chapters later, we read of the intense evil of man and of God’s plan to destroy wicked humanity with The Flood. Why? What happened?

Leon Kass has a fascinating paragraph about the genealogy in Genesis 5, of all things(!):

“To discover the worm in the family tree, we must read with a magnifying glass—and with a timeline and a calculator. Because the text reports the lives of these antediluvians [people who lived before the flood] in sequence—chronicling each man’s birth, the number of years he lived before and after begetting his first son, his life span, and his death—the complacent reader does not notice that there is more than a half century (between the year 874, in which Lamech is born, and the year 930, in which Adam dies) during which all nine generations of human beings, from Adam to Lamech, are alive at the same time, with all their myriad descendants. Then, suddenly, in the year 930, Adam drops dead. Next, in 987 (readers can do the calculations for themselves), Enoch “was not, for God took him.” And in 1042, Seth also dies. Readers of the Garden of Eden story need no longer remain in suspense: the prophecyof human mortality (“you shall surely die”; 2:17) is, at long last, fatally—and fatefully—fulfilled. Indeed, this may well be the purpose of reciting the entire genealogy in all its numerological detail: to prepare the...reader to learn...how human beings—especially the men—react to the discovery of their unavoidable finitude. For with the death of Adam, and after nearly a millennium of “immortal” human existence, natural death has entered the human world.”
— Leon Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis, 154.

Did you catch that? If you read the genealogy carefully, you notice that all of a sudden death finally comes upon mankind. The unavoidable reality of death has been delayed for a while, but when it comes, it comes quickly, and the fear of death and the desperation it brings may be the reason humanity turns so wicked in the next chapter, setting up The Flood.

I also find it fascinating that there is a 50 year period in which all 9 generations are alive at the same time!!

 

P.S. Nullius in verba. That’s Latin for “on the word of no one” or, in colloquial English, “Take no one’s word for it.”

I hope you won’t take my words for things, but will test things I say for yourself. I do the same thing with what I read and hear. So, I earlier this summer when I was writing the commentary for our Genesis book, I made the following chart:

 

Some translation:

  1. Column 1 is the year of the man’s birth;

  2. Column 2 is the year he fathers his first son;

  3. Column 3 is his age at death;

  4. Column 4 is the year of his death, starting from 0 with Adam.

The following is an excited text I sent to two friends of mine after I worked all this out.

(Be glad you aren’t my friend and don’t have to put up with excited texts like this from me.)

“Adam died in 930.

Lamech (the 9th generation) was born in 874.

That means there is a 56 year period in which all the first 9 generations are alive AT THE SAME TIME.

And then death comes quick.

Noah is the 10th generation.

His father was Lamech.

Noah’s grandfather—Lamech’s father—was Methuselah.

Lamech died BEFORE his father.

BUT METHUSELAH DIED IN 1656, THE SAME YEAR AS THE FLOOD!!”
— from my text messages
 
 

P.P.S. Anyway, that whole thing was interesting to me, even if ya’ll think I’m crazy. Happy Friday, everyone!

 

A Descending Spiral of Violence

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Genesis 4:17-26

17 Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch. 18 To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad fathered Mehujael, and Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech.

19 And Lamech took two wives. The name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. 20 Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. 21 His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. 22 Zillah also bore Tubal-cain; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.

23 Lamech said to his wives:

“Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;

you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say:

I have killed a man for wounding me,

a young man for striking me.

24 If Cain’s revenge is sevenfold,

then Lamech’s is seventy-sevenfold.”

25 And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.” 26 To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord.

 
 

Lamech, who collects women as property, brags that he is more vicious and violent than anyone else.

Genesis 4-11 describes what Martin Luther King, Jr., called a “descending spiral” of violence: you hit me, and then I hit you back harder.

The only way out is sacrificial love. The only way to break the cycle is grace—to give your enemy not what he deserves, but grace.

With whom can you break the descending spiral today by showing grace?

P.S. From where did Cain get his wife? Short answer: the Bible doesn’t tell us. Longer answer: either it was his sister (remember Genesis 4-11 is what happens when people do what is right in their own eyes), or there were other people created that we didn’t hear about.

 

The Two Brothers

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Genesis 4:1-16

Cain and Abel

1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” 2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. 3 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.

6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”

8 Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.

9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?”

10 And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your broth- er’s blood is crying to me from the ground.

11 And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.”

13 Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear.
14 Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”

15 Then the Lord said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. 16 Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

 
 

Why doesn’t the Lord have regard for the offering of Cain? This is the question that every modern reader of Genesis immediately asks when we read the Cain and Abel story. The answer? We’re not given one. I think the author of Genesis deliberately wants to keep that information from us. Why? Well, because sooner or later in life we will find ourselves in the place where we feel as if the Lord is not showing us favor and we won’t understand why. “I’ve done everything right but I’m not seeing God bless me the way I want.” What do we do then?

When God is not favorably disposed to his offering, Cain shows murderous rage and jealousy towards his brother Abel. Cain wants his offering to gain favor with God, and when it doesn’t, his anger is the anger of a prideful man who feels he has been humiliated; it is the anger of an entitled man who doesn’t get what he wants.

The irony of the Cain and Abel story is that, after the murder, God shows his character by being merciful to Cain.

 

P.S. I asked yesterday what folks thought of the image below. I got so many good responses! It’s entitled “Mary Consoles Eve,” and I like it because I think perhaps the most important thing to understand about the Bible is that it tells a unified story that leads to Jesus. I love how that image connect Eve and Mary together, based on Genesis 3:15.

 
 

The Entire Bible in One Image

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Genesis 3:14-24

14 The Lord God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this,
    cursed are you above all livestock
    and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
    and dust you shall eat
    all the days of your life.
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
    and you shall bruise his heel.”

16 To the woman he said,

“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
    in pain you shall bring forth children.
Your desire shall be contrary to your husband,
    but he shall rule over you.”

17 And to Adam he said,

“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
    and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
    ‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
    in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
    and you shall eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your face
    you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
    for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
    and to dust you shall return.”

20 The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. 21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

 
 

What does this mean?

God is here saying that a child of the woman will one day defeat the serpent, though he will be wounded in the process.

In other words, it’s a messianic prophecy: it is exactly what happens with Jesus, who defeats Evil by being crucified.

SO GREAT! Thank you, Jesus!

 

P.S. Do you understand the image above? Comment or reply and let me know what you think.

 

The Primal Temptation of Man

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Genesis 3:8-13

8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”

11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”

13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

 
 

It’s risky in our current cultural climate to comment publicly on the differences between the sexes, but I guess I’m in a foolish mood, because that’s exactly what I want to do. See, I still hold onto the shocking belief that men and women are different: not different in value or intelligence or courage or any other virtue, but nevertheless different in more ways than just our physical bodies.

For example, I think men and women usually face different temptations. This is not to say that men always face certain temptations and women never face those same temptations, but that usually this is how things are.

 
 

That being said:

I think passivity is the primal temptation in the heart of man.

 
 

In Eden after the Fall, the man tries to pin the blame on the woman, and then onto God:

“The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

Now, blame-shifting and a refusal to take responsibility is certainly a part of human nature (the woman doesn’t hesitate to claim the serpent tricked her), but I’m wondering if passivity is more often found on the male side of the species than the female.

 
 

Think about a problem in your family, or the family next door: my suspicion is that, more often than not, a passive male in the family is the root of that problem.
Passivity can take two equal and opposite forms:

  • the obvious form—lazy, unmotivated, weak-willed;

  • but it can also take the opposite form: controlling, domineering, violent.

Both forms are the two sides of the same passive coin.

 
 

The opposite of passivity is responsibility.

 
 

The modern concept of “toxic masculinity” is often focused on the second form passivity takes: control, domination, violence. See, a passive man places himself in the center of his world and demands that everyone else meet his needs in the way he wants them met. This passivity often takes the form of violence and coercion, but it is still passive, since it’s about his refusal to take responsibility for himself and his anger that the world won’t work the way he wants it to.

The opposite of passivity is not domination, but responsibility. Responsibility is not controlling, but loving.

I don’t know any woman personally who wants to be controlled by the various men in her life, but at the same time I don’t think I know a single woman personally who doesn’t want the men in her life to exercise more responsibility.

 
 

I think one of our social problems—part of the so-called “Crisis of Masculinity”—is that men in our culture are forcing women to carry a double load of responsibility—the woman’s own responsibility, as well as shouldering the man’s responsibility, too. Don’t misunderstand: I’m not talking about gender roles in the household or things like that. Rather, I’m talking about the basic responsibilities that human flourishing requires:

  • accepting the idea that no one owes you anything;

  • believing that nothing in life comes without a cost;

  • understanding that the most important relationships require sacrificial commitment;

  • knowing that delaying gratification is a necessary habit that leads to a flourishing life.

 
 

For reasons I don’t understand, women seem more ready than men (broadly speaking) to accept those hard, necessary responsibilities and to move forward. This is not to say that women don’t also struggle with passivity, but just that passivity seems to be more of a fundamental temptation in the hearts of men.

Taking responsibility, of course, means that you can’t point fingers at another person: it is only about you, and your choices, reactions, and results. Where are you failing to take responsibility?

Or, I guess I should say: where am I?

 

The Fall

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Genesis 3:1-7

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”

4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

 
 

I’d like to slow down today and look closely at the Fall of Man. Let’s work our way through it.

 
 
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made.”
— Genesis 3:1a

What do we know about the serpent?

  • He was made by God;

  • He is a beast, i.e., not a man;

  • He is wise. The other times the Hebrew word “arum” is used in the Bible, it has a positive sense, like “prudent” or “clever.” Here, the serpent is using his wisdom to undermine the harmony of God’s creation.

So, who is the serpent? Some kind of spiritual being who is in rebellion against God. Putting together what we learn from the rest of the Bible, we learn the serpent is the devil, who is some kind of fallen angel.

We are totally free in our actions, and totally accountable for our actions. But it is also true that there is a dark power that tempts and trips and teases us into making the wrong choice. Who among us has not felt it? If you have ever given over to sudden, snarling rage, for example, you know exactly what I’m talking about: you made the choice to be angry, but there was also a strong pull towards anger, as if something were urging you on.

 
 
“He said to the woman, ‘Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’”
— Genesis 3:1b

Notice how the serpent insidiously flips around what God actually said.

Rather than focusing on ALL the trees that God gave the man and the woman, the serpent draws her attention to the ONE tree that’s forbidden.

Whenever we focus on what we lack rather than on what we have, we are imitating the devil’s voice, so to speak.

 
 
“The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’’”
— Genesis 3:2-3

The serpent’s work is already bearing fruit:

Although the woman correctly states that God gave the humans the trees in the garden for food, note how she nevertheless focuses on the prohibition, and even intensifies it; God, as far as we know, has not forbidden them to touch the fruit.

 
 
“‘You will not certainly die,’ the serpent said to the woman. ‘For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’”
— Genesis 3:4-5

As we will shortly see, it is literally true that they do not drop dead the exact temporal moment when they eat from the tree, but it is the case that their innocence immediately dies, and, once lost, can never be regained. And, because they are now cut off from the Tree of Life, literal death inevitably follows. The serpent cleverly mixes in just enough truth to bait the woman.

The devil is a liar. Don’t ever believe what he says.

And here’s the other thing: the man and the woman already are like God. What do we read on page one of the Bible?

“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”
— Genesis 1:27

So, the serpent tricks the woman into forgetting what God has already given her, namely his own image.

See what’s at stake when you focus on what you lack rather than on what you possess? You end up totally forgetting the most important things about you.

 
 
“When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.”
— Genesis 3:6a

Although God’s prohibition was as clear as possible, the woman decides that she knows best and reaches out and takes and eats the fruit. She is “wise in her own eyes.”

 
 
“She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.”
— Genesis 3:6b

I’m convinced that passivity is the primal temptation of men. (I’ll have a lot more to say about this idea in the future.)

 
 
“Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.”
— Genesis 3:7

They were beguiled by the serpent’s prediction that they would become god-like, but the only result of their sin is their awareness of their own shame.

Sin always works that way: promises the world, but delivers woe.

 

The Two Trees

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Genesis 2:15-25

15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
19 Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field.

But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said,

“This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.”

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

 
 

What is the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil?
The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is deciding for oneself, independently, what is right or wrong in one’s own eyes.

In the middle of Eden, therefore, the man and the woman face a choice: obey the Lord God and trust and accept that what the Lord God says is good or bad is good or bad—and thereby receive fruit from the Tree of Life!—or else decide for themselves what is good or bad—and thereby find themselves cut off from the Tree of Life. Later in the Bible in the Book of Judges, this deciding for themsleves will be described as “doing what is right in their own eyes.”

You can see how this choice had to be present in Eden: since God made man free, man was free to trust God, or not. Man was free to obey, and free to disobey.

He made his choice. (And so have we all.)

The rest of the Bible is the story of what the Lord is going to do to bring us back to Life.

 

Dust

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NOTE: I’m teaching a churchwide Bible study on Genesis TONIGHT (8/31), 6:30-8:00 PM. There is a lot in Genesis 1-11 that we don’t have time to look at in a Sunday morning sermon, so in this Bible study we’ll talk about: Cain and Abel; the Nephilim in Genesis 6 (CRAZY STORY); The Flood; and literally anything else folks ask about during the Q&A. Can’t make it? Check out the livestream.

 
 

Genesis 2:4-14

4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

5 When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, 6 and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— 7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10 A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. 14 And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

 
 

Man is created out of the dust.

Today, we know how to specifically identify the various components that make up a living body—carbon and hydrogen and oxygen, etc.— but the Bible’s ancient words still suffice: we are made of dust.

It’s not what our bodies are made of, however, that gives them life; what gives us life and sustains our lives is the breath of God himself.

Every time you take a breath, you are receiving God’s breath. Yes, the air you inhale contains oxygen, but oxygen alone won’t make a dead body live—it’s God’s Spirit that does that.

This is why praise is therefore such an appropriate act: when we praise God it is the very breath we receive from God that makes our praises possible. God gives to us, and then we give back to him.

Take time today to breathe. And praise God for it.

 

P.S. This weekend is Labor Day weekend; going to be out of town on Sunday? Come to Thursday night church instead, 6:00 PM. I’m REALLY fired up about what I’m going to preach on this week.

The Seventh Day

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Genesis 2:1-3

1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

 
 

The keeping of the Sabbath made Israel distinct, but the Creation account tells us clearly that the Sabbath day actually precedes Israel: there is a Sabbath from the very beginning of everything.

The Sabbath does not depend on a celestial calendar; the cycles of the moon or the stars have no bearing on the Sabbath: it just comes every seven days, no matter what.

On the Sabbath, the people of God rest, because God rested, and when the people of God rest, they are showing with their lives that they trust God to provide for them. Every seven days there is a reminder: God provides, and he can be trusted.

And what Genesis tells us is that this rhythm is built into the very structure of Creation itself.

 

The Sixth Day

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Genesis 1:24-31

24 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. 25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.

31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

 
 

In Genesis 1, something is “good” when it is fit for its purpose and able to function properly, or when it is complete. Therefore, the seas are not declared good on Day Two because God isn’t finished with them until Day Three, when, after they are gathered together and the dry land has been uncovered, he declares them good.

On Day Six, after God has created everything, we read:

“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” [1:31]

All of creation is “very good” because every part works together—it is complete. I like how Umberto Cassuto puts it:

“An analogy might be found in an artist who, having completed his masterpiece, steps back a little and surveys his handi- work with delight, for both in detail and in its entirety it had emerged perfect from his hand.”
— Umberto Cassuto, A Commentary on the Book of Genesis, Part 1: Adam to Noah, p. 59

However, man himself is NOT specifically declared good after his creation on Day Six. Why? Because he is not yet complete or fit for his purpose.

I would like you to reflect on what Leon Kass has to say about this. It is dense, but worth it.

“A moment’s reflection shows that man as he comes into the world is not yet good. Precisely because he is the free being, he is also the incomplete or indeterminate being; what he becomes depends always (in part) on what he freely will choose to be. Let me put it more pointedly: precisely in the sense that man is in the image of God, man is not good—not determinate, finished, complete, or perfect. It remains to be seen whether man will become good, whether he will be able to complete himself (or to be completed).

Man’s lack of obvious goodness or completeness, metaphysically identical with his freedom, is, of course, the basis also of man’s moral ambiguity. As the being with the greatest freedom of motion, able to change not only his path but also his way, man is capable of deviating widely from the way for which he is most suited or through which he—and the world around him— will most flourish.

The rest of the biblical narrative elaborates man’s moral ambi- guity and God’s efforts to address it, all in the service of making man ‘good’—complete, whole, holy.”
— Leon Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis, p. 39

Now, go back and read that long quotation again. It’s important.

It is precisely our freedom that makes us incomplete. Unlike all the other creatures, we are free to choose good or choose evil, and, left to ourselves, we will inevitably make the wrong choice. We are not yet fit for our purpose, i.e., to rule over the earth and to reflect God’s image.

The rest of the story of the Bible is about how God plans to complete humanity and make us fit for glory.

 

P.S. I preached about this topic a couple of Sundays ago.

P.P.S. Yesterday, Asbury’s members voted to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church. What’s next? Glad you asked, because I wrote a brief post about it: Buckle Up, Buttercup: Let’s Get Ready to Run.

P.P.P.S. I’m teaching a churchwide Bible study on Genesis THIS WEDNESDAY, 8/31, 6:30-8:00 PM. There is a lot in Genesis 1-11 that we don’t have time to look at in a Sunday morning sermon, so in this Bible study we’ll talk about: Cain and Abel; the Nephilim in Genesis 6 (CRAZY STORY); The Flood; and literally anything else folks ask about during the Q&A.

P.P.P.P.S. This weekend is Labor Day weekend; going to be out of town on Sunday? Come to Thursday night church instead, 6:00 PM. I’m REALLY fired up about what I’m going to preach on this week.

 

The Fifth Day

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Genesis 1:20-23

20 And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” 21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”

23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

 
 

The ESV translation lets us down a bit in its translation of Day Five. In v. 21 in our translation, we read of “the great sea creatures” However in Hebrew, the text is much more evocative—it literally speaks of “sea monsters.” Why does this matter? You and I know that what ancient peoples called “sea monsters” are only the marvelous and mysterious creatures that God put in the deep seas—whales and the like. The Israelites were not a seafaring people, and were terrified of the Deep, but even ancient mariners had only the briefest of glimpses of these majestic animals. The nations surrounding Israel spoke of dark powers at work in the seas and sacrificed to the sea monsters to keep them safe on their maritime voyages.

How foolish, says Genesis 1—everything in the seas was made by God, even the sea monsters. Don’t worship the sun, and don’t worship the sea monsters, says the Bible.

God is so creative: He even made the whales!

 

P.S. Know anyone who might benefit from receiving these posts via email? Subscribe here.

P.P.S. I’m preaching on the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil this Sunday. 8:00, 9:30, and 11:00 AM. Don’t miss.

The Fourth Day

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Genesis 1:14-19

14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. 16 And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. 17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

 
 

The sun (and with it the moon and the stars) is not created until Day Four. But, how can this be, since we’ve already had light and morning and evening since Day One (not to mention plant life since Day Three)? Isn’t the sun required for these things to take place?

Ancient peoples knew more from personal experience about the sun, the moon, and the stars than we do—the movements of the heavenly bodies were part of their intimate, daily experience, whereas we spend very few nights of our lives out of doors—and they certainly understood that you can’t have morning and evening without the sun. The strange detail of God waiting to create the sun until Day Four is yet another indication that Genesis 1 is not trying to give us scientific knowledge as to how things were created, other than to say that God is clearly the cause and Creator of everything. Rather, one of the things Genesis 1 is trying to tell us is that nothing in all of creation is divine, and therefore nothing in all of creation should be worshipped. The sun has been worshipped widely since the earliest days of humanity; Genesis 1 makes it clear that such worship is foolish idolatry: only God is worthy of worship. The sun is powerful, and God gives it the responsibility to rule the day, but nevertheless the sun is created just like everything else there is, seen and unseen.

I doubt very much that any of us literally worships the sun, but I am certain that many of us struggle with idolatry, which is the sin of thinking that the things God made (money, sex, power, possessions) are more important to our lives than God himself.

One way to avoid that mistake today: give God thanks for what you see.

 

P.S. Know anyone who might benefit from receiving these posts via email? Subscribe here.

P.P.S. I’m preaching on Genesis 2-3 this weekend: 6 PM Thursday (TONIGHT!) and 8:00, 9:30, and 11:00 AM.

 

The Third Day

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Genesis 1:9-13

9 And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered togeth- er into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according
to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

 
 

As we read yesterday, on the Second Day God separates the upper waters from the lower waters, but the day ends with the lower waters still covering what will turn out to be the land. On the Third Day, God commands all of the lower waters to be gathered into one place; the gathered waters are called “seas,” and the exposed ground is called “land.” Imagine holding in your hands a plastic basin, halfway filled with water, and then tilting it slightly so that the water moves toward one end of the basin, leaving the other end high and dry. This is what’s happening here on Day Three.

Then, once the dry land has been uncovered by the waters, God commands it to be fruitful and it begins to produce seed-bearing plants and fruit-bearing trees. The reason the seeds and fruit are specifically mentioned is because these sorts of plants can continue to reproduce and perpetuate themselves on their own, without requiring cultivating by humans.

Jesus told his followers to “consider the lilies.” I wonder today if we should take him literally and really contemplate the flowering plants and fruit trees (or their produce) that will come across our paths today.

If you come across an apple or an orange or a rose today, really look at it and then praise God for it. It will be good for your soul to do so.

 

The Second Day

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Genesis 1:6-8

6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7 And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. 8 And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

 
 

Once you see the pattern in Genesis Chapter 1, you’ll never unsee it: God creates through separation (and it’s a separation of increasing complexity):

  • Light from Dark;

  • Waters from Waters;

  • Waters from Land;

  • Land from Plants;

  • Etc.

It’s elegant in its simplicity and power.

 
 

When God begins to create, all that’s there is a watery mess of nothingness—chaos. So, after he creates Light on Day One, God begins to bring order to the waters of chaos, and he does so by first separating the waters into upper waters—”sky” or “heavens”—and lower waters, which (we learn on Day Three) are covering the land. He separates the waters above and the waters below with a “firmanent”—a strange Hebrew word that means a hammered-out, flat, hard thing. (Think huge manhole cover or piece of hard glass, like a gigantic car’s windshield, or the dome of a gigantic snow globe.) So, the ancient Israelites believed that the sky was this hard firmament which got its blue color from the waters above it. From time to time, the firmament’s windows would open and would release the waters above onto the land below (which is uncovered on Day Three)— in other words, rain.

Now, we “know” that the sky is not hard, and that the space beyond our atmosphere is not actually liquid, but Genesis is not trying to provide what we might call a “scientific” understanding of reality, but a moral and theological understanding (which I believe is more valuable anyway, but that’s a topic for another day).

So, think about it: the amazing thing about the universe is not only that it exists, but that is has a form and a shape and is intelligible—it has meaning. That’s what God did—he made something out of nothing, and gave it a meaningful order. Today, no matter where you are in the universe, the laws of physics still apply. That consistency and intelligibility doesn’t have to be there, but that’s how God made things to be.

Today, he still does that. Why not pray that God makes this day meaningful to you?

 

The First Day

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Today marks the beginning of our Genesis reading plan. Readings are Mondays-Friday, all the way up to Thanksgiving. As we begin, the readings are fairly brief; they will get longer as we move further into Genesis. I’ve written brief commentary to go with each day’s reading in an attempt to help you understand and appreciate what you read. If my commentary is helpful to that end, great. If it isn’t, skip it and just focus on the words of the scripture instead!

Let’s go.

 
 

Genesis 1:1-5

1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

 
 

There is one God, and he made everything.

There is nothing that God did not make. In ancient times people worshipped sun, moon, stars; in modern times we worship sex, money, success. This is foolish, because everything we can see has been created and is therefore not worthy of worship; only God should be worshiped. If you worship something created rather than the Creator, it will not go well with you. To worship something is to make it your source of strength and hope; that which you most admire—that’s what you worship. What or whom do you need to put in its appropriate place in your life?

 
 

And what this God does is bring order out of chaos.

When God begins to create, note that the Bible starts to describe God working, not with literal nothing—absolute non-being, which is im- possible for humans to understand, both then and now—but with the basic building blocks of reality—a wild waste, a deep churning chaos, a swirling ocean of the blackest night. Even in the Bible, the true beginning of everything is shrouded in mystery. So here, it’s not that there is nothing but rather that what’s there is unformed. It’s like saying you are in the middle of nowhere—the something that’s there has not yet been turned into anything useful, so we call it nothing. God takes the wild waste of chaos and begins to make it into something. God’s activity is always to bring order out of chaos—think of the healings of Jesus, who brings order and stability into crazed, wild minds. God takes messes and brings meaning out of them.

What mess do you need to ask God to make into something meaningful?

 

P.S. Know anyone who would benefit from receiving these daily scriptures over email each morning? Subscribe here. Each day’s reading gets posted on my website at 3:30 AM CDT and is emailed to everyone on my Daily Bible list at 4:00 AM CDT.

 

New Genesis Series Begins TONIGHT!

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Our new preaching/teaching series through the Book of Genesis launches TONIGHT with a kickoff Bible study.

Here’s all that you need to know, including how to participate, the schedule, how to get a book, how to receive daily emails, how to access the livestream, etc.

 
 

Fall Genesis Schedule

I’ve divided Genesis up into three parts to help you make sense of the book.

  1. Genesis Part 1: Creation to Babel (chapters 1-11), is the Prologue, not just to the rest of Genesis, but to the entire Bible that follows. It tells how God began with a good Creation, and how human and spiritual rebellion brought about destruction. The central question: What will fix humanity? Five weeks: readings begin Monday, 8/22 and conclude Friday, 9/23.

  2. Genesis Part 2: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (chapters 12-36) is the account of how God’s plan to save Creation begins with one man and his family. The central question: What will it take to form a family that can pass down the covenant? Five weeks: readings begin Monday, September 26 and conclude October 21.

  3. Genesis Part 3: Joseph and His Brothers (chapters 37-50) is the account of How Israel Ended Up in Egypt. The central question: Which brother will lead the family? Five weeks: readings begin Monday, October 24 and conclude the week of Thanksgiving.

I’ve divided up the readings in this way to help you understand Genesis, and also to make it easy for someone new to join in. Each part will have its own brand-new Daily Reading Guide booklet to go with it.

 
 

Preaching Schedule

[Fun pic from last Sunday as I was preaching about Psalm 1.]

I’m kicking off Genesis this Sunday, August 21, and will preach all the way through it, concluding at Thanksgiving. (Of course, I’m preaching each preceding Thursday as well.) I will NOT be preaching on 10/16 or 11/27.

 
 

Bible Study Schedule

I’m teaching four churchwide Bible studies on Genesis. Wednesdays, 6:30 PM.

  • August 17

  • August 31

  • October 12

  • October 26

 
 

Daily Reading Schedule (and How to Sign up for Daily Emails)

Readings are Monday-Friday only. Why? So if you get behind you can catch up on the weekends.

Remember, consistency is more important than intensity.

Each day I’ve written brief commentary to help you get the most out of what you’re reading. The goal is to get folks reading scripture—the commentary is just a reading aid.

I’ll post each day’s reading and commentary on my blog at 3:30 AM CDT; if you are on my “Daily Bible” reading list, that same post will be emailed to you at 4:00 AM CDT.

Wanna subscribe? Sign up here. Feel free to unsubscribe at any time. I have main sections on my website, the Blog section and the Bible section. If you want to receive posts from both sections, check both options on the sign-up page. Otherwise, just pick the “Daily Bible” newsletter option. [NOTE: if you’re subscribed but not receiving emails from me, check your junk folder.]

Want the whole pdf copy of Genesis Part 1? Download it here.

 
 

How to Livestream Sermons and Studies

There are three different options for the Asbury livestream.

  1. www.asburytulsa.org. Click on “Watch Live” on the main page.

  2. Facebook: the “Asbury Tulsa” page.

  3. YouTube: the “Asbury Tulsa” channel.

 
 

Are Videos Posted Later?

Yes.

Sermons are posted here.

Studies will be posted on a new Bible page we’re building out. Stay tuned! In the meantime, you’ll be able to access old videos through the Asbury YouTube page.

 
 

My Own Private Plan - One Psalm a Day, Forever

Because I’m writing and working on future reading plans (Revelation begins January 2!), I don’t always read the current reading on its specified day. Instead, I always keep pushing on with my reading plan through the Psalms, one psalm a day, rinse and repeat when I get to Psalm 150. (I talk about my practice here, for example.)

You are certainly welcome to join me in that. It’s every day, 7 days a week. I find a lot of comfort in beginning each day with a psalm, and I love using the ESV Scripture Journal of the Psalms, and seeing what I wrote from previous read-throughs.

 
 
 

Today’s Psalm - Psalm 108

Today’s psalm in my schedule contains a beautiful line that I use as a theme verse for one of my keystone habits, namely getting up early to pray:

“I will awaken the dawn.”
— Psalm 108:2
 
 

Psalm 108

A Song. A Psalm of David.

1 My heart is steadfast, O God!
    I will sing and make melody with all my being!
2 Awake, O harp and lyre!
    I will awake the dawn!
3 I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples;
    I will sing praises to you among the nations.
4 For your steadfast love is great above the heavens;
    your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.

5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!
    Let your glory be over all the earth!
6 That your beloved ones may be delivered,
    give salvation by your right hand and answer me!

7 God has promised in his holiness:
    “With exultation I will divide up Shechem
    and portion out the Valley of Succoth.
8 Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine;
    Ephraim is my helmet,
    Judah my scepter.
9 Moab is my washbasin;
    upon Edom I cast my shoe;
    over Philistia I shout in triumph.”

10 Who will bring me to the fortified city?
    Who will lead me to Edom?
11 Have you not rejected us, O God?
    You do not go out, O God, with our armies.
12 Oh grant us help against the foe,
    for vain is the salvation of man!
13 With God we shall do valiantly;
    it is he who will tread down our foes.

 
 

I love how the psalmist describes himself rising early in the morning to praise the Lord, thankful and desperate. He’s thankful for God’s goodness, but desperate for God’s deliverance. He reminds himself that God has claimed the nations—Israel’s enemies—for himself, and asks the Lord to therefore defeat his enemies and rescue Israel—”Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine….”

And that final line is so great:

“With God we shall do valiantly;
it is he who will tread down our foes.”
— Psalm 108:13

Amen! A good reminder today.

 

Sneak Peak

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I’ve not only been catching up on my telenovelas and learning how to yodel this summer—I’ve also been writing daily commentary on Genesis for my scripture reading plan that begins on 8/22.

Well, this morning I received in the overnight mail the printer’s proof for Genesis Part 1, Creation to Babel. I’m SO PUMPED. Part 1 runs 5 weeks, and then Part 2 (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) and Part 3 (Joseph in Egypt) will take us to Thanksgiving. (Books will start being handed out at Asbury on 8/7, 8/14, and 8/21.)

I’m teaching a church-wide Bible study on Wednesday, August 17, and then will kick off my Genesis sermon series on 8/21. Live in the Tulsa area? Do not miss Bible study on 8/17. Seriously.

Live out of town? If you email Sandie Tomlinson, she’ll mail you a book.

I will also send out the daily commentary every morning at 4 AM via email.

 
 

My August Preaching/Teaching Schedule

  • August 7, my first Sunday at Asbury—What the Lord is Asking Me to Do Next

  • August 11, Thursday evening service launches

  • August 14, my second Sunday at Asbury—What it Takes for the Bible to Change Your Life

  • August 17, Wednesday churchwide Bible study—Intro and Overview of Genesis

  • August 21, Genesis sermon series begins

  • August 22, Genesis reading plan begins (Part 1)

 
 

Today’s Psalm: Tuesday, July 19 [Psalm 79]

I’m still reading one psalm a day, every day. You keeping up? If not, cut your losses and join me tomorrow, Wednesday, with Psalm 80!

 

Psalm 79

A Psalm of Asaph.

1 O God, the nations have come into your inheritance;
    they have defiled your holy temple;
    they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
2 They have given the bodies of your servants
    to the birds of the heavens for food,
    the flesh of your faithful to the beasts of the earth.
3 They have poured out their blood like water
    all around Jerusalem,
    and there was no one to bury them.
4 We have become a taunt to our neighbors,
    mocked and derided by those around us.

5 How long, O Lord? Will you be angry forever?
    Will your jealousy burn like fire?
6 Pour out your anger on the nations
    that do not know you,
and on the kingdoms
    that do not call upon your name!
7 For they have devoured Jacob
    and laid waste his habitation.

8 Do not remember against us our former iniquities;
    let your compassion come speedily to meet us,
    for we are brought very low.
9 Help us, O God of our salvation,
    for the glory of your name;
deliver us, and atone for our sins,
    for your name's sake!
10 Why should the nations say,
    “Where is their God?”
Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants
    be known among the nations before our eyes!

11 Let the groans of the prisoners come before you;
    according to your great power, preserve those doomed to die!
12 Return sevenfold into the lap of our neighbors
    the taunts with which they have taunted you, O Lord!
13 But we your people, the sheep of your pasture,
    will give thanks to you forever;
    from generation to generation we will recount your praise.

 
 

586 BC. This is a CRUCIAL date in the history of Israel. It’s when the Babylonians came and conquered Jerusalem, razed the Temple, and carried off the best and the brightest of Israel into exile in Babylon.

This psalm is written after that moment, which is why the psalmist writes:

 

1 O God, the nations have come into your inheritance;
    they have defiled your holy temple;
    they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
2 They have given the bodies of your servants
    to the birds of the heavens for food,
    the flesh of your faithful to the beasts of the earth.
3 They have poured out their blood like water
    all around Jerusalem,
    and there was no one to bury them.
4 We have become a taunt to our neighbors,
    mocked and derided by those around us.

 

Remember, in the Bible “the nations” are the non-Israelite peoples, the non-chosen peoples. The psalmist cries out to God and wonders why the Lord seems to have abandoned his people. The psalmist wants vengeance on Israel’s enemies.




5 How long, O Lord? Will you be angry forever?
Will your jealousy burn like fire?
6 Pour out your anger on the nations
that do not know you,
and on the kingdoms
that do not call upon your name!

 

Often, modern American people are shocked when they read passages in the Bible asking for vengeance. We clutch our pearls in horror, which just shows how easy and—dare I say it—privileged our lives have been.

Do you not think that there are people in the Ukraine right now, people who have lost their homes and their sons, seen their women raped, who aren’t crying out to God for vengeance?

Wanting the Lord to avenge one’s enemies’ wrongs has been a normal part of the lives of God’s people for centuries. And, as I’ve pointed out many times before, if we do NOT pray to God for vengeance, we end up keeping that poison inside. Where it festers and can lead to great evil.

Still, though, the psalmist ends on a note of hope. He’s in exile in a foreign land and yet he makes sure to remind himself that God is watching, that the Lord is faithful to his promises to Israel:

 

13 But we your people, the sheep of your pasture,
will give thanks to you forever;
from generation to generation we will recount your praise.

 

Don’t ever give up hope—God will prove himself faithful.

 

Because Your Love Is Better Than Life Is

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Here’s another golden psalm. Every line is just perfect.

 

Psalm 63

A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.

1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
    my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
    as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
    beholding your power and glory.
3 Because your steadfast love is better than life,
    my lips will praise you.
4 So I will bless you as long as I live;
    in your name I will lift up my hands.

5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,
    and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
6 when I remember you upon my bed,
    and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
7 for you have been my help,
    and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
8 My soul clings to you;
    your right hand upholds me.

9 But those who seek to destroy my life
    shall go down into the depths of the earth;
10 they shall be given over to the power of the sword;
    they shall be a portion for jackals.
11 But the king shall rejoice in God;
    all who swear by him shall exult,
    for the mouths of liars will be stopped.

 

When our English Bibles translate a word as “wilderness,” we think of a vast, virgin land. Glacier National Park, say. But Israel, of course, is a dry place; so, when you read “wilderness” in the Bible, think “desert.”

The unknown editor of the Psalms connects this psalm to David’s time in the wilderness.

No wonder, then, that David begins by saying he needs God’s presence the way a thirsty man needs water in the desert. “Don’t be far away, Lord. Be near!”

When he thinks of all of God’s goodness and faithful commitment to him—when, in the dark silence of the desert night he reflects back on his life—he feels satisfied and content, as if he’s been dining on the richest food.

It is this reflection on all that the Lord has done for him that also makes him confident that, although his enemies might appear to be getting the better of him, their time on top is just temporary.

 
 

I love this version of Psalm 63 from Shane and Shane. Just lovely.

 
“Because your love is
Better than life is”
 

Happy Sunday, friends.