First of all, under ideal circumstances the system of slavery described in the Mosaic Law would not have been needed. God was clear that if the Israelites obeyed Him, there would be no poor in the land:

Deuteronomy 15:4: “Save when there shall be no poor among you; for the Lord shall greatly bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it:
5 Only if thou carefully hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all these commandments which I command thee this day.”

However, the Israelites did not obey the Lord, and so there were poor among them. Since God knew this was going to happen, He established a number of provisions in the Mosaic Law that was intended to take care of the poor. For example, every seventh year the Israelites were supposed to leave their fields alone, so that the poor could eat whatever grew in their vineyards and olive trees:

Exodus 23:10: “And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof:
11 But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard.”

Likewise, when you harvested your field in the other 6 years, you were to leave the corners alone and not go back a second time to reap again. What was left behind was for the poor:

Leviticus 19:9: “And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest.
10 And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the Lord your God.”

Moreover, the poor were not to be charged interest:

Leviticus 25:35: “And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee; then thou shalt relieve him: yea, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner; that he may live with thee.
36 Take thou no usury of him, or increase: but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee.”

On top of that, every three years the levitical tithe was to be shared with the poor:

Deuteronomy 14:28: “At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates:
29 And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest.”

Finally, and most amazingly, every seven years all debts were canceled:

Deuteronomy 15:1: “At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release.
2 And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called the Lord’s release.”

As you can see, the Mosaic Law had a number of provisions in it that were designed to take care of the poor. Every seven years all debts were canceled, and all food that was grown was given to the poor. The poor could not be charged interest. Every three years they shared in the tithes that were given to the Levites. Every year they were given the food that was in the corners of the fields, and whatever grew after the first harvest. This is how the poor were cared for in the Mosaic Law.

There were cases where these provisions were not enough. In that case the poor person could choose to sell himself into slavery:

Leviticus 25:39: “And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee; thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant:
40 But as an hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee, and shall serve thee unto the year of jubile.
41 And then shall he depart from thee, both he and his children with him, and shall return unto his own family, and unto the possession of his fathers shall he return.”

It is important to note that the poor in Israel sold themselves into slavery; they were not sold by others. They took the money they received and used it to pay their debts. Their purchase price went to them, not to someone else. They were to be treated well – as servants, not slaves – and they were not sold for life: they were to be set free after a period of time.

The system of slavery that is described in the Mosaic Law is completely different from the system of slavery that was practiced in the United States. First of all, you could not kidnap someone and sell them as a slave, or force someone into slavery. That was punishable by death:

Deuteronomy 24:7: “If a man be found stealing any of his brethren of the children of Israel, and maketh merchandise of him, or selleth him; then that thief shall die; and thou shalt put evil away from among you.”

Slavery was entered into voluntarily. You could not be stolen and sold; people who did such things were hunted down and executed.

Next, slaves were to be treated as hired servants, not as slaves. Mistreatment was forbidden:

Leviticus 25:53: “And as a yearly hired servant shall he be with him: and the other shall not rule with rigour over him in thy sight.”

Masters were not allowed to kill their slaves – and if they did, they were to be held criminally accountable:

Exodus 21:20: “And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished.”

If the master caused the servant any type of permanent physical damage, he was required to immediately set them free:

Exodus 21:26: “And if a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that it perish; he shall let him go free for his eye’s sake.
27 And if he smite out his manservant’s tooth, or his maidservant’s tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooth’s sake.”

As you can see, mistreatment was strictly forbidden – but the law went even further. All slaves were required to take the Sabbath day off:

Deuteronomy 5:13: “Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work:
14 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.”

Moreover, when the masters went up to Jerusalem to make sacrifices, or partake in celebrations, or celebrate the various festivals, their slaves were to accompany them and partake in the celebration as well:

Deuteronomy 12:17: “Thou mayest not eat within thy gates the tithe of thy corn, or of thy wine, or of thy oil, or the firstlings of thy herds or of thy flock, nor any of thy vows which thou vowest, nor thy freewill offerings, or heave offering of thine hand:
18 But thou must eat them before the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates: and thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God in all that thou puttest thine hands unto.”

Finally, all slaves were to be set free on the seventh year, and when they were set free they were to be let go with payment of money:

Deuteronomy 15:12: “And if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee.
13 And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty:
14 Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress: of that wherewith the Lord thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him.”

So not only was the poor person given money when he sold himself into slavery, but when he was set free in the seventh year he was to be given additional payment.

It should also be noted that the slave could purchase his freedom at any time, regardless of whether the master wanted to set him free or not. Relatives of the slave could also purchase his freedom:

Leviticus 25:48: “After that he is sold he may be redeemed again; one of his brethren may redeem him:
49 Either his uncle, or his uncle’s son, may redeem him, or any that is nigh of kin unto him of his family may redeem him; or if he be able, he may redeem himself.
50 And he shall reckon with him that bought him from the year that he was sold to him unto the year of jubile: and the price of his sale shall be according unto the number of years, according to the time of an hired servant shall it be with him.
51 If there be yet many years behind, according unto them he shall give again the price of his redemption out of the money that he was bought for.
52 And if there remain but few years unto the year of jubile, then he shall count with him, and according unto his years shall he give him again the price of his redemption.
53 And as a yearly hired servant shall he be with him: and the other shall not rule with rigour over him in thy sight.”

There is more. Slaves were to be treated as members of the household: they were to be given the same type of food that their masters ate, and live in the same type of house, and sleep in the same type of bed. They were allowed to own property of their own. As Leviticus says, he is to be treated as a hired servant, not as a slave.

I hope this makes it very clear that the system of slavery described in the Mosaic Law is completely different from the system of slavery that was once practiced in this country. The two are completely different and should not be confused. When reading the Bible, it is important to keep in mind that this was the system that was in place in the Old Testament. Context is important; if we don’t keep the proper context in mind then we will jump to all sorts of erroneous conclusions.

There are a great many churches throughout the United States that prohibit their members from drinking alcoholic beverages. The prohibition is so strong that it is actually a part of their church covenant. The covenant doesn’t mention sins like murder, rape, or even drug abuse, but it does mention alcohol – leading me to believe that churches consider drinking to be a worse sin than pretty much anything else.

It may come as a surprise, then, to discover that this verse is tucked away in the book of Deuteronomy:

Deuteronomy 14:26: “And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat there before the Lord thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household,”

You can look up the verse in other translations if you like, but there’s no getting around the fact that “strong drink” means exactly that. This verse is not talking about grape juice, folks. It really does say that it is a good thing for people to drink alcoholic beverages before the Lord and to rejoice, and be glad.

Does the Bible warn against alcohol abuse and drunkenness? Absolutely. Are there people who should avoid alcohol because they have abused it in the past, and might be tempted to do so again? Yes there are. But claiming that the Bible completely prohibits all drinking of alcohol regardless of the quantity is foolish. That is simply not the case.

(For those who are interested, I have written more on this topic here.)

Jude 1:5: “I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.”

Many people today believe that God would never judge anyone. They don’t believe in hell, or eternal damnation, or judgment for sin. God loves everyone, they say, and therefore everyone will go to Heaven. No one will be eternally lost, because “God just isn’t like that”.

Yet, Jude reminds us that God does indeed judge the nations (something that ought to make us tremble). God did terrible things to Egypt because they would not let His people go. Then, when the Israelites rebelled against God and refused to enter Canaan, the Lord judged them and all those that disobeyed Him died in the wilderness. In other words, He killed them all.

There is very little fear of God in our culture. People mock the idea of a “God of vengeance” and ridicule the teachings and commands of God without a second thought. They mock God, refuse to obey Him, and then think that somehow there won’t be any consequences. People have forgotten that they are utterly powerless against the infinite might of God, and are completely at His mercy at all times. He has made it very clear what He will do to those who reject His authority and refuse to serve Him. Those who mock God need to think long and hard about what will happen when they are forced to stand before Him and face all of His infinite power. If you have rejected God and refused His mercy then you will face the infinite wrath of an infinitely angry being who has infinite power, and you will face it for all of eternity. Are you really foolish enough to believe that you can win that encounter? Is it not far better to cry out for forgiveness and mercy now, while there is still time? Who can win a fight against God?

God has not changed between the Old Testament and New Testament; God never changes. The Jesus who died on the cross to offer Himself as payment for our sins is the very same Jesus who will one day return to destroy all those who have rejected His mercy. Repent and submit to Jesus now, while there is still a chance. One day time will run out, and then it will be far too late.

The other day I was at a hobby store and I came across a miniature Portal turret figurine. The figurine wasn’t very expensive ($4.79 plus tax), but what really caught my attention was the box itself. This is a scan of one of the sides of the box. (This is best read while imagining Cave Johnson’s voice!)

Jude 1:3: “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Jude is warning against false teachers that had crept into the church. He says that they were “turning the grace of God into lasciviousness”. Sadly, this still goes on today. Some people claim that, since they are saved, they can do whatever they want because “God will forgive me”. They use their salvation as a license to sin – not as a path to holiness. They believe that they can do whatever they please without fear of any kind of consequences – but they are terribly wrong. That kind of thinking is a false gospel, and does not lead to God or to salvation. Jude warns us to “earnestly contend for the faith”. The gospel is salvation from sin, not a license to sin. We must fight those who preach such damnable heresies and stand up for the truth.

Verse 4 has an interesting nod toward predestination. Notice that it says that these false teachers “were before of old ordained to this condemnation”. It strongly implies that these people were predestined to be false teachers. People today hate the idea of predestination, but it can be found all throughout the Bible.

Jude urges us to “earnestly contend for the faith”. We have to fight for it, because the devil is waging war against us, whether we admit it or not. We have to hold fast to the truth and resist those who spread lies.

There came a time when the wickedness of man became exceedingly great:

Genesis 6:5: “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6 And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
7 And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”

We have already talked about the Nephilim, so I will not repeat that discussion here. What we see is that mankind had become incredibly depraved. According to verse 5, every single thought, hope, and dream of man was pure evil. Mankind had become completely corrupt. This grieved the Lord to such an extent that he decided to annihilate all living creates off the face of the Earth.

Noah, however, found grace in the eyes of the Lord. God decided to spare Noah and the animal kingdom, so He commanded Noah to build the Ark:

Genesis 6:13: “And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.”

The Ark’s builder was Noah. It was to be constructed out of gopher wood and coated inside and outside with pitch. Nobody knows what gopher wood is, or even what that particular Hebrew word means; in all likelihood it refers to either an extinct type of tree or some sort of long-lost lamination process. But we do know the boat was a wooden vessel; after all, it was made of gopher wood, not gopher metal.

The Ark was to contain rooms (“…rooms shalt thou make…”). These rooms would contain the animals, living quarters for Noah’s family, and the supplies that Noah needed to make the voyage. I think it’s possible that Noah may have taken some other things as well. The Bible does not say this, but I imagine that Noah would have taken along as much of the Old World as he could – things like books, scientific knowledge, and anything else that could help him establish a new life in the new world. After all, he knew that God was about to destroy the entire world. When Noah got off the Ark the only things he would have with him are the things that he brought along. The future of civilization depended entirely upon him and his family. Any knowledge that he did not take with them would simply be lost.

Could you imagine what it would be like to be told that all life on Earth was going to be destroyed except for you and your family, and that it would be your job to rebuild afterward? How would you handle such a monumental task? In a very real and literal way the survival of all living creatures would depend on you. How would you like to have that job?

It is not known if Noah had help building the Ark or if he did all of the work himself. Also, since almost all knowledge of the pre-Flood world has been lost, there’s no way to tell what tools he used to build it. What we do know is that Noah was charged with the responsibility for building the Ark and Noah executed that charge faithfully. According to Genesis 6:3, Noah had 120 years in which to build the Ark. It is fairly certain that it took Noah all 120 of those years because I Peter 3:20 says that the Lord withheld His judgment until the Ark was done.

Genesis gives us the exact dimensions of the ark:

Genesis 6:15: “And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breath of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.”

The Ark was 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. It had a total floor space of 100,000 square feet, a volume of about 1.4 million cubic feet, and a cargo capacity of 15,000 tons. Tests have shown that the Ark’s dimensions would have given it incredible stability. It could have stayed afloat in even the most unruly seas.

Boats larger than the Ark were not built again until the end of the 19th century. It is truly an enormous ship, and is one of the largest wooden vessels of all time. To put it into perspective, the Titanic was only 300 feet longer than the Ark. Even by today’s standards it would be considered a mid-sized cargo ship.

Genesis 6:16: “A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.”

The Ark was to have an exterior door and three floors. It was also to have a window that measured 18 inches on each side. Having only one window and one door would probably have added to the hull’s integrity and strength. After all, the Ark had to stay afloat in very rough seas. The boat did not need sails or a rudder because it wasn’t trying to go anywhere – all it needed to do was keep floating and not capsize or break apart. The dimensions the Lord specified would enable it to accomplish exactly that.

Genesis 6:17: “And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.
18 But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee.
19 And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.
20 Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.
21 And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.
22 Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.”

Noah was commanded to bring into the Ark fowls, cattle, and creeping things. (Notice that he did not have to go and find them; verse 20 tells us that they would come to him. Also notice that aquatic animals such as fish were not included.) He was to have on board two of every kind – one male and one female (although further details are given in the next chapter). These “kinds” are not necessarily the same thing as species today. For example, it’s quite possible that Noah just brought on board one type of dog, and that dog gave rise to all of the breeds that now exist. This would have dramatically reduced the number of animals that he would have brought on board.

Estimates of the number of animals that would have been on board range from a few thousand to 16,000. It’s important to remember that the animals did not necessarily have to be enormous, full-grown adults; juveniles would have worked just as well. Studies have suggested that only about half of the Ark’s space would have been needed for the animals, leaving the other half for food, water, supplies, and even other people.

As it turned out, there were only eight people on board the Ark: Noah, his wife, his three sons (Shem, Ham, and Japheth), and his sons’ wives. These eight people were charged with caring for the most amazing zoo that ever existed. It would have been quite a feeling to know that the only surviving animals in the entire world were the ones that were on the Ark with you! If you accidentally stepped on an animal that species would be wiped out permanently.

Caring for the animals would have been a challenge, but Noah did have one big advantage: in his day all animals were vegetarians. Animals and people did not become carnivores until after the Flood.

For answers to a few other technical questions:

How Did Noah Fit All the Animals on the Ark?
According to the Bible, the Ark had three decks (floors). It is not difficult to show that there was plenty of room for 16,000 animals (the maximum number of animals on the Ark, if the most liberal approach to counting animals is applied), assuming they required approximately the same floor space as animals in typical farm enclosures and laboratories. The vast majority of the creatures (birds, reptiles, and mammals) were small (the largest only a few hundred pounds of body weight). What’s more, many could have been housed in groups, which would have further reduced the required space.

It is still necessary to take account of the floor spaces required by large animals, such as elephants and rhinos. But even these, collectively, do not require a large area because it is most likely that these animals were young, but not newborns. Even the largest dinosaurs were relatively small when only a few years old.

What Did the Dinosaurs Eat?
Dinosaurs could have eaten basically the same foods as the other animals. The large sauropods could have eaten compressed hay, other dried plant material, seeds and grains, and the like.

How Were the Animals Cared For?
We must distinguish between the long-term care required for animals kept in zoos and the temporary, emergency care required on the Ark. The animals’ comfort and healthy appearance were not essential for emergency survival during one stressful year, where survival was the primary goal.

Studies of nonmechanized animal care indicate that eight people could have fed and watered 16,000 creatures. The key is to avoid unnecessary walking around. As the old adage says, “Don’t work harder, work smarter.”

Therefore, Noah probably stored the food and water near each animal. Even better, drinking water could have been piped into troughs, just as the Chinese have used bamboo pipes for this purpose for thousands of years. The use of some sort of self-feeders, as is commonly done for birds, would have been relatively easy and probably essential. Animals that required special care or diets were uncommon and should not have needed an inordinate amount of time from the handlers. Even animals with the most specialized diets in nature could have been switched to readily sustainable substitute diets. Of course, this assumes that animals with specialized diets today were likewise specialized at the time of the Flood.

How Did the Animals Breathe?
Based on two decades of research, nothing more was needed than a basic, non-mechanical ventilation system. The density of animals on the Ark, compared to the volume of enclosed space, was much less than we find in some modern, mass animal housing used to keep stock raised for food (such as chicken farms), which requires no special mechanical ventilation.

It is reasonable to believe that one relatively small window would have adequately ventilated the Ark. Of course if there were a window along the top center section, which the Bible allows, all occupants would be even more comfortable. It is also interesting to note that the convective movement of air, driven by temperature differences between the warm-blooded animals and the cold interior surfaces, would have been significant enough to drive the flow of air. Plus, wind blowing into the window would have enhanced the ventilation further. However, if supplementary ventilation was necessary, it could have been provided by wave motion, fire thermal, or even a small number of animals harnessed to slow-moving rotary fans.

What Did Noah and His Family Do with the Animal Waste?
As much as 12 U.S. tons (11 m. tons) of animal waste may have been produced daily. The key to keeping the enclosures clean was to avoid the need for Noah and his family to do the work. The right systems could also prevent the need to change animal bedding. Noah could have accomplished this in several ways. One possibility would be to allow the waste to accumulate below the animals, much as we see in modern pet shops. In this regard, there could have been slatted floors, and animals could have trampled their waste into the pits below. Small animals, such as birds, could have multiple levels in their enclosures, and waste could have simply accumulated at the bottom of each.

The danger of toxic or explosive manure gases, such as methane, would be alleviated by the constant movement of the Ark, which would have allowed manure gases to be constantly released. Secondly, methane, which is half the density of air, would quickly find its way out of a small opening such as a window. There is no reason to believe that the levels of these gases within the Ark would have approached hazardous levels.

Alternatively, sloped floors would have allowed the waste to flow into large central gutters. Noah’s family could have then dumped this overboard without an excessive expenditure of manpower.

The problem of manure odor may, at first thought, seem insurmountable. But we must remember that, throughout most of human history, humans lived together with their farm animals. Barns, separate from human living quarters, are a relatively recent development.

While the voyage of the Ark may not have been comfortable or easy, it was certainly doable, even under such unprecedented circumstances.

(taken from www.answersingenesis.com)

After the Ark was ready, the Lord commanded him to board it:

Genesis 7:1: “And the Lord said to Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
2 Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.
3 Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.
4 For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.”

A week before the Flood occurred the Lord gave Noah some last-minute instructions. Noah was to have seven pairs of every clean beast, two pairs of every unclean beast, and seven pairs of every bird. The purpose of this was to make sure that they did not become extinct.

Also, notice that the reason the Lord spared Noah and his family is because he found Noah to be righteous. His righteousness spared him and his family from the judgment that destroyed the rest of mankind. In a like manner, our own salvation through Jesus Christ will spare us from the final judgment of the lake of fire.

Genesis 7:5: “And Noah did according unto all that the Lord commanded him.
6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.”

The Bible states that Noah did everything that the Lord commanded him. This is quite a testimony! Would it not be amazing if the Lord could say the same thing about us? It is no wonder that the Lord found him to be righteous; when the Lord gave him commands they were obeyed.

The Flood happened when Noah was six hundred years old – which, when you account for the fact that people before the Flood lived 12 times longer than we do, would be equivalent to about 50. Just as God had said, the animals came to Noah and boarded the Ark two by two – male and female.

Genesis 7:11: “In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broke up, and the windows of heaven were opened.”

The water that created the Flood came from two sources: a vast source of water deep underground (the “fountains of the great deep”), and a vast source of water in the sky (the “windows of heaven”). One thing we do know is that when the world was originally created it was quite different from what we see today. Genesis 1:9 tells us that on the second day of creation the Lord created the sky to separate the waters under the sky from the waters that were above the sky. Today, of course, there is no vast ocean of water in the sky, but apparently in the ancient world this did exist. This layer of water would have protected the Earth against ultraviolet rays much more effectively than the ozone layer does today, which would have extended human life and greatly slowed down the corruption of the human genetic code. It could also have acted to moderate both temperature and weather, since apparently it never rained before the Flood – meaning there were no tornadoes, no floods, no hurricanes, and no devastating thunderstorms. However, when this layer of water collapsed onto the ground it would have been truly devastating. It would be like having the entire Pacific Ocean fall out of the sky and smash into the ground. Nothing could have survived that – and nothing did.

Genesis 7:12 “And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
13 In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark;
14 They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort.
15 And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.
16 And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the Lord shut him in.”

It would appear that both the animals and Noah’s family boarded the ark on the very day that the Flood occurred. The Bible gives an exact day – the 600th year of Noah’s life, in the second month, and the 17th day. It is possible to use the chronologies in the Bible to pinpoint the time between Creation and the Flood. If you add up the years in the genealogies, the Flood happened when the world was 1656 years old:

Verse	Event	Age of the Earth
1:1-31	Creation	0
5:3	Seth born when Adam was 130	130
5:6	Enos born when Seth was 105	235
5:9	Cainan born when Enos was 90	325
5:12	Mahalaleel born when Cainan was 70	395
5:15	Jared born when Mahalaleel was 65	460
5:18	Enoch born when Jared was 162	622
5:21	Methuselah born when Enoch was 65	687
5:25	Lamech born when Methuselah was 187	874
5:28	Noah born when Lamech was 182	1056
11:10	Shem born when Noah was 502	1558
7:6	Flood when Noah was 600	1656

This can be used to calculate the year that the Flood happened. The calculation goes like this:

11:10	Arphaxad born when Shem was 100	1658
11:12	Salah born when Arphad was 35	1693
11:14	Eber born when Salah was 30	1723
11:16	Peleg born when Eber was 34	1757
11:18	Reu born when Peleg was 30	1787
11:20	Serug born when Reu was 32	1819
11:22	Nahor born when Serug was 30	1849
11:24	Terah born when Nahor was 29	1878
11:32, 12:4	Abraham born when Terah was 130	2008
12:4	Abraham enters Canaan was 75	2083

Abraham left Haran until the Exodus exactly 430 years to the day. (Ge 12:10, Ex 12:40, Gal 3:17)	2513
Exodus to start of Temple, 479 years (1 Ki 6:1, in the 480th year or after 479 years)	2992
Start of Temple to division of the Kingdom, 37 (Solomon reigned 40 years, 1Ki 11:42, temple started in his 4th year)	3029
Division of the Kingdom to final deportation about four years after Jerusalem fell, 390 whole years plus part of one year (Eze 4:4-6)   Final deportation in 584 BC	3421

Hence date creation = 584 + 3421 – 1 = 4004 BC

(That is, the date of deportation (584 BC) occurred when the world was 3,421 years old. 3421 years before 584 BC is 4005 BC; need to subtract a year to deal with Ezekiel 4’s partial year.)

So, if creation happened in 4004 BC, and the Flood happened 1,656 years after creation, then the Flood would have occurred in 2348 BC. If creation happened in October (which is a topic for another time), then the Flood would have happened in December.

As a side-note, notice that verse 16 says that the Lord shut Noah in. Noah was not the one that decided when the door should be closed; it would seem that the door was closed by the hand of God. This would make sense, as when the door was closed all hope was forever lost for everyone standing outside the Ark. When God closed the door all hope was forever gone.

Genesis 7:17: “And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lifted up above the earth.
18 And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.
19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.
20 Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
21 And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man:
22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.
23 And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.
24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days.”

Here we are given details of the Flood itself. The storm raged for 40 days and nights, and the flood waters covered the entire planet for 150 days. The flood waters rose above the highest mountain to a height of 23 feet, and it was so severe that everything except for aquatic life died. All birds and cattle died; all animals and insects died; and the entire human race died. The only survivors were those who were on board the Ark.

Genesis 8:1: “And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged;
2 The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained:
3 And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.
4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.
5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.”

Here the Bible talks about the end of the Flood. Notice that the Flood did not just slowly die down; the Lord acted to put an end to it. He did this through the creation of a wind, which calmed the waters. He closed the fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven, and He allowed the waters to recede.

Where did all of the water go? It actually didn’t go anywhere. It’s still here! About 75% of the planet is covered by water. The only reason the entire planet is not underwater is because the Lord formed ocean basins to contain the vast amounts of water that we find on the planet today. (If the basins were smoothed out the planet would still be flooded.) By creating these basins He drained the water off of the rest of the planet, which allowed the mountains to re-emerge.

It took quite a bit of time to drain the water: the Flood started in the second month with a storm that lasted 40 days, but the tops of the mountains weren’t seen until the tenth month. Once the initial storm was over (which only lasted a little over a month), Noah and his family spent the rest of the time waiting for the water to calm and then recede.

Genesis 8:6: “And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:
7 And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.
8 Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;
9 But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.
10 And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;
11 And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.
12 And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.”

After the flood waters started receding from the ground, Noah ran a series of tests to see if he could leave the ark. The test consisted of releasing two birds – a raven and a dove. When the dove returned with an olive leaf Noah knew that trees were growing once more and that the Flood must finally be over. The next time he released the bird it did not come back. The great Flood had finally come to an end, and there was once more life upon the surface of the earth.

However, even though he knew there was life on the earth, he was not yet ready to leave the ark. One more thing needed to happen first.

Genesis 8:13: “And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.
14 And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.”

This passage gives us a timeline of events. The Flood began on the in the 2nd month and 17th day of Noah’s 600th year, and the ground finally dried in the 2nd month, 27th day, and 601st year. This means the Flood lasted one year and ten days. That is also how long Noah’s family spent in the Ark with all of the animals.

When Joshua destroyed the city of Jericho, he pronounced a curse:

Joshua 6:26: “And Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the Lord, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: he shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it.”

At the time this seemed like an odd thing to say. Joshua simply pronounces the curse and moves on. Nothing more is said about it. It’s one of those things that are easily forgotten.

Much later, however, the curse comes up again. This is what we find in the book of 1 Kings:

1 Kings 16:34: “In his days did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun.”

Since these two events are in separate books of the Bible it’s easy to miss the connection – but there it is. Things happened exactly as Joshua said, all those centuries earlier.

One thing I Kings makes clear is that Joshua wasn’t just pronouncing a curse on his own accord; what he said was actually the word of the Lord speaking through him. The Lord was actually the one behind the curse – and it came to pass. Jericho really was rebuilt by human sacrifice. “Cursed be the man before the Lord” – and he was indeed cursed.

The city of Jericho still stands today; it is now home to 18,000 people. You now know who rebuilt the cursed city, and at what terrible price.

Jude 1:1: “Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:”

Just as a side-note: this book is specifically written to believers, not unbelievers. It is written specifically “to them that are sanctified by God the Father”. The Bible does have a lot of things to say to the lost, but there is also much in the New Testament that is directed specifically to the Church. (It’s just something to keep in mind, since context is crucial to understanding a passage.)

Also, notice that Jude takes a swipe at salvation-by-works. Who sanctifies us? God does. Who preserves us? Jesus does. Who calls us? God does. In other words, God is the one who removes the sin from our lives; God is the one who forgives us; God is the one who transforms us into godly people; God is the one who preserves our salvation and makes sure that we get safely home. This is another reason why we cannot lose our salvation: God is the one who is preserving it, and He cannot fail. He will make sure that we don’t get lost. Our salvation is His doing, not ours.

III John 1:9: “I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.
10 Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.”

As we can see from this verse, there have always been problems in the Church. Modern man may think he is being “cutting edge” by denying the doctrines of the apostles, but that is nothing new. There have always been people like that. There were troublemakers in the church back in the times of the apostles, and there still are today. In the days of the apostles there were those who refused to hear what they had to say, and there still are today. Nothing has changed. The truth was hated back then and it is still hated now.

Diotrephes seems to have been a very devoted evildoer: he actually hunted down genuine believers and threw them out of church! It is the same old story: evil creeps into the church, and as soon as it seizes power it starts getting rid of all the genuine believers. Soon those who truly love God find themselves unwanted – or thrown out.

This is one reason why church discipline is so important. So many churches are like shepherds who do nothing to keep wolves from eating their sheep: they just stand there and let it happen. Without godly leadership and genuine church discipline, the wolves will have free reign to do as they please – and when they are done the true believers will be gone and the church will be dead. No church can survive if it has no mechanism for protecting its congregation from men like Diotrephes.

In Genesis 5 we find a listing of some of the children of Adam:

Genesis 5:1: “This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;
2 Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.”

This chapter tends to get ignored because it is a genealogy. However, it contains some important that doesn’t usually get covered. Because of that I’d like to spend some time going over its contents.

The first thing I’d like to point out is that this genealogy has some peculiar features. For example, take a look at the entry for Adam:

Genesis 5:3: “And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, and after his image; and called his name Seth:
4 And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters:
5 And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.”

This verse tells us that Adam had a son named Seth, had other sons and daughters, and then died. All of the listings in this chapter follow the same template: each person had a son, then had other sons and daughters, and then died. I won’t quote the entire passage here (you can read it for yourself, if you’re interested), but the pattern is repeated time and again.

This brings up a question: was the firstborn child of every single person really a son? Nobody had firstborn daughters? For that matter, is this really a listing of firstborn children, or is there something else going on?

If we look at verse 3 we’re told that Adam had a son named Seth. However, we already know that Seth wasn’t Adam’s firstborn; that distinction goes to Cain. Adam had at least two other male children before Seth was born – and possibly more than that, given the fact that Seth was born when Adam was 130 years old. Adam could have had many children between the birth of Abel and the birth of Seth. This passage, however, only records one of Adam’s children. Cain and Abel don’t get mentioned at all.

This passage, then, is not a listing of firstborn children, and it’s not even a listing of firstborn sons. This is actually the genealogy of Noah. The only person mentioned in each generation is the male ancestor of Noah. All of these people had others sons and daughters (as Genesis 5:4 tells us), but they are ignored because they are not in the male line of Noah.

Another factor I’d like to point out is that the people in this list lived for a very, very long time. There were only 10 generations in the 2000 years that passed between Adam and the Flood. The following table lists who the fathers of each generation were, along with how long they lived:

Adam: 930
Seth: 912
Enos: 905
Cainan: 910
Mahalaleel: 895
Jared: 962
Enoch: 365 (He was “translated” at that time.)
Methuselah: 969
Lamech: 777
Noah: 950 (500 when his children were born, 350 after the flood, so 600 before the flood)

If you discount Enoch (who never died) and Lamech, people lived to be about 929 years old. These are not “figurative” ages, but real ones. These people really did live to be almost a thousand years old. That seems like a staggeringly long time, but remember that mankind was created to live forever. If Adam had not sinned he would have never died at all. Even with the consequences of sin, however, he still lived for more than nine centuries.

As I’m sure you have noticed, people don’t live this long anymore. Despite what evolutionists will tell you, mankind has not improved over the millennia. Instead we’ve decayed. Our genetic code, which was once perfect, is now filled with mutations. We are becoming less fit over time. We aren’t evolving into a higher life form; instead we’re degrading.

Imagine building a mansion in the middle of a forest and then abandoning it for a few centuries. When you returned you wouldn’t find an even bigger mansion that had been upgraded with all of the latest amenities. No, I’m afraid that you would only find ruin and decay. The human race is like that. We are not improving; instead, we’re falling apart. At one time men lived for nine centuries, but now it’s remarkable if someone lives for nine decades. That is just a glimpse at how far we’ve fallen.

Another interesting thing is that people had children at remarkably old ages:

Seth: 105
Enos: 90
Cainan: 70
Mahalaleel: 65
Jared: 162
Enoch: 65
Methuselah: 187
Lamech: 182
Noah: 500

By modern standards it seems astounding to be having children when you’re 90 years old (to say nothing of 187), but given their incredibly long lifespan it’s not as strange as it seems. According to the 2008 CIA World Factbook, the average life expectancy for someone living in the United States is 77.5 – 80 years. This means that before the Flood people lived 12 times longer than we do today. Having a child at 116 would be the equivalent of having a child at the age of 10. People lived so much longer before the Flood that for them, being 100 was practically still being in your childhood. Even Noah, who had his first child at the age of 500, has an “equivalent” age of just 42.

After the Flood, the average lifespan dropped off dramatically. The following table lists how old each person was when they had their first son, along with how many years they lived after the birth of that child:

Noah: 950
Shem: 100 + 500 = 600 (but had his firstborn 2 years after the Flood, so the flood happened when he was 98.)
Arphaxad: 35 + 403 = 438
Salah: 30 + 403 = 433
Eber: 34 + 430 = 464
Peleg: 30 + 209 = 239
Reu: 32 + 207 = 239
Serug: 30 + 200 = 230
Nahor: 29 + 119 = 148
Terah: bore Abraham at the age of 70 but lived to be 205.
Abraham: 175 years, but had Isaac when he was 100.
Isaac: 180 years. Had his twin sons when he was ~40.

Looking at these genealogies reveals some interesting facts. Noah lived a normal lifespan for someone born before the Flood, but his children did not. Even though they were born before the Flood their lives were dramatically shortened. In fact, the lives of everyone were shortened. In just eight generations the average lifespan of man dropped from 929 years down to less than 200 years.

This indicates that there were probably two factors involved with the shortening lifespans: an environmental cause (after all, something shortened Shem’s life by 350 years) and a genetic cause. It’s difficult to say exactly what these causes were, since we don’t have access to any pre-Flood human DNA and we don’t know what the pre-Flood Earth was like. What we do know is that the Flood both destroyed the world and devastated the lifespan of mankind. After the Flood the world was never the same.

If we look at the data closely we will discover an interesting fact. Abraham was born less than three centuries after the Flood:

Flood to Abraham: 292 years
Abraham to Isaac: +100 years = 392
Isaac to Jacob: +40 years = 432 years

Why is this interesting? Well, Noah lived for 350 years after the Flood. Only 292 years elapsed between the Flood and the birth of Abraham, so Noah would have died when Abraham was about 58 years old. Shem lived 502 years after the Flood, so he would have lived long enough to have known Abraham, Issac, and Jacob (as Jacob was born ~432 years after the Flood). Whether these people actually knew each other or not is not known, but they were contemporaries.

It’s amazing to think that when Jacob and Esau were growing up, Shem was still alive. At that point in history you could still talk to someone who had lived in the pre-Flood world. The Flood was not a mere memory; there was still a living eyewitness.

Of course, you can’t talk about Genesis 5 without talking about Enoch:

Genesis 5:21: “And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah:
22 And Enoch walked with God after he beget Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:
23 And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years:
24 And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.”

Enoch is one of the most famous characters in the Bible. His fame stems from the fact that he is one of only two people who have never died (the other is Elijah). Genesis says very little about Enoch, except that he “walked with God” and that one day he was not found, for God had taken him. Other passages in the Bible, however, have more to say on this topic.

Hebrews 11:5: “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

Here we learn a little more about the fate of Enoch. This passage states that Enoch was “translated” (or raptured) because of his faith. Enoch pleased God, and therefore God supernaturally delivered him from death. The passage goes on to say that you must have faith in order to please God. It was his great faith in God that led to his translation.

This is one of the reasons why some believe that Enoch’s translation is a foreshadowing of the Rapture. Christ told us that the time before His return would be as the days of Noah:

Matthew 24:37: “But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”

We know that the world of Noah’s day ignored Noah’s warnings about the coming judgment and perished in the Flood. God told Noah to build an ark, and Noah had to live through the Flood and through the judgment of the entire world. Enoch, however, was different. The Lord removed Enoch from the world before the Flood took place – not only sparing his life, but also sparing him from having to live through the judgment of the world. Why was Enoch “raptured”? Because he had faith in God and pleased Him.

The same things can be said about the Church. The true Church – those who are born-again believers in Christ – have faith in God and please Him. Before God judges the world for its sins the Lord will “translate” the Church so that they will not see death. We will then be with God. The parallel between Enoch’s translation and the Rapture of the Church is quite remarkable.

Nor is this all that the Bible has to say about Enoch. The last mention of Enoch in the Bible is found here:

Jude 1:14: “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”

This passage mentions a prophesy from Enoch, who was the seventh generation from Adam. (Yes, the number seven is a special number; it signifies completion.) It turns out that Enoch was a prophet; in fact, as far as anyone knows, Enoch was the very first prophet. In this passage he was prophesying about a coming time of judgment when the Lord would return to Earth with his saints (also known as “The Church”) to judge the wicked. This event has not yet happened, but will occur as a part of the Second Coming. Enoch, then, prophesied about the Second Coming thousands of years before the first coming of Christ! This is, by far, the oldest prophesy about the Second Coming in the Bible.

There is one other area where we can see his prophetic gift. Enoch named his son Methuselah, which literally means “When he dies, it will come”. This name was actually a prophecy. Methuselah lived to be 969 years old, which is longer than anyone else recorded in the Bible. The year he died the Flood came and put an end to the old world – just as Enoch had prophesied.

On a related note, the name “Noah” means “comfort”. It is thought that Lamech named his son Noah because he thought that Noah would be the Messiah and put an end to the world’s evil. This is what he said when naming his son:

Genesis 5:28: “And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son:
29 And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed.”

Here Lamech refers to the curse that God inflicted upon the world because of Adam’s sin. Lamech was 56 years old when Adam died, so it’s possible that he had heard firsthand of what life was like in the Garden of Eden. He apparently believed that Noah would reverse the curse and put things back to the way they were, but that did not happen. It’s true that a descendant of Lamech will one day reverse the curse, but that descendant is Jesus, not Noah.

I’ve decided to start a new regular feature on the blog – a series of short posts every Saturday on various Biblical oddities that I’ve come across. These aren’t necessarily deep or life-changing truths; they’re just odd little things that I’ve discovered that I thought might be worth sharing.

Today’s topic deals with Manasseh, king of Judah. He was an incredibly wicked ruler:

2 Kings 21:1: “Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hephzibah.
2 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, after the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.”

The wickedness of this man was truly horrifying. For example, among other things, he offered his own children as burnt offerings:

II Kings 21:6: “And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.
7 And he set a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house, of which the Lord said to David, and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever:”

As you can see, he defiled the temple of God by putting idols in it. On top of all that, he murdered lots and lots of people:

II Kings 21:16: “Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; beside his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the Lord”

Manasseh was so bad that God was still angry about it decades later, and decided to destroy Judah because of it:

II Kings 24:2: “And the Lord sent against him bands of the Chaldees, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by his servants the prophets.
3 Surely at the commandment of the Lord came this upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did;
4 And also for the innocent blood that he shed: for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; which the Lord would not pardon.”

So, then, we see that Manasseh was an incredibly bad king and an extremely wicked man. There is a lot that can be said about that, but what I want to focus on is the fact that he became king when he was 12 years old:

2 Kings 21:1: “Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hephzibah.

Manasseh’s father was Hezekiah, and he began reigning after Hezekiah died. Hezekiah was a good king who feared the Lord, but at the end of his life he fell sick and was about to die:

2 Kings 20:1: “In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.
2 Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the Lord, saying,
3 I beseech thee, O Lord, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.”

Hezekiah begged God to spare his life. God granted his prayer:

2 Kings 20:4: “And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying,
5 Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord.
6 And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.”

God extended Hezekiah’s life by 15 years. This is important, because Manasseh was 12 years old when he began to reign. That means Manasseh was born during those 15 extra years that God gave Hezekiah.

If Hezekiah had actually died, Manasseh would never have been born. The reason God destroyed Judah and deported the Jews who lived there was because of the sins of Manasseh, as II Kings 24:3 says. If Manasseh had never existed then history might have turned out very differently. The extra 15 years of life that Hezekiah asked for – and received – led to the destruction of Judah and the deportation of those who lived there.

It’s something to think about, isn’t it?

II John 1:10: “If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:
11 For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.”

In other words, when people are out spreading a false gospel and guiding people to Hell, we should not help them do it. We should not wish them well, or aid them, or join forces with them.

This should be obvious, but unfortunately it is not. I read an article some time ago about a group of Muslims who were renovating their mosque. Since they could not hold their services in it, the local Christian church invited them to use their sanctuary and hold their services in it instead. People praised this as “showing love”, but I assure you that God was not smiling. That wasn’t love; that was helping unbelievers spread a false gospel that leads souls to Hell. John strictly warns us to not even “bid him God speed”. Can you imagine what he would have said about actually taking the house of God and letting the lost worship false gods in it? This sort of thing is an abomination to God. We need to separate ourselves from evil, not join forces with it and try to help it along.

(I have written about this more extensively here.)

II John 1:8: “Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.”

It is important to keep in mind that John is talking about rewards, not salvation. It is impossible to lose your salvation, but rewards can be lost. In order to obtain the various crowns that are promised one must earn them; they have certain requirements, which I have discussed here. God cares about whether or not we are faithful, and He rewards those who are faithful – and withholds rewards from those who are not. Our salvation is not in jeopardy, but our rewards are. If we are faithless then we will lose them, and when the Bema Seat Judgment happens we will walk away empty-handed (I Corinthians 3:12-15).

In Genesis 3 mankind suffered a devastating fall and was evicted from the Garden of Eden. As we all know, however, that is not the end of the story. In the next chapter Adam and Eve start a family:

Genesis 4:1: “And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord.
2 And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.”

Cain was born before Abel, which makes him Abel’s older brother. The text doesn’t say how many years separated the two brothers, but it does seem safe to say that Cain and Abel were Adam and Eve’s first two sons.

According to Strongs Concordance, the name Cain means “spear” and the name Abel means “vanity”. These names are actually important – there’s something going on here that’s not immediately apparent. In the actual Hebrew text, verse one does not have the words “from the”; that phrase was added by translators. What the verse actually says is “I have gotten a man, the Lord”.

Why is this significant? Well, when the Lord judged the serpent in the Garden of Eden God made a promise:

Genesis 3:14: “And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

Verse 15 is actually a Messianic prophecy that looks forward to the crucifixion. The crucifixion accomplished two things: Christ died (and thus the reference to “bruise his heel”), and Satan was defeated (and thus the reference to “bruise thy head”). Eve understood this prophecy and assumed that her firstborn son Cain was the promised Messiah – “the Lord”. She named him “spear”, thinking that God would use him to destroy the devil. She must have realized her mistake pretty quickly, though, because she named her second son “vanity”. Eve thought that the Messiah was going to come immediately. In reality, however, the Messiah did not come until approximately four thousand years later.

We don’t really know anything about the childhood of Cain and Abel. What we do know is that one day the two brothers made offerings to the Lord:

Genesis 4:3: “And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.
4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. . .”

People make a lot of assumptions about these verses that are not actually true. For example, there is no evidence that God commanded them to give this offering. The Mosaic Law does have a long list of required offerings, but that Law was not given until thousands of years later. The laws that Moses gave regarding sacrifices and offerings cannot be applied to these verses! Cain and Abel would have been completely unaware of them. There is no hint in the passage that God had required something, or that Cain and Abel were trying to get their sins forgiven, or anything like that.

We also need to realize that Cain’s offering is the first one mentioned. It is quite likely that Cain made his offering first, and Abel only made his offering after Cain did. There is no evidence that Cain was copying Abel. In fact, the very first person ever recorded as making an offering to God is Cain.

Some people have argued that God was upset with Cain’s offering because it was “of the fruit of the ground”, while Abel’s offering was “of the firstlings of his flock”. It is true that Abel offered a blood sacrifice and Cain did not. However, there is nothing in the text to indicate that grain offerings were prohibited. When people today think of offerings they usually think of animal sacrifices, but the levitical system had other types of offerings as well. There were even grain and drink (wine) offerings! Even if the Mosaic Law was binding at the time (and it was not), a grain offering would have been perfectly fine. The issue had nothing whatsoever to do with what Cain offered.

What we see is that Cain offered something he had grown and Abel offered something he had raised. Both gave of the work of their hands – the offering was something they had raised, not something they went out and purchased. Cain was a farmer and offered the bounty of his land. Abel was a shepherd and offered the bounty of his flock. They were both perfectly logical choices and they both made sense. The problem was not the offering itself.

(As a side-note, notice that the professions of farming and raising sheep appeared extremely early in human history! It did not take people millions of years to learn how to farm or how to raise livestock. Early man was quite intelligent. Cain and Abel were not brutish cavemen who spent their time grunting at each other. The advancement of mankind was extremely rapid.)

The passage goes on to say that the Lord had very different reactions to the two offerings:

Genesis 4:4: “. . .And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering:
5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. . .”

Notice the very precise language of this passage. We tend to focus on the offerings, but the Bible clearly says that “the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering”. The actual person is mentioned before the offering! The verse is not saying “The Lord respected Abel’s offering, and that offering made Abel acceptable to God”. What it actually says is “The Lord respected Abel, and therefore He respected Abel’s offering”. The reason the Lord had respect for Abel’s offering is because He respected Abel. The reason the Lord rejected Cain’s offering is because He did not respect Cain.

The same thing is true today. Jesus had tremendous respect for the small offering of the poor widow, even though the amount she gave was pretty insignificant:

Mark 12:41: “And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much.
42 And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing.
43 And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury:
44 For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.”

However, God has no respect at all for the offerings of the wicked, regardless of how large they might be:

Proverbs 15:8: “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.”

Proverbs 15:29: “The LORD is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous.”

People who don’t know the Lord often think that if they just give money to the poor, or make a donation to church, or do some good deed, that the Lord will see their offering and accept them. In reality they are quite wrong. The Lord despises the gifts and offerings of the wicked. Their sacrifices are an abomination in his sight. He does not hear their self-righteous prayers and He does not accept their gifts. You cannot earn God’s favor by bribing Him with gifts; God cannot be bought. God will only accept your gifts if He has already accepted you. It does not work the other way around. In fact, Jesus gave a stern warning about this:

Matthew 7:21: “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

Jesus is saying that when He returns there will be many people who think that they’re Christians but who will end up rejected. The true Christian is one who has repented of his sins and believed on Christ (which, according to John 6:40, is “the will of my Father”). However, there are many false Christians who have rejected the lordship of Christ and have refused to turn their lives over to Jesus. Instead, they have based their salvation on their own works. They spend their lives doing “many wonderful works”, assuming that those works are buying God’s favor. When Jesus returns they will try to claim that their works have earned them salvation – and they will be rejected. Jesus will plainly tell them “I never knew you”. They were never saved at all; they were just deluding themselves. You cannot earn your salvation through works and you cannot bribe God into liking you. A Christian’s relationship with God is based on grace, not works.

Cain and Abel are a classic example of this. Both brothers made offerings to God. The works were the same – but Cain was rejected and Abel was not! What’s the difference between Cain and Abel? The New Testament tells us that it was a matter of faith:

Hebrews 11:4: “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.”

In other words, Abel had faith and Cain did not. Abel made his offering in faith and God respected that faith. Cain lacked faith and so God rejected his offering. Faith, and faith alone, was the difference between Cain and Abel. (It is also the difference between every saved person and every lost person.)

Cain quickly realized that he had been rejected. He did not take it very well:

Genesis 4:5: “. . .And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
6 And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.”

Cain noticed that God accepted Abel and rejected him. Instead of seeking understanding and repentance, however, Cain simply got angry about it. The Lord warned him but Cain ignored the warning. Rather than repenting of what he had done wrong and turning from it, he chose to seek out and murder the one who had faithfully served the Lord:

Genesis 4:8: “And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.”

The fact that Cain would actually murder Abel is rather astonishing. Cain had to know that he wouldn’t get away with it. When Adam and Eve sinned the Lord was immediately aware of it and confronted them. Cain would have known this, but it didn’t stop him. If Cain wanted to keep this a secret he failed spectacularly – this is probably the most famous murder in all of history! The one fact that everyone knows about Cain is that he murdered his brother.

The New Testament tells us exactly why Cain did this:

1 John 3:12: “Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.”

In other words, Cain was furious that his brother was righteous. He couldn’t stand the fact that his brother wasn’t wicked like he was, so he went out and killed his brother. Cain had a passionate hatred for righteousness, and that hatred drove him to murder the one person who had been declared righteous.

Nothing has really changed over the years. The world still hates righteousness and it still hunts down and kills those who are righteous. Jesus put it this way:

John 15:18: “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.”

Abel was simply the first person to experience this. He was righteous; therefore, the world hated him. He loved the Lord, so the world hunted him down and murdered him. If we are righteous we can expect the world to hunt us down as well. The world that hated Jesus will never love His followers.

As we all know, Cain did not get away with his scheme. The Lord confronted him about it, just as He confronted Cain’s parents in the Garden of Eden:

Genesis 4:9: “And the Lord said unto Cain, where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: am I my brother’s keeper?”

When Adam sinned and the Lord confronted him, Adam tried to shift the blame to his wife. Cain, however, takes a more direct approach: he just tells a blatant lie (a lie that is tinged with disrespect and thinly-veiled contempt). Unfortunately for Cain, the Lord knows everything. God did not question Cain because He noticed that Abel was missing and wasn’t sure what had happened to him. Whenever the Lord asks questions it is for our benefit, not His. God knew perfectly well that Cain had killed his brother. This was simply the first step in Cain’s judgment.

This does bring up a question, though: why did God talk directly to Cain? Why didn’t someone just call the police and have Cain arrested? Why is Cain getting the same treatment that Adam and Eve got in the Garden of Eden?

Well, it’s important to note that human government was not instituted by God until after the Flood. When Noah and his family finally left the Ark the Lord changed a number of things. One of those things was making mankind responsible for the execution of justice:

Genesis 9:5: “And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man.
6 Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.”

This is why governments and the police have the right to hunt down and prosecute criminals. Not only has God given them that right, but He has actually commanded them to exercise it. Notice, though, that these verses appear in Genesis 9, not Genesis 4. There was no justice system in place when Cain was alive. Instead, God apparently handled things personally. This is just one of the many ways in which life was quite different before the Flood. Throughout history God periodically changed the rules, and this is one example of this. (Theologians refer to this as different dispensations. That, however, is a topic for another time.)

Cain’s attempt to deny any knowledge of what happened to his brother did not fool God. The Lord confronts Cain directly with what he had done:

Genesis 4:10: “And he said, What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.”

Nothing that we do is hidden from God; He knows everything and sees everything. People may think that they’re “getting away with it”, but they are not. God is simply biding His time until the day of judgment, when all sins that are not covered by the blood of Christ will be judged once and for all. No one will get away with anything; all sins that are not forgiven will be brought up and judged. There is no escaping God and there is no hiding from Him.

God did not kill Adam and Eve when they sinned, and He doesn’t kill Cain either. Instead He curses him – just as He had cursed Cain’s parents:

Genesis 4:11: “And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand;
12 When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.”

The curse is very similar to the one that we find in Genesis 3. Since Cain was a farmer, God cursed his livelihood. The ground would no longer yield crops for him. With his profession taken from him he would be a fugitive and a vagabond.

Why didn’t God just kill Cain? Well, think of it this way: if God killed us the first time we sinned, how many of us would live long enough to be saved? The Bible tells us that God is longsuffering and merciful. He withholds His final judgment to give men a chance to repent:

2 Peter 3:9: “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

Some people accept this opportunity and repent, while others – like Cain – do not. All Cain does is complain about it:

Genesis 4:13: “And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear.
14 Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.”

Notice that Cain shows absolutely no remorse for what he’s done. Instead he immediately starts complaining that God isn’t being fair! Keep in mind that Cain just killed his own brother. Cain expresses no gratitude that God didn’t strike Cain dead on the spot (as God later did to others throughout the Old and New Testament). There isn’t even any sense of shame! Cain is just a remorseless murderer who lashes out at the very God who showed him mercy.

Some people may wonder why Cain was worried about being killed by other people. After all, aside from his parents, who else was there around to kill him? In order to answer this question we need to realize a couple things.

First of all, when Cain slew Abel the two of them were probably at least a hundred years old. This can be calculated from the fact that the Lord gave Adam and Eve another son (Seth) after Abel was killed, and according to Genesis 5:3 this other son was born when Adam was 130. If we assume that Seth was born shortly after Abel was murdered, then it seems pretty likely that Cain and Abel were not teenagers. The brothers could have easily been more than a hundred years old.

Second, Adam and Eve probably had other children in the decades that passed between the birth of Abel and the birth of Seth. These children could have had children of their own, and even grandchildren, long before Cain murdered Abel. Seth was almost certainly not Eve’s third son. There was enough time for several generations to be born. There could have been dozens of people alive when the murder took place – perhaps more than a hundred, depending on how many children Eve had and how soon her children had children of their own.

To answer the common question “Who did Cain marry?”, the answer is that he probably married his sister. The Mosaic Law forbids this, but remember that the Mosaic Law was not given until thousands of years later. Before the time of Moses siblings were allowed to get married – in fact, Abraham married his half-sister Sarah.

Why did God change things? Well, it’s important to remember that when God created mankind our genetic code was perfect and free from mutations. Under those circumstances inbreeding would not have caused any problems. It was only millennia later, when mutations had crept into our DNA, that inbreeding would cause serious harm. When the situation changed God changed the rules.

As we can see from the passage, Cain – who had no concern whatsoever for his brother’s life – was concerned about his life. He was afraid that someone might kill him and he wanted God to do something about it. Stop and think about that for a moment! Cain, who killed his brother, doesn’t want other people to kill him. He demands divine protection from other murderers. He apparently believes that it’s ok for him to go around killing people, but no one should be allowed to kill him.

Amazingly, the Lord heard Cain:

Genesis 4:15: “And the Lord said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.”

Here we see that the way the Lord protected Cain was by putting a mark upon him. No one knows exactly what that mark was; the passage does not say. It must have been effective, though, because Cain went on to build a city and have children of his own (who, apparently, were as evil as he was).

Cain’s death is not recorded so it’s not known how long Cain lived. Before the Flood most people lived to be around 900 years old, so Cain may have lived for another 800 years. At some point, however, he died, and had to face the God that he so despised. The judgment of God was delayed (to give Cain a chance to repent), but it was not put off forever.

It’s interesting to note that after this conversation Cain went as far away from God as possible:

Genesis 4:16: “And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.”

The passage does not say that Cain was evicted from the presence of the Lord, or that the Lord drove him off. Cain chose to leave God and moved to the land of Nod. There he had children and built himself a city:

Genesis 4:17: “And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.”

It should be noted that this is not the famous Enoch who never died; that was another person entirely. It’s also interesting to note that Cain did not take up residence inside a cave; instead, he built a city. Ancient man did not consist of dumb cavemen. It takes a lot of intelligence to build a city! The fact that Adam’s children were building cities should make us sit up and take notice. These people were not cavemen! They were city dwellers and had civilization.

Cain’s line did not end with Enoch. He had grandchildren and great-grandchildren, some of whom were quite clever and created some pretty important inventions:

Genesis 4:18: “And unto Enoch was born Irad: and Irad begat Mehujael: and Mehujael begat Methusael: and Methusael begat Lamech.
19 And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.
20 And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle.
21 And his brother’s name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ.
22 And Zillah, she also bare Tubal-cain, an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.”

As you can see, Cain’s children were not dummies. By seven generations after Adam (Cain, Enoch, Irad, Mehujael, Methusael, Lamech, and Lamech’s children) mankind had already invented animal husbandry and music, and had entered the brass and iron age (at the same time). They were not scratching out a meager existence in a cave somewhere – they were building a civilization!

As a side-note, it takes intelligence to invent musical instruments – and this was not just a musical instrument, but the first musical instruments ever to exist in all of history. These were very intelligent people. They were not moral people, however, as the chapter goes on to tell us:

Genesis 4:23: “And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt.
24 If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.”

Here we can see that Cain’s children were no different from Cain. He had created a line of murders who thought only of themselves. Evil was on the rise in humanity, and this trend would ultimately lead to the Flood.

Genesis 4 is not the last time that Cain is mentioned; Cain and Abel are referred to in the New Testament as well. We have already discussed Hebrews 11:4 and I John 3:11. Another mention can be found in Jude:

Jude 1:11: “Woe unto them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.”

Those who follow their own path instead of God are said to be going in “the way of Cain”. He is forever remembered as one deeply associated with evil. That is a remarkable legacy.

Christ referred to Abel as the first martyr:

Matthew 23:34: “Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zechariah son of Berechiah, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.”

Here the Lord pronounces judgment upon the generation that lived in His day, and said that because they rejected Him they would have to pay for all the righteous blood that was ever shed, starting with the blood of Abel. This sentence was carried out when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD, killing more than a million people.

The book of Hebrews also mentions Abel:

Hebrews 12:24: “And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.”

Here Christ’s death is contrasted with Abel’s. Abel died a righteous death, but his blood only cried out for vengeance. Christ’s death was different; He died a death of atonement, and His blood washes away our sins. The blood of Jesus does indeed speak better things than the blood of Abel.

I John 1:2: “For the truth’s sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever.”

This is a very comforting verse. The truth dwells in us, and will always be with us. As Christians we tend to do a lot of striving – striving to stay in the faith, striving to hold on to the truth, striving to live better, striving, striving, striving. But what we should actually be doing is abiding – or resting. Resting in God’s faithfulness. Resting in His promise to never leave or forsake us. Resting in the fact that the Holy Spirit is within us. Resting on the fact that the truth shall be with us forever.

In other words, what we should be doing is resting in His care of us. He is the author of our salvation, and He will make sure that we get safely home. Our salvation is sure because He is sure. Our future is sure because He is faithful. All we need to do is rest in the knowledge that He will not fail. We might fail time and time again, but He will not.