Parashah Noach Message

This last week I was talking with a Jewish friend of mine. We were discussing matters of faith and Jewish life and at one point he turned to me and said, “How Orthodox are you in your Judaism?” I have been asked this question a lot in the past and I have answered it variously but I felt like I was hit by a moment of inspiration, a new way of answering this question so I said, “You know, I am not quite sure that I am orthodox in my Judaism but I am definitely orthopedic in my Judaism. I love to walk where God walks.”

Today, from Parashah Noach, we are going to see today the greatest priority of God is that we walk where God walks.

Ha-Foke-Ba

De-Cola-Ba

Ha-Foke-Ba

Mashiach-Ba

Turn-it and Turn-it

Everything you need is in it.

Turn-it and Turn-it

The Messiah is in it.

Review Last week

Last week we started our series of messages through the book of Genesis. This is a series of messages, rather a study, based on the traditional reading from the Parshiyot (par-shee-OTE) of Genesis each week. If you are new a parashah is the weekly Torah portion. The Jewish community divides the Torah is divided into 54 sections (one for each week of a leap year on the Hebrew lunar calendar), and a specific portion, or parashah, is read each week. Each portion has a Hebrew name. Ours this week is “Noach.” And just because we like to throw in a little confusion you can also call the parashah the sidrah (which is Aramaic and not Hebrew).

Last week, we said that all of the book of Genesis is really about this one verse in .

Genesis 50:20 TLV

Yes, you yourselves planned evil against me. God planned it for good, in order to bring about what it is this day—to preserve the lives of many people.

In other words, Genesis is God’s rescue plan for a rebellious people through Abraham’s family. He enacts this rescue plan even when mankind is in its darkest rebellion, without even asking or seeking it, God shows grace to his rebellious children. Last week, in Parashah Beresheet, we learned that the creation account is only secondarily about the creation of the universe because it is primarily the answer to a two-part question Israel had in their minds: What went wrong? And, what is God’s plan of rescue? What went wrong is that sin changed the image of God into the image of Adam. To get back to the image of God we would have to destroy the image of Adam. Yet, no one could ultimately do that except the serpent crusher of . No one was able to do that 100% until Messiah came. We saw that Rabbi Paul in

Hebrews 1:3 TLV

This Son is the radiance of His glory and the imprint of His being, upholding all things by His powerful word. When He had made purification for our sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

in Parashah Beresheet, w

Messiah, the serpent crusher of , would break the image of Adam by taking a death blow and delivering a death blow. He would show us that God’s definition of using the Image of God for good is using our authority, power, influence for the sake of others betterment. We said this is something real, not just an idea or placebo.

This week we are going to touch on an issue that every person at some point in time has wondered. What is God’s greatest priority for a rebellious world?

A rebellious world where in my lifetime, I have seen the bombing of our embassy in Beirut that killed 63 people, the attack on the World Trade Centers that killed close to 3,000 people from more than 90 countries. The Oklahoma City Bombing hatched by Timothy McVeigh that killed 168. The Columbine Shooting, the Shooting in the Movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado. The massacre in Las Vegas that left 59 dead. Or the horrible acts of the serial killer who cannibalized 19 children in 2006 in India. Or the fact that the United States has the distinct dishonor of being #6 of the Highest amounts of rape per year in the world with almost 90,000 reported cases against women each year. Coming in just under Korea and New Zealand. There is the horrible rise in the porn industry not just amongst men but also women.

We have not even begun to speak about the problem of morality in our nation or in our world. That we are so self-deceived. We are like those who call the dark “light” and the “light” we call dark. John MacArthur in a brilliant article called, “Whatever Happened to Sin?” Talks about Katherine Power and fugitive from the Law for over 23 years. IN the 1970s she participated in a Boston Bank robbery in which a city policeman, the father of nine children, was shot in the back and killed. Pursued by federal authorities for murder, Ms. Power went into hiding. For fourteen years she was one of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. Finally, in late 1993, she surrendered to authorities.

The Vanishing Conscience 1. Whatever Happened to Sin?

In a statement she read to the press, Katherine Power characterized her actions in the bank robbery as “naive and unthinking.” What motivated her to surrender? “I know that I must answer this accusation from the past, in order to live with full authenticity in the present.”

This was not repentance it was therapy.

The Vanishing Conscience Guilt Bashing

Our culture has declared war on guilt. The very concept is considered medieval, obsolete, unproductive. People who trouble themselves with feelings of personal guilt are usually referred to therapists, whose task it is to boost their self-image. No one, after all, is supposed to feel guilty. Guilt is not conducive to dignity and self-esteem. Society encourages sin, but it will not tolerate the guilt sin produces.

Every person at some point in time has wondered. What is God’s greatest priority for a rebellious world? How you answer this question is important because it either leads you to break free from this world or leads you to embrace this world.

Our world, as evil as it is

Noah’s world, Israel’s world, was no different. In our Parashah, it says of Noach’s world ()

Genesis 6:11–12 TLV

Now the earth was ruined before God, and the earth was filled with violence. God saw the earth, and behold it was ruined because all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.

Genesis 6:13 TLV

Then God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh is coming before Me, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. Behold, I am about to bring ruin upon them along with the land.

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Three different times in this verse Moses says the earth was “Shachat” in English we say ruined or corrupt. The word is not an idea it is a word-picture. When something in Hebrew is Shachat it means that it so badly damaged that it is no longer good for use. Remember in it says all the land of Egypt was Shachat because, “A massive swarm of flies went into the house of Pharaoh and into his servant’s houses. All the land of Egypt was ruined because of the swarm of flies.” and Jeremiah talks about the worthlessness of prideful people and

Jeremiah 13:10 TLV

This wicked people, who refuse to hear My words, who walk in the stubbornness of their own heart, and go after other gods to serve them and worship them, will be just like this waistband—worth nothing at all.

Jeremiah 13:7 TLV

So I went to Perath, dug it up and took the waistband from the place where I had hidden it. But to my surprise, the waistband was marred, worth nothing at all.

Jeremiah 13:7 TLV

So I went to Perath, dug it up and took the waistband from the place where I had hidden it. But to my surprise, the waistband was marred, worth nothing at all.

Jeremiah 13:10 TLV

A massive swarm of flies went into the house of Pharaoh and into his servant’s houses. All the land of Egypt was ruined because of the swarm of flies.

Exodus 8:20 TLV

Then Adonai said to Moses, “Rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh. As he comes to the water say to him, This is what Adonai says: Let My people go, that they may serve Me.

Genesis 6:11–12 TLV

Now the earth was ruined before God, and the earth was filled with violence. God saw the earth, and behold it was ruined because all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.

This was the word-picture Moses had in mind.

Holy Scriptures: Tree of Life Version Chapter 8

20ADONAI did just so. A massive swarm of flies went into the house of Pharaoh and into his servant’s houses. All the land of Egypt was ruined because of the swarm of flies.

Genesis 6:11–12 TLV

Now the earth was ruined before God, and the earth was filled with violence. God saw the earth, and behold it was ruined because all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.

The whole world had become useless, worth nothing at all. It was beautiful garden, it was a world that mankind could spread out on and accomplish great things or horrible things. Mankind chose the latter and not the former. The world did not care that God’s greatest priority was for them to walk with God.

We have already said that Noach was part of this world but not part of this world. It said in

Genesis 6:8 TLV

But Noah found favor in Adonai’s eyes.

That Noach found grace. He did not earn grace but grace found him. Because He was grounded in grace, he was walking in obedience.

Genesis 6:9 TLV

These are the genealogies of Noah. Noah was a righteous man. He was blameless among his generation. Noah continually walked with God.

Noach had a very orthopedic form of Judaism. Noach understood that God’s greatest priority is that he wants his rebellious children to walk where he walks.

We know that what made him righteous and blameless is that he liked to walk where God walked. What is interesting about these two terms is that they mean that Noach responded to God’s grace in such a way that God noticed and that in his generation, among his peers, he was stand out upright kind of man that God was not finding fault with. Yet, what is really interesting is that when you do a study of those whom God calls righteous and blameless they are hardly perfect and definitely not sinless. And, the people who God calls righteous and blameless they don’t view themselves that way. They would never walk around saying “look at me, look at me I am so righteous and blameless.” Don’t you remember that in the righteous did not even know they were righteous by caring for Yeshua’s brothers, the people of Israel. He has to tell them they are the righteous ones. The righteous ones and blameless ones realize how deeply they need God’s grace and they refuse to take any credit for themselves.

Then in we are told about an Ark. Yet, this is not an Ark story. The story is really not about an Ark. The story is about how God intends to rescue a man who walked where He walked. This is a rescue story plain and simple. The rescue story of a man who looks and acts a lot like a priest. As a matter of fact, almost all of the vocabulary and even some of the measurements of the ark will show up in the Tabernacle.

Noach is even commanded to collect clean (7 of each species) and unclean (2 of each species). Remember, this is not an ark story this is a rescue story. It is about God rescue the one man who realizes that God’s greatest priority is that he wants to walk with His children. If you don’t understand this, then you will also think that Leviticus is a book about sacrifices. It’s not. Leviticus builds on this story. Leviticus is not a story about sacrifices it is a story about how God wants to dwell among His people who can be righteous and blameless because of the sacrifices. That His highest priority is to have his children reconciled to Him so that he can live among them.

After the flood subsides, Noach and God have this moment. It says

Genesis 8:20–21 TLV

Then Noah built an altar to Adonai and he took of every clean domestic animal and of every clean flying creature and he offered burnt offerings on the altar. When Adonai smelled the soothing aroma, Adonai said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, even though the inclination of the heart of humankind is evil from youth. Nor will I ever again smite all living creatures, as I have done.

Noach acting like a Priest though he had no priestly laws worships His God and God then begins to act in a new way towards Humans. He enters into a covenant relationship with us. It is a covenant where he promises to end hostilities between His kingdom and this world. He promises this in light of the fact, knowing full well that man’s internal Adam like nature is not going to be different. He gives an amazing sign in

Genesis 9:13 TLV

My rainbow do I place in the cloud, and it will be a sign of the covenant between Me and the land.

I have taken out the word “rainbow” and replaced it with the right Hebrew word Qeshet always means a “Bow for Warfare.” The sign is not a cute thing it is a warrior sign. Here the warrior is God who has taken His bow that shot the arrows of the flood and he has “hung it up” to signal that He will no longer pick up this war bow any longer against humans for all times.

Genesis 9:17 TLV

Then God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have confirmed between Me and all flesh that is on the land.”

We wish this was the end of the Parashah. Happy ending, God and human beings are back together and humanity has realized that God’s highest priority is that we would walk with them. The story is supposed to take a positive turn but rather than a positive turn we see that what God gave for Good man turn to Evil

Genesis 9:20–21 TLV

Then Noah, a man of the soil, was first to plant a vineyard. He drank some of the wine, got drunk, and was uncovered in his tent.

How do we know this is “evil?” Here is a clue he is now called “a man of the ground.” He is literally in Hebrew Noach Eesh Ha’adama. It is a clever Hebrew word play meaning, “Noach is a man, an Adamish kind of man.”

Also, the word “first” in English is not really a great translation of the Hebrew. This word in is only used three times. Once here, once in to describe Nimrod’s activity and once in to describe the builders activity at the tower of Babel. The Hebrew word is Chalal and it means either to start or to profane or debase something. Rashi, the famous Jewish exegete, properly translates this phrase as “Noach debased himself” by planting a vineyard because of his craving for wine.

One writer said it well, “With the opportunity to start an ideal society, Noah was found drunk in his tent.” Although wine alleviates to some degree the painful toil of this life, the Old Testament warned of the moral dangers attending this new step in human enterprise. Those who served the Lord in the temple (), those taking vows (), and those making leadership decisions () were warned of its use. The story of Noah shows two degrading effects of the abuse of wine—drunkenness and lack of self-control shown by nakedness. While no blame is attached to his planting the vineyard, it is difficult to ignore the prophetic oracles that use nakedness and drunkenness in their descriptions of chaotic tragedies (see, e.g., ; ). The Hebrew may not have prohibited the use of wine for everyone, but it never excused drunkenness and nakedness.

After the family breakdown where two boys cover their fathers shame and one exposes it we see again the pattern of sin leading to family breakdown and curses. We are left wondering will anyone else realize that God’s greatest priority is that men walk where he walks?

With the opportunity to start an ideal society, Noah was found drunk in his tent”

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We get an answer. No, people don’t want to walk where God walks. We are introduced a to a genealogical line that is not really a genealogy in it is a political map showing you how ancient alliance and powerful city states emerged in the Mesopotamian world. Moses wants us to know this political genealogy is complete so the number of peoples and groups totals 70. And, one of the descendants of Ham the cursed son of Noach emerges, He has actually’s Ham’s grandson through Cush named “Nimrod.”

Genesis 10:8–12 TLV

Now Cush fathered Nimrod. He started to become mighty in the land. He was a mighty hunter before Adonai. This is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before Adonai.” The beginning of his kingdom included Babel, Erech, Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. From that land he went out to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rechovot-ir, Calah and Resen, between Nineveh and Calah—it is the great city.

His father Cush, the son of Ham, must have really hated, despised the curse that Noach his grandfather had placed on him. So Cush names his youngest son Nimrod which comes is translated from Hebrew to mean, “We Rebel!” Henry Morris said it best,

The Genesis Record: A Scientific and Devotional Commentary on the Book of Beginnings Genesis 10:8, 9

The inference is that Cush trained Nimrod from childhood to be a leader in a planned and organized rebellion against God’s purposes for mankind. Had God destined them to perpetual servitude to the descendants of Shem and Japheth? Oh, no! They would rule instead!

The Jerusalem Targum agrees and says of this passage, “He was powerful in hunting and in wickedness before the Lord, for he was a hunter of the sons of men, and he said to them, ‘Depart from the judgment of the Lord, and adhere to the judgment of Nimrod!’ Therefore is it said: ‘As Nimrod the strong one, strong in hunting, and in wickedness before the Lord.’”

Moses wants us to see that Nimrod’s activities were magnetic. People were looking for a great leader and they found it in Nimrod and it says in

He was powerful in hunting and in wickedness before the Lord, for he was a hunter of the sons of men, and he said to them, “Depart from the judgment of the Lord, and adhere to the judgment of Nimrod!” Therefore is it said: “As Nimrod the strong one, strong in hunting, and in wickedness before the Lord.”

Genesis 11:1–2 TLV

Now the entire earth had the same language with the same vocabulary. When they traveled eastward, they found a valley-plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.

Once they arrived there they took on the very leadership mantle of Nimro and

Genesis 11:4 TLV

Then they said, “Come! Let’s build ourselves a city, with a tower whose top reaches into heaven. So let’s make a name for ourselves, or else we will be scattered over the face of the whole land.”

We know the rest of the story. We know the Lord was not pleased with their human achievements. He was not pleased but He had hung up his bow. He would not wipe them out with water but he would scatter them and divide them. This is no doubt why it says that Eber named his son Peleg because the land was divided. I know that everyone loves to read an ancient world with one body mass being broken up at this point but that is not great Hebrew. Eber would have been at the tower according to the genealogy and he names His son Peleg as a reminder to all future descendants that God’s plans will not be overturned. And after Babel we get another genealogy that will get us ready for God’s next major movement: Abram.

But we need to linger just a minute to think about our portion a little deeper.

Conclusion

Hear at Babel, we learn something. On the one hand we learn that those who devote themselves to themselves will ultimately have nothing but themselves to show for themselves. This is the end of man’s self driven kingdom. This was it looks like when mankind travels this far east of Eden. But if your highest priority is the same as God’s highest priority, walking with God, then you will have the kingdom of God to show for yourself.

Here is the thing we don’t get this whole Kingdom of God business because we are confused about what heaven is and what earth is and what the kingdom of God is.