Reflections from January 6, 2011

Lot's of history unfolds in today' reading beginning with God's covenant with the earth and its inhabitants Noah and ending with the birth of Abram.

God's covenant is recorded for us in Genesis 9:11 where He says,
"Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth."

Of course, we all know that's why we see rainbows today, as a reminder of this covenant. The interesting thing to me is that before this point in time, there had never been a rainbow, because there had never been a rainstorm. The earth was covered in a mist, and that provided the plants with water, and now the rain provided that water.

Chapter 10 gives the genealogy of Noah and his three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth. Japheth became father to the Gentiles with his descendents settling in the northern Mediterranean area such as Greece. Ham is father to the Palistinians in the land of Caanan who was Noah's grandson. And Shem is father to the Israelites who's descendant includes Abram. The fact that essentially all nations came from Noah is reiterated in Genesis 10:32 which says,

"These were the families of the sons of Noah, according to their generations, in their nations; and from those nations were divided on the earth after the flood."

Abram was in the line of Shem, who ended up around the southern end of the Euphrates River which today is near the border of Iraq and Kuwait. However, Abram's family did not stay there, since we'll read soon how God promised Abram the land of Caanan, not the land in Persia. We read in Genesis 11:31,

"And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram's wife, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Caanan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there."

All of this information sets the stage for the Old Testament, because it's through Abram that salvation comes to mankind with the birth of Jesus Christ, and today marks the violence that exists in that part of the world today.

Blessings to all