Men repopulate the world and the whole earth has one language but few
words. I didn't pick up on the significance of "but few words". Does
that mean man is in such harmony, nuanced speech is unnecessary?
Anyway, men come from the east and settle in the plain of Shinor. They
baked brick and built a city. Within the city, they started to builda
tower to reach to the heavens.
God comes down (again,
he doesn't seem omnipresent yet) to the city and tower. God is worried
that if they complete the tower, "nothing" will be impossible for "them"
(man). He then calls on "us" to go down and confuse their language and
confuse them. Again, the reference to "us" indicates there is more
than one divine being. More interesting, though, is that if man were
able to work together, nothing is impossible. Including, it seems,
becoming a threat to God. And since God just wiped out almost the
entire human race a couple of chapters back, it would seem that he would
have a problem on his hands if this were so. Better get to confusing
that language!
The men abandon the city, called Babel.
Also interesting is that in the immediately preceding chapter states
that the sons of Ham, Shem and Japeth already have different languages.
Is this story out of place in the chronology, or does this reflect
sloppy editing?
The rest of the chapter describes the
genealogy of Shem to Abraham. Terah is the father of Abram and Nahor,
who is the father of Lot. Nahor dies in Ur and Abram and his wife Sarai
take in Lot.
Asimov says the names of the descendant's
of Noah's sons represent tribes or nations. The descendants of Shem
occupy the Arabian peninsula. "Semetic", the name of the languages
these people speak derive from the Greek/Latin name for Shem. Ham's
people settle in the corner of Africa nearest Asia and speak Hamatic
languages. Japeth's people settle to the northeast of the
Tigris/Euphrates.
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Matthew 10
Jesus gives his disciples the power to heal and cast out spirits. He also instructs them on how to spread his teachings. He further tells them to not fear those that can destroy the body but not the soul.
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Genesis 10
This chapter is a recitation of the genealogy of Shem, Ham and
Japeth. One of Japeth's sons is Magog, which I know we'll be hearing
about later when we get to the apocalyptic prophecies. Japeth's sons
reside in what is now Asia Minor/Turkey. Hame's sons inhabit Canaan and
Cush, or the Egyptian empire as it stood at the time of the writing of
this chapter. Cush is the father of Nimrod, a hunter and the first of
the "mighty men". Shem is the father of the Semetic people, including
all "Hebrews" who would become Israel.
Asimov discusses Ararat and extensive flooding that would seem to cover the entire world to the ancient people along the Nile, Tigris and Euphrates. He thinks the reference to the "fountains of the deep" might indicate a tidal wave, which combined with heavy rains and flooding, would be catastrophic to ancients living in the flood plain .
Sumerian legend tells of the great hero Gilgamesh who also saved his family and samples of animals on a boat from a bad flood in Sumerian legend. Noah's story shares other plot points with the Gilgamesh legend, indicating it is a much older tale.
The ark settled in the "mountains of Ararat", not a specific mountain.
Asimov discusses Ararat and extensive flooding that would seem to cover the entire world to the ancient people along the Nile, Tigris and Euphrates. He thinks the reference to the "fountains of the deep" might indicate a tidal wave, which combined with heavy rains and flooding, would be catastrophic to ancients living in the flood plain .
Sumerian legend tells of the great hero Gilgamesh who also saved his family and samples of animals on a boat from a bad flood in Sumerian legend. Noah's story shares other plot points with the Gilgamesh legend, indicating it is a much older tale.
The ark settled in the "mountains of Ararat", not a specific mountain.
Monday, February 23, 2015
Matthew 9
Jesus recruits Matthew, a tax collector, to follow him. When challenged by the priests for associating with disreputable types like tax collectors, Jesus says he was not sent for the righteous, but for the sinners. Jesus then resurrects the daughter of a local "ruler". His following grows.
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Genesis 9
God blesses Noah and his sons, tells them to be fruitful and
multiply. Further, God will put the dread of men in all beasts, birds
and fish and gives all plants and animals to man to eat. However, a few
rules go along with this gift:
* May not eat something that is alive or its blood
* Requires a reckoning of the blood of every beast and man; and
* If man sheds blood, his blood shall be shed.
God then again promises to never destroy earth by flood again and gives the rainbow as a symbol of this covenant.
Noah's sons leave the ark and become the fathers of all of earth's peoples. Noah plants a vineyard, makes wine, gets drunk and passes out naked in his tent. So the father and sons are going in different directions after the trauma of enduring the death of almost all life on earth. Anyway, Ham, who becomes father of Canaan (unclear if "Canaan" is a person or a general description of the peoples that lived in Canaan) discovers a drunk, naked, passed out Noah and goes out to tell his brothers.
Shem and Japeth get a garment and enter Noah's tent walking backwards so as to not see Noah's nakedness and cover him with the garment. Noah comes to and is enraged. He curses Canaan (again, unclear if this is Ham's son or the land) as the slave of the other two brothers. Seems a slight overreaction to these modern eyes, but this seems sanctioned by God, so who am I to argue.
Asimov discusses the enigmatic character of Enoch, the one that walked with God. Asimov notes that the genealogical chains of Cain and Enoch are very similar. Also, the extreme ages of the patriarchs appear to be borrowed from Sumerian legend, where many heroes would live up to 65,000 years. Enoch lives for 365 years before walking with God, coincidentally the same number of days in a year, while his father lives 965 years and his son 969.
God's commandments:
* May not eat something that is alive or its blood.
Noah's ability to obey: does not say
My ability to obey: nothing better than a cool center rare filet mignon. I've defied this commandment many, many times.
* Requires a reckoning of the blood of every beast and man; and
Not sure really what this means. I think it may mean that every death must be accounted for, such as a murderer brought to justice or thanks given to God for meat. Not sure, though.
Noah's ability to obey: does not say
My ability to obey: Again, not really sure what this means, so not sure. I'm for law and order and try to be grateful for food I eat.
* If man sheds blood, his blood shall be shed.
Noah's ability to obey: No mention of murders, so do not know.
My ability to obey: I support capital punishment, and vote for politicians that also support it, although I've never directly participated in an execution personally. I think I pass.
* May not eat something that is alive or its blood
* Requires a reckoning of the blood of every beast and man; and
* If man sheds blood, his blood shall be shed.
God then again promises to never destroy earth by flood again and gives the rainbow as a symbol of this covenant.
Noah's sons leave the ark and become the fathers of all of earth's peoples. Noah plants a vineyard, makes wine, gets drunk and passes out naked in his tent. So the father and sons are going in different directions after the trauma of enduring the death of almost all life on earth. Anyway, Ham, who becomes father of Canaan (unclear if "Canaan" is a person or a general description of the peoples that lived in Canaan) discovers a drunk, naked, passed out Noah and goes out to tell his brothers.
Shem and Japeth get a garment and enter Noah's tent walking backwards so as to not see Noah's nakedness and cover him with the garment. Noah comes to and is enraged. He curses Canaan (again, unclear if this is Ham's son or the land) as the slave of the other two brothers. Seems a slight overreaction to these modern eyes, but this seems sanctioned by God, so who am I to argue.
Asimov discusses the enigmatic character of Enoch, the one that walked with God. Asimov notes that the genealogical chains of Cain and Enoch are very similar. Also, the extreme ages of the patriarchs appear to be borrowed from Sumerian legend, where many heroes would live up to 65,000 years. Enoch lives for 365 years before walking with God, coincidentally the same number of days in a year, while his father lives 965 years and his son 969.
God's commandments:
* May not eat something that is alive or its blood.
Noah's ability to obey: does not say
My ability to obey: nothing better than a cool center rare filet mignon. I've defied this commandment many, many times.
* Requires a reckoning of the blood of every beast and man; and
Not sure really what this means. I think it may mean that every death must be accounted for, such as a murderer brought to justice or thanks given to God for meat. Not sure, though.
Noah's ability to obey: does not say
My ability to obey: Again, not really sure what this means, so not sure. I'm for law and order and try to be grateful for food I eat.
* If man sheds blood, his blood shall be shed.
Noah's ability to obey: No mention of murders, so do not know.
My ability to obey: I support capital punishment, and vote for politicians that also support it, although I've never directly participated in an execution personally. I think I pass.
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Matthew 8
Jesus cures a leper. A centurion asks Jesus to cure his servant. Jesus asks to see the servant, but the centurion says he believes Jesus can cure him without seeing him, which Jesus does. The centurion says he knows Jesus can do this because his subordinates are obedient to him so he knows disease is subordinate to Jesus.
Jesus proceeds to cast out demons and heal the sick. He tells his followers that all things come second to obedience to his call. If Jesus and your father both call you, you heed Jesus' call. He calms a storm that is upsetting the boat Jesus and his disciples are on. Finally, in one of his most famous feats, two "demoniacs" approach him and beg that Jesus cast the demons out of them. Jesus does so, sending the demons to a herd of pigs, which proceed to jump off a cliff.
Asimov is still back on Mary, I told you there would be a lag. When I finish this, I'll try to come back and synch these all up. In any event, he discusses Matthew's description of Mary being a virgin at Jesus' conception, noting a passage in Isaiah 7:14. However, Isaiah was written in Hebrew and the word he uses refers in general to a young woman, virgin or not. There are no other references to a virgin birth in the rest of the NT. Asimov notes there are many virgin births in mythology that may have influenced Matthew's account.
Further, the genealogy in Matthew has Joseph the direct line of David, not Mary, so David's blood does not flow in Jesus' veins as he is the product of Mary and the Holy Ghost, not Joseph. Asimov notes that some Christians have a "tradition" that Mary is of David's line as well, but it is not described by Matthew. Hmmm.
Jesus proceeds to cast out demons and heal the sick. He tells his followers that all things come second to obedience to his call. If Jesus and your father both call you, you heed Jesus' call. He calms a storm that is upsetting the boat Jesus and his disciples are on. Finally, in one of his most famous feats, two "demoniacs" approach him and beg that Jesus cast the demons out of them. Jesus does so, sending the demons to a herd of pigs, which proceed to jump off a cliff.
Asimov is still back on Mary, I told you there would be a lag. When I finish this, I'll try to come back and synch these all up. In any event, he discusses Matthew's description of Mary being a virgin at Jesus' conception, noting a passage in Isaiah 7:14. However, Isaiah was written in Hebrew and the word he uses refers in general to a young woman, virgin or not. There are no other references to a virgin birth in the rest of the NT. Asimov notes there are many virgin births in mythology that may have influenced Matthew's account.
Further, the genealogy in Matthew has Joseph the direct line of David, not Mary, so David's blood does not flow in Jesus' veins as he is the product of Mary and the Holy Ghost, not Joseph. Asimov notes that some Christians have a "tradition" that Mary is of David's line as well, but it is not described by Matthew. Hmmm.
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Genesis 8
God "remembers" Noah and recedes the waters after 150 days. Again,
it seems God is not omnipotent nor omnipresent as it seems the last
living things on his creation appear to have slipped his mind. In any
event, on the seventeenth day of the seventh month, the ark comes to
rest in the mountains of Ararat, which Asimov tells us lies in eastern
Turkey. Then the Bible says on the tenth day of the tenth month, the
tops of the mountains could be seen. However, the ark has already come
to a rest in Ararat, but only now the mountains can be seen? I'm
missing something.
Noah sends out a raven, which does not return. He then sends out a dove, which does. Seven days later he sends out the dove again, which returns with an olive branch. Seven days later he sends out the dove again and it does not return. Lots of sevens in this chapter.
Noah then makes an offering of the clean animals and the smell is pleasing to God. God makes a covenant that he will never again curse the ground because of man or destroy every living thing as he had done. This appears to lift the curse on the ground he made in response to Adam's disobedience way back in Genesis 3:17.
No new laws from God and it appears God is done killing this go around. I wonder where the raven went.
Noah sends out a raven, which does not return. He then sends out a dove, which does. Seven days later he sends out the dove again, which returns with an olive branch. Seven days later he sends out the dove again and it does not return. Lots of sevens in this chapter.
Noah then makes an offering of the clean animals and the smell is pleasing to God. God makes a covenant that he will never again curse the ground because of man or destroy every living thing as he had done. This appears to lift the curse on the ground he made in response to Adam's disobedience way back in Genesis 3:17.
No new laws from God and it appears God is done killing this go around. I wonder where the raven went.
Monday, February 16, 2015
Matthew 7
Jesus again inveighs against hypocrites, instructing them to not point out a speck in a brother's eye when there is a plank in your own. Do not give what is holy to dogs or throw pearls before swine. It is wasted effort. Don't take the easy way, but instead go through the narrow gate. Finally, beware of false prophets in sheep's clothing, for they are wolves.
Basically, Jesus' instructions on how to use His teachings.
Basically, Jesus' instructions on how to use His teachings.
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