Seedplots

What makes it unforgettable is the overwhelming presence of life – everything grows and multiplies at an astounding pace.  This is precisely the picture in Genesis 1.  God speaks living things into existence, blesses them and they begin multiplying (vs.. 11, 20, 24, 26, 28).

The world simply teems with life.  In chapter 2 God breathed into man’s “nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature” (vs.. 7).  He planted in the midst of the garden “the tree of life” (vs.. 9).

Life vs… Death
In chapter 2, this emphasis on life is set in sharp contrast to death,

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,  but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (vs.. 16-17)

Life, the author reminds us, comes from God.  Death comes from disobeying God.  The choice is given to man – life or death, living God’s way, or one’s own way.

Death
Adam and Eve chose their own way, and suffered the consequences – consequences that affected not only them, but their children.  Whereas Adam had been “made in God’s likeness” (Genesis 5:1), the children he fathered were in his own fallen likeness, “after his own image” (vs.. 3).

The depressing consequences are highlighted in Genesis 5.  Notice the author’s pattern:

xxx lived xxx years, fathered xxx, had other sons and daughters.  Thus xxx lived xxxx years, and he died.

This pattern doesn’t occur in Genesis 11, where another major genealogy occurs.   The difference is in the little phrase “and he died.” Why is it added here in Genesis 5?

Walking with God
Apparently to highlight the one exception to the depressing pattern – Enoch.  Unlike all the others in the list, Enoch’s time on earth ended differently – “Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him” (vs.. 24).

We are told by contemporary artists, “Not matter how hard you try, life is hard, then you die.” Yes, that’s true.  Because of the garden and Adam and Eve’s decision to go their own way, that’s the way it is.

But there is a way out of this depressing cycle.  Enoch’s way.  The author of Genesis wants us to understand one thing – Enoch “walked with God” and instead of dying, he lived.
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Noah

Noah – finding favor with God

“But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord” (Gen 6:8). Two questions arise from this verse that simply beg for answering: What does this mean? and Why did Noah “find favor” with God?   The Hebrew expression used here for “find favor [in the eyes of ]” is an idiom meaning:

• to be an object of another’s favorable disposition
• to be a recipient of another’s  favor, kindness, mercy

The favor/kindness is often earned, coming in response to an action or condition (see Gen 32:5; 39:4; Deut 24:1; 1 Sam 25:8; Prov. 3:4; Ruth 2:10). What the texts tells us about God’s approval of Noah is not common in Scripture. Moses is told directly that he has found “favor” with God (Exodus 33:12-13, 17).  Similar “divine approval” is hinted at in Judges 6:17 (Gideon), 2 Samuel 15;25 (David) and Genesis 18:3,10,33 (Abraham). The ultimate recipient, of course, of the Father’s favor or divine approval is God’s own Son, Jesus. With him the Father was “well pleased” (Matthew 3:17).

Why did God show favor to Noah, and not to other contemporaries?  The context provides the answer.  Noah is set in contrast to the others of his generation, people who were “wicked” and “evil” (verse 5). The “thoughts of their hearts” and their conduct “grieved God” (Genesis 6:6).  “But Noah…” (vs. 8 ) was different; he was “a righteous man, blameless in his generation.   Noah walked with God” (Genesis 6:9, cf. Ezekiel 14:14).

His conduct didn’t save.  But his conduct led to God’s sovereign decision to show Noah His favor:

This does not mean that Noah’s character automatically secures divine favor, for God is under no obligation to bestow his favor. It presupposes a relationship. The proper emphasis in our passage is God’s gracious favor… Genesis’s “grace” and “righteousness” (6:8-9) joined by Noah’s “faith” is brought together in the theological reflection of the writer to the Hebrews. He interpreted Noah’s obedient “fear” as “faith” that resulted in a saving “righteousness” (Heb 11:7) (Expositor’s Bible Commentary).

Noah wasn’t perfect. Genesis 9 makes that clear!  Noah does, however, provide a vivid example of a person whose life “heralded righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5) to an evil generation. He feared God more than he feared the people around him.  And God was pleased!
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Lot

Important choices, turning points in our lives, often pop up unexpectedly and shape the course of our lives in radical ways.  Both Abram and Lot faced such choices.

The God Almighty appeared to Abram, seemingly out of the blue, and told him to “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” (Gen 12:1).  Abram was living in one of the world’s commercial centers.  He was surrounded by family, and enjoying stability, prosperity and a bright future.  Leave it, God said, and go.   And he “went out, not knowing where he was going” (Hebrews 11:8).

Lot, his nephew, also faced a choice.  His uncle asked him to choose, “So Abram said to Lot, ‘Please let there be no strife between you and me.. Please separate from me; if to the left, then I will go to the right; or if to the right, then I will go to the left’ “ (Genesis 13:8-9).   By all rights, Abram should have decided.  He was the older uncle, Lot’s provider and protector.  But Abram acted with graciousness and generosity.  And Lot took advantage of his uncle.   “Lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the valley of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere…  So Lot chose for himself all the valley of the Jordan” (Genesis 13:10-11).

In Scripture, Lot’s foolish, self-centered choice is contrasted with Abram’s God-centered choice.  Abram made his choice with an eye to the future.  The book of Hebrews tells us that Abram’s choice was a step of faith.  He lived in tents, as a alien, “looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (Heb 11:10).   Lot’s choice was more worldly wise.  He criteria for choosing was different.  He looked at which option promised success, prosperity and a comfortable life.  There was one glaring problem with Lot’s reasoning.  His choice required that him to live among wicked, ungodly people.  Scripture calls them “great sinners against the Lord.”

So what was the result?  Because of his choice of faith, Abram became a “friend of God.” Of the many ways God blessed Abram, I think this was the greatest.  He became the “father” of the people of God and his seed was none other than Jesus himself.  Lot?  His life is a tragedy.  Look at the consequences of his decision:

1.  He lost his “spiritual” bearings
Living in this ungodly setting his soul was corrupted.  Peter tells us he ended up “greatly distressed … tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard”

2.  He lost his way
Instead of being successful, as he expected, Lot ended up in trouble – a prisoner of an invading army.  He had to be rescued by the very uncle whom he had failed to treat with respect.  Had not Abram intervened, at great risk to himself, his household, and his “business” Lot would have lost everything.

3.  He lost his family
Instead of influencing those among whom Lot lived, the ungodly people around him influenced his family. His daughters were pledged to be married to unbelievers.  When Lot was told to flee Sodom, he was told to “bring with your son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters” they thought he was jesting.”  Only his daughters followed him out of the city.  He had lost his moral and spiritual authority.  His wife too had been affected by life in that environment and was loathe to live it behind.  She ended up losing her life in the judgment.

4. He lost his reputation
Lot’s end was tragic.  His business success, the motivation for his initial choice, collapsed overnight.  Lot lost everything.  He ended up in a lonely man living in a cave with his two daughters.  He ended up the father of two nations, conceived as a result of incest with his daughters.  Two peoples that were bitter enemies of the people of God.

Our choices are important.  The consequences of our choices are often more far-reaching than we can imagine.  God, give us the grace to make wise choices, and remember that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

Samuel

Samson and Samuel

In his outstanding reference book on Old Testament Theology, Bruce Waltke draws attention to the striking parallels and contrasts between Samson and Samuel.

Both men are raised up by God to deliver his people.

Samson’s mother, Manaoh, is barren as is Samuel’s mother, Hannah.  Their sons come only after divine intervention.

In Samson’s case, his mother is cynical and God sends an angel to convince her.  In Samuel’s case, his mother is godly and receives her son through prayer.

After their birth, Hannah expresses her joy through a wonderful hymn of praise to God.  No words of praise are recorded for Manaoh.

Both sons are dedicated to God at birth.  Samson resents this and rebels against his Nazirite consecration to God.  Samuel embraces his consecration to God and serves God faithfully.

Samson delivers the nation from the Philistines through acts of violence.  Samuel delivers the nation from the Philistines through prayer (1 Sam 7, cf. 12:23).

Samson’s efforts at uniting and delivering the nation succeed only in postponing defeat. Samuel’s ministry ultimately transforms the nation from victims to victors, and he anoints David as God’s chosen king.  Ultimately his ministry laid the foundation for the promise of great King, the “Son of David” in 2 Samuel 7.

I’m struck by the mother’s role in both cases.  Hannah, Samuel’s mother, was a woman of God who prayed.  Samuel, the one “asked of God” became a man who led the nation by prayer.  Manaoh doesn’t appear to have been a godly woman and her son, Samson, “served God” in a godless way.  God’s work goes forward God’s way – by prayer.

Lots of lessons here!  I don’t think the parallels are in the text by accident – they’re meant to teach us something.
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A cry of desperation and a new beginning (Samuel)

Saul

Looking for lost donkeys