Genesis 8
LORD gives command regarding animalverses 1-5
And the LORD said to Noah
Come you and all your house into the ark
for your have I seen RIGHTEOUS
before ME in this generation
OF every clean beast you shalt take to you by sevens
the male and his female – and of beasts that are not clean
by two – the male and his female
OF fowls also of the air by sevens – the male and the female
to keep seed alive upon the face of the earth
FOR yet seven days – and I will cause it to rain on the earth
forty days and forty nights – and every living thing that
I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth
And Noah did according to all that the LORD had commanded him
Age of Noah when he entered the arkverses 6-10
And Noah was six hundred year old when the flood of waters was
on the earth – and Noah went in – and his wife
and his sons – and his sons’ wives with him – into the ark
BECAUSE of the waters of the FLOOD
Of clean beasts – and of beasts that are not clean – and of fowls
and of everything that creeps upon the earth
There went in two and two to Noah into the ark
the male and the female – as God had commanded Noah
And it came to pass after seven days
that the waters of the FLOOD were on the earth
Rained for forty days and forty nightsverses 11-20
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 broken up
and the windows of heaven were opened
And the rain was on the earth
forty days and forty nights
In the very same day entered Noah – Shem – Ham
Japheth the sons of Noah – and Noah’s wife
and the three wives of his sons with them
into the ark
They – every beast after its kind all cattle after their kind
every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind
every fowl after its kind every bird of every sort
And they that went in unto Noah into the ark
two and two of all flesh – wherein is the BREATH of LIFE
And they that went in – went in male and female of all flesh
as God had commanded him – and the LORD shut him in
And the FLOOD was forty days on the earth – and the waters increased
and bore up the ark – and it was lifted up above the earth
And the waters prevailed and were increased greatly upon the earth
and the ark went upon the face of the waters
And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth – and the high hills
that were under the whole heaven were covered
Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail
and the mountains were covered
Residents not in the arkverses 21-24
And all flesh died that moved on the earth
both of fowl – cattle – beast and every creeping thing
that creeps upon the earth – and every man
All in whose nostrils was the BREATH of LIFE
of all that was in the dry land – DIED
And every living thing was DESTROYED which was on
the face of the ground – both man – cattle
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
And the waters prevailed upon the earth an
hundred and fifty days
COMMENTARY:
DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers
: 1 And the LORD said to Noah, Come you and all your house into the ark; for you have I seen righteous before me in this generation. (6662 “righteous” [tsaddiyq] means just, one who has a just cause, rightly, truly, upright, characterized by or proceeding form accepted standards of morality or justice, innocent or guiltless)
DEVOTION: Our responsibility as a believer is to live a righteous life with the help and strength of the Holy Spirit. Noah was the only one who found grace in the sight of the LORD in his generation. It is a sad fact.
Everyone in his generation knew about the LORD from the stories that were transmitted from parents to children. Remember this was only a few generations from Enoch. He walked with God. Now we have Noah walking with God. The knowledge of how to walk with God was available.
Noah was a preacher of righteousness to his generation. They didn’t want to hear his message. They rejected the message all the way until they lost their lives in the flood.
We live in a generation that is not interested in Jesus Christ. Many in the church are nominal believers or believers who don’t practice serving the LORD during the week. They come to church maybe with their own Bible that they have not read all week. They don’t bring an offering because they feel they need it more than God. Most of them don’t even sing during the service.
God wants us to be known for our service to HIM. HE wants us to be a witness through our mouth and through our actions. People need to know the LORD and they need to know that you have repented of your sins and asked Jesus to be a part of your life.
There is another day of judgment coming that doesn’t include a worldwide flood. This judgment of this world is going to be with fire. God is going to cleanse this world of sin after the Millennium. In the meantime HE wants us to warn people of HIS coming and their coming judgment if they don’t repent and follow Jesus Christ.
CHALLENGE: Do people see us as righteous?
DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers
: 2 Of every clean beast you shall take to you by sevens, the male and his female; and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. (2891 “clean” [taher] means purify, purge, to be clean ceremonially, to purify, be clean morally, or flawless)
DEVOTION: Should we assume that everyone understands why there are seven clean animals and only two unclean animals? The answer of course is NO!!
God established animal sacrifice with Adam and Eve. HE gave them their first coat of skins from an animal. Abel knew that God wanted an animal sacrifice and offered it to HIM. Each generation has been taught that animal sacrifice for sins was necessary.
Now Noah is taking the only animals to live with him on the ark. They are going to be the animals that reproduce after the flood. So the seven clean animals were going to be available for sacrifice to the LORD for Noah and his family and their descendants.
Also God gave commandments regarding the eating habits of HIS people. They were only to eat the meat of clean animals. In the beginning, only herbs or fruit were to be eaten. Then God allowed meat to be eaten. Now we are allowed to eat anything.
Unclean animals were not to be used for sacrifices to the LORD or to be eaten. They were going to reproduce to replenish the earth. Other animals would be eating the unclean animals.
God created an ecosystem that works. HE knew what was necessary for our planet to work well. We have to thank HIM for that and also for the fact that we are not offering animal sacrifices now to HIM since HIS Son, Jesus Christ came to die for our sins.
Thank the LORD for HIS Son first and then thank HIM for the food we eat each time we do.
CHALLENGE: We are to pray before each meal no matter where we are. It is part of our service to HIM.
: 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 broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. (699 “windows” [’arubbah] means a lattice, chimney, sluice, or floodgate of the sky.
DEVOTION: The flood came as promised by the LORD. Noah obeyed the LORD and took one hundred years to build the ark. Noah took the animals the LORD commanded on the ark. Noah took his family on the ark. God closed the door on the ark when everyone was aboard that HE wanted aboard.
It rained forty days and forty nights. The water went over twenty feet over the highest mountain. It sounds unreal but if the Bible says that it happened – it happened. Do you believe? Should you believe? One of the choices we have to make in life is to either believe the Bible is true or it is not. If it is not that we don’t have to worry about eternity because it is not going to happen. But if it is right and there is life after death then we better chose to believe the Bible.
God has control of what comes down from heaven. It can be blessings (Mal. 3: 10) or it can be a flood of water. Here we have the flood of water. It rained for the first time in history and it lasted forty days and nights. Before the flood a mist that covered the earth watered the ground. Noah had the assignment of bring animals into the ark. He had the help of his family to build the ark and bring the animals into the ark. There was a difference between clean and unclean animals established in Noah’s time. Noah’s family was in the ark for over a year with all those animals.
Notice that the time line is exact 2/17/600 when he entered the ark. A side note, someone has said that Methuselah lived to help Noah build the ark and died when it was finished. All those who wouldn’t listen to Noah’s preaching died in the flood.
Can we imagine what their thoughts were when the flood did come? We would rather have the floodgates of blessing that God can open to us. We have the responsibility to preach righteousness to all those around us. Noah did for a hundred years or more and no one responded but he kept doing it until he entered the ark.
CHALLENGE: Don’t look for results but faithfulness in yourself and others. That is what God is looking for in you and I.
DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers
: 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 (801 “wives” [ishshah] means woman, female, queen, or woman belonging to man)
DEVOTION: The prevailing attitude was everyone doing whatever pleased them except Noah and his family. Noah and his family wanted to please the LORD. They obeyed the commands of the LORD.
When God told them to enter the ark they went in. Only those who God wanted on the ark were there. It was only eight humans that entered the ark.
The eight were Noah and his wife, his three sons and their wives. So there were four men and four women on the ark. There were no other humans on the ark.
Note that each man was married to one woman according to the plan the LORD laid down at the beginning of creation. Those who were in Noah’s family were following the commands of the LORD. The command was one man with one woman for life.
The rest of society in Noah’s day was doing wickedness regularly. They were following the example of Cain’s descendants. They were doing evil in the sight of the LORD and had to be judged for their actions.
The flood was to give God’s creation a fresh start again. They were giving into their sin nature rather than obeying the LORD. They knew the difference but were making fun of Noah as he built the ark in obedience to the LORD.
Today we are going to be made fun of if we try to live for the LORD. People will not understand why we are trying to please the LORD when it seems so wrong to them. We are going to try to forgive those who make fun of us and tell them the truth regarding their future without the LORD. We are going to share the gospel with them, so that, they might join us in heaven for eternity.
CHALLENGE: When we understand what the world thinks of Jesus and still does, we want to share the message of salvation with them, they will not understand.
: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. (5462 “shut” [cagar] means 1 to shut, close. 1a (Qal). 1a1 to shut. 1a2 to close, close up. 1a3 closed up, closely joined, shut up. 1b (Niphal). 1b1 to be shut up. 1b2 to be shut or closed. 1c (Piel) to shut up, deliver up. 1d (Pual) to be shut up. 1e (Hiphil). 1e1 to deliver up. 1e2 to shut up, imprison. [Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship])
DEVOTION: After 100 years of preaching, Noah and his family are the last ones to enter the safety of the ark. All the animals had already been put inside, along with the provisions that God had instructed Him to take. Can you imagine what it would have been like to spend 100 years talking with your friends, family, and neighbors about the coming judgment, only to find no one who would believe you? Noah and his family entered the ark, knowing that the world as they knew it would be changed forever (even if they didn’t know what would happen to them after the flood).
As they entered the ark to await their next step and new future, God shut the door of the ark behind them. There was only one door, and everyone and everything which was to be rescued had to enter that one door. Yet it would not stay open forever; God’s hand of mercy and protection was upon Noah and his family when God shut the door. This also had the effect of locking others out, so that when the rains did start falling as Noah had predicted, no one else could seek the safety of the ark. Noah could not open the door for them any longer.
Sometimes God shows us His will for our lives by shutting doors to opportunities that we are considering as part of His will for our lives. He wants us to trust Him as being completely in control, and will not make a mistake in terms of what is going to happen to us. It is in these times that our faith is truly tested. There will also come a day when the door of repentance is no longer open, and men will stand face-to-face with the God which they have rejected.
CHALLENGE: Are you facing a closed door in your life right now? Realize that God sometimes does this in order to make us dependent on Him. (MW)
DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:
BODY
Chastity (Purity in living)
Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)
Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)
Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)
Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)
SOUL
Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)
Frugality (wise use of resources)
Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)
Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)
Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)
SPIRIT
Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)
Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)
Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)
Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)
Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)
DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:
Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)
God the Father (First person of the Godhead)
LORD (Jehovah)verses 1, 5, 16
Creatorverse 4
God (Elohim)verses 9, 16
LORD shut them in arkverse 16
God the Son (Second person of the Godhead –God/man, Messiah)
God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)
Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)
Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)
Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)
Noahverses 1-24
Forty days and nights of rain
Every living being: destroyed
Six hundred years old: time of flood
Second month and seventeenth day
Shem, Ham, Japheth in ark with wives
Male and Femaleverses 2, 3, 9, 16
Clean animals on earth: seven pairsverse 2
Unclean animals: two pairsverse 2
Fowl of the air: seven pairsverse 3
Keep seed aliveverse 3
First rainverse 4
Windows of heaven opened up 2/17verse 11
Rained forty days and nightsverse 12
Breath of lifeverses 15, 22
LORD shut them inverse 16
Ark lifted up with the floodverses 17, 18
Flood covered whole earthverse 19
Fifteen cubits upward: flood watersverse 20
All flesh died verse 21
Water prevailed for 150 daysverse 24
Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)
Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)
Righteousverse 1
Obedienceverses 5, 16
Israel (Old Testament people of God)
Church (New Testament people of God)
Last Things (Future Events)
Diedverses 21, 22
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QUOTES regarding passage
7:6–20. After all preparations had been completed, the Flood came. On the one hand there was a torrential rain for 40 days and nights (vv. 11–12). On the other hand there were corresponding gigantic upheavals and shiftings of the earth’s crust which caused the oceans’ floors to rise and break up their reservoirs of subterranean waters (v. 11; cf. Unger, Archaeology, p. 61). As a result, the whole earth was flooded in the disaster (v. 19). No doubt the surface of the earth, the manner of life, and the longevity of life were changed by this catastrophe. (Ross, A. P. (1985). Genesis. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 39). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
The day of reckoning (7:11–24). The Flood was God’s judgment of a wicked world. God opened the floodgates of heaven so that torrential rains came down, and “all the springs of the great deep burst forth” (v. 11, niv), so that even the highest mountains were covered by water (v. 20). God had waited for over a century for sinners to repent, and now it was too late. “Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near” (Isa. 55:6).
The rain stopped after 40 days, which would be on the twenty-seventh day of the third month (Gen. 7:12). However, the water continued to rise for another 110 days and reached its peak after 150 days (v. 24). At that time, the ark rested on a mountain peak of Ararat (8:4). It would take 150 days for the water to recede (v. 3), which takes us to the twelfth month, the seventeenth day. Two months and ten days later, Noah and his family left the ark and set the animals free (v. 14). From the day that God shut them in, they had been in the ark a year and ten days. (Wiersbe, W. W. (1998). Be basic (p. 99). Colorado Springs, CO: Chariot Victor Pub.)
7:20 The highest mountains were at least 22.5 feet under water, so that the ark floated freely above the peaks. This would include the highest peak in that area, Mt. Ararat (8:4), which is ca. 17,000 feet high. That depth further proves it was not a local flood, but a global one. (MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Ge 7:20). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.)
6–24 What is most apparent in the description of the onset of the Flood is the focus of the author on the occupants of the ark. With great detail the procession of those entering the ark passes by the impatient eyes of the modern reader. Noah’s age, the month and the day of the beginning of the rain, the source of the waters, the kinds of animals and their number—no bit of information is too insignificant if it can contribute to the author’s purpose of holding this picture before the reader as long as literarily possible. It is first and foremost this picture of Noah’s salvation that the author wants his readers to take a long look at. It is only at the conclusion of chapter 7, when the ark is resting safely over the highest mountains in the surging flood, that the author cast his glance in the direction of those who did not seek refuge in the ark (vv.21–23). But even then the author’s attention on those who did not survive the Flood is motivated less by an interest in what happened to them specifically (“[they] died,” v.22) than the reason why they perished: “Only Noah was left [wayiššāʾer], and those with him in the ark” (v.23).
It is in the repetitions that the author’s message comes through most clearly. Thus when it is repeated four times that those who survived the Flood were those who had done “as God had commanded” (kaʾašer siwwāh ʾelōhîm, 7:9, 16: cf. v.5; 6:22), the author’s point is clear. Obedience to the Lord is the way to salvation. In the same way as Noah is here an example of obedience and salvation, later narrative figures, such as Abraham (kaʾašer siwwāh … ʾelōhîm, “as God commanded,” 21:4) and the sons of Israel (kaʾašer siwwāh yhwh, “just what the Lord commanded,” Exod 12:28), are called on to exhibit the same lesson. ( Sailhamer, J. H. (1990). Genesis. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers (Vol. 2, p. 88). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.)
7:6–24 Entry to the ark and the onset of the flood. Every stage in the flood is dated very precisely (e.g. 7:11; 8:13, 14). This is appropriate in that the flood brought the old world to an end, and from it the new world was born.
Note on the date and extent of the flood. The Sumerian King List mentions the flood as taking place immediately before the early dynastic period, which could suggest the flood occurred about 3000 bc. Certainly, archaeologists have found plenty of evidence of local floods in Mesopotamia in this period but none suggesting the inundation of the whole area. Another possibility is that the flood coincided with the end of the last ice age (c. 10,000 bc). This involved heavy rain over normally dry regions, and the melting ice led to ocean levels rising 300 ft (100 m) and swamping previously habitable land. (For further discussion see IBD, pp. 510–512.) With our modern geographical knowledge, we automatically understand the story to be describing a total inundation of the globe, but if the story was being told from Noah’s perspective (whose geographical horizons were limited), a somewhat smaller flood might have appeared universal. (Wenham, G. J. (1994). Genesis. In D. A. Carson, R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, & G. J. Wenham (Eds.), New Bible commentary: 21st century edition (4th ed., pp. 66–67). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press.)
7:6–24 Entry to the ark and the onset of the flood. Every stage in the flood is dated very precisely (e.g. 7:11; 8:13, 14). This is appropriate in that the flood brought the old world to an end, and from it the new world was born.
Note on the date and extent of the flood. The Sumerian King List mentions the flood as taking place immediately before the early dynastic period, which could suggest the flood occurred about 3000 bc. Certainly, archaeologists have found plenty of evidence of local floods in Mesopotamia in this period but none suggesting the inundation of the whole area. Another possibility is that the flood coincided with the end of the last ice age (c. 10,000 bc). This involved heavy rain over normally dry regions, and the melting ice led to ocean levels rising 300 ft (100 m) and swamping previously habitable land. (For further discussion see IBD, pp. 510–512.) With our modern geographical knowledge, we automatically understand the story to be describing a total inundation of the globe, but if the story was being told from Noah’s perspective (whose geographical horizons were limited), a somewhat smaller flood might have appeared universal. (Wenham, G. J. (1994). Genesis. In D. A. Carson, R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, & G. J. Wenham (Eds.), New Bible commentary: 21st century edition (4th ed., pp. 66–67). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press.)
Ver. 20. Fifteen cubits upwards did the waters prevail, &c.] Either to such an height above the earth, upwards from that, or from the high hills; for though the words do not necessarily imply that, yet it may be allowed, since there was water enough to cover the highest of them; and fifteen cubits of water were enough to drown the tallest man, or largest beast that should be upon the top of any of them: and the mountains were covered, with water, even it may be allowed fifteen cubits high; nor will this furnish out so considerable an objection to the history of the flood as may be thought at first sight, since the highest mountains are not near so high as they are by some calculated. Sir Walter Raleigh allows thirty miles for the height of the mountains, yet the highest in the world will not be found to be above five direct miles in height. Olympus, whose height is so extolled by the poets, does not exceed a mile and a half perpendicular, and about seventy paces. Mount Athos, said to cast its shade into the isle of Lemnos (according to Pliny eighty-seven miles) is not above two miles in height, nor Caucasus much more; nay, the Peak of Teneriff, reputed the highest mountain in the world, may be ascended in three days (according to the proportion of eight furlongs to a day’s journey), which makes about the height of a German mile perpendicular; and the Spaniards affirm, that the Andes, those lofty mountains of Peru, in comparison of which they say the Alps are but cottages, may be ascended in four days’ compass. (Gill, J. (1810). An Exposition of the Old Testament (Vol. 1, p. 56). London: Mathews and Leigh.)
FROM MY READING:
(Remember the only author that I totally agree with is the HOLY SPIRIT in the inerrant WORD OF GOD called THE BIBLE! All other I try to gleam what I can to help me grow in the LORD!!)
The Israelites who returned to Jerusalem have grown comfortable, complacent, and arrogantly insensitive. Through His messenger Malachi, God confronts the Israelites with their complacency. He charges that the priests are despising His name and defiling His altar. God says He will no longer accept their offerings. He states that the Israelites have been wearisome to Him with their words. God asks them to return to Him. He reproaches them for robbing Him. The Israelites have hardened their hearts, and they no longer feel the pull of God in their lives. The result is a barren period of 400 years with no word from God. Be certain that you respond to the work of God in your heart—lest you experience spiritual barrenness. (QuietWalk by Walk through the Bible)
IMPOSSIBLE PEOPLE by Os Guinness IVP Press
Like the cave dwellers in Plato’s famous parable, their ssense of reality goes no farther than the flickering shadows on the walls of the cave, and they have never seen the sun. Indeed, confusing their myopic attention span with the limits of ultimate reality, they have fallen for the conclusion that what they do not see or hear is not there to be seen and heard, and not there at all – which even Nietzsche called the “acoustic illusions” that any dog, bat or bear could falsify in a second. (p. 92-3)
In, behind and above titanic powers such as human empires and ideologies, there are dark supernatural powers at work and opposed to the kingdom of our Lord. (p. 98)
This is especially so when the nations are led by leaders and by states whose universalist ideology is not balanced by particularism, so that it is inflated as “the truth of all times and all peoples,” whether Marxism, National Socialism, democracy, capitalism or Islam. Any such truth must be advanced, imposing on all others and defended at all costs, and as the last century underscores in blood-red letters, millions of human beings may be slaughtered in the name of promoting or defending such gods.(p. 99)
The warnings are plain. With the savage and wanton destruction of human life, the terrible displacement of thousands of wandering migrants, the grim production of overcrowded “nowherevilles” of the refugee camps, and the barbaric destruction of the traces of ancient art and civilization, the world could be facing a mounting crisis of humanity that would stagger the moral imagination and beggar the best intentions of the ablest leaders. (p. 102)
1 Kings 19
Elijah flees from Jezebel, and the Lord ministers to him after saving him.
INSIGHT
On the heels of the stupendous victory over the prophets of Baal, Elijah falls into despair. He fears for his own life in the face of Jezebel’s threat and flees to a lonely mountain for safety–to lick his wounds and mourn his fate. How shameful that this great prophet would call down fire from heaven one day and flee for his life the next. We all have feet of clay. Notice though that God does not berate him. Rather, He ministers to him quietly, restoring his spirit and strength. Then God calls Elijah back into His service again. God cares when we are hurt and discouraged and gently calls us to Himself for new strength. (Quiet Walk)
THE FIRST STAGE IN REVIVAL
And the Lord said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people…for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiff-necked people: lest I consume thee in the way. Exodus 33:1,3
God’s reply to Moses is in effect, “I have given this promise to these people, that they shall go to that land of promise, that land of Canaan, which is flowing with milk and honey. And, therefore, I tell you now, you lead them up. You take them to the land of promise. In view of what they have done, I am no longer coming up with you.”
That, then, is the position. And what is of such great interest to us is the reaction of Moses and the church to this. This is always the first stage in revival. You see the position they were in—their sin, God’s pronouncement, God’s judgment upon it. And the first stage, the first step, in revival is, as we see here, a realization of the position.
These people who had rebelled and turned their backs on God, who had blasphemed His name and had criticized His servant Moses, who had caused Aaron to make the calf and had worshiped it, and who had sinned, suddenly they were stopped short. They realized something, at any rate, of the situation they were in. Now obviously this is a matter of final importance. There is no hope of revival apart from this. It is an awakening to the situation. It is an awareness of the implications of what God has said: “He is going to withdraw His presence from us, and He has done so. The cloud has disappeared. The pillar of fire is no longer in evidence. God said He would withdraw, and God has withdrawn.”
There is a consciousness and a realization of His displeasure. I defy you to read the history of the revivals—you will find at once that without a single exception this always happens.
A Thought to Ponder: The first step in revival is a realization of sin.
(From Revival, pp. 152-153 by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
No Stealing “Thou shalt not steal.” (Exodus 20:15)
The word translated “steal” is the Hebrew ganab and is restricted to acts done secretly. It figuratively describes wind sweeping something away unexpectedly (Job 21:18; 27:20) and illustrates the thief-like movements of military deserters (2 Samuel 19:4). It would fit the term “burglary.”
Burglary was punishable on a graded scale. A 200-percent penalty was levied if the property was returned unharmed (Exodus 22:4, 7, 9), a 400- or 500-percent penalty if the property was damaged or destroyed (Exodus 22:1), and a 700-percent penalty if the property stolen was food (Proverbs 6:30-31). Personal indenture was enforced if the thief could not pay the monetary levy (Exodus 22:3).
The command extends to our care of the property of others. Loss due to negligence is considered stealing (Exodus 22:7, 10-13). This would also apply to unfair business practices that defraud either customers or employees (Leviticus 19:35-36).
In our personal lives, we are expected to repay our debts (Ezekiel 33:15; 18:7, 12, 16) and pay our taxes (Romans 13:5-8; Matthew 22:17-21). Failure to do so makes us a “thief” in God’s eyes.
The Hebrew word qaba, on the other hand, is used to emphasize the violent seizing of property. It would fit the term “robbery.” This is the word used in the question “Will a man rob God?” (Malachi 3:8). We can infer that disobedience to tithing is a more dangerous infraction of the eighth commandment than mere “burglary.” May God keep us from either violation as we seek to please Him.
(HMM III, The Institute for Creation Research)
If God has called us to implement a ministry, HE will supply all the resources. Our responsibility is to be proper stewards of these resources.
(p. 149, Developing Leaders for the Small Church by Glenn C. Daman)
Visit our Facebook page for Small Church Ministries – please invite others to join us on Facebook. Thank you. Look for the logo from the devotionals.