The Flood and the First Promise
Genesis 9:8-11 "Noach"
There is only one first: first pitch, first born, first steps, first kiss. This chapter is God's first Promise.
The setting is where Noah learns that the flood is about to end and God makes the very first promise / ברית / "brit", or "covenant" with humans (and your dog will be happy to know, God says this is a covenant with animals as well per Gen 9:9).
This may also be the first Ark that saves the world, but it is NOT the last Ark that saves mankind. Do you know where the second one is? (no, not the "Ark" of the Covenant (sorry "Raiders of the Lost Ark" fans, that's a different word, so hold that thought...)
Early in my career I was working on an historically certified large addition to the 1880's Pew estate, a massive “banker bucolic” style stone home, clad in our area's signature gray Wissahickon Schist. Since it was historically certified, the stone facade of the new work had to be an exact match to the old and there was no way to know where exactly it was quarried to match it with new stone. It’s not easy match stone from different sources, plus weathering of the mortar, acid rain coloring, etc. My old-order-Amish mason wanted to take down bits and pieces of original stonework from elsewhere on the job, clean it all up, patch it together and repoint it. I said “wouldn’t it be better to take do the whole façade with use new stone?”. He said to me “Steve, there’s no such thing as NEW stone.”
In the same way, there are no new truths.
People refer to “my truth” or “relative truth”. It results in all manner of moral ignorance and spiritual dead ends. And much worse. Somehow, western powers have accepted that Islamist Terrorists believe that “their truth” includes mass-murder of those that they oppose. To me it's the height of racism to ascribe to Muslims such moral illiteracy and not demand better or insist on it by force of arms, if need be.
The deeper truths of scripture are revealed one at a time, then they never change. So when a truth about GOD is introduced for the FIRST TIME in scripture, I find that a point of interest Something that shows a quality you didn’t know yet about God and His character. So here is the HUGE first revealed here:
God makes promises.
And when God says
אני הנני מקים את־בריתי אתכם ואת זרעכם אחריכם
“I now establish My covenant with you and your offspring to come,
This passage is the very first covenant in the Bible that God makes with mankind. A promise that never changes. There are hundreds of mentions of COVENANTS after this. This is the FIRST.
These covenants are so significant, entire bible is named after them: COVENANTS, or “Testaments". The BRIT HA YASHANAH (the Old Testament) and the BRIT CHADASHA (The New Testament)
The Parashah* portion reinforces this. When God swears an Oath with us, it never changes. We may fail on OUR end, but He never changes his.
7 “For a brief moment I forsook you,
But with great compassion I will gather you.
8 “In an outburst of anger
I hid My face from you for a moment,
But with everlasting lovingkindness I will have compassion on you,”
Says the LORD your Redeemer.
9 “For this is like the days of Noah to Me,
When I swore that the waters of Noah
Would not flood the earth again;
So I have sworn that I will not be angry with you
Nor will I rebuke you.
10 “For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake,
But My lovingkindness will not be removed from you,
And My covenant of peace will not be shaken,”
Says the LORD who has compassion on you.
Isaiah 54:7-10
Your circumstances will change. Sometimes they are good, sometimes they are difficult, even tragic, a flood of great waters. Sometimes WE change, and are awful. But this portion challenges us assure ourselves of that very FIRST covenant…. His BRIT… that God’s presence, and his lovingkindness and compassion are always near at hand. Some have said that the circumstances of Israel have changed, and God is done with Israel the land and with the Jewish people. That would be a misreading, especially for those who rely on the scriptures for guidance in life. Here God says quite the opposite, that His lovingkindness to Israel is eternal. If His purposes and affections were so fickle as to abandon a principle He makes clear is eternal, no one should dare to trust God. Fortunately, it is quite the contrary.
So this is the FIRST “BRIT” (promise / covenant) in scripture. And His promises do not change. I know that in life, in world events, in history so full of tragedy for the Jewish people, or for us personally, it may be hard to see through the times of darkness to find the presence of God. But it's been my experience that His presence is always near at hand, assuring me that there is an eternal purpose even in the darkest situation, or peril.
The Other Ark
The woman (Yochaved, mother of Moses) conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months. 3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got him a ***wicker basket and covered it over with tar and pitch.
Exodus 2:2-3
*** In Hebrew, the actual word is NOT “wicker basket”, it is תבא TEVAH … an ARK.
תיבא "teyvah" is translated as an “ark”). Moses’s mother placed him in an “ark”, a "teyvah" and saved his life by floating this little pitch covered “ark” to where Pharaoh's daughter was bathing, hoping she would rescue him , thus saving Moses, the Jewish people, and the giving of the law to Moses eighty years later.
The darkness today may not yet contain the gift of life yet to come.
* "Parashah" is a weekly sequentially scheduled reading portion of scripture.
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