Genesis Chapters 5-9 Essay -- Bible Religion Genesis Religious Essays

Genesis Chapters 5-9   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the lord said, ‘I will blot out from the earth the human beings I have created-people together with animals and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.’ But Noah found favor in the sight of the Lord.†(Genesis 6:5-8)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In this essay I will take an interpretive look at Genesis chapters 5-9. The main focuses will be: the relationship between God, Noah, and Noah’s generation of mankind; the barriers and boundaries for humankind that were present and created by God in these chapters, the characteristics of God throughout the text and the overall importance and message of this passage in the Bible.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the days of old -when life could reach more than nine hundred years- â€Å"sons of god†(6:2), angels and warriors ruled the earth. One walked the righteous path in the land of the wicked; one saw the grace of the Lord. In these chapters of Genesis, God is seen as an active participant in the story. Through His words and interactions, we can see that His character and relationship towards man is ever-changing and evolving. God is a ruler with expectations. What He had sought out to create in mankind was not being represented, all He saw was evil all the time.(6:5) In Genesis 6:6 we see a God that feels pain from a broken heart. From the grief he has sustained, he demands judgment and justice. His decision and reaction is to destroy all that He has created.(6:7) The Lord’s character here is repentant, judgmental and a potential destroyer. In His grief He finds â€Å"favor† for one man: Noah.(6:8) Though it was only one man in an entire genera tion, we see the grace of God present here. Because of Noah, God finds himself modifying his plans, â€Å"the planned destruction becomes a reconstruction† of this earth.(Harper Collins, Study Bible, Notes pp.13) In Genesis chapter 6, we begin to see a God that is forewarning. The lessening of life, to that of one hundred and twenty years, is a disciplinary measure taken due to His displeasure with humankind. This punishment was a warning in and of itself. In Genesis 6:13, God gives a direct warning to Noah ab... ...his creating of the flood. If not for Noah there would have been no human community left at all. Though some may disagree with me, I believe the decreasing of the human life span to be the biggest boundary God has ever put on mankind. Besides the spirit of God, what is more than life itself in this existence of being?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Most everyone knows something about the story of Noah and the great flood. It is one of the most illustrated and common stories from the Bible. The knowledge that God was angry, Noah built an ark to carry animals and then there was a flood that killed everything. Though this is the basic picture of the story, it does not capture alone the main point of the story. God’s saving grace is the message. Believe and follow in the path of the Lord and salvation will be yours. All of God’s characteristics and boundaries he conveyed spawn off of the following of this or the ignoring of His omnipotent power and being. Just like in much of the text in the Bible, you have to read between the lines to find the meaning; the same is true for Genesis 5-9. Works Cited Meeks, Wayne A., ed. The Harper Collins Study Bible. New York: Harper Collins Publishers Inc., 1993.