Sunday School Lesson at Lake Marburg Baptist Church this morning - Genesis 10:6-11:4; the lineage of Ham and Shem

Genesis 10:6 ¶  And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan. 7  And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtecha: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan. 8  And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. 9  He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD. 10  And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11  Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, 12  And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city. 13  And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim, 14  And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (out of whom came Philistim,) and Caphtorim.

Ham’s sons included Cush. Cush has long been associated with the region of the Sudan and Ethiopia south of Egypt. The word is translated as Ethiopia in a number of places. See Ezekiel 29:10. The kingdom of Cush was located in the area of Nubia in Northern Sudan.

Mizraim lends his name to the Hebrew name for Egypt.

Genesis 50:11  And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians: wherefore the name of it was called Abelmizraim, which is beyond Jordan.

Mizraim’s son Casluhim gives birth to the Philistine culture. So, the Philistines were related to the Egyptians.

Phut, eventually lived between Egypt and Canaan, perhaps, but the Jewish historical writer, Josephus, names the people of Phut as the founders of ancient Libya.

Canaan, as we know from extensive writing in the Bible, lived in what we call Palestine and environs.

But, none of these geographical relationships are yet established. Remember, that everyone is still together, still pretty much probably brown-skinned, dark-haired, and brown-eyed, speaking one language moving about in the region of the ancient Near East.

The most notable of Cush’s sons was the first ancient conqueror, a man who brought people together, you might say. His name was Nimrod. He is said to be a mighty one in the earth and a mighty hunter before the Lord. At least one myth I have read details that he led people in defense against the great proliferation of predators, lions and such, after the Flood, therefore justifying the hunter epithet. Whatever the case we will see such a thing again as per Revelation 6:8. Nimrod would represent the first great empire as a type of the end-time Antichrist, the beast of Revelation.

Nimrod founds four cities of note in the land of Shinar, which is where we will soon see that the families of Noah journeyed after leaving the Ark. Shinar is the ancient name for the region of Babylonia. (See Daniel 1:1,2) Think of the area centered on Iraq today. Nimrod, Cush’s son, builds Babel in the south while Asshur, Shem’s son, builds Nineveh, which will become the capital of Assyria, the northern part of the culture that includes Babylon.

Nimrod will live on in various attributes of hunter-gods such as Artemis in Greece. Legends about him and other pre-Babel persons will make them deified over time and they will be viewed as male or female, sometimes both. Call it the memory of the human race, if you will, but these figures will become archetypes in our mythologies, histories, and cultures.

The world of men is one, united in culture, language, and color.

Genesis 10:15 ¶  And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and Heth, 16  And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite, 17  And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, 18  And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad. 19  And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha. 20  These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations.

As Canaan is of particular noteworthiness due to the prophecy of him being cursed and the way it plays out in Biblical history this passage is devoted to him. We can see how Israel interacted with some of these families and tribes in the Bible.

Sidon is also called Zidon, both translated from the same word.

1Chronicles 1:13  And Canaan begat Zidon his firstborn…

Sidon/Zidon is known as a city of Phoenicia, whose merchants will spread the alphabet from what is called Proto-Canaanite script, that plays such a part in the Exodus, as in God giving His Law, creating the writing that contrasted with the pictograms of hieroglyphics and cuneiform writing that dominated the ancient world. The basic units of writing, the letters, become symbols for ideas rather than pictures representing things to be worshipped as idols. ‘A’, instead of a symbol for a bull or an ox, is Aleph in Hebrew and Alpha in Greek, and ‘A’ for modern purposes. A good study for this is Marc A. Ouaknin’s Mysteries of the Alphabet.

The Phoenicians spread the alphabet, and their pernicious religious practices even to the sacrificing of 300 babies to Baal in one day in Carthage as a plea to that devil to end a Roman siege, probably started during their sojourn in Babel or Babylon, sailing around the world, trading from England to Somalia to Australia, and perhaps even the Americas based on some limited archaeological evidence of Phoenician coins and other things. Early American Christians believed that the Native Americans of the east coast, at least, were descendants of Canaanites, as some of them wrote.

Isaiah 23:2  Be still, ye inhabitants of the isle; thou whom the merchants of Zidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished.

A descendant of Heth is a Hittite.

Genesis 23:10  And Ephron dwelt among the children of Heth: and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the audience of the children of Heth, even of all that went in at the gate of his city, saying,

2Samuel 11:3  And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?

The Jebusites would eventually inhabit Jerusalem.

Joshua 15:63  As for the Jebusites the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children of Judah could not drive them out: but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Judah at Jerusalem unto this day.

The Canaanites, in developing their religion that included temple prostitutes called whores, depending on the context, for women and sodomites for men, in practicing bestiality, child sacrifice, and other abominations, will have been condemned in God’s foresight as inheritors of their ancestor, Ham’s, notorious character.

Deuteronomy 23:17  There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel. 18  Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog [slang for a homosexual male prostitute even today], into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the LORD thy God.

Genesis 10:21 ¶  Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born. 22  The children of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram. 23  And the children of Aram; Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash. 24  And Arphaxad begat Salah; and Salah begat Eber. 25  And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan. 26  And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah, 27  And Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah, 28  And Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba, 29  And Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab: all these were the sons of Joktan. 30  And their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou goest unto Sephar a mount of the east. 31  These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations. 32  These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.

We get the word, “Semites,” from Shem. It has come to refer only to the Jews but it has a much broader application Biblically. Shem is first noted as the father of the line of Eber, his great grandson.

Eber’s son Peleg marks the significant event coming up at Babel that affected all of the rest of the earth’s history and moved forward the repopulation of the earth, possibly the beginning of human races in terms of skin color and that epicanthic fold of skin on the Asiatic’s eyes. We will see this soon. 

Shem’s son, Elam, lends his name to a great, early empire in what is now part of Iran. It was a significant political entity in the ancient Near East after the Babel dispersal. Some of the oldest written records of man are located from there. We must understand that scholars talk about the oldest tablets or parchments they have in hand but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are the oldest in actual date because documents that are found in a later age may be copies of even earlier documents which we don’t have the originals of. For instance, the earliest copies of Homer’s Iliad we have are from the 900’s AD. However, we know that The Iliad was penned over a thousand years earlier. So, don’t be fooled when someone says, “the earliest writing came from Sumeria.” No, the earliest copies of writing we actually can find may be from Sumeria or Elam but that doesn’t mean that the earliest writing comes from there, only that’s the evidence we have. But, all of the spades and shovels of archaeology will never dig up most of history and we must be cautious with absolute statements made from incomplete evidence.

Genesis 14:9  With Chedorlaomer the king of Elam, and with Tidal king of nations, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar; four kings with five.

Asshur built Nineveh, Assyria’s capital, which we have seen, and lent his name to that great empire of the ancient world. Assyria and Asshur are translated from the same word.

Numbers 24:22  Nevertheless the Kenite shall be wasted, until Asshur shall carry thee away captive.

The scholars of The Enlightenment era denied that Assyria existed other than as a myth in the Bible. The Bible was the only testimony of the empire historically. Then, in the early 1800’s the remains of Nineveh were uncovered in what is today northern Iraq. Information began to be revealed that confirmed the Bible account teaching us not to doubt the Bible. Science may catch up to it but it is never in danger of being wrong.

Aram’s child, Uz, is noteworthy as lending his name to the land where the Bible character, Job, dwelled.

Job 1:1  There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.

Uz was in the area that later became Edom which plays prominently in the Bible.

Lamentations 4:21a  Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz...

Edom was in current day southern Jordan.

Although it is a fascinating study to trace each of these names to their linguistic roots or try to figure out where they wound up after Babel or who they were the ancestor of I doubt it will be helpful in moving the narrative along to the next important step in man’s ‘development’ or rather his ‘devolution’. Nevertheless, these were the nations, or families and tribes, that the world of men was divided into after the Flood and the Babel event.

Genesis, chapter 11

Genesis 11:1 ¶  And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. 2  And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. 3  And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. 4  And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

This entire clan of likely brown-skinned, brown-eyed people spoke one language, which is defined in context as speech. We are now back to their departure from the ark and the early movement of their families. But, they were resisting the command God gave in Genesis 9:1. Disobedience to God is one of mankind’s most dependable character traits.

Just like after Acts 1:8 the early Jewish Christians did not leave Jerusalem after the Holy Ghost was received as they were told to do and had to suffer persecution to get the impulse to obey Christ’s command and go out, these people are afraid of being divided up. They decide to embark on a building project and establish roots where they are in the land of Shinar. The power to name is a power indeed as we saw by Adam’s authority to name the beasts of the earth. It establishes political authority and if you don’t believe that just tell a citizen of Belfast that he lives in Ulster if he’s an Irish Nationalist or Northern Ireland if he’s a Unionist. Depending on the political sentiments of the hearer you might get a bloody nose or worse.

Their goal is, primarily, either to actually reach the abode of God, which may have been understood as a possibility, although that implies a level of stupidity on their part that is not likely, or that may have been a metaphor for just an incredibly tall building as an emblem of their unity. They will also build a city. We have already been told that Nimrod was in charge of building Babel, which is named in the next passage. So, Nimrod, of Ham’s family, is the first great empire builder whose ambitious plans come to God’s attention.

Note here how the metaphor is used in other Scripture.

Deuteronomy 9:1 ¶  Hear, O Israel: Thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven,

Daniel 4:22  It is thou, O king, that art grown and become strong: for thy greatness is grown, and reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth.

Jeremiah 51:53  Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the LORD.

Keep in mind that the word, heaven, refers to the atmosphere above us and what we call Outer Space, as per the first chapter of Genesis, and not only the abode of God.

It is possible then that this reference is the majesty of the building project they decided to work on to keep them together. The Inca Empire of South America, for instance, used great government funded road and building projects to assert their authority and keep people occupied under that authority, even building roads to nowhere or multiple roads to the same remote village.

Go to is used three times in a very short space here as an idiom meaning, “let’s go,” which is evident in the context of verse 7 coming next. It states a call for group action, a group being two or more. In 7 it will refer to the three parts of God; the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. In Genesis 38:16 it will refer to Judah speaking to Tamar, thinking that his daughter-in-law is a prostitute.

The writings of Luke the physician starting with his version of the gospel - Luke 5:27-39 comments: old wine

Luke 5:27 ¶  And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he said unto him, Follow me. 28  And he left all, rose up, and followed him. 29  And Levi made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them. 30  But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners? 31  And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. 32  I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. 33  And they said unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink? 34  And he said unto them, Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? 35  But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days. 36  And he spake also a parable unto them; No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old. 37  And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. 38  But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved. 39  No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.

Levi is understood to be the same person as Matthew based on the context in each of the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. He is a tax collector and therefore hated among the Jewish people with tax collectors or publicans being considered great sinners.

It is impossible to save people who don’t think they need to be saved. The self-righteous person, like the Pharisee, believes they are inherently good and God, basically, is lucky to have them on His side. The Pharisees fasted often but while Christ was with them His disciples were not expected to live such a stringent lifestyle as God’s very presence in the flesh should merit a time of rejoicing as at a joyous wedding feast.

Isaiah had written about solemn religious fasting that can be hypocrisy;

Isaiah 58:3 ¶  Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. 4  Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist

of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. 5  Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD? 6  Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? 7  Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

Then Zechariah wrote when Israel was in captivity.

Zechariah 7:4  Then came the word of the LORD of hosts unto me, saying, 5  Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me? 6  And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?

There are a great deal of comparisons to a wedding feast in the Bible. First, the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, will have a feast with His people when the Church is translated at the end of this age.

Revelation 19:9  And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

The Church, which is the body of Christ on earth acting on His behalf in the world…

Colossians 1:18  And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence…24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

…made righteous by Christ not by any merit of our own,…

Romans 5:18  Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.

Is the bride of Christ...

2Corinthians 11:2  For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

Even the New Jerusalem, where His people will dwell in eternity, comes down out of Heaven adorned as a bride for her husband in a figure of speech called a simile where something is likened to something else which it is not by the use of as or like….

Revelation 21:2  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Jesus states that He is the bridegroom here and in another context John the Baptist, whose disciples still follow Jewish tradition in fastings and ritual, calls himself the friend of the bridegroom (the ‘best man,’ perhaps?)…

John 3:28  Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. 29  He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.

There are many more things to be said about the wedding and marriage analogies, but we’ll move on for now.

Before we look at the parable Jesus relates it is important to understand that at the time the King James Bible was translated a bottle did not have to be just glass, as it is today, but any container that carried a liquid, such as a leather bag. This can be confirmed by going to Lexicons of Early Modern English online and doing a search by which you will find Thomas Cooper’s 1578 Thesaurus Linguae Romanae et Britannicae and Thomas Thomas’ 1587 Dictionarium Linguae Latinae et Anglicanae and several other sources that refer to a bottle as simply a vessel of some sort with glass bottle being used for that specific container material.[1]

 

 In the following a bottle can be rent or torn so common sense tells you these wily Canaanites were not just carrying around shards of broken glass.

Joshua 9:4  They did work wilily, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine bottles, old, and rent, and bound up;

The traditional interpretation of the parable that follows beginning in verse 36 is that the old garment and bottles represent Law and the Hebrew religion while the new represent Grace and Christianity.

There are problems with this interpretation as we know that Jesus did not come to overthrow the Law but to fulfill it.

Matthew 5:17  Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18  For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

…and Christian doctrine is that the Law was fulfilled and is fulfilled in Him…

Romans 10:4  For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.

Notice verse 39 as well, with the preference for the old wine. Since the context in these chapters is about Christ’s ministry and His choosing of disciples to spread His message and the Pharisee’s objection to the way they handle religion it is also likely that this is a reference to something else. The institutionalized and strictly dogmatic religion of the Pharisees and their religious counterparts is to be replaced by common, uneducated men and women who will live for God rather than just go through the motions of ritual observance with no true friendship with God. Like a modern fundamentalist who has more faith in his faith than he does in God the religious elite of Jesus’ day put their faith in their rules and regulations they made up over years of tradition than on obedience to God.

Jesus in places condemns much of the whole body of religious teaching of that day as not of God.

Mark 7:1 ¶  Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem. 2  And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault. 3  For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders. 4  And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables. 5  Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands? 6  He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. 7  Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. 8  For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. 9  And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. 10  For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death: 11  But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free. 12  And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother; 13  Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye. 14  And when he had called all the people unto him, he said unto them, Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand: 15  There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man. 16  If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. 17  And when he was entered into the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable. 18  And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him; 19  Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats? 20  And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. 21  For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22  Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: 23  All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

Jesus will send His disciples out to restore the Israelites who’ve been taught these layers and layers of man-made rules and regulations as opposed to what God really wants from them.

Matthew 10:5 ¶  These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: 6  But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7  And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. 8  Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. 9  Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, 10  Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat. 11  And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, enquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence. 12  And when ye come into an house, salute it. 13  And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14  And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. 15  Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.

Jesus is not overthrowing the commandments of God. He is restoring the right worship of God, the Old Paths, the old wine.

Leviticus 19:18  Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.

Deuteronomy 6:5  And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

Micah 6:8  He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

Matthew 22:34 ¶  But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. 35  Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 36  Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38  This is the first and great commandment. 39  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

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[1] Lexicons of Early Modern English, University of Toronto,  https://leme.library.utoronto.ca/search/quick

Exodus 16:32-36 comments: a omer of Manna

Exodus 16:32 ¶  And Moses said, This is the thing which the LORD commandeth, Fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations; that they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt. 33  And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a pot, and put an omer full of manna therein, and lay it up before the LORD, to be kept for your generations. 34  As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept. 35  And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan. 36  Now an omer is the tenth part of an ephah.

This passage gives the measurement omer a definition as one tenth of an ephah. Strong’s dictionary gave a measurement, if you convert it to U.S. gallons, of between 5.5 and 11 gallons for an ephah. That would make an omer a tenth of that. A quantity of this Manna Moses kept for a testimony of this provision by the Lord. Here it says that the children of Israel ate this Manna for the entire forty years of their wilderness wanderings.

Joshua 5:10 ¶  And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Jericho. 11  And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day. 12  And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.

The writings of Luke the physician starting with his version of the gospel - Luke 5:17-26 comments: the authority of Jesus

Luke 5:17 ¶  And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them. 18  And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy: and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before him. 19  And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus. 20  And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. 21  And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone? 22  But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts? 23  Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk? 24  But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house. 25  And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. 26  And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to day.

The crowd now consists of the Pharisee party, ultra-religious and right-wing, and teachers of the law, called doctors in Luke just as the Roman Catholic Church calls its greatest scholars, “Doctors of the Church.” They came from the entire area, not only Galilee now but also all Judea and Jerusalem.

Friends of a man with palsy went to great lengths to get the man in front of Jesus, believing He could heal the man. Jesus’ response, which confounded and upset the religious big shots, was that the man’s sins were forgiven. They argued among themselves and Jesus, knowing their thoughts, confronts them in their opinion that He was committing blasphemy. To prove His point He orders to man to get up and take the pallet he was brought in on and go home, which he did. This amazed everyone and yet, filled them with fear, due to the miracle they saw Jesus perform and what He had said.

Here the Pharisees and doctors have unintentionally acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah by stating that only God can forgive sins, and yet, Jesus proved His point by not only forgiving the man’s sins but healing his broken body, showing He had the power to back up His claim to being the Saviour.

Earlier, in Luke 4, He declared the fulfillment of prophecy in Himself when He quoted Isaiah 61. People have seen His power to heal disease and to cast out unclean spirits. He has now done that and forgiven a man’s sins at the same time much as Paul received the Holy Ghost and was healed from his own blindness at the same time in Acts 9. The testimony of Luke declares that Jesus could read the thoughts of men, as well.

Psalm 139:23  Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts

God knows our minds and knows us by our mind and what we think; mind and heart.

Proverbs 20:27  The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly.

Ephesians 4:23  And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;

The Jews require a sign as it says in 1Corinthians 1:22 and their nation was born in signs and wonders as it explains in Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy 4:34  Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

One other thing of note, and there are many things I probably have missed here that would make good preaching material, is the response of the man. He glorified God in his healing. Not everyone gives glory to God when they are healed. They often give glory to their doctors or their own ability to recover and recuperate but not to God, who actually controls all events and works through the physical world of doctors and our bodies to accomplish a purpose, like healing.

Exodus 16:22-31 comments: gathering manna

Exodus 16:22 ¶  And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. 23  And he said unto them, This is that which the LORD hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning. 24  And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein. 25  And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day is a sabbath unto the LORD: to day ye shall not find it in the field. 26  Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none. 27  And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. 28  And the LORD said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? 29  See, for that the LORD hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. 30  So the people rested on the seventh day. 31  And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.

The Sabbath day, the seventh day, was a gift for man, a day of rest. It was holy to God, as a day set apart. You have a God-given right to a day off and any system, government, or person who denies you that is a godless tyranny over you. God ordained a day of rest, one out of seven.

Genesis 2:2  And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3  And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

As part of the Law given to Moses for the Hebrews, the children of Israel, they were to observe this day as a special day.

Exodus 20:11  For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. 12  Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.

The religion of the Hebrews was primarily a physical one, with observances, and special days, and requirements for carrying out physical duties. The religion of the Christian is a spiritual one with no sacred spaces outside of the Christian’s own heart. The Jews had a tabernacle and a temple. However, for the Christians;

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 17  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

1Corinthians 6:19  What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

The Hebrews had a Sabbath day, a physical day of rest, and there were other special Sabbaths, as well. Many Christian faith traditions tried to call Sunday the Christian Sabbath all the while making it not a day of rest but a day of obligation. The truth is that early Christians, as history provides evidence, worshipped before dawn on Sunday and then went to work. Sunday was not a day off from work for three hundred years after Christ. If it were truly the Christian Sabbath then from sundown Saturday to sundown Sunday you would do nothing, not even light a candle in your home.

27  And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. 28  And the LORD said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?

Notice here, though, one common thread between Hebrew and Christian. God gave a command and told them how it was going to be and yet they still tested reality to see if it were true what God said. Do we not all do that and should not God be angry when we presume upon Him with our doubting disobedience?

God will lay out moral laws, confirming what had always been His standard. Modern man and woman will test these laws and suffer judgment from disobeying them but typically just don’t ‘get it.’ Sexual immorality, stealing, lying, cheating, and tolerating those who do under the excuse of tolerance typically results in suffering but many people still don’t see what they’ve done in defying the standards that God set down. These are physical facts just as much as gravity. You might jump off the roof and not break your leg but usually something like that happens. You might regularly commit sexual sin and get away with it but many times it will result in disease, lowered self-esteem, even unwanted pregnancy and poverty. ‘Pushing the envelope’ or ‘dancing on the edge’ are two euphemisms we have for testing limits. Life is hard enough when you do the right things and suffer misfortune but you are a fool when you practically beg for judgment on your behavior.

Don’t test what God has said to see if it is indeed true. There are some things you should never do, not even to think about them.

Philippians 4:8  Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.