BEMA Episode Link: 4: His Bow in the Clouds
Episode Length: 30:56
Published Date: Thu, 06 Oct 2016 01:00:00 -0700
Session 1
About this episode:

Marty Solomon and Brent Billings discuss the story of Noah and the Flood, digging through a wide variety of buried treasure from the author.

Discussion Video for BEMA 4

Transcript for BEMA 4

Notes

*Note: The following notes are handwritten by me, Adam, and I reserve the right to be wrong.

  • Genesis 6-9
  • When we read this story, we notice problems.
    • Brent: Every inclination of the people were evil all of the time… except Noah. There has to be someone out there doing something right.
    • Kevin: The earth is corrupt, not just people.
      • Marty: Evil started with people but has begun to spread to the earth and everything around it.
    • Kevin: Why would G-d detroy the world?
      • Marty: Many people point out the G-d’s goodness ends here.
        • Flood stories were not unique to the Bible and many of these predate the writing of the Bible.
        • When so many differing groups tell similar stories, it leads historians to ask the question, did something actually happen?
        • The characters in the Samarian story are the exact same as those in the Bible: Noah, Shem, Ham, Jepheth.
        • The epic of Gilgamesh is also relevant. The hero Gilgamesh is on a journey where he meets all of these gods of the land. As he meets each of these gods, they get angry and try to destroy the world with a great flood. However, there is one man, Utnapishtum from Mesopatamia (of Caldea), who builds a boat and loads it with pairs of animals to outsmart the gods and save humanity. This place is where Abraham will be from (i.e. from Ur of the Chaldeans) whose decendants will receive the book of Genesis. It makes sense that the writers of Genesis would retell this story that they were used to by painting their G-d in a different light showing who he really is. Kevin asks, why would G-d destroy humanity? All of the gods tried to destroy humanity, our job is to determine what is different about the G-d of the Bible from the gods these other flood naratives.
  • The chiasm is the story is identified by the numbers:
    • The Numbes
      • 7
      • 7
      • 40
      • 150
      • Center: 8:1 God remembers Noah
        • Ruah: Wind/Spirit/Breath. From Gen 1
      • 150
      • 40
      • 7
      • 7
    • Summary
      • This story mirrors the creation story.
      • After the wind, Noah opens a window and LETS IN THE LIGHT
      • Rain stops, a vault is created.
      • Dry ground then appears.
      • Noah sends out a raven–birds are in the air.
      • Day 4 is tricky finding the moon and the stars. There is midrash about this.
      • Next there is a dove, that comes back with an olive branch. Then does not come back.
      • Then the animals leave the ark
      • Then man leaves the ark.
      • Then we should have a sabbath.
      • INSTEAD… Verse 8-17:
        • Lots of repetition in this section. Covenant, never again will there be a flood, …
          • Covenant 7
          • Earth 7
          • Clouds 5 (in hebrew)
          • Rainbow 3
          • All of these numbers are odd and odd numbers have a center.
          • A mini chiasm in a larger chiasm
          • All of the center occurances of these words create an entire sentance.
            • Verse 14-15: “14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant…”
          • The Hebrew refers to a “bow” rather than a rainbow.
            • Bows are weapons and they face toward the target.
            • This bow is pointed toward G-d.
            • This entire paragraph is about a god who knows what to stop destroying in the same way that the Sabbath was about a god who knows when to stop creating.
              • Cancer is so bad because it never stops creating.
          • Covenants: Suzerain Vasel covenants
            • The Suzerain is the more powerful participant and the Vasel is the less powerful participant. If the covenant is broken, the Vasel becomes the servant of the Suzerain. It’s also the responsibility of the Vasel to produce the sign of the covenant. If the Vasel cannot produce the sigh, the Suzerain can do whatever they want.
            • In this scenario, the Suzerain is the powerful, He keeps the sign in the clouds, it will be a bow that points toward me, and I will remember the covenant.
            • In the ancient world, the Vasel had to remember but G-d wants us to remember. Even when the people forget, G-d will remember. Compared to the gods in the epic of Gilgamesh. Utnapashtum has to trick the gods to save creation but in THIS story, G-d comes to Noah and says, I want to partner with you to save creation.
            • G-d IS NOT ANGRY. The god that is trying to destroy creation is simultaneously trying to save it.
            • At the beginning of the story, God says he regrets making humanity because “every inclination of the human heart is evil.” At the end of the story, God says, “even though every inclination of the heart of man is evil, I WILL NOT DESTROY THE EARTH.”

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