Bible Discussion Thread

It says that God once again told Noah to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. God gave him other commands concerning bloodshed and instructing him to eat meat instead of only plant food. Then God established His covenant with Noah not to flood the earth again and extinguish all flesh as what just occurred. His sign of the covenant was the rainbow. Wonderful that from that time on that anyone can see the sign of this covenant throughout time when rain comes, not just Noah and his family.

And soon Noah became a farmer, just like Adam. We don't know if he was a farmer before the flood, but it was necessary for him too apply what he knew about cultivating plants to provide food for his family. Farming also requires a man to stay put rather that wandering from place to place hunting and gathering.

I find the fact that Noah drank the wine of his vineyards and became drunk pretty insignificant. i don't think it was wrong for him to do this. he may have been celebrating an ample harvest of food from his garden.

However, Ham erred in entering his father's tent without being invited. Each man's tent was his home. It also was his bedroom. The customs of that time were to guard the privacy of the tent because once inside, everything was able to be viewed unless perhaps the tents had divided parts with curtains. If so, then Ham not only entered through the door of the tent, but went to the place where Noah slept. His wife may have been there. They may have had relations and then Noah slept in the nude. Nothing wrong with that. Maybe his wife was also naked in the tent. Nothing wrong with that.

But Ham was wrong to enter the tent and to linger long enough to view what was happening between Noah and his wife or to see Noah naked asleep.

Some commented that perhaps Ham did something to Noah or his wife sexually. That could be a possibility, due to the scriptures people quoted in the Mosaic law. Ham then exited the tent and told his brothers.

What a marvellous sight that must have been for Noah & his family: to see a rainbow for the first time & God's eternal reminder that the Earth would no longer be destroyed by such a flood. Scientists of course, can explain it away with visible white light consisting of seven colours & what we see is that refraction of that light through water droplets. As true as that might be, we know that a bow had never appeared before the Flood & did so as the sun finally peeked through the heavy clouds after that deluge. As well, that God can even use natural occurrences we might even see today, as manifestations of His Judgements of tomorrow - judgements that will be capable of utter destruction & death.

Agreed. Science may be able to explain some of the phenomena in the Bible, but that does not negate the work and words of our God as He communicates His will to us and shows us things for us to learn and grow in grace and wisdom.

Greetings Chris.

Thanks for your perspective. I have wondered what the state of the landscape appeared when Noah disembarked from the ark. You may be right. With God nothing is impossible and He blessed Noah, so He may have had the area around Noah be already habitable or perhaps the whole world. I just think that it may have been likely that the landscape was stark and fairly void of vegetation to drive home the point of how serious and grave the situation was among mankind before the flood and how thorough God's judgement can be. Thanks for reminding me about the time of year being spring according the the Jewish calendar. They most likely had some food still stored in the ark to get them through the growing season or God simply provided for them like the Israelites in the desert wanderings.

I believe it was brother Ronald L. Whittemore & not me, who mentioned the likelihood of it being Springtime at or about the time the flood waters receded. As well, I would agree with you about the starkness of the landscape after the Flood & the expressions of joy that must have been those sole humans, when they saw the first shoots of vegetation spring forth. Yet, how the saltiness of the seas did not affect the land (i.e. for plant growth), remains an unanswered question in my mind. Maybe, the miracle of the Great Flood continued on to the division of the salt-filled seas from the fertile land mass around them.