Bible Read Through Thoughts — 02
Some of us from the Lindisfarne Community have decided to follow a reading plan that allows one to read through the entire Bible in a year (it’s been several years since I’ve done that). I’ll be posting my thoughts here in a series the label #BibleReadThroughThoughts. I hope you will join us! The link for the plan we’re using is here. It defaults to the New Revised Standard Version but you can change the translation by clicking the wee down arrow to the right of the Bible translation.
For my readings, I’ve chosen the Septuagint (LXX) 2012 version for the Old Testament readings and the Common English Bible for the New Testament.
03 January 2022 —
Old Testament
Genesis 7.2-3 (LXX2012):[1] And of the clean cattle take into you sevens, male and female, and of the unclean cattle pairs male and female. 3And of clean flying creatures of the sky sevens, male and female, and of all unclean flying creatures pairs, male and female, to maintain seed on all the earth.
The thing that sticks out here is that Noe (Noah) was told to get seven pairs (or “sevens”) of the “clean” animals and just a pair of “unclean” animals. Not only does this image contradict every childhood Bible story book story about Noah’s ark (which only mentions Noah taking a pair of each animal - male and female - into the ark) but we also have the notion of what’s “clean” and “unclean.” Now, I’m not sure how Noah knew the Mosaic Law (since it wasn’t given yet) but I think we can claim with some confidence, that the idea of “clean” versus “unclean” was either read into the story or this story was just made up or copied for other ancient flood stories (which a lot of scholars believe).
Either way, the idea of certain animals being “clean” or “unclean” comes from the Mosaic Law. Now, certainly, Yahwah could have told Noah the difference but that’s not in the text. The idea that something was “clean” or “unclean” only came into focus with the Law. I think we’re on good ground, then, to say that this aspect was brought into the story. To me, this is a good indication that this story was brought in during the Babylonian Captivity and I wouldn’t be alone.
Genesis 7.4, 10, 12 (LXX2012): For yet seven days having passed I bring rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will blot out every offspring which I have made from the face of all the earth. … And it came to pass after the seven days that the water of the flood came upon the earth. … And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights (emphasis added).
I’ve written about this before so I’ll only mention it briefly. Peter mentions the flood of Noah in both letters when referring to the “end” (see 1 Peter 3.20; 2 Peter 2-3). In 2 Peter, along with mentioning the flood, Peter refers to Psalm 90.4 stating that while “scoffers” and “ungodly” people would balk at the warning that Jesus was coming soon in that generation (see Matthew 24.34) before some of them died (Matthew 16.27-28), those people don’t realize that “a single day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a single day” (2 Peter 3.8). Many people today look to 2 Peter 3.8 as “proof” that Jesus’ coming has been delayed. But, as one can see from this passage in Genesis 7, when God gives a time table, it is meant to be understood in plain language (unless God gives a different interpretation of time; see Daniel 9.20ff). God told Noah that seven days from then it would start raining and keep raining for forty days and nights. We then see that, sure enough, seven days later, it began to rain and continued for forty days and nights. Therefore, to quote Peter, God, “isn’t slow to keep [God’s] promises” but fulfills them exactly when God said they would be fulfilled.
Genesis 7.23 (LXX2021): And God blotted out every offspring which was upon the face of the earth, both man and beast, and reptiles, and birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth, and Noe was left alone, and those with him in the ark.
Just a comment, apparently all the animals living in the water survived.
Genesis 8.22 (LXX2012): All the days of the earth, seed and harvest, cold and heat, summer and spring, shall not cease by day or night.
When people ask how I can be so optimistic about the future of God’s good creation, this is one reason — “All the days of the earth … shall not cease by day or night.”
New Testament
Matthew 3.4 (CEB):[2] John wore clothes made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. He ate locusts and wild honey.
There is a significant reason that Matthew points out John’s clothing and food. This ties back to Elisha the Tishbite. In 2 Kings 1.1-8, Elisha is described as being, “a hairy man, and girded with a leather girdle about his loins” (verse 8). So right from the beginning, Matthew ties John the Baptiser to Elisha the Tishbite (“Eliu the Thesbite” in Greek). And God was to send Elisha “before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes” (Malachi 4.4). If John is “Elisha,” then, and Elisha was to come “before … the Lord comes,” then Jesus must be “the Lord.”
Matthew 3.7, 10 (CEB): “You children of snakes! Who warned you to escape from the angry judgment that is coming soon? … The ax is already at the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be chopped down and tossed into the fire.”
From these verses we get the first indication that, yes, John was Elisha and he was preparing the people for the return of their God. But it’s not something that’s way into the future. No. John said that God’s “angry judgment” was “coming soon” and God’s “ax [was] already at the root of the trees.” This ties directly to the people of Israel in the first century. We’re not waiting hundreds or thousands of years; this was directed to first-century Israel and for them alone.
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In the Love of the Three in One,
Br. Jack+, LC
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[1] Scripture quotations marked (LXX2012) are taken from the Septuagint in American English 2012. The Septuagint in American English 2012 is in the public domain and may be freely copied, published, etc.
[2] Scripture quotations marked (CEB) are taken from The Common English Bible. Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible. Used by permission.
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