Len Bilén's blog, a blog about faith, politics and the environment.

Genesis 12, the call of Abram, his journey.

The command came with a promise:

This promise is valid even for us Christians. It is the blessing that comes with faith:

And not Abraham’s offspring, but to all that has come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, as is written in

This is interesting. Abraham went in faith. Yet, when trouble started he did not have faith that God would protect him through the famine, but resorted to deceit to stay alive. It caused trouble, and God had to bail him out. This is one strong argument why I believe the Bible. It shows even Abraham with faults and failing faith.

Genesis 11, the tower of Babel

One candidate for the location of the tower of Babel is the tower in Babylon, located in the middle of the walled city:

This is one suggestion what the tower used to look like.

And Babylon is being restored, complete with the Ishtar gate.

To finance the building of the tower the oldest profession did its part. The temple of Ishtar was full of temple prostitutes, and to organize it more effectively the use of money in the form of coins was first used in Babylon as payment for transactions.

Ishtar is having a resurgence in modern western culture, promoting whatever was going on in old Babylon. There is nothing new under the sun.

This did end a predictable way

In the genealogy of Shem the Septuagint accord differs from Masoretic text. I do not know why, except that the Greek Septuagint translation of the Hebrew original seems to be more complete.

The timeline from Adam in table form:

After the flood people did not live as long. Could sun exposure have something to do with it? Or was it viruses? Anyhow, here is the

Genesis 10, the table of nations.

Yes, Dan could never take possession of their allotment in the promised land, the land of the Philistines, which is now Gaza, and this continues even to this day.

And from this people went into all the world.

Genesis 9, the rainbow, the Noahic covenant and “the curse of Ham”.

Yes, the days of Noah are referred to in the New Testament, but even Isaiah waxes eloquent about the promises God made.

The rainbow is not mentioned much in the Bible, but Ezekiel mentions it in his famous vision in chapter 1 of Ezekiel, a vision which resembles a modern day helicopter invasion. (An end times vision?)

And the rainbow displays its promise again, Aug 3, 2017 over the White House. It means different things for different administrations.

Then in Revelation the rainbow is mentioned again,

Ham saw Noah’s nakedness, but the curse is on Ham’s son, Canaan, not Ham himself!

It is from the Muslim literature and oral tradition we find “The curse of Ham”. It is not found in the Bible (or the Torah), nor is it found in the Quran.

Ka’b al –Ahbar (ca 652 A.D) wrote that Ham lay with his wife and gave birth to a black boy and girl. He claimed they were not his. They are, his wife responded “for the curse of your father is upon us.” The story goes on, and all blacks come out from four black children of Ham. Wahb ibn Munabbih (ca 730 A.D.) wrote that Ham was a fine white man, but because of his Father’s curse God Almighty changed his skin color to black. He then became the father of all the black people. In the story collection “One Thousand and One Nights, A.K.A Arabian Nights” it is also found: Noah blessed Shem and Cursed Ham. (Source: The curse of Ham. By David M. Goldenberg)

Genesis 8, Noah sent forth a raven and a dove.

Notice it doesn’t say the top of Mt. Ararat. The mountains of Ararat covers the whole region.

Noah sent out a raven, and the raven did what ravens do. Was this the reference that inspired Edgar Allan Poe in his poem “The Raven”? Here is one verse from it:

“Prophet!” said I, “thing of evil!—prophet still, if bird or devil!—

Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,

Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted—

On this home by Horror haunted—tell me truly, I implore—

Is there—is there balm in Gilead?—tell me—tell me, I implore!”

Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”

Then Noah sent out a dove, and this is why the dove is the symbol of peace, especially when it returns with an olive branch.

Now Noah showed his thankfulness and sacrificed on the altar he built. That’s why he took with him seven pairs of all clean and sacrifice-able animals.

After Jesus Christ final sacrifice of himself on the cross, there are no more physical sacrifices. Here are some of the acceptable sacrifices for today:

Genesis 7, the flood.

In chapter 6 Noah was to take two of every kind, but now in Chapter 7 he is to take seven pairs of every clean animal. This becomes important later when Noah sacrificed to the LORD.

Every living creature? It is clear God meant only mammals and birds, not every living being. The fishes hardly noticed.

A map of the last ice age.

It was cold. Ice covered Northern Europe, Northern Asia and Northern North America. The ocean levels was about 400 feet lower than today. The CO2 level was about 180 ppm, less than half of today and could barely sustain plant growth. On the ice it snowed less than half of what snows on Greenland nowadays.

Then something happened. The ice started melting and the ocean levels started to rise. As we used to say in North Sweden, “Spring is not a season, it is a natural catastrophe.” One possible candidate for the flood was in the Persian Gulf, which got inundated about 10000 years ago. While probable, it is a gradual rise, not the catastrophic rise mentioned. A better candidate for the flood is the melting ice cover in the North. The ice melted rapidly and formed ice lakes south of the receding ice, both in Europe-Asia and North America. The water rises year after year, and suddenly it begins to form new rivers going south. When they break through the soil erodes and the lake empties suddenly. So it was with the Caspian sea, that made it rise until it finally emptied into the Black Sea.

And with this rapid ice melt came the deluge of rain. With the rapid ice melt the land under the ice rose rapidly, making the earth more spherical again. In fact, this is continuing to this day with the Bothnian bay rising out of the water by 3 feet per century and the Hudson Bay rising by four feet per century.

(Later the water emptied out in what is now Sweden, having risen out from under the ice.) The springs of the great deep burst forth, this was probably associated with a large number of earthquakes bursting forth geysers and springs in many places.

Yes, it is The LORD that opens and shuts.

Yes, the fishes and whales kept on swimming.

Here is another possible place for the Ark to have landed on Mt Ararat. The dimensions are right.

Genesis 6. Noah gets the call to build the Ark.

“Sons of God” is the literal translation of the Hebrew “ben Elohim,” but in Job 1:6 it is translated “angels”. Other translations call it “divine beings”.

Jude hints the “Sons of God” are angels.

After Jesus died on the cross, but was made alive in the spirit He did this:

In fact the Ark was so big that it was the largest wooden ship ever built. Larger ships, made of steel were not made until the 1880’s.

Has anyone found the Ark? Many have searched for it. Here is a drawing from someone claming to have seen it from a retreating glacier near Mount Ararat.

Notice, in chapter 6 it claims that you only take 2 of every animal. Stay tuned in following chapters.

Genesis 5, from Adam to Noah.

The Old Testament is full of genealogies, and this is interesting for three things: People lived a long time, Methuselah lived 969 years and died in the flood, and Enoch did not see death, like Elijah was taken directly to God.

Genesis 4. Cain and Abel.

Sounds pretty good to me. Cain worked the soil, and with the sweat of his brow he gave thanks to the Lord for it. Notice it does not say first fruits, only some of the fruits of the soil.

Abel offered the firstborn of his flock.

It takes faith to do the right thing. think of it! To sacrifice the firstborn!

And God ordained it so, that the acceptable perfect offer is the firstborn of the flock of sheep or goats. This got later codified in Leviticus.

This is a little jewel from the story of Gideon.

The expression “my brothers keeper” is used often, but how many really know where the expression is coming from in this increasingly Bible illiterate world.

Yet, in the New Testament, after Jesus there is even better things promised.

Where is Nod? Here is a map from 1702. Nod is what is now Iran.

And with Abel dead and Cain gone, Adam and Eve started over.

Genesis 3. The Fall of Man.

Why the serpent? It has since the fall of man become the symbol of sin and Moses used this symbol during the Hebrews wandering in the desert when a disease broke out.

And Jesus himself used this symbol to explain its messianic and redemptive value.

And the serpent figures most prominently in Revelation, the last book of the New Testament.

Back to Genesis 3:

Satan quotes God, but changes one vital detail. Eve corrects the snake, but adds one touch.

Satan’s approach is always the same, repeated in the temptation of Jesus 40 days after His baptism:

The approach is: First flatter and appeal to vanity. If that doesn’t work, quote scripture to test God’s promises. Finally, if that doesn’t work, promise power and authority.