Genesis

   The Flood

Lesson #4 for April 23, 2022

Scriptures:Genesis 6:13-9:17;2 Peter 2:5-9; Romans 6:1-6; Psalm 106:4; Matthew 24:37.

1. In the story of the flood, we have almost an undoing of the days of creation week. During the creation story recorded in Genesis 1, God looked down, and He was happy at the “good” that He had produced each day. However, in Noah’s day, God looked down, and He was sorry because the world was full of evil.

Genesis 6:5-8: ⁵ When the LORD saw how wicked everyone on earth was and how evil their thoughts were all the time, ⁶he was sorry that he had ever made them and put them on the earth. He was so filled with regret ⁷that he said, “I will wipe out these people I have created, and also the animals and the birds, because I am sorry that I made any of them.” ⁸But the LORD was pleased with Noah.?American Bible Society. (1992). The Holy Bible: The Good News Translation* (2nd ed.,Genesis 6:5-8). New York: American Bible Society [abbreviated as Good News Bible].^†‡

2. However, even in that time of disaster, we notice that God brought in hope despite the disaster. The name of Noah, which means “comfort,” (Genesis 5:29) is almost as a response to the word sorrow that God felt as He looked down on this earth.
3. The flood was a rescue operation! If God had not sent the flood, it would not have been long before not one person on earth would have been listening to God. NoticeGenesis 6:8-10and 7:1 which state that only Noah was faithful to God.
4. If we believe that God has foreknowledge, then He knew in advance exactly what the conditions on this earth would be. So, in what sense was He “sorry”? He was sorry even when He created Lucifer in heaven because He knew what Lucifer would do.
5. God’s government is based on freedom. Love is not possible without freedom. God does not create robots. He gives each of His creatures the freedom to choose. But, He knew that sooner or later, someone would choose to exercise his/her freedom to rebel against God.
6. When Lucifer rebelled in heaven, (Revelation 12:7-10) there was warSa war of ideas not a war with physical weapons. Satan and his followers were caste out of heaven. Why weren’t Satan and his followers just eliminated at that point?

God could have destroyed Satan and his sympathizers as easily as one can cast a pebble to the earth; but He did not do this. Rebellion was not to be overcome by force. Compelling power is found only under Satan’s government. The Lord’s principles are not of this order. His authority rests upon goodness, mercy, and love; and the presentation of these principles is the means to be used. God’s government is moral, and truth and love are to be the prevailing power.

It was God’s purpose to place things on an eternal basis of security, and in the councils of heaven it was decided that time must be given for Satan to develop the principles which were the foundation of his system of government. He had claimed that these were superior to God’s principles. Time was given for the working of Satan’s principles, that they might be seen by the heavenly universe.

Satan led men into sin, and the plan of redemption was put in operation. For four thousand years, Christ was working for man’s uplifting, and Satan for his ruin and degradation. And the heavenly universe beheld it all.?Ellen G. White, Desire of Ages* 759.1-3.^† [Who was allowing Satan to work out his principles and demonstrate his form of government which he claimed was superior to God’s? God was allowing it.]^‡

[After the death of Jesus,] Satan saw that his disguise was torn away. His administration was laid open before the unfallen angels and before the heavenly universe. He had revealed himself as a murderer. By shedding the blood of the Son of God, he had uprooted himself from the sympathies of the heavenly beings. Henceforth his work was restricted. Whatever attitude he might assume, he could no longer await the angels as they came from the heavenly courts, and before them accuse Christ’s brethren of being clothed with the garments of blackness and the defilement of sin [because the heavenly beings recognized Satan for what he was]. The last link of sympathy between Satan and the heavenly world was broken. [The universe watched every detail of Satan’s attack on the life of Jesus and his attempts to kill Jesus. At the cross they watched exactly what God was doing and exactly what Satan was doing!]

Yet Satan was not then destroyed. The angels did not even then understand all that was involved in the great controversy. The principles at stake were to be more fully revealed. And for the sake of man, Satan’s existence must be continued. Man as well as angels must see the contrast between the Prince of light and the prince of darkness. He must choose whom he will serve. [Every person must have a chance to make a choice about which side s/he wants to be on, and that choice must be based on evidence.]

In the opening of the great controversy, Satan had declared that the law of God could not be obeyed, that justice was inconsistent with mercy, and that, should the law be broken, it would be impossible for the sinner to be pardoned. Every sin must meet its punishment, urged Satan; and if God should remit the punishment of sin, He would not be a God of truth and justice. When men broke the law of God, and defied His will, Satan exulted. It was proved, he declared, that the law could not be obeyed; man could not be forgiven. Because he, after his rebellion, had been banished from heaven, Satan claimed that the human race must be forever shut out from God’s favor. God could not be just, he urged, and yet show mercy to the sinner.?Ellen G. White, Desire of Ages* 761.2-4.^†‡

[Finally, when God and the city of Jerusalem come down at the third coming, sin must be eliminated, including those who cling to it.] This is not an act of arbitrary power on the part of God. The rejecters of His mercy reap that which they have sown. God is the fountain of life; and when one chooses the service of sin, he separates from God, and thus cuts himself off from life. He is “alienated from the life of God.” Christ says, “All they that hate Me love death.”Ephesians 4:18; Proverbs 8:36. God gives them existence for a time that they may develop their character and reveal their principles. This accomplished, they receive the results of their own choice. By a life of rebellion, Satan and all who unite with him place themselves so out of harmony with God that His very presence is to them a consuming fire. The glory of Him who is love will destroy them. [What is it that sin actually does to us that makes that change?]

At the beginning of the great controversy, the angels did not understand this. Had Satan and his host then been left to reap the full result of their sin, they would have perished; but it would not have been apparent to heavenly beings that this was the inevitable result of sin. A doubt of God’s goodness would have remained in their minds as evil seed, to produce its deadly fruit of sin and woe.

But not so when the great controversy shall be ended. Then, the plan of redemption having been completed, the character of God is revealed to all created intelligences. The precepts of His law are seen to be perfect and immutable. Then sin has made manifest its nature, Satan his character. Then the extermination of sin will vindicate God’s love and establish His honor before a universe of beings who delight to do His will, and in whose heart is His law.

Well, then, might the angels rejoice as they looked upon the Saviour’s cross; for though they did not then understand all, they knew that the destruction of sin and Satan was forever made certain, that the redemption of man was assured, and that the universe was made eternally secure. Christ Himself fully comprehended the results of the sacrifice made upon Calvary. To all these He looked forward when upon the cross He cried out, “It is finished.”?Ellen G. White, Desire of Ages* 764.1-4.^†‡ [The entire great controversy will never need to be repeated. It will prove to be a one-time event.]^‡

7. When sin spread to this earth, God knew it was coming. The truth about sin and its result, death, (Romans 6:23) must be eternally demonstrated once and for all. If God had not eliminated the people in the flood, it would only have been a matter of time before no one on this earth would have been listening to God and it would not have been possible for the rest of the plan of salvation to have been worked out. The record of sin will be preserved in heaven as an “eternal safeguard” against the re-appearance of sin or rebellion.

The plan of salvation, making manifest the justice and love of God, provides an eternal safeguard against defection in unfallen worlds, as well as among those who shall be redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.?Ellen G. White, Signs of the Times,* December 30, 1889, par. 4; 5SDABC* 1132.9; OHC* 45.4.^†

8. What do you think God should have done in face of the terrible deterioration of conditions before the flood? Was the flood really a “rescue mission”?

[Just before the time of the flood,] Humanity has reached the point of no return. God must intervene with a worldwide flood to preserve a remnant of the human race from complete moral degradation and thus extinction.?Adult Teachers Sabbath School Bible Study Guide* 53.^†‡

9. In Genesis 4, we saw the contrast between the righteous actions of Abel and the evil response of Cain. Cain’s descendants were called the sons of man and the daughters of man, while the sons of Seth were called the sons of God.
10. Do you think they ever had family gatherings? What would one of those be like?
11. ReadGenesis 6:13-7:10.
12. While we recognize that ancient Hebrew had a relatively limited vocabulary, it is interesting to note that the word for boat inGenesis 6:14 is the same Egyptian “loan word” that is used inExodus: 2:3 for the basket in which baby Moses floated.
13. What kind of man was Noah? How did he manage to remain righteous in that environment?

Genesis 6:14-22: [God told Noah:] ¹⁴ “Build a boat for yourself out of good timber; make rooms in it and cover it with tar inside and out. ¹⁵Make it 133 metres long, 22 metres wide, and thirteen metres high. ¹⁶Make a roof for the boat and leave a space of 44 centimetres between the roof and the sides. Build it with three decks and put a door in the side. ¹⁷I am going to send a flood on the earth to destroy every living being. Everything on the earth will die, ¹⁸but I will make a covenant with you. Go into the boat with your wife, your sons, and their wives. ^19–20Take into the boat with you a male and a female of every kind of animal and of every kind of bird, in order to keep them alive. ²¹Take along all kinds of food for you and for them.” ²²Noah did everything that God commanded.?Good News Bible.*^†‡ [Is it possible that some or even many of those animals were put into a state of hibernation for at least some of that time in the ark?]^‡

14. This reminds us that each time God commanded, Noah faithfully obeyed.

God gave Noah the exact dimensions of the ark and explicit directions in regard to its construction in every particular. Human wisdom could not have devised a structure of so great strength and durability. God was the designer, and Noah the master builder.—Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets* 92.3.^†

15. Many people doubt the existence of God’s foreknowledge. They think either: (1) That God does not have foreknowledge, or (2) That God’s foreknowledge destroys our freedom.
16. One of the classic examples of God’s foreknowledge is that He told Noah to build an ark with a certain size. How did God know that there would not be large numbers of people who wanted to get in?

Hebrews 11:7: It was faith that made Noah hear God’s warnings about things in the future that he could not see. He obeyed God and built a boat in which he and his family were saved. As a result, the world was condemned, and Noah received from God the righteousness that comes by faith.?Good News Bible.*

17. Does it seem possible that of all the people who lived in the world in those days, only Noah and his family would be saved?

2 Peter 2:5-10: ⁵God did not spare the ancient world, but brought the flood on the world of godless people; the only ones he saved were Noah, who preached righteousness, and seven other people. ⁶God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, destroying them with fire, and made them an example of what will happen to the godless. ⁷He rescued Lot, a good man, who was distressed by the immoral conduct of lawless people. ⁸That good man lived among them, and day after day he suffered agony as he saw and heard their evil actions. ⁹And so the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials and how to keep the wicked under punishment for the Day of Judgement, ¹⁰especially those who follow their filthy bodily lusts and despise God’s authority.?Good News Bible.*^† [See alsoGenesis 6:9-10; 7:1,5.]^‡

For one hundred and twenty years Noah proclaimed the message of warning to the antediluvian world; but only a few repented. Some of the carpenters he employed in building the ark believed the message, but died before the flood; others of Noah’s converts backslided [or backslid].CEllen G. White, Review and Herald,* August 16, 1906, par. 2.^†‡ Manuscript 65, 1906, quoted in SDA Bible Commentary,* vol. 1, 1088.7^€†; Fundamentals of Christian Education* 504.2.^€†

Genesis 7:11-24: ¹¹ When Noah was 600 years old, on the seventeenth day of the second month all the outlets of the vast body of water beneath the earth burst open, all the floodgates of the sky were opened, ¹²and rain fell on the earth for forty days and nights. ¹³On that same day Noah and his wife went into the boat with their three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives. ¹⁴With them went every kind of animal, domestic and wild, large and small, and every kind of bird. ¹⁵A male and a female of each kind of living being went into the boat with Noah, ¹⁶as God had commanded. Then the LORD [Yahweh] shut the door behind Noah.

¹⁷ The flood continued for forty days, and the water became deep enough for the boat to float. ¹⁸The water became deeper, and the boat drifted on the surface. ¹⁹It became so deep that it covered the highest mountains; ²⁰it went on rising until it was about seven metres above the tops of the mountains. ²¹Every living being on the earth died—every bird, every animal, and every person. ²²Everything on earth that breathed died. ²³The LORD destroyed all living beings on the earth—human beings, animals, and birds. The only ones left were Noah and those who were with him in the boat. ²⁴The water did not start going down for 150 days.?Good News Bible.*^†‡ [Notice particularly verse 16: “The LORD [Yahweh] shut the door behind Noah.”]^‡

Satan himself, who was compelled to remain in the midst of the warring elements, feared for his own existence.... He now uttered imprecations against God, charging Him with injustice and cruelty. Many of the people, like Satan, blasphemed God, and had they been able, they would have torn Him from the throne of power.CEllen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets* 99.3. Compare 1SP 74.2; 3SG 70.1. [Satan believed that he was just about to win the great controversy here on this earth; and then, God sent the flood to destroy all of his followers!]^‡

18. It is interesting to note that the flood story repeats many of the phrases from the creation story but with opposite results. Is it possible that the God who created might also destroy?

Deuteronomy 32:39: “ ‘I, and I alone, am God;

no other god is real.

I kill and I give life, I wound and I heal,

and no one can oppose what I do.’ ”?Good News Bible.*^†

Genesis 1:6-7: Then God commanded, “Let there be a dome to divide the water and to keep it in two separate places”Sand it was done. So God made a dome, and it separated the water under it from the water above it.?Good News Bible.*

RereadingGenesis 7:11: When Noah was 600 years old, on the seventeenth day of the second month all the outlets of the vast body of water beneath the earth burst open, all the floodgates of the sky were opened.?Good News Bible.*^†

19. Notice that the waters which were separated at creation rejoined in the flood.
20. The destruction by the flood made it possible for God to re-create our earth in a new way. This is a foretaste of what is going to happen at the end of our world’s history after the world is destroyed by fire.

Revelation 21:1: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and the first earth disappeared, and the sea vanished.?Good News Bible.*

Isaiah 65:17: The LORD says, “I am making a new earth and new heavens. The events of the past will be completely forgotten.”?Good News Bible.*

21. The only thing that prevents God from coming back right now is the condition of His people! God would have come back long before now if we had been ready. (See Evangelism 694-697.)

RereadingGenesis 7:22-24: ²²Everything on earth that breathed died. ²³The LORD [Yahweh] destroyed all living beings on the earth—human beings, animals, and birds. The only ones left were Noah and those who were with him in the boat. ²⁴The water did not start going down for 150 days.?Good News Bible.*^†‡

22. How are we supposed to understand statements like this, suggesting that He, Yahweh Himself, destroyed all living beings on this earth?
23. After the massive, worldwide flood:

Genesis 8:1: God had not forgotten Noah and all the animals with him in the boat; he caused a wind to blow, and the water started going down.?Good News Bible.*^† [How much of our world is covered by water in our day? About three-fourths. Did God move that water into those separate oceans?]^‡

24. Clearly, God had not forgotten Noah. One hundred twenty years before the flood began, Noah had been warned. He had been preaching to the people, and God helped him build that boat.
25. The expression God remembers or has not forgotten is used in several places in the Bible, suggesting God’s forgiveness and the fulfillment of His promises.
26. After more than a year of being confined in the boat, Noah sent out a raven and dove to see if there was any dry land nearby.

Genesis 8:13: When Noah was 601 years old, on the first day of the first month, the water was gone. Noah removed the covering of the boat, looked round, and saw that the ground was getting dry.?Good News Bible.*

27. But, as we have already seen, Noah faithfully waited for God to instruct him as to what steps to take next.

As he [Noah] had entered [the ark] at God’s command, he waited for special directions to depart.

At last an angel descended from heaven, opened the massive door, and bade the patriarch and his household go forth upon the earth and take with them every living thing.—Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets* 105.3-4.^‡

28. Did they have a large ramp or ladder stowed away in the boat so that the people and the animals could get out that huge door and down to the ground?
29. Finally, God gave them instructions to leave the boat.

Genesis 8:15-19: ¹⁵ God said to Noah, ¹⁶ “Go out of the boat with your wife, your sons, and their wives. ¹⁷Take all the birds and animals out with you, so that they may reproduce and spread over all the earth.” ¹⁸So Noah went out of the boat with his wife, his sons, and their wives. ¹⁹All the animals and birds went out of the boat in groups of their own kind.?Good News Bible.*

30. Remember that even before Noah built the boat, God had promised him that he would one day survive and live past the flood.

Genesis 6:17-18: ¹⁷ “I am going to send a flood on the earth to destroy every living being. Everything on the earth will die, ¹⁸but I will make a covenant with you. Go into the boat with your wife, your sons, and their wives.”?Good News Bible.* [How many times did Noah repeat that message to the crowds?]^‡

31. So, what did Noah do as soon as he was able to get out of the boat?

Genesis 8:20: Noah built an altar to the LORD; he took one of each kind of ritually clean animal and bird, and burnt them whole as a sacrifice on the altar.?Good News Bible.*

32. One of the effects that was immediately apparent after the flood was a change in God’s directions regarding what they could eat.

Genesis 9:2-4: ² [God said:] “All the animals, birds, and fish will live in fear of you. They are all placed under your power. ³Now you can eat them, as well as green plants; I give them all to you for food. ⁴The one thing you must not eat is meat with blood still in it; I forbid this because the life is in the blood.”?Good News Bible.*^†‡

33. Clearly, there was no plant life which had grown sufficiently to supply the diet for all the animals as well as the humans at that point. So, God allowed them to eat of the clean animals. There were two clear restrictions in God’s directions: (1) They were only to eat the animals that were described as “clean”; and (2) They were not to eat blood.
34. God had made a covenant with Noah that He would preserve him and his family through the flood. Then, He extended that covenant to include a second promise.

Genesis 8:21-9:1: ²¹The odour of the sacrifice pleased the LORD, and he said to himself, “Never again will I put the earth under a curse because of what people do; I know that from the time they are young their thoughts are evil. Never again will I destroy all living beings, as I have done this time. ²²As long as the world exists, there will be a time for planting and a time for harvest. There will always be cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night.”

^9:1 God blessed Noah and his sons and said, “Have many children, so that your descendants will live all over the earth.”?Good News Bible.*^†

35. This promise is even for us as long as this earth exists.
36. There was an entire planet waiting to be repopulated. So, God instructed that the animals were to reproduce and increase in numbers, and so were the humans.
37. And at that point, God introduced a special sign of His covenant to the world.

Genesis 9:8-17: ⁸ God said to Noah and his sons, ⁹ “I am now making my covenant with you and with your descendants, ¹⁰and with all living beings—all birds and all animals—everything that came out of the boat with you. ¹¹With these words I make my covenant with you: I promise that never again will all living beings be destroyed by a flood; never again will a flood destroy the earth. ¹²As a sign of this everlasting covenant which I am making with you and with all living beings, ¹³I am putting my bow in the clouds. It will be the sign of my covenant with the world. ¹⁴Whenever I cover the sky with clouds and the rainbow appears, ¹⁵I will remember my promise to you and to all the animals that a flood will never again destroy all living beings. ¹⁶When the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between me and all living beings on earth. ¹⁷That is the sign of the promise which I am making to all living beings.”?Good News Bible.*^†

38. At the end of creation week, God gave us the Sabbath, a day in which we should celebrate and worship Him. This was intended to be a blessing for all mankind.
39. After the flood, God gave the rainbow as a second sign for the benefit of all humanity.
40. Many years later, in the days of Moses, He reminded Israel that the Sabbath was supposed to be a sign between them and God and that they were His true people.

Exodus 31:12-17: ¹² The LORD commanded Moses ¹³to say to the people of Israel, “Keep the Sabbath, my day of rest, because it is a sign between you and me for all time to come, to show that I, the LORD, have made you my own people. ¹⁴You must keep the day of rest, because it is sacred. Whoever does not keep it, but works on that day, is to be put to death. ¹⁵You have six days in which to do your work, but the seventh day is a solemn day of rest dedicated to me. Whoever does any work on that day is to be put to death. ¹⁶The people of Israel are to keep this day as a sign of the covenant. ¹⁷It is a permanent sign between the people of Israel and me, because I, the LORD, made heaven and earth in six days, and on the seventh day I stopped working and rested.”?Good News Bible.*^†

41. In some parts of the world when there is heavy rain and sunlight, one can actually see a double rainbow or even a triple rainbow. When you see a rainbow, do you remember God’s promise? Is there any question in your mind about whether or not God will destroy the world by a flood ever again?
42. Jesus Himself told us that “as it was in the days of Noah….”:

Matthew 24:37: [Jesus said,] “The coming of the Son of Man will be like what happened in the time of Noah.”?Good News Bible.*^‡

The sins that called for vengeance upon the antediluvian world exist today. The fear of God is banished from the hearts of men, and His law is treated with indifference and contempt. The intense worldliness of that generation is equaled by that of the generation now living.... God did not condemn the antediluvians for eating and drinking.... Their sin consisted in taking these gifts without gratitude to the Giver, and debasing themselves by indulging appetite without restraint. It was lawful for them to marry. Marriage was in God’s order; it was one of the first institutions which He established. He gave special directions concerning this ordinance, clothing it with sanctity and beauty; but these directions were forgotten, and marriage was perverted and made to minister to passion.

A similar condition of things exists now. That which is lawful in itself is carried to excess.... Fraud and bribery and theft stalk unrebuked in high places and in low. The issues of the press teem with records of murder.... The spirit of anarchy is permeating all nations, and the outbreaks that from time to time excite the horror of the world are but indications of the pent-up fires of passion and lawlessness that, having once escaped control, will fill the earth with woe and desolation. The picture which Inspiration has given of the antediluvian world represents too truly the condition to which modern society is fast hastening. Even now, in the present century, and in professedly Christian lands, there are crimes daily perpetrated as black and terrible as those for which the old-world sinners were destroyed.—Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets* 101.2-102.0.^†

43. In what ways is our society and our world like the times before the flood?
44. There are many people who doubt the truthfulness of a worldwide flood. Of course, if you do not believe that story, you are calling many Bible writers, and Jesus Himself, liars!

Many people have questioned the historicity of the biblical story of the Flood, arguing that such a worldwide event is incompatible with modern scientific views of natural history. However, there is a record of a colossal deluge in the collective cultural memories of many peoples far from each other, all over the world, and not only in the ancient Near East, Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Greece. Flood narratives are found in India, China, among the ancient habitants of Ireland, among the Maya peoples in Mesoamerica, Native Americans, ancient peoples of South America and Africa, and even among aboriginal tribes of Australia. The fact that modern science cannot make sense of the Flood phenomenon is not proof that this event never took place. Modern science’s failure to account for the Flood is simply another evidence of the limits of science, especially when dealing with something as supernatural as the Genesis flood.?Adult Teachers Sabbath School Bible Study Guide* 52.^†

45. Do you think God was happy to destroy all the wicked? They were His children! Would you want to destroy your children, even if they are persistently misbehaving?

The Hebrew word makhah, “destroy,” is presented in a wordplay with the preceding word nakham (“sorry,” “comfort”), which evokes God’s sadness and compassion toward humanity through Noah. While nakham suggests the positive face of judgment, makhah reveals its negative face. Furthermore, the word makhah belongs to the language of judgment. It means, more precisely, to “erase.” This “erasing” means a physical destruction that operates in reversal of Creation, undoing God’s creative acts. But beyond the physical destruction, this act of judgment also refers to being spiritually erased from the book of life (Exod. 32:32, 33; Ps. 69:28, 29). In biblical thinking, love and justice belong together (Mic. 6:8).?Adult Teachers Sabbath School Bible Study Guide* 54.^§

Exodus 32:32-33: ³² “Please forgive their sin; but if you won’t, then remove my name from the book in which you have written the names of your people.” ³³ The LORD answered, “It is those who have sinned against me whose names I will remove from my book.”?Good News Bible.*^†

Psalm 69:28-29: ²⁸ May their names be erased from the book of the living;

may they not be included in the list of your people.

²⁹ But I am in pain and despair;

lift me up, O God, and save me! ?Good News Bible.*^†

Micah 6:8: No, the LORD has told us what is good. What he requires of us is this: to do what is just, to show constant love, and to live in humble fellowship with our God.?Good News Bible.*^†

How big was the ark? If the cubit equaled 18 inches, or 45 centimeters, 300 cubits for the length of the ark would have equaled 450 feet, or more than 137 meters; 50 cubits for its width would have equaled 75 feet, or 22 meters; and 30 cubits for its height would have equaled 45 feet, or 13 meters. These measurements have no special symbolic or spiritual significance; they simply suggest the magnitude of the size of the vessel, which was large enough to accommodate the animals and humans on board. But the many parallels between the ark and the tabernacle carry a profound meaning: the God who saves spiritually, Jesus Christ, is the same Creator God who saves us physically and materially.?Adult Teachers Sabbath School Bible Study Guide* 55.^†

46. In sending the flood, was God violating the sixth commandment?

The Hebrew language has several verbs for killing. All these verbs apply to both humans and animals except one, the verb ratsakh, which applies only to humans. Significantly, it is the verb ratsakh, “kill” (KJV, ASV), “murder” (NIV, ESV), that is used in the Ten Commandments (Exod. 20:13). The nuance of this usage does not differentiate between the case of murder and other cases, but between the object that is killedShumans or animals. Therefore, the sixth commandment should not be translated as “you shall not murder,” implying only the specific case of a criminal act, but “you shall not kill humans” in the absolute sense.?Adult Teachers Sabbath School Bible Study Guide* 55-56.^†§

47. How should we apply these ideas to military service and similar situations in our day?

©2022, Kenneth Hart, MD, MA, MPH. Permission is hereby granted for any noncommercial use of these materials. Free distribution of all or of a portion of this material such as to a Bible study class is encouraged. *Electronic version. ^†Bold type is added. ^‡Text in brackets is added. ^§Italic type is in the source. ^¶Compared with the first source, this source has punctuation and/or capitalization differences only. ^€This source has minor wording differences compared with the first source and may also have punctuation and/or capitalization differences.                               [email protected]

Last Modified: March 19, 2022