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BSF Study Questions Genesis Lesson 9, Day 3: Genesis 11:1-9 & Psalm 2

by atozmom, posted in BSF Genesis 2012/2013

Summary of passages:  Genesis 11:1-9:  A bit after the world had been repopulated some people moved eastward and settled on the plain of Shinar (Babylonia).  They used bricks and tar to build a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens so that they could make a name for themselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.

The Lord saw what the men were doing.  He confused their language as punishment to prevent more un-Godly actions.  God scattered them over the earth.  Babel sounds like the Hebrew word for confused; hence the name “Tower of Babel.”

Psalm 2:  Why do people conspire and plot against the Lord and the Anointed One?  It is all in vain.  Man fights against God who merely laughs.  God rebukes and terrifies them.  David tells other kings to be wise and serve the Lord with fear and joy for God’s anger can flare in a moment.  Blessed are those who take refuge in Him.

Ask God and He will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.  With God you will rule.

Questions:

5a)  Both try to self-aggrandize and put themselves above God.  It is useless to plot and conspire against God and Jesus.  We are nothing in comparison.  Yet man tries through ambition and pride.  And every time he is vanquished, defeated, chastized, rebuked, or punished by God.  You’d think we learn.  But we never do.

b)  Personal Question.  My answer:  We deliberately disobey God and think His laws don’t apply to us.  In the end, we end up suffering because of it.  It teaches me to obey God as much as my sinful nature can.  To submit for He is King.  To recognize my weakness and beg for His mercy.  To follow Him till the end of my days.  This is my prayer.

6a)  Both verses say belief in Jesus and what Jesus did for us.

b)  In the passage, literally through a tower.  Today, through works, prayer, obedience, His word.

c)  Personal Question.  My answer:  Through Jesus.

Be careful not to interpret this as “drawing near to God”.  I think the point of the question is that the only way to God is Jesus and anyway else is false.

Conclusions:  Have you noticed this theme in the questions, comparing people in Biblical times and in our times?  Like I concluded yesterday, man never changes.  His nature is the same.  He sins.  Repeatedly.  Since the Fall–the beginning of time.  This will never change.

It’s why we need Jesus.  God knew this.  He knows we have no hope without Christ.  And that’s what the entire Bible is trying to tell each and every one of us.  And that’s why it’s our job to tell others.  So they can be saved.

BSF Study Questions Genesis Lesson 7, Day 2: Genesis 6:1-12 with 1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 2:4-9; 3:1-10 & Jude 5-7

by atozmom, posted in BSF Genesis 2012/2013

Summary of passages:  Genesis 6:1-12:  The sons of God married any daughters they chose.  The Lord said His Spirit will not contend with (be with) man forever for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years.  The Nephilim were the heroes of old, men of renown and were on earth during this time when the sons of God were as well.

God saw how men’s hearts had become only evil and He was filled with pain.  God said he would wipe mankind from the face of the earth for He is grieved (regretted) He created them.  Except for Noah who was a righteous man and walked with God.  Noah had 3 sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.

The earth was corrupt and the people were violent.

1 Peter 3:20:  God only saved 8 people in the ark.  He waited patiently while the ark was being built for others to repent but none did.

2 Peter 2:4-9:  God punished the wicked:  He sent angels to hell when they sinned.  He brought the flood but saved Noah.  He burned Sodom and Gomorrah but rescued Lot, a righteous man.  The Lord rescues godly men but condemned the unrighteous.

2 Peter 3:1-10:  The writer is imploring the people to wholesome thinking.  In the last days, scoffers will come, skeptical and evil, questioning God, forgetting the creation.  The world was destroyed in the flood and the day of judgment will come when the world will be destroyed by fire.

The Lord’s time is not our time; He is patient, giving everyone a chance to repent.  But the Day of Judgment will come and everything will be destroyed.

Jude 5-7:  The Lord delivered His people out of Egypt but later destroyed those who didn’t believe.  He bound angels who did not keep their positions of authority.  Sodom and Gomorrah were burned as punishment for sin.

Questions:

3)  There are two main ideas about who the sons of God and the daughters of men were.  Some say the sons of God were from the line of Seth and the daughters of men were from the line of Cain, which would represent a mixing of godly with ungodly which the Bible later does not permit (Deuteronomy 7:1-4 and 2 Corinthians 6:14).

The more popular theory is the sons of God are fallen angels or demons or demon-possessed men and the daughters of men are human women.  This is supported by other passages in the Old Testament that refer to the sons of God as angels (Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7).

Jude seems to support this claim as well, saying the angels in a similar way committed sexual immorality and thus God kept them in darkness and bounded them in chains.

1 Peter 18-20 tells us Jesus went and preached to these spirits in prison.

Scholars refute this angel idea with Matthew 22:30 where Jesus says angels do not marry.  However, he is speaking of obeying angels not disobeying/Fallen angels.

The idea is Satan tried to thwart God’s plan for the Messiah by polluting the Seed of the woman where the Savior will come from (Genesis 3:15).  This could be a reason for the flood.  Man was so corrupt and polluted God had to start over with Noah.

4a)  Morals are the principles of right and wrong behavior and the goodness or badness of human character.

How great man’s wickedness had become and how every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil.

b)  Well, if you believe the sons of God are demons and they mixed with humans than the flood succeeds in purifying the human race again.  God started over with Noah, ridding the world of all the violence and beginning anew.

c)  Personal Question.  My answer:  That God will punish evil and evil-doers but He will show grace to the righteous.

5a)  Personal Question.  My answer:  Sin.  Every sin I commit causes God grief and pain.

b)  Personal Question.  My answer:  Speculation since God hasn’t spoken to me directly but I believe I have found favor by seeking Him, repenting from sin, asking for forgiveness, striving to be more like Jesus every day, learning from my mistakes, reading God’s word, doing His call on my life, praying, putting Him center, following His commandments, etc.

Conclusions:  The Nephilim were believed to be the offspring of the sons of God and the daughters of men.  Of course, this is debated as well, depending upon which theory you believe the sons of God to be.  So they are either the offspring of Seth or of angels.  You can read a good explanation of both theories HERE

If you did the study of Isaiah, you will remember me saying how the whole book was how bad and evil man was and how God was going to judge all.  And it was depressing due to man’s sin.

Here, we see God again (as we see Him often in the Old Testament) judging the evils of man and exercising punishment.  But we also see God’s goodness in preserving a remnant with Noah.  Preserving the righteous.  In rewarding those who do good.

God could have wiped us all out and been done with man.  Fed up with us and given up. Ended His grief and pain over His creation.  But He didn’t.

God is always good even when He is exercising justice in this world.

All sin grieves God.  I saw no need to be specific in 5a.  We all know what we do to cause God grief as He knows.  The key is recognizing it, repenting, asking for forgiveness, accepting His forgiveness, and making changes in your life to do better.  That’s all Fallen Man can do.

Remember when we fall, God will pick us up.  Again and again and again.