November 16th - Noah's Sons and History

Prayer Requests
Jim Jones (not the cult leader) passed away this week, his ministry will be sorely missed
Pastor Aaron preaching on Romans 6
Allen Hardage's Restaurant
Preaching at KSU
Melissa - In a Cult
Disciple Now
National Revival

Last Week
Paul got mad at the Jews, why? They were blaspheming the name of Christ.
What's another term for Jew? Semite.
Where does that name come from? Noah's son.

Correction from Last Week
The Lamech who had two wives was not Noah's father, there are two Lamechs. Lamech means Peasant, this might give us a look into the pre-flood culture, that there were two Lamech's at the same time, they might have been stripped of their personal humanness to be called by their social caste. Maybe...don't build a church on that idea though.

Names in the Bible
In the Bible names usually mean things. Jesus means God Saves, Saul means Big and Paul means Small. Adam means man and it came from Adamah which means ground.

Adam is an individual man, where-as mankind is Ish. Man and woman are sort of an attempt to show the Hebrew variations of man and woman, it misses something neat though. Man is Ish, Adam said he'd call woman Ishah, because she was taken out of man. Ishah isn't just Ish with an ah added, Ishah is close to Hebrew for soft, which is Isha...the length you hold the last vowel makes a big difference in which word you're saying. Adam made a play on words. Some of have also said that the ah on the end makes the word softer...that's how Hebrew works though, add an -ah and it usually becomes feminine.

We're going to be looking at a lot of names today, and we're going to be staying almost exclusively in Genesis 4 and 5.

Noah was from Seth's lineage, we're going to be looking at Cain's lineage today. I used to think this was a mistake in the Bible, or at least superfluous, because it tells us all of this stuff about Cain's family, which was wiped out in the flood, but of course there are no mistakes in the Bible and all of this is absolutely trustworthy, I'll show you why.

Genesis 4:19 And Lamech took two wives. The name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.

Lamech was the first to say, "If one wife is good, two wives must be extra good." He was the first to break the marriage covenant. He also killed someone, this story may mirror John the Baptist's story when Herod had him killed for John telling Herod that he couldn't marry two women. Again, don't build a church on this.

Lamech means Peasant
Adah means Dawn or Brightness
Zillah means Shadow

Usually in the Bible, the name given first is the first born or first wed or predominant person. Using that logic, Adah was probably Lamech's first wife, and a legal wife. Which makes Zillah the adulteress. Keep that in mind.

Genesis 4:20 Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock.

Jabal means Shepherd

Remember that the Semites became the shepherds? Jabal's daughter must have married Shem.

Genesis 4:21 His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe.

Jubal means literally a trumpet, but figuratively a Musicician.

Remember the Japhethite's became your artsy people. Jubal's daughter must have married Japheth.

Jabal and Jubal were born to Adah, the legal wife, they were not born from a sinful union. That is not the same for their half-brother.

Genesis 4:22 Zillah also bore Tubal-cain; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.

Tubal-cain means Follower of the Striker, or figuratively Blacksmith
Naamah means Demon

Every word in the Bible is there for a reason. At first I couldn't figure out why Naamah was in the Bible, but look at what happened later. Ham either married Tubal-cain's daughter or possibly he married Naamah. Either way, Ham's sin, along with Lamech's sin, led to Canaan's curse to be a slave to the Semite's and Japhethites.

Two Things to Learn
1. Sin is serious; it not only affects you, it affects generations to come. Lamech's sin directly effected his (at least) Five-Time great grandson Canaan.

2. What God has given is good; music and livestock/agriculture are good, but what man makes is not so good. One example is the automobile. Our ability to drive long distances has done terrible damage to community, we now get to hang out only with people we like, where-as before the car, you'd just go to your closest church, you'd have to be aquainted with your neighbors. Now we don't, we only hang out with people we like and that has wrecked our empathy.

Reader's Note - We talked briefly about the social group called the Emo's, and how important it is to befriend them because they are in need of empathy, and this is the Christlike thing to do.

So lets look at some things. (This table was impossible to put on this website)

Sons of Noah
Shem - Israel & Palestine / Shepherds / Religious & Spiritual
Ham - Africa & Asia / Slaves / Inventors
Japheth - Europe / Musicians / Artsy & Philosophical

Abraham's Wives
Sarah - Semite - Isaac - Israel
Hagar - Hamite - Ishmael - Islam
Ketureh - Japhethite - Lots of Sons - Everybody Else

Remember the promise made to Abraham before he had children.

Genesis 17:4-7 Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.

Salvation was promised to the descendents of Abraham. It was God's plan all along to save from the Semites, Hamites, and Japhethites.

Galatians 3:29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

Jews were expecting salvation only for them, but that was nearsighted.

The Synoptic Gospels
Matthew - Jesus the King - To the Semites
Mark - Jesus the Servant - To the Hamites
Luke - Jesus the Physician - To the Japhethites

Matthew -
- To the Jews
- As a Baby kings were afraid of Jesus
- Lord of the Sabbath
- Sermon on the Mount - Showed his authority

Mark -
- To the Gentiles
- Jesus -
- - Feeding
- - Healing
- - Cleansing
- - Submissive to God

Luke -
- To the Gentiles
- The Science of Jesus
- Authority over
- - Nature
- - Death
- - Sin

Who is John written to? Everbody!
What's John's two purposes? Jesus is God; Love One Another

Who visited Jesus?
1. Shepherds - Semites
2. Wise Men - From where? Asia. Hamites
3. Greeks - John 12. Japhethites

To at least continue in the theme of 1 Thessalonians, lets read 2:17-20 with our last remaining minutes.

1 Thessalonians 2:17-20 But since we were torn away from you, brothers, for a short time, in person not in heart, we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face, because we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, again and again—but Satan hindered us. For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and joy.

Paul, Silas, and Timothy were torn away from the church, and Paul's anger at the Jews was compounded by his experience in Corinth.

Even though they were separated in body, they were still with them in heart.

Charles Spurgeon said this, A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your names on hearts, not on marble.

I was shocked when reading this passage that Paul was boasting and glorying in this church. We are supposed to boast only in Christ...but who is the church? The body of Christ. I boast on this class all the time, especially since I've heard from several of your parents that you're sharing your faith and inviting friends to church. I'm very proud of you for doing that.

Follow Up
- Hand out some Gospel tracts this week.
- Next week will be mostly for D-Now follow-up, if we have time we'll look at a little bit at the vine of Christ and the branches of the church.
- I've strayed far from 1 Thessalonians, but I think these lessons are important to fully understand who the church is, who the Jews are, and who Israel is. I don't know how much time we'll have next week, but in preparation, please read John 15 and Romans 9-11, and reread 1 Thessalonians 2:14-20.