Gen 6:9-9:29
- compare OT meaning of "righteous" (tsadiq) vs NT meaning
- OT righteous = fitting, suitable, just, in conformity with;
6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness. - NT righteous = morally flawless, Jesus-like vs. self-righteous
Romans 3:10 As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one..."
Romans 3:20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
Romans 6:18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
2 Corinthians 5:21God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Galatians 2:21I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!" - tsadiq refers to the "righteous" in the sense of being and acting rightly and justly. God is both righteous and the support of the righteous. The word is at home in both legal and 'religious' contexts. In Amos the "righteous" tsadiq is used in parallel with ?'ebyon, the needy or lower class in both 2:6 and 5:12
- tsadiq (noun, adj.), mostly it denotes covenantal faithfulness or steadfast love, but never an individual’s justification as so often understood in Lutheran forensic interpretation where so much of individualistic justification is emphasized at sacrifice of community and action. In the OT in general, it is God’s and cares for God’s people as a community.
- Does Paul change the notion of tsadiq into the notion of individual justification likely happening in a court where God as a judge declares sinners justified through Jesus’ atonement?
- tsaddiyq
- just, lawful, righteous
- just, righteous (in government)
- just, right (in one's cause)
- just, righteous (in conduct and character)
- righteous (as justified and vindicated by God)
- right, correct, lawful
- ts@daqah
- justice, righteousness
- righteousness (in government)
- of judge, ruler, king
- of law
- of Davidic king Messiah
- righteousness (of God's attribute)
- righteousness (in a case or cause)
- righteousness, truthfulness
- righteousness (as ethically right)
- righteousness (as vindicated), justification, salvation
- of God
- prosperity (of people)
- righteous acts
- relation of P account of Creation and P account of Flood
- three points in the combined P and J story of Flood
- theological issue in the Noah son story
Assignments to Deepen Somebody's Understanding
- define
- doctrinal statements - statements made to define doctrine such as the doctrine of God's grace, doctrine of punishment and redemption of man via the flood.
- covenant - agreement between God and a people or God and a representative (Moses) of a nation (Israel)
- righteous - see above
- providence - God's continuing oversight of the world, concern for destiny of creation
- God acts to uphold and direct his creation
not to be confused with luck or good fortune (indeed some say there is no such thing) - the care, guardianship, and control exercised by a deity; divine direction
- significance of number 7
- seven represents perfection, and perfect completeness
- Patterns of sevens run through the scripture more abundantly than any other number. Where patterns of other numbers run through a scripture, it is often symbolic of something to do with that number, however patterns of seven occur all through scripture to the extent that it could be seen as being a part of God's seal that the writing is indeed scripture. Thus seven might also be known as the number of God's seal.
- Seven in the Old Testament
The Hebrew word for seven occurs a total of 392 times in the Bible.(1) This is not only a multiple of seven but of seven times seven, 392 = 8 x 7 x 7.
392 is also remarkable for being the sum of the square of seven and the cube of seven, ie. 392 = (7 x 7) + (7 x 7 x 7) or 392 = 72 + 73. - It may be nothing more than a strange coincidence that the word seven is used exactly seven times in Genesis chapter seven. Then again, it may not.
- There are two other words used in the Old Testament to mean seven. The aramaic word ([b'v] shib-aw') is used six times. A long form of the Hebrew word for seven (hn:[;b]vi shib-aw-naw’) is used once. In total these other words are used seven times.(4)
- The Hebrew word for a seventh (y[iybiv] sheb-ee-ee’) occurs 98 times.(5) 98 = 2 x 7 x 7. Note that not only is this a multiple of seven but of seven times seven, just as was the total number of occurrences of the word seven (see above).
- meditate on Gen 9:1-17 and provide uncritical thoughts and reactions to it
God's grace shows forth again. God blesses the whole extant human race. He provides a sign that a covenant is to be binding between Himself and the people. The covenant that the earth will never again be flooded and destroyed. Undoing and redoing of creation? - Etiological legend of the rainbow.
- parallel stories of cataclysmic tradition in other religions. commonalities w/OT in their subsequent interpretation
- Tamil myth of the submerging of the fabled land of Kumari Kandam. The myth of Kumari Kandam was an antediluvian civilization said to have existed thousands of years ago around south India. It is believed to have been a great center of learning with magnificent academies which may have left a legacy of cartographic and astronomical knowledge which exists today in the ancient Indian texts.
- Vedas contain an account of their creation: the story of Manu, India's Noah. Close relationship between the story of Manu, that of the Sumerian flood survivor Ziusudra
- Irish folk legend of Hy-Brasil off the west coast of Ireland
- Japanese myth of the Kingdom of the Sea King
- China's "Hihking Classic"
- Babylon's "Epic of Gilgamesh."
- older Sumerian version, called The Deluge
- Genesis flood account shares many striking similarities with the Babylonian Gilgamesh epic and with the Babylonian Atrahasis epic for that matter
- Did the Bible copy the Flood account from other myths and legends?
Of the flood traditions which have survived up to the present time about 95% describe a global cataclysmic deluge, 88% tell of a favored family of humans saved from drowning to reestablish the human race after the deluge, 66% say the family was forewarned of the coming cataclysm, 66% blame the wickedness of man for the deluge, and 70% record a boat as being the means by which the chosen family (and animals) survived the flood. More than one third of these traditions mention birds being sent out from the boat. - How to intrepret God's providence/thoughts abt man's possible destruction of earth
- Anderson: the God of the bible/biblical faith is historically grounded; has little to do with abstract timeless concepts/values. The central event is the Exodus.
- Extraordinary ages:
- In the Old Testament the following ages are listed for ante-diluvian characters: Adam, 930; Seth, 912; Enos, 905; Kenan, 910; Mahaleel, 895; Jared, 962; Enoch, 365; Methuselah, 969; Lamech, 777; and Noah, 950. Excusing Enoch (who was said to have been taken up to heaven in his own body), these persons lived an average of 912 years.
- After the Great Flood, however, the following ages were recorded: Shem, 600; Arphachshad, 438; Salah, 433; Eber, 464; Plelg, 239; Reu, 239; Serug, 230; Nahor, 148; Terah, 205; Abraham, 175; Isaac, 180; Job, 210; Jacob, 147; Levi, 137; Kohath, 133; Amaram, 137; Moses, 120; and Joshua, 110.
