The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 3: Noah's Ark (2023)

Episode Date: January 3, 2023

Fr. Mike reads Genesis 5-6 and Psalm 136, and explains the significance of Noah's genealogy, why God chose to send a flood, and how we can imitate Noah's choice to follow God when no one else did. Today's readings contain adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised. For the complete reading plan, text CATHOLICBIBLE to 33-777 or visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear.

Hi, I'm Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible Timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. This is day three. Let's get started. Today we'll be reading Genesis chapter 5 and chapter 6. It's still in the early world, that period of prehistory essentially. We'll also be reading from Psalm 136. The Bible translation that I read

every day is the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition, the RSVCE, and I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to follow along and not just listen along, but read along, you can download your Catholic Bible in a Year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year. That's all one word, Bible in a Year. Ascensionpress.com, Bible in a Year. And you can subscribe to your podcast app. If you subscribe, we'll keep popping up in your podcast apps every single day for the next 365 days. You can also sign up for our email list by texting the word Catholic Bible to 33777. That's all one word, Catholic Bible to the number 33777. Let's get started. Genesis 5 and 6. This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the

likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them man when they were created. When Adam had lived a hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness after his image and named him Seth. The days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were eight hundred years, and he had other sons and daughters. Thus. The days of Adam, after he became the father of Seth, were 800 years, and he had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died. When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father of Enosh. Seth lived after the birth of Enosh 807 years, and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Seth were 912 years and he died. When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan. Enosh lived after the birth

of Kenan 815 years and he had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enosh were 905 years and he died. When Kenan had lived 70 years, he became the father of Mahalalel. Kenan lived after the birth of Mahalalel 840 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus, all the days of Kenan were 910 years, and he died. When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he became the father of Jared. Mahalalel lived after the birth of Jared 830 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Mahalal were 895 years, and he died. When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch. Jared lived after the birth of Enoch 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Jared were 962 years,

and he died. When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. Enoch walked with God after the birth of Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus, all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he became the father of Lamech. Methuselah lived after the birth of Lamech 782 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Methuselah were 969 years and he died. When Lamech had lived 182 years, he became the father of a son and called his name Noah, saying, Out of the ground which the Lord has cursed this one shall bring us relief

from our work and from the toil of our hands. Lamech lived after the birth of Noah five hundred and ninety-five years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years, and he died. After Noah was five hundred years old, Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. When men began to multiply on the face of the ground and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair and they took to wife such of them as they chose. Then the Lord said, My spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh, but his days shall be 120 years. The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward,

when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the ground, man and beast and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a

righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God, and Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. And God said to Noah, I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood, make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you are to make it. The length of the ark, 300 cubits, its breadth, 50 cubits, and its height, 30 cubits. Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above,

and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks. For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life from under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark. To keep them alive with you, they shall be male and female. Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive. Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up, according to its kind, Noah did this.

He did all that God commanded him. Psalm 136, God's work in creation and in history. does great wonders, for his mercy endures forever. To him who by understanding made the heavens, for his mercy endures forever. To him who spread out the earth upon the waters, for his mercy endures forever. To him who made the great lights, for his mercy endures forever. The sun to rule over the day, for his mercy endures forever. The moon and stars to rule over the night, for his mercy endures forever. To him who struck the firstborn of Egypt, for his mercy endures forever, and brought Israel out from among them, for his mercy endures forever. With a strong hand and an outstretched arm, for his mercy endures forever.

To him who divided the Red Sea in two, for his mercy endures forever, and made Israel pass through the midst of it, for his mercy endures forever. But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea, for his mercy endures forever. To him who led his people through the wilderness, for his mercy endures forever. To him who struck great kings, for his mercy endures forever. And slew famous kings, for his mercy endures forever. Sihon, king of the Amorites, for his mercy endures forever. Sihon, king of the Amorites, for his mercy endures forever. And Og, king of Bashan, for his mercy endures forever. And gave their land as a heritage,

for his mercy endures forever. A heritage to Israel his servant, for his mercy endures forever. It is he who remembered us in our low estate, for his mercy endures forever, and rescued us from our foes, for his mercy endures forever. He who gives food to all flesh, for his mercy endures forever. O give thanks to the God of heaven, for his so much for giving us your word. Thank you for not giving up on us. And especially, Father, we thank you that you continue to speak to us even when we experience brokenness. You continue to reach out to us even in the midst of our mess and the mess of this world.

We give you praise and we thank you for your word and thank you for the way in which you continue to hold this world in existence. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Wow. So again, I mentioned yesterday that things escalate pretty quickly here. Once you introduce sin into the world, all of a sudden, it just sounds like it gets remarkably crazy really, really quickly. If you remember in Genesis chapter four, at the very end, it said that Adam knew his wife again, and she gave birth to another son. His name was Seth. And that's going to be important for our readings today because of the fact that we have in chapter five, we just heard is a lot of names that are really easy to read and kind of difficult to read out loud. So part of that though is following the

genealogy of Seth. Why is that going to be important? It's going to be important because it seems that there are two kind of distinct threads of humanity that come off of this. There's the Cainite line, right? Cain, because he's still alive. And the Sethite line, Seth, because he is alive. Now, it's not two different kinds of people in the sense of like races or whatnot. But what this is, clearly it's the same family. But what happens is there is a distinction that's made in chapter six that is very, very complicated for us because we think, what does that mean?

And if we understand that here is Seth born to Adam and Eve after Cain, who's born to Adam and Eve, and that they kind of split. And the Sethite line was referred to, could be referred to as the sons of God. And that the Cainite line, right? Cain, who had killed his brother, would be referred to as the daughters of men, right? So that's in chapter six, this very, very complicated thing where like, it says the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair. They took to wife such of them as they chose. And we think that is remarkable. What does that mean? And the answer lies in the genealogy that we had previously read in chapter five. Okay, what am I talking about?

Well, here's an answer that comes out of Jeff Cavins and Tim Gray's book called Walking with God. It is a book based off of the Great Adventure Bible timeline, and it probably is the best description of what the difference is between who are the sons of God and who are the daughters of men in the book of Genesis today. It says this, it says in the book of Walking with God, describing the Nephilim, it says, Adam's genealogy in Genesis chapter five, we find some important clues. While modern readers often find genealogies boring reading, they include important details and are often strategically placed to prepare for the narrative that follows. Adam's genealogy, as we noted earlier, begins with an account of how Seth is born in Adam's image and likeness, and is prefaced by a reminder that God

made man, male and female, after his own image and likeness. Okay, so that's going to be, oh, sons of God. That makes sense because Seth being born in Adam's image and likeness, Adam being created in God's image and likeness. That makes sense. These important details are recalled not only or only in Genesis chapter five with Seth's line, but not in Genesis four with Cain's line. In order to draw a sharp contrast or distinction between the two lines, that Cain's line produces murderers and polygamists like Lamech. The Nephilim may refer to this fallen line as the word Nephilim comes from the Hebrew word nafal, which means to fall. Whereas Seth's line produces righteous men like Enoch and Noah who worship God and call upon the name of the Lord. Seth's line, the line that worships God, is the

one that is singled out as being in the image and likeness of Adam and Eve, who are in turn the image and likeness of God. And as we noted before, Cain's, I just go on, I'll paraphrase now, as you noted before, that Cain's line is one who he has fallen. And so the Nephilim, those who are fallen, would make sense. So what happens then is all of humanity, though, does not stay pure when it comes to, here's this Sethite line. When I say pure, I don't mean, obviously it's not a racial thing because they come from the same two parents. So it can't possibly be a racial thing. What it is, is a way of life thing that Seth walked in the way of the Lord and Cain did not walk in the way of the Lord. And it's that kind of, I guess you might call intermarrying, that brought wickedness on earth.

It's not necessarily who you marry, but marrying someone is an incredibly important thing. As many of you who are married already know, who you choose to be your spouse determines in so many ways the trajectory of your life. And it determines the trajectory of your family's life, for good and for ill. It's hard to look back on that and recognizing that hindsight is 20-20. At the same time, it still is true

that who we marry determines in so many ways the trajectory of our lives, both positively and negatively. And in this case, what's being described is those who walked in the way of the Lord, those in the Sethite line, ended up ceasing to walk in the way of the Lord because of the fact that they intermarried with people in the Cainite line. Now, obviously, that's not to say that all of Seth's children were like automatic saints and all of Cain's children were automatic sinners. We are all born into this broken world. So we all would do this, but we do know exactly

what happens, right? We know what happens when we surround ourselves with people who have the same worldview. And that's one of the reasons why we're doing this Bible in a Year podcast is to give us a biblical worldview and to highlight the decisions that others have made, even ancient decisions others have made that have then brought about kind of great destruction and the decisions that they made that have brought about a great hope. Because even the destruction that God is preparing Noah for is also meant to be a great hope. Because yes, it is an end to much of humanity. It says that now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and the earth was filled with violence. God saw the earth and behold, it was corrupt for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. So God determined to destroy that corruption. God determined to root out the cancer. And the reality is when we cling to the cancer,

you can't destroy the cancer without destroying everything that's holding onto it. At the same time, it's a promise of hope because God is saying, Noah, make this ark because since you have clinged to me, I will lift you up. One of the things that we can recognize in our day and in our age is that even if the people around us are wicked, now, obviously, parenthetically, right? No one is 100% wicked and no one's 100% good. We are good, but we're broken. But even if the culture around us, we'll say it like that, even if the culture around us is more broken than it is whole, we can still choose like Noah to live as those who are following and pursuing the Lord. We can continue to, as it says about Noah,

Noah walked with God. Noah walked with God. And so today, as we move forward from listening to God's word proclaimed, we can ask the question, God, how do you want me to walk with you? How can I walk with you today? Regardless of what people are in the culture around me

are doing, regardless of what the people in my family are doing, regardless of maybe I'm married and my spouse does not walk with the Lord. I can walk with the Lord today because yes, there are consequences to our actions, but also yes, the Lord always holds out an offering of hope to every one of us, no matter what our situation. So today, how are you going to walk with God like Noah walked with God? And how are you going to cling to him so that even amidst the storms of life, the floods that come, he can continue to lift you up?

Thank you so much for joining us today. Once again, this Bible in a Year podcast. If you want to get updates, you can text the word Catholic Bible to the number 33777. You can subscribe to this podcast. Please do because we're going to be journeying with you for quite a few days upcoming, but we just live in right now, one day at a time, one day at a time. We're walking one day at a time, and we're choosing to live with God and let his word shape our view of his world. My name is Father Mike. God bless.