Reset Password
Reset Link Sent
| Blogs > Katididaustralia > Katididaustralia |
|
Shem Saw The Badness Of Two Worlds How often have you read the account of The Flood and not given real thought to Shem from this point of view. Or to the others on The Ark for that matter. This article is actually written for 's education but I just loved the point it was making and thought it would be good to share and so I have summarized somewhat. Noah's Shem survived the end of one world, and he lived on into another one. We all know the account of why that first world was destroyed and how this small family of 8 people survived to begin anew, giving us the world we now share. When Shem was young, "the badness of man" was great, the Bible says. Everything people thought about was "bad all the time." The apostle Peter wrote: "The world of that time suffered destruction when it was flooded (deluged) with water." (Genesis 6:5; 2Peter 3:6) Jesus himself talked about this. "Before the flood," he said, people were having a good time, "eating and drinking," as well as, "marrying and ...being given in marriage." Jesus added: "They took no note until the flood came and swept them all away." (Matthew 24:37-39) What did those people fail to note? Shem's father, Noah, was "a preacher of righteousness," but the people did not listen to what he was saying. Noah listened to God and built The Ark. Only Noah, his wife, Shem, Ham and Japheth and their wives took note of what God wanted them to do. The rest only did what they wanted to do, so they were all swept away. (2Peter 2:5; 1Peter 3:20) Unfortunately, owing to satan's continued influence, it did not take long for badness to rear its ugly head once again, as Canaan, the of Shem's brother Ham, did something so bad that Noah said: "Cursed be Canaan" and Nimrod, a grandson of Ham, opposed Jehovah by encouraging the building of a high tower called Babel to "make a name for themselves." (Genesis 9:25; 10:6-10; 11:4+5) All this must have made Noah and Shem feel very hurt and sad. How do you think it would have made Jehovah God feel also. As a consequence God confused the language of the people so that they could not understand one another and they had to stop building their city and the tower and go to different places with those who spoke the same language. (Genesis 11:6-9) I wonder if this involved the break-up of families? Of course, God did not confuse the language of Noah and Shem and those who 'stuck' to them. This way they could stay together and continue to serve God. Shem lived to be 600 years old. He lived for 98 years before The Flood and 502 years afterwards. We can be sure that he helped Noah build The Ark and warn people of the coming Flood but what do you think Shem did for the more that 500 years after the Flood? Well, Noah referred to Jehovah as "Shem's God" so we can know that Shem kept on serving Jehovah and helping the members of his family to do the same, and later, his family came to include Abraham, Sarah and Isaac. (Genesis 9:26; 11:10-31: 21:1-3) Thinking now about today's world, which has been growing ever more wicked since Shem's day, the Bible says that it "is passing away" but with a promise. "He that does the will of God remains forever." So if we do God's will, we may be amoung those who survive into God's new world and with God's help we can live on forever in happiness on earth. (1John 2:17; Psalm 37:29; Isaiah 65:17) Imagine how wonderful it will be to have the chance to meet such faithful witnesses of God as Shem, Noah, Abraham + Sarah and so many more. What a wonderful prospect we have set before us! I think that it must have been exhilarating and quite daunting to have lived through what Noah's family survived. Such a weighty responsibility, not only in having the courage and tenacity to build The Ark in the face of such opposition, and, having the faith to preach to such opposers with love and patience, but to have come out of The Ark into a whole new world, to begin all over again! Amazing! From reading the account in Genesis it seems that the earth was very fertile after the Flood and so I think that the trees and grasses and such must have sprouted very quickly in that first year. Still, they would have had much to keep them busy and much work to do. It is encouraging to think on, since the survivors of Armageddon will also have much to keep them busy, in repairing and rebuilding, after the destruction of those days to come. Exhilarating! Katidid. |
|
