Monthly Archives: November 2023

Session 026: Genesis 8:18 – 9:17: Eastern and Jewish perspectives on the Noahic covenant.

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Class OverviewClass ResourcesClass Discussion Points
This week, please start by rereading Genesis Chapter 8:18 through 9:17. Since we have studied the parts of a covenant, try to identify the following sections of a covenant through this passage.
o Preamble
o Historical Prologue (absent in Assyrian Treaties )
o Stipulations
o Depositions and Provisions for reading before the people.
o Witnesses
o Oaths – Curses / Blessings – The Berit details
o Sacrifices given.
o Written record.

  • Genesis 8:18 through 9:17

    Text from The Bible Gateway starting with Chapter 9

    Genesis 9

  • Scripture Audio:

    Presented as dramatizations from The Bible Gateway

    Genesis 8 Audio
    Genesis 9 Audio

  • Suggested Study Resources

    The following four resources should be helpful. Of course feel free to chase down any study rabbit holes and you want to chase. This is your deep dive in the Word.

  • BEMA Discipleship Podcast; His Bow in the clouds

    We have already covered this podcast once, but since it is only 30 minutes long, you can listen to it while heading to work. Do the nuances of the covenant stick out more now that we have looked that the Eastern views of covenant within a patriarchal society?

    Podcast Page
    Download Link

  • Noah: The First Covenant in Tanakh

    This article is very Jewish in that it shows, in my opinion, some of the major differences in the relationship that Jews have with God compared to the relationship that Western Christians have. This will be great food for discussion in our next session discussion. While I could split hairs that the first covenant was with Adam and Eve, I will go with this authors idea that the Noahic covenant was the first. Some things to pick out of this article.

    1. Read the sidebar on the author. I’m curious what your thoughts are.
    2. What do you make of the idea of God talking to Himself?
    3. After reading this article, how do you see this Jewish author approaching her relationship with God compared to the approach you are used to hearing from most Protestant preachers/leaders?

    Link

  • The Miraculous Nature of the Covenant.

    While this is from a Jewish site, I could see this being presented by several major branches of the Christian faith. It is a short read that provides some ideas on how/why the food was handled during the flood. I’m curious what your thoughts are on this.

    Link

  • EXTRA CREDIT ARTICLES:

    Genesis 9, Noah’s Covenants and Jewish Theology of Religions

    This peer reviewed article (from what I can tell) is deep. It includes perspectives from three different individuals outside of the author and it also deals with the differing interpretations between Jews and Christians. I’ll have to be honest an confess that I personally need to look at this one more deeply. There is a lot of ideas and concepts here.

    Article Link

    The Seven Laws of Noah

    This wikipedia page provides an analysis of the seven laws that are identified from the Noah story. A very quick read.

    Article Link:

What are the major differences that you see in the Jewish/Eastern view of the Noahic covenant compared to what we usually hear or perceive in the West?

Session 025: Genesis 8:18 – 9:17: Understanding Eastern and Jewish Covenants

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This week we will be looking at the Patriarchy and Covenants from the time period of Noah. There is a LOT of material to cover. We were not able to find resources the summarized these concepts the way that we liked. So, we created our own podcast in the hopes of saving you some time without having to go through all of the material that we did. As it is, the recording still ended up being almost an hour long.

  • Suggested Study Resources

  • Understanding the Patriarchy and Covenants of Noah’s Time

    AUWTTB’s own podcast

    Podcast Web Page
    Audio Download Link

  • What is the Noahic Covenant?

    This is a very short summarization of the Noahic Covenant.

    Link

  • The Epic of Eden by Sandra L. Richter

    I would strongly recommend reading (or listening to) the book ‘The Epic of Eden’ by Sandra L. Richter. For this class, covering the first three chapters is all that is necessary, but I think you will be interested enough in it that you will want to finish it. The audio version published by audible.com is well read. Unfortunately, you will have to buy this one to access it.

    From Amazon.com
    From Audible.com

  • The Difference Between Covenant and Contract.

    I mentioned that I found a legal site that talked about contracts and covenants. Here is the link to that site. I found it very interesting.

    Link

  • EXTRA CREDIT ARTICLES:

    The following resources will each take you down a unique view of the patriarchy and covenants of Noah’s time. Enjoy.

    The Polity of Biblical Israel

    This is a rather in-depth article about the Polity in Biblical Israel. It is a very detailed look at this subject.

    Article Link

    The Twelve Tribes of Israel

    This article looks at the formation of the twelve tribes of Israel. There are two things that I liked about it. First, it provides visual representation using maps to see how things develop. Second, it ties the development of the tribes back into the patriarchal society.

    Article Link

    Covenant – Beriyth (Hebrew Word Study)

    This article is a very deep dive into all forms of covenants within the Hebrew cultural environment. A very long but very detailed and scholarly write-up.

    Article Link

    What’s a covenant? A quick definition and overview

    This article takes a slightly different view of the covenants in the Bible than we have looked at. Think of it looking into a room from a different window than we have already looked.

    Article Link:

This week we are looking at the patriarchy and covenants from Noah’s time. We wont need a lot of questions to lead discussion. There is simply so much here. Here are a few things to consider as you think through this.

1) What are the differences between a contract and a covenant.
2) Do you have a better/different understanding of covenants than you did before?
3) Do you have a different understanding of the Patriarchal society.