The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1913-01-31
LESSON FOR FEBRUARY !;
THE FLOOD

v.
= The frst great fact recorded In IN.
= book OF Genesis lie that OF Craatian
7 which may be divided into several To-.
ser facts. The second great fact 4
that Of the Fall. which began with II.
temptation and ended with the excsa
sion from Paradise. In this lesson ~
come to the third great fact. IN
; Flood. the account Of which enbracs.
the fifth to the ninth chapters. Chan
| ter i've gives us Noah's ~genealogy.
six, the history Of the building OF tn
ark; seven. the occupancy OF the ark.
eight, Noah's departure from the ark
and nine, Gods covenant with Noah.
In this lesson sin flourishes like ths
proyerbial green bay tree. .'Eyery
Imagination of the thoughts OF mans
heart was only evil continually" Y, L
These thoughts were c~rystallized into
the lives OF men. for we read that
the earth vas filled with violence.
Viewing this awful development 81
sin, God was so deply grieyed in his
heart that he turned aside trepentedl
from his plan and purpose thus far ID
q determination to destroy man ".
y. Noah, however, found grace IN
Gods sight, as we see from '. 9. even
In the midst OF these adverse clrrum-
stances. Environment is powerful but
not all-poWerful, and IL 10 never 4
match for Gods grace, We must mot
gather from this verse that Noah was
faultless, but rather than he sought
to conform his life to Gods win ana
not to the standards Of those among
whom he dweit. Noah gave himself
to q whoie-hearted service to God
We are told that the foundation OF
Noah's acceptance before God was his
faith. Heb. l1:7, like his great grand.
father Enoch. he had walked with
God" (6:22l. Noah stood absolutely
alone and was thus thrown upon com
partnership with God, compare v.
with | John is.
Given Due Warning.
God could no longer endure the
sins Of men, their iniquity was full,
therefore God determined 10 destroy
them. He did NOT, however, cut them
on, for We read that they had 100
years announcement Of the coming Oh
the food ". 49,, time enough Ia
which to repent. They also had d
faithful preacher to warn them dur
ing this time, 4 Peter as. But their
apostasy wa complete and shes
would have none OF Gods mercy mn
heed bis warning, PToy. 1911. Noahss
obedience as he built the arb was .
daily reminder Of the impending
food.
The ark WAS y fiat. bottomed chest
$50 feet long. rs feet broad and Az
feet deep, built OF cyprus tgopher
wood and coated with pitch. Unday
caves OF the roof was an opel
space for ventilation and its thres
decks we're divided into compart
As to the eight souls" tf Peter
$500 who entered the ark we need
o remember that usually children and
servants are understood without men
ion In such ~enumerations. We are
lot to Infer that of all created animals
OF each entered the ark. The
iood certainly was not universal ana
renee such . miracle was uncalled
or.
Attention has been called 10 the fact
nat BIOLOGISTS tell us there are in !
eality less than 400 distinct species
4 animal life. Further, we must
ompare Chapters ia, . and s:1a.
animals were preserved for fN-
ire increase, also for sacrifice. EXC
gives ten such clean beasts.
OF those for sacrifice Noah
ad but seventy In all, Modern chips
AIRY hundreds OF beasts with their
besides hundreds Of human be.
lgs. 4
Attention has been called to the d
etailed instruction Noah received M
n the building Of the arb, yet God u
ready and willing to give us az
ear specifications for our life and
ork II we win walk as consistently
ith him as did Noah. III
Race Swept Away. NJ
At last the food arrived at the u. g
u moment prophesied, It's causs
ems to be twofold, a ~subsidence Of
. ground and q ~downpour OF rain.
Euphrates valley where thIs
'ent took place fills all the necessary
nations. Subsistence would allow
inundation from the sea, g,eh an
took place IN 1911 ip this
angtse valley and another in 1901
more than ten, million people
'%faeiess; the water rising from so to
rect. All that the account de-
ands, however, IL that n corrupt
was swept away and that God
we'd HIS righteous servant n his II
nsehold. II is the privilege OF ey-
J believer In GOD to save his house
q. See Acts 1881, 40: j.. Cor. TIA.
The only way God could insure the
rity of the race was to destroy ir
the impure. This seeming
Verity was the essence OF tender
and another evidence Of the love
God. Il
sKaptics have read into the story
the Hood much ~extraneous matter.
have sought 20 prove that be- N
nearly every race under the sun n
! . Hood tradition therefore the
Ter o. Genesis 10 merely passing
~"Babyionian tradition" 1t IL rar
re reasonable TO believe that these
ditions are corrupted forms OF the
z account found In the Bible. Few
traditions but are fun 81 poly
istic vasaries, az, for instance this
'sriah epic poem giving this story,
which IL without n sin 80 e~,Avr.