One frequently-asked question about Gen 6-7 is why God instructs Noah to include a pair of each type of animal on the ark in Gen 6:19-20, then has Noah include 7 pairs of each clean animal and one pair of each unclean one in Gen 7.
Critical scholars often charge that these accounts are contradictory and result from two different accounts of the Flood being poorly patched together to form these chapters of Genesis.
Conservative scholars, on the other hand, see no contradiction here. In one literary pattern that sometimes appears in the Bible, an instruction is described first in general terms, then repeated in more detail. Gen 6-7 is a good example. (Num 14:20-35 is another.) Noah's instructions are given in broad strokes in Gen 6, then laid out in more detail in Gen 7.
A good source here: Walter Kaiser, Hard Sayings of the Bible, IVP, 1996.
At Church of the Messiah in Xenia, Ohio, we have been following a lectionary that goes through the Pentateuch in three and a half years, with accompanying readings in the prophets, psalms, and New Testament. This blog chronicles things that we have been learning along the way.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Seder 66: Exodus 28---Priestly Vestments and the Urim and Thummim
Exodus 28 describes the special garments that would be made for the Israelite high priest "for glory and for beauty" (verse 2). ...
-
Exodus 28 describes the special garments that would be made for the Israelite high priest "for glory and for beauty" (verse 2). ...
-
This section of Psalm 119 is a hymn of praise to God's word. The psalmist makes no petitions here. The psalmist's love of God...
-
Psalm 150 closes the book of Psalms with a call to praise God. Commentator Willem Van Gemeren observes that if one embarks on the journey ...
No comments:
Post a Comment