Respond to one of these prompts, or bring up your own thinking or your own question(s).
1. What are some questions that this reading causes to arise in you?
2. Why do you suppose the earlier part of the Noah story is more well known than the part after the rainbow?
2. How would you describe God's relationship with human beings, given the Noah story?
3. What is God like in the story?
4. In the story involving Abraham, Abraham and Go get into a discussion. Describe that discussion. What does it say about God's relationship to human beings?
5. Why might God want his special people to be circumcized? (This is a "thought question"; the answer isn't in the reading.)
6. How well to the men of Sodom and Gomorrah treat the angels who visit Lot? The angels are sometimes referred to as "men." Theyre the ones who pay Lot a visit.
6) They treat the angels very badly, and as if they are intruders in their village. How I understand it, they attempt to break into the house, and essentially rape them."'Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, so that we may know them.’" This confused me slightly as to why they found this necessary, but I suppose that it is showing how "wicked" the men of Sodom and Gomorrah are."‘I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly..."
ReplyDelete2. I think that the earlier part of the Noah story is known because it is less complex and maybe taught only until there. Or maybe because of the description that grabs attention. For instances on verse 17-18 " The flood continued forty days on the earth; and the waters increased and bore up the ark and it rose high above the earth the waters swelled and increased greatly on the earth.." I thought, personally, that it grabbed my attention. Finally I think that the Noah Ark's story is known till there because it maybe be easier to adapt and create different versions of it.
ReplyDeleteGod might want his special people circumcised because it is a way of Keeping apart this religion from others. Its almost as saying that if you are not circumcised you don't belong here which the bible directly has written; "Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant." Also if you are circumcised you are worthy of Gods covenant (agreement). In addition God may want his special people circumcised as a symbol of his covenant (agreement) just like all contracts now days have a paper saying it was legalized. To add to that, whenever a person of this religion gets circumcised at 8 years old, It could also be a reminder of Gods covenant; "Throughout your generations every male among you shall be circumcised when he is eight days old, including the slave born in your house and the one bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring." What i am trying to bring across is that Gods special people having to be circumcised, i think has something to do with his covenant which you can tell due to that fact that all my reasons relate to Gods covenant.
ReplyDelete1. One question that I have is why God never wanted to flood the earth again. He said that he vowed never to do it again and I am not sure for his reasoning. Another question that arose while I was reading was the part about Noah and his sons. His sons saw him naked and then they covered him, and Noah got really mad. He "cursed" his sons after they covered him, and I am wondering what his reasoning is for that. Also, all of Genesis 19 really confuses me and I had trouble following what was happening. Why was the city being destroyed? Why did God want Lot and his family to survive?
ReplyDelete5. Why might God want his special people to be circumcised? (This is a "thought question"; the answer isn't in the reading.)
ReplyDeleteGod said to him, ‘As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; (genesis 17) and so on.. I think god was just saying that since this is his covenant with you, so you should keep my covenant which is having all the males of his offsprings be circumcised. I guess its kind of to show that he's the follower of god and its to separate him from the other human kinds who believe in something else?
6. They men of Sodom and Gomorrah treat the angels who went to visit Lot terribly. The villagers do not seem to realize that the Lot was housing angels, as they kept on calling the two "men." Therefore, they surround Lot's house and try to convince Lot to bring them outside of his house. (Gen. 19: 4-5) However, when Lot refuses, they try to knock down the door to get to the angels. The villagers seem to dislike the two angels and have hostile feelings towards them.
ReplyDelete3. God hated how people became evil and sinned towards God. Also.. He is scary becuase he tried to kill them who've sinned and He actually did kill all of them. But if someone is pure and clean, He loves him and saves him and gives different attitude. So in this part of bible, Noah is the pure and clean person so he survived but the other who did not belive God and who've sinned got punished. So my guess is even though God hates people who sins, but still loves them but because they've sinned already and did not feel anything about it(they didnt feel sorry), God had to punish them.
ReplyDelete2.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinon, the first part of the Noah story is more well known, because it makes for a very interesting story. In general, people love action in stories. The beginning of the story has a lot of action. It is very interesting to think what it would be like to live on a boat for so many days and nights with every single type of animal in the world. This part of the story catches people's attention. The end of the story almost seems anti-climactic after the great tale. Essentially, the water dries up, and Noah sends the dove out to keep checking if the water has completely dried. After Noah is able to exit the ark, God makes an interesting promise, saying that he would never destroy man kind, and the rest of the world with the flood again. After such a great climax, this ending is a little bit less exciting (even though it is still a nice ending). I think that the main reason why the beginning of the story of Noah is more well known is that it is the most exciting part of the story, and it is what could be called a "catchy" story.
By" Rachel Friedman