Genesis 9:21-25 – Did Ham rape Noah?

Problem: Genesis records,

[Noah] drank of the wine and became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were turned away, so that they did not see their father’s nakedness. 24 When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him. 25 So he said, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants he shall be to his brothers.”

Some interpreters claim that this refers to Ham raping his father. In fact, as early as the Babylonian Talmud, Jewish interpreters held that Ham either raped his father or castrated him (Sanhedrin, 70a). Modern scholars like Hermann Gunkel, Gerhard von Rad, Robert Gagnon, and Martti Nissinen have also held to this view. Is this the case?
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Posted by petra1000 in Bible Difficulty, Bible Study, Bible Teaching

Genesis 8:1 – Did God forget Noah?

Problem: This passage states that “God remembered Noah…” However, the Bible also teaches that God is omniscient (Ps. 147:5; Heb. 4:13). Why would an omniscient Being need to remember something?
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Posted by petra1000 in Bible Difficulty, Bible Study, Bible Teaching

Genesis 6:6-7 – Does the Lord change or not?

Problem: Does the Lord change or not? God does not change His nature. But he does change in how he deals with people. They are different categories of change and present no contradiction.
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Posted by petra1000 in Bible Difficulty, Bible Study, Bible Teaching

Genesis 6:6 – Did God make a mistake in creating mankind

Problem: In Genesis 6:6, we read, “The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.” Boyd writes, “If the future is eternally settled in God’s mind and/or by God’s will, it is challenging to see how God could genuinely regret some of his decisions in light of how events played themselves out (Gen. 6:6–7; 1 Sam. 15:11, 35). How can you regret something that turns out exactly as you eternally knew it would?”[1]
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Posted by petra1000 in Bible Difficulty, Bible Study, Bible Teaching

Genesis 6:2,5 – Who were the “sons of God” in Genesis 6?

Problem: Who were the “sons of God” in Genesis 6? Genesis 6 is a cryptic passage of Scripture which precedes the historical account of the worldwide Flood. The event of Genesis 6:2-5 was one of the primary factors contributing to the wickedness before the Flood. Moses wrote that the “sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose,” (Gen 6:2). The offspring from this union became a race called the Nephilim.
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Posted by petra1000 in Bible Difficulty, Bible Study, Bible Teaching

Genesis 6:3 – Do humans really live for 120 years?

Problem: The Bible teaches that humans only live for 120 years. However, recent people have stepped forward, claiming to be over 120 years old. In fact, the text claims that Noah himself lived another 350 years after the Flood, as did many of his descendants (see Gen. 11). What should we make of this claim?
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Posted by petra1000 in Bible Difficulty, Bible Study, Bible Teaching