Tag: prophecy

End of Days

Posted on by jovial_cynic
The Hebrew in Genesis 6:13 says something wild. Look at these two translations: the Youngs Literal Translation (YLT) and the NIV:

The first thing you may notice is that one says “all flesh” and the other says “all people.”

And God said to Noah, `An end of all flesh hath come before Me, for the earth hath been full of violence from their presence; and lo, I am destroying them with the earth.
Genesis 6:13 (YLT)

So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.
Genessi 6:13 (NIV)

But look at this word “end.” This word, when it isn’t connected to a specific time (like “end of 40 years,” or “end of his reign“) has a much more… eternal meaning.

I. end
1. end, at the end of (of time)
2. end (of space)
H7093: קֵץ (qēṣ)

There are two places in the Torah where this word is not connected to a specific time. Here, and back in Genesis 4 when Cain and Abel offer an offering to God.

This is an eternal image. This is not only our past. It is our present and future.

This passage can be read: “the end of all flesh is before me because the earth is filled with violence through the works of the flesh. I will destroy all flesh with the earth.”

If you read my Ish/Isha (flesh/spirit) post about Genesis 2-3, you’ll see a connection here.

If the Flood is a symbol of death & picture of baptism, where the flesh dies and is raised again by the Spirit of God, the destruction of the flesh is not disaster. It is what we long for: Not the death of wicked people, but the death of our sinful selves… so we can live.

Fire and Smoke

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So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high. Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit high all around. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks.
Genesis 6:14-16 (NIV)

Everything we know about the construction of the Ark is in Genesis 6:14-16.

Later, God gives very precise measurements for other construction projects.

In Exodus 40, Moses completes construction of the Tabernacle, and God’s glory falls in smoke and fire.

In 2 Chronicles 7, Solomon completes construction of the Temple, and God’s glory falls in smoke and fire.

In Genesis 6, Noah completes construction of the Ark, and I bet there was smoke and fire aboard.

Let there be Light.

Every Animal is Kept Alive

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But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive.
Genesis 6:18-20 (NIV)

If you’ve followed my posts about the different “kinds of animals” in Gen 1-3, and how we seem to have a picture of Israel (livestock), the Gentiles (the wild animals), and the Enemies of God (the ones that creep), you may see this as prophetic and extremely hopeful.

The way it is written, this covenant appears distinct from the one that occurs after Noah gets off the boat. This one seems… redemptive.

Walked with God

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Now Enoch lived sixty-five years, and fathered Methuselah. Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he fathered Methuselah, and he fathered other sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.
Genesis 5:21-24 (NASB)

The Rabbis, believing that 7 is God’s perfection, see the 7th from Adam and find an oddity: a man whose years match the days around the sun, pointing to Light and the garden where God walked.

Comfort from Noah

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And [Lamech] named him Noah, saying, “This one will give us comfort from our work and from the hard labor of our hands caused by the ground which the Lord has cursed.
Genesis 5:29 (NASB)

The last generation listed before Noah is born is through Lamech, who says this perplexing thing about comfort from the toil from the cursed ground.

If you follow the timing of the births and deaths of the line from Adam until Lamech, you’ll see that Adam has only recently died, so perhaps the whole world sees that the consequenced laid out in Genesis 2 and 3 has come to fruition. Maybe the world weeps. Death is reality.

So Lamech names his son “Noah,” which means comfort, and it points to a future where God provides a way out of death, symbolized by a certain boat that rises above the all-consuming flood.

Kings of Righteousness and Peace

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After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley).

Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High.
Genesis 14:17-18 (NIV)

The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion, saying,
“Rule in the midst of your enemies!”
Your troops will be willing
on your day of battle.
Arrayed in holy splendor,
your young men will come to you
like dew from the morning’s womb.
The Lord has sworn
and will not change his mind:
“You are a priest forever,
in the order of Melchizedek.”
Psalm 110:2-4 (NIV)

The mysterious Melchizedek is mentioned twice in the Jewish scriptures – once here in Genesis 14, and once in Psalm 110, and it’s clear that David, the Psalmist sees a future messiah in this character.

The text says that Melchizedek is the “king of Salem,” which the rabbis say refers to Jerusalem. He is a king in the Promised Land, before the incursion of the Canaanites.

But there’s more to his name that describes this once and future king:

First, Salem means peace. So he is “malek shalem” or king of peace. But also, Melchizedek is a compound word, coming from “malek” and “tsedeq,” which means “king of righteousness.” And he’s also called a “priest” of God-most-high.

He’s obviously divine in some way. But… he doesn’t seem to do anything in the story, except BLESS Abram.

Who goes to war, bringing a band of young men, against the empires to rescue his people? It’s Abram. So who is the Psalmist talking about?

The Lord is at your right hand;
he will crush kings on the day of his wrath.
He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead
and crushing the rulers of the whole earth.
Psalm 110:5-6 (NIV)

On one level, the Psalmist is talking about Abram, because he is recounting Genesis 14. But he also sees a future person who does the same thing, attributing success to “the Lord.” But notice… this isn’t the ALL-CAPS Lord. This isn’t The Name of God here.

So while this can point to a future messiah, David also likely believed this psalm was about himself. As king over God’s people, he bore responsibility to protect. And in Genesis, he sees the presence of a greater king of righteousness and peace who will bless him.

If God’s promises are eternal, and prophecy is perpetual, this is perhaps true of all of God’s faithful people: we will all be victorious over the lesser kings in our lives, and the Great King will bless us in our triumph.

Because God is near us.

An Echo of Giants

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And in the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim,
Genesis 14:5 (NASB)

The battle between kings in Genesis 14 brings us to a scene involving the Raphaim.

Do you know this word? We encounter it again a few times in scripture later.

giants, Rephaim
old tribe of giants
H7497: רְפָאִים (rᵊp̄ā’îm)

It is giants.

In fact, this whole chapter feels a bit like an echo of Genesis 6-9…

Miry Clay

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Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they fell into them. But those who survived fled to the hill country.
Genesis 14:10 (NASB)

So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the king’s son, which was in the court of the prison, and they let Jeremiah down with ropes. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire. So Jeremiah sank in the mire.
Jeremiah 38:6 (NKJV)

He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,
Out of the miry clay,
And set my feet upon a rock,
And established my steps.
Psalm 40:2 (KNJV)

“Tar pits” (or bitumen pits) can also be understood as “pits of miry clay,” which we see echoed in Jeremiah 38:6 and Psalm 40:2.

The rabbis say that the kings mentioned here did not “fall in,” but threw themselves in, in the way one “falls upon their face” (Numbers 16:4).

Genesis tells us Everything

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And it came about in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim,
Genesis 14:1 (NASB)

The rabbis tell us that these four kings are the empires of Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome.

“Rabbi Avin said, ‘Just as Abraham’s grief began with four kingdoms, so will it end for his descendants only with four kingdoms.’” And it further says there: “And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar — this is Babylon; Arioch king of Ellasar — this is Media; Chedorlaomer king of Elam — this is Greece; And Tidal king of Goiim — this is that kingdom (Rome)
Ramban on Genesis 14:1

Perhaps these are the same Empires that comprise the statue in Daniel’s dream of Daniel 2.

Genesis appears to tell us everything.