Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 8-11.

Since I had noted that in the Creation accounts it said that God had given only plants for people to eat, I want to note that here in the Flood account God gives mankind everything else as food as well.  This suggests to me that in the perfect world, humans would be strictly vegetarian, but since we do not live in such a world, God has given us meat to eat.  Before telling Noah and his sons that He was giving them all living things as food for them, God commanded them to be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.  What I had never noticed before is what the text says regarding why the people of Babel built their tower.  They chose to build the tower to make a name for themselves, “lest they be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”  God did not divide the languages because the people of Babel chose to build a tower which would reach to heavens.  He did so because they were avoiding obeying His command to fill the whole earth.  This tells us something about how God works with us.  A similar thing happens with Christians when we fail to truly fulfill the Great Commission: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  In fact, the Great Commission is a follow up to the command which God gave Noah and his sons.  They were told to fill the earth.  We are told to make disciples of all nations.  We are to fill the earth with disciples of Jesus.  If we become settled in our groups and stop reaching out to the unsaved, God will disrupt us.  He may do so by creating division within our group so that we spread out.  He may do so by introducing persecution against us so that we scatter.  He may use another mechanism to cause us to spread His word.  It is less painful if we do so on our own initiative.  The Great Commission is not optional for those who follow Christ.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.