The Story of the Puritans

Obviously on a roll...this is the original article which made me dig for more information on the Puritans. May you be encouraged to dig into and read some of the wonderful puritan writers.

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By Erroll Hulse

Introduction - The Relevance of the Puritans 

Who were the Puritans? When did they live? What did they accomplish? What did they teach? History is not a popular subject.

We cannot assume that those who are British are automatically well-educated in English history. It is rare for those outside Britain to know English history. How can we introduce overseas Christians to the best theological inheritance ever?

My concern extends beyond narrating the story. I want to create enthusiasm for the Puritans in order to profit from their practical example and benefit from their unique balance of doctrine, experience, and practice. The Puritans were men of deep theological understanding and vision who prayed for the earth to be filled with a knowledge of the glory of God as the waters cover the sea.

Today missionaries are involved as never before in taking the Gospel to all the world. Bible-based Christianity is spreading gradually in most of the 240 nations of the world. Believers have multiplied in great numbers, especially in sub-Sahara Africa, the Far East, and South America. Teaching which engenders holy living and stability is vastly needed. Historically the Puritan epoch is best able to supply this need for they were strongest where the churches in general are weakest today.

In face of the philosophic and religious trends of today, the Puritans are certainly relevant.

 
Post-modernism (PM) — Gradually from the 1960s and 1970s, the Western World has moved philosophically from Modernism to Post-modernism. For about two centuries thinking has been shaped by the Enlightenment with its emphasis on human reason and its optimism about human ability and human achievement. This arrogance has by-passed God and his revelation and led to the collapse of morality. Is Puritanism relevant within the present philosophical climate of Post-modernism? Writing on the subject of PM in Foundations, Autumn 1997, Andrew Patterson of Kensington Baptist Church, Bristol, suggests that the Puritan approach is relevant. He maintains that “genuine spirituality consists in a re-discovery of the cohesive and comprehensive nature of the grace of God in the life of the believer.” This he urges, “rejects the isolating, fracturing and compartmentalizing effects of the last two centuries, and looks back to the time of the Puritans and Pietists, when there was an approach that was far healthier, vibrant, holistic, real, scriptural, and God honouring.”

With the demise of Modernism (the Enlightenment) we now have a vacuum. This provides us with a unique opportunity to rebuild the foundations. We are challenged to understand and apply the Word of God today. As we do so we can look back and draw on the legacies of the Puritans. We can avoid their mistakes and weaknesses but learn a great deal from their strengths. Part 3 consists of ten subjects in which we can obtain help from the Puritans. 

PM is fiercely antinomian. It is admitted that people make mistakes, but the word “sin” is seldom mentioned and the idea that we all sin against God is avoided. Right and wrong are judged according to human feelings. The idea that God has an unchangeable, holy, moral law by which he will judge every person is unpopular.

What does Puritanism have to say to the different evangelical sectors of the Church world-wide today?

Neo-orthodoxy — Of the theologians classified as Neoorthodox, Karl Barth (1886-1968) is the most significant as he, more than any other this century, affected the course of Protestant theology in Europe and beyond. He set some on the road of studying Luther and Calvin and the Reformation of the 16th century. But while Barth challenged the Liberal establishment, there was a failure to set the record straight with regard to liberal views of the Bible. For instance, it is absolutely vital to believe in the historicity of Adam and Eve. It is essential to endorse the supernaturalism that pervades the biblical records. With Neo-orthodoxy one is never sure about the foundations. It is like walking on sinking sand. Puritanism shares with Neo-orthodoxy the challenge to use the mind, to think, and to analyze. But the strength of the Puritans is that there is never any question about the validity of the Scriptures. One walks always on the solid rock of the infallible Word of God.

Fundamentalism — Thankfully the Church of Jesus Christ on earth is always wider and larger than any one segment or denomination. The evangelical movement known as Fundamentalism is only a part of the wider body. That movement gathered momentum in the 1920s and 1930s. Fundamentalists came together into a movement out of the need to combat modernist theology. The leaders drew up a list of basic truths designed to keep intact doctrines which were denied or undermined by Liberals. Fundamentalism was strong in the USA and spread to other countries. The Puritans would agree with the passion to defend and promote basic truths such as the reliability of Scripture, the Trinity, and the deity of Christ. Unhappily Fundamentalism added to the “basics” a premillennial view of prophecy and in some cases dispensationalism, which is a view of history as specific time periods. The biblical basis for these periods is tenuous to say the least, yet the system is imposed by its propagators in an arbitrary way on the Bible. The Puritans were mostly postmillennial. A small number were premillennial. Eschatology was not made a point of division. We can learn from the Puritans not to major on minors. Christ’s second coming to judgment, the end of the world, the universal, physical resurrection from the dead, eternal heaven and hell are major issues in which we cannot compromise. But apart from a general outline we cannot map out the future. Evangelical unity is a precious commodity, and we should avoid damaging unity over matters which are not central.

Fundamentalists have also been inclined to add such issues as a ban on alcohol, card-playing, tobacco, dancing, and theater going. This has been the cause of endless strife and division. For instance, concerning alcohol, the Bible teaches temperance, not total abstinence. Wine is used at the Lord’s Table. Some fundamentalists even try to change the meaning of the word wine to uphold their total abstinence view. Puritanism is a wonderful antidote to the harmful and needless divisions which are caused by adding manmade rules to Scripture. Worldliness is an enemy. The cure is in the heart. A man can keep many rules but be worldly still, and at the same time possess a deadly spirit of Pharisaic self-righteousness. Puritanism concentrates on the great issue of the state of a person’s soul. When a soul is truly joined to Christ, every part of him—his thoughts, his words, and his actions—will be subject to the Word of God. While he makes rules for his own life, he will avoid making them for others. The Puritans included a chapter in the Westminster Confession on the subject of Christian liberty and liberty of conscience. The Puritan message is one of liberty combined with selfcontrol and discipline. The Puritan Confessions of Faith (Presbyterian, Congregational and Baptist) are silent where the Scripture is silent. For instance, there is nothing in the Bible about smoking, but there are passages which urge that we should care for our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit. Liberation from harmful habits comes through the freedom imparted by Christ. That freedom comes by the inward persuasion of the Holy Spirit.

The New Evangelicalism — Fundamentalism has worn an angry face being fiercely separatistic, intolerant, and aggressive. It has been viewed as the religion of the clenched fist. It was inevitable, therefore, that more friendly and reasonable avenues of expression would be sought. This came in the form of The New Evangelicalism: broad, scholarly, and friendly. However, this movement within evangelicalism has been troubled by compromise on the central issue of the inspiration and authority of Scripture. The New Evangelicalism split over the issue of the inerrancy of Scripture. Again Puritanism is commended. While the Puritans could not anticipate the details of this controversy, we appreciate the solid foundation that is laid with regard to the nature and authority of Scripture in the opening chapter of The Westminster Confession.

Pentecostalism — The Pentecostal movement, which is as wide and diverse as a rainbow, is noted for emphasis on three important subjects: the reality of spiritual experience, the demonstration of spiritual power, and joy in public worship. These matters were also stressed by the Puritans.

First, the Puritans placed great stress on the spiritual experience of God’s free grace in conversion. The parameters of spiritual experience with regard to joy in justification, the love of the Father in adoption, patience in tribulation, and enjoyment of Christ were explored to the full by the Puritans. The Puritan view is that we are now complete in Christ. Spiritual experience consists of the ongoing application of the believer’s experimental union with the three Persons of the Trinity. The New Testament does not suggest or command a specific second experience after conversion as though something has to be added to what we already are in Christ. Many in the Pentecostal movement concede that all who are in Christ have been baptized spiritually into Christ (1 Cor 12:12); no second specific experience is mandatory, and no second experience is to be regarded as a type of “open sesame” to a Pandora’s box of new experiences. The Puritans would concur that spiritual power or the anointing of the Holy Spirit is needed not only for preaching but for service generally and for endurance in tribulation. The Holy Spirit is always at work in the believer to correct, guide, comfort, and empower.

Second, there is a stress in some Pentecostal denominations on the continuation of signs, wonders, and miracles. The Puritan view is that the apostles and prophets of the New Testament were extraordinary. They were given a special enduement for the work of setting the foundations. We do not have to repeat their work. It is not necessary to vindicate the Word of God with new signs and wonders. Puritan teaching is wonderfully liberating because spiritual leaders are not required to walk on water, replace missing limbs, raise the dead, or perform stupendous miracles such as creating fish and bread. The Word of God is all-sufficient, and we do not need to exercise the supernatural gifts of prophecies, tongues, and interpretation of tongues. As we examine the history of the Christian Church through the centuries and through the 20th century, the absence of miracles is evident. A major ethical embarrassment takes place when miracles are offered, especially miracles of healing, and then failure is evident. How sad it is to claim to be a miracle-worker and then to disappoint the hopes of hurting people. When such promises fail, disillusionment sets in which is very deep and wounding. We do not make promises we cannot fulfil. Rather, we point to the promise which will never fail, and that is the promise of the gospel—eternal life to everyone who repents and believes.

Read more -->HERE.

Why You Should Read the Puritans

Still searching for the original site where I pulled information about the Puritans and came across this:

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by Joel Beeke

The great eighteenth-century revivalist, George Whitefield, wrote:

The Puritans [were] burning and shining lights. When cast out by the black Bartholomew Act, and driven from their respective charges to preach in barns and fields, in the highways and hedges, they in a special manner wrote and preached as men having authority. Though dead, by their writings they yet speak: a peculiar unction attends them to this very hour(Works, 4:306-307).

Whitefield went on to predict that Puritan writings would continue to be resurrected until the end of time due to their scriptural spirituality. Today, we are living in such a time. Interest in Puritan books has seldom been more intense. In the last fifty years, 150 Puritan authors and nearly 700 Puritan titles have been brought back into print.

Puritan literature has so multiplied that few book lovers can afford to purchase all that is being published. What books should you buy? Where can you find a brief summary of each Puritan work and a brief biography of each author so that you can have a glimpse of who is behind all these books?

These kinds of questions motivated Randall Pederson and me to write Meet the Puritans: With a Guide to Modern Reprints. In this book, we tell the life stories of the 150 Puritan writers who have been reprinted in the past fifty years. We have also included concise reviews of the 700 newly published Puritan titles plus bibliographical information on each book. And we have noted the books that we consider most critical to have in a personal library.

We had four goals for writing this book: first, that these godly Puritan writers will serve as mentors for our own lives. That is why we have told the stories of the Puritans on a layperson’s level and kept them short. You could read one life story each day during your devotional time. Second, we trust that when you read these reviews of Puritan writings, you will be motivated to read a number of these books, each of which should help you grow deeper in your walk with the Lord. Third, we hope this book will serve as a guide for you to purchase books for your families and friends, to help them grow in faith. Finally, for those of you who are already readers of Puritan literature, this guide is designed to direct you to further study and to introduce you to lesser-known Puritans that you may be unaware of.

Definition of Puritanism
Just who were the Puritan writers? They were not only the two thousand ministers who were ejected from the Church of England by the Act of Uniformity in 1662, but also those ministers in England and North America, from the sixteenth century through the early eighteenth century, who worked to reform and purify the church and to lead people toward godly living consistent with the Reformed doctrines of grace.

Puritanism grew out of three needs: (1) the need for biblical preaching and the teaching of sound Reformed doctrine; (2) the need for biblical, personal piety that stressed the work of the Holy Spirit in the faith and life of the believer; and (3) the need to restore biblical simplicity in liturgy, vestments, and church government, so that a well-ordered church life would promote the worship of the triune God as prescribed in His Word (The Genius of Puritanism, 11ff.).

Doctrinally, Puritanism was a kind of vigorous Calvinism; experientially, it was warm and contagious; evangelistically, it was aggressive, yet tender; ecclesiastically, it was theocentric and worshipful; politically, it aimed to be scriptural, balanced, and bound by conscience before God in the relationships of king, Parliament, and subjects; culturally, it had lasting impact throughout succeeding generations and centuries until today (Durston and Eales, eds., The Culture of English Puritanism, 1560-1700).

How to Profit from Reading the Puritans
Let me offer you nine reasons why it will help you spiritually to read Puritan literature still today:

1. Puritan writings help shape life by Scripture. The Puritans loved, lived, and breathed Holy Scripture. They relished the power of the Spirit that accompanied the Word. Their books are all Word-centered; more than 90 percent of their writings are repackaged sermons that are rich with scriptural exposition. The Puritan writers truly believed in the sufficiency of Scripture for life and godliness.

If you read the Puritans regularly, their Bible-centeredness will become contagious. These writings will show you how to yield wholehearted allegiance to the Bible’s message. Like the Puritans, you will become a believer of the living Book, echoing the truth of John Flavel, who said, “The Scriptures teach us the best way of living, the noblest way of suffering, and the most comfortable way of dying.”

Do you want to read books that put you into the Scriptures and keep you there, shaping your life bysola Scriptura? Read the Puritans. Read the Soli Deo Gloria Puritan Pulpit Series. As you read, enhance your understanding by looking up and studying all the referenced Scriptures.

Read more -->HERE.

Pilgrims or Puritans?

The Pilgrims and Puritans

Total Reformation for the Glory of God

by Samuel T. Logan. Jr.

What's the difference between the Pilgrims and the Puritans? Are they all the same folks? When did the two groups first form? And why did they emerge as distinct religious groups?

Excellent questions, every one!

In answering all of the above questions, the year 1517 was especially crucial.

Most know one reason for this-in October of 1517, Martin Luther nailed his theological theses (declarations) to the castle door in Wittenberg, Germany. But 1517 is a crucial year for another reason as well, for in that year, in Boston, England, at a site where now stands an English pub called Martha's Vineyard, John Foxe was born. To anticipate just a bit, John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim's Progress, once said that something John Foxe did, more than any other human action, caused the rise and the flourishing of Puritanism.

by 1526, regular (rather subversive) theological discussions were being conducted in the White Horse Tavern in Cambridge. Participants included such future luminaries as Thomas Bilney, Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley, and Thomas Cranmer. Every one of the four was later martyred.

In the meantime, in the late 1520's and early 1530's Henry VIII was experiencing matrimonial and political difficulties such that, in 1533, he insisted that the Convocation of Canterbury declare his marriage to Catherine of Aragon annulled. In the next year, Henry had the English Parliament declare him the Supreme Head of the Church in England, thus severing all ties with the Roman Church.

While Henry had no particular desire to "reform" the theology of the church, those who had been meeting at the White Horse (and many of their colleagues and supporters) saw this as an opportunity "of the Lord." Perhaps now the Scriptures alone could genuinely become the foundation of the church and the nation.

Such hopes found little royal support during Henry's lifetime, but, when the King died in 1547, his nine-year-old son Edward officially assumed the throne, ruling primarily through regents, both of whom (first the Duke of Somerset and then the Duke of Northumberland) had more sympathy for the vision which had illuminated those White Horse discussions. The push for the purification of the church and the state gained great momentum in England between 1547 and Edward's death in 1553.

But the next Tudor on the throne was Mary Tudor, better known to later generations as "Bloody Mary." Mary wanted nothing more than to return "her" country to the Roman Catholic fold, no matter the cost.

Between 1553 and 1558, Protestant exiles flooded Europe, hoping to escape Mary's sword by gathering in such Protestant bastions as Geneva and Frankfurt. To the latter came the 38-year-old John Foxe. Foxe developed a powerful vision of what England could be, if only God's Word were fully and faithfully followed.

Mary's death in 1558 and the accession to the English throne of Mary's Protestant sister Elizabeth reversed the earlier tide and sent Englishmen and Englishwomen home in droves. The seed which became Puritanism received a full shot of theological fertilizer from the pen of John Foxe.

During Mary's reign, hundreds had died for their faith. Would the people of England honor those deaths by seizing the marvelous opportunity the Lord had given England by removing Mary and replacing her with Elizabeth?

Would the people of England now insist that their church and their state be completely purified of all non-biblical elements so that both institutions (and all the people therein) might bring singular honor to the Lord God of Scripture?

These were the questions asked in Foxe's monumental work which we know as The Book of Martyrs. First published in 1563 Foxe's work was an intense account of the pain suffered by the Marian martyrs and a clarion call to bring both the nation and the church of England into full conformity to the Word of God.

Many of those who shared the dream which had been nurtured at the White Horse Tavern now seized upon Foxe's expression of God's expectations of His people and insisted, with ever-increasing fervor, that both their royal and their ecclesiastical leaders direct all English affairs sola Scriptura, according to the Scriptures alone.

Queen Elizabeth I, however, saw things differently. Her vision was of political stability and order. Elizabeth had no interest in any kind of extremism, especially the kind of religious extremism which the theological heirs of those White Horse discussants seemed to her to represent.

England (including the English church) should, in this Elizabethan view, be broad and inclusive and should base its life on tradition and reason as well as on the teachings of Scripture.

So, by 1570, there had developed in England two parties- 1) those who favored this more rationalistic understanding of church and state, and 2) those who continued to insist that further purification of those two entities was required by Scripture and that England must now seize the spiritual opportunity so brilliantly described by John Foxe. And it was in the midst of this controversy that the term "puritan" began to be regularly used by the first group as a derisive epithet of attack upon the second group.

The 1570's saw the intensification of this conflict with little "progress," at least from the standpoint of the Puritan party. In fact, with the dismissal of Thomas Cartwright from his teaching position at Cambridge for promulgating the heresy of Presbyterianism, it appeared to some Puritans that the cause was being lost and this perception led to the first major split within the Puritan party.

As the Puritan impulse might be primarily associated with (though it actually preceded) Foxe's Book of Martyrs, so the "Pilgrim" ethos might be traced appropriately to Robert Browne's book, Reformation Without Tarrying for Anie, first published in 1580. Browne might be called a disillusioned Puritan. He shared the vision which informed Foxe's work, but after more than a decade of seeking revival within the English church, he came to the conclusion that it just wasn't going to happen. Browne "separated from" the English church and, with the like-minded Robert Harrison, started his own congregation in Norwich in 1581.

Thus was formed the "Separatist" movement, a movement which later produced suchleaders as John Smyth (whom some regard as the father of English Baptists), John Robinson, William Brewster, and William Bradford. The latter three were directly involved in that group of Separatists which, in 1608, left England for the Netherlands, and then later decided to emigrate to the New World, landing at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620.

Many (probably most) Puritans chose to remain within the English church working for reform, and it was from this group that a much larger group of emigrants left from England for New England in the late 1620's, establishing their colony at Massachusetts Bay.

The Boston and Plymouth colonies were distinct political and religious entities (at least until the English government combined them in the late 1680's) and, while relations between them were generally friendly, members of both groups were crystal clear on the differences between them.

"Puritans" wanted to remain as part of the English establishment, working for biblical reform from within. Even as they emigrated to New England, they affirmed their "Englishness" and saw the main purpose of their new colony as being that of a biblical witness, a "city on a hill" which would set an example of biblical righteousness in church and state for Old England and the entire world to see. As deeply committed covenant theologians, they emphasized especially strongly the corporate righteousness of their entire community before God.

"Pilgrims" wanted to achieve "reformation without tarrying," even if it meant separating from their church and their nation. While they continued to think of themselves as English, their emphasis was on their new political identity and spiritual identity. Because of their passionate commitment to the necessity of reformation immediate and without compromise, they emphasized especially strongly individualrighteousness before God.

What united Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth, what united both Puritans and Pilgrims was far more significant than what distinguished them. All children of the Reformation, they knew that salvation was by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. And they knew this because they took, as their authority, Scripture alone.

They all knew that to God alone must be the glory and, in their different ways, they sought to bring every thought and every action-religious, political, social-captive to the Lordship of Jesus.

Could there be any more important goal for American Christians today?


Reprinted from Tabletalk magazine, vol. 20, no. 11, November 1996, with permission of Ligonier Ministries, P.O. Box 547500 Orlando, Florida 32854 1-800-435-4343.


[Dr. Logan is President of Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, Pa. where he teaches church history.]

What is a Puritan?

I had saved this blog post, wanted to follow up with more information, and now have lost the link.  :-( - Sharing this with more to follow.

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The following explanation comes from the book, "Meet the Puritan's" by Joel R. Beeke and Randall J. Pederson:

The Puritans [were] burning and shining lights. When cast out by the black Bartholomew Act, and driven from their respective charges to preach in barns and fields, in highways and hedges, they in a special manner wrote and preached as men having authority. Though dead, by their writings they yet speak: a peculiar unction attends them to this very hour; and for these thirty years past I have remarked, that the more true and vital religion hath revived either at home or abroad, the more good old puritanical writings, or the authors of a like stamp who lived and died in communion of the Church of England, have been called for.... Their works still praise them in the gates; and without pretending to a spirit of prophecy, we may venture to affirm that they will live and flourish, when more modern performances of a contrary cast, notwithstanding their gaudy and tinseled trappings, will languish and die in the esteem of those whose understandings are opened to discern what comes nearest to the scripture standard. -George Whitefield, Works, 4:306-307

Just what is meant by the term Puritan? Many people today use the term to describe a morose and legalistic brand of Christianity that borders on fanaticism. Much of this stereotype was the product of the nineteenth-century anti-Puritan sentiments. While subsequent cultures have expressed various opinions of the Puritans, it is helpful to chronicle a brief history of the term and to assess the movement as objectively as possible.

The term Puritan was first used in the 1560s of those English Protestants who considered the reforms under Queen Elizabeth incomplete and called for further "purification" (from the Greek word katharos, "pure").

...the Puritans embraced five major concerns and addressed each of them substantially in their writings:
The Puritan sought to search the Scriptures, collage their findings, and apply them to all areas of life. In so doing, the Puritans also aimed to be confessional and theological, and drew heavily on the labors of dedicated Christian scholarship.

The Puritans were passionately committed to focusing on the Trinitarian character of theology. They never tired of proclaiming the electing grace of God, the dying love of Jesus Christ, and the applicatory work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of sinners. Their fascination with Christian experience was not so much motivated by an interest in their experience per se as it was in their desire to trace out the divine work within them so that they could render all glory to their Triune Lord.

In common with the Reformers, the Puritans believed in the significance of the church in the purposes of Christ. They believed therefore that the worship of the church should be the careful outworking and faithful embodiment of her biblical faith, and so Puritanism was a movement that focused on plain and earnest preaching, liturgical reform, and spiritual brotherhood. Likewise, the Puritans believed that there was an order or polity for the government of the church revealed in Scripture, and the well-being of the church depended on bringing her into conformity to that order.

In the great questions of national life presented by the crises of their day, the Puritans looked to Scripture for light on the duties, power, and rights of king, parliament, and citizen-subjects.

In regard to the individual, the Puritans focused on personal, comprehensive conversion. They believed with Christ that "except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven" (John 3:3). So they excelled at preaching the gospel, probing the conscience, awakening the sinner, calling him to repentance and faith, leading him to Christ, and schooling him in the way of Christ. Likewise, the Puritans believed with James that "faith, if it hath not works, is dead being alone" (James 2:17). So they developed from Scripture a careful description of what a Christian ought to be in his inward life before God, and in all his actions and relationsips in this life, at home, in the church, at work, and in society.

Day 3

I. From the creation to the flood 3975-2319 B.C. ~ cont.
C. History of the first civilization ~ cont.
4. Noah's life and related events
a. Corrupt civilization as sons of God marry daughters of men - Genesis 6:1-7, 11-12
b. Instructions for building ark - Genesis 6:8, 13-21
c. Birth of Noah's sons - Genesis 5:32, 6:9, 1 Chronicles 1:4
(1) Japheth
(2) Shem (54th Gen)
(3) Ham
d. Death of Lamech (777 years) - Genesis 5:30-31
e. Death of Methuselah (969 years) - Genesis 5:26-27
f. Entering the ark - Genesis 6:22; 7:19
g. The flood
(1) Rain falls - Genesis 7:10-24
(2) Rain stops - Genesis 8:1-3
(3) Ark rests, waters subside - Genesis 8:4
(4) Land seen - Genesis 8:5
(5) Raven, dove, leaf - Genesis 8:6-12
(6) Noah discovers dry land - Genesis 8:13
h. Leaving the ark upon God's command - Genesis 8:14-19
(Third Dispensation Human Government)
j. God's rainbow covenant with Noah - Genesis 8:20-22, 9:8-17, 9:1-7

I just now realized that verses 1-7 of Chapter 9 of Genesis are placed after verses 8-17.

Sometimes I am saddened by the state of our nation and world.  HIS Word reminds me that this temporal plane is not quite as bad as it once was...yet.

And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.  (Genesis 6:12)

corrupt or corrupted - H7843 -שׁחת - shâchath - shaw-khath' - A primitive root; to decay, that is, (causatively) ruin (literally or figuratively).

This Hebrew word is used 146x in 135 verses - I did not review all of the verses, hit and missed my way backwards from Malachi (used 3x) and landed on this verse:

The fool hath said in his heart , there is no God.  They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.  (Psalm 14:1)

In the book of Ruth, chapter 4, verse 6, the nearest kinsman responds to Boaz with this statement:  "I can not redeem it for myself (talking about reclaiming Naomi/Ruth's land and marrying Ruth) lest I mar mine own inheritance: redeem thou my right to thyself; for I can not redeem it."

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.  (Genesis 6:8)

grace - H2580 - חן - chên - khane - From H2603; graciousness, that is, subjectively (kindness, favor) or objectively (beauty).

• H2603 - חנן - chânan - khaw-nan' -A primitive root (compare H2583); properly to bend or stoop in kindness to an inferior; to favor, bestow; causatively to implore (that is, move to favor by petition).

H2580 is used 69x in 67 verses.  First instance is in the verse above, the last usage is in Zechariah 12:10 - And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

And one that many know and quote quite often:  Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.  (Proverbs 31:30)

I wanted to find a site which showed the dimensions of, or gave information about the ark.  The website World Wide Flood has some AWESOME information. Very cool.  This site is also very informative:  Genesis Files.  The article is not very long, but contains a LOT of information.

Noah took the animals by two (male and female ~ notice not male and male or female and female).  The unclean animals were by one set, the clean by sevens.  Story books, movies, toys, etc. usually only show sets of 2, rarely do they show a set of 7 pairs, or even the dinosaurs.  Some who have extensively researched this area state that the animals were probably not mature (not ready to be bred), thus they would have slept more, eaten less and been smaller in size.  I found more information here:  Were Dinosaurs on the Ark?

Got caught up in a rabbit trail of figuring out how long Noah et al were on the ark.  Noah entered 7 days prior  to the flood beginning (Genesis 7:4, 10).  It rained for 40 days (starting on Noah's 601 year, in the second month on the 17th day ~ Genesis 7:11).  The ark rested on seventh month, 17th day (Genesis 8:4).  The waters decreased until the tenth month, first day (Genesis 8:5).  Forty days later Noah lets the raven out, which did not return (Genesis 8:6-7).  Then a dove (assumption is 7 days later?) (Genesis 8:8).  Another 7 days, and sent the dove out (Genesis 8:10).  Another 7 days and the dove did not return (Genesis 8:12).  First day, first month of Noah's 601st year he removes the covering (Genesis 8:13).  Second month, twenty and seventh day the earth was dried (Genesis 8:14).

According to my research a pre-flood month was 30 days.  Soooo...if I take from month 2 (600th year), day 17 until month 2 (601st year), day 27, that would be 30 x 12 + 10 = 370.  Then add in the 7 days prior to the flood beginning would bring the length up to 377 days.  Interesting study, I found several sites which detailed the information.  If you want to research you can try Answers In Genesis or Noah's Ark and Earth History.  I originally found the timeline below on this site.

Went browsing for articles about the flood and found these Why Christians Should Believe in a Global Flood and Every Culture Has a Flood Story, both from the Institute for Creation Research.

From Answers in Genesis, I found Geologic Evidences for the Genesis Flood.  This article is an overview, summarizing six evidences for the flood.  You can link to them from within the article, or do so from here:

Evidence #1 - High & Dry Sea Creatures

Evidence #2—Rapid Burial of Plants and Animals

Evidence #3 - Transcontinental Rock Layers

Evidence #4 - Sand Transported Cross Country

Evidence #5 - No Slow and Gradual Erosion

Evidence #6 - Rock Layers Folded, Not Fractured

Rainbow, covenant, meat eating, accountability for loss of life...wrapping up this reading.  One of the sites I browsed while looking for information on the flood and/or the ark mentioned how a rainbow would not have been possible prior to the rain.  Found this picture online - :-D

Covenants - Father promises to establish HIS covenant with Noah in Genesis 6:18.  Once they leave the ark, 9:9 Father establishes HIS covenant; 9:11, establishes HIS covenant; 9:12, the token (rainbow) of the covenant; 9:1, the token (rainbow) of the covenant; 9:15-16 Father's perpetual or everlasting remembrance of the covenant; 9:17, the token of the covenant established between Father, Noah and all flesh upon the earth.

The word covenant is used (OT) 292x in 272 verses.  The Hebrew word is:

H1285 - בּרית - berı̂yth - ber-eeth' - From H1262 (in the sense of cutting (like H1254)); a compact (because made by passing between pieces of flesh).


Which is used 284x in 264 verses...interesting...something to study out another time.  :-D

At this juncture Noah and his family are allowed to consume meat - and the animals would now have a fear and dread of humans.  I thought of this while reading the passage about Noah putting out his hand and taking the dove to himself.  It must have been an awesome experience to have been around such a variety of animals and no fear or concern for safety.

My closing verse caused me to reflect upon how wicked our generation has become, yet we tremble not before HIM who judges justly and rightly.  The nations of the world have embraced a process for unwanted pregnancies (idol worship) lest we think there is no accounting, I would beg to differ.  Father looks at us and we are found wanting, we, especially America, owe a very large blood debt.

Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.  (Genesis 9:8)