Scroll to the bottom for thoughts/discussion questions!
One-sentence summary: God makes a promise never to destroy the earth by flood again, one of Noah's sons exposes him while the other two cover him, mankind is scattered throughout the earth and given different languages, and we are introduced to a man named Abram.
The rains subside, and the waters recede. Noah builds an altar and offers one of every clean animal as a sacrifice to God. The Scripture says that because the sacrifice was clean, it was sweet to God.
God makes a promise, a covenant with all mankind. (He actually makes the promise to Himself first in HIs own heart.) He says that "although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth, I will never again destroy every living thing." He says that as long as the earth remains, there will be seasons and seed time and harvest.
God also place the the fear of man upon all animals and gives them as food for man (this was clearly not his best or original intention), but commands man not to eat an animal with the blood still in it. He also requires blood for the shedding of blood by man or animal, a reference to the need for God to inevitably come to Earth as a man and shed His own blood.
God uses the rainbow as a sign of His promise to man and animals. He says He will remember His covenant when He sees it in the sky. Of course, He doesn't need to, as he is omniscient; according to the meaning of the word, it invokes the idea of purposely calling something to mind.
Noah gets drunk in his tent, and his son, Ham, instead of covering his father's nakedness, mocks him and tells his other two brothers, who cover their father without looking. Upon finding out what his son has done, Noah curses him and blesses the other two.
After the flood, mankind says, "Let us build a tower to heaven!" But before they are able to complete it, God says, "Let US go down and confuse their language!" He knows that with one mind and language, they will do anything they set out to do.
God scatters mankind throughout the earth and creates different languages. I wonder what that experience was like!
Chapter 11 gives a list of the descendants of Shem and ends by introducing a man named Abram, along with his wife Sarai, who will later be called the father of many nations.
Thoughts/Questions:
Some purposely slow down a verse in this passage to read "seed...time... and harvest" to remind us of the perpetual law of sewing and reaping that God established on the earth.
Did God cause the fear of man to fall on animals because He knew the depth of evil men would succumb to? That if the animals trusted us, we would destroy them more than we already have? I think so.
Some people believe God literally can't remember our sins, but that would be weird! He purposely does not call them to mind in our interactions with Him, just as we are supposed to do when we forgive others.
It is important to God that we protect, honor, and cover each other.
Was the earth also divided at the time people were scattered?
God always has the final say. Man's willfulness is no match for Him and His ultimate will. (Also, nothing is impossible with unity!)