Commands for Life Given to Noah and Abraham
4/6/202656 min
The 10 Commandments E3 — What’s the purpose of God’s commands early in the biblical story? Following the Eden story in Genesis, a pattern develops of God issuing commands that preserve life and release blessing. But the challenge is that often the commands first look like death before they’re revealed to be a pathway to life. In this episode, Jon and Tim explore commands given to Noah and Abraham, discovering the good that comes when humans trust and obey God’s words.
FULL SHOW NOTES
For chapter-by-chapter summaries, biblical words, referenced Scriptures, and reflection questions, check out the full show notes for this episode.
CHAPTERS
- God Commands Noah to Build the Ark (0:00-17:49)
- Abraham’s Inconsistent but Ultimate Obedience (17:49-42:06)
- Setup in Exodus for the 10 Commandments (42:06-56:26)
OFFICIAL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
View this episode’s official transcript.
REFERENCED RESOURCES
- “What’s the Deal With Babylon?” from The Day of the Lord series
- “The Biggest, Baddest City in the Bible” from The City series
- Check out Tim’s extensive collection of recommended books.
SHOW MUSIC
- “Redeemer” by Lofi Sunday feat. Cassidy Godwin
- “milk & honey.” by Lofi Sunday feat. PAINT WITH SOUND
- BibleProject theme song by TENTS
SHOW CREDITS
Production of today’s episode is by Lindsey Ponder, producer, and Cooper Peltz, managing producer. Tyler Bailey is our supervising engineer, who also edited today’s episode and provided the sound design and mix. JB Witty writes the show notes. Our host and creative director is Jon Collins, and our lead scholar is Tim Mackie.
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsJon Collins· Host0:00
[upbeat music] The commands of God are meant for life. Last week, we looked at the first command of God in the Bible, called a mitzvah, and it's in the Garden of Eden story when God invites humans into the abundant life of the garden, and He tells them, "Eat up, enjoy." But He also teaches them how to discern good from bad. And to do that, they need to learn to listen to His voice. Today, we'll look at the second time the word command is used in the Bible. It's in the story of Noah and his instructions to build an ark. And this command is also about finding and preserving life.
Tim Mackie· Host0:39
Make a box, cram it full of life, go into the box, stay there, and you will stay alive. So the ark is presented as a little Eden refuge.
Jon Collins· Host0:51
So in the first command, Adam and Eve fail. But in the second command, Noah succeeds. And this leads us to the third person to get the command of God, Abraham. And Abraham's response is, well, complicated. Sometimes he does the command, and sometimes he sort of does them.
Tim Mackie· Host1:11
So Abraham's story is really giving us an in-depth portrait now. He does the command, so it does lead to the preservation of his life and a lot of blessing, but also he doesn't do it completely, and that leads to also a bunch of heartache now. So it's like a third variation on