Day 4 - Daily Bible Reading

Scriptures:
Genesis 7, 8
Psalms 4
Proverbs 4
Matthew 6

Notes On Genesis

Six hundred in Gematria means "warfare." But if you add the three digits, you will only have six as the total value, which stands for " Weakness of man and manifestation of sins." Either way, it is about man's destruction. This is the age when Noah and his family entered the ark. It took a year and eleven days when the water receded. Noah was six hundred one when the flood was over. When these digits are added you would have a sum of seven, which means "completion and resurrection."

Mount Ararat is believed to be around the area of Syria, region of Urartu.

The Babylonian version of the story of the flood, known as the Epic of Gilgamesh, was found in the library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal in the 7th century.

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the highest of all the gods, Enlil, we irritated by the cacophony of noise the men made. He planned to destroy them by sending a worldwide flood. When Enkil, the water god, knew about this, he told Utnapishtum, the Babylonian Noah about the plan that Enlil concocted. He told Utnapishtum to build an enormous boat and take a pair of each kind of animals. When the flood came, Utnapishtum and his wife we tossed about with the animas aboard. When the boat finally settled at the top of the mountain, he sent a dove, a swallow and a raven to check for dry land. The raven didn't return, which gave an indication that it was able to rest somewhere. When Utnapishtum and his wife came out of the boat, they offered a lavish sacrifice to the gods and I return the gods gave them eternal life for safeguarding the human race.

There were also the Akkadian and Sumerian versions of the flood story.

The differences between the Biblical account and the Mesopotamian versions are that God was not irritated at men but was grieved because of their sinful ways, "His heart was filled with pain" (Gen. 6:5-7). And also, God's plan was not thwarted by another god. He also, planned to preserve the human race and the animals. Lastly, He did not give Noah and his family immortality.

The other versions exhibited the reality of the flood story and it confirms that the Biblical account was not a myth.

Notes on Matthew 5

The word "Beatitude" is not found in the Bible. It either means "the joys of heaven" or "a declaration of blessedness." Beatitude occurs frequently in the Old Testament e.g., Palms 32:1-2, 41:1, 65:4.

The "heart" in the ancient world typically represents the whole being including the will and emotions.

In verse 13, most of the salt the Israelites used came from the Dead Sea, which also carried dross and dirt that caused the salt to lose its saltiness.

In verse 17, "Iota" is the smallest letting the Greek alphabet. The Hebrew'smallest letter is "yodh."

"Not the least stroke of a pen" means "horn." This is used to embellish or extend some letters in the Hebrew alphabet like the descender (bottom part) of the letter j.

In verse 22, Raca ins Aramaic means "empty." To call someone race means "empty-headed."

In verse 39, Slapping someone is more of an act of insult than an act of violence.

In verse 40, a tunic is an undergarment while a cloak is a loose outer garment used to wrap around when sleeping. In the Old Testament, it was illegal for someone to pledge or to use his cloak as collateral.

In verse 46, Tax collectors were known as publicans. They were hated by Jewish populace because of their unreasonable demand of payment during the Roman era.

Notes of Matthew 6

There were two kinds of alms: "alms of the dish" - food and money received daily for distribution. And "alms of the chest" - money received on Sabbath for widows, orphans, strangers and the poor.

I Jerusalem, beggars stayed at the gate called Beautiful to ask for alms. Some of them abused the charity of the compassionate people by making panhandling their profession. At the other hand, almsgiving was also perverted by those who "too their own horns" when they give to the needy.

A devout Jew prays morning, afternoon and night publicly.

Notes on Psalms 4

This was a passionate expression of grief and sorrow due to natural catastrophe such as drought. Some Jews turned to the other gods because they lost faith of God's ability to control nature.