(Here is another episode in my continuing exploration of the Bible. You can read my series introduction here. All scripture quotes are NIV and may not be copied for commercial purposes. Read copyright information here.) ​
​​

9 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. 2 The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands. 3 Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. (NIV)

So far “be fruitful” is the most oft-repeated commandment God gives to humans. Maybe because we are so good at it. I also think it’s the one God doesn’t necessarily have to repeat (though its repeated twice in Genesis 9). We’re pretty good at it. Maybe a little too good. In fact, he built that line of code so well into our central processor, I think we’d figure it out on our own. 

Genesis 9:3 is important because it verifies my suspicion that the line of Adam, to this point, were vegetarians. This confirms my thought (see Episode 4) that their flocks were likely kept for only milk, skins, wool and sacrifices. It’s also important to note here that there are no dietary restrictions on what kind of animal meat humans can eat, as God said “I now give you everything”. This, naturally, leads to animals fearing man. 

An important lesson comes out of Genesis 9:3  – God can change the rules. I am assuming God made vegetarianism a rule prior to this (though it is never explicitly stated), because he specifically rescinded it. But why? I don’t know, but I’m going to keep this in the back of my mind as I plow forward. 

4 “But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. 5 And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being. (NIV)

Don’t eat blood. Hmm…I am sure there is a reason, other than its gross, but it isn’t spelled out here. I’ll keep that in mind, too. Note to self – steaks well-done from this point forward. 

6 “Whoever sheds human blood,
    by humans shall their blood be shed;
for in the image of God
    has God made mankind. (NIV)
 
Remember back in Episode 10 when God specifically singled out violence as one of the primary reasons for the flood? He revisits that theme here in Genesis 9:6.

​SPOILER ALERT: This is essentially what the Sixth Commandment in Exodus:20 says. It is also pretty much what Jesus Christ says in Matthew 26:52 as he is being led away for his trial. Each human life is precious, dare I say holy, because we are made in the image of God. God is clear and unwavering on this point – don’t kill your fellow human being. 
 
Hmm, interesting, God seems to repeat two major commands across Genesis – procreate and don’t kill. He is loud and clear on these two points. 
 
To summarize Genesis 9:7-17, God expands on his covenant with Noah. After reminding Noah and his family to procreate (again) he promises never to destroy the world again…by flood (hmm…God kinda leaves the whole destroy-the-world-in-the future-thing wide open. Should we be worried?)  
 
Like many of us learned in church, God  says the rainbow is a sign of his covenant with Noah and all the creatures of the earth. I don’t know if rainbows existed before the Flood, but basic physics sort of makes me think they did and God assigned a symbolic meaning to this natural phenomenon.  I must admit, this is another of those instances where scripture sounds a little like the “And that’s why…” stories common to other culture’s mythologies. 
 
(A random thought: It seems throughout Genesis God links the fate of Earth and its creatures to his judgements of mankind. Why? Why should the world suffer for the sins of humanity? I have no idea, so I will move on…)
 
Genesis  9:1-17 makes sense to me. It has a logic and flow and spirit consistent to the scripture I have read up to this point. Genesis 9:18-28 does not. Here, the Bible takes a very weird turn. 
 
18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19 These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth.
20 Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. 21 When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked.
24 When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said,
“Cursed be Canaan!
    The lowest of slaves
    will he be to his brothers.”
26 He also said,
“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Shem!
    May Canaan be the slave of Shem.
27 May God extend Japheth’s territory;
    may Japheth live in the tents of Shem,
    and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth.”
28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 29 Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died. (NIV)

Welcome to the first edition of THE OLD TESTAMENT AFTER-HOURS: Noah gets sauced, passes out naked, and his son Ham sees him in the buff. 

Ham’s brothers cover their father without looking at him. For the transgression of seeing dad naked, Ham’s descendants must suffer slavery at the hands of his brothers’ offspring forever. Here, scripture strays into Game of Thrones territory, and I’m not sure I’m buying it.

Please, put down the stones and hear me out.  This portion of scripture reads and feels different from everything that has come before. It feels tacked on, alien to the spirit of what has come before. Let me explain. 

First, if I had just spent half a year pent up with thousands of smelly animals in a storm-battered ocean and survived, I would be drinking heavily for the rest of my life. That part is believable, even for someone as good as Noah. 

Remember, Noah was spared because he was found “righteous in the eyes of God.” That is about a good a character reference as one can get. I can logically deduce he wasn’t a violent, wicked man and had been repelled by the terrible evil of his era. Answer me this - why would someone this good be the first to introduce the concept of slavery into the Bible’s narrative? Yes, this is the first time that cursed institution is mentioned, by no less than Noah himself. Is Noah the father of slavery? I don’t think so. It makes no sense based on all that has come before. 

Even more, why would he curse his own blood to suffer under the yoke of their own family. Think about it for a moment, God himself didn’t even curse Cain to such a fate for murder. Is seeing one’s father naked is worthy of a multi-generational curse? I try to put myself in Noah’s place, with his Bronze-age tribal patriarchal mores and values. I also try to imagine what kind of jerk (or degenerate) Ham might have been, but I can’t make the punishment fit the crime. SPOILER ALERT: This action flies in the face of mercy, forgiveness and grace – all of which are key concepts to follow in the Old and New Testament. Other parts of the tale make me scratch my head, too.
 
The Ark came to rest in the mountains of Ararat (eastern Turkey near the Armenian border), which is about 700 miles from Canaan (modern day Israel). That’s a long way to walk and horses were in REAL short supply at that particular moment in history.  All three brothers were together, which makes me think the immediate family hadn’t dispersed yet. Either they all stayed in the vicinity of Ararat, which means either Ham hadn’t gone to Canaan yet, or his kids (SPOILER ALERT: Canaan was Ham's son and I assume the land was named for him) have already departed to Canaan but he stayed (or maybe returned). My point is why the particular emphasis on Ham's descendants in the line of Canaan? Before the advent of steam power in the US, most American’s didn’t stray from their county, but in the Bronze age Noah’s kids are globe-trotting around the muddy Middle-East immediately after the Great Flood? I don’t think so. 

SPOILER ALERT: I know who was knocking on Canaan’s front door around 1446 B.C., readying his people for a coming holy war of conquest -  Moses, that’s who. (Ham's descendants are also the Egyptians, go figure).  Moses is widely-accepted as the penman of both Genesis and Exodus.  This passage seems to infer the Israelites have a historical claim to take the peoples of Canaan  as slaves. I am probably SO wrong, and I find this possibility really unsettling, but Genesis 9:18-26 feels like a bit of propaganda tacked on to the tale of Noah to help justify a coming conflict with the native peoples of Canaan. 

Here’s a good point to bring up now - where in Genesis 9:18-28 is God’s voice, or will, mentioned? It isn’t. I only hear Noah’s rage. 

Rage? A righteous man, a man of God, who had witnessed the ultimate evil of mankind and the divine wrath (and mercy) of God, would understand the frailty of life and the power of forgiveness. If Noah had this kind of rage buried deep in is heart, are you telling me a simple hangover and a bit of embarrassment would be all it took to unleash it? If Noah had this kind of rage buried deep in is heart, why would God spare him in the first place?

I am left with one of two conclusions about Genesis 9:18-26: 

1) Moses hijacked the story of Noah and added a strange addendum to help justify what he knew was the coming war to reclaim the Promised Land. I don’t want to believe this, because, if true, that means Moses hijacked the scriptures for political/military gain. Or…

2) Noah proved God’s observation on human wickedness to be true before the ground was even dry after the Flood. He becomes, in a way, the Cain of the post-Flood age.  In an alcohol-induced fit of anger Noah succumbs to wrath and forgoes mercy and forgiveness. In cursing Ham, Noah condemns a significant portion of his progeny, and humanity, to bondage and unspeakable suffering. In a weird way, he is the Father of Slavery and even validates Egypt’s brutal subjugation of God’s chosen people centuries later. I don’t want to believe this, either. 

In the shadow of the rainbow I stumbled on Moses’s ambition or Noah’s rage. My gut tells me Genesis 9:18-28 has no business being part of this story. If either conclusion is true, I find this stretch of my Journey about as disheartening as it gets. 

If you are an expert on the Bible, I’m listening. Tell me I’m wrong, show me why. My heart, mind and comments section are open. 

***

Great blog, huh? Brian Braden is the author of THE ILLUSION EXOTIC, the historical fantasy novel BLACK SEA GODS and several other exciting books. Please support this blog with your patronage. ​
​

(Here is another episode in my continuing exploration of the Bible. You can read my series introduction here. All scripture quotes are NIV and may not be copied for commercial purposes. Read copyright information here.) ​

Before I get to the commentary, here are a few facts from Genesis 7 & 8:

• People taken into the Ark:  8
• Noah’s age when commissioned by God to build the Ark:  500
• Noah’s age when the flood started: 600
• Years since Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden to flood: 1,756
• Month when flood started: Late April or early May.
• Time allotted for animal loading: 7 days
• Mating pairs of every type of “clean” animal taken into Ark: 7
• Mating pairs of every type of “unclean” animal taken into Ark: 2
• Mating pairs of every type of bird taken into Ark: 7
• Mechanism of flood: Terrestrial water source (“springs”) and rainfall 
• Depth of water above highest mountain: 15 cubits (about 23 feet or 7 meters)
• Number of days it rained: 40
• Number of nights it rained: 40
• Number of days of the flood: 150
• Month when the Ark came to rest in the mountains of Ararat (a region in eastern Turkey near the modern Iranian/Armenian border): September 
• Month when the tops of the mountains were visible: December
• Month of following year when earth was dry and Noah released the animals: April

Before I leave the subject of the Great Flood, there are a few points regarding this epic tale I need to cover.  First is the subject of “clean” versus “unclean” animals. This is clearly from Jewish tradition. However, nowhere in Genesis before the flood does it define “clean” and “unclean”, it’s just assumed.  God uses the terms to classify the animals, but other than sacrificial uses, there is no reason given why the animals are divided such. Therefore, the term is likely provided by the person writing down the tale (Moses?) many centuries later.  The author obviously assumes the reader is familiar with the terms and customs. 

This is the second time the Bible mentions an animal sacrifice to God, the first of which led to the falling out between Cain and Abel and the first murder. Why does God demand sacrifices, and why must those be of flesh? I covered this topic in a previous episode. It is to atone for sins, and as a symbol of bringing one’s most precious treasures before God as an offering of service, gratitude and love. However, it’s important to mention it again because 1) now we have a trend, and 2) God is visibly pleased with the sacrifice. I find it odd in this case because the vast majority of land-based animal life on earth has been wiped out, and the first act upon leaving the Ark is to kill a few more. As a 21st Century man looking back to the Bronze Age, I understand the perspective in those days was vastly different then it is today. An animal sacrifice would have been downright tame compared to some bloodthirsty cults of antiquity, but it is still blood and begs the question as to why an entity as powerful as God demands death as a rite of worship? At the end of the sacrifice God promises never to wipe out all life again.

I promised when I started this journey into the Bible I would take the scripture as it was, not as I wanted it to be. In Episode 10, I discussed God’s statement of regret in Genesis 6 regarding the creation of mankind. After reading Genesis 8:21-22, it sounds like God regretted the Deluge. Comparing God’s words at the end of the flood to his words before the flood, it appears God undergoes a change of heart regarding his relationship with humanity. 

Yes, you heard me right…God seems to change, or at least changes his approach, to humanity. I can hear many of you screaming at the computer now…“God is eternal and unchanging!” Please, hear me out before you start lighting the heretical bonfire. 

Did the Deluge make a single difference in the hearts of men for the generations following Noah? If history or the rest of the Bible are our guide, then humanity hasn’t changed an iota. Yet, Genesis 6:5 clearly states God’s reason for sending the Flood was mankind’s wickedness. But the Flood didn’t change that. If God knew the Flood wouldn’t result in a more righteous human race, why did he send it? What was the purpose  of humanity’s cataclysmic suffering if God knew mankind would soon slip right back into its wicked state?
Maybe the answer lies in Genesis 8:21

The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.” (NIV)
 
In the scripture it says “The Lord…said in his heart…” That is the ONLY time in the entire Bible the Lord is quoted using that term. When God says something is from his heart, it doesn't get more real or genuine. How do I take this passage? I take it that the horrors of the Flood, wrought by his own hand, deeply affected God. It changed him. 

The next clue is in this statement. “…even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.”

“As I have done.” The implications of this passage are staggering.  Once again God takes full responsibility for the Flood and then promises to never do it again. From his heart he declares he KNOWS mankind is wicked, but he won’t do that again. Ever. We know from Genesis 6 God can feel regret. Genesis 8:21 sounds a lot like regret, though the term is not explicitly used. Why would God feel regret over the Flood? 

If he is an omnipresent god, then he had to have heard the screams of the drowning as the waters covered the highest hills. God had to feel every bit of their suffering as the last survivors huddled together against the pelting unrelenting sheets of rain.  God must have seen the children ripped from their mother’s arms by the tsunami’s power. How does a loving, merciful God feel about such destruction knowing he will be unable to forget any of it for all eternity? 

Here, my imagination departs from scripture. Please indulge me just a little speculation.  If Noah was a truly righteous man, then I think he must have prayed for those outside the Ark. Perhaps he prayed for God to turn his wrath, and, when those prayers met silence, he then resigned himself to pray for God’s swift mercy on behalf of those beyond the Ark. 

Perhaps Noah’s prayers turned God’s heart. Perhaps God’s love for Noah brought him to a place of reflection. Here, I think God finally comes to terms with his feelings for humanity, both the disappointment and the hope.  Like a true parent, God’s anger passes with the storm, and he finally accepts that we are flawed, and will always be flawed. I will go even farther and say in the aftermath of the Flood, God’s love evolved from a covenant (and therefore conditional)-based to an unconditional love. Don’t misunderstand, God doesn’t accept (or tolerate) our sin, but he loves us regardless. That doesn’t mean a free pass, it only means that in the history that follows God takes a different approach. 

When taken in entirety, I can almost hear a whisper, if not an apology then perhaps an acknowledgment of suffering, hidden in the poetic beauty of Genesis 8:21-22.

21 The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.
 
22 “As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
will never cease.” (NIV)
 
Never again.
 
***

Brian Braden is the author of THE ILLUSION EXOTIC, the historical fantasy novel BLACK SEA GODS and several other exciting books. Please support this blog with your patronage. ​

(Here is another episode in my continuing exploration of the Bible. You can read my series introduction here. All Bible quote are NIV and cannot be used for commercial purposes. Read copyright information here.) ​ ​

Noah and the Flood

9 This is the account of Noah and his family.

Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. 10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.

11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. 15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high. 16 Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit high all around. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. (NIV)

In my research into the legends of the Great Flood, I’ve come across a lot of information to suggest it may have occurred at the end of the last ice age about 12,000 years ago. Whether the flood happened as a series of natural glacial events, or if it was direct divine intervention, is completely irrelevant. The only important fact relevant to the story of the Great Flood is God takes personal responsibility for it. 

In Genesis 6:13 God claims responsibility for the destruction about to be wrought. He causes it and thereby transforms from creator and divine father to judge and divine executioner.   However, God grants a reprieve to Noah and his family.

Here, the scripture establishes Noah’s character and rehashes God’s reasons for destroying the world. What made Noah “righteous”? What standard of conduct had God issued to mankind at this point? So far in Genesis, we know disobedience and murder are wrong, but what other guidelines had God set thus far? There are two more behaviors we can add to the list of sins in Genesis 6:11 – corruption and violence. 

I think it is important here to mention the scripture’s emphasis on corruption and violence, not just general wickedness. I think about the cruelty of ancient civilizations, and the horrors of the 20th and 21st centuries and I still wonder what was so terrible about this period that it called for such an extreme sentence upon humanity. Or maybe by now God has just grown used to our barbarism.

Like most of his forefathers, Noah had a stellar reputation among those of his time and was in good standing with God. I assume much of this was due to his upbringing. Other than that, we know little about him and his family.  It says Noah was “blameless among the people of his time.” I take that as he had a sterling reputation, which implies the people of that time somehow knew the difference between good and bad. Perhaps this has something to do with tasting of the tree of good and evil.

​This leads to the question – do humans have an inherent understanding of right and wrong, even when we choose not to act in the interest of righteousness? Is it hardwired into our DNA, or collective consciousness? According to Genesis 6, the people of Noah’s time knew what was right and wrong, and chose to do evil. Noah chose goodness, and was called by God to build the Ark. 

Ark. What a funny name for a ship. Why not just call it a ship, or even a boat? The dictionary defines ark as “a place of protection or security; refuge; asylum.” (SPOILER ALERT: The term “ark” is used later in the Bible for something else completely.) 
​
Genesis 6:14-16 is odd in its detail of the Ark. No physical object, or even person, has been described in such exacting detail up to this point. Two sentences betray the nautical purpose of the Ark: the need for pitch all around, and the reference to “decks” not floors.  What did this Ark look like? According to a group of people in Kentucky who invested a LOT of money to build one, the Ark looked little something like this. 

17 I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. 19 You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. 20 Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. 21 You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.” (NIV)

I’m not going to talk about the feasibility of the Ark, or if the whole world was really flooded, or if every creature in the world was really brought on board. I don’t think any of that is really important. That conversation will go absolutely nowhere. If this happened, I think it happened this way: 

God said the world was going to end, and Noah and his family would be saved. That is Faith.  God called upon Noah to do his bidding, and Noah obeyed. That is Obedience. God’s influence in the world, and the earth’s salvation, were accomplished by human hands through the influence of God’s spirit on a human heart ready and willing to receive it through faith and obedience.  That is the take-away from Genesis 6. 

22 Noah did everything just as God commanded him. (NIV)

Noah trusted God and, in the end, all the animals in the world as Noah knew them were brought aboard the Ark. Noah obeyed and the whole world, as Noah knew it, flooded. Noah did as he was told and God kept his promise. In the end, that’s all that matters. 
​
For the first time in the Bible we hear the word “covenant” regarding a relationship between God and humans. Webster defines a Biblical covenant as a “conditional promise made to humanity by God.”  Conditional on what? According to Genesis 6, the first covenant was conditional on Noah’s faith, obedience, and trust.
 
Conditional…that word won’t quit nagging me. I was always told that God’s love is eternal and unconditional. Yet, in Genesis 5 and 6, God says he regrets making humanity and planned to destroy us. Was his love, therefore, conditional? Is his love a covenant? Did he destroy the world because he no longer loved us, or did he spare Noah and the animals because he still loved us?  
 
I go back to how we are created in his image, and how God’s actions are so similar to a parent. I know my love for my children is not a covenant, its unconditional. Oh, sure, I make covenants with my kids all the time regarding stuff and behaviors. God’s actions are more in line with a farmer destroying a diseased crop, and salvaging the few remaining good stalks to all start over.  
 
That analogy seems to stick. Something else occurs to me, too. There is mention of sin, and judgement, but no mention of the devil or any other spiritual entity stirring up all this corruption and violence. Based on scripture, evil seems to radiate from humankind itself and nowhere else. Moreover, this evil is so bad it infects even nature itself, like a pathogen. It’s like God saving a few good files and wiping the hard disk in a last-ditch effort to purge a virus.  
 
Maybe that is what it took to save humanity from itself. Perhaps the Flood was the toughest medicine of all, the toughest love of all. I mean, humanity is still here, aren’t we?  It makes we wonder what manner of evil God saved us from, and what horrors we visited upon one another when the world was young. 
 
Next week, Genesis 7 and the 40 days and nights that changed the world. 


​Brian Braden is the author of THE ILLUSION EXOTIC, the historical fantasy novel BLACK SEA GODS and several other exciting books. Please support this blog with your patronage. 

Here is another episode in my continuing exploration of the Bible. You can read my series introduction here. All Bible quote are NIV and cannot be used for commercial purposes. Read copyright information here.) ​


When my oldest child was just a toddler, I remember giving him a Noah’s Ark play set. It was composed of a big, fat plastic ark with stickers for windows and a ramp on the side. All the plastic animals (sheep, giraffes, elephants, zebra and such) came in pairs, with one animal in each pair having thick eyelashes to let everyone know it was a she. Naturally, my kid put it in the tub, it tipped over and sank (if you’re going make a toddler Noah’s Ark, the kid is GOING to put it in the tub). The stickers came off. Animals went missing. Kids grew up and Noah’s Ark and its surviving crew sailed off into a Garage Sale sunset. That’s how I think most people think of the Great Flood today, a nice story about a kind old man, a boat full of cute animals, and a happy ending. 

Those who know me, know I’ve done a lot of research into The Great Flood. The vast majority of Northern Hemisphere civilizations have a Great Flood myth. Some believe it goes back to the end of the last Ice Age when the earth’s massive glaciers melted rapidly in a series of continental floods.  Maybe. Maybe not. This isn’t the place to speculate. Myth or fact – the realities of such an event wouldn’t have been cute; the fluff off children’s toys and coloring books. They would have been horrifying beyond belief, think 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami on a global scale. 

Genesis 6 is a turning point in the Bible. For the first time God raises his hand against humanity. What drove God to almost wipe mankind from the face of the earth? 

Wickedness in the World

6 When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”

4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown. (NIV)

In my opinion, this is one of the most fascinating verses in the Bible, but I am at a loss to understand it. Essentially, earthbound angels mated with women and spawned a race of superheroes. I deduce these “Sons of God” were angels of sorts. (Are all angels male? Why were they on earth?) The Bible doesn’t answer on any of this, though it is discussed to some detail in non-canonized scripture.  For some reason, these earth-bound angels mated with women and had super-human children, the Nephilim. That’s it, that’s all we know.

If the Sons of God and the Nephilim were good or bad or had any role in God’s decision on what was to follow, we’ll never know. The scripture doesn’t explain why these “heroes of old” are important, nor do they seem to have any lasting impact on the Old Testament, or the Bible in general, though they are briefly mentioned in a few other places.  

Lots of people have written books about Genesis 6:1-4 (and I am one of them.) You can’t watch an episode of Ancient Aliens and not hear something about this verse.  I could talk about this piece of scripture all day long, but I’m not because, while it would be fun, it would just be speculation. In my opinion, this is an odd footnote. The more important aspects of Genesis 6 are to come. 

One more thing to note before moving on, here the Lord limited the years of human life to 120 years. This is interesting because God places this squarely on the lingering influence of his spirit on mortal flesh. I speculated about that in the last episode, but it also got me thinking.

In Genesis 3:22, God removes the Tree of Life from Adam and Eve’s reach expressly to keep men from living forever. Now, in Genesis 6, God says men have been living so long because of the lingering influence of his spirit.  Logically, this implies that the Tree of Life is simply another aspect of God Himself, another side of the same divine Creator.  This reinforces my analysis of the Tree of Life from Episode 6. If this is true, I believe the Tree of Life truly is a symbol of something much greater, a transcending life-giving force that has significant importance to the rest of the Bible. 

Let’s get back to God’s reason for destroying the world. 

5 The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6 The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. 7 So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” (NIV) 

This is perhaps the most stunning passage I’ve read in the Bible so far, and a disturbing insight into the nature of God. Yes, you heard me right - I said disturbing.  People were so wicked they despoiled all of the earth and everything on it. Everything had to go, not just people. What horrors could humanity have perpetrated in those ancient times that merited that level of annihilation? It would seem to me God would have flattened the planet several times over since then if the wickedness of men were the yardstick for a global purge. Yet, its not the decision to destroy humanity that really disturbs me, it’s how God came to his decision.
 
I have heard it is a sin to test God, but it is good to test God’s word through the Bible. Here, in Genesis 6, God’s word tested me. Words mean something, especially the Word of God. That’s why I had to read this passage over and over, to make sure I was reading it correctly.
Deep breath, here we go… 

NOT WHAT I LEARNED IN SUNDAY SCHOOL: I was told all my life in very clear terms that GOD IS PERFECT AND DOES NOT MAKE MISTAKES.  The dictionary defines “regret” as “to feel sorrow or remorse for an act.” “Remorse” is “deep and painful regret for wrongdoing.” Let’s look at Genesis 6:6 again: “The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.” 

One does not regret doing something right. One regrets doing something wrong. Does God believe he made a mistake? Does God make mistakes? Genesis 6 certainly sounds that way. Genesis 6:7 says “ - for I regret that I have made them.” God clearly puts it into the form of a personal regret. I don’t know about you, but I never look back at the things I did right in my life and say “I sure do regret that.” The only word I usually hear in conjunction with the word “regret” is “mistake,” like “I regret I backed into that car” and “I regret I drank that last margarita” and “I regret not going to the gym more often.”  Before you start yelling “heresy!” and let loose the stones in my direction, its not me saying this…it’s the Bible. I just don’t know how else to interpret except the most logical and direct way. Like I’ve said before, I am not a Bible scholar, I’m just a guy asking questions.  

How does the idea of the Lord making a mistake make me feel? First, he’s calling all of us a mistake. That’s kind of like your dad walking into your room with a disgusted look on his face and saying, “You suck and I wish you were never my son. I’m divorcing your mother and I’m jetting off to Cozumel with my secretary to start over. Oh, and there is a wrecking ball about to come through your wall in a minute to kill you. Bye.” Yep, that really sucks.  

On the good side, maybe even God is not too big to admit he made a mistake, even if it’s your species. If we are truly created in his image, and his nature is that of a loving parent, maybe that is a good thing. Seriously. Think about it for a moment. God’s words sound like those of a parent, and parents often say mean things to those they love in times of anger, words they wish they could take back. Parents only want what’s best for their kids, and they want their kids to love them. SPOILER ALERT: God later admits to  jealousy issues. I’m not kidding or being flippant. It’s true.  

As crazy as it sounds, in my mind, this  humanizes God. It makes him more accessible, more relatable. I don’t know how evil people were back were then compared to now, but I suspect a just and righteous God would be pretty disgusted with people nowadays, too. I also think he’d find islands of goodness, like he did back then, because just when we think there isn’t any hope….there is hope. 

8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. (NIV)

God pulls back his full wrath, and humanity gets a second chance, but only after the terror of the Cataclysm. We’re going to learn more about Noah, and the disaster to come, in the second part of my look at Genesis 6.  

Brian Braden is the author of THE ILLUSION EXOTIC, the historical fantasy novel BLACK SEA GODS and several other exciting books. Please support this blog with your patronage. 

(Note: This is another episode in my continuing exploration of the Bible. You can read my series introduction here. All Bible quote are NIV and cannot be used for commercial purposes. Read copyright information here.) ​ ​

In Part 1 of my look at Genesis 4, I left off asking a few questions: Why does God need sacrifices, or to be worshiped for that matter? What is sin? Did God’s rejection of Cain lead to Abel’s death? Did God fail in his creation of humankind?  Tough questions…but honest ones. Seriously, let’s look at God’s track record in the first four chapters of the Bible. Mankind falls from Grace and we get the Bible’s first recorded murder. Everything appears to be going wrong and FAST. I wonder what God is thinking at this point. 
 
Let’s pick up where we left off in Genesis 4. 

9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (NIV)

10 The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.” (NIV)

This is the first instance of God expressly cursing a human. Imagine, the creator of all existence putting a curse on you, a little mortal. That’s a big burden to bear. Cain is cast into exile from what is left of his family. Not only that, he is separated from the only trade he knows – farming. How will he feed himself? “Restless Wanderer” brings to mind nomad. Cain the Barbarian. You’d think Cain must become a gatherer or a hunter, as if God had cast him backwards down the evolutionary ladder. 

13 Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is more than I can bear. 14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” (NIV)

Can one truly be hidden from an all-seeing, all knowing divine presence? Is there no hope for Cain’s reconciliation with God? It makes me think. 

Cain is obviously concerned about being killed by those he encounters during his exile, to which I ask…who exactly is he afraid of? In the widely accepted, classical interpretations of the Bible, Adam, Eve and Cain are presently the ONLY humans on the face of the earth. Yet, Cain hints to other humans who might do him harm. This brings me back to some thoughts I had way back in Episode 2, where I speculated, as written in the Bible, other humans were created by God on the 6th Day outside the Garden, but Adam was specially formed on Day 3. This theory seems to gain credence in Genesis 4 with the implied possibility of other humans being present in significant numbers.

15 But the Lord said to him, “Not so; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. 16 So Cain went out from the Lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden. (NIV)

It almost feels as if Cain wants God to kill him, to put him mercifully out of his misery. God has other plans and sentences Cain to “life without parole”, to be forever tormented by his own conscious. What type of punishment God intends by “seven times over” I cannot fathom, but it doesn’t sound pleasant. I also wonder what kind of mark God placed on Cain that it would be recognized by those outside of Adam’s clan. 

At this point I would expect the tale of Cain to be over, and we would return to Adam’s family story. Not so, as the story of Cain continues for a little longer. 

17 Cain made love to his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch. 18 To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech.

19 Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah. 20 Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock.21 His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes. 22 Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain’s sister was Naamah. (NIV)

Cain found a wife (and love?) and had kids. Okay, I’m going to wholly accept the theory there were other people, other than Adam and Eve, on earth at this time. I’m going to choose to accept this version for two reasons: 1) That’s the way I read it, even if it flies in the face of thousands of years of interpretation. 2) It sounds feasible from where I stand in 2017, while the historical interpretation does not. I’m going forward with that premise and not going to revisit the topic again unless something comes along to shake this theory. 
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To repeat, Cain finds a wife, has kids and establishes a city. It doesn’t seem like a life doomed for “restless wandering” to me. If you ask me, cities are a pretty non-wandering type of lifestyle. In fact, Cain’s life style gets downright sedentary as he fathers five generations and his linage is assured. I’m actually trying to figure out how he was cursed. 

NOT WHAT I LEARNED IN SUNDAY SCHOOL: If you take the Bible as written, Cain has a major influence on human civilization. Unexpectedly, he doesn't go backwards on the "evolutionary ladder", he and his clan move forward. To be blunt, he invents civilization. Cain and his descendants are the first Biblical mentions of 1) cities (metropolitan civilization), 2) musical instruments (arts), and 3) metal working (high tech). Cain is not only the Father of Murder, he and his progeny takes us from the Stone-age to the Iron-age in four generations.  

Reading on, it becomes clearer the vast majority of humanity can likely call Cain their progenitor.

23 Lamech said to his wives,
“Adah and Zillah, listen to me;
    wives of Lamech, hear my words.
I have killed a man for wounding me,
    a young man for injuring me.
24 If Cain is avenged seven times,
    then Lamech seventy-seven times.” (NIV)
 
Lamech continues the family tradition. We see the restless descendants of Cain, city dwellers who do not till the soil but somehow manage to eat. They are never happy, never satisfied with what they have, and always envious and full or rage for what they don’t have. Perhaps Lamech’s amplification curse has filtered down to us. We dwell in our cities, surrounded by our man-made wonders and smugly call ourselves wise, all the while we slaughter our fellow man. Perhaps Cain’s mark is still upon us. 
 
25 Adam made love to his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, “God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.” 26 Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh.
At that time people began to call on the name of the Lord. (NIV)

Enoch, son of Cain, forges one line, and Enosh, son of Seth forges another, and the people of the land begin to seek out God. We’ll turn the page to Genesis 5 in the next episode.  Before I leave Genesis 4, however, I want to revisit the questions I asked in Part 2. 
 
Why does God want sacrifices and why does he want to be worshipped? Up to this point, one of God’s primary behaviors is that of concerned parent. Ok, then I will put his behaviors in context of that of a parent. Based on everything up to this point, God cares what happens to humanity. We were created in his image, right?  Creation is an act of love, and simply put, God loves us. Here is a question for the moms and dads out there - why do we want our children to be appreciative? Simple, because it is a way they show they love us. Worship is an expression of love AND respect at the highest level. Sacrifice is the physical manifestation of that love, where mortals bring forth the best they have and lay it before their creator. Sacrifice is a symbol of a loving relationship. We don’t know what initiated Cain and Abel’s decision to sacrifice to God, only what they chose to offer. They offered their best. Abel offered his sacrifice with a clean, open heart. Cain did not. As I stated in the previous episode, I don’t think it was the type of offering, but how it was offered, that God made is decision whether to accept or not accept the sacrifices. The lesson here is you can offer everything to God, but if you do it with deception and evil in your heart he won’t accept it. 
 
What is sin? As stated in the previous episode, its mentioned for the first time in Genesis 4, but not defined. Well, up to this point these are the things God has expressed disfavor about: disobedience (Adam and Eve’s eating of the forbidden fruit), anger and jealousy and murder (Cain). In each case, the results have been detrimental to the people who performed these behaviors. Also, after each act God and mankind become more separated from one another.  Sin hurts the person who chooses to do it, and those he or she loves. Sin is a self-inflicted wound of the heart that separates us from God. Sin is spiritual suicide. 
 
 
Next question, did God set up Cain to murder by rejecting his sacrifice? I’ll answer that with another question…what if God accepted Cain’s sacrifice? He would have accepted, and legitimized, Cain’s behavior. That act would have been a lie and against God’s inherent nature as a loving parent and, in the long run, would have hurt Cain. So, because of God’s nature and his love for Cain, he owed Cain the truth. Remember, mankind had partaken from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, so Cain knew his behavior was wrong and he was aware of his choice to do right. With the truth, God gave him an avenue back to redemption. After receiving God’s solid advice, Cain still chose sin and entered into a state of deeper rebellion against God. So, no, God did not set up Cain for failure. Cain set up Cain for failure. 
 
 
Did God fail in his attempt to create a race in his image? I’ll answer that with a question, too…who am I to judge God’s success or failure? Like a cliché, you haven’t failed until you quit. God hasn’t quit. 
 
As of Genesis 4, God hasn’t wiped out humanity and started over.  SPOILER ALERT: That comes later. 
 
See you next episode. 
 
(Programming note…I’m stepping away from the computer for a few days, so it will be about a week before the next installment.)

(Note: This is another episode in my continuing exploration of the Bible, and the final part of my 3-part look at Genesis 3. Click here to read Part One and Two.  You can read my series introduction here. All Bible quote are NIV and cannot be used for commercial purposes. Read copyright information here.) ​ ​

Today, I wrap up my exploration of Genesis 3. Last week I discussed God’s curse on the serpent. This week I’m going to explore God’s judgement on Adam and Eve and what it means for humanity.

It’s important to note that in the case of Eve and Adam, unlike what happened to the serpent, God does not utter the words “Cursed are you…” This is critical, and this fact, upon closer inspection, is absolutely profound to the rest of the Bible and human history. 
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Let’s look at what God said to the woman first.

16 To the woman he said,
“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
    with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
    and he will rule over you.” (NIV)

These are consequences, not curses. Reading this, one can logically assume the woman had not given birth, as the narrative makes no mention of children or sexual relations.  Now that man and woman are doomed to die they must have offspring in order to continue their linage. Why is that even important? Why didn’t God just wipe them out and start over? I’m going to get to that later. Bottom line, the woman must now suffer the natural consequences of procreation.  “Your desire will be for your husband…” is also a natural consequence, as without it no one is having kids. This goes back to the pre- and post-puberty analogy of the Fall I discussed in the last episode. As for the man ruling over the woman, I think this is also a natural consequence of the division of family roles in primitive hunter-gatherer or agrarian societies. 

I can assume a few things from this passage: 1) Adam and Eve didn’t have a sexual relationship prior to them eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. 2) Therefore, they had no children. 3) Since all of their needs were taken care of by God and daily survival wasn’t an issue, they had no traditional sex-based roles - they were like children and equals. Genesis 3 essentially implies inequality of the sexes, like spiritual death, is a consequence of sin and disobedience to God. Division of family labor, with woman as formally and socially subservient in order to survive, is a natural consequence of a life of toil in a pre-industrial society. This fact has been consistent in almost every human civilization.  A funny observation, but only in the 20th and 21st Century in the Western world has modern technology and Western-thought permitted a gradual return to equality between the sexes enjoyed by Adam and Eve. 

So, what of God’s judgement on Adam?

17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’
“Cursed is the ground because of you;
    through painful toil you will eat food from it
    all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
    and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow
    you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
    since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
    and to dust you will return.” (NIV)

Why would God curse the ground (earth?) because of Adam? Once again, I think its more like cursed as a consequence, not as a condemnation. Man transforms from gardener to hardscrabble farmer/gatherer. The world turns from gentle and giving to wild and hostile, unwilling to surrender its bounty without a struggle. Man will no longer care for it as much as battle it. I think of the desertification of places like North Africa under the onslaught of mankind, and God’s words make perfect sense. 

20 Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.
21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. (NIV)

Curious that God named the man Adam, but left the woman’s name up to Adam. Its also interesting that she isn’t given a name until after the Fall. 

Is Eve truly mother of all the living? Or does this mean mother to the linage that would lead to Moses and David and Christ? I don’t know.  Remember in Episode 2  God created mankind on Day 6 and commanded them to be fruitful and multiply, as opposed to Adam, who is created on what clearly appears to be Day 3. There seems to be a conflict here, which goes back to my statements in previous episodes that the writing in Genesis 3 feels very different from that what comes before. (SPOILER ALERT: It feels different from what follows, too.) 

I think there may be a deeper meaning to “mother of all the living”. I’m going out on a limb here, but I think Eve’s role is pivotal for mankind’s ultimate redemption. Patience, because I’m going to come back to this point at the end. 

Its also interesting that it is God, not Adam, that provides clothes for them to venture into the outer world. In my mind, this implies Adam and Even lack most of the basic survival skills, other than perhaps Adam’s possible ability to cultivate. Imagine what terror Adam and Eve must have felt, two children in a man and woman’s body, suddenly being forced to grow up all at once. I think perhaps the best word might be “trauma.”

22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” (NIV)

I really want to know who this “us” is. That is the second time the Bible mentions a divine “us.” Who is with God? This fascinates me. 

Next point, remember earlier in Genesis 3 when the serpent said, “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” This was the truth, and God confirms it. What does that mean for mankind?  In Genesis 1, God states humanity is created in his image. Now, in Genesis 3, mankind has attained a level of knowledge regarding the universe previously reserved for God and this mysterious “us” he addresses from time-to-time. This knowledge is powerful, but is corrupting to the flesh and spirit. I’m going to use a line from my novel BLACK SEA GODS…I am too small a cup for what has been poured into me. We are too small of vessels for the power the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil has bestowed upon us, and that power eventually kills.
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Let’s talk about the Two Trees. 

In the previous episode I theorized the serpent simultaneously exists in this world, and not of this world. In Episode 2, I stated I believe the snake represents Chaos, or perhaps more accurately, possibility. I believe this holds true for the trees as well. They are symbols of powerful natural forces that transcend the tangible universe. I sort of think of them as pillars of creation, like flying arches that lift the great cathedrals of old. 

I think the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil represents intellect, or perhaps self-awareness. It is the tangible, the logical, the real. This tree’s branches hold up the sky and its roots anchors the bones of the universe. It is math, both Newtonian and Quantum. It is the atom and the galaxy, all we can see, touch, feel or prove. It is law and morality. It is science and fact. We cling to this tree like a life boat and tap its sap for our mortal strength.  It is physical pleasure and mortal suffering. It is DNA without the spirit. Its a gun or a knife, and the terrible choice of how to use it. No matter how big and grand and beautiful, in the end the kingdom of this tree is still finite. Its gatekeeper is the Serpent, Chaos, always lurking in the branches or in the weeds at its roots. Just when we think we are masters of this kingdom, it strikes. Eventually, we come to the end of the math, and yet still cry out “Why?” The fruit of this tree is sweet and terrible and always leaves us unsatisfied. We cannot live by this bread alone.

So what of the mysterious Tree of Life? This tree wasn’t forbidden to Adam and Eve, but we have no record of them actually eating of it. For that, let’s look at the last passage of Genesis 3.

23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. (NIV)

This final passage of Genesis 3 gives ultimate hope to mankind and sets the rest of the Bible in motion. God could have wiped out humanity right then and there as a spoiled race, unworthy for continued existence. But he didn’t. He could have removed the Tree of Life forever from our reach, and left us to eternal languish without hope and thereby creating a hell on earth. But he didn’t. He removed the Tree of Life from our sight, and placed a guardian to watch over it, offering hope that one day we may again return to its roots and eat of its fruit. 

What is the Tree of Life? It is the gateway beyond the Kingdom of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Only here can Eve’s question truly be answered. It is laughter and tears, hugs and passion. This tree is conscious and faith. The Tree is compassion, a candle in the darkness, and fireflies on a summer’s evening. The Tree is hope, a gateway eternally facing the east and a new sunrise. The Tree is love, the breath of life that shakes the limbs of the Tree of Knowledge like a mighty wind. Its roots transcend the bones of the earth and its branches burrow beyond the curtain of the heavens. This tree is both eternal love and eternal life, and only under its branches can we once again be one with God.  Its fruit is the fruit of the spirit, the antidote to the poison of Chaos.  Its gatekeeper is the cherubim and its flaming sword, which I believe symbolizes ultimate truth. Only through truth can one find their way back to the Tree of Life. Without Truth,  the tree, and Eden, are forever out of our reach.  Is there a path back to the Tree of Life?

I believe so.

Genesis 3 is the most important passage in the Old Testament not because of the Fall of Man, but because of the hope God offers. Eve is not an accessory in the story, or a villain, or a victim. She is the pathway for the return to salvation. Read Genesis 3:23-24 carefully. It clearly states only Adam is banished from Eden, and makes no mention of Eve. Yes, Eve leaves with Adam, but Eve was never truly banished from the Garden. For Eve, God offers a sliver of Grace and, through her, to Adam as well.  Let me explain.

“Why?” is a question women are somehow uniquely gifted to ask. Every time a mother witnesses her baby’s eyes flutter open for the first time she glimpses eternity,  a universe of unlimited possibilities. She sees Eden before the serpent. She sees Hope.

Hope. Husbands understand this inherent nature about the women we love. It is because, and through, our women’s hope that men find our faith. This is why we should cherish them, and why we toil the fields with the sweat of our brow until we eventually return to the dust. Men understand, that as a gardner we may plant the seed and tend the garden, but it is the woman who brings new life into the world. Through his woman’s love, and wonderful children she brings into this world, can man catch the distant fragrance of paradise lost. A Woman’s Hope and a Man’s Faith are joined in Love. Through Love new life is created and another small step is taken back to the Tree of Life. 

Truth is the gatekeeper of the Tree, keeping the Serpent of Chaos at bay. Hope is a vision of the tree, left to us by God after the Fall. Faith, as revealed through scripture, is the path back to the tree.  Love, the child of Hope and Faith, that is the greatest of all gifts and is the fruit of the Tree of Life. Love enables us to transcend this world and step into eternity with our maker.
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Finally, this brings me back to my earlier point about Eve’s pivotal role in humanity’s ultimate redemption. I believe it is through love, and a woman’s unique gift of bringing new life into the world, why Eve was not forever banished from the Garden. This is why the Tree of Life was not removed from this world, why all women, from Eve to Mary to today, share an unbreakable bond with the Tree of Life. In the moment of birth, when a mother pulls her newborn to her breast and hears her child’s first cry, the mighty cherub lowers his flaming sword for the briefest of moments. Through the veil of her pain and tears, the daughters of Eve are permitted the tiniest glimpse of eternity. In the eyes of her child, women receive the answer to Eve’s question. 

In the moment of her child’s birth, she walks again, hand-in-hand with God in Eden on the morning of the Seventh Day.
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Brian Braden is the author the book THE ILLUSION EXOTIC, the historical fantasy novel BLACK SEA GODS and several other exciting books.