Sirach in Praise of Faith of Enoch and Noah



Apocrypha: Sirach Chapter 44



1 Let us now praise famous men, and our fathers that begat us.

2 The Lord hath wrought great glory by them through his great power from the beginning.

3 Such as did bear rule in their kingdoms, men renowned for their power, giving counsel by their understanding, and declaring prophecies:

4 Leaders of the people by their counsels, and by their knowledge of learning meet for the people, wise and eloquent are their instructions:

5 Such as found out musical tunes, and recited verses in writing:

6 Rich men furnished with ability, living peaceably in their habitations:

7 All these were honoured in their generations, and were the glory of their times.

8 There be of them, that have left a name behind them, that their praises might be reported.

9 And some there be, which have no memorial; who are perished, as though they had never been; and are become as though they had never been born; and their children after them.

10 But these were merciful men, whose righteousness hath not been forgotten.

11 With their seed shall continually remain a good inheritance, and their children are within the covenant.

12 Their seed standeth fast, and their children for their sakes.

13 Their seed shall remain for ever, and their glory shall not be blotted out.

14 Their bodies are buried in peace; but their name liveth for evermore.

15 The people will tell of their wisdom, and the congregation will shew forth their praise.

16 Enoch pleased the Lord, and was translated, being an example of repentance to all generations.

17 Noah was found perfect and righteous; in the time of wrath he was taken in exchange [for the world;] therefore was he left as a remnant unto the earth, when the flood came.

18 An everlasting covenant was made with him, that all flesh should perish no more by the flood.

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Sirach Chapter 48


14 But upon the earth was no man created like Enoch; for he was taken from the earth.

15 Neither was there a young man born like Joseph, a governor of his brethren, a stay of the people, whose bones were regarded of the Lord.

16 Sem and Seth were in great honour among men, and so was Adam above every living thing in creation.

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And Paul Hebrews 11

5 By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.”[a] For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.

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God's Rainbow Covenant With Humanity

Pope: Lord, why did you remain silent?



Posted on May 28, 2006 by Bene Diction

Pope Benedict XVI has received a mixed reaction from Jewish people regarding his visit to Auschwitz Sunday. It is his third trip to the death camp, his first as Pope. The Jerusalem Post noted the appearance of the rainbow after his prayers.

 

“In a place like this, words fail; in the end, there can be only a dread silence, a silence which itself is a heartfelt cry to God: Why, Lord, did you remain silent?”

 

Benedict walked along the row of plaques at the Auschwitz-Birkenau complex’s memorial, one in the language of each nationality whose members died there.

 

As he stopped to pray, a light rain stopped and a brilliant rainbow suddenly appeared over the camp.

 

Although Genesis does not say that prior to the Flood there were no rainbows, in Genesis after the Flood God blesses Noah, warns about the shedding of blood and makes a promise to never destroy the earth and mankind by flood again:

 

And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.” Genesis 9:12-17 NIV

 

The central tenant of all branches of the Jewish faith is one of a people of covenant.

 

The central religious idea is that God made a covenant with humanity. God made an agreement with all humans, each side making certain mutual promises and commitments. The agreement, like a marriage, is based on a mutual love. Then God made a second covenant with a particular people, known as the people Israel.

Let us begin with the covenant God made with all humanity. We can see this in the Bible in the Noah story, after Noah and his family left the ark. God made a promise to accept humanity for who they are. God would never again bring a flood to destroy the world. On the other side, God made demands of Noah, the father of all humanity. Whoever spills the blood of man, by man shall his blood be spilled, for in the image of God did God create man.@ (Genesis 9:6) Humanity promised God that the killing of innocents would stop. (If only we could keep that promise.)

 

The Rabbis of the Talmud developed this idea into one of the most powerful in Jewish tradition. They taught that God gave Noah and his family seven laws. Humanity was to shun bloodshed, forbidden sexual relations, idolatry, theft, blasphemy, and cruelty to animals. Humanity was also to establish courts of justice. These laws, known as the Seven Laws of the Children of Noah, are central to the Jewish view of humanity. Jewish tradition does not seek converts. It seeks a commitment by every human being to certain fundamental ethical standards – respect for life, religion, family, property, the avoidance of cruelty, and the pursuit of justice. According to the Rabbis, any human being of any faith who follows these fundamental laws will have a place in the World to Come.

 

God made a covenant with humanity. God wants us humans to practice fundamental ethical laws. And God in turn has promised He will never destroy us. What is the symbol of this covenant? It is the rainbow. And here is where we receive some wonderful insights. What is a rainbow? Light shines through water droplets in the sky which act like a prism, bending various frequencies at various angles. The light is separated according to colors. We see the various colors and think of them as separate and distinct. But behind them, hidden from view, is the original light, unified and one. So it is with humanity. We are separate and distinct, each of us an individual.

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Taken from: http://www.benedictionblogson.com/2006/05/28/pope-lord-why-did-you-remain-silent/

The Blessed Virgin Mary and Noah's Ark Imagery



"Is [Mary] not a rainbow in the clouds reaching towards God, the pledge of a covenant of peace? .... "Look upon the rainbow, and bless Him that made it; surely it is beautiful in its brightness. It encompasses the heaven about with the circle of its glory, the hands of the Most High have displayed it"."

Pope Pius XII, Ad Caeli Reginam, # 51.

Noah’s Ark & the Annunciation of the BVM

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I think that the Feast of the Annunciation of the BVM is one of those feasts that a lot of low(er) Protestants avoid because BVM = Blessed Virgin Mary = obvious Papist connexions. This is silly. The Annunciation is the first feast of the earthly life of Christ. Furthermore, unlike, say, the Dormition (Assumption), the Annunciation is a biblical event. And we all know how much we Protestants love the Bible!

This Feast is on March 25, and I celebrated it by popping in at my local Orthodox Church and standing around through the Divine Liturgy (Eucharist). Not that I could receive the Sacrament, but it was good to be there.

One of the Old Testament readings for this Feast was the end of the tale of Noah’s Ark, where he sends out the dove. According to The Orthodox Study Bible:

The dove foreshadowed the Holy Spirit (Mt 3:10), who caused the Holy Virgin to conceive Christ in her womb, and the olive leaf speaks of the Virgin herself (Lk 1:35, Akath).

That abbrev. ‘Akath’ = Akathist Hymn. The Service of the Akathist Hymn is a beautiful service of the Orthodox Church that takes place over the first five Fridays of Lent, the full Service occurring on the final; the hymn itself was possibly composed by Romanos the Melodist in the sixth century. It is a hymn all about the Theotokos (Mother of God, see here for why that’s an important title).

Anyway, I noticed neither during the service nor later when I read through the Akathist hymn myself this particular piece of typology (on the fourfold sense of Scripture, read here). It was not, however, the first piece of typology I thought of.

In Noah’s Ark, as all good Sunday School children know, were the entire human race and all the living animals as well. In the belly of the ark (fun fact: the Greek for belly and hold are similar). These humans and animals were saved from destruction in the terrible Flood by taking refuge in the Ark.

The typology I thought of was that the BVM is like the Ark because she carried the salvation of the world in her belly as well — she carried our Lord Christ, God Incarnate, without Whom we would all be lost, inside her womb. The Annunciation, celebrated nine months before Christmas, is the starting day of our salvation, as the priest noted to us in his homily that day.

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Taken from: http://thepocketscroll.wordpress.com/2011/04/12/noahs-ark-the-annunciation-of-the-bvm/