Noah Built an Altar
January 14, 2023
Commentary
At the command of God, Noah (1) built an ark, (2) gathered the necessary food for their time in the ark, (3) entered the ark with his family and all the animals, and finally (4) exited the ark. One of the defining characteristics of Noah was that he was obedient to the commands of the Lord. After coming out of the ark the first thing that Noah did was to build an altar and celebrate by offering some of the ritually clean animals to God (v. 20). We might ask, why did he do this?
1. He wanted to please God and desired His fellowship.
2. This was an expression of his commitment to God and God’s #1 place in his life.
We need to ask if our hearts are oriented towards God like Noah’s was?
1. Is the worship of God our top priority.
2. Is the seeking of God and fellowship with Him our priority.
3. What place does God have in our lives.
4. When God does something for us, is going to Him the first thing we do?
Leaving the ark, Noah made a sacrifice to God, which was a pleasing aroma to Him. The people of God are a worshiping people, as Israel would learn, and that worship was to take the form of giving God some of the best of what was His. God spoke secretly to Himself as if it were, in response to Noah’s sacrifice “ (vv. 20-22). The fragrance of Noah’s offering ascended to Him, and He said in his heart, “I will not curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more everything living, as I have done.” While the earth remains there will be planting, harvesting, cold and heat, summer and winter and day and night” (vv. 21-22).
Application
We are to honor the Lord with thy substance and with the first fruits of all thine increase (Prov. 3:9). In other words, I need to empty myself and walk with the Lord our God as Noah did.
Genesis 8:13– 22 (NET)
13 In Noah’s six hundred and first year, in the first day of the first month, the waters had dried up from the earth, and Noah removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. 14 And by the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was dry.
15 Then God spoke to Noah and said, 16 “Come out of the ark, you, your wife, your sons, and your sons’ wives with you. 17 Bring out with you all the living creatures that are with you. Bring out every living thing, including the birds, animals, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Let them increase and be fruitful and multiply on the earth!”
18 Noah went out along with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives. 19 Every living creature, every creeping thing, every bird, and everything that moves on the earth went out of the ark in their groups.
20 Noah built an altar to the Lord. He then took some of every kind of clean animal and clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And the Lord smelled the soothing aroma and said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, even though the inclination of their minds is evil from childhood on. I will never again destroy everything that lives, as I have just done.
22 “While the earth continues to exist, planting time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will not cease.”