 Welcome to Hard Questions, where we gather pastors together to take on your tough questions and answer them right from the Bible. I'm Tom Hollis, the moderator, and today our panelists include Dr. Weymour Glaze, Bethany Baptist Church in Pittsburgh, Ray Hypole Providence Presbyterian Church in Robinson Township, Pete Giacalone, South Hills Assembly of God Church in Bethel Park, PA. Anthony Gilbert, pastor for another level in the North Hills area. Well, pastors, thank you for being with us today. We're going to take on questions today from the book of Genesis, lots of interesting things in there. Let's start with an audio question from our Hard Questions hotline right now. My question is this. I've had people ask me and I don't have an answer. Where did Cain get his wife and Noah's son after the flood? He had one son on board with him with his wife that they rescued, but the other son after the arc landed, the other son took off and he started having children. Where did his wife come from? All right. I mean, this is a question that comes up. It comes up again and again in many times. Ray, the first one was made famous in that inherit the wind movie back in like the forties or never making fun of Christianity, you know, where did Cain get his wife and this theologian on the witness stands like, Oh, I never heard of that. Oh, I'm I must throw my Bible away now. I mean, it's absurd. I don't think she's coming from it from that perspective. But sometimes people simplistically think that they can refute scripture. Obviously, Cain got his wife from Adam and Eve. She was his sister. There's a good chance he was already married. The Bible just talks about Cain and Abel being born and then Seth. But it says Adam and Eve had other sons and daughters. Adam lived to be 930 years old. So Eve was probably at least that old. And if you multiply times 10, the range of having birth, because that's about times 10 is the lifespan. Eve probably had hundreds of children, hundreds of children, and they would have, you know, spread out over the world. So that's easy. The second one, I think what's happening is the viewer, the only place I know of that shows one of the sons of Noah didn't have a son or didn't have a wife is the movie Noah's Ark with Russell Crow. So don't get your theology from a movie. Get it from scripture. Clearly in the Bible, they were all three married. Let me give you the verses. Genesis chapter 6, 18, I will establish my covenant with you. And you shall go into the ark. You, your sons, your wife and your son's wives, unless we say, well, maybe that's only two Genesis 7, 13 on that very same day. Noah and his Noah's sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth and Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the Ark. So, you know, my apologies to Hollywood, but Ham had a wife. She got on the Ark with him. And even if we're just not sure there, go to 1 Peter 420, who formally while they were disobedience, when the when the divine's long suffering waited in the days of Noah, while the Ark was being prepared in which a few, that is eight souls were saved through water. Noah, his wife, Shem, Ham, Japheth, Mrs. Shem, Mrs. Ham, Mrs. Japheth, there they are, all eight of them on the Ark. Now, wait a minute, though, getting back to the first. He was strong and heavy one. Getting back to the first part of that, though, what about it seems incestuous that, OK? What about, you know, is Cain marrying his sister? Absolutely. OK. So I want to let someone else, you know, talk. Well, yeah, yeah, he is marrying his sister. But, you know, you got to look back. I think the closer we get to the original creation that the the the genetic system of the body, you know, this is what I believe, took into account, you know, the fact that, you know, you were going to, you know, be marrying someone of close proximity, genealogically. As you move away from the original couple, I think in in their sin, you know, was manifested in the body. And I think that the further you got away that that's when the genetic makeup began to, you know, cause cause problems. And then it began to be wrong. So, you know, I would say, you know, that from initially that, you know, it got, you know, God didn't count it as incest, incest. But, you know, the further that you got away from the original couple that I think that, you know, and you go into the law of Moses because Moses began to point things like that out. You know, I think that that's where it actually became incestuous. OK. OK. Any other thoughts, Pete, on this? I agree with both my brothers. I think that is that the point you would take on it, Ray, that it will because of the the more purity of the gene pool or whatever. Yeah, I think the commandment of incest doesn't kick in. It doesn't become that. I mean, Abraham marries half his sister. Right. You know, that was somewhat unheard of at the time. But, you know, you do see that. But by the time of the law of Moses, God says, no, you can't do that anymore. And so I think, again, kosher laws, same thing up until the time of Moses. There's nothing that says the godly people couldn't have eaten pork and shellfish and everything else. So God has certain seasons for certain laws. But today, yes, it's wrong to marry your sister. But that's the way God designed it at the beginning. If I could jump in there, just say one more thing about Cain getting his wife that, you know, we read in the scripture what's recorded. But I think there's a lot that it's not in there, you know. And so, you know, we just kind of got the highlight, you know, of Cain, Able. But, you know, you know, we got a more, you know, detailed history. It probably would go into, you know, description as to, you know, where they got their wives from the children that they had. So I think that, you know, we look at what we read in the scripture and we say that, well, you know, this is all that there is. But there probably was a lot more history that was recorded. Right. And we take that by faith that what's in there, what's not in there. God knows what that is. Right. Jay, I'm going to move on to the next question here for you. What is the significance of the number seven in Genesis seven? Well, I think with all biblical numerology, I mean, you know, there's certain standard things you can govern by like seven being the number of completion, seven being the number of perfection, all of those things. But, you know, it really, there's a lot of places you can go with that. I mean, it talks about how you take seven of the clean beasts and talk about how seven more days it's going to rain. And it's in Genesis chapter seven. I think a lot of times when you're looking at stuff like that, it's a preacher's dream to at least for me to exegetically pull stuff out of there, you know, because there's so much that I could do with that. In one place here, it says, for after seven more days, I will cause it to rain on the earth 40 days. And they told him to take seven of every clean beast. And I mean, it goes on on just all the different sevens in there. So I believe he's all symbolic for me. It's all about a completion. The seven is just around completion, perfection. Of course, he took seven, in my opinion, took seven of the clean beast, because obviously you needed those also for sacrifice and things. I mean, but there's so many things you could go into when it comes to that. But all in all, though, I believe it's it was a completed time where God says, I'm going to start things over again. So that's my take. But I'm sure they could exegetically pull a lot more. I want to kind of broaden this a little bit, because we've got a little bit of time here. What is this about biblical numbers? Because I've heard people say, well, 40 means this and 12 means that and 10 means this. And I always say 40 means one more than 39. I mean, I don't I don't get it. Why? Why? What is it about numbers? Maybe Pete, you can comment on this again. Like Jay said, there are people out there who get into what they call numerology. And then in in the Hebrew, it's not it. Hebrew is three languages. It's pictographic and Hebrew is a perfect, pure language. And it's also each number, each letter is a number. So and I've seen some great studies out pictographically and numerically how you could take a word and just see so much. There's so much meat that's there. And I'm not against those folks that get into numerology. I just want to get the people in the word, you know what I mean? And get into that word. And and I think I think you could really chase that rabbit down a rabbit hole that that you know this number and sometimes and maybe find things that really aren't there. Yeah, yeah, that's always been my concern is that we get our eyes on these numbers rather than on the actual things that we need to know. Any other thoughts about that? You know, I think where the Bible was clear that, you know, we can be dogmatic. You know, for instance, the Bible says that the number of man is six. So, you know, we know what six represents. The Bible was very clear as Ray pointed out that seven is a number of completion. I think that where the Bible was clear, we can be clear. And where, you know, because again, like you said, we can build on all kind of rabbit holes as far as this is concerned. That's right. I think we need to be careful that I see. I hear that sometimes in in people's voices and they want to this number, that number, before you know it, they got more numbers in the bookie. Here's a number for you. Sixty. We're going to be back in 60 seconds. We're going to talk about why did God allow Satan to afflict Job so severely? Welcome back to hard questions. We're talking about the book of Genesis. Here's our next question. Why did God take Enoch? What does that mean? Was there something special about him over everyone else? Pastor Glaze. Well, you know, the Bible says that Enoch walked with God and I heard the old preacher say that they walked one day and they got to the end of the day. And God looked at Enoch and said, we're closer to my house than yours. So just come home with me. And God also said in the words of Gladys Knight, neither one of us want to be the first to say goodbye. So Gladys Knight has come out of an appearance on hard questions. Are the pips far behind? Yeah, no, no. If we go to Hebrews chapter 11, it says, by faith, Enoch was translated. That means that he was raptured, that he was taken out of this world, that he should not see death and he was found not because God translated him before his translation. He had this testimony that he pleased God. And so I believe that in his walk with God, that he was righteous. And again, you know, I often tell people that, you know, nobody's perfect. I think if you're perfect, you know, God will just go ahead and take you on the heaven. But, you know, probably if there was a guy who was as close to perfect as could be, it probably was Enoch and and God just just took him. And I believe another reason God took him because of his faith. You know, because in very next verse says, without faith, it's impossible to please God. And so Enoch, you know, had a strong walk with God and he had a great faith in God. And I believe that that was the basis for the translation. That's really good. I immediately went to the amplified version in Genesis and, man, I fell in love with Enoch walked in habitual fellowship with God 300 years after the birth of Methuselah and had other sons. So all the days at Enoch were 300 and 60 and in reverent fear and obedience. I mean, there's something about this man's walk with God that God said, you know what, son, I love, I've preached that story many times. You know what, son, come on, we're close to my house. Come on home. Yeah, that's pretty good. Jay, well, you know, I also think to another, this is an exegetical thing. This is the safe Jay. And I'm not saying this is definitely Bob, but I wonder because he was so close to the time where he got into with Noah and all of that, did God possibly one of the witnesses that will return back because he had that ability to walk in a wicked time and please God and that that type of man would be needed, not that God couldn't cultivate. I'm just saying this is exegetical. There's no one called me a heretic and send me a bunch of emails and all that. I mean, just something that I looked at because no one knows who those two witnesses are going to be, but about to the point of man wants to die and then the judgment. Well, there's only two men that we know in the scriptures, especially in the Old Testament that did not die with Elijah and Enoch. And so Enoch just knowing the day that he lived in the same Elijah, very wicked times, two men that walked with God in a special time. I wonder if God said, I'm going to pull you out and place you back in in another time. You know, and that's just my little take on it. So that's my thought. The only thing I would add and I really appreciate the answers is that, yes, it was his godliness and his faith, as you guys all said. But I think scripture is showing us something else, too. We just talked about numbers. If you count the seventh son of Adam through Seth is Enoch and the seventh son of Adam through Cain, Islamic, who murders a man and who takes two wives. And so you get the fullness of the of the seed of the serpent. And you get the fullness of the seed of the woman, which was the gospel in Genesis 3.15. The seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman would be hostile to one another. And God traces out those two lines. We get the genealogy of Cain and the genealogy of Seth. And again, the prime examples, Enoch versus Lama, the godly one that God took home and the wicked one who corrupts marriage and who murders a man for insulting him. Wow, that's a really good take on that. Thank you. It's an interesting question. Let's go to the next one. Why did God allow Satan to afflict Job? Does that prove that the Lord will afflict us? Really interesting, a second half of this, Pete. What do you what do you have to say on this? I don't want to sound super spiritual here, but I think Job chapter one, verse one, really, God was so proud of his servant Job. And the Bible says, this is what the Bible says, there was a man in land of us whose name was Job and a man was blameless, upright and one who feared God and shunned evil. So that's what it says there. And then if you drop down to verse eight, God says the exact same thing about Job one, eight. Then the Lord said to Satan, have you considered my servant Job, that there's none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil? I mean, for God to be bragging on a man, it's simply amazing. So I, you know, I really believe with all of my heart, God knew that Job was going to come through with flying colors. And I don't believe so much that, you know, because again, we think, will God do that to us? If God does it to us, if he brought you in, he'll bring you out. So if we go into a tough situation, because many people fear that, people in our congregation, will God do to me what he did to Job? God will never leave you, no forsake you. That's the bottom line there. So I believe God, it was a purification process. And I believe Job came out on top. So as we will come up on top, as long as we continue to trust in Lord with all our heart. Yeah, I think that we have to continue that discussion, though, because that's a great answer. But it will, there are affliction happens, horrible affliction sometimes. Where do you go with that? Well, I heard a preacher preach a message one time and he said, God will give you double for your trouble. And if you look at the last chapter of the book of Job, God doubled everything that Job had, you know, and so that I think what you see here is the sovereignty of God at work. I mean, you know, was there other righteous servants walking the face of the earth at that time? It probably was, but it was God's sovereign choice to if you will put Job on front street and let Satan have access to his life. Knowing that, you know, God was going to be working in Job's life. And again, I believe what Pete said, that God knew Job's heart. And he knew that because Job even said, the Lord knows my heart. He knows that when I've been tried, I will come forth as gold. And so, you know, I believe that it was it was about a purification and testing and confirmation of Job's uprightness. Yeah. In the world, you will have tribulation, right? But take courage. I've overcome the world. Right. One thing I don't like about the question the way it says it is, why did God allow Satan to afflict Job? Does that prove that the Lord will afflict us? Well, the Lord was an afflicting Job. He was letting Satan afflict him. So clearly God's not going to afflict us either, if it means for our harm. Does God chasing his people when they're wayward? Yes. Does he test them at times? And this was a test from the part of God. Obviously, it was an affliction from the part of Satan. And I think that that's something that God does do at times. But if he does test you, as you said, Pete, I mean, if you're really his, that will come through and whatever you suffer, you'll be rewarded for it. Just a couple of verses. Jesus said, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness's sake. There's is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they were vile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil things against you, rejoice and be glad for great is your reward in heaven. And Peter says the same things, rejoice. And so far as you share in Christ's sufferings that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed and that suffering produces endurance. And so, you know, yes, there's hardships in our lives. But if we trust in Christ, it's going to be for a reward in heaven. And it's going to be that we show forth his glory even now. And it's a great privilege to suffer for Christ. So I think one of the things, too, you have to look at is that before Joe was ever afflicted, if you're going to have that type of affliction, you got to have that type of hedge. Yes, Joe had a hedge around the bottom. And so there was a difference between some people just going through stuff because they make bad decisions. Joe, the Bible says he had a hedge. The Bible says that Satan couldn't even get to him. And God allowed that to be lifted. So to understand this and really grasp it, you have to understand God, Joe was greatly beloved of God, greatly beloved there. He wouldn't have been that protected. So for me, going into it, understanding, will the Lord allow us to go through things like that? If he's allowing the hedge to be lifted, I have to trust the same God that had the hedge there because he wouldn't put me in all of that if he didn't have his hand all around me. And I wasn't greatly beloved of God. So it's hard to preach it because nobody wants to go through that stuff. But as long as I had the hedge up front, I'm all right. You know, that was Satan's complaint. He goes, you put I can't I can't touch him. I can't touch his wife. Matter of fact, I'm not even allowed on this property. Well, it's interesting because a friend of mine who's a native Chinese, he talked about how in China, they have a theology of suffering that we don't really have here because of the suffering that they've been through. It's an interesting, interesting take on that. Sometimes our experience helps us or hinders us when we're trying to get at God's purposes. Well, good answers, everyone. Coming up in 60 seconds when we take a hotline question of the week. Welcome back to Hard Questions. Let's go to our audio question of the week. Yes, I would like to know if you could explain in Genesis where the Lord said, let us make you in our image. What does he say? What's he talking about when he says our image? Is he talking about Jesus? Explain, please. All right. This is a an interesting scripture that I've always had a thought on. But Ray, what's your take on this? Yes, I think God is. It's interesting in the creation account. This is the first time where God sort of pauses and has a conversation with himself, and that only happens a few times in scripture. And every time it does, it's very significant. And so God's about to make the crowning piece of his creation. And he says, let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. And I think God is triune. And even though that's not clearly revealed in the Old Testament, we find it in places like this where God speaks of himself in the plural. And I know the other arguments, the royal plural and all that. No, God is eternally Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And God can't be talking to the angels because it never says we're made in the image of angels. God would never include them in the category, us, let us do something as if we're equal. So that is that that is the trinity. And to be made in God's image is to be a rational, reasonable, intellectual creature who can create and who can also is moral and can do what is good and right. This is what it means to be like God. And and ultimately Christ is the fulfillment of that image because, you know, Christ, we are renewed after the image of Christ in knowledge, Colossians 310 and in righteousness and in holiness, Ephesians 424. So that's the promise. We will be like like Christ again. We got corrupted in the fall. We didn't entirely lose the image. We're still human, but we're sinful now. But Christ is the goal and that's what God is making us into right now. Yeah, that's a good answer. And I like that point of he's not talking to the angels because I think people have said that, Pete, well, you go back to Genesis one in the beginning, Elohim, which shows plurality three in one. And like like Ray said, so he was talking to the Godhead there. And and we are created in the image and the likeness of God. When you think about God being created in his image, maybe I'll move over to Pastor Glaze. What do you what's that mean when we're created in his image? Well, I think it means several things. You know, his intellectual image, you know, man's ability to reason, his social image, the fact that there is fellowship among the Trinity. But I believe that the main thing is talking about is his authoritative image. And we see that in Psalm eight, where it says that he made him a little lower than the angels that he might have. Let's see here. Now has made him that he may have dominion over the works of our hands and all that have put under his feet, all sheep and oxen, a beast of the earth, file of the air, fish of the sea and whatsoever passes through the sea. So, you know, we we were made in the image of God to have authority over over the creation. So I think that that's to me, that's first and foremost, the image of God is that that authority that we have. But then again, it's the mental image, the social, the emotional. You know, I think that it's reflected in those areas. All right. That's good. That's good. Jay, just real quickly, I think that when it's talking about that, too, I know I think we've talked about this before and it depends on if you believe you have a spirit and a soul or if they're one. I believe personally in the trichotomy of man, that man is a spirit, possesses a soul, mind, will, and emotion that lives in a body. So Genesis one, twenty six and let us make man in our image. God doesn't have a physical body, you know, so he's a spirit. So he created the spirit of the man, I believe, at that point. And then in Genesis two, I believe it is verse seven. He said he breathed into his nostrils. I believe what he created, he breathed into his nostrils, what he created because he formed man out of the dust of the ground in verse seven of chapter two, and then he said he breathed into his nostrils, that spirit being. And then man became a living soul. So that's why I believe also in its lowest form, that is how man is created in the image of God. And then as a result of that, all the attributes that you explained, I believe, come along with the creation of man as a result of that. So that's what I believe when it's talking about creating man in his image. That's why it looks like that. That's a good point. Any any other points on this? We're good. We're good. We all believe in the trinity and we all. Nobody's going to fail. All right. That's good. That's that's a good. The trinity is one of those more difficult to explain. But I like what you said, Ray. Here's one of those peaks in the Old Testament where we're seeing that. We're actually seeing the the the trinity, you know, at least a peek into the conversation among the Godhead. That is great. Well, we'd like to end the program with the scripture. And today we go to Proverbs where it says the highway of the upright is that apart from evil, who keeps his way, he who keeps his way, preserves his soul. Now, I'm going to take a ask you guys to give me a quick response on this. What do you think about this particular verse? Pastor Glace, I like that phrase, the highway of the upright, you know, just traveling up the king's highway. Amen. And then there's got to be a depart, a departure from evil. So as we that's on our part, God saves, sanctifies, does all that part. But we are to turn our back, you know, isn't that what repentance really means? Head in one direction, turn around, head in another direction. For me, well, 10 seconds of preservation in the highway, preservation in the highway. And we are to walk the road of righteousness and godliness. And you know, that's what this is talking about. We all sin, but the godly man walks that upright highway that this is what this is what it's like to be in the image of God, to to seek, to do things that are right. It's interesting how often they use a walk along a road. To describe our relationship with God. Well, we hope you enjoyed today's program and we want to hear from you. Email us your questions to hardquestionsatctvn.org or call into our hotline at 412-349-4326. God has got good and wonderful things for you in this volume. Study your Bible.