The following is written by my friend Dr. Frank Leeds.

It is written in Paul’s letter to the Romans: “Who knows the mind of our God, and who can give council to Him?”

The intent of this article is not to give council to God, but to take council from God.  I have read the stories of both Noah and Abraham on many occasions, but it was just recently that I noticed something that I thought was significant and wanted to share it.

In comparing these two old, Hebrew Scripture characters, it is not my goal to pit one of them against the other.  We all know that we have been created differently with various personalities.  I also know that in reality we do measure one person against another.  “Why are you not just like me?”  “Why can’t you see things my way?”  Ten people can look at the same data and make ten different conclusions. 

We recently went through this with Covid.  “Follow the science!”  It sounds easy, but all scientists do not agree.  No one escapes having their own mind set and we all bring to data our life experiences from which we make our judgements.  

If you happen to live on the top branch of a tree, your view of life is a little different than those living on the bottom branches. 

So, I am not asking you, the reader, to value one of these two gentleman above the other, but I am asking you to clearly see their differences.  Perhaps you are like me…. maybe not…. but I am one who happens to work my hardest while I am sleeping.  I have these “Ah Ha” moments in the middle of the night and my mind makes connections that I never noticed while I was awake.  This is about one of those times.

So, I want to look at two people.  The first is Noah.  Many know of Noah and the ark that he built to withstand the coming flood.  The second person is Abraham.  He may be less known, but he is the Father of Judaism, the seed from which the family of grace has grown.  Many stories could be told about him, but I have selected merely one.  The psychologist in me points to the inter-core of his being; or so I think.

Here is a glimpse of both of these titans. 

NOAH:

Found in the Hebrew Scriptures in Genesis 6 through Genesis 9.

The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.  The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth and his heart was filled with pain.  So the Lord said, “I will wipe mankind, who I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground and birds of the air for I am grieved that I have made them.”  But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord…

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

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.  So make yourself an ark of cypress wood, make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.  This is how you are to build it…

And the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in the generation.  Take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, and two of every kind of unclean animal…

AND NOAH DID ALL THAT THE LORD COMMANDED HIM.

You probably know the rest of the story.  There is a flood, there is great destruction, but Noah and his family are saved from this disaster.  There is also a covenant that is made with Noah, namely;

As long as the earth endures,

seedtime and harvest,

cold and heat,

summer and winter,

day and night

will never cease.

And the reason for the covenant is this:  For in the image of God has God made man.  It is not my intent to get off on a bunny trail here, but it needs to be noted that this is NOT a repeat of Genesis 1.  The “image of God” in Genesis 1 is about God.  The “image of God” here in chapter 9:6 is about you.  YOU were made in the image of God.

The take away which I offer you is simply this:  Noah’s basic response was “Yes Lord”, and Noah did what the Lord commanded and is declared to be ‘righteous’.  He is a good man.  He did what was required and we could all learn from him and do likewise as we live our lives and make discoveries as to what is required and asked of us.  The ‘calling of the Lord’ takes various forms and may we all be found righteous as we act on those callings. 

Now, let us look at Abraham.

ABRAHAM:

Found in the Hebrew Scriptures Genesis 12 through Genesis 20.

The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you. will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curse you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

“And so,  Abraham left, as the Lord had told him; …and was 75 years old when he left his people taking with him his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all of the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran and they set out for the land of Canaan….and the Lord said to Abraham, to your offspring I will give this land.”

There then follows a story of Abraham going to Egypt because there was a famine in his land. Because he has such a beautiful wife, he is worried that he would be killed, and she would be taken.  He tells her to say that she is his ‘sister’ rather than ‘wife’ so that things would go better for him.  Sounds like he prostituted his wife for his own benefit.  I am not sure how that stands up to being ‘righteous’ but he was in a situation that was a catch 22.

There are a few more chapters about Abraham that I will skip and go to chapter 18 where there is a similar situation with our story about Noah. 

In this story, the Lord is about to destroy the significant cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.  It is not the same as destroying the world as He did with Noah, but there are similarities.  

“While Abraham was walking toward Sodom, the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?”  Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.

“Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me.”

Abraham argues [No Way Lord!  You cannot do that.]   Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?  What if there are fifty righteous people in the city?  Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the fifty righteous people in it.  Far be it from you to do such a thing! — to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike.  Far be it from you!  WILL NOT THE JUDGE OF ALL THE EARTH DO RIGHT?!!!

Are you able to feel Abraham’s intensity in his response?

What follows is a negotiation…something that I do not see elsewhere in the scriptures.

• Lord: If I find 50 righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.

• Abraham: Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord though I am nothing but dust and ashes, what if the number of the righteous is five less the fifty:  Will you destroy the whole city because of five people?

• Lord: If I find 45 there, I will not destroy it.

• Abraham: What if only 40 are found?

• Lord: For the sake of 40 I will not do it.

• Abraham:  What if only 30 can be found?

• Lord:  I will not do it if I can find 30

• Abraham:  Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found?

• Lord:  For the sake of 20 I will not destroy it.

• Abraham:  May the Lord not be angry but let me speak just once more.  What if only ten can be found there?

• Lord:  For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.

So, as the story goes on, the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed.

How God Uses Our Personalities

As mentioned in the beginning, my intent is not to pit one personality against another but to see how our personalities are used for different functions.  Each of us has different ‘gifts and graces’ and are called upon to use those. For example:

How would you describe Noah’s response to learning that the earth was to be destroyed?

How does Abraham’s response differ from that of Noah’s when it comes to the destruction?

Which of the two personality types is most related to yourself?  Are you more like Noah or Abraham?

If you had to choose a leader of people who were going to teach the world how to live, which personality type would you choose?

Final question:  How would you answer Abraham’s question:  SHALL NOT THE JUDGE OF ALL THE EARTH DO RIGHT?

If you were to answer “no”, what are the implications of your answer?

If you were to answer “yes”, what are the implications of your answer?

This article was written by Dr. Frank Leeds. He also wrote a fascinating article which tells us what transpired between the Old Testament and the New Testament and set the stage for Christ’s arrival. You will be amazed and delighted by God’s timing.

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