Examples of Atonement: valid and invalid

The following is an excerp from Chapter Two of my manuscript "Love One Another"

“And God said to Noah, ‘The end of all flesh is come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.’ ” (Genesis 6:13-14 KJV)

In verse 14, the first "pitch” is Kapher, in the Hebrew language. We saw it previously at the beginning of this chapter in preparation to discuss the concept of atonement. Kapher originally meant to cover. Over time it came to be used for appeasement, placate, or reconciliation; atonement. Here, in Genesis 6:14 the first “pitch” is cover. The second “pitch” is a little different in concept, leaning toward a price paid for atonement.

Kapher in Genesis 6:14 is specifically related to the material used to “cover”: Bitumen.

Kopher is the effect that kapher had. When God looked on the earth in its tempest of swirling, turbulent, unsettled water, the ark would be seen as having atoning qualities and God would not destroy it.

Nimrod’s Tower of Babel in Genesis 11 is a "migdalah", a Hebrew word that means rostrum, podium, or platform. (More commonly, you will see the word ziggurat is used instead of migdalah.) An odd definition for something that history has classified a “tower”. The Tower of Babel was in fact a tower, and its site thought to exist in Iraq.

"Migdalah" is used, possibly because its intent is of dual purpose. It is a podium because it was the center of attention in Babel. A platform because they believed that their God would step down from the sky descending and ascending its staircase as it visited its patrons.

Obviously, Nimrod had established a government center that also served as a place of worship.

“And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” (Genesis 11:4, KJV)

“City” is translated from the Hebrew word Iyr from its root uwr. Iyr is a city; a city that is guarded, maybe a mere encampment or base. Uwr has the idea of opening the eyes. It may be that the two ideas exist here, simultaneously and “city” may be a place that was built with the intent to open the eyes in a spiritual sense. I prefer this idea over others, given the fact that there was concern for being “scattered” (“scattered” may actually be considered as “spiritually lost”) and given consideration to other words in this passage, the idea shapes up well.

“Top” from Hebrew is Rosh bearing the idea of someone of authority; a captain, commander, chief – self-appointed, appointed, or elected. It may even be a priest.

The marquee in verse 11:4 is “name”. Why, because in the Hebrew language the word shem is translated to English as “name”. Shem is a proper name as in the son of Noah. It was this son Noah referred to when he prophesied, saying: “Blessed is the God of Shem”. Or, happy is the God of Shem. Why? Shem is an ancestor to Abram. It is out of Shem’s lineage that the Messiah would come.

To read more on the concept of Atonement, Click on this link to go to Chapter Two of "Love One Another" from which this excerp comes.