Shalt Thou
Ark = shalt thou
The word 'ark' first appears in:
Gen 6:14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.
and continues through the OT into the NT in various contexts with differences, making a final appearance in:
Rev 11:19 And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.
The phrase 'shalt thou ' and 'thou shalt' can be found associated with 'ark' from Gen 6:14 through to Jos 3:8. It doesn't occur in every instance and there are long sections where it doesn't appear at all, yet through Genesis - particularly in reference to Noah's ark - it appears regularly enough.
What is the meaning of 'shalt thou '?
Two verses stand out as defining the word 'ark':
Psa 132:8 Arise, O LORD, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thy strength.
Heb 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
The word 'prepared' and 'saving' find parallels in 1Pe.3:20 where we find the ark was a preparing wherein eight souls were saved. The 'ar' sound, interestingly, is found in ARise, feAR and hidden in wARned.
The construction of the ark came out of a warning from God, putting fear into Noah. The ark itself was to rise above the flood, saved souls are on a path of ascendancy arising out of the depths of corruption and sin. All this leads in my mind right back to this phrase, 'shalt thou '.
'Shalt thou' makes for a different twist to 'Thou shalt'. The latter appears as a command. The former parallels NT teaching. A sinner is saved by accepting Jesus Christ as their personal saviour. Without getting into issues of 'free will' and 'free agents' we can say simply, there is a choice: we choose to accept Christ or we deny Christ. Shalt thou build an ark to save your soul? Shalt thou follow Noah into his ark and save your soul? Shalt thou accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour and save your soul? Shalt thou? It is not a given certainty though you are wARned, the flood will come, everything will die. Yet, shalt thou be within or without the ark?
There is another clue in
Gen 6:18 : But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark,
The Lord has established his covenant with Noah, therefore: 'thou shalt come into the ark'. It isn't just a commandment from above, from a higher authority, but it is an established fact FIAT: thou shalt.
I sense these notes barely scratch the surface of what is most probably a very deep and meaningful phrase. Until I began this writing it never occurred to me just how far the Genesis story of the ark prepares the way for the entire New Testament teaching. In The Work, we can understand through aims and efforts that we are constructing an ark to carry us above and out of the darkness of this world, Absolute III, but previously I never saw any of the things I am now sensing in relation to the meaning of the ark. Of course, the ark is Christ.
The word 'ark' first appears in:
Gen 6:14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.
and continues through the OT into the NT in various contexts with differences, making a final appearance in:
Rev 11:19 And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.
The phrase 'shalt thou ' and 'thou shalt' can be found associated with 'ark' from Gen 6:14 through to Jos 3:8. It doesn't occur in every instance and there are long sections where it doesn't appear at all, yet through Genesis - particularly in reference to Noah's ark - it appears regularly enough.
What is the meaning of 'shalt thou '?
Two verses stand out as defining the word 'ark':
Psa 132:8 Arise, O LORD, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thy strength.
Heb 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
The word 'prepared' and 'saving' find parallels in 1Pe.3:20 where we find the ark was a preparing wherein eight souls were saved. The 'ar' sound, interestingly, is found in ARise, feAR and hidden in wARned.
The construction of the ark came out of a warning from God, putting fear into Noah. The ark itself was to rise above the flood, saved souls are on a path of ascendancy arising out of the depths of corruption and sin. All this leads in my mind right back to this phrase, 'shalt thou '.
'Shalt thou' makes for a different twist to 'Thou shalt'. The latter appears as a command. The former parallels NT teaching. A sinner is saved by accepting Jesus Christ as their personal saviour. Without getting into issues of 'free will' and 'free agents' we can say simply, there is a choice: we choose to accept Christ or we deny Christ. Shalt thou build an ark to save your soul? Shalt thou follow Noah into his ark and save your soul? Shalt thou accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour and save your soul? Shalt thou? It is not a given certainty though you are wARned, the flood will come, everything will die. Yet, shalt thou be within or without the ark?
There is another clue in
Gen 6:18 : But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark,
The Lord has established his covenant with Noah, therefore: 'thou shalt come into the ark'. It isn't just a commandment from above, from a higher authority, but it is an established fact FIAT: thou shalt.
I sense these notes barely scratch the surface of what is most probably a very deep and meaningful phrase. Until I began this writing it never occurred to me just how far the Genesis story of the ark prepares the way for the entire New Testament teaching. In The Work, we can understand through aims and efforts that we are constructing an ark to carry us above and out of the darkness of this world, Absolute III, but previously I never saw any of the things I am now sensing in relation to the meaning of the ark. Of course, the ark is Christ.
posted by + at 00:02
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