Genesis 6: 1 – 22
Weird stuff is happening
6 Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 2 that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. 3 And the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” 4 There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. 5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 So the LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. 9 This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 13 And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 14 Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. 15 And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. 16 You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. 17 And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die. 18 But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. 19 And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. 20 Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. 21 And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them.” 22 Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.
As I begin to prepare for this study, I was thinking of the time right after the Lord Jesus opened my eyes and my heart. I was advised in being a new believer ato just start reading from the beginning of my Bible. Chapter 1 was wonderful to learn about our Creator’s work. Then in exploring chapter 2 I was moved to see my Holy God saved His last Supreme Genius Act in making us – male and female.
Moving on to chapter 3 strange things started. I was okay in understanding our Holy Lord’s daily steps in His Creative activity. I could see how one thing led to another. He formed the earth and began to place in it things to fill its land, oceans and sky. In chapter 3 I learned that our Holy Master put in a beautiful garden filling it with birds and animals that were all peaceful with each other. Finally He put in it the man and the woman.
Now for me things began to get weird. I was aware of all kinds and animals were placed in the garden but not reptiles. I start reading about a snake begins to have a conversation with the woman. How did this thing get into a perfect paradise? I do not see any indication that the woman was scarred or even startled about a snake talking to her. The snake begins to question the woman as to God’s commandments. In a short time the woman buys the snakes sales pitch that our Holy Creator was holding out on the man and woman by denying them the right to eat of the tree of Good and Evil. Succumbing to the temptation the woman eats of the fruit of the forbidden tree and then gives it to the man to eat. The result of this act gets them kicked out of the Garden and now they have to go and live in a cursed earth.
Just two sons into populating the earth we read in chapter 4 how the first son kills his brother. In the rest of chapter 4 through chapter 5 we read about the Lord’s Long Suffering character with more people getting born and living to pretty old ages.
Moving into chapter 6 I read about some really weird stuff going on. I read about ‘sons of God’ having children with the women who wind up being ‘Giants’ [not the football or baseball teams]. All this makes the Lord regret that He even made all these creative things. So He begins to start over using a righteous couple.
If you have been studying the book of Genesis with us then all my prior confusion as a new believer in God’s Word has developed into solid gold understanding. Chapter 6 also reveals some amazing truths that I hope you enjoy and appreciate as much as I love His teachings. Shall we begin?
6 Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them,
This is the connecting link with chapter 5. It assumes a gradual growth in the human race, and thus connects back directly to the descriptions of the growth of mankind there, and especially to the references to daughters.
2 that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.
It is easy to get thrown us upon a first time reading. But after some consideration you need to stop and think what is our Precious Holy Spirit revealing to us by His statement of the words – ‘that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.’
In the Old Testament the term the ‘sons of God’ (bene ha-elohim) always refers to heavenly beings. I know this is wordy in listing the various scriptures which list them but I want to emphasize the use of all these verses to see that this description is not just a onetime shot. (Job 1.6, 38.7; Psalm 29.1; 89.7; Daniel 3.25; Deuteronomy 32.8; also Jude 6-7, 1 Peter 3:19-20, and 2 Peter 2:4-6).
So who then are the ‘Sons of God’?
Some biblical scholars claim that they are the result of the merging of the ungodly Cainites with the Godly Sethites
The ‘sons of God’ are generally said by those who hold this view to be the godly men of the Sethite line, the son born to Adam and Eve after Able was killed. The ‘daughters of men’ are thought to be the daughters of the ungodly Cainites, descendents of the murderer Cain. The Nephilim or Giants are the ungodly and violent men who are the product of this unholy union.
I do not agree with this theory because when you come to chapter 7 on Noah and his family survives the flood. There were a lot of descendents of Seth who perished in the flood and therefore were all not walking a godly life. Nowhere in the bible are the Sethites called the ‘the sons of God.’
Recognizing the deficiencies of the first view, some scholars have sought to define the expression ‘the sons of God’ by comparing it with the languages of the Ancient Near East. It is interesting to learn that some rulers were identified as the son of a particular god. In Egypt, for example, the king was called the son of Re.
These ambitious despots lusted after power and wealth and desired to become ‘men of a name’ that is, they wanted to be somebody more important than the common person.
The 3rd view which I adhere to is that these sons of God are ‘Fallen Angels’. Let me point out some scriptures which back this position;
“Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, Satan also came among them” (Job 1:6).
“Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came among them to present himself before the Lord” (Job 2:1).
“When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” (Job 38:7, cf. Psalm 89:6; Daniel 3:25).
Something we need to remember is that these angels do not walk around with wings nor did they lose them somehow after their fall into following Satan’s rebellion. Angels have the ability to manifest themselves as you and me. It says in scripture that we sometimes are unaware that they in fact interact with us [ Hebrews 13: 2]. In addition in scripture it does not indicate that any angel is a female. Also, which I think needs a lot of reflection is that angels are not sexless.
Even with acknowledgement of this view many scholars then veer off on a different tangent. For example, they say that the angels married women. I do not agree. The scriptures say that they ‘took wives’ these fallen angels who watched women desired them. So, they just came and ‘took; men’s wives whoever and whenever they wanted and man could not do anything to stop them from doing so.
For those angels who did this our Lord Jesus’ half brother Jude reports, “And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day.
God has made a promise in chapter 3 verse 15 that He will deal with Satan and all those who rebelled with him. “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” It is also apparent that Genesis 6 describes a desperate attempt on the part of Satan to attack the godly remnant that is named in chapter 5. So long as a righteous seed is preserved, God’s promise of salvation hangs over the head of Satan, threatening his impending doom. Third, it underscored the importance of maintaining their racial and spiritual purity. God’s remnant of true believers must be preserved. When men failed to perceive the importance of this, God had to judge them severely. As the nation entered the land of Canaan, few lessons could be more vital than that of the need for separation.
3 And the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”
Our Lord God now makes a decree that He is going to deal directly with this all out attack by Satan and his followers and will destroy the earth with its mixture to taint His creation of mankind in 120 years.
The Bible describes many individuals as giants, and it also mentions several giant people groups. Interpreters have speculated about the size of these people with guesses ranging anywhere from 9 feet to more than 30 feet in height.
The earliest mention in Scripture of giants is just prior to the Flood account and is listed here in this chapter. The word translated as “giants” in this verse is the Hebrew word ‘Nephilim’, and many Bible versions simply transliterate it as such. There has been much debate over the meaning of this word.
The nephilim were mentioned again when the spies returned from their exploratory mission of the land of Canaan. These men reported that Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai (descendants of Anak, progenitor of the Anakim) dwelt in Hebron. They also stated, “the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there” (Numbers 13:28). The chapter concludes with ten of the spies giving “a bad report” trying to convince the Israelites that they could not conquer the land:
‘The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight” (Numbers 13:32—33, NASB)’. You can see then that these spies were not just over stating the size of the giants.
5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
In the past men have murdered their kinsmen, and others, and have been spared, revealing God’ compassion and mercy. Thus something particularly awful was required to bring about what was to happen. These humans are judged to have become totally caught up in evil, and that includes the surviving sons and daughters of Lamech. The description is very emphatic - Every imagination of the thought of the heart continually evil’. This is not just man sinning; it is a great deal more than that. There is no goodness, no compassion, no altruism, no thoughtfulness, no unselfishness, and no genuine love, nothing that makes life wholesome.
6 And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
This verse is a way of demonstrating God’s regret at the situation. It is because man has altered the situation that it arises. It is not that God is changing His mind because He thinks He has made a mistake. The change of mind comes because man has drastically changed, and He is grieved by it. He would have wished for anything but this. But having given man the freedom to sin the consequences have to be dealt with.
7 So the LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.”
So God determines to blot out all who have been infected by this evil.
8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. 9 This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
The name Noah is mentioned three times, with three different affirmations about him, which declared his righteousness, his walk with God and his fruitfulness in having ‘three’ sons, a ‘complete’ family. The threefold statement bring out the ‘perfection’ of Noah. To the ancient reader something threefold conveys a positive idea of completeness, and in a short space the verses define Noah as complete in every way.
The statements about Noah stress his godliness, in contrast with the ungodliness of his world (v.11). They are in three stages, a statement about him - he was righteous - a statement of contrast with his contemporaries - he was blameless in contrast with them - and a statement of his relationship with God - Noah walked with God (compare Enoch - 5.22).
‘Righteous’ in this context probably means ‘right with God’ because of his faithfulness to God’s covenants and promises.. ‘Blameless’ means that he refused to enter into the excesses of his contemporaries, as outlined earlier and mentioned in verses 11-12. ‘Walked with God’ goes even deeper and stresses his unique relationship with God. He knows God in the deepest sense as an honored friend and guide, as well as creator and judge.
The previous man who walked with God, Enoch, was taken out of the earth because he was too pure for it (5.22). Now God will take another line. He will leave Noah and remove the evil world.
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
This would appear to be a direct result of 6.1-4 and clearly involved ‘the mighty men and men of renowned’, who were not so much ‘heroes’ as terrorists and tyrants. What had happened has distorted man’s whole being. His behavior has become corrupt. The word for ‘violence’ denotes an oppression which is arbitrary by nature. Men no longer just defend themselves, violence has gone to excess. Wanton murder has become a normal way in life. This is the final stage of man’s descent. First Cain, then Lamech, and now the whole ‘earth’ (or land). It is unrestrained and widespread.
12 So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.
This is not just repetition of verse 11. While there is certain repetitiveness typical of scripture, it adds the fact that, not only was the earth or land corrupt, but that God was making Himself fully aware of the reality of the situation. ‘God, the Creator and Judge, saw’ it, and saw that it affected ‘all flesh’, and that none, apart from Noah and his family, were exempt. And seeing it He came to the ultimate decision. It could not be allowed to go on any longer.
13 And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
The Creator and Judge now communicate His decision to the one who walks with Him. He will destroy these men of extreme and uncontrollable violence and begin again.
Sadly due to man’s filth the decree also includes the animal world. By his violence man has shown himself as bestial in his behavior. He who had been appointed to control the ravages of the animal world has now shown himself to be one with them. He is but flesh. This confirms God’s description of man in 6.2.
14 Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. 15 And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. 16 You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.
The ark was well designed. It was made of timbers and pitch, possibly mingled with reeds. The slit around the top of about one cubit (eighteen inches, half a meter) upwards, which could of course be covered when necessary, enables a view outside when required, keeps the ark safe from too much water entering in the cataclysm to follow, and yet means that no one need see outside while the deluge is going on.
An opening in the side was necessary for entry, and would require special sealing. Thus we are told in 7.16 that ‘YHWH shut them in’. How this was done we are not told, but it stresses that God ensured that the ark was secure. Whether it had ‘rooms’ and ‘three stores’, or whether it was made with ‘reeds’ and ‘three layers’ (of logs), is open to question (either translation is possible). Either way the three again represents completeness.
17 And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die.
God Almighty outlines the method He will use to destroy the sinful world in which Noah lived, a ‘cataclysmic flood of waters’ for the purpose of blotting everything out, and especially man. And He emphasizes that it would be His work, and His alone - ‘I, behold I’, which is emphatic. It is difficult for us to understand the depths to which mankind must have sunk. The words express totality of destruction.
18 But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.
We are reminded again that this terrible disaster is to be the beginning of a new relationship between man and God. A covenant will be established which will be permanent for mankind, and this account is the background to it.
Only eight people are to be saved from the flood. They are those who have kept themselves pure from spiritual pollution and excessive violence, in readiness for the reception of the new covenant. But many of Noah’s brothers and sisters will die in the flood along with the rest of mankind, for presumably they too have fallen prey to these evils.
19 And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. 20 Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. 21 And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them.”
Two of ‘every living thing of all flesh’, male and female, were to be taken into the ark, of birds, animals and creeping things ‘according to their kinds’.
22 Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.
How much can be said in a small sentence. This verse covers a considerable number of years and includes the planning and building of the ark, the laying in of food and water, and all the preparations for what lay ahead, including the gathering of the living creatures that were to enter the ark, which must certainly have stretched his ingenuity somewhat. But the stress is on the fact that Noah obeyed God. This fact is stressed again and again. He proved himself righteous.
While he was no doubt discreet about how he went about it, such work could not have gone on totally unnoticed, and he was no doubt at first faced with much questioning and derision, and possibly antagonism, but later he was probably written off as a harmless crank not worthy of notice. Perhaps this was why he was left alone by the men of violence. However, he persevered because God had told him to do so, until at last the work was done. He proved himself worthy.
