Genesis 6 - A Flood's a Comin'

Previously in Genesis 5, we discussed the generations listed from Adam to Noah. We see how long men lived before the flood, and as a result how easily oral history and tradition would have been passed down due to the significant overlap in each generation. We also see that the Lord has given us the Gospel Message in the meaning of the names of the 10 men listed. In chapter 6 we will see how the Lord will choose one man and his family to be spared from the world-wide judgment that He would bring due to the wickedness of man.

It states that when men began to multiply upon the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God took the daughters of men for wives. There has been a lot of debate over the years amongst Christians as to what this passage is referring to, but the two most common theories seem to be the Sethite theory and the fallen angel theory. Under the Sethite theory, the godly sons of Seth married the daughters of Cain who had been cut off from the presence of the Lord. There are some problems with this theory however.  In the Old Testament godly men are never referred to as “sons of God”, and the “daughters of men” are not strictly referring to the lineage of Cain. These daughters were of the descendants of Adam, which included that of Seth and Cain. Another problem with the Sethite theory is that the offspring of these marriages (Nephilim) were around after the flood.  We see reference to them when the children of Israel were spying out the promised land in Numbers 13:33. Any part of Cain’s lineage would have been wiped out by the flood. A slight variation of the Sethite view states that they were merely godly men who married ungodly women, and their offspring were the Nephilim since the word Nephilim relates to the verb series “to fall.” This eliminates the problem with the descendants of Cain not being around after the flood, but it does not explain why their offspring were giants and men of renown, nor why God chose such a harsh judgment as the world-wide flood to wipe them out.

The fallen angel theory states that fallen angels married women and produced offspring that were giants. The Genesis account states, “There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.” The term “sons of God” in the Old Testament is consistently used to refer to angels. We see this in Job 1:6, 2:1, and 38:7. We also see reference to this in the New Testament: Peter writes, “For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly.” (2 Peter 2:4-5) Jude also alludes to this: “And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.” (Jude 1:6) Notice how Peter connects the fall of these angels with the flood of Noah, and how they have since been bound in chains of darkness until the Day of Judgment. Obviously not all of the fallen angels are bound, for the devil is still at work in the world today. However, these angels in particular have been bound for this specific sin. The passage in Jude referring to them leaving their habitation is referring to them leaving their heavenly bodies. As bazaar as it seems, a literal and straight-forward reading of the texts seem to lend more credibility to the fallen angel theory. It also makes sense that Satan would try to corrupt the seed of the woman through which God told Eve the Messiah would eventually come. I am personally convinced all the supposed UFO sightings and people’s experiences with aliens (some of them sexual in nature) are actually demonic encounters. Also, if you have studied witchcraft and the occult, sexual experiences with demonic beings are unfortunately a part of what takes place. This corruption in the gene-pool is one of the reasons the Lord decided to bring judgment on the entire world. Again, these are only theories, and are not something we can be dogmatic on.

Because of this the Lord stated that his Spirit will not always strive with man, for he is flesh. If we remember from Genesis 3, the Lord would not allow man to live forever in his fallen state, but he was allowed to live for hundreds (almost 1,000) years. Now the Lord is saying that because of man’s depravity, his life would be drastically shortened to one hundred twenty years. Interestingly, that is about the maximum life-span of man today: The oldest person recorded in modern history was a French woman who lived to be one hundred twenty-two (see here). The average life-expectancy of man is 70-80 years just as Moses wrote in Psalm 90:10. At this point it was so bad the Scriptures state that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, and that the earth was filled with violence. From the time of the first recorded murder of Abel by his brother Cain, the earth had deteriorated into a perpetual state of corruption and violence. Man was so corrupt that he was beyond repair. It states that the Lord repented that He had made man and He was grieved in His heart. Now we know that the Lord didn’t all of a sudden decide He had made a mistake, but the Lord was grieved at what man had done. They had gone from perfection in the Garden of Eden to apparently being incapable of or unwilling to even thinking anything good. As bad as this sounds it would seem as if there was no hope, but the Lord always saves a remnant.

It states that Noah found grace (favor) in the eyes of the Lord, and this is the first time grace appears in the Bible. I think it is interesting that the first time grace is mentioned it is in connection with a man that would be spared from God’s world-wide judgment. There will be another world-wide judgment coming, and the only way to escape it will be by grace. The Genesis account goes on to say that Noah was just and perfect in his generation. The word just means to be lawful or righteous, and ultimately is made possible by God who justifies the ungodly. His faith and reverence toward God moved him to obedience. He believed God and prepared an ark, though a flood of this magnitude had not yet been seen. If we recall from chapter 2, it had not rained on the earth yet. The author of Hebrews writes, “By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.” (Heb 11:7) He was perfect, not in the sense that he never sinned, but in that his life was not marked by major character flaws. As we will find out in a few chapters, he will make a big mistake, but his life was not characterized by walking in sin. Noah had integrity. He did not conform to the culture around him, but went against it as he sought to obey the Lord. He was also a preacher of righteousness, who sought to warn men of the judgment to come 2 Peter 2:5). Noah also had three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, and as we see later in the chapter, Noah and his wife and his sons and their wives would be the only persons spared.

Because of the corruption and violence on the earth, the Lord then tells Noah that He is going to destroy all flesh with the earth, and that he should build an ark of gofer wood. He was to make it with rooms (compartments), and to cover it inside and out with pitch (a petroleum product in the middle-east). This would have water-proofed the wood and preserved it for a long time.

Next, He gives Noah the dimensions of the ark. A cubit is an ancient measure that was the distance between the elbow and the longest finger, and the Hebrew cubit ranged from 17.5 inches to 20.4 inches. Using the longer measure the ark would have been approximately 510 feet long, 85 feet wide, and 51 feet tall. It had three large inner decks, a door and a window, and the same storage capacity as up to 450-500 standard semi-trailers or 522 cattle cars on a train. The word for ark is a box, so this was more like a barge than a boat. Whatever the case, it was large for its time, and, in fact, a bigger boat was not built until 1858. In other words, Noah was way ahead of his time here. It was six times longer than it was wide, which we have since discovered is the optimal ratio of length to width for ships. It strikes a balance in the conflicting requirements for stability, comfort, and strength. The force of the ark’s weight pushing downward and its buoyancy pushing upwards form what is called a righting couple. This means that the ark could tilt 90 degrees, and still right itself. It was virtually uncapsizable.

This could have easily fit each kind (family level in taxonomy) of pairs of land animals as God had directed him, since the estimated number of living and extinct kinds of land animals is around 1,400. He was later told to bring one pair of unclean animals and seven pairs of clean animals aboard the ark. At most Noah would have approximately 7,000-8,000 animals that he cared for. It also would have fit all the food necessary to sustain Noah and his family along with all these animals.

Critics of the Bible like to point out that a young-earth view is inconsistent with science, because dinosaurs could not have fit aboard the ark. However, they could have been taken when much smaller, but still had reached reproductive age. Going back to Genesis 1, God created all animal life on days five and six of creation, so we have no reason to believe dinosaurs were on the earth millions of years ago. Furthermore, archeological evidence shows human and dinosaur footprints in the same rock layers (see here).

If you are like me, I like it when history and archeological evidence back up the claims of the Bible. Interestingly enough, there is both historical and archeological evidence for the ark. David Guzek notes the following in his commentary on Genesis: “In 275 B.C., Berosus, a Babylonian historian, wrote: ‘But of this ship that grounded in Armenia some part still remains in the mountains…and some get pitch from the ship by scraping it off.’” “Around A.D. 75, Josephus said the locals collected relics from the ark and showed them off to this very day. He also said all the ancient historians he knew of wrote about the ark.” Lastly, “In the early part of this century (1917), a Russian aviator named Vladimire Rokovitsky claimed the discovery of Noah’s ark. He was stationed in southern Russia near the Turkish border and Mount Ararat. As he tested a plane he and his co-pilot flew over Ararat and discovered on the edge of a glacier what he described as a boat the size of a battleship. He said it was partially submerged in a lake, and he could see there was an opening for a door nearly 20 feet (7 meters) square, but the door was missing. Rokovitsky told his commanding officer, and an expedition was dispatched to find the ark and to photograph it. The report was forwarded to the Czar, who was soon overthrown, and the photos and the report vanished.” This happened during the Bolshevik Revolution, and the Russian pilot later came to Canada to tell his story.

Next the Lord describes the type of judgment He would bring on the earth. He stated He would bring a flood of waters, and that it would destroy every living thing that had the breath of life. This meant that man and every land animal would perish. However, the Lord said He would establish His covenant with Noah. He and his family and the male and female of each kind of land animals were to go into the ark. The Lord told him the animals would come to him into the ark, so this was a super-natural migration instigated by the Lord.

Lastly, the Scriptures state that Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him. You see, Noah was a man of faith, but as we have previously discussed, true faith produces obedience.

In what ways are we like Noah? Are we a person of faith who trusts God and does all that He says regardless of whether it makes sense or is popular to those around us? Are we just and perfect in our generation as he was? Are we a preacher of righteousness? Take courage from Noah who believed God and was justified by his faith.  Don’t be afraid to go against the culture that is living contrary to the Word of God, but purpose in your heart to live a life of integrity, even if no one listens to you or mocks you for standing for the Lord. The corruption and violence taking place in Noah’s day are happening today. This is the indicator we are in the last times. Jesus stated, “But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.  For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the Ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” (Matthew 24:37-39)

God warned Noah of His judgment of a world-wide flood, but the New Testament warns us of another world-wide judgment of fire. Peter writes, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.  Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent Heat?  Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” (2 Peter 3:10-13) As we can see, this judgment is on the entire universe, but the result will be the same, no one will escape outside of Jesus Christ. This is why it is important to be a preacher of righteousness as Noah was, and warn people to flee the wrath to come through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. In this chapter we see how the Lord warned Noah of the coming flood and told him to build an ark to save him, his family, and the land animals. In the next chapter we will see the Lord bring the flood just as He had said.

 

 

Additional Links

 

Mischievous Angels or Sethites?

 

You Won’t Believe How Big Noah’s Ark Really Was!

 

Were Dinosaurs on Noah’s Ark?

 

The Survival of Noah's Ark

 

Genesis 5 - The Gospel in a Genealogy

Last time in Genesis 4, we saw the result of Cain attempting to come to God on his own terms rather than the way the Lord had prescribed. The Lord accepted his brother’s offering but not his, and as a result Cain became angry and depressed, and eventually murdered his brother Abel out of envy and hatred. Rather than taking responsibility for his actions, Cain lied and made excuses. This resulted in him being cursed from the earth, and separated from the presence of the Lord. It was a tragic end to an already sad story that could have turned out differently if Cain would have humbled himself before the Lord and repented. Adam and Eve had a son after Abel’s death whom they named Seth. The name Seth means appointed, and from the text we can see that they believed through his seed would come the bruising of the serpent’s head. “…For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. In the days of Seth’s son, Enos, Enos called on the name of the Lord. However, in spite of the string of violence started by Cain, the Lord preserved a godly seed for Himself through Enos and his descendants. In this study we will look at Genesis chapter 5.

In chapter 5, we see the recording of the genealogies beginning with Adam and Eve, and going all the way through Noah. When we get to sections in the Bible that are recording genealogies, the temptation is to skip over them, thinking them less important and somewhat boring. To the diligent student however, in this case, we will make some fascinating discoveries.

We are told this is the book of the genealogy of Adam, and many scholars believe this is the end of Adam’s account that started back in chapter 2. Adam and Eve were created in God’s likeness as we discussed previously, and they were without sin. After the Fall, their children were born in their likeness, inheriting their parents’ fallen nature that affected everything, even down to their DNA.

We don’t know how old Adam and Eve were when they had Cain and Abel, but Adam was 130 when they had Seth. Adam lived another 800 years after the birth of Seth, and then he died. In this time, he had other sons and daughters. There are those who like to read into the text that Adam could have lived a long time (thousands of years) before the Fall, but the text itself does not indicate so. The same language is used to describe Adam’s age at the time of Seth’s birth, as well as the age that he died,  as it does for his descendants. For a few reasons, it is reasonable to assume Adam and Eve were in the garden a relatively short time before the Fall, for which you can read here. As I mentioned in an earlier study, people often attempt to insert large time gaps into the text in order to reconcile the Bible with modern Science, but this is a mistake. The best thing we can do is simply take the Scriptures at face value, and conform our scientific understanding to them.

One question that often comes up is where did Adam’s sons and descendants get their wives. The only plausible answer is that the text tells us Adam had daughters, and so it is reasonable to presume they married their sisters or close relatives. At this point, there would have been a lot purer gene pool, so the genetic problems that often arise f    rom inbreeding would not have been present. Later, God would forbid close inner marriages.

We are not told a lot about the other descendants with the exception of Enoch. When Enoch was 65, he begot Methuselah. Methuselah means, “when he is dead, it shall come” (a reference to the world-wide flood). We know from Jude that Enoch was a prophet, and it is thought that Enoch had special revelation from God that judgment was coming and named his son accordingly. This seemed to have a profound effect on Enoch, because after Methuselah was born, Enoch walked with God 300 years, and then he was not, because God took him. The author of Hebrews writes, “By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, ‘and was not found, because God had taken him’; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” (Heb 11:5) Enoch had such a close walk with the Lord that the Lord took him from planet Earth without seeing death. So too, God has spared us from His coming judgment on this world, and we should want to walk with Him as Enoch did. If we walk with Him, we too will be removed from this coming judgment unless the Lord allows us to go via the grave first. Many, including myself, believe this taking to be the rapture, an event in which God miraculously removes the Church from planet Earth before He pours out His wrath on this Christ rejecting sinful world.

The last man in the line-up is Noah. His name means rest or comfort, and his father, Lamech, believed he would comfort them concerning the work and toil of their hands because of the ground that the Lord had cursed. We are told he was 500 years old when he had or began having his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. It would be through Noah and his sons that the Lord would repopulate the earth after the Flood.

There are a couple of things worth pointing out here. First, is the length of life these men had before the flood.  They lived hundreds of years, with the oldest being Methuselah who lived 969 years. In a previous study, we talked about a vaporous water canopy shielding the earth from many of the sun’s harmful rays that has been thought to have slowed down the aging process significantly, but in my study several years ago I was disappointed to learn that many creation scientists have abandoned the canopy theory. One of the reasons for this is that the waters above the heavens mentioned in Genesis 1 are still mentioned in Psalm 148:4, which was written in a post-flood era. If this is correct, then those waters did not actually surround Earth’s atmosphere and did not disappear after the Flood.  Consequently, they cannot be attributed to the longevity of man prior to it.

The best alternate theory I have encountered is that prior to the Flood, the atmospheric pressure may have been 1.5/2 times greater than today, and due to the catastrophic events that transpired during the flood, some of the gases were pushed upwards and pulled away from Earth’s gravitational pull by solar winds (hopefully more on this in a later study). This greater atmospheric pressure would have done a couple of things: first, the increased atmospheric pressure would have allowed more oxygen to enter the bloodstream. We see the results of this today in hyperbaric oxygen therapy. A person is placed in a pressurized chamber, and the air pressure is increased one to two times that of normal sea level atmospheric pressure. This is thought to accelerate wound healing, promote tissue repair, and positively affect metabolic rates and the performance of the hormonal systems. Another possible benefit of this increased atmospheric pressure prior to the Flood is that it would have blocked much of the harmful solar radiation that is attributed to aging. Whatever the cause, antediluvian man lived much longer than man does today, and his life decreased exponentially after the Flood.

As a result of mankind living much longer, there was a large overlap of generations. There were 10 generations from Adam to Noah, and Adam living 930 years would have still been alive when Lamech was born. Lamech, the father of Noah, would have been approximately 56 when Adam died. The Flood happened 726 years after Adam’s death (approximately 2348 BC). Since written letters did not come until later, history and traditions would have been passed down orally. This significant overlap in generations meant that oral tradition would have been easily passed down from one generation to the next, and as a result the story of creation, the fall of man, and God’s promise of redemption would have been easily preserved.

The second thing I would like to point out is that there appears to be a message in the names of these 10 men listed. The names along with their meaning in English are as follows:

Hebrew	English
Adam	Man
Seth	Appointed
Enosh	Mortal
Kenan	Sorrow
Mahalalel	The Blessed God
Jared	Shall come down
Enoch	Teaching
Methuselah	His death shall bring
Lamech	The Despairing
Noah	Rest, or comfort

 

When put altogether, it reads: Man (is) appointed mortal sorrow; (but) the Blessed God shall come down teaching (that) His death shall bring (the) despairing rest.

So, there you have it, the Gospel message hidden in the genealogies of Genesis 5. This is the kind of stuff you don’t just make up, folks! The Lord knew all along that man would fall into sin, and He knew all along that He would send His only begotten Son to save man from his own fallen state. We do not always find gems like this listed in the genealogies of the Bible, but in this case we certainly do. In the next chapter we will see the culmination of man’s wickedness, and how the Lord brings a world-wide judgment as a result.  However, one man and his family will find grace in the eyes of the Lord and be spared.

In application, are we walking with God like Enoch did? As David Guzek points out, walking with the Lord is marked by certain characteristics. First, we walk by faith as we discussed earlier (2 Co 5:7 and Heb 11:5). Second, we walk in the light as He is in the light (1 John 1:5-7). This means we are turning from our sins. Third, we are walking in agreement with God (Amos 3:3). In order to obey the Lord, we have to be in agreement with Him. As we do these things, we can have that sweet fellowship with Him as Enoch did.

Second, there is a rest for the people of God. Just as Lamech believed Noah would comfort them concerning their work and toil, God has provided us rest and comfort through Jesus Christ. As the author of Hebrews points out, we do not have to work and toil to enter into the Kingdom, but to cease from our efforts and rest in Christ by faith.

 

References

 

Hyperbaric medicine - Wikipedia

 

Timeline for the Flood

 

The Gospel in Genesis

 

The Windows of Heaven of Noah's Flood - Water out of Thin Air