Chapter 6

Opens with "when man began to multiply"  so we could be backing up and looking at a concurrent timeline.  It doesn't seem reasonable that these things didn't even start until after Noah was 500 years old.  If that is so, things got bad very rapidly.  MSB says these very long lifespans allowed the earth's population to increase rapidly.  Even at one every five years, a 500 year old man who fathered his first child at 100 would easily have 80 children, and with wives instead of a wife...think how many there might be?

2025 - The noteworthy thing in the first verses of Gen 6 is that the sons of God are placed in contrast to the men who have daughters.  The sons of God are a different group.  Grudem suggests that the sons of God are the ones who choose to live godly lives, to the contrast to that would be men who do NOT live godly lives.  But those trying to be good, those trying to rule over the sin whose desire is contrary to them, nevertheless choose the daughters of men who let sin rule in their lives.  They took "whomever they chose".  In this, the sons of God did not defer to God, they instead did what was pleasing to themselves.  This is the problem.

The sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. Then the Lord said, "My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years."

Genesis 6:2‭-‬3 ESV

MSB says that "sons of God" is used elsewhere almost exclusively of angels.  It goes on to give several theories that have been advanced about this.  But then it says the NT mentions this in 2 Pet 2:4,5, and Jude 6. 

2024 - Putting in those verses:

4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; [2Pe 2:4-5 ESV]

6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day-- [Jde 1:6 ESV]

First, I don't see anything in Genesis 6 about casting angels into gloomy darkness.  We know from Revelation that a lot of them are in the abyss, but we don't know how or when they got there. 

Second, not staying in their position of authority sounds like the rebellion under Satan more than it sounds connected to these verses in Gen 6. 

MSB notes that to reproduce physically, angels had to have human, male bodies.  Possession maybe as in Satan's angels indwelling human men, and marrying human women as a most likely possibility.  This is an indication of the state of the world at the time.  Angels and human women together violated the ordained husband/wife order that God had previously set up.  This can be seen as an attack on the fundamental building block God had set up for human existence, and a reason - possibly a major reason - for Him to bring about the flood.

Is God's statement that man's days will only be 120 years henceforth a curse because of this?  Why are lifetimes shortened?  Or were they?  MSB says it means there were 120 years left until the flood, not that human lifetimes were to be shortened to 120 years.  Man was growing more evil, and God set a limit on how long he would give them to repent.  The Holy Spirit was very active at this time urging repentance from sin and allegiance to God.  But man was not responding.  (Still...seems like post-flood life spans are either much shorter initially, or they come down very very quickly.)

What are the Nephilim?  Are they the offspring of an angel and woman resulting in a being that is apparently quite powerful physically and were called men of renown.  Dake seems to think so and says it continued because the Nephilim were an attempt by Satan to pollute the human bloodline, so that it would be impossible for Messiah to arise. 

John MacArthur says that the Nephilim are not the result of the unions in 6:2,3.  If you presuppose that angels cannot procreate with women except by possessing human, male bodies, then there is no reason to expect them to be giants or men of renown. 

Nephilim, according to the MSB, means "to fall" as in strong men who "fall" on others.  Presumably these were very large, strong, aggressive, violent men, where ever they came from.  MSB says in the note on Numbers 13:33 that the sons of Anak were not in fact descended from the Nephilim.  He says there were no post-flood Nephilim, they were all wiped out, never to arise again.  Hmm...if they were the product of the mating of angels possessing human men and human women, then there's no reason to expect they would not reappear.  MSB says the spies were exaggerating in their fear, bringing up the scariest warriors in legend and song that they knew of in order to prevent invasion.

(2/28/20-Clarification of what MSB says:  The Nephilim - giants - were already present when the sons of God began having children via possession with human women.  It was the offspring of this unblessed union between angels and men that produced the men of renown and mighty men.  MSB makes these different than the Nephilim.  MSB says there were no Nephilim after the flood, they never showed back up.  However, the human/angel offspring could and I think did show up.  Satan didn't give up on this strategy to so pollute the offspring of Adam that there were no pure men - no men only - that could be born as the perfect sacrifice.  Even so, to be "mighty men and men of renown" implies that in some way the characteristics of angels were passed in some measure to men by these angel/human unions, and that these children were "greater" than mere human children.   2021 - Pretty sure I disagree now with a lot of this.  Angels cannot procreate with humans.  They don't procreate at all.  The Nephilim may well have come from the strong dominating the weak over millennia and passing on their size, perhaps in purposeful eugenics.  After all, who would or could stop them?  This was genetics, not angels.  I think I have more to learn about how the "unholy union" of angels using possession and human women contribute to a world so evil that God destroys it - and almost all who inhabit it.)

2024 - This question of what is meant by "sons of God" keeps coming up.  I went through all my notes and gathered into one document all that has drawn my attention to the question, along with my comments.  I have put them in their own note under "Bible Studies", then "Bible Study" and titled it "Who are the Sons of God". 

7 So the LORD said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them." [Gen 6:7 ESV]

Seems to me that there is a clear indication here that after God decides he is sorry - that's the Bible word - he made man, animals, creeping things, and birds, he could very well have started with a whole different strategy of things after the ark.  Dinosaurs before, but not after.  Reptiles in dominion before, but mammals after.  No bacteria before, bacteria after.  I am not saying this is how it did work, but that it most certainly could have been done this way. 

The main point is that a very significant change in how the world works is about to take place.  This will not be an ordered continuation of how things have gone up to this point.  So any current theory that depends on ordered continuation will break down if it attempts to go back beyond the events about to take place on earth.  Anything that looks back more than about 7,000 years is extrapolating beyond a reasonable distance.

God specifically says in vs 7 that he will blot out man, and animals, and creeping things (reptiles and insects maybe?), and birds.  Yet two of each are preserved to start over...

In vs 17, it gets even more specific.  God will wipe out "all flesh in which is the breath of life".  God gives specific instructions on how to build this ark, as he gave specific instructions about how to build the tabernacle, and then the temple.  This verse:

18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. [Gen 6:18 ESV]

So, the original covenant, in Eden.  Then a covenant with Adam.  Now all from Adam to the flood, except for Noah and his are to be wiped out.  So God creates a new covenant with Noah.  There are no stipulations on this covenant as yet.  Interesting though, that something is built to go along with the covenant, and this becomes the precedent.

Of all the topics and interesting questions above, this is the one that really ought to receive the bulk of our attention:

Why was there a flood?  To answer this, the following two verses must be resolved:

First, from Genesis 1:31;

31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. [Gen 1:31 ESV]

and second, this verse from Gen. 6:7;

7 So the LORD said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them." [Gen 6:7 ESV]

(Everything was good but the results were bad?  Separately all was good, but the combination was bad?  Fallen angels procreating with human women was bad?  MSB just says sin sorrowed God.  Not his creation as such, but the sin that he was seeing there.  What that created place, which had known no sin at the time God pronounced it good, had become is what God no longer cared for.  Yet all the creatures he had made for the earth and sky were preserved through the flood, as were the people he had created.  Creatures of earth and sky all started over from a single pair.  But sea creatures did not reset.  They continued as from the creation.  What about seeds?  Did Noah have seeds, or did seeds survive the flood?  Or did plants pretty much start over after the flood?)

(((((((THIS IS INSERTED from my reading of Psalm 29.  I think THIS is the best explanation for "sons of God" and Nephilim that I have come up with.  I think this "works", in that it explains things in simple straight-forward terms, is not phenomenological in that it does not require any supernatural powers on the part of angels.  God has to deal with angels being attracted to women.  He does so with a 120 year lifespan for humans.  But then, God has to deal with Nephilim - very LARGE humans - and the arrogance they are promulgating over all the earth, making themselves immune to God's will, and he does that by destroying all mankind - save Noah and his family.  Here are those notes:

2023 - Went and found that reference in Genesis 6 that talks about the "sons of God" looking upon the daughters of men.  In that verse, the Hebrew words translated "sons of God" are "ben Elohim".  So really not much wiggle room there for the translators.  Here in Psalm 29, the construction is "ben el". NOT the full Elohim, but only el.  Is that a contraction that was used in David's time that wasn't around when Moses wrote Genesis, but it means essentially the same thing? If we say it does, then the sons of God in Genesis can only be understood as heavenly, mighty beings come down from where God's throne is located and somehow "causing" human women to give birth to mighty men, these men among men, these stronger faster better than human men.  The causing could be genetic manipulation.  Genesis 6 does not imply that these mighty ones that resulted were bad or evil at all.  If you look at Genesis 6, they took human daughters AS WIVES, and the next verse says God at that time limited human lifespan to 120 years.  Why?  Well immortal angels somehow having children with mortal women might greatly extend the lifespan of that offspring....making all humanity prefer to be born of a woman and an angel instead of a woman and a man.  Angel and woman...spirit and flesh?  Hmm.  That does not seem correct.  Then Genesis 6 talks about Nephilim still being around - without explaining what they are - and we see that it is only then that we are told women give birth to "them".  Here is the verse:

4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. [Gen 6:4 ESV]. 

If we look closely at this verse, "and also afterward" is a prepositional phrase giving additional information but not fundamental to the sentence.  So we might read it like this:

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. .

So now, with that distraction out of the way, we see that "when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, is also a protracted prepositional phrase.  Noting this confuses us as to who exactly is fathering the mighty men of old?  What if we read it like this:

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days and they bore children to them. 

"Nephilim" is a masculine plural noun.  So the Nephilim are possibly the fathers of the mighty men.  It is also possible that the "sons of God" are the fathers.  But I think we know enough to realize that this is not the case.  The only example we have in the Bible of a spirit fathering a child is here: 

35 And the angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy--the Son of God. [Luk 1:35 ESV].  What we know about this is that the Holy Spirit is part of the trinity.  This Spirit is God, a manifestation of God.  The Nephilim, and as far as that goes the "ben Elohim", are all created beings, and we have no basis for believing that ANY Spirit could "mate" with human women.  Maybe the angels just liked their company, and spent time on earth with them, and "took them out of circulation" because no human male could "compete" with an immortal angel for the attention of a woman.  This might also explain the 120 year lifespan.  Perhaps these sons of God, though they cannot mate with women, can keep them healthy and extend their lifespans for a very long time.  Taking these women out of circulation, keeping them from populating the earth, goes against God's order to go forth and multiply also.  120 years is not very long to an angel, and might well have been a disincentive for the angels to enter into relationships with women after that.  IF WE READ IT THIS WAY,

then vs 4 is talking about a whole different thing than vss 1-3 were about.  I think it was these Nephilim that were mating with women and the result was these mighty men of renown.  Here is the definition of Strong's 5303, the word Nephilim:  nᵉphîyl, nef-eel'; or נְפִל nᵉphil; from H5307; properly, a feller, i.e. a bully or tyrant:—giant.  So given this definition, the Nephilim were not the good guys.  They were giants who "threw their weight around".  Perhaps someone had begun a human breeding program to produce larger and larger men.  Or women AND men, which would keep you from hitting a wall when the babies got too big for any normal sized woman to carry.  Perhaps the huge size and corresponding strength of these giants made them arrogant, and made them the "fittest" to borrow an evolutionary description.  These giants were taking over the world, doing what they wanted to whomever they wanted, and were so self-centered that they were pushing God all the way out of their consideration...and they were the ones in charge, and difficult or impossible to oppose in a time when hand to hand was the way things were settled.  And it was because of THESE that we get the next few verses:

5 The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. [Gen 6:5-6 ESV]

So that is enough of a complete "goose chase" this morning in '23.  I am copying this to Genesis 6 though because I think it has finally made good sense to me.  ))))))

God tells Noah exactly why there will be a flood:

13 And God said to Noah, "I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. [Gen 6:13 ESV]

It is the violence, and the sin that produces it, that God will no longer tolerate.  It has gone so far, and consumed so many, that they are willfully resisting the Holy Spirit, and refusing to repent of their deeds.  It must stop.  God's patience is nearing its end.  This is what the last days will be like.  There were only 8 good people left on the planet at this time.

God informs Noah of what is to come, and tells Noah what he is to do to prepare.  God has a definite plan.  Further, he is going to preserve certain of his creations through this coming flood.  He is keeping man, as created, and all the forms that are on the earth, as they were originally created.  Normally, you would not expect things to go differently if you start from the same spot with the same things.  So we can expect that there will be something about the post flood world that is different than pre-flood.  Something will be different such that man does not so completely deteriorate to his base state.  What will be different?

Perhaps it will be lifespans?  Maybe it was having 900 years in a lifetime for Satan to work on, tempt, cajole, and torture into sinfulness?  IF lifespans were shorter post-flood, maybe this is why the human race has lasted longer post- than pre-flood?  We know that earth's climate will change dramatically.  There had never been rain prior to the flood.  Dew watered the ground.  Perhaps the whole world's humidity was higher, there were lots more clouds, and the planet had a warmer and more uniform temperature all over.  We do know that God said he was destroying the original earth.  Be careful extrapolating back past that event boundary.

Note that this will happen again, an earth destroyed by fire instead of water next time.  The Bible says the world will become as it was in the days of Noah again, and then the end will come.  Ultimately, His justice will wipe out all sin, and make a final distinction between the evil and the good, between those deserving of hell, and those chosen for heaven.

2021 - One last thought:  Don't bother looking for Eden, or the two trees.  They are long long gone.  Given the level of upheaval in the flood, it is very possible that even the relationship of the land to the cardinal directions has changed.