Genesis 1-11 - From Adam to the Flood

Introduction

Genesis 2:16–17 KJV 1900

16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Body

Covering approximately Genesis 2-6.

Geology, weather patterns, climatology before the flood

Canopy of water (vapor, ice, etc.) in the upper atmosphere

Genesis 1:6-7 “6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.”

Filtering out cosmic radiation

Increasing atmospheric pressure creating a hyperbaric effect (an environment that super-oxygenates the body resulting in very rapid healing and a vigorous immune system)

Increased oxygen content in the atmosphere pre-flood (air trapped in amber believed to be created during the flood)

Strong evidence to believe the earth’s magnetic field was at least 10 times stronger pre-flood than it is today

Attributing to long lifespans, even after the fall

Explains why lizards grew so large (dinosaurs)

An explanation as to why there were giants in the land

Genesis 6 speaks of “the sons of God and the daughters of men” and “giants in the land” (Nephilim)

More on this later

Explains the abundance of plant fossils / coal deposits all over the world in such a short time period

No rain from the heavens

Genesis 2:5-6 “5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. 6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.”

Vastly different weather patterns

The unique creation of Man

Genesis 2:7 “7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”

Man formed by the very hands of God

God breathes His breath into us

The first covenant - Marriage

The serpent

Had legs?

Yep!

Could speak?

Talking and reasoning in language is part of the original created differences between man and animals.

Only Man was created in the image and likeness of God, which includes the ability to convey information through a written or spoken language.

We must conclude that this is an event where Satan was speaking through the serpent

Eve should have been, at the very least, very suspicious of a talking serpent, but was, perhaps, taken by surprise.

The Fall, judgment, and promise

The concept of death is first introduced here

An increase in entropy?

It comes as a consequence, or a punishment, for sin

Death comes after sin

What about the plants that everyone ate? Did they die before the fall?

The introduction of clothing (& all the reasons for this)

Before the fall Adam and Eve were naked and not ashamed

Plants were insufficient coverings

Adam and Eve tried to cover their sin themselves, but this will always be insufficient

God rather clothes them with the skins of animals, showing them (and us) that it requires the shedding of blood to remit, or release, pardon, forgive, sin

Hebrews 9:22 “22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.”

The O.T. priests were ceremonially clean and fully covered before the came into God’s presence

Jesus hung on the cross naked before God

The strengthening, or the magnification of entropy in the universe after the fall

Creation was “very good” in God’s eyes at the end of Genesis 1.

The second law of thermodynamics was still in effect even before the fall (closed systems tend toward increased entropy, or an increase in disorder)

Friction to be able to walk up a hill

The act of breathing indicates a movement of gas from high pressure to low pressure

Digestion of food

Prior to the fall, it seems that God upheld His creation perfectly, then after the fall, He withdrew some of His sustaining power.

He still upholds all things by the word of His power, but not perfectly

Today we live in a world, a universe, that is suffering the cumulative effects of this increasing disorder (entropy, decay)

Knowledge and technology during the antediluvian period

Their physical state

Because of the environment, little to no genetic mutations or degradation of the DNA

Being closer to creation, their bodies were far closer (physically) to their origins and thus, they were healthier, stronger, lived far longer, more fit, and very resistant to disease and injury.

Their mental state

Their minds were much more capable, again being closer to the creation event, not having the debilitating effects of the aging process, diseases that affect the mind would have been easier to resist, and the amount of time they had to dedicate to learning was astounding.

Common language

With all these advantages, they would have very quickly attained a high level of technological sophistication.

It’s very possible they could have attained a level of sophistication that would have rivaled our current 21st century achievement, or even surpassed them!

Consider what the grandchildren of Shem, Ham, and Japheth were able to accomplish in the very early post-flood world - Tower of Babel.

Occupations

Agriculture

Shepherding

Nomadic culture

Domesticated animals

Animal Husbandry

Musicians and musical instruments

Very ancient instruments are very sophisticated to the point it would be extremely difficult to improve upon them

Smelting and metalworking

OOPArts

Rock hounds collecting geodes in the Cosa Mountains of California discovered what appeared to be an electrical device of vast antiquity

Sliced in two, the object showed a hexagonal part, a porcelain or ceramic insulator with a central metallic shaft, and the remains of a corroded piece of metal with threads. The overall impression is that the object ibn the geode is man-made and not a bizarre trick of nature, It appears to be some kind of electrical device — specifically, a spark plug. —Brad Steiger, “Were Ancient Scientists Really Tuned to Today?” Parade, March 4, 1979, p. 10

The unprecedented explosion of knowledge five thousand years ago, they believe, may have been foreshadowed by an earlier society whose cultural remnants have long since vanished — Robert Patton, “OOPARTS” Omni, September 1982, p. 54

A closer look at the strange artifacts now suggests that the ooparts originated in a man-made civilization - one that antedated known history - one that attained an elevated degree of development, but was destroyed to such an extent by a devastating catastrophe in the distant past that only a few remnants of its science and technology survived among the inferior cultures that succeeded it in history. —Rene Noorbergen, Secrets of the Lost Races: New Discoveries of Advanced Technology in Ancient Civilizations, Collegedale TN, Norcom Publishing Corp., 1992; p. 3

We’ll see later in our study that the very earliest civilizations post-flood are much more technologically sophisticated than later civilizations. The highest technology is always found in the earliest civilizations.

This is an indication of the extreme sophistication and development of the pre-flood era.

Where did all the people come from that Cain was afraid of?

Genesis 4:13-14 “13 And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. 14 Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.”

Long life spans and quite possibly no birth control

Genesis 5:4 “4 And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters:”

One writer has estimated that if Adam, during his lifetime, saw only half the children he could have fathered grow up, and if only half of those got married, and if only half of those who got married had children, then even at these conservative rates, Adam would have seen more than a million of his descendants.

If we extrapolate this to the entire population, a solid conservative world population at the time of the flood would be around seven billion people.

Genealogies

Every genealogy includes specific ages in years where specific births took place

This is important because through this we can establish a timeline

Every genealogy includes the phrase, “and begat sons and daughters”

All of these Antediluvian Patriarchs had more than only one child!

Every genealogy ends with the phrase, “and he died”

Eventually, the curse of sin catches up with everyone

Let’s talk about Methuselah

His name means “When he dies, it shall come”

Methuselah was 187 years old when Lamech was born

Genesis 5:25 “25 And Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech:”

Lamech was 182 years old when Noah was born

Genesis 5:28-29 “28 And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son: 29 And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed.”

Noah was 600 years old when the flood came

Genesis 7:6 “6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.”

187+182+600 = 969. The flood came the same exact year that Methuselah died!

We see that Enoch began walking with God after Methuselah was born

Genesis 5:22 “22 And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:”

Could the knowledge of God’s impending judgment have motivated Enoch to draw close to God?

Did Noah point to his Grandfather Methuselah when he preached to those around him about God’s coming judgment?

We see the great longsuffering patience of God demonstrated in the fact that Methuselah is the longest-lived recorded individual in all of scripture. God withheld His judgment for 969 years allowing people to repent!

The Nephilim

Genesis 6:2 “2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.”

Genesis 6:4 “4 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.”

Modern translations translate “giants” to “Nephilim”

Numbers 13:32-33 “32 And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. 33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.”

Numbers 13:33 (ESV) — 33 And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”

This is a hotly debated topic among Christian circles and there 5 different theories as to what these Nephilim are.

One is popular but quite unscriptural, stating that the Nephilim were space aliens.

Of those four that have some biblical support:

Fallen angels bred with women and resulted in giants called Nephilim (most popular of the four)

The sons of God were the result of fallen angels who overtook ungodly men to breed with women

The were the Sethites (descendants of Adam’s son Seth). There are some variations that fall under this theory

Godly men took ungodly wives, and their descendants (Nephilim) followed after false gods, rejected the One True God, and fell far from God into wickedness.

Conclusion

This is the time period between the creation of Adam and Eve, to the time of Noah.

A period of 1056 years from the creation of Adam to the birth of Noah

Or, a period of 1656 years from the creation of Adam to the Flood

We’ve looked at some rather interesting events that took place during this time period

These events are not allegories, but they form the actual and historical account of people, places, and events that existed and that took place during this time.

Next week we’ll dive into the Nephilim, and the events leading up to, during, and immediately following, the flood