Gen 6 - part 2
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I trust you enjoyed our special Thanksgiving Eve service last week and Robert Hecklers history lesson on Thanksgiving.
Well tonight we will get back into our journey into the book of beginnings in Genesis Chapter 6.
Last time we discussed the 2 views or interpretations of who were the Sons of God mentioned in Gen 6:1-4. For review;
1 Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them,
2 that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose.
3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”
4 The Nephilim were 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.
They were the Sethite View meaning the SOG’s were actually the line of Seth and the Daughters of Men were actually the Daughters of Cain. The view sees the flood of Noah's day as Judgment for the Sons of the “Godly” line of Seth intermarrying with the “ungodly” Daughters of Cain.
We pointed out that this theory has no direct support in scripture.
The second view is called that Angel View and means the SOG’s were actually fallen angels who came down and bred with human women and produced a hybrid race of the Hebrew “Ha-Gibborim” the mighty men of renown.
We discussed how many of the ancient cultures had myths about these hybrid creatures. i.e. The Titans and the Olympians.
We pointed out that this time in history, the days of Noah, were what Jesus told us that at the time of His coming things would be like this.
Matthew 24:36–39 (NASB95)
36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.
37 “For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah.
38 “For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,
39 and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.
We discussed that if the Angel view is correct, and I believe it is, it drastically changes how you view the reason for the flood and sheds new life on the our view of the cosmic spiritual battle behind the scenes.
So let’s stand and read our text for this evenings;
5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6 The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
7 The Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.”
8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
9 These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God.
10 Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Now, as we get into it, verse 5 is my Hebrew teachers favorite, he points it out in nearly every class to show the state of mans heart has not changed since the fall.
5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Regardless of which view you lean towards “every intent of the heart of man was only evil continually,” and it has continued to be that way.
The word translated “intent” is yatsar in Hebrew. We saw yatsar the creation of man there it referred to the forming of something like as a potter forms a piece of pottery. Here it takes on a secondary meaning, purpose, imagination, device (intellectual framework.) So in this context it is used to describe the way we put thoughts together.
So we ask ourselves sometimes; why are thing so evil in this world?. Because the unregenerate mind of man is set on evil.
Now when you add to that the genetic code had been altered by the fallen angels things got really, bad really fast. BTW- as discussed last time the genetic manipulation involved both mankind and animals. So we get to verses 6 & 7;
6 The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
7 The Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.”
Verse 6 is a difficult concept for us to understand. What does it mean that God was sorry or that God repented? The Hebrew word here nāḥam means, to be sorry, be moved to pity, have compassion, rue, suffer grief, repent.
It also carries the idea of sighing or to sigh as the word naham sounds.
So its not saying that God did not know the outcome as that would be incongruent with His Omniscience. But rather a reaction to the pain and the mess that had been created.
It is an awful thought to consider that we could cause God to grieve or cause Him pain.
30 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
How would we do that? Well this verse is placed in the middle of;
29 Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.
and
31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
We can cause God to Grieve by how we treat one another and by unbelief. Something to meditate on.
So now in verse 7;
The Lord uses a terrifying word, blot out. The hebrew word means; to wipe, to blot out, obliterate, exterminate.
Notice this destruction is not just planned for mankind. He says; “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; ...”
If you are like me, we ask, why does everything need to go? Well if you believe the angel theory the entirety of the world had been corrupted through genetic manipulation. The mythologies of the ancient cultures seem to support this.
But now in Verse 8 we are given hope;
8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
In many translations the word favor is grace. BTW- this is the first mention of grace in the bible. A great prayer is to ask for God’s favor over yourselves and your loved ones.
Have you ever sensed Gods favor on your life. It’s noticeable when things go in your favor when they shouldn’t or normally wouldn’t.
Now as we examine verses 9-10 we get a clue as to why Noah found favor. We looked at this last time, but notice;
9 These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God.
10 Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
We might be lured in to thinking that Noah was just super moral and righteous and that's why God chose him. But that does not hold up in light of scripture.
Psalm 14:1–3 (NASB95)
1 The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds;
There is no one who does good.
2 The Lord has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men
To see if there are any who understand,
Who seek after God.
3 They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt;
There is no one who does good, not even one.
So what then does it mean that Noah, “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time;” The word here for blameless, tāmîm, indicates sound, wholesome, unimpaired, innocent, having integrity. As in a offering to God was to be without spot or defect. But notice the lack of defect has to due with his genealogy or generations.
So it is mine and many others contention that Noah’s genetic history was purely human without hybrid blemish. Thus through Noah and his son Shem, through Abraham all the way to David and finally through Mary our Lord Jesus would be born a saviour for the world.
So with 4 or more billion at that time; was Noah and his family the only pure ones left? We are not told but I tend to think that was so. Add to that that Noah “walked with God.” Noah most importantly had a relationship with God. Walk is synonomous with “manner of life.” We still use that terminology today, “how’s your walk going?”
Now we begin the count down to the Flood;
11 Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.
13 Then God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth.
14 “Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch.
15 “This is how you shall make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.
16 “You shall make a window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from the top; and set the door of the ark in the side of it; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.
17 “Behold, I, even I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall perish.
18 “But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.
19 “And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female.
20 “Of the birds after their kind, and of the animals after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive.
21 “As for you, take for yourself some of all food which is edible, and gather it to yourself; and it shall be for food for you and for them.”
22 Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did.
Now in verses 11-13 we read that the entire world had been corrupted and filled with violence. The Hebrew reads “all flesh” had been corrupted. Corrupted means to be marred, be spoiled, be corrupted, be corrupt, be injured, be ruined, be rotted.
Interestingly the Hebrew word for violence is ḥāmās. It indicates cruelty and injustice. It is interesting that the Palestinian terror group carries this name.
Now we get to God’s plan to preserve the seed of the woman, Noah and his family.
13 Then God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth.
14 “Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch.
15 “This is how you shall make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.
16 “You shall make a window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from the top; and set the door of the ark in the side of it; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.
verse 13 has an ominous ring to it as I believe mankind is at a parallel place right now. The end of all flesh is close. No one knows the day or the hour but you can feel that it is quickly approaching. God is saying in the Hebrew construction that He is going intensely cause the Earth and mankind to be destroyed.
So God gives Noah the outline, the rough draft of what He would have him do.
So here God commands Noah to build an Ark. The ark really is just a rectangular box. People who have studied this see it as a barge. Noah was told to make it of Gopher wood.
Images - Ark - cartoon version, realistic version
Article - What is Gopher wood?
God next tells Noah to cover it inside and out with pitch. The Hebrew word for pitch is kō-̄fer. What it is is undetermined. Could be coal based tar or resinous substance like sap. This would help to make this wooden vessel waterproof. It would also serve to preserve the Ark itself as a witness to the world of God’s word and the reality of the worldwide flood.
Image - of Ark found
Interestingly the word kōp̄her is also used for ransom(price of a life) or satisfaction or atonement.
So the means of Noah’s salvation, the Ark, was to be covered in and out with the atonement, in type the precious blood of Jesus. The consistency of the Gospel message is amazing throughout all of scripture.
Next, we learn that it was to be very large, 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high. Generally, a cubits is the length of the elbow to the middle finger tip. It could have been between 22 to 17 inches. Most use 18 inches to approximate. So roughly 450 feet long. football field and a half! 75 feet wide (2 school buses) and 45 feet high about a five story building.
The capacity would equal about 1,400,000 cubic feet or 500 railroad cars. It is known that about 240 sheep can be transported in one stock car so 125,000 sheep could have been carried on the Ark. Keep in mind that only 2 of each kind of air breathing land vertebrates needed to board.
The design of the Ark has been tested extensively and found to be extremely sea worthy.
From genesis apologetics.com
Let’s investigate whether the Ark was seaworthy. God gave certain dimensions to Noah for building the Ark: 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high. Using the Nippur Cubit[i] at 20.4 inches, this works out to a vessel about 510 feet long, 85 feet wide, and 51 feet high. Accounting for a 15% reduction in volume due to the hull curvature, the Ark had about 1.88 million cubic feet of space, the equivalent of 450 semi-trailers of cargo space.[ii] Twice as long as a Boeing 747 and stretching over one-and-a-half football fields, this was a massive ship.
God knew exactly what He was doing when He gave Noah the specific dimensions of the Ark. In 1993 Dr. Seon Won Hong conducted a scientific study[iv] to investigate the seaworthiness of the Ark at the renowned ship research center KRISO (now called MOERI) in South Korea.[v] After evaluating the seaworthiness of over 10 various ship dimensions, the study showed that the Ark dimensions given in the Bible were ideal for handling everything a highly turbulent sea could throw at it, while balancing the need for inhabitant safety. The study showed that the Ark could handle 100-foot waves.
The Ark was to have 3 decks with an upper transom like window and very interestingly one single door set in the side. All must enter by this single same door. Here we see a picture of Jesus again;
7 So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
8 “All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.
9 “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
and,
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
We continue;
17 “Behold, I, even I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall perish.
18 “But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.
You might find it interesting that their are over 300 floods stories in the different cultures around the world. Also, was the flood worldwide? I will be bring more on this in coming weeks. Scary to realize, only eight souls were saved.
Now God gives further direction to Noah;
19 “And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female.
20 “Of the birds after their kind, and of the animals after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive.
21 “As for you, take for yourself some of all food which is edible, and gather it to yourself; and it shall be for food for you and for them.”
22 Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did.
As we get ready to close, one last point. Notice here that Noah is instructed to be bring two of every kind. This is a specific word which indicates the animals “family.” You might remember from HS biology the classification of living things goes like this Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species.
Image - Animal Classification
So everything family and below can breed. Therefore that greatly decreases that amount of living creatures that Noah needed to bring on board. So according to answers in Genesis there would only have needed to be about 7,000 pairs of kinds including dinosaurs.
Next time we will get into more specifics about the flood and the Ark and the prophetic timeline it represents.
Prayer