Today’s bible study is all about the chapter of Genesis 6 – The wickedness and Judgment of Man. According to scholars this incident roughly took place before 2500 B.C.
I encourage you to get your bibles ready and turn to Genesis 6. Kindly invite the Holy Spirit to guide you as you read Genesis 6 with me. I am using the New King James Version (NKJV) of the Bible, just in case you want to know. All the scripture references that you find in this post are from the NKJV.
Now if you are familiar with the scriptures, you will know that God is patient and He is long-suffering. But what might have gone so wrong that it provoked the wrath of God and man’s destruction? Let us read the Holy Word of God to find out and learn something from it.
The Sons Of God Took Men’s Daughters As Wives
1 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.
When men began to multiply on the earth and produce daughters the sons of God desired the daughters of men and took them as wives. They took all whom they chose. In those days it might have been common for men to have more than one wife. However, Verse 2 does not mention the sons of men taking the daughters of men for wives. These were the sons of God. Most times the confusion lies in who were the sons of God?
Many interpreters see the sons of God as angels who had fallen from their heavenly estate. They were captivated by the beauty of the women on Earth, and they cohabited with the women, and produced a hybrid offspring which also means the hybrid offspring had a hybrid DNA (half-human, half-angelic). The sons of God were infact the angels can be confirmed as we read the bible in Job 1:6.
The Lord Numbers Man’s Days To Be One Hundred And Twenty Years
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.”
The Lord said that His Spirit shall not strive with man forever. And, the Lord is well aware that man is indeed flesh. A man in the flesh is prone to sin. He most often succumbs to his flesh to please his flesh thereby committing sin. This is the first time in the Holy Bible that the Lord says that the days of man are numbered to be one hundred and twenty years. It is the maximum age until which a man can live. If you notice in the previous chapter of Genesis 5 men lived even up to 900 years. They even bore children when they were above 100 years.
The Giants And What They Did
4 There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came into the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
Verse 4 of Genesis 6 speaks of the wickedness of men. Wickedness does not apply just to stealing and killing. It also applies to sexual sins where satan mainly operates. There were giants on the earth in those days. They were also there afterwards when the sons of God came into the daughters of men and lay with them and these daughters produced children to the sons of God. These giants were the mighty men who were of old and they were men of renown meaning they were well-known.
We do not know if they were well-known for their good deeds or their bad deeds. Guessing from Genesis 6 they might be men of renown for their bad deeds. And, these wicked deeds might have eventually provoked the Lord to destroy every living thing on earth.
Nephilims
Some scholars say that the Nephilims were the offspring produced through the intermingling of the sons of God and the daughters of men. The word Nephilim seems to be derived from the verb-root naphal, meaning “fall.” From where did they fall? Perhaps, from their spiritual position? Maybe they were beings who were once spiritual and knew God and later fell out of their spiritual connection with God and did evil in the sight of the Lord? The Nephilims are widely considered to be gigantic beings(hybrid between human and fallen angels). The Nephilims are such a wide topic to cover. You can watch this video on Nephilims by Kevin Zadai to learn more about Nephilims if you are interested.
The Lord Saw Man’s Wickedness
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.
According to Verse 5 of Genesis 6, The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth. He also saw that every intent of the thoughts in the man’s heart was always evil.
Verse 6 goes on to say that The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth and He was grieved in His heart. Imagine the love He must have put behind all of His creation and the joy with which He created us all. And He saw that His creation was good. Now when He saw the very same creation indulging in sin by disobeying Him, it grieved Him.
God expects man to be like Him, Holy and Just. This is because He created man in His image and likeness. Therefore, it is only fair and natural that He expected the man to walk in His footsteps. When you are Holy and walk in God’s ways, you have authority. The Creator had no obligation to give man dominion over the earth. Also, He had no obligation to create everything for the benefit of man. Yet, He created all this out of pure love for He is Love. And His love-creation sinned against Him.
The Lord Said He Will Destroy Man And All Other Living Beings On The Earth
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.”
In Genesis 6 Verse 7, The Lord said that He will destroy man whom He had created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air for He was sorry that He had made them. The punishment for the sins of man encompassed also the beasts and every creeping thing and birds of the air. When sin entered the world through man the effects of the sin were not on man alone but on all of God’s creation.
Why Was All The Creation Subjected To Futility?
The answer to this question is in Romans 8:20. It says that 20For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. (The bondage of corruption is the bondage of sin.)
Noah Found Favour With God
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.
The above scriptures show us that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord out of all the people present in his generation. Noah was perfect in his generations without sin and he walked with God. Noah begot three sons namely Shem, Ham and Japheth. And the earth was corrupt before God and was filled with violence. All flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.
My Interpretation
According to my interpretation, mass intermingling between the sons of God and daughters of men might have led to the corruption of the human flesh. Probably their DNA were altered too and all flesh was corrupt meaning that there was not a man that was a man except for Noah and his family. Everyone else seemed to be a hybrid race of half-man and half-giant or half-man and half son-of-God. God had to erase all of these to start over because Jesus could be born only as a human to redeem mankind. He could not be born through a half-man, half-giant to redeem a hybrid race as they were not in God’s image anymore. The only creation made in God’s image is “Man”.
Reasons For The Above Interpretation
What led me to this conclusion is Genesis 4 and some other chapters throughout the Bible. When Cain murdered Abel and a whole generation was birthed out of a man like Cain, God did not want to destroy His creation or Cain’s generation even though murder is a sin and violence. We also see that Lamech had two wives in Cain’s generational line. So God did not destroy the earth then because even though men sinned they were still men and not half-man, half-giant. That does not excuse the sins of men. However, it gives way for God to redeem mankind through His son. Throughout the Bible, we see that men, including great kings like David, had more than a wife and concubines as we see throughout the Bible.
So it gets closer and closer to the reasoning that God might have wanted to erase all of His creation at Noah’s time because the creation was innately corrupt. Corruption here refers to the corruption of the human flesh, spiritually corrupt and corruption of God’s original design of man because of a hybrid race where humans didn’t reproduce humans anymore. They were unredeemable as they bore a hybrid race. And it is a huge sin, huge enough to provoke God to wipe out all creation from the earth.
God Tells Noah About The Impending Destruction
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.
God said to Noah that the end of all flesh has come before Him and He will wipe out all flesh along with the earth.
God Gives Instructions To Noah To Prepare The Ark
14 Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; 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.
God said to Noah to make an ark of gopherwood and he was asked to make rooms in the ark and cover it inside and outside with pitch. Many Bible Scholars suggest that the gopherwood could be cypress wood because of its extreme durability. The pitch is used to waterproof the ark. In verse 15, The Lord clearly tells Noah how to make the ark. The length shall be 300 cubits (1 cubit = 18 inches), its width fifty cubits and its height thirty cubits.
In Genesis 6 Verse 16, The Lord instructed Noah to make a window for the ark and to finish it to a cubit from above and to set the door of the ark on its side. The ark was supposed to have three decks – lower (first or base deck), second and third decks.
The Lord Tells Noah About The Floodwaters
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.
The Lord told Noah that He Himself was bringing the floodwaters on the earth to destroy all living flesh. He said that everything that is on the earth shall die. He shared this information only with Noah. It is because Noah walked with God and had a close relationship with God. Also, Noah and his family were the only mankind to be saved.
I am guessing that Noah might have also been a Prophet because the Lord does not do anything on the earth without first revealing it to His prophets. (Amos 3:7)
Covenant Establishment With Noah
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.
In Verse 18 of Genesis 6, the Lord told Noah that He will establish His covenant with him. He told that Noah shall go into the ark with his entire family. Because Noah walked with God and was not corrupt in his flesh, he obtained favour with God for himself and his family. In fact, God wanted to repopulate mankind using those who had the original human design intact (with uncorrupted human DNA) – that is Noah and his family. Later on, we will see that it is through Noah’s line after many generations that Jesus would be born.
Instruction To Noah About All Other Living Creatures
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.
The Lord told Noah to bring a pair of every living thing of flesh into the ark and to keep them alive. And this pair shall be male and female. In Verse 20 of Genesis 6, He tells that the living creatures include all kinds of birds, animals, and creeping things of the earth. And two of every kind would come to Noah and his task was to take them into the ark and keep them alive.
This talks about the care and benevolence of the Creator towards all of His creation. He would instruct the living creatures to go to Noah’s ark just like He instructs them where to go to find food. That is why He said in the last line that two of every kind would come to Noah. He didn’t ask Noah to go in search of them.
Instructions To Noah About Food To Survive
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.”
God further instructs Noah to gather all edible food for him, his family and all the living creatures that would come to him. God is a God of order. He not only warned Noah about the impending destruction but also instructed Noah about provisions to survive the upcoming disaster. And, He didn’t leave Noah nor forsake him. Also, He anticipated human needs even before the humans cried out in hunger. He instructed about the ark and the pitch to cover it so that the humans and living creatures won’t sink nor be wet inside the ark. Here we see God’s Provision again.
Noah’s Obedience
22 Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.
Now Noah had the choice to reject everything or complain that this was too hard a task for him to do. Building the ark was no small feat. Also, it was no small or easy task to get the pitch out of tree resins to cover such a huge ark. Besides, Noah had to keep the animals alive, to gather food for himself and his family and all the animals. Instead of griping and complaining, Noah simply obeyed God. And his obedience saved him and his entire family.
Conclusion
This concludes Genesis 6. There is a lot to learn from it. First and foremost do not grieve God. We should never behave in a way that displeases God and makes Him regret that He ever created us. Most of all, satan works in patterns. There is nothing new behind his schemes. So we must be wary to not repeat the same mistakes as the people did during Genesis 6. We must safeguard what He has given us – our original human design and not go for DNA alterations if it were to ever occur again on the earth. It is where we must ask God to increase our sense of discernment and wisdom so that we could identify such wicked schemes and stay away from them.
We also see that God is faithful. He will never leave us nor forsake us. He knows who belongs to Him and if you are His and if you walk with Him, He will safeguard you even if there is massive destruction all around you. It will not touch you! Last but not the least, obedience and service to God and walking in His ways saves and benefits not only you but also your entire family.
Until Next Time!