| Genesis 6
June 28, 2004
Reading through the
Bible in one Year: Proverbs 7
Good Evening Brothers
and Sisters,
A quick note to the
railroaders in the study, I am in IP status because the Santa Fe turned out
a signal on us and we misread the indication. I have 30 days off and am
very glad that I never cancelled my job insurance. Pray for me during this
time, I need to do some soul searching in regard to God’s ultimate call for
my life. I feel that this may be the time to do that, I have felt called to
the ministry for some time, and hope to search out the possibilities.
I did not post a study
yesterday due to a lot of stuff going on that messed the day up. My family
is camping, so I packed my clothes after getting home and joined them. I
composed this study long-hand, then typed it into the computer, in order to
conserve the battery. Things have settled down today, and will return to
the daily post of the study.
Genesis 6:1-8 (NASB95)
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. 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.
[1]
God was frustrated
with man. IN verse 3 God shortened the lifespan of man to 120 years from
almost a thousand.
Even though God was
disappointed with man, do you think that God was taken by surprise by his
wickedness? No, rather God knew that man would turn from Him. He was so
concerned for each one of us that He was willing to allow men to make
mistakes and willing to wipe out the race of man to start over. Notice in
verse 5, that the intent of the heart of man is continually evil, all the
time. That hasn’t changed, apparently it was much worse than it is today.
There is disagreement
on who the “sons of God’ refers to. Some believe that this is referring to
men who are descendants of Adam, the thought on this is based on the idea
that all men are sons of God, since He created all men. The other thought
is that these were fallen angels who mated with women and created children.
The problem here is that we don’t know if God created angels with the
ability to procreate. Some staunchly insist that angels are sexless and do
not have sex organs. I honestly do not know, since all the records of men
of that time were wiped out, it is all speculation.
Numbers 13:33 (NASB95)
33 “There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of
the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we
were in their sight.”
Deuteronomy 3:11 (NASB95)
11 (For only Og king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the
Rephaim. Behold, his bedstead was an iron bedstead; it is in Rabbah of the
sons of Ammon. Its length was nine cubits and its width four cubits by
ordinary cubit.)
[2]
Other references to
the Nephilim point toward them being giants. Apparently these giants lived
on through the gene pool because they appear again in Numbers and
Deuteronomy. These men were very big, as is indicated by Deuteronomy. God
preserved the race of men through His design, probably through one of the
people who were on the ark.
Genesis 6:9-22 (NASB95)
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. 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.[3]
I am not going to go
into the dimensions of the Ark, or the make up of it, except to say that it
was huge. I am trying to imagine how big it was, picture 18 travel trailers
parked end to end, and the with of a 6 lane freeway. Those are very rough
terms, and very huge. Noah was instructed to build a vessel the size of an
ocean liner on dry ground where it had never rained before. Some would have
thought that they mis-understood God, yet Noah believed God and proceeded to
follow His instructions. He was also very wise and managed to store away
food for the animals as well as himself. God picked out an incredibly
intelligent man who was able to adapt and plan for the future.
I am going to close
here, enjoy the Word, marvel in it.
Father, give us wisdom
as we ponder Your word, open our eyes so that we can understand and apply
the Bible to our lives.
In Him,
Joe Turner.
[1]
[2]
[3]
New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995. LaHabra, CA: The
Lockman Foundation.
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