Genesis Chapter 6 and 7 – John Karmelich

1. In Chapter 6, we begin the story of Noah.

a) Most people know this story from their childhood.

2. My theme for studying Genesis is on the question of “why”.

a) For example, why did God destroy everybody except for eight people?

i) Why did God use this method (a flood) to destroy the earth?

b) Why is this story relevant to our live today?

c) For answers to these questions, stay tuned to this lesson. J

3. The reason I choose the “why” questions in this commentary is that there are lots of good books and commentaries out there on “how” the flood happen.

a) I happen to hold a very literal-view of a worldwide flood.

b) If you happen to believe it was just a “local phenomenon” or a fable, I would encourage you to read or listen to some of the scientific geological arguments for a worldwide flood.

i) I don’t believe in “reinventing the wheel”. Other scientific studies are much better than anything I can write on the flood. If you are interested in the “how” of Noah’s flood story, There is some “further reading” in an appendix to this lesson.

ii) What these other studies help you do is support the idea that the bible is the Word of God. If you struggle with this issue, especially in the literalness of these chapters, please check out some of the sources in the appendix. I don’t want to spend these studies debating the literalness of the Noah-flood account. I simply have a different purpose and focus with these lessons.

c) I find a lot people refuse to take their bible literally, because if they did, they would then have to be accountable to God. Further, if they took the story of Noah seriously, that would mean they would have to take the rest of the bible seriously.

i) “They (non-believers) deliberately forget this fact: that God did destroy the world with a mighty flood long after he had made the heavens by the word of his command and had used the waters to form the earth and surround it.”
(1^st Peter 2:5-6, The Living Bible).

ii) The idea behind “deliberately forget” is that people willfully choose to be ignorant of God’s redemptive plan in order to ignore God and his commandments for us.

4. Now that my disclaimers are out of the way, J let’s talk about “why” aspects of the flood.

a) Further, I want to discuss about why you should care about this topic.

i) First of all, Jesus said that his second coming will be like the “days of Noah”
(See Matthew 24:37 or Luke 17:26).

ii) What Jesus meant was, people were going about their “daily business” and ignoring the warnings of God’s judgment and then, well, it started raining. J

iii) Jesus is saying that the non-Christian world will be busy working for a living, focusing on pop-culture, being involved in politics and sports and have no place for God in their life. Just like when the storm came in Noah’s day, so will Jesus’ second coming be to those who weren’t focusing upon God.

iv) I would even suggest there is a “hint” of a pre-tribulation rapture here. The only “saved” people prior to the flood were Noah and his immediately family who survived “through” the judgment and his great-grandfather Enoch who was “raptured” (taken to heaven) prior to the flood (Genesis 4:24). Enoch can be seen as a type of the church who was raptured prior to the storm. Enoch was only one guy. The “church” is “one body!” (1^st Cor. 12:12); I see the ark as a model of the Israelites who were preserved through God’s judgment.

b) When you read through the bible, there are several major “judgments” spoken of.

i) The first major judgment is Adam & Eve being cast out of the Garden of Eden.

a) They were preserved and “saved” by the coats of animal skins (Gen. 3:21).

b) The word-picture is the first clue of redemption by blood. To make animal skins, innocent animals had to die to preserve Adam & Eve.

ii) The second major judgment is the flood.

a) The “godly lineage” that leads to Jesus was preserved while the non-Godly were condemned.

b) Although there is no direct reference to blood-sacrifice, we do get “hints” of it in Noah’s ark. Stay tuned. J

iii) The next major judgment is when God puts the plagues on Egypt, and in particular, the final plague when the first-born in all of Egypt was killed (Exodus Chapters 12-13).

a) Those that survive the killing of the firstborn needed blood on their doorpost. (Exodus 12:22-23).

iv) The biggest judgment is still coming. That is main topic of the Book of Revelation.

a) Since God is perfect, God must be perfect in judgment. God cannot tolerate sin. God cannot let the world “go on forever” without judgment.

c) The main thing for us to learn from the flood account is to learn how God works.

i) God destroyed the world for its wickedness prior to the flood.

ii) It was like “mercy-killing”. To destroy the world was to put it out of its misery.

iii) That same pattern will happen again. That is what Revelation is primarily about.

iv) Much of the bible falls in the pattern:

a) The world is becoming ruined by sin;

b) Therefore, out of mercy, God will judge it and destroy it;

c) God wants as many as possible to be saved;

d) Through man, God preaches of a coming judgment;

e) Those who choose to be saved, will be saved.

f) That is what we read of in Noah. That is what will happen again. This is why Jesus compares his second coming to the days of Noah.

g) There is a cute bumper sticker that says, “Jesus is coming back, and this time he’s angry”. That’s not bad. Jesus second coming to earth is primary as a time of judgment for those who willfully choose not to follow Him.

5. OK, enough yapping, I’ve got two chapters to cover today. Let’s get rolling! J

6. Chapter 6, Verse 1: When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, ² the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.

a) We begin with a controversy. The phrase “Sons of God” is a classical debate among those who take their bible seriously. There are two basic arguments:

b) The first view is that the “Sons of God” refer to the children of Seth.

i) In the last two chapters we had the genealogy of Cain and the genealogy of Cain’s brother Seth. Basically, the children of Cain didn’t care about the things of God and the children of Seth, (or at least some of them) were God-centered people.

ii) This view argues that the term “Sons of God” refers to the descendants of Seth in that this was the godly-line. The same view holds that the “daughters of men” were the daughters of Cain’s descendants and were part of the ungodly line.

iii) God is talking about intermarriage between those of the “godly line” (Seth’s descendants) marrying those of the “ungodly” line (Cain’s descendants.)

iv) This relates to the point taught in New Testament that believers are only to marry other believers. (2^nd Corinthians 6:14).

v) We’re going to read where one of the reasons God destroys the earth is that no one, other than Noah and his family are turning to God.

vi) This view is that believers married non-believers, turned away from God and therefore, were no longer God-focused.

c) The second view begins with the idea that the term “Sons of God” is a reference to any direct creation by God. Therefore, it refers to Adam, Eve, angels and demons.

i) In other words, you and I are not “direct creations” of God because we are descendants of other humans. The first animals were direct creations. Their offspring were not direct creations.

ii) Since angels and demons cannot reproduce (a biblical assumption) they are all “direct creations” of God. The Hebrew term “Sons of God” implies a direct creation by God and not the offspring thereof.

iii) Getting off topic, Jesus implies that if we follow him, we will be called “Sons of God” one day (From Matthew 5:9):

a) “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.” (NIV)

b) With this view, those who choose to follow Jesus will be “adopted” directly into God’s family and have the privilege of being called “Sons of God”

iv) The Second View has its roots at the time when God declared war on Satan.

a) God said “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; (Genesis 3:15, NKJV).”

b) Satan might have thought, “OK, God said that some descendant of Eve is going to “bruise my head”. I’m not sure what that means, but I don’t want that to happen. If I can “corrupt” God’s seed, I can prevent God’s plan from happening, and therefore, I win.

v) This view holds the idea that demonic forces (Remember demons are direct creations of God and therefore can be “Sons of God) “enter” people and then have sexual relationships with “godly” people. Thus the “seed” was corrupted.

a) Jesus says that angels do not marry. (Matthew 22:30, et.al.)

b) It does not mean angels are not sexual beings, it just means they don’t marry. (Remember, this is all part of the “second view”.)

(1) They are anti-marriage because marriage is God-ordained!

vi) This view argues that a reason God had to destroy everyone but Noah & his family is because every other “gene-pool” got corrupt by demonic forces.

d) If you lean toward the “first view” or the “second view”, either way we read of the world’s corruption.

i) The first view leans toward the idea that man, in his free will sinned and choose to disobey God.

ii) The second view leans toward the idea that it was demonic-inspiration behind the corruption of the “seed” of Eve.

iii) One can argue either/or view from the scriptures.

iv) Most of the commentators lean one-way or the other. Most of the commentaries I read are respectful of the other sides’ opinion, although they disagree.

e) Well, we made it to Verse 3. J

7. Chapter 6, Verse 3: Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years."

a) God is saying there is a “limit” to his judgment.

b) Just as mankind had a beginning, there is an ending to man’s existence.

c) I’m not talking about individual death; I’m talking about life-going-on-as-is forever.

d) As of this declaration, God is saying, “OK, I’ll give man another 120 years to repent. In fact, I’ll have Noah build this huge boat in his driveway J to show people the way out. But rest assured, the judgment is coming.”

e) There are lots of weird theories out there saying that the next judgment is somehow tied to this 120-year prediction.

i) Jesus says bluntly that “no one knows the day or hour” of his second coming, except God the Father. (See Matthew 24:36 or Mark 13:32). Jesus point is you can’t read the bible and find secret clues of the exact day of his second coming.

ii) The same applies to the 120 years period here in Genesis. You cannot use this to predict any exact day of Jesus’ second coming.

8. Verse 4: The Nephilim were on the earth in those days--and also afterward--when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

a) The word “Nephilim” is a transliteration of the original Hebrew here in the NIV text.

b) The word means “giants”. It could refer to literal-giants or the expression “giants among men” in that they were considered great people.

c) Let’s get back to the “first view” and “second view” of “Sons of God/daughters of men”

i) Verse 4 is teaching that the offspring of “Sons of God/daughters of men” produced these Nephilim. The “second view” is that they were special creatures due to the demonic (semen) seed mixing with human female embryos.

ii) The correct answer depends on who or what you think the Nephilim are.

a) If you believe they are special “giants”, you might argue the “second view”. Also, I’m not saying NBA basketball players are Nephilim’s. J These creatures, who existed at this time, were a corrupt seed mixture.

d) The other view is that the “Nephilim” were “renown” people.

i) Think of the expression “giants among men”, and you get the idea.

ii) There are lots of god-less people who the world admires. They do great things.
It could refer to great army-generals, great political leaders, captains of industry, great sports leaders, great artists, etc. There is nothing wrong with any of these things, per se. In fact, I would argue that they are all using God-given talents. The mistake is to not acknowledge God or be thankful to God for their talent. Further, they are using their God-given talent to give themselves the glory, and not God.

iii) Stop and re-read this verse, and you can see it from this perspective.

9. Verse 5: The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.

a) When we think of “evil”, we tend to think of murder and other horrible crimes.

b) Technically speaking that is not evil, that is the results of evil.

c) Evil, from a biblical perspective is to turn your heart from God and toward other interests.

i) “Evil” is to not care about the things of God, to not desire to seek God and not desire to do God’s will. “Evil” can simply be to want to live your life for whatever brings you pleasure-for-the moment. It is to glorify yourself and not God.

ii) Satan rebelled against God because Satan saw how much God loved mankind, and for a lack of a better word got jealous. He was the greatest of all of God’s creation and desired to be worshipped.

a) In his rebellion against God, he wants to destroy man, not so much by quick and direct murders, but by getting people to spend their lives on other interests other than God-himself.

iii) My point here is that when Verse 5 says in effect that “men were evil all the time”, I don’t visualize a free-for-all of murder and other crimes as much as I visualize a godless-society where no one cares at all for the things of God.

iv) God’s point is “I can’t let this go on forever”. Just like a horse that broke its leg, I’m being more merciful to kill it than to let it live.” Thus a flood was needed. J

10. Verse 6: The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. ⁷ So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth--men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air--for I am grieved that I have made them."

a) First of all, God is not an old man sitting on the throne going, “Woe is me, I am so depressed about how humans turned out.” J God knew the entire plan of destruction and redemption before he created man in the first place.

b) You have to read Verses 6-7 from man’s perspective and not God’s.

i) God is “grieving” because he loves people and he wants us to turn to him.

ii) It is like watching a child you love and raised turn away from what is right. Out of love you let that child go, but you grieve because you know what is right and they are not choosing the right path.

iii) The verse says, “God’s heart is filled with pain”. From our perspective, from a perspective that we can understand God, he is filled with pain. Because he loves us perfectly, it does “grieve” God when we turn away. A perfect God cannot let man get away with anything, and thus the judgment.

c) OK, why does God have to destroy the animals and all the land? It’s not their fault! J

i) God created “the ideal world”

a) First he had the Garden of Eden, and Adam willfully choose to disobey.

b) God still had this wonderful world, prior to the flood, with the water canopy where people could live close to a 1,000-year lifespan.

c) Again, mankind, willfully choose to disobey.

ii) You have to read of the destruction not as God-being-mean, but as a mercy killing. Man was becoming corrupt and that corruption was affecting the other aspects of the creation. Other living beings don’t have a “soul” that relates to God the way man does. Animals and the “earth” do feel the affects of man’s corruption. It is for that reason God decided to preserve each specie and destroy the remainder. Not that God was angry at the animals. It was love oriented a mercy-killing

iii) If God didn’t care about the animals, He would not have brought them in the ark.

11. Verse 8: But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God. ¹⁰ Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.

a) The word “favor” in Verse 8 is better-translated grace in other English translations.

b) It is the first mention of “grace” in the bible.

c) Remember the “first view” and “second view” stuff about how Seth’s descendants and Cain’s descendants were co-mingling either through their own freewill or demonic forces. There is an argument that Noah was the only “uncorrupt seed” left in the bunch.

d) The idea behind “grace” is getting something wonderful that you do not deserve. It is different from mercy. Mercy is unmerited forgiveness of what you do deserve.

e) I don’t take the view that Noah was a perfect person.

i) In fact, we’ll read of a “fault” after the flood-story is over in Genesis 9.

ii) I do take the view that Noah is someone who sought after God all of his life. He was not saved because he sought God. Salvation begins with God, and we follow. It is more like “God called Noah, and Noah spent his life responding to God.”

f) In Chapter 6, we learn that Noah didn’t have his 3 sons until he was 500 years old.

i) That is way too long to live as a bachelor. J

a) For all we know, Noah could have had other sons and daughters prior to these three. The text does not say.

ii) Remember that his grandfather Enoch “walked with God’. I suspect Noah was influenced by his godly father, grandfather and his great-grandfather.

12. Verse 11: Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence. ¹² God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. ¹³ So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.

a) There is not much new we learn in these verses that we haven’t already discussed.

b) “Evil” begins as thoughts in the hearts and manifests itself in its actions.

c) In Verse 11, the earth was “full of violence”. That is the results of spending one’s life away from a relationship with God and a desire to do God’s will.

d) In Verse 13 we have God saying in effect, “Ok, I’ve had enough. For the sake of the innocent people being killed, I can’t let this go on forever. For the sake of the violent people living in their misery, I can’t let this go on forever.

e) Let’s bring this up to modern times. Remember that God does not change.

i) “I the LORD do not change.” (Malachi 3:6a, NIV)

ii) We look at the world today, and say, “How can God allow this to continue? Look at all the violence today and the horrible things that happens and God allows it?” Many people make the excuse of not believing in God because they think that God is somehow “unfair” because he won’t stop the violence that exists in the world.

iii) First of all, the blame for the violence, is not on God, but on man. It is our wickedness than causes the problems. We can’t blame God for the actions.

iv) Why doesn’t God interact more? The same reason he didn’t stop Cain’s murder of Abel. God allows freewill. God does not intervene to prevent those murders because he has to let man be accountable for his own actions. (Not that prayer can’t change things. That is a whole different topic.)

v) Further, God will judge the world again. Jesus made that point as I stated in the introduction. So what is God waiting for?

a) The answer is “more to be saved”. God is willing to tolerate a lot of horrible things temporarily in order for more to be saved. Like the days of Noah, it will not go on forever. The guilty will get punished. The bible teaches that are is a specific number of saved people. Only God knows that specific number. Until that number is reached, we have to “put up” with this world and help others that are lost be saved.

13. Verse 14: So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. ¹⁵ This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. ¹⁶ Make a roof for it and finish the ark to within 18 inches of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks.

a) For you King James fans, the actual measurements were in “cubits”. The NIV here gives a rough estimate based on whatever length a cubit was.

i) A “cubit” is the distance from the elbow to the fingertip. Therefore, the actual size probably depended on how tall Noah was. J

b) Notice that this is a barge. It is not a sailing ship, nor is there a motor, nor a rudder. The “roof with 18 inches” is a natural ventilation system that ran around the top of the barge.

i) Therefore, when Noah was in this thing, he was fully dependant upon God for survival and wherever this thing was going to land.

c) Don’t underestimate the size. It is roughly the size of the Titanic, which may be a bad example. J No boat this big (that we’re aware of) was built until the mid 19^th century.

i) The boat had three full decks. If you study some of the commentaries on the size of the boat and the number of species in existence, the ark has plenty of room for two of every specie.

d) The New Testament describes Noah as a “preacher”. (2^nd Peter 3:5)

i) I don’t think Noah had a weekly sermon from a pulpit in as much as he was a visual witness to the world as he was building the Titanic in his driveway. J

ii) That is a good model for us as Christians. How we live our lives should be visual witnesses to our neighbors that we are taking a stand for God.

e) Notice the words “make yourself”. God is ordaining Noah to do this without God’s help.

i) God likes to work through man. God is the one who ordains the destruction of the world for its sin, but always provides a way for us to escape.

a) He told Noah to go build a big boat (barge).

b) He told the Israelites to put blood on their doorposts to escape the death of the first-born sons in Israel (Exodus 12).

c) He tells us to put our trust in Christ to escape the damnation we deserve for our sins.

f) Notice it was “pitched” inside and outside. “Pitch” is an oil base sealant product. When you build a wood ship, you only have to “pitch” the outside. I believe the extra pitch inside was only to help preserve the boat for some other purpose.

i) Remember if God ordained this, there was no way Noah was going to drown.
I believe the inside pitch was to keep the boat in tact for millennium as a “visual witness to the world” of the authenticity of this story.