Genesis 6

Noah and the Flood
Jesus’ strange warning:
Luke 17:26 NLT - "When the Son of Man returns, the world will be like the people were in Noah's day. In those days before the flood, the people enjoyed banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat and the flood came to destroy them all. And the world will be as it was in the days of Lot. People went about their daily business--eating and drinking, buying and selling, farming and building-- until the morning Lot left Sodom. Then fire and burning sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. Yes, it will be `business as usual' right up to the hour when the Son of Man returns. On that day a person outside the house must not go into the house to pack. A person in the field must not return to town. Remember what happened to Lot's wife! Whoever clings to this life will lose it, and whoever loses this life will save it. That night two people will be asleep in one bed; one will be taken away, and the other will be left. Two women will be grinding flour together at the mill; one will be taken, the other left. "Lord, where will this happen?" the disciples asked. Jesus replied, "Just as the gathering of vultures shows there is a carcass nearby, so these signs indicate that the end is near."
What does this mean?
1When the human population began to *grow rapidly on the earth,

*With an initial population of 2 people, increasing at 2% per year (present annual growth rate) would generate a population of over 10 trillion in 1656 years (the time span from Adam to the flood). Six billion people live on planet Earth today. It is relatively easy to calculate the growth rate needed to get today’s population from Noah’s three sons and their wives, after the Flood. With the Flood at about 4,500 years ago, it needs less than 0.5% per year growth. Evolutionists claim that mankind evolved from apes about a million years ago. If the population had grown at just 0.01% per year since then (doubling only every 7,000 years), there could be 10^43 people today—that’s a number with 43 zeros after it. Those who adhere to the evolutionary story argue that disease, famine and war kept the numbers almost constant for most of this period, which means that mankind was on the brink of extinction for most of this supposed history. Well, what about all of the wars, famines, plagues, etc? Take the Black Plague for example. It killed off 1/3 of Europe's entire population. Yet, in less than 100 years, the population bounced back and surpassed the original population. This is because the infrastructure was already established. The world's population took a dive during World War II, but immediately came back with the baby boomers. After a great loss, there is always a massive boom. The bottom line is this: if humans have been around for 1 million years (half of the 2 million presupposed by evolutionists), according to the current growth rate, the world's human population should be 10^8600. That's a 10 with 8,600 zeros after it!


2the *sons of God saw the beautiful **women of the human race and ***took any they wanted as their wives.

* “sons of God” = “bene Elohim” = angels
Job 1:6 – “One day the angels (bene Elohim – Sons of God) came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan the Accuser came with them.”
Job 2:1 – “One day the angels (bene Elohim – Sons of God) came again to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan the Accuser came with them.”
Job 38:7 – “as the morning stars sang together and all the angels (bene Elohim – Sons of God) shouted for joy?”
Dan 3:25 –“Look!" Nebuchadnezzar shouted. "I see four men, unbound, walking around in the fire. They aren't even hurt by the flames! And the fourth looks like a divine being!” (bar Elohim – Son of God)
Ps 29:1 – “Give honor to the LORD, you angels (bene elim); give honor to the LORD for his glory and strength.”
Ps 89:6 – “For who in all of heaven can compare with the LORD? What mightiest angel (bene elim); is anything like the LORD?”
Gen 18:8 ‘The LORD appeared again to Abraham while he was camped near the oak grove belonging to Mamre. One day about noon, as Abraham was sitting at the entrance to his tent, he suddenly noticed three men standing nearby. He got up and ran to meet them, welcoming them by bowing low to the ground. "My lord," he said, "if it pleases you, stop here for a while. Rest in the shade of this tree while my servants get some water to wash your feet. Let me prepare some food to refresh you. Please stay awhile before continuing on your journey." "All right," they said. "Do as you have said." So Abraham ran back to the tent and said to Sarah, "Quick! Get three measures of your best flour, and bake some bread." Then Abraham ran out to the herd and chose a fat calf and told a servant to hurry and butcher it. When the food was ready, he took some cheese curds and milk and the roasted meat, and he served it to the men. As they ate, Abraham waited on them there beneath the trees.”’
Heb 13:2 “Don't forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!”
** “women of the human race” (Adam) = “Benoth Adam” = “Daughters of Adam”
Jude 6-7 “And I remind you of the angels who did not stay within the limits of authority (Greek “oiketerion” – habitation – house in KJV) God gave them but left the place where they belonged. God has kept them chained in prisons of darkness, waiting for the day of judgment. And don't forget the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns, which were filled with sexual immorality and every kind of sexual perversion. Those cities were destroyed by fire and are a warning of the eternal fire that will punish all who are evil.”
“Oiketerion”: 2 Cor 5:2 “We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long for the day when we will put on our heavenly bodies (oiketerion) like new clothing.” Only other place “oiketerion” is used in the Bible.
2 Pet 2:4-5 “For God did not spare even the angels when they sinned; he threw them into hell (Tartarus) , in gloomy caves (or chains of gloom) and darkness until the judgment day. And God did not spare the ancient world--except for Noah and his family of seven…”
Greek Titans – Partly terrestrial, partly celestial. Rebelled against their father, Uranus. After prolonged war, were defeated by Zeus and condemned into Tartarus. “Titan” in Greek = “Sheitan” in Chaldean or “Satan” in Hebrew.
*** “Took” – implies that the wives were “taken” involuntarily.
3Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will not *put up with **humans for such a long time, for they are only mortal flesh. In the future, they will live no more than ***120 years."
* “put up with” – KJV = “strive”. Hebrew = “doon”
** Adam
*** “120” either refers to a shortened life span or to the coming flood.

The graph below is based on the genealogies in Genesis 5, 9:28 and 11:10-26 to show the dramatic age drop in the Patriarchs of the Bible

4In those days, and even afterward, *giants lived on the earth, for whenever the sons of God had intercourse with human women, they gave birth to children who became the **heroes mentioned in legends of old.
*”giants” = Hebrew “Nephilim” from naphal (“fall”). Giants in the land – Numbers 13:33. Descended from Anak and also known as the Anakim.
2 Samuel 21:15-22 “Once again the Philistines were at war with Israel. And when David and his men were in the thick of battle, David became weak and exhausted. Ishbi-benob was a descendant of the giants; his bronze spearhead weighed more than seven pounds, and he was armed with a new sword. He had cornered David and was about to kill him. But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to his rescue and killed the Philistine. After that, David's men declared, "You are not going out to battle again! Why should we risk snuffing out the light of Israel?" After this, there was another battle against the Philistines at Gob. As they fought, Sibbecai from Hushah killed Saph, another descendant of the giants. In still another battle at Gob, Elhanan son of Jair from Bethlehem killed the brother of Goliath of Gath. The handle of his spear was as thick as a weaver's beam! In another battle with the Philistines at Gath, a huge man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot--a descendant of the giants-- defied and taunted Israel. But he was killed by Jonathan, the son of David's brother Shimea. These four Philistines were descended from the giants of Gath, but they were killed by David and his warriors”
Numbers 13:33 “We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. We felt like grasshoppers next to them, and that's what we looked like to them”
Deuteronomy 2:10 “(A numerous and powerful race of giants called the Emites had once lived in the area of Ar. They were as tall as the Anakites, another race of giants.”
Deuteronomy 2:20 “(That also was accounted a land of giants: giants dwelt therein in old time; and the Ammonites call them Zamzummims;”
Deuteronomy 3:11 “(Incidentally, King Og of Bashan was the last of the giant Rephaites. His iron bed was more than thirteen feet long and six feet wide. It can still be seen in the Ammonite city of Rabbah.)”
Deuteronomy 3:13 “And the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, being the kingdom of Og, gave I unto the half tribe of Manasseh; all the region of Argob, with all Bashan, which was called the land of giants.”
Strategies of Satan to cut off the line to Messiah and destroy Israel:
• Corruption of Adam’s line – Gen 6
• Abraham’s seed – Gen 12:15, 20:2
• Famine – Gen 50
• Destruction of male line – Exodus 1
• Pharaoh’s pursuit – Exodus 14
• The populating of Canaan – Gen 12:6
• Jehoram kills his brothers 2 Chr 21
• Athaliah kills all but Joash – 2 Chr 22
• Haman’s attempts – Esther 3
• Joseph’s fears - Mt 1
• Herod’s attempts – Mt 2
• At Nazareth – Luke 4
• 2 storms on the sea – Mark 4, Luke 8
• The Cross
• Rev 12








*** “heroes” – the heroes of Greek mythology.
5Now the LORD observed the extent of the people's wickedness, and he saw that all their thoughts were consistently and totally evil.
6So the LORD was *sorry he had ever made them. It broke his heart.
1 Samuel 15:29 – “And he who is the Glory of Israel will not lie, nor will he change his mind, for he is not human that he should change his mind!"
7And the LORD said, "I will completely wipe out this human race that I have created. Yes, and I will destroy all the animals and birds, too. I am sorry I ever made them."
8But *Noah found **favor with the LORD.
*Noah is a Gentile.
** “favor” = “grace”. 1st instance in the Bible. 1st instance in NT is Luke 1:30 where Mary found grace.
9This is the *history of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, the only **blameless man living on earth at the time. ***He consistently followed God's will and enjoyed a close relationship with him.
* “history” = genealogy
2 Peter 2:5 “And God did not spare the ancient world--except for Noah and his family of seven. Noah warned the world of God's righteous judgment. Then God destroyed the whole world of ungodly people with a vast flood.”
1 Peter 3:20 “those who disobeyed God long ago when God waited patiently while Noah was building his boat. Only eight people were saved from drowning in that terrible flood.” Noah preached hundreds of years with no one believing him. Obedience is what matters, not “results”.
Hebrews 11:3 “It was by faith that Noah built an ark to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about something that had never happened before. By his faith he condemned the rest of the world and was made right in God's sight.”
Ezek 14:20 “Even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were living there, the Sovereign LORD swears that they could not save the people. They alone would be saved by their righteousness.”
** ”blameless in his generation” – He had a pure ancestral line to Adam with no angelic blood. Hebrew “tamiym” = “without blemish, sound, healthful, without spot, unimpaired”.
*** ”consistently followed God's will” This verse, which praises Noah, must be by a third party. While the origin of “this is the history of Noah” was Noah himself, this further account “this is the history of the sons of Noah” was the work of his sons.
10Noah had *three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
It is possible that the sons of Noah are now recording the record.
* ”Three” - Three represents completeness.
11Now the earth had become *corrupt in God's sight, and it was filled with violence.
* “corrupt” – Hebrew “shachath”, usually translated “destroy”. This involved ‘the mighty men and men of renown’, who were not so much ‘heroes’ as terrorists and tyrants. Murder has become wide-spread. This is the final stage of man’s descent - first Cain, then Lamech, and now the whole ‘earth’ (or land).
12God observed all this *corruption in the world, and he saw violence and depravity everywhere.
* Not only was the earth or land corrupt, but God, the Creator and Judge, saw it, and saw that it affected ‘all flesh’, and that none, apart from Noah and his family, were exempt. And seeing it He came to the ultimate decision. It could not be allowed to go on any longer. Man is now unwilling to submit to the control of God’s Spirit
13So God said to Noah, "I have decided to destroy all living creatures, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. Yes, I will wipe them all from the face of the earth!
Elohim, The Creator and Judge now communicates His decision to Job. He will destroy these men of extreme and uncontrollable violence and begin again. God threatened the same thing with Moses about the Jews in the wilderness.
14"Make a *boat from resinous wood and seal it with **tar, inside and out. Then construct decks and stalls throughout its interior.
* “boat” Traditionally rendered an ark. Means ‘box’ or ‘chest’. The ark is a picture of Christ and the rapture. Noah entered into the door of the ark and he was taken out of the world. Once God's people were taken out of the world, judgment fell. The ark rose above the judgment and returned to the new life God prepared for His people. This is exactly what the Bible teaches about the rapture. We who are in Christ abide in Him. He takes us out of the world and we are in heaven above and out of the judgment below. Once God has poured out His wrath, we return to the earth with Christ in the new kingdom.
Exodus 2:3 –“But when she could no longer hide him, she got a little basket made of papyrus reeds and waterproofed it with tar and pitch. She put the baby in the basket and laid it among the reeds along the edge of the Nile River.”
Heb 11:7 – “It was by faith that Noah built an ark to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about something that had never happened before. By his faith he condemned the rest of the world and was made right in God's sight.” A type of Christ as the refuge of His people from judgment
** “tar” – Hebrew “kaphar”. “kaphar” is the same word translated "atonement" in Leviticus 17:11 and other passages. It is atonement that keeps out the waters of judgment and makes the believer's position "in Christ" safe and blessed
15Make it *450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high.
* Hebrew 300 cubits [135 meters] long, 50 cubits [22.5 meters] wide, and 30 cubits [13.5 meters] high
We do not know what shape it was, but it was clearly very and its shape narrowed towards the top like a tent it has been demonstrated by using models that it would be unsinkable, except by collision.
The whole point about the measurements was that they were large, that they were God-ordained, and that they expressed a sense of sufficiency and completeness. This was not a boat but simply a huge ‘carrier’. It had no method of steering and was made for only one purpose, preservation.
16Construct an opening all the way around the boat, *18 inches below the roof. Then put three decks inside the boat--bottom, middle, and upper--and put a **door in the side.
* “18 inches” - Hebrew 1 cubit [45 centimeters]. The slit around the top, which could be covered when necessary, enables a view outside when required, keeps the ark safe from too much water entering in the cataclysm to follow, and yet means that no one need see outside while the cataclysm is going on.
** “door” - An opening in the side was necessary for entry, and would require special sealing. Only 1 door (only 1 “way”). John 10:7-9 “so he explained it to them. ‘I assure you, I am the gate for the sheep,’ he said. ‘All others who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them. Yes, I am the gate (door). Those who come in through me will be saved. Wherever they go, they will find green pastures’”
•
17"Look! I am about to cover the earth with a *flood that will destroy every living thing. Everything on earth will die!
* “flood” - The word for flood is “mabbul”. In the New Testament and in the Septuagint mabbul is ‘translated’ as kataklysmos in the Greek (Matthew 24.38-9; Luke 17.27; 2 Peter 2.5). It therefore can be taken with some confidence as meaning in this context a ‘cataclysmic flood’ with the emphasis on the cataclysm.
The basis of the account consistently throughout is that man will be destroyed because of his extreme sinfulness. This contrasts strongly with Mesopotamian flood myths where the innocent admittedly die with the guilty, and the flood is the consequence of the anger of gods over some particular thing which annoys them.
How Extensive Was the Flood?
The question must again be raised as to what the writer is describing. There is no question but that it is a huge flood of a type never known before or since, but how far did it in fact reach?
There are three possible answers to the question as to how far the flood stretched, looking at it from the writer’s point of view.
• 1) That all mankind was involved and that the Flood was global. However, it could not strictly mean this to the writer, or to Noah, for both were unaware of such a concept. All they could think of was ‘the world’ according to their conception of it. What the writer could have meant was ‘all that there is’. But was he not rather concerned with the world of man?
• 2) That all mankind was involved, but that they were still living within a certain limited area and were therefore all destroyed in a huge flood, which was not, however, global, as it would not need to involve lands which were uninhabited.
The fact of the worldwide prevalence of Flood myths might be seen as supporting one of these two views. So also might the argument that had the area been too limited Noah could have been instructed to move with his family outside the area, however large. Against this latter, however, it could be argued that God was seen as having a lesson to teach to future generations, and that He had in view the preservation of animal life as part of Noah’s environment.
• 3) That it was only mankind in the large area affected by the demonic activity (Noah’s ‘earth’ or ‘world’) that were to be destroyed, and that the Flood was therefore vast, but not necessarily destroying those of mankind unaffected by the situation described.
What cannot be avoided is the idea that the Flood was huge beyond anything known since. It was remembered in Mesopotamia, an area which had known great floods, as ‘the Flood’ which divided all that came before it from all that followed.
There are many ancient accounts (oral and written) of this event from peoples all over the world.
We might expect a similar story from the ancient Near Eastern peoples (Sumerians, Babylonians [Gilgamesh Epic], and Assyrians—namely, that they borrowed this story from one another.
We also have the Egyptian (reported in Plato’s Timaeus), Greek (reported in Ovid’s Metamorphosis), and Apamea (preserved in ancient coins bearing an ark inscription) myths. There’s also the Hindu legend (Manu and seven others saved by boat from a world-wide flood) and the Chinese (Fah-he with his wife, three sons and three daughters).
Moving further from the mid-east, how would we explain the Hawaiian story (Nu-u), or that of the Mexican Indians (Tezpi), or the Algonquin tribe (Manabozho). “All of these agree that all mankind was destroyed by a great flood . . . as a result of divine displeasure at sin, and that a single man with his family and a very few friends survived the catastrophe by means of a ship or raft or large canoe of some sort.”
Similar accounts were preserved by the aborigines of the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal, the Battaks of Sumatra, the Australian aborigine Kurnai tribe, the Fiji islanders, the native peoples of Polynesia, Micronesia, New Guinea, New Zealand, New Hebrides, the ancient Celts, tribesmen in Sudan, the Hottentots, and the ancient Greenlanders.

God outlines the method He will use to destroy the sinful world in which Noah lived, a ‘cataclysmic flood of waters’ for the purpose of blotting everything out, and especially man. And He emphasizes that it would be His work, and His alone - ‘I, behold I’, which is emphatic. It is difficult for us to understand the depths to which mankind must have sunk for this to be necessary, and had it not been for the taking over of mankind by demonic activity we might even have questioned whether mankind could have sunk so low. The words express totality of destruction, but possibly only in the area to which they apply.
Was God justified in judging humanity in this way?
This seems absolutely obscene to modern Americans. How dare God drown the human race!
This isn’t the only place in the Bible where God intervenes in temporal judgment. On a smaller scale, you have Sodom and Gomorrah, the Canaanite culture, and other nations (including the Northern Kingdom, Israel). Something similar to this will happen when Messiah comes (all but believers will be slain). And then, of course, there is the biblical teaching on eternal judgment.
It won’t do to view these an Old Testament God only, because it’s the New Testament God, too. Nor can we view these as isolated stories authored by fallen humans, because judgment is woven into the fabric of the biblical revelation of God.
No passage summarizes God’s attitude toward judgment better than Ex. 34:6-7: “He passed in front of Moses and said, "I am the LORD, I am the LORD, the merciful and gracious God. I am slow to anger and rich in unfailing love and faithfulness. I show this unfailing love to many thousands by forgiving every kind of sin and rebellion. Even so I do not leave sin unpunished, but I punish the children for the sins of their parents to the third and fourth generations."
Ex. 34:6-7 emphasizes that God is patient and long-suffering. God does not enjoy judgment. He calls it his “strange/alien work” (Isa. 28:21). He would much rather that people repent (Ezek. 18:23), and he waits until all hope of repentance is gone (6:5). He made the Israelites wait over four centuries before they got the land because the “iniquity if the Amorite is not yet complete” (Gen. 15:16). He offered to spare Sodom if there were even ten citizens who were not totally corrupt (Gen. 18:20-33).
But vs. 7 emphasizes God’s justice and right to judge. If humans are sometimes justified in using force to deter the spread of evil (POLICE; WAR), how much more is God justified in doing so? When we are bothered by God’s judgment, our perspective on what is just is slanted by our limited and sinful perspective. All sin is a capital offense to God (Gen. 2:17; Rom. 6:23). 30 crimes in Old Testament Israel were capital crimes!
You see, we forfeit all claims on God’s justice to operate positively toward us the moment we first sin. After that, God’s justice can only operate toward us. In other words, don’t ever ask God for what you deserve! It is only by God’s mercy that we have not been judged yet.
In other words, the amazing thing is not that anyone gets judged by God, but that anyone is forgiven! We are amazed when God judges, but we should be amazed when he shows mercy!
This is why the CROSS is so important. It reveals the depth of God’s justice and love. The fact that God would execute his own Son shows how little give there is with God on this issue of justice. But the fact that God would send his own Son to pay our penalty for us shows how much God love us.
18But I solemnly *swear to keep you safe in the boat, with your wife and your sons and their wives.
* “swear” KJV – “make a covenant” Hebrew “berith”. 1st occurrence.
We are reminded again that this is a covenant record. This terrible disaster is to be the beginning of a new relationship between man and God. A covenant will be established which will be permanent for mankind, and this account is the background to it.
Only eight people are to be saved from the flood. They are those who have kept themselves pure from demonism and excessive violence, in readiness for the reception of the new covenant. Also, their blood line is clean. But many of Noah’s brothers and sisters will die in the flood along with the rest of mankind, for presumably they too have fallen prey to these evils. Note that, in contrast to Lamech of the line of Cain, Noah is monogamous.
19Bring a pair of every *kind of animal--a male and a female--into the boat with you to keep them alive during the flood.
* “kind” - probably broader than “species”.
20Pairs of each kind of bird and each kind of animal, large and small alike, will come to you to be kept alive.
21And remember, take enough food for your family and for all the animals."
God doesn’t tell Noah how long the flood would be, so how does he know how much food is needed?
22So Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him.