March 17, 2017
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in Genesis? Here’s today’s reading:
Genesis 6 (ESV)
When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 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 man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. 5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord… Continue Reading
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Genesis 6:5 – “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” What a staggering thought . . . God not only sees our actions but knows our every intention!
In the verses preceding this laser beam vision of God towards mankind, there are some disturbing verses regarding relations between the “sons of God” and the “daughters of men” that was so wicked that God “regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.” (Genesis 6:6)
What is God’s response? “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” (Genesis 6:7)
And now a “big but” appears in the very next verse (Genesis 6:8), “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”
How was Noah different? Why did God find favor with him? Genesis 6:9 says “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.”
This stands in contrast to those mentioned in Genesis 6:11-12, “Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.” I think this references back to Genesis 6:2 that says, “the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose” and the daughters of man “bore children to them.” (Genesis 6:4)
What a gross corruption of God’s command to be “fruitful and multiply.” (Genesis 1:28) But God is not going to bless them. His wrath is about to be unleashed on them!
In the midst of all this violence and perversion, the “blotting out of man” in Genesis 6:7 comes into focus in Genesis 6:17 when He tells Noah that He “will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die.”
Another “big but” appears in Genesis 6:18, “But I will establish my covenant with you.”
God not only tells Noah what His plans are for the world but gives him instructions to build an ark, the specifications on how to build the ark and what to do once the ark is built!
What was Noah’s response? “Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.” (Genesis 6:22). How much did he do? ALL that God commanded.
This is what it looks like to be righteous, blameless and to walk with God.
Today I am researching some scriptures, confirming/correcting some theology that has challenged my thinking lately!
Genesis 6 is one of the skeptics favorite parts of the Bible. “oh yeah, like some old guy living in a hut or a cave built some huge boat and took all those animals on it, yeah, right, give me a break!” The sad part is the focus on the man and not the God. God ” hung the earth on nothing” as it says in Job, mankind is so easily puffed up by our own accomplishments that we never realize we have never actually made a single thing! We take what God has given us, materials, intelligence, physical bodies, etc., we build a birdhouse or a city and we think we’re all it. Apart from Him we have and can do -nothing.
I take ‘the sons of God” in v 2 to be those that had begun to call on the name of the Lord. I wonder if the “daughters of men” were females in the line of those who did not call on the Lord, perhaps the offspring of Cain. Cain is not mentioned in the generations of Adam in chapter 5 so i’m just speculating I guess.
A couple of things that stand out about Noah, He found “grace” in the eyes of the Lord. He was described as just. He walked with God which I perceive to be a conscious effort to seek Him. And after all the instructions given regarding the size, the materials, the “how-to build it”, along with the ramifications of what God’s plan was, verse 22 says “Noah did everything just as God commanded him.” A lesson in obedience.
I read John 4 again tonight, after starting over several days ago. I did a short word study of the terms “living water” and “never thirst again,” and came away with a deeper understanding of why believers in Christ experience such deep, abiding joy and contentment. Wow. https://lhcc.info/john-chapter-04/
The lifespan of man is cut shorter now to 120 yrs by God because He doesn’t want to contend with humans. The sons of God(likely fallen angels) union with the daughters of humans created a new race of Nephilim. Perhaps this is where mythological Hercules and such came from.
It is heartbreaking that the Lord was troubled and regretted even making man because of the evil inclinations. So grateful for His grace and mercy on Noah, who walked with God❤️👣And for his obedience to do exactly what God told him to do.🙂
Catching up here. I spent the weekend in the passage for Sunday morning (as I always do) and now finally at a computer to post. I was really struck by what God said about bringing the flood. First, I created all this so I have a right to destroy it. And second, the consistent reference to the violence that predominated on the earth. I wonder if we saw all the victims of that violence and the fact that that was what man was preoccupied with and it would only get worse, would we understand better why God did what He did? Not that He needs defense, because He is the creator and has the right to do with His creation what He wills. It is good that He is a God that always provides a way of salvation in the midst of His necessary judgement.