Genesis 6
Once man left Eden, though there was the knowledge of God, fading and repressed by sin, there was only one path open. Despite what we think, there’s no freedom in sin. When we reject the standards of God’s word, we reject the path to the mountain. What’s left are the roads to the abyss of barbarity. Sure, the roads take varied routes. One might climb a little here, give a view there, and seem pleasant for a time, but the end is hell. And hell on earth awaits sin when God pulls back his grace and lets us have at it. Like a toddler running away from home, the result of mankind outside of God is catastrophe.
At the end of Genesis 4, Seth is born to Adam and Eve and we’re told that men began to call on the name of the Lord. God’s grace continues even amidst man’s sin and its consequences. Art was present, as was commerce. Those in the line of Adam, through Cain, and then Lamech are cattlemen (Jabal), musicians (Jubal), and teachers of skilled tradesmen in brass and iron (Tubal-Cain). We have this pattern even today. Those who turn from God are not deprived of talents and usefulness. Some even become very helpful to others through their industry. Nevertheless, the pattern outside of God, the principle of sin, is that of conflict. We are given a dominion mandate from the Lord, to work at our crafts to serve our neighbor and glorify Him. Sin, though, twists the work-ethic. Man tries to validate and glorify himself through his labor. Instead of dominion over his craft to the glory of God, he seeks the domination of others through the acquisition of resources and power.
The descendants of Adam are listed in Genesis 5. Adam was made in God’s image but in the fall this image was fractured. All that followed him were then made in his, Adam’s, image. This is pointed out in the fifth chapter by eight out of nine ending with “and he died.” The lone exception was Enoch.
“Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. (Genesis 6:11-12).”
The next verse after this is when God breaks the news to Noah about the pending judgment. He says, “…for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth.” Thus, the story of the flood is, rightly understood, the story of man’s violence. To focus only on the ark, cool as it is, and the awe-inspiring power of the deluge, and the whole animals on one big boat thing, is to make the point something like a children’s version of a great and horrific judgment. It seriously misses the point. The twelve verses before God gives Noah the news, seen in context along with Cain, Lamech and that whole rotten bunch, is the part we ought to soberly consider. We ought to ask ourselves if we aren’t, in fact, still living by their principles of rebellion.
To make the ark the focus of Genesis 6 is like a man getting arrested for murder and yelling “wheee!” the whole way to jail because he thinks the cop car is cool. He’s missing the point. The point is that sin will be judged and if we aren’t on the ark of Christ, we’re gonna drown too.
But it’s not just the ark and the flood that receive attention out of context, it’s the beginning of the chapter too.
Many think that Genesis 6 is talking about fallen angels shacking up with attractive women. The verses in question read, “Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. (Genesis 6:1-2).” Then there’s this: “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 (Genesis 6:4).”
Is this telling us that these were fallen angels and their unholy offspring?
First and foremost is that if the angels were indeed getting married then Jesus was wrong when he said that they don’t marry, nor are given in marriage (Matthew 22:29-30; Mark 12:24; Luke 20:34-36). Second, if it was the angels who were the problem, why punish all the people with the flood?
We also see the pattern of downplaying man’s depravity and the perversion of God’s created order. We see the desire to escape responsibility. “See…the angels did it!” It’s a most unique version of Eve’s “the devil made me do it “defense (Genesis 3:13). But some Jewish scholars have long held that the text is “the sons of Elohim,” and this implies rulership in this context. Rushdoony points out that the translation “sons of rulers” makes sense while other renderings don’t. He says that the sons of Godly rulers married, not from within the framework of God’s design, that is, for worship and family, but because of sexual attraction.
Verse 2 is the essential verse. It says, “…the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose.”
In other words, they started marrying outside of the faith because they thought the women were hot. And, evidently, they took whomever they wanted. It doesn’t sound like they considered marriage and sex from God’s perspective at all.
You can always sniff out sin by its attempt to destroy the family unit. Any ideology that attacks, diminishes, or weakens, the biblical definition of family is clearly not of God. How much agony is caused because even today we marry based, primarily, upon superficial reasons?
H.C. Leupold thought the sons of God referenced are, without a shadow of a doubt, the Sethites. Their marriages were, therefore, a commingling of the two races – those of the covenant keepers and the covenant breakers. We make much of race today in a way the Bible doesn’t. In Scripture, we are either in Adam, fallen, in sin, or in Christ (Romans 5). God shows no partiality (Acts 10:34; Romans 2:11; James 2:1-13) and these superficial distinctions are but attempts to avoid our accountability to Him. This theme is repeated throughout biblical history and even in the New Testament age where we’re commanded not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers. Remember, we’re either in Christ or in Adam.
Okay, okay…but what of the reference to giants? Who were the Nephilim? Well, the Canaanites in Joshua’s time included some pretty large fellows (Numbers 13:33; Deuteronomy 1:28). Og, king of Bashan, was referenced as a giant in Deuteronomy 3:11. And have we forgotten Goliath? He’d clearly be a number one draft pick these days. Also, in 2 Samuel 21:6-22 and 1 Chronicles 20:4-8, other Philistine giants are reported.
As for “men of renown,” Zlotowitz renders the phrase, “men of devastation.” The Hebrew root naphal means to “fall upon, to attack.” Numbers 13:33 indicates that they were mighty men in their rebellion against God, hence their renown. All of this is to say that we’ve sought to avoid the sexualized and violent truth about ourselves. We prefer mythology over sound theology. Man’s rebellion against God must necessarily result in war, slavery, and rape. The issue is only one of degrees. The Nephilim were warlords. Gerhard Charles Aalders, the Dutch Old Testament scholar, called them “violent men.”
Blaming our pre-flood problems on lustful angels who gave birth to big people makes no sense. What’s the problem with giants anyway? So what. Noah’s era would’ve had some awesome basketball teams. How does any of that require a catastrophic judgment on human sin and the preservation of Noah and his family so that, ultimately, the Messiah would come? It disconnects the narrative from the burgeoning violence due to the sin-lust within us and places the blame on something that happened to us instead. It’s another example of the desire to escape the blame. It avoids looking at the ever-present problem of bad marriages and the root cause of them. But could anything be timelier to our “swipe right” generation than this? Do we need to be told that being hot isn’t akin to being holy? Do we really wish to pervert the narrative in order to avoid the obvious fact that we worship physical beauty and power instead of God?
Look at our culture. Watch what we do with our time and money. Who’s president is given remarkable attention because they have power…and we want that power to be ours, to be used on our behalf. Oh, and many rail against how much money a celebrity preacher makes. A false teacher making a million bucks is a shame. But what great contribution to righteousness, peace and wisdom has Lebron James or a Kardashian made? We’re obsessed with power and sex. That’s the lesson at hand. Aren’t we still worshipping giants and beautiful women instead of God? So, you see, we still have that same, central problem and we must go the ark of Christ to escape the waters of judgment before that door closes.
In Christ, we’re more than conquerors because He’s risen. Bruce Lee is dead. Ali is dead. Marciano and Louis too. All the champions die. Don’t worship them. Worship the living Christ in whom all power and authority reside (Matthew 28:18). And remember that nothing is more romantic than a husband and wife devoted to each other and their family in the Lord. Nothing is sexier to a true woman than a man of God and vice versa. True worship yields true love because there’s no such thing as unrighteous love, which would be like setting sail in a ship with a crack in the bottom. Eventually you sink.
But our ark is Christ.
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