Genesis 6-10
November 10, 1996
Introduction
The book of Genesis is the book of beginnings.
That's what the name "genesis" is all about.
It's the beginning of creation.
It's the beginning of man.
It's the beginning of civilization.
It's the beginning of sin.
It's the beginning of redemption.
It's the beginning of faith.
Genesis 6
:1 when men began to multiply
During Noah's day there was a population explosion.
Keep in mind, that people were living to be 900 years old!
We think it could have been that the "canopy", the water "firmament" around the earth shielded the earth from harmful radiation, and that's why lifespans were so great.
:2 the sons of God saw the daughters of men
This is one of those classic "problem" passages.
There are three main, decent, possible interpretations:
1) The godly line of Seth marrying ungodly women of the line of Cain.
The idea is that the godly men were called "sons of God".
This interpretation mainly comes about because people have a problem with the next possibility.
2) Sons of judges
The word elohim is sometimes used to describe judges, as in Psalm 82:6.
3) Fallen angels marrying human wives.
a) Besides here and in verse 4, the phrase "sons of God" is only found three other times in the Old Testament, all in the book of Job (Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7), and all referring to angelic beings.
b) Note that these marriages produced strange, unusual offspring, "giants" (verse 4), not something normally found if these were just regular guys.
c) The reason people have problems with this being angels is because of a statement of Jesus, recorded in three of the gospels.
Mt 22:30 For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. (AV)
(also Mark 12:25; Luke 20:35)The reasoning is that if angels in heaven don't marry, then neither can these guys in Genesis 6.
But just because the don't, doesn't mean they can't!
And it would seem that these are fallen angels, demons who don't particulary like to obey God.
d) These might be the mysterious angels mentioned in some cryptic passages:
(Jude 1:6 KJV) And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
(see also 2Pet 2:4):3 And the LORD said ...
Some have suggested that this might have been Noah's message, as a prophet of God, warning people that God wasn't going to put up with their rebellion forever.
It's kind of similar to Jonah's message:
(Jonah 3:4 KJV) ... Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
:3 My spirit shall not always strive with man,
In other words, God isn't going to put up with this forever.
:3 yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
God is giving men 120 years to straighten up, or else.
:4 giants
n@phiyl
- giants, the NephilimComes from the word naphal, to fall.
Some translate this as "fallen ones"
:6 it repented the LORD that he had made man
God was sorry that He had made man.
:8 Noah found grace
This is the first time that "grace" appears.
chen - favour, grace, charm; comes from the idea of "bending down", the idea of a superior person bending down to reach an inferior person.
:9 These are the generations of Noah:
I mentioned this last week, that this is one of those technical phrases we'll see throughout Genesis.
We think it refers to the fact that this portion was actually Noah's records, just as the first couple of chapters were Adam's records (Gen.5:1)
When Moses wrote Genesis, he only had to compile the accounts that were already available.
:9 Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations
(Gen 6:9 NIV) This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.
Lesson:
God uses people who will set an example.
It's not that God can't use us when we're struggling with sin.
God can use anybody.
But it seems that when it comes to the big things, like warning an entire world, like starting mankind over again, God uses a person who is an example.
Paul says that one of the qualifications of an elder is:
1Ti 3:7 Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. (AV)
:11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
corrupt - shachath - to destroy, corrupt, go to ruin, decay
Corrupt, violence, sounds kind of like today, huh?
:14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood;
An "ark" is simply a box.
The "ark of the covenant" is a box to keep the covenant in.
gopher wood - some think it's cypress or cedar.
:15 length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits ...
Think of a cubit as either being 1.5 feet, or 1/2 a yard.
This boat was 150 yards long, 25 yards wide, and 15 yards tall.
By the way, tests have proven that this is the perfect dimensions for a floating object, able to withstand great storms, without capsizing.
:16 A window
Some think this is a long opening that runs the length of the ship, 1 1/2 feet tall, right under the roof.
:16 lower, second, and third stories
A three story deck system built inside, lots and lots of room!
:21 and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.
Not only did Noah and his family have to house the animals, but don't forget the food it takes to keep all these animals and people alive for a year!
Some have theorized that God may have allowed some of the animals to hibernate some of the time, thus cutting down on the food stores needed.
Genesis 7
:2 Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.
No, there weren't two of every animal.
Of the "clean" animals, there were seven of each.
Why seven?
For food and sacrifices for Noah and his family.
:4 For yet seven days ...
Count down ... seven days to go.
:6 Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
For you trivia buffs, this is a verse that helps tie in the chronology of the Bible.
Keep this in mind if you started a chart of events in Genesis.
:11 the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
The water came from two sources:
1) Water from the "canopy"
We talked about the water shield suspended above the earth during creation.
It now is allowed to collapse, opening the "windows of heaven"
2) Water from beneath the earth
It is thought that there were "floodgates" at various locations of the earth, where the water came bursting out of.
Some have theorized that this is the origin of the Grand Canyon.
No, it didn't take millions of years to carve out.
The structure of the Grand Canyon is more like that of the canyon that was formed at Mount St. Helens, when the volcano erupted, the snow melted, and the water and mud carved out a huge canyon, very similar to the Grand Canyon, but on a smaller scale.
:12 the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
The faucet was left on for forty days and nights.
:16 the LORD shut him in.
The Lord closed the door to the ark.
:20 Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail;
The water covered the highest mountain peaks by some twenty two feet.
:24 the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.
Don't think that Noah comes out after forty days.
They're going to stay in the ark with the animals until the water finally subsides, for about a year in all.
Genesis 8
:1 And God remembered Noah,
I don't know what Noah and his family were thinking after six months on the ark with all those animals, and all that water outside, but I wonder if he thought, "Has God forgot me?"
Lesson:
God hasn't forgotten you!
I remember times when I wondered if God lost my phone number or something.
Or I felt as if I'd been put on hold, and then forgotten by God.
But He hasn't forgotten.
It's just that things take longer than we think they're going to take!
PHI 1:6 {For I am} confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
1TH 5:24 Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.
:7 he sent forth a raven,
A scavenger, it would have no trouble finding food and no qualms about perching on any slimy surface, so it apparently did not return to the ark
:11 the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off:
We use it as a symbol of peace.
The olive leaf showed that the vegetation had grown back enough to support the life being kept on the ark.
It would soon be safe to release the animals.
:16 Go forth of the ark,
I like the idea that Noah didn't leave immediately.
Maybe it was that he was scared to leave, but I think he was just waiting for God.
Lesson:
Wait for God's timing!
We tend to want to rush things.
But wait until God gives the okay.
:20 Noah builded an altar
After having made it safely through the flood, Noah does the appropriate things, he worships God!
Lesson:
Don't forget to say thanks!
Don't be as the ten lepers of whom only one returned to Jesus to say thanks for healing him.
Genesis 9
:3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you;
It's after the flood that God allows man to eat meat.
I wonder if it has something to do with Noah's sacrifice?
:4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
God begins to make a few provisions to pave the way for a Savior.
The idea is that the "life is in the blood"
And so you don't eat any meat with blood in it.
The point is greater than just eating habits.
It's preparing the way for atonement for sins:
Le 17:11 For the life of the flesh [is] in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it [is] the blood [that] maketh an atonement for the soul. (AV)
And this paves the way for a Savior to die for our sins. (Heb.9)
:6 Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed:
The way is paved for capital punishment, and human government.
:13 I do set my bow in the cloud,
It is thought that due to the changes now in the atmosphere, with the canopy being collapsed, and the atmosphere now being similar to ours, that this rainbow was a new phenomena to Noah and his sons.
The Rainbow is a symbol of God's promise to us.
:15 the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
What about the final judgment?
Will God have to break this promise?
No - He won't destroy the earth with a flood, but with fire. (2Pe 3)
:21 was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.
This is no excuse for drunkenness.
This is a shameful thing to happen to Noah.
Lesson:
Righteous people still sin.
Sometimes we get to thinking that people like Noah never sinned, but they did.
God understands, and He is willing to forgive.
:22 saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.
The implication here is that Ham was laughing and mocking his father, the "righteous Noah" about being drunk and naked in his tent.
:23 covered the nakedness of their father;
This is a beautiful thing that these sons do, loving their father enough not to make fun of him, or ridicule him, or even to rebuke him, but simply to cover him up.
Lesson:
Love covers sin.
The Bible says:
1Pe 4:8 Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. (NAS)
They didn't even peak at Noah.
:25 Cursed be Canaan;
Wait a minute! Wasn't it Ham that committed the sin?
This isn't a curse coming from Noah, as much as it is a prophecy about how the wickedness and lack of love on Ham's part would affect his son and his children.
Note:
No, this isn't the beginning of the negro race.
The Canaanites were people that lived in Palestine, not in Africa.
Genesis 10
:1 these are the generations of the sons of Noah,
We now have the second important genealogy in Genesis.
This is what we call the "Table of Nations"
This is kind of important information, because this is where the current people of the earth come from.
These names are also names you'll see in important prophesies, like Eze. 38-39.
It is incredibly accurate...William F. Albright (archaeologist, not believer in infallibility of Scriptures) says,
"It stands absolutely alone in ancient literature, without a remote parallel, even among the Greeks, where we find the closest approach to a distribution of peoples in genealogical framework...The Table of Nations remains an astonishingly accurate document."
In all probability, it was Shem that kept this record. His lineage is given the fullest, as though he lost track of the other lines after the dispersion. He is also listed as an author in 11:10.
There are seventy nations listed, these are known as all the nations of the world.
An interesting idea ... Jesus said we ought to forgive our brother 70x7 ... hmmm.
Who are they?
Check out the handout ...
:8-10 Cush begat Nimrod ...
This guy started what was to become Babel, later Babylon.
He became known as one of the "gods" of Babylon.
:25 one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided;
Peleg's name means "division".
It has been theorized that in his days, the single continent of the earth was divided into it's current continents.
Even modern scientists agree that at one time, the continents were all in once piece - if you look at a globe, you can even see how the pieces fit together!
Of course they'd tell you it took place millions of years ago!
Other verses ...
(2 Pet 3:3-9 KJV) Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, {4} And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. {5} For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: {6} Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water,
perished: {7} But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. {8} But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. {9} The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Mat 24:37-39 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.