THE PRIME EXAMPLE OF UNGODLY WORLD CONDITIONS

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GENESIS 6:1-8

Lesson #16

THE PRIME EXAMPLE OF UNGODLY WORLD CONDITIONS

• Memory work: Old Testament book names from Ecclesiastes to Amos
• Read Gen 6:1-8
  • The sons of God and the daughters of men:
    • This is a very difficult verse.
    • There are 2 major interpretations:
      • Interpretation #1: The sons of God are demonic angels who mated with human women. Their offspring were giants (nephilim). (4)
        • Arguments in favor of this interpretation:
        • The phrase “sons of God” is used to refer to angels in the book of Job. (Job 1:6, 2:1, 38:7)
        • The phrase “sons of God” is never used in the Old Testament to refer to men as it is in the New Testament.
        • This is Satan’s attempt to corrupt women so as to prevent Messiah’s birth, but God intervenes with the flood.
        • The offspring, nephilim (giants), literally means = “fallen ones”.
        • Arguments against this interpretation:
        • Read 2Pet 2:4-5 and Jude 1:6-7
        • These passages say that these fallen angels are bound in chains waiting for judgment.
        • Therefore, they could not have been free to mate with human women.
        • Response:
        • It is possible that all fallen angels did not participate in this sinful practice, but only some.
        • Those who did were bound in chains, and those who did not are free.
        • Mat 22:30 indicates angels are sexless and do not participate in a marriage-type relationship.
        • Response:
        • Mat 22:30 may refer only to the faithful angels in heaven as is stated, and not to all the fallen angels.
        • Mat 22:30 may mean that the angels don’t have sex, not that they can’t.
        • Jude 1:6 says fallen angels are kept bound in chains, but it does not say when they were put in chains. They are, therefore, not free now to have a sexual relationship with humans.
      • Interpretation #2: The sons of God are those descendants from Seth, while the daughters of men are those descendants from Cain. This then is the intermarriage between a human godly line and a human ungodly line.
        • Arguments in favor of this interpretation:
        • The flow and context of the chapter comes after the two genealogies are listed.
        • Remember the one woman mentioned in the ungodly line of Cain was Noah’s wife, Naamah. Noah was from the godly line of Seth. In chapter 6 we see the increase of sin and evil in the world before God steps in and saves Noah and his family from the flood.
        • Adam, an Old Testament person, is called a son of God. (Luk 3:38)
        • Arguments against this interpretation:
        • There was no stated law prohibiting believers from marrying non-believers in this time period. This prohibition came much later. It could, therefore, not mean 2 genealogical lines.
        • Surely believers were not limited to just the males in the line of Seth, and un-believers limited to the males in the line of Cain. If this phrase refers to godly men marrying ungodly women, what about godly women marrying ungodly men?
        • Response:
        • Only the godly male line is important to the Messianic prophecy.
  • The 120 years (3)
    • 120 symbolically means = “the extreme limit”.
    • Literally it means there will be a 120-year wait while Noah builds the ark. (This is during the last 120 years of Methuselah’s life.)
  • The giants (4)
    • The Hebrew word is a proper noun and refers to a tribe of people.
    • They are referred to by various names in scripture:
      • Nephilim – Gen 6
      • Anakims – Num 13:22, 28, 33 Deu 1:28 Deu 2:10-11, 21 Deu 9:2 Jos 11:21-22 Jos 14:12, 15 Jos 15:13-14 Jos 21:11 Jdg 1:20
      • Rephaim – Gen 14:5 Gen 15:20 2Sam 5:18 (Goliath 1Sam 17)
    • The word is “nephilim” which means = fallen ones in the earth
      • “the same became mighty men” (4)
      • The word mighty means = giant, warrior, or tyrant.
        • They were evidently the “heroes” of the time, pleasing men but not God.
        • The context in Genesis indicates they were an evil people.
    • We find this same tribe after the flood in Num 13:33. There it says the nephilim were the ancestors of Anak and his descendants and settled in the vicinity of Hebron (Jdg 1:20).
    • If the existence of the nephilim were the cause of God sending the flood, why do we find them on earth after the flood?
      • Interpretation #1:
        • Fallen angels continued to have sex with human women after the flood.
        • This is why it was important to God for Joshua and the Israelites to kill all the inhabitants of the Promised Lland when they entered it.
      • Interpretation #2:
        • Remember Noah’s wife was from the line of Cain and perhaps carried the genes for these large people.
  • Characteristics of the world before the flood:
    • The multiplication of mankind (1)
    • God’s long-suffering patience with a wicked world. The length of God’s patience was the length of Methuselah’s life, 969 years.
      • Evil and wickedness abound (5)
      • Gen 1:31 says after creation God saw everything he had made, and it was good. Gen 6:5 says before the flood, God saw everything and it was evil.
      • Every imagination and thought was evil continually. “Continually” means = from birth through all of one’s life.
    • God’s messengers warn of a coming judgment. Enoch was the first prophet.
      • God’s spirit was striving with man. (3)
      • “strive” means = to abide in, to work in and with; or to be disgraced in.
      • God’s mercy and grace is continually rejected. We see this in Cain’s opportunities to repent.
        • There is a small remnant of people who love God and walk with him.
        • For example: Enoch and Noah.
        • God’s protection and their removal from an evil world.
        • For example: Enoch and Noah.
  • How much spiritual light did the people have before the flood?
    • Creation proved to them that there is a God. (Rom 1:19-20)
    • They had the promise of a redeemer. (Gen 3:15)
    • The institution of animal sacrifice was a proof of one’s faith.
    • The mark upon Cain was a visible reminder of sin and its consequences.
    • They knew Adam’s long life of 930 years and his personal testimony.
    • They knew Methuselah’s long life of 969 years and his personal testimony.
    • They had the preaching of Enoch (Jude 1:14,15) and experienced the sudden disappearance of Enoch when God took him.
    • They heard the preaching of Noah (2Pet 2:5) and saw the building of the ark.
    • They experienced the ministry of the Holy Spirit striving with man (3) (1Pet 3:19)
  • God’s response to the evil world:
    • The Lord repented. (6)
    • “repented” literally means = to feel sad over.
• Application:
  • Mat 24:37 tells us that the days before the second coming of Christ are as the days of Noah.
  • Discussion:
    • Why did Jesus parallel his second coming to Noah’s day?
    • What similarities do you see today that remind us of Noah’s day?

Homework

Genesis 6:9-22

• Application of Gen 6:1-8:
  • I am sure you recognize the condition of the world of Noah as being similar to the condition of the world today.
    • Read Mat 24:36-39
      • What sins in your own life follow the pattern of the world rather than what pleases God?
      • Pray and ask God to forgive you of these sins. Then determine to establish a new lifestyle.
      • Pray for the world in which we live.
• Preparation of Gen 6:9-22:
  • Read Gen 6:9-22
    • The ark is a type (an illustration) of our salvation.
      • In light of that, as well as you can, try to give meanings to the following:
        • Wood =
        • Pitch =
        • 1 window =
        • 1 door =
        • 3 stories =
        • Deep flood waters =
        • 8 people in the ark =
• Memory work: Old Testament book names from Obadiah to Malachi