Genesis Chapter 6:1-8 X-Files or Aliens Among Us? W e are approaching the universal judgment of God, the Flood. Of course some feel that this whole section of scripture is simply myth taken from a common source. Here is an example of what is seen as the source material. Utnapishtim says to him, to Gilgamesh: I will lay open before thee, Gilgamesh, Knowledge deep-hidden, And a secret of the gods will I tell thee: Shurippak is a city (thou thyself knowest her), Which lieth on Euphrates banks. She is an ancient city, and the gods are kind to her. Once the great gods conceived a plan To make a stormflood. There foregathered Aun, their father, Their overlord, the hero Ellil, Their herald Ninurta, their prince Ennugi. The bright-eyed Ea had sat with them at counsel. He told their discussion to a reed-hut: Reed-hut, reed-hut! Hut-wall, hut-wall! Reed-hut, listen! Wall, take it in! Thou man from Shurippak, son of Ubara-Tutu, Tear down thy house, build a ship! Let riches go, seek Life, Despise possessions, save thy life! Bring living things of all kinds into the ship! Be its measurements strictly laid out, The ship that thou art to build, For its length and its breadth to match On the holy lake set it at anchor! I understood, and I say to Ea, my lord: I perceive, my lord, what thou sayest; I hold it dear, and will carry it out. But what shall I say to the city, To the folk and to the elders? Ea opened his mouth and speaks, Says to me, his bondman Man, thus shalt thou speak unto them:
Ellil hath taken a loathing to me, Therefore will I not any longer dwell in your city; The land of Ellil I will not see more. I will betake me off to the holy lake, To dwell with Ea, my lord. But over you will he make to rain down Riches upon riches, Catch of fish, catch of birds, And with great harvests will he bless you When of an evening the Sender of darkness Will let a cloudburst come down upon you. 1 IV. The Flood Chapters 5-9 B. Antediluvian Civilization Chapter 6 1. Giants in the Land Verses 1-4 2. Evil in the Earth Verses 5-7 Introduction: Listen to what Leonard Cottrell says in his introduction to this work. There are many aspects to the fascination of the poem, quite apart from its immense age. There is the fact that it contains an account of the Deluge so close to that recounted in the Old Testament as to leave no doubt that the writer or writers of the Book of Genesis must have know it. 2 It is interesting that there is no doubt that the Book of Genesis must have drawn of this epic from its account of the Flood. The clear and coherent teachings of Genesis were drawn from the mythological and fanciful writings of Gilgamesh. It shows that if you start from the position that scripture is not unique in being written by God you can draw all sorts of strange conclusions. Instead it seems much more likely that there is a common memory through oral tradition of the Flood which would be similar though much more bizarre with the actual account dictated to Moses by God. But before we can talk about the Flood we do have to consider why God would take such action, so God has established a godly line. It has passed from Adam through Seth and at this point ends with Noah and his children. It was this line that was the source of the statement found in Chapter 4, verse 26: To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the name of the LORD. There is a spark of hope in the midst of a fallen humanity. There is always a faithful remnant. But sadly this is a very small group. Men in general were in deep trouble. This is the message of Chapter 6. 1 Leonard, William Ellery, translator, Gilgamesh, The Limited Editions Club, Avon, CN, 1974, p. 83-85. 2 Ibid., p. v. ) 90 (
1. Giants in the Land: Verses 1-2: This is a sad example of the fallenness of humanity. We can see two specific points here. 1. The number of men multiplied upon the face of the earth. This, as I noted last week, could well mean that the population of that world may have conservatively been over a billion. (see Whitcomb and Morris, The Genesis Flood.) 2. Men in general turned from God. Yes, there was a godly line and it was in the minority. Also there fact there was a godly line does not mean that all in it were godly. In fact the evidence precludes this view. There is a question though regarding the identity of the two groups named. There are three generally taught analyses of this passage. Each to some degree can be supported by scripture. The third is the least familiar and attempts to reconcile the previous two. One states this is intermarrying between the line of Seth and Cain. The second states the marriages are between Angels (fallen) and humanity. The third holds that the sons of God were demon possessed rulers and mighty men of the day. The following, explaining the first two, is adapted from Wilmington s Guide to the Bible. 3 There is a third view which in a very interesting and may be the best understanding. 1. The sons of God are the godly line, the descendants of Seth. The daughters of men were of the ungodly line, the descendants of Cain. These two then intermarried. The arguments for this position are: a. It is the simplest understanding and seems consistent with the placement of the genealogies. b. In Matthew 22:30, Jesus stated: For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. c. The Law of biogenesis states that life begets similar life. Angels and humans are not a biologically possible mix. 2. The second position states that these marriages take place between Angels and humans. The arguments for this position are: a. The position seems to be supported by the Hebrew. b. The Hebrew phrase bne-elohim (Sons of God, MyIhølTaDh yńv;b) always refers to angels in the Old Testament. (See Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7; Dan. 3:25.) 4 3 Willmington, Dr. H.L., Willmington s Guide to the Bible, Tyndale House, Wheaton, IL, 1981, p. 24-25. 4 Ibid, p. 24. ) 91 (
c. This could account for the legends of relationships between gods and men. d. This is the view commonly held by Jewish scholars. e. This is the view that has been held by much of the Church. f. Some believe that it was to these fallen angels that Jesus preached, as recounted in 1 Peter 3:18-20: For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water Ross identifies a third position that does not violate the Hebrew but avoids the problem of a marriage of angel and human and the grotesque consequences of that kind of a union. The incident is one of hubris, the proud overstepping of bounds. Here it applies to the sons of God, a lusty, powerful lot striving for fame and fertility. There were probably powerful rulers who were controlled (indwelt) by fallen angels. It may be that fallen angels left their habitation and inhabited bodies of human despots and warriors, the might ones of the earth. 5 This position resolves the problems created by either of the more traditional views and be consistent with the actions of demons we see elsewhere in scripture and in the world. Regardless of which ever position one holds, the real issue is that Satan in some manner used his methods to try to destroy the godly line. He used lust and inter-marriage, the same method he has used through out the history of humanity. Satan has constantly tried to destroy the godly line, preventing the coming of the Messiah and his own defeat. Verse 3: As a result of this interaction God warns mankind that he won t always put up with their behavior. God evaluates their actions and calls them unacceptable. He states that there will be a coming judgment. In this case that was a flood. He may additionally been warning them of the coming decline in the life span of humanity. God can be giving the same warning today. He will not always put up with the sinfulness of humanity. Isn t that what much of Revelation tells us? God is patient and merciful, but He is also just and while He may hold off the execution of that judgment, it will inevitably come. While some believe that God was saying You will only live to 125 years old in the future, Calvin believes this is a warning of the time left before universal judgment. Certain writers of antiquity, such as Lactantius, and other, have too grossly blundered, in thinking that the term of human life was limited within this space of time; whereas, it is evident, that the language used in this place refers not to the private life of any one, but to a time of repentance to be granted to 5 Ross, Allen P., The Bible Knowledge Commentary, Volume 1, Genesis, Victor Books, Wheaton, IL, 1986, p. 36. ) 92 (
the whole world. Moreover, here also the admirable benignity of God is apparent, in that he, though wearied with the wickedness of men, yet postpones the execution of extreme vengeance fro more than a century. 6 God establishes a principle here. Sin must be recognized. Sin will be judged. He calls men to judge themselves or He will. In light of this how do you respond to people when they quote Jesus words: Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you (Matthew 7:1 2). Verse 4: We seem to being told of two different peoples in this verse. There are the Nephillim and the progeny of the sons of God and the daughters of men. The world translated in some versions giants is Nephillim and is the name of a people. It should not be translated but simply transliterated. The word comes from a root meaning fallen, apostate, men with violence and rapine, causing them to fall. While physically strong and robust, leaders, there is no reason to seem these individuals as uniquely large physically. It is interesting though that those who hold these men were the product of angels and people speculate that these individuals were the sources of later myths. One can t help but wonder, did the myths of the Titans, the battles of the gods and men, come from some kind of oral tradition carried over from this period. The verse doesn t not say thought that these men were a product of the relationships in verse 2. This is why the NIV translation is clearer. There Nephillim were on the earth in those days and also afterward when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown. Again these seem to be two different groups. Both of these groups are simply more examples used by Moses to show the ever increasing evil in the world, and to show why God was telling humanity that time was running out. 2. Evil in the Earth: The conditions had become so vile that man was limited in evil only by his imagination. While we may often feel that things are as bad today, we must remember that only eight were allowed to survive the Flood. Clearly there are a great many righteous in the world, not in relationship to the world s population, but in absolute numbers. Nevertheless, conditions will continue to grow worse, which therefore shouldn t surprise us. And while the righteous may be greater in number, the wicked will reach the same vile depths as was seen in the antediluvian culture. 6 Calvin, John, Commentaries on the First Book of Moses called Genesis, Vol 1., Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1979, p.243. ) 93 (
For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man (Matthew 24:37 39). As a consequence of the wickedness of men God was grieved or repented that He had created him. Enough was enough! He was going to judge by destroying mankind and all of the creatures He had created. The concept of God repenting, as stated here in some translations, causes a certain amount of concern and confusion. The word translated grieve or repent means to change ones mind. It is an anthropomorphism to give us a handle on what God is doing. Because of the corruption of man, God has changed his mind as to allowing man to continue. He will judge him. It is man s condition that God is grieving. It is man s condition that forces God to judge. But even in the midst of judgment God is merciful. Leupold, speaking of God s repentance states: it should be noted that we are using an inadequate human term for a perfect and entirely good divine action. Luther especially stresses that such expressions are found in the Scriptures so that we mortals with our feeble understanding might be helped to catch hold on divine truth according to the measure of our poor human ability. Procksch wee defines this repentance on God s part not as a change of purpose but of feeling out of which a new course of action develops. 7 Parenthetically, this verse can be used as an additional argument against the idea we have a hybrid race of angels and men. God says he will destroy man, whom He created. This could rule out the existence of any beings being destroyed in the flood other than human ones. This is a picture of a very dark world. But wait, there s a small light in the midst of the darkness. This is Noah. But before we look at Noah, I want to spend a little time talking of conditions in the antediluvian world, both physically and morally, which we will do next week. I think the main point we should take from this passage is one of concern for the lost. God gave the antediluvian world a clear warning that He was going to judge. He has given this world an equally clear message in scripture. And like the antediluvian world, this world too ignores God s warnings. Our responsibility is to be the Enoch s, the Noah s the ones who are committed to announcing God, love, mercy and His coming judgment, no matter what the reaction will be to us personally. Look at those around you. If they don t know Christ, they are on the way to Hell. And while we can t save anyone, we are blessed with the responsibility of giving them the truth that can be the source of their salvation. 7 Leupold, H. C., Exposition of Genesis, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1981, p. 261. ) 94 (
Let us never forget that we are chosen to be in God s kingdom, and be are blessed to be His messengers. There is darkness around us, but many are still turning to God s light, and will do so until that day when the books are closed and His final judgment will occur. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. ~ Matthew 5:14-16 ) 95 (
Genesis Chapter 6:1-8 X-Files or Aliens Among Us? IV. The Flood Chapters 5-9 B. Antediluvian Civilization Chapter 6 1. Giants in the Land Verses 1-4 2. Evil in the Earth Verses 5-7 Introduction: (Genesis 4:26) 1. Giants in the Land: Verses 1-2: (Matthew 22:30; 1 Peter 3:18-20; see Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7; Daniel 3:25.)
Verse 3: (Matthew 7:1 2) Verse 4: 2. Evil in the Earth: (Matthew 24:37 39, 5:14-16) Personal Application: We are citizens of the kingdom. In light of the darkness around us, what is the implication of this truth? Prayer for the Week: Father, may we be Your light in the darkness around us. In Jesus name, amen.