Genesis Chapter Six

Read Genesis 6:1-7 – The Wickedness of the World

v.1-2 “And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, ²That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.”

As time passed; mankind multiplied on the earth just as God had commanded them. Daughters were born of men; they were fair and were taken by other men as their wives. Everything appears to be normal and according to that to which we ourselves are accustomed to finding in our world today. But there are some subtleties in these two verses that we as causal readers would probably miss, I had for years.

There is a distinction between the daughters of men and the sons of God. In the context of this scripture the daughters of men were women who were daughters of these who did not honor God as their Father. Conversely the sons of God were the sons of men who honored God as their Father. Thus we have a situation very similar to that which God warned Israel against when they occupied the land of Canaan:

Deuteronomy 7:3-4 “Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. ⁴For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.”

The same problem that caused the downfall of Solomon:

I Kings 11:4-5 “For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. ⁵For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.”

As mankind increased in number these sins increased as well as sin will:

Proverbs 29:16 “WHEN THE WICKED ARE MULTIPLIED, TRANSGRESSION INCREASETH: BUT THE RIGHTEOUS SHALL SEE THEIR FALL.”

A situation such as the Holy Spirit describes through Soloman is building here.

v.3 “And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.”

The spirit of God will not always strive with men. What does this mean? God, though longsuffering, has a limit to his patience and will not continue in a lost cause. The prophet to Israel is told:

Hosea 4:17 “EPHRAIM is JOINED TO IDOLS: LET HIM ALONE.”

Romans 1:28 “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;”

After making this declaration Paul goes on to describe the sins that these men had made part of their lives. But in this cause God is going to give them a reprieve. Justice would demand that God cut them down but his mercy overrules and opportunity is given for them to repent. This reprieve would last for 120 years, the period of time that Noah preached.

I Peter 3:20 “Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.”

v. 4 “There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.”

“THERE WERE GIANTS IN THE EARTH”, is the scripture talking about men of great size? Absolutely, there were even giants on the earth during the days of Israel and one of the excuses that the unfaithful used to not do what God required.

Numbers 13:33 “And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.”

I Samuel 17:4 “And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.”

There were also “MEN OF RENOWN”, men held in high esteem by other men, men placed in power or control over other men. Thus we have a two fold situation that is ripe for abuse. There were giants in the world; who because of their physical size could force their will upon others and other men who by virtue of their stature among men could exercise their will upon others.

v.5 “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

God’s observation is that man is now totally corrupted. His wickedness was so great that even those men renowned by other men were some of the most flagrant sinners in existence. This sounds like our world today doesn’t it? We but need to not be deaf and dumb to hear and see that many, if not most of those, renowned by other men today, are some of the most wicked people on earth. What is the source of this wickedness? The source was their hearts and minds. We are warned of God:

Proverbs 23:6-7 “Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats: ⁷For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.”

Matthew 15:18-19 “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. ¹⁹For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:”

v.6 “And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.”

Proverbs 6:16-19 “These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: ¹⁷A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, ¹⁸An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, ¹⁹A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.”

Mankind was practicing these sins that God hates and more besides. He is grieved in his heart much the same as He was by the sins of Judah:

Ezekiel 6:9 “And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives, because I am broken with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me, and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols: and they shall loathe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.”

If the sins of man caused God this kind of grief in that day, how much more grief do you think the sins of man cause God today when he has given his “ONLY BEGOTTEN SON” to die that those sins might be removed? When God looked upon his creation he saw that it was “VERY GOOD” (Genesis 1:31); what has happened? Sin has happened. Satan has happened. Man has chosen to exercise the free will that he was given to rebel against God to the extent that God is now sorrowful that he even brought man into existence.

v.7 “And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.”

God, in his infinite wisdom, also knows what the only remedy is that he can use to cleanse the world of this corruption. God, even though mankind is his crowning creation, even though mankind was made in his own image, even though he loves mankind with a love that only the almighty God is capable of having knows what he must do. He must destroy this creature who has become the epitome of everything the He hates.

The word translated “DESTROY” means to literally “wipe off man from the earth”, like we remove the dust when we wipe off a piece of furniture. A parallel usage is found in:

II Kings 21:13 “And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down.”

And not only is God going to destroy mankind but his entire creation, animals and birds, everything that lives and breaths. But there is a ray of hope in all of this sin and corruption.

Read Genesis 6:8-13 – Noah

v.8 “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.”

In the midst and among all of this corruption God finds one man that is living as He would have him live. He’s different from the rest of the world. Consequently this man, Noah, finds favor or grace with God. Noah was like Paul, he worked at being accepted by Him:

I Corinthians 5:9 “Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.”

v.9-10 “These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. ¹⁰And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.”

We’re told four things about Noah. First of all he was a just man. In a world that was so wicked that even the very imagination of mankind was evil there was a just man. Is there any reason we cannot be just in the wicked world we must live in today? Noah was justified before God because of his living, working faith; he was such that “…BECAME HEIR OF THE RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH IS BY FAITH.” (Hebrews 11:7).

Second Noah was perfect, not sinless, no man is ever completely sinless but sincere in his righteousness and service before God, striving, working to please the Almighty.

Thirdly Noah walked with God just as his ancestor Enoch had done (Genesis 5:24). He lived a life of communion and fellowship with God. He worked constantly to conform to the will of God, to please God, to prove himself to God and to be approved of God. Noah managed all of this in the face of a world that was so corrupt that God had given up on mankind. In the midst of all this evil and corruption, Noah kept his integrity with God, just as Job kept his integrity with God in the face of all of his afflictions. Could we do any less today?

Fourth, Noah had three sons. We were already introduced to them in Genesis 5:32.

v.11 “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.”

Man was like Judah in the days just before their captivity:

Ezekiel 8:17 “Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose.”

All kinds of sin was found among them. They were “CORRUPT BEFORE GOD”, either their worship was corrupted or they worshipped images. They even seemed to be wicked and corrupt just to spite God, to defy him. The earth was filled with violence and injustice toward men. It was like what we see on our televisions currently when Baghdad has a bad day.

v.12 “And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.”

God looked upon the earth. God already knows all things but sometimes he chooses just to visit, look and see as He did Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18:20-21 and as the Psalmist tells us:

Psalms 14:2 “THE LORD LOOKED DOWN FROM HEAVEN UPON THE CHILDREN OF MEN, TO SEE IF THERE WERE ANY THAT DID UNDERSTAND, and SEEK GOD.”

We use Sodom and Gomorrah as examples to gage the wickedness of men. At this time it was not just a couple of cities or nations that were so wicked but rather the whole world was as wicked as Sodom and Gomorrah. None did good; except Noah.

v.13 “And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.”

Just as God through the prophet told Babylon:

Jeremiah 51:13 “O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness.”

God takes Noah into his confidence. They already walked together. He tells Noah of His intention to destroy all mankind along with the earth. Then because Noah has found favor with God, God extends his grace to him and gives Noah instructions whereby he and his family might escape this great destruction.

Read Genesis 6:14-22 – The Ark

v.14 “Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.”

Noah is to make an ark of gopher wood. What is gopher wood? We don’t have any of that in our area to we? Basically nobody knows. My bible dictionary simply says “The timber from which Noah’s ark was constructed.” If you take a spin on the internet you will find people claiming that it was of wood of at least a dozen different species and all claiming to be correct in their assumptions.

After the ark was constructed Noah was to pitch it within and without with pitch. I never read this without remembering the first and only boat that our family owned. The spring flood brought a flat-bottomed wooden john boat to a drift (a pile of debris that the river leaves behind) near the farm. We found it, there was no way to identify who lost it so Dad fixed it up and kept it for several years until another flood took it away. Repairing that boat was my first, but not last, encounter with hot tar. When you work with that stuff the stench permeates your very skin and doesn’t wash off, it has to wear off over time.

v.15 “And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.”

God gives Noah specific dimensions. He needs enough room to house all of the creatures that he will be taking with him along with his extended family. Is there anything unique about these dimensions? We’re told that their uniqueness wasn’t recognized until our country needed to build the “Liberty Ships” of World War II. The proportions of the ark were very similar to the proportions developed by the engineers to provide the most efficient and most reliable cargo carriers used to support that war. God gave mankind the blueprint needed to build a vessel that would withstand the flood to come and that was perfect for its purpose. It took man another 4000 years to discover and develop similar engineering on his own.

v.16 “ A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.”

This boat was to have a window, door and to have three levels inside. One source said that this would provide usable floor space of about 100,000 square feet.

v.17 “And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.”

God now tells Noah why he is going to need this vessel that must have been to men a monstrosity. He is going to bring a flood of waters that will literally destroy everything on the earth that breathes air. Everything under heaven and that is in the earth shall die. In spite of men who try to deny the flood occurred or that it was a world wide flood; the Holy Spirit through the pen of the Apostle Peter confirms and verifies for us that it in fact did happen:

II Peter 2:5 “And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;”

v.18 “But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee.”

God established a covenant with Noah; a covenant established in the same fashion that he had with Adam before, with Israel and with us today. Hear my words, obey my commandments, and all blessings, including salvation will be provided. It’s just that simple, it was then and it still is now. Noah heard and heeded the words of God.

II Peter 3:20 “Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.”

v.19-20 “And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. ²⁰Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.”

Noah was to bring two of every sort, male and female, birds of fowls, cattle and every creeping thing. He was to take everything that breathed air and would not survive the great flood that was to come. God here also tells Noah that these “SHALL COME UNTO THEE”. Noah and his sons would not have to spend their efforts to gather all of these air breathing creatures together.

v.21-22 “And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them. Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.”

And Noah is to gather and provide all of the food that would be required to sustain himself, his family and these animals for that period of time that they would need to be fed. Then we’re told simply that Noah did all that God told him to do.