The Passage opens with a reference to the sons of God and the daughters of Men.
Who are the Sons of God? There is no problem with what daughters of men means
traditionally.
Are they Sethites from chapter 5?
Evidence against this view:
a. Unlike the Cainites the Sethites are Godly, calling on the name of God.
b. They are the image of God, however this would indicate both sexes, not a
division between the Sons and Daughters.
Are they Fallen Angels (demons etc) (Sons of God: Ps 89:7; Job 1:6)
a. Why is it fallen angels if it is the humans who are punished? The human women
are taken seemingly against their wills. They didn’t do anything. It is
therefore unlikely to be fallen angels, as humanity could not be punished for
the acts of non-human beings.
Are they Despotic Rulers?
This stems from the lecacy of Cain, who formed a city, and who's line went to Lamech, who took two wives, and killed someone for bruising him.
a. Kings/ rulers setting up harems, 'taking women' is like indiscriminate rape.
1. Problem is this language is only used of rulers in a court/class structure. Westermann argues that this only becomes clear in Gen 11, so this is the only term that fits them, as they act and think of themselves as divine.
b. Gilgamesh, a Sumerian King who was probably a real ruler, who has been mythologized
over time. (read the sumarian legend 'the epic of gilgamesh' which was at time
of writing available at www.theologywebsite.com)
1.
He was seen as 2/3 god 1/3 man., the height of arrogance.
2.
Unbridled power, unstoppable as a god.
3.
Turned up at weddings and took the bride on the marriage bed.
4.
Appeared to be divine, to all intents and purposes, and was called a son of
god.
c. Continuity with Lamech
1.
Progression from Cain, to Lamech, Cain killed his brother, but Lamech killed
someone for ‘bruising’ him. He also had 2 wives (perhaps the beginning
of what turned into 'taking wives...').
2.
Not a physical descent from Cain so much as a Spiritual one.
3.
Nephilim and Gibborim; mighty men and mighty warriors, warriors of 'reknown'.
Reknown is making a name for ones self. These men did not take God's name, like
the Sethites, but tried to make a name of their own. See Gen 11 where this theme
is continued.
4.
The taking of wives is an ongoing ‘imperfect tense’, that is, it had
been, and was going to continue.
5.
Breaking the bounds: Lamech was unjust in his retribution, now his physical
and spiritual offspring are taking the liberty of unreasonable power and control
over people. Only God can rule over those who represent him, or those who are
‘like God’ - this power/rule is unlike God, it is more of a satanic
attack.
6.
Making name: It is God who gives name to people (Gen 22:30; 2 Sam 7:23). These
‘warriors of name’ have made a name for themselves, rejecting Gods
name. The people of the tower of babel want to make a name for themselves also
(Gen 11:4), and they get one, ‘confusion’ (Gen 11:9).
God now limits the lifespan to 120
years. It is possibly a reduction in lifespan or the number of years to the
flood. For the lifespan argument, 120 years doesn’t have symbolic value
to a grace period, it is also probably Moses lifespan. However, there are those
who live more than 120 years after the flood.
In the Atra Hasis (Sumerian flood story) there are 1200 years between catastrophes
that culminate in the flood. Perhaps this is the tie in. However there really
is not enough information to be conclusive.
Again, the Nephilim appear in Num 13:33; Deut 2:20-21; 1 Chr 20:4-9. Gibbor is the general term for power, and they are warriors, it’s a complementary term for Nephilim. The Nephilim are of gigantic structure, possibly referring to large dynasties of these despotic rulers, Gibborim, who establish their names in their offspring. The Sumerian Scroll of Kings complements this.
The flood:
This is a carefully crafted piece of literature. This structure is chiastic. Chi is the Greek letter X, and the structure is much like one side of the letter, like this >.
Lets look a bit more closely
1.Transitional Intro (6:5-10)
2.Violence in creation (6:11-12)
3.First Divine Speech: resolution
to destroy (6:13-22) (all flesh as opposed to man in v 5-8)
4.Second
divine speech: command to enter ark (7:1-10)
5.Beginning
of flood (7:11-16)
6.The
rising flood waters (7:17-24)
God Remembered NOAH (8:1)
8.The
receding flood waters (8:1-5)
9.The
drying of the earth (8:6-14)
10.Third
divine address: command to leave ark (8:15-19)
11.God’s resolve
to preserve order (8:20-22)
12.Fourth divine address: Covenant blessing and peace
(9:1-17)
13. Transitional Conclusion (9:18-19) (taking up especially 6:9-10 Shem, Ham
and Japheth)
The Key to this passage is God remembering Noah. It is the idea of Grace.
In the first part (1-7)
there is a movement towards chaos (Noah and sons survivors)
In the second part (9-13) there is a movement towards recreation (Noah and sons
representing a new humanity)
There is therefore a series of episodes each having a definite place in the
overall structure. Noah becomes the idea of Grace.
Another structure found within this structure follows the same lines (7:4 - 8:12) is:
1.7 days till the flood (7:4) - 7
Days later it arrives (7:10)
2. 40 Days waters increase (7:24)
3. 150 Waters dominate (8:3)
4. 150 Days waters recede (8:6)
5. 40 Days waters recede (8:10)
6.7 Days waiting (8:12)
Perhaps now we can see how carefully this was contructed. The intention is to make clear one certain thing, God's grace in saving Noah inspite of all the Evil that human beings are guilty of. God establishes his covenant with Noah (v13); the structure of the story is carefully constructed to reveal just how God lives up to His covenant with Noah.
In the Ancient Near East, there are many flood stories, such as the Atra Hasis.
The reason for the flood is put down to ‘there is too many humans’
or ‘the gods felt like it’, or just plain ‘because of the noise
(of the humans)’. Genesis 6 offers something new to those people, moral
failure. Some scholars claim, rightly, that Genesis is written in order to preserve
the 'culture' of the Jews. That is, it is written in order that the truth of
creation, the fall, and the moral decline of humanity would be recorded. It
is then passed on from generation to generation, and also used, perhaps, as
a tool of 'evangelism'.
The two Keys are Judgment and Grace. This is a distinct setting also, in which
it involves all of creation, not just Israel, or any specific persons. The whole
range of persons, and obviously Gods laws apply to everyone at this point. We
have talked about the previous passage which this flood is linked to, and how
it flows from the first sin, to Cain, and to Lamech, and now to everyone. Now
mutual strife (gen 3:15-17) has lead to murder, unjust retribution, and despotic
megalomania. Its all to do with how people treat each other.
a. All the earth is ‘hamas’ (Gen 6:11) or filled with violence, a
technical term meaning ‘the strong oppressing the weak’. The corruption
of the whole earth is complete and it works its way out through people in relationship.
b. God has laid down a social order, as representatives of himself, love should
be the key, harmony between humanity and creation, but this is now defunct.
All flesh is corrupt (v7 includes animals also)
The punishment fits the Crime (v13 And God said to Noah, “I have determined
to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence because of
them; now I am going to destroy them along with the earth.) Destroy is really
‘corrupt’ - God is going to corrupt the corrupted by uncreating it
- everything is obliterated in the opposite order to that which was in Genesis
1.
V 5-8: 5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth,
and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually.
6 And the Lord was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved
him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out from the earth the
human beings I have created-people together with animals and creeping things
and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah
found favour in the sight of the Lord.
c. Heart is the whole person; every inclination of the whole person is continually
on evil. Inclination is 'yesher' (Heb), the rabbi's call this 'the evil impulse'.
It is the desires and drives, that is, all that makes a person a person. It
also has the implication of 'double mindedness'.
d. The Lord was sorry; it has the sense of purposelessness. Gods work has not
produced what it was intended, its painful labour, because it doesn’t bear
fruit. In Gen 3, we are told that the woman would bring forth children into
'purposelessness' (pains and pangs), and that the mans work is toil (same word
as pains and pangs... implying purposelessness). Some have said that Ecclesiastes
is a commentary on Gen 1-4, with its cry 'all is vanity (purposelessness). Here
we find that same idea.
e. Noah means ‘rest’. He finds favour in the eyes of the Lord; he
is different. Important to note that Noah is not Jewish. He is the one from
whom all humanity is descended, and He is righteous (‘saddiq’ the
opposite of guilty - a legal/law term) and blameless (‘tam’ - with
no blemish, like a sacrifice). Generation ‘dor’ may be more likely
to mean ‘a group of people’. Noah’s “walking with God”
reflects his uprightness and perhaps aligns him with Enoch.
After the flood, Noah offers a sacrifice; it is an offering from the heart, of total submission and dedication, to which God responds with a covenant. He will curse the earth no more. That’s not a removal of the original curse, but that He will not add to the current curse.
Just as human beings are unchangeably sinful, God is unchangeably gracious.
We have the idea that even though there must be justice from God, there also
must be mercy, because that is His nature. The seasonal changes are unchanging
and assured because God declares them to be so. God blesses the earth. However
there are changes:
Gen 9:2; “fear and dread” - military sense, a war between the creatures
and the one who is supposed to have dominion over them.
9:4; No eating of blood, or rather life. Probably an indication of the respect
for life, and the taking of life that human beings are supposed to have, but
do not.
9:5; Even the animals will have to account for any human blood split. God is
sovereign over all things and the respect one has for life of animals carries
over to the life of humans. Even the animals are expected to have the proper
respect for life; this prevents their suffering and ours also.
9:6; Human beings still have the image, tselem, and are supposed to represent
God (even though we do not), because of that we are infinitely valuable. God
himself requires the justice, as with Abel, the blood cried out from the ground
(a cry of injustice). This is possibly a statement of the human condition, we
are going to kill each other, the story up to now has revealed this, however
we must be reminded of how things are supposed to be, and how God views it.
Jesus said “he who lives by the sword, dies by the Sword” - not because
another human will take their lives, but because God demands justice. God may
use other humans to carry out this justice also, however they too must be careful
to have the proper respect for life.
God restates the blessing once again, which completes the passage, and also
reminds us that if we remain within the rules He sets for us, we will be blessed
and not punished. Its not legalism, but the way things are supposed to be.
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