v.1-8
1. Context: After the description of Cain and his descendent, Lamech who sinned against God (ch 4), the genealogy of Seth showed some break from the curse of mankind, i.e. Enoch did not see death and Noah brought comfort to the painful toil to his father (ch5).
The beginning of ch 6 repeatedly talked about took wives from daughters of humankind v.2, 4. Suddenly, God spoke again (after 4:15, "But the LORD said to him, “All right then, if anyone kills Cain, Cain will be avenged seven times as much.”) and it was about the judgment of mankind, v.3 So the LORD said, “My Spirit will not remain in humankind indefinitely, since they are mortal. They will remain for 120 more years.”
Conclusion: The history of mankind, disregard the exceptions of Seth, Enoch, and Noah, was filled of sin and disobedience. Even God had provided protection to Cain, his descendants did not turn back to God, but became worse. Both Cain's and Seth's lines were sinful and resulted in death.
2. Content: The main verbs from v.1-8:
About mankind:
mankind began to multiply...daughters were born to humankind
the sons of God saw...they took wives (humankind) for themselves
The sons of God slept with the daughters of mankind...they bore children
Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD
About God:
the LORD said...My Spirit will not remain in humankind... since they are mortal v.3
But the LORD saw that the wickedness of humankind v.5 Every inclination of the thoughts of their minds was only evil all the time
The LORD regretted...He said...I will wipe out...for I regret that I have made them v.6
Summary: According to what God said, mankind are mortal and they were judged v.3, they were totally wicked v.5. God regretted to make mankind v.6 and would wipe us out whom He had created v.7. If the sons of God were not human, then the only participation of humankind was giving birth to daughters who married to the sons of God and bore children. What made the woman so sinful?
If the sons of God were human then they were the ones who married and slept with their wives then they bore children. That was what happened in ch 4-5.
(EBC) As a summary of the preceding chapter, this little narrative is a reminder that the sons and daughters of Adam had greatly increased in number, had married, and had continued to have children. The impression it gives is that of an interlude, a calm before the storm. For a brief moment we see a picture of man in the midst of his everyday affairs: “marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away” (Matt 24:38–39).
3. Reflection: The history of mankind was not so good from the beginning. We failed God greatly and made Him regretted (NET “to experience emotional pain or weakness,” “to feel regret,” often concerning a past action) and highly offended (NET-emotional pain leads to embarrassment and/or anger). We hurt God emotionally. Sin is not a small matter to God. It can be a thought in my mind, a word that I spill out, or an attitude I have with others, or an unkind/ungodly action. They all matters a lot.
Accumulate sins will have a result. Generations of mankind repeatedly sinned up to a point God had enough. While mankind continuously lived our "normal" daily life we did not stop accumulating the wrath of God. Do I sin repeatedly and thinking nothing about it?
4. Questions:
1) human immorality (sin) led to the destruction of the physical world
v.9-22
1. Context: Why the planning of wiping out mankind was repeated x2 in ch 6?
v.1-8 still belongs to the account of Adam which started in 5:1 "This is the record of the family line of Adam" Towards the end of that account 6:8 (6:9 "This is an account of Noah," the beginning of a new section) the conclusion was drawn, i.e. being wiped out.
Starting in 6:9 is the account of Noah. The sins of that generation was repeated but the purpose here is to compare them with Noah. v.9b Noah was a godly man; he was blameless among his contemporaries.
blameless NET The Hebrew term תָּמִים (tamim, “blameless”) is used of men in Gen 17:1 (associated with the idiom “walk before,” which means “maintain a proper relationship with,” see 24:40); Deut 18:13 (where it means “blameless” in the sense of not guilty of the idolatrous practices listed before this; see Josh 24:14); Pss 18:23, 26 (“blameless” in the sense of not having violated God’s commands); 37:18 (in contrast to the wicked); 101:2, 6 (in contrast to proud, deceitful slanderers; see 15:2); Prov 2:21; 11:5 (in contrast to the wicked); 28:10; Job 12:4.
(BDB) sound, wholesome, unimpaired, innocent, having integrity: of God’s way
2. Content: repeated words
v.10-13
the wages of sin is death, but who sinned and what got involved when the sinful party was put to death? All the living creatures were sinful and must die, but the earth was ruined and was filled with violence because of the living creatures. Both the living creatures and the earth would be destroyed. What ever happened on the earth, God saw them.
v.14-22
After the author compared his contemporaries with Noah, God told Noah about His plan, "Now I am about to destroy them and the earth." No word from God about what those people should do or how they could prepare themselves for it. However, God told Noah what to do from v.14-22. A chain of actions were prescribed for him and his family. 2 of them were imperatives: Make for yourself an ark of cypress wood v.14 and take for yourself every kind of food that is eaten v.21. Those were related to how to survive during the flood.
Only Noah and his family was instructed by God regarding this.
NET The Hebrew verb is an imperative. A motif of this section is that Noah did as the LORD commanded him—he was obedient. That obedience had to come from faith in the word of the LORD. So the theme of obedience to God’s word is prominent in this prologue to the law.
3. Summary and reflection
What kind of person deserved to have an account of them? A different person.
When did Noah live differently than the rest of his generations? Before he knew there will be flood or judgment coming to the rest of the world. Do I just in a way to please God just because I am told I have a serious disease? Or do I always want to please Him?
Because he dare to live different from the world even when there was no sign of any consequences of sins, God told him his plan and instruct him how to survive during the flood. God will teach us how to get away from destruction if we are the right person. There is no way for Noah to got frozen up from the fear of the flood. Just follow all the actions plan of God, he would survive, and so do I.
4. Questions
2) all living creatures on the earth were sinful. God saw man and the all the living creatures as responsible of the earth
3) Man today is also sinful and violent
4) yes
5) the large scale of the ark required a lot of work. Will the animals come to the ark? He also needed to prepare a lot of food for his family and for the animals. At the same time of doing this, Noah probably still needed to work! What would floodwater on the earth look like? Why only him (and his family) to take this big task?
6) Fear that I cannot make it
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