Tag: flood

God’s Sorrow

Posted on by jovial_cynic

So the Lord was sorry that He had made mankind on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. Then the Lord said, “I will wipe out mankind whom I have created from the face of the land; mankind, and animals as well, and crawling things, and the birds of the sky. For I am sorry that I have made them.”
Genesis 6:6-7 (NASB)

Twice in Genesis 6, the text says God was “sorry” He made humanity. The KJV renders this word as “repented.” Both work and are contained in this word “nawkham.”

But something no translation does is point out that this word also carries an implication of “comforting.”

I. to be sorry, console oneself, repent, regret, comfort, be comforted
I. (Niphal)
1. to be sorry, be moved to pity, have compassion
2. to be sorry, rue, suffer grief, repent
3. to comfort oneself, be comforted
4. to comfort oneself, ease oneself
H5162: נָחַם (nāḥam)

It strikes me when a word is use twice in rapid succession in the text, as though the author is drawing our attention to it. This isn’t a grammatical requirement; the text doesn’t have to say “sorry” twice… but it does.

And it’s this idea of “comfort” that seems to ring.

The other time we heard this word “comfort” was in the previous chapter, when we are told about Noah’s birth. Noah’s name is related to “comfort.”

And he named him Noah, saying, “This one will give us comfort from our work and from the hard labor of our hands caused by the ground which the Lord has cursed.”
Genesis 5:29 (NASB)

And what do we see? Comfort from what? From the work and hard labor from the ground God cursed.

If we jump back to Genesis 6, where God said he was sorry he “made them,” we have another fascinating connection to Noah.

While “awsah” does mean “make,” it also means… “to work.”

As in… “to work the man.”

I. (Qal)
1. to do, work, make, produce
2. to do
3. to work
4. to deal (with)
5. to act, act with effect, effect
H6213: עָשָׂה (ʿāśâ)

Consider this tie of Genesis 5 and 6 together:

Humanity cried out for COMFORT from their WORKS. God is “sorry” or “repents” TWICE, meeting their cry for COMFORT. He was grieved because their WORK led to their misery.

When God cursed the ground in Genesis 3, humanity had to toil and work, and this work became a great suffering and misery to humanity. They cried out once… and God responded twice: “nawkham, nawkham.”

Perhaps limiting their lives to 120 years shortens the suffering.

End of Days

Posted on by jovial_cynic
The Hebrew in Genesis 6:13 says something wild. Look at these two translations: the Youngs Literal Translation (YLT) and the NIV:

The first thing you may notice is that one says “all flesh” and the other says “all people.”

And God said to Noah, `An end of all flesh hath come before Me, for the earth hath been full of violence from their presence; and lo, I am destroying them with the earth.
Genesis 6:13 (YLT)

So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.
Genessi 6:13 (NIV)

But look at this word “end.” This word, when it isn’t connected to a specific time (like “end of 40 years,” or “end of his reign“) has a much more… eternal meaning.

I. end
1. end, at the end of (of time)
2. end (of space)
H7093: קֵץ (qēṣ)

There are two places in the Torah where this word is not connected to a specific time. Here, and back in Genesis 4 when Cain and Abel offer an offering to God.

This is an eternal image. This is not only our past. It is our present and future.

This passage can be read: “the end of all flesh is before me because the earth is filled with violence through the works of the flesh. I will destroy all flesh with the earth.”

If you read my Ish/Isha (flesh/spirit) post about Genesis 2-3, you’ll see a connection here.

If the Flood is a symbol of death & picture of baptism, where the flesh dies and is raised again by the Spirit of God, the destruction of the flesh is not disaster. It is what we long for: Not the death of wicked people, but the death of our sinful selves… so we can live.

Fire and Smoke

Posted on by jovial_cynic

So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high. Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit high all around. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks.
Genesis 6:14-16 (NIV)

Everything we know about the construction of the Ark is in Genesis 6:14-16.

Later, God gives very precise measurements for other construction projects.

In Exodus 40, Moses completes construction of the Tabernacle, and God’s glory falls in smoke and fire.

In 2 Chronicles 7, Solomon completes construction of the Temple, and God’s glory falls in smoke and fire.

In Genesis 6, Noah completes construction of the Ark, and I bet there was smoke and fire aboard.

Let there be Light.

Pitch and Atonement

Posted on by jovial_cynic

Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.
Genesis 6:14 (KJV)

I don’t normally quote the KJV, but it’s one of the few translations that follow the Hebrew’s weird phrasing of “pitch it… with pitch.” You might think that is odd, but the Hebrew language has some meaning buried in it that is extremely important.

This word “pitch” is used firstly as a verb and then as a noun here, and while that doesn’t seem to make much difference, look closely at the Hebrew meanings of these words.

to cover, purge, make an atonement, make reconciliation, cover over with pitch
H3722: כָּפַר (kāp̄ar)

price of a life, ransom, bribe
H3724: כֹּפֶר (kōp̄er)

These are theological words.

The imagery we see is God’s destructive flood that covers the earth, but the boat, inside and out, is going to be covered with PITCH.

With atonement.
With reconciliation.
With the price of a life.
With a ransom.

Everything we hold dear in our faith lives inside Genesis.

Noah’s Family

Posted on by jovial_cynic

But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
Genesis 6:8 (NIV)

But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.
Genesis 6:18 (NIV)

Genesis 6 clearly states that the world was entirely wicked, full of violence, every thought and intent was evil… except for Noah.

But God also saves Noah’s entire family: his wife, his sons, and his sons’ wives, despite them falling into the “entirely wicked” category.

What does this tell us?

Angels, Giants, and Men

Posted on by jovial_cynic

When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.
Genesis 6:1-2 (NIV)

There are 2 schools of thought on the “sons of God” in Genesis 6. This phrase “benei ha-elohim” can either be:

1. Angels who impregnated women
2. Men of Seth’s “godly” lineage who mixed w/ Cain’s line.

In interpretation 1, the Nephilim are monsters and giants. In interpretation 2, they are evil humans.

Either way, whether you believe the “sons of God” refers to angels or men in Seth’s line, neither position requires you to believe that the events actually happened.

The goal is to try to understand what the text intends to teach us, and the lesson may be the same either way.

That said, I strongly believe that Genesis 6 is meant to tell us a story about angels who took human form and impregnated women. Not that I think it literally happened, but I think that’s what the story is saying. And this is primarily because “daughters of Adam” cannot just mean “daughters of Cain.”

Besides, Jude and Peter aren’t going to quote from the Book of Enoch if they don’t think their audience is familiar with the book of Enoch and understand what says. And what it says is that angels impregnated women and those women gave birth to monsters. Later, war. And then the flood.

Comfort from Noah

Posted on by jovial_cynic

And [Lamech] named him Noah, saying, “This one will give us comfort from our work and from the hard labor of our hands caused by the ground which the Lord has cursed.
Genesis 5:29 (NASB)

The last generation listed before Noah is born is through Lamech, who says this perplexing thing about comfort from the toil from the cursed ground.

If you follow the timing of the births and deaths of the line from Adam until Lamech, you’ll see that Adam has only recently died, so perhaps the whole world sees that the consequenced laid out in Genesis 2 and 3 has come to fruition. Maybe the world weeps. Death is reality.

So Lamech names his son “Noah,” which means comfort, and it points to a future where God provides a way out of death, symbolized by a certain boat that rises above the all-consuming flood.

Was Enoch “Raptured?”

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Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.
Genesis 5:24 (NIV)

Some believe in the “Rapture,” a future event where God will simply whoosh Christian believers away into heaven before the “Great Tribulation,” where God’s judgement is poured out like liquid from a bowl that floods the world in God’s wrath.

They look at Enoch as an example, who is also taken up.

This does make some of us wonder why Noah, who was called “righteous in his generation” was not taken into heaven like Enoch.