In The Begining, God (Message 6)

Key Thoughts for This Series:

God is the SUBJECT of Genesis 1-11 even though He is often forgotten as we talk about the FOUR incredible events of this section of Scripture.

These four events are given as NARRATIVE, and according to other portions of the Bible, they happened just as they are TOLD. We need to determine HOW to respond.
The Story of Day 6

Today’s Text

This is one of the ODDEST passages of Scripture that we can STUDY together. There have been MANY interpretations of this passage and often it is AVOIDED altogether.

This passage shows us the EXTENT of man’s sin and what it takes to earn potential ANNIHILATION from God.

I. The Nephilim - Epitome of Mankind’s Sin

Gen. 6:1 When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. 3 Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.” 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

A. The population was EXPLODING and it was becoming less and less GODLY.

B. Among these WICKED people were a group called the Nephilim. There are THREE common interpretations as to the IDENTITY of this group:

1. Some believe that the RIGHTEOUS (line of Seth) were intermarrying with the UNRIGHTEOUS (line of Cain).
Gen. 4:26 Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to call on the name of the LORD.
Gen. 4:16 So Cain went out from the LORD’S presence and lived in the land of Nod,
— This view makes the most COMMON sense but leaves much UNEXPLAINED. (Sons of God, why explain sons and daughters, why heroes?)

2. Some say that FALLEN angels had physical relations with human WOMEN and produced a new type of “RACE”.
— This view is SENSATIONAL and hard to imagine but it ANSWERS some questions of the text.

— a. Fallen angels — the word Nephilim means “FALLEN ONES.”
Rev. 9:1The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss.
Rev. 12:4 Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. . . .

— b. Sons of God — only used of ANGELS in the Old Testament.
Job 1:6   And the day is, that sons of God come in to station themselves by Jehovah, and there doth come also the Adversary in their midst . (Young’s)
Job 2:1   And the day is, that sons of God come in to station themselves by Jehovah, (Young’s)
Job 38:7 In the singing together of stars of morning, And all sons of God shout for joy,

— c. Sons and Daughters — angels are always pictured as MEN so to produce children, they would have to engage with WOMEN.
Matt. 22:30 At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.
Gen. 19:1The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. . . . 5 They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”

— d. HEROES — a new RACE of people from angels and people could very possibly create heroes and “men of renown” (mythologies?)
Gen. 6:4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

— e. New Testament Scriptures — they make SENSE!
1Pet. 3:20 to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water,
2Pet. 2:4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others;
Jude 6 And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. 7 In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion.

3. Some hold to a view that somewhat COMBINES the previous two views by saying that the “sons of God” were DEMON-possessed men reproducing with women.

C. Whatever view is CHOSEN, note that God puts the blame on mankind (not angels) for this CHOICE to sin.

II. The Saturation of Wickedness

Gen. 6:5 The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. 7 So the LORD said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

This sin of man is now “over the TOP.” It is “GREAT,” and “EVERY inclination . . . was ONLY evil ALL the time.”

God REGRETTED, (נָחַם, nacham) or “was sorry” that He had made man and all creatures. This word is used TWICE.

BUT there was one man who was not perfect, but “found FAVOR” in God’s eyes, and Noah and his family were the HOPE for the human race. This is critical to understand before reading the FLOOD story!

For Discussion:

What did you learn about the Nephilim and what is your personal view as to their identity?

Genesis 6 stresses how sinful man had become. What words are used to emphasize this? What would have happened if there was no Noah? What about a Messianic line?

This passage is very difficult to apply specifically, but how could you apply it generally in your life? How do you understand God’s “regret”?

Nephilim and Anakites in the Bible

Gen. 6:4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.
Num. 13:33 We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”
Deut. 2:11 Like the Anakites, they too were considered Rephaites, but the Moabites called them Emites.
Deut. 2:21 They were a people strong and numerous, and as tall as the Anakites. The LORD destroyed them from before the Ammonites, who drove them out and settled in their place.
Deut. 9:2 The people are strong and tall—Anakites! You know about them and have heard it said: “Who can stand up against the Anakites?”
Deut. 3:11 (Og king of Bashan was the last of the Rephaites. His bed was decorated with iron and was more than nine cubits long and four cubits wide. It is still in Rabbah of the Ammonites.)
2Sam. 21:19 In another battle with the Philistines at Gob, Elhanan son of Jairthe Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver’s rod.
Josh. 11:22 No Anakites were left in Israelite territory; only in Gaza, Gath and Ashdod did any survive.
Josh. 15:14 From Hebron Caleb drove out the three Anakites—Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai, the sons of Anak.