Read Genesis 5:32-6:12 at Bible Gateway.
Hebrew paragraph divisions
Gen 5:32-6:4 {p} Holy Spirit will not strive with flesh forever
Gen 6:5-8 {p} Exile is a consequence of sin, but Noah found grace in the eyes of YHVH
Gen 6:9-12 {s} Righteous Noah contrasted with the corrupt earth
Gen 5:32-6:8 Chiastic structures
Gen 5:32 is a loose end that forms a chiastic structure with Gen 5:25-31 {s+s}:
1a) Gen 5:25-27 {s} Methuselah begot Lamech;
1b) Gen 5:28, Lamech lived 182 years, and had a son;
central axis) Gen 5:29, “Noah will give us rest because of our work + toil of the ground which YHVH has cursed;”
2b) Gen 5:30-31 {s} The days of Lamech: 777 years; and he died;
2a) Gen 5:32, Noah begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Gen 6:1-4 {p} chiastic structure:
1a) Gen 6:1, Daughters of men born;
1b) Gen 6:2, Sons of God took them for wives;
central axis) Gen 6:3, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he is also flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years;”
2b) Gen 6:4a, Children of the sons of God;
2a) Gen 6:4b {p} That the daughters of men bore to them.
Gen 6:5-8 chiastic structure:
1a) Gen 6:5, YHVH saw that the wickedness of man was great;
1b) Gen 6:6, YHVH was sorry that He had made man on the earth;
central axis) Gen 6:7a, YHVH said, “I will destroy what I have created: man + beast + creeping thing + birds;”
2b) Gen 6:7b, YHVH said, “I am sorry that I have made them;”
2a) Gen 6:8 {p} But Noah found grace in the eyes of YHVH.
Gen 6:9-12 {s} chiastic structure:
1a) Gen 6:9, This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations;
1b) Gen 6:9b, Noah walked with Elohiym;
central axis) Gen 6:10, And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth;
2b) Gen 6:11, The earth also was corrupt + filled with violence before Elohiym;
2a) Gen 6:12 {s} All flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.
The sons of Elohiym.
And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; Jude 1:6
And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Rev 12:7-9
The sons of Elohiym mentioned here in Gen 6 have been traditionally understood to mean, those angels who did not keep their proper domain, but who rebelled against God when Satan rebelled. The traditional rabbinic understanding is that this war took place before the conclusion of the second day of creation. The second day is when God began the process of separating things, and is also the only day which God did not proclaim it to be good.
Now why would the enemy do such a thing as to begin to impregnate human women? My belief is that he was trying to overturn the prophecy of Messiah who would crush his head. For God had said,
“And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.” Gen 3:15
He might have thought that if he was able to contaminate the human gene pool, thus corrupting the seed, it would prevent the coming of Messiah, the Promised Seed. Now consider this:
This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. Gen 6:9
An alternate perfectly acceptable translation of “perfect in his generations” is “perfect in his genealogy.” His genetics were pure, in other words, not having been contaminated by the seed of the sons of God, if such a thing were possible. All other men whose generations were not pure, were destroyed upon the earth in the Flood.
The Nephilim.
The grammar of the Scripture equates the Nephilim with the mighty men that were of old, men of renown. This is where the Greeks got the concept, so rife in their mythology, of demi-gods, heroes like Achilles and Hercules who had one human parent and one divine parent. It should be noted that almost every culture has legends of evil giants in their mythology, which came, just like the many diverse Flood legends, from a remembered history brought with them from the Tower of Babel dispersion.
6:4, Nephilim, translated “giants” in the KJV and NKJV:
Strong’s H5303, “giants, the Nephilim,” from Strong’s H5307, naphal, “to fall,” a primitive root.
nun + pey + lamed
nun = the seed, thus continue, heir, son
pey = the mouth, thus open, blow, scatter, edge
lamed = the shepherd’s staff, thus teach, yoke, to, bind
The story the ancient Hebrew pictographs are painting is of the mouth (pey) speaking from authority (lamed, the shepherd’s staff), i.e., pronouncing judgment. With the nun preceding it, it becomes sons of judgment – the sons of those who were judged unworthy of heaven.
In Scripture, the mention of Nephilim is immediately followed by the account of the great wickedness of men, so great that God sorrowed that He had ever made them. The influence of the evil sons of God and their offspring the Nephilim corrupted mankind to such a degree that the only option left was to wipe the slate clean and start over.
For further study on site
For further study off site
The Book of Enoch by R. H. Charles
How History Becomes Mythology, Part One, Part Two, Part Three – Biblical Homeschooling
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