Read Genesis 6 here or at Bible Gateway.
The Hebrew paragraph divisions:
5:32-6:4 {p} Holy Spirit will not strive with flesh forever
6:5-8 {p} Exile a consequence of sin, but Noah found grace in the eyes of YHVH
6:9-12 {s} Righteous Noah contrasted with the corrupt earth
6:13-8:14 {s} …
We have been learning about the Teaching Tools God has embedded in the text of the Bible, beginning with the Hebrew paragraph divisions. Recall that the strong division, which concludes a topic, is marked by a {p} in my notes, since its Hebrew name begins with the ‘p’ sound. The second division is the weak division, which we haven’t really talked about yet. The weak division concludes a facet of a topic, going on to a new facet, but still staying within the topic already introduced. I mark it with an {s} in my notes, because its Hebrew name begins with the ‘s’ sound. We started seeing weak divisions in Gen 2:
2:4-3:15 {s} Disobedience to YHVH’s command is sin
3:16 {s} Consequences for the woman
3:17-21 {p} Consequences for the man
3:22-24 {s} Exile from YHVH’s presence is a consequence of sin
4:1-26 {s} Exile from family is the consequence of sin
5:1-5 {s} Mortality of Adam
5:6-8 {s} Mortality of Seth
5:9-11 {s} Mortality of Enosh
5:12-14 {s} Mortality of Kenan
5:15-17 {s} Mortality of Mahalalel
5:18-20 {s} Mortality of Jared
5:21-24 {s} Enoch walked with God and did not die
5:25-27 {s} Mortality of Methuselah
5:28-31 {s} Mortality of Lamech
5:32-6:4 {p} The Holy Spirit will not strive with flesh forever
6:5-8 {p} Exile a consequence of sin, but Noah found grace in the eyes of YHVH
6:9-12 {s} Righteous Noah contrasted with the corrupt earth
The mix of strong and weak divisions creates another teaching tool that I call Strong Themes. The very next paragraph in Genesis following the Creation account in Gen 1:1-2:3, is from Gen 2:4-3:15 and is ended with a weak marker {s}. There are more weak paragraphs following, and the next strong marker occurs at the end of Gen 3:21.
2:4-3:15 {s} Disobedience to YHVH’s command is sin
3:16 {s} Consequences for the woman
3:17-21 {p} Consequences for the man
| weak facet | + weak facet | + strong facet | = strong theme |
| Gen 2:4-3:15 {s} | + Gen 3:16 {s} | + Gen 3:17-21 {p} | = Gen 2:4-3:21 {s+s+p} |
Now if Gen 2:4 begins a new strong theme which is concluded in Gen 3:21, Gen 2:3 concludes its own strong theme teaching a single overarching topic:
Gen 1:1-2:3 {px7 (seven concurrent strong facets)} God is our Creator
Gen 2:4-3:21 {s+s+p} Disobedience to God is sin, and carries the consequence of painful toil and death
Gen 3:22 is the start of the next paragraph, which happens to conclude with the weak marker, {s}, so we look for the next {p} marker to find the conclusion of the next strong theme:
3:22-24 {s} Exile from YHVH’s presence is a consequence of sin
4:1-26 {s} Exile from family is the consequence of sin
5:1-5 {s} Mortality of Adam
5:6-8 {s} Mortality of Seth
5:9-11 {s} Mortality of Enosh
5:12-14 {s} Mortality of Kenan
5:15-17 {s} Mortality of Mahalalel
5:18-20 {s} Mortality of Jared
5:21-24 {s} Enoch walked with God and did not die
5:25-27 {s} Mortality of Methuselah
5:28-31 {s} Mortality of Lamech
5:32-6:4 {p} The Holy Spirit will not strive with flesh forever
By making Gen 3:22-6:4 a single strong theme, God is teaching us about three exiles as a result of sin—Adam’s exile from Eden, Cain’s exile from the presence of YHVH and his family, and mankind’s exile from life or the earth in judgment (“I will blot out man from the earth,” Gen 6:7a). Sin precedes each of these exiles. BUT! In the face of mortality, sin, and judgment, we find that Enoch and Noah walked with God and did not die, but found grace in the eyes of YHVH. Thus the strong theme:
3:22-6:4 {sx11+p} Exile and death follows from sin and walking in the flesh; life follows from walking with YHVH.
If there are questions, these are good resources:
Gen 3:22-6:4, Strong theme Chiastic structure
Gen 5:32-6:4 Sons of God series – Christine Miller
Noah’s Ark answers – Answers in Genesis
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