As in The Days of Noah Were -Corruption and Demonic Activity Part I

The Demonic Interruption of The Messianic Seed Line

Genesis 6: 1-8 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all that they chose. And Jehovah said, My spirit shall not strive with man for ever, for that he also is flesh: yet shall his days be a hundred and twenty years. The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them: the same were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown. And Jehovah saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented Jehovah that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And Jehovah said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the ground; both man, and beast, and creeping things, and birds of the heavens; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found favor in the eyes of Jehovah (ASV 1901).

The apostle Paul recognized the demonic warfare-taking place in the spirit world and warned us that we were the objects of their wrath (Ephesians 6: 10-13). One of earliest (after Satan’s success in the Garden of Eden) attacks to prevent to coming of the messiah was the series of events recorded here in Genesis chapter six. The Lord Jesus warned His disciples that similar events would transpire when He was about to make His second advent to the earth in time and space (Matthew 24: 37). He also told them/us not to be deceived (Matthew 24: 4).

There are those who believe that the passage in Genesis Six refers to an unholy union of those from the line of Cain and the holy line of Seth. Proper exegesis of the Hebrew text does not yield this understanding.

Verse 1 emphasized an over multiplication of humanity before the flood. The Hebrew word for men, Adomah here is generic and refers to humanity in general. The word as such cannot be limited to the sons of Cain. It includes both Sethites and Cainites and both of these groups died in the flood. Another key word found in Verse 1 is “daughter”, a Hebrew word that means “females.” “Benoth” This refers to the female portion of humanity. Again, the expression cannot be limited to the female descendants of Cain. Man (humanity) multiplied and daughters (females) were born unto them.” Therefore the distinction in verse one is not between male Sethites and female Cainites, but the emphasis is on the female portion of humanity in general which would include both Cainites and Sethites.

 The Intermarriage – Genesis 6:2

 Verse 2 describes and intermarriage. The first phrase is “sons of God.

בְנֵי־הָֽאֱלֹהִים֙  (Bene HaElohim)” The term is a general term that means to be brought into existence by God’s creative act.  Because the term carries this meaning, it is used selectively. Throughout the Old Testament the term Bene HaElohim is always used of angels (Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7). There is no reason to assign a different meaning in Genesis six for the sons of God then all the other Old Testament Hebrew usages.

In the N.T. the term Sons of God is expanded. Adam is called the Son of God (Luke 3:38) because he was brought into existence by creation. Believers are called sons of God (John 1:12) because believers are considered to be a new creation (Galatians 6:15). But, in Genesis the text is dealing with a specific Hebrew expression, Bene HaElohim and as it is used in the Old Testament it is always used of Angels.  The distinction in this passage then is not between Sethites and Cainites, but between humanity and angels. The word “men” emphasizes humanity and “sons of God” emphasize angels.

The second key expression in verse two is “daughters of men. (Benoth Adam)” This is a generic term for women, which includes females of both Sethites and Cainites. What the verse is saying is “the sons of God” saw the daughters of men.” There is no clear justification for this verse to be interpreted to mean godly males” intermarried with ‘ungodly females.”

Would truly all godly men marry ungodly females? Some perhaps would but it stretches credibility to state that all did. If the meaning of the passage is kept consistent with its usage elsewhere in the Old Testament, the passage is clearly speaking of fallen angels intermarrying with human women. This is apparent in two ways. First it is a one-way marriage the sons of God take the daughters of men. In human society intermarrying occurs two ways. Today saved males sometimes marry unsaved females and saved females sometimes marry unsaved males.  Second the context clearly speaks of a cohabitation that is unusual and unnatural which caused the worldwide flood. The loose morals on the earth at that time gave rise to sexual promiscuity and the women were willing to engage the fallen angels, which had taken on human form. Verses 1-4 deals with the angelic cause of the worldwide flood and Verses 5-6 deal with the human cause. Cohabitation between Sethites and Cainites would not be unusual and unnatural, but the same with angels and humans would be.

 The Books of Enoch’s Discussion

The Book of Enoch is a non-canonical book within the family of writings known as the Pseudepigrapha. As the designation, Pseudepigrapha suggests they are thought to be falsely attributed to the named author. Enoch lived before the Flood and was the great great grandfather of Noah. He was taken up by God at the age of 365 (Genesis 5:24). Today, some scholars believe that the books of Enoch were not written by him but by somebody else in the first four centuries before Jesus was born.[1] They state that the earliest known extant fragmentary copies of Enoch were composed in Aramaic with complete copies in Greek from the fifth to sixth century AD known as the Ethiopic books. This does not mean that Enoch did not write the book. It just means that the earliest known copies were written by authors who lived in the 300-200 BC time range. The Lord’s brother Jude’s book in chapter 1:14 clearly believed the book of Enoch to be written by Enoch. Finally, many early Church fathers accepted the book of Enoch as authoritative, such as Tertullian (Cir. 210 AD) and Origen (Cir. 225 AD). All but one of the five major components of the Ethiopic anthology have been found at Qumran in the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS). The find at Qumran revealed some little known or unknown texts about Enoch. The most important of these is The Book of Giants, a retelling of the story of the giants on the earth. [2]

The Book of Enoch affirms the text of Genesis 6:1-2 as sexual relations between fallen angels and human women producing the Nephilim.  It expands on this evil demonic invasion into the earth. One aspect of this in presenting the sexual intercourse idea attributes it to Shemyaz, the leader of the evil fallen angels, who lured 200 others to cohabit with women. They are called the “Watchers” in the Enoch account. [3] The offspring of these unnatural unions were giants 450 feet high. The wicked angels and the giants began to oppress the human population and to encourage them in the practice of evil behavior. As a result God imprisoned the angels until the final judgment and decided to destroy the earth with Flood. Enoch’s efforts to intercede with heaven for the fallen angels were unsuccessful (1 Enoch 6-16). They have been imprisoned in Tartarus (II Peter 2:2-4; Jude 1:6) with no hope of getting out until the judgment of the great day (Great White Throne Judgment Revelation 20:13). Some have been temporarily cast into the Abyss, which is a section of Hades also known as Sheol who will be released for God’s use in the Tribulation (Luke 8:31, Revelation 9:1-2, 11,11:7-8, 20:1,3 etc.)

 Jesus discussion on this

Matthew 22:30 For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven (KJV).

Some believe that Jesus’ quote in Matthew 22:30 speaks of angels being sexless and therefore being incapable of having sexual intercourse. The angels that Jesus was speaking of are angels in heaven. The comparison is not with angels in general but with angels in heaven. Jesus is comparing a human situation in heaven after we will receive our eternal resurrected bodies when He says that the humans don’t marry in Heaven. There is no need for procreation in Heaven.

Matthew 22:30 also teaches that angels do not procreate after their kind. Angels also are never declared to be sexless. Whenever they appear on earth they are always are young men and never women.  (Genesis 18:1-19:22; Mark 16:5-7; Luke 24:4-7; Acts 1:10-11)

 The Product of the Intermarriage

 To get a clearer concept of what Genesis 6:4 is saying as a whole, the individual parts need to be discussed first.

First is the name Nephilim. In some translations the word Nephilim has been translated with the word giant (gigentes).  People reading it picture huge human beings. But, the word does not mean giants; rather it means fallen ones. The word does not refer to giants in the sense of huge human beings, but to a race of fallen ones. The reason it was translated as giants is because of the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the O.T. around 250 B.C. Our know extant copies of the book of Enoch are from this time period too. They could have taken Enoch’s account and used the reference to the giants.[4] The Jewish scholars who translated the Septuagint from Hebrew into Greek, used giants. They did this because of the usage of the Greek word gigentes, which means Titans in Greek. Our English word giant comes from this Greek word gigentes. Who were the Titans in Greek mythology? They were part men and part God. Homer’s Iliad is a classic example.  The Jewish scholars clearly understood this passage to be a union of angels and humans and therefore they sought to characterize it in that way with a commonly understood Greek word.

The second word to note in this verse is giborim, which is translated as the mighty men or men of renown. Notice that there is no mention of women of renown. If this were a natural union then there would be female as well as male offspring. The angelic/human commingling is also the only way to make II Peter two, and Jude 1:6-7 make sense.

Therefore the purpose of the Flood was to destroy the product of the fallen angels with the human women.  The demonical combination of the seed line of Cain with their self centered anti-God practices and the intermarriage of fallen angels with human women produced a civilization that were monsters which caused God to render His justice on the earth. The New Testament supports the exegetical reading of the Old Testament in that the passage is not speaking of Sethites intermarrying with Canaanites. It is inappropriate to read into the text meaning that is not there. We call this eisegesis.

God’s Repentance over This

Genesis 6: 5-8 And Jehovah saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented Jehovah that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And Jehovah said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the ground; both man, and beast, and creeping things, and birds of the heavens; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found favor in the eyes of Jehovah (ASV 1901).

First it is important for us to make two observations.

1. Wickedness of man was great on the earth
2. Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually

The wickedness from the line of Cain as well as the progeny (Nephilim) of the fallen angels (Watchers) and promiscuous women produced people who were unrestrained in their wickedness. This is a description of their outward sinful behavior. Since our thoughts drive our behavior the second observation was descriptive regarding the degree of evil they were thinking. The Hebrew word for imagination is yatzar. It is the same word used in describing God’s formation of man. God formed mankind by design but humanity took its God-given abilities (design) and devised evil continuously.

Proverbs 23:7 For as he thinketh within himself, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; But his heart is not with thee (ASV 1901).

Every thought was always evil. This statement is not hyperbole. The world was ultra sick. It is getting that way now too. The unsaved people of this world are driven to do evil. In the days of Noah there was no restraining influence to restrict their behavior. Today we have government and social protocol, which acts as a restrainer. So too is the Holy Spirit who is called the restrainer (II Thessalonians 2: 7). The influence of Christianity is strong on this earth since the Holy Spirit lives inside the genuine believers and this causes society to be restrained from doing evil continually. Today, evil is increasing in these last times. Government is increasingly corrupt and immoral. Social protocol in society is gradually loosening to accept homosexuality, pedophilia as well as adultery, and abolishing the natural marriage between a man and a woman and other abominations.

The Scripture says that God repented that He had made man on the earth. Repentance as it is used of God requires some understanding of the nature of God. It generally means to change in the objects of His actions. Other Scripture says that God repented that He made Saul king (I Samuel 15: 11). Then we see in I Samuel 15: 29 that God does not repent. This can’t be a contradiction. The resolution to this seemingly contradictory set of verses is one of perspective. That is, the perspective of a human and our God. God may seem to change His mind when man has changed his attitude toward Him. God’s attitude is conditioned by man’s attitude. That is, God responds to man one way when man is obedient and another way when man is disobedient. From the human perspective it seems that God has changed His mind. From God’s perspective he simply deals with each situation in a different manner. The Hebrew word for repent is nacham which has the same root letters as Noah. The meaning for this word is  “comforted” and it means that God was comforted or justified in His decision. In the sixth verse we see God grieved in his heart. God was painfully and deeply hurt that His creation was so sinful. The degree of pain was like that of a young person getting a spanking and weeping with gasping breaths over the abrupt administration of a physical correction. God was genuinely pained over the earth’s sin as surely as He is today too.

God then issued an oracle regarding the destruction of the human race from off the earth as well as all living things except those he chose to save with Noah and the sea life. This section of Scripture ends on a positive statement that one person (with his family) found favor in the eyes of God. This is a fine example of God’s grace wherein Noah did nothing to earn or win God’s grace. God gave it to him.

Genesis 6: 9-13 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, and perfect in his generations: Noah walked with God. And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth (ASV 1901).

 Life on the Preflood Earth

Genesis 6: 9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, and perfect in his generations: Noah walked with God (ASV 1901).

The perfection discussed here is from the Hebrew word tamiym or without blemish, sound, healthful, without spot, unimpaired. This means that 1) his gene pool had not been corrupted and 2) he was spiritually obedient to God’s Word. Noah was well aware of God and was following Him in that he obeyed God’s commands. Righteous in Hebrew is tzaddik and when coupled with tamiym it means wholly righteous and He was unlike all the others in his generation.

Genesis 6: 10 And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

It is important to see that these three men and their families will populate the earth after the Flood.

Genesis 6: 11-13 And the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth (ASV 1901).

What is important to see in this passage is the affirmation of the degree of corruption and violence in the earth at that time. God uses the term filled with violence and all flesh being corrupt. This is not an exaggeration. It is an accurate depiction of the state of the earth at that time. It is rapidly becoming that way now too, just as Jesus said.

Matthew 24: 37 But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be (KJV).

In the first instance God destroyed the earth by a flood. When Christ returns the destructive means will be a fire with nuclear weapons contributing to it. But the sin on the earth during both instances had degraded to the point where violence was rampant and all flesh corrupted. The earth will continue to degenerate to the point that the Lord will rapture us off the face of the earth to be will Him leaving only the unsaved and a massively sinful population. The Great Tribulation will follow this. Adam wrote parts of Genesis and we had his prediction of both the flood and the fire destructions of the earth.

Josephus affirmed Adam writing of which evidence was extant in his day (Cir.A.D.68).

“Adam’s prediction that the world was to be destroyed at one time by the force of fire, and at another time by the violence and quantity of water, they made two pillars; the one of brick, the other of stone: they inscribed their discoveries on them both, (71) that in case the pillar or brick should be destroyed by the flood, the pillar of stone might remain, and exhibit those discoveries to mankind; and also inform them that there was another pillar of brick erected by them. Now this remains in the land of Siriad to this day.^[5].” (The Antiquities of the Jews, Book 1 Chapter 2 para. 71)

Some Characteristics of the Earth Before Divine Judgment.

1. Preoccupation with physical appetites (Luke 17: 27)
2. Rapid advances in technology (Genesis 4: 22)
3. Grossly materialistic attitudes and interests (Luke17: 28)
4. Uniformitarian philosophies (Hebrews 11: 7)
5. Inordinate devotion to pleasure and comfort (Genesis 4: 21)
6. No concern for God in thought or deed (II Peter 2: 5; Jude 15)
7. Disregard for the sanctity of marriage (Matthew 24: 38)
8. Rejection of God’s Word (I Peter 3: 19)
9. Population explosion (Genesis 6: 1, 11)
10. Widespread violence (Genesis 6: 11, 13)
11. Corruption throughout society (Genesis 6: 12)
12. Preoccupation with illicit sexual activity (Genesis 4: 19; 6: 2)
13. Widespread words and thoughts of blasphemy (Jude 15)
14. Organized Satanic activity (Genesis 6: 1-4)
15. Promulgation of abnormal depravity (Genesis 6: 5, 12) [6]

Soon there will be another appearance of fallen angels in the earth seeking to again destroy mankind with their corruption and bring the Antichrist on the earth. FOR A SIXTEEN PART VIDEO SERIES ON THESE SUBJECTS SEE DR. WOODHEAD’S UTUBE CHANNEL.

 

[6] Morris, Henry, M. 176, The Genesis Record, A Scientific & Devotional Commentary on The Book of Beginnings, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, MI 49516 pgs. 174-175

More in Part II

 

Daniel E Woodhead