GENESIS – An Expositional Overview of the Beginning of God’s Revelation: Chapter SIX

Contributing commentaries by Sonny Islas and James Fire

Chapter Six – by James Fire 

GENESIS 6:1-2
¹ And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,² That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

We will be venturing into rather strange, even bizarre territory in this chapter. The reason we will perceive this as so outlandish, is because what happens here is anything but common among human experiences. Let’s get right into examining these passages, and you’ll see what I mean pretty quickly.

Men here are populating the entire Earth. In Chapter four we read about cities being built and existed in the days of Abel and Cain (GEN 4:17). The world was starting to get filled up. Estimates suggest there could be anywhere from 1-3 billion people or more on the Earth by now. 

Note that it speaks of “daughters of men” here – but no mention of sons: were there only girls born? No, of course not – but it mentions the daughters for specific reason. The text contrasts these daughters of men (“Benoth Adawm”) with another group: the sons of God (“B'nai HaElohim”). The daughters of Adam, that’s pretty straight forward: human females who are the descendants of Adam.

Yet what of “the sons of God”? What does B'nai HaElohim actually mean? It refers to a direct living creation of God; just as a father creates a son through his seed, God by His Word, speaks such creatures into existence; creatures that possessed sentience – self-aware, with consciousness. This is a term used in the Old Testament for angelic beings (JOB 1:6; 2:1; 38:7). Angels don’t have children, so every angel that exists was created directly by God individually.

In Luke chapter three, we see the genealogy of Christ through Mary – and it goes all the way back to Adam, who is referred to there as “the son of God” (LUKE 3:38). Adam, like the angels, was a direct creation of God.

But, you might say, aren’t those who receive Jesus also referred to as the “sons of God” (JOHN 1:12)? Exactly right – and it’s because the LORD Jesus directly created in each of us a new heart (just as was prophesied in EZEK 36:26-27), replacing our old sinful hearts, instilling His Holy Spirit in us all, we are also a direct creation – re-creation, of God! How glorious that is!!! The same LORD God Creator that spoke the galaxies into existence, spoke, and created in you a new, God-manufactured heart!!

So now we read about these angels – these sons of God – beholding these daughters of men, admiring their beauty and they took of them as many as they wanted for wives. It mentions that these angels themselves – these fallen angels made these women their wives. But what about what it states on MATTHEW 22?

MATTHEW 22:29-30
²⁹ Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. ³⁰ For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.

Note carefully what it doesn’t say here – it doesn’t say that they (the angels) can’t – just that they don’t: and these angels that don’t are heavenly angels of God, not fallen ones! Angels could never marry among themselves – but somehow, strangely enough, there was this intercourse between them and human women.

What does it declare in the New Testament about this?

Commentary from Chuck Missler on this is excellent:

2 PETER 2:4-5
For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell [Tartarus], and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

Peter's comments even establish the time of the fall of these angels to the days of the Flood of Noah.

The apostle uses the term tartarus, [“the deepest abyss of Hades”] here translated "hell." This is the only place that this Greek word appears in the Bible. Tartarus is a Greek term for "dark abode of woe"; "the pit of darkness in the unseen world." As used in Homer's Iliad, it is "...as far beneath hades as the earth is below heaven."

The Epistle of Jude also alludes to the strange episodes when these "alien" creatures intruded themselves into the human reproductive process:

JUDE 1:6,7
And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

These phrases: "going after strange flesh", “keeping not their first estate", having "left their own habitation", and "giving themselves over to fornication", seem to clearly fit the fallen angel intrusions found here in GENESIS 6. (The term for habitation, oivkhth,rion, refers to their heavenly bodies from which they had disrobed, taking on earthly bodies instead).

Remember that two angels accompanied a theophany of the LORD in His visitation of Abraham; they ate a meal together (GEN 18); these angels were pursued by the men of Sodom who demanded them of Lot, so that they could rape them, but were blinded by them instead; these angels later took Lot and his family by the hand to lead them out of Sodom (GEN 19). These spirits have the ability to take on physical form.

Apparently, these particular fallen angels committed things so terrible (besides the rebellion that they all contributed to in following Lucifer) that the LORD saw it necessary to lock them up in this ‘tartarus’.

What was the result of this bizarre mating between angels and women?

GENESIS 6:3-4
³ And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. ⁴ There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

The term is Nephilim, from the word Nephal, meaning “the fallen ones” – but what was the reason behind this? What could Satan possibly hope to gain from all of this interbreeding?

He knew that the coming one would be born and that He would be human; it was his hope that if he promoted this interbreeding between his fallen angels and human women, he could pollute the race sufficiently that no one born of women would be purely human, but rather human/fallen angel hybrids – whose loyalty would be with Satan. If Satan understood that “seed of the woman” would be God made flesh, such devilish hybrids would also make this impossible.

We know what happened to all life on Earth when the Flood finally came; with the exception of those who were safely in the ark, everything else died. Including these giants.
Question: what happened to their half angel/half human spirits?

Perhaps these are what we call demons today? Some believe demons is just another word for fallen angels, and that could be! But I can’t help but wonder about a phrase I puzzled over for years in the New Testament: “unclean spirit”.

The term “unclean” is used for the inspection of a sacrificial animal that was unsuitable as an offering due to some kind of physical blemish. Well how could a fallen angel – a spirit, have any kind of physical blemish?

Unless it refers to a spirit that once inhabited a body that itself was unclean – an abomination of human and angel mixture. An interesting possibility, and it makes sense why demons crave to enter into human bodies, so it could once again enjoy the sensuousness of human feeling. A bit more on this in verse 9. . .

Also notice what else it says in vs. 4:
“There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that”

This verse indicates that there were giants AFTER the Flood – and we know this is true, because we’ve all read about David and Goliath – a giant that was over 9’ tall, who also had three brothers (JOSH 15:14). Then there was King Og, whose bed was over thirteen feet long!

We don’t see Nephilim around today, so they are long gone never to return right?

Maybe not: In the vision God gave to Nebuchadnezzar of the statue made of a gold head, silver chest, stomach and thighs of bronze, legs of iron – and then there are the feet and toes of iron mixed with miry clay. But note vs. 43:

DANIEL 2:43
43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.

Who are the “they” in this verse? They can’t be human beings because its with human beings that they are mingling with – is this yet future prophecy going to be a replay of what happened in Noah’s day?
That brings a rather interesting perspective to what the LORD Jesus said in:

MATTHEW 24:37
But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

GENESIS 6:5-6
⁵ And God 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. ⁶ And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

This is extraordinary when you think about it – we have the testimony of Scripture telling us that the imagination of people was only evil; continually! I don’t know if we have reached that point yet today, though we could be very close, and getting closer!

It was so wicked that God repented; the word repent here doesn’t mean what we typically think of when we see this word. It means to be grieved, an expression of remorse, to gather strength for a course of action; God is not willing that any should perish (2 PET 3:9); He does not have pleasure in the death of the wicked (EZEK 33:11); God drags His feet to bring judgment, but sprints to deliver mercy. When He repented in the way here described, it was with the readiness to execute judgment.

Philosophical counsel tells us that we should “follow our heart” – as though our own heart could provide wise counsel, comfort and anything else we might need; but JER 17:9 states that the human heart is desperately (incurably) wicked. If the people in the world at that day had turned to the LORD, He would have granted the mercy He’d long to demonstrate. But if the mercy of God is not received, judgment inevitably follows.

GENESIS 6:7-9
⁷ And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. ⁸ But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. ⁹ These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.

The course of action was set: judgment would fall – and every living thing would perish; except for the one man who found grace in the eyes of the LORD: Noah. Not only was he a just man, but he was “perfect in His generations”. The term generations here refers to “lineage, family history” and the word in Hebrew for “perfect” is: tamyim , it can mean “integrity, truth”, and also – “without blemish” which refers to Levitical offerings that must be without blemish or spot in order to be suitable.

This could perhaps refer to the fact that Noah’s family lineage was without blemish, regarding the introduction of abomination by way of the Nephilim. So not only was Noah just in the sight of the LORD, but he also found grace, and was untainted by the Nephilim in his family lineage.

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

Here we have the three sons of Noah, from which, we have all the various tribes ofthe human family – Shem (Asia: 1); Ham: 2); and Japheth: 3).

1) SHEM

 1. Elam (The Persians) settled northeast of the Persian Gulf.

    2. Asshur (The Assyrians) the Biblical name for Assyria, settled between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers.

   3. Arphaxad (The Babylonians) settled in Chaldea.

   4. Lud (The Lydians) settled in Asia Minor, but some of them sailed across the Mediterranean and settled in northern Africa.

   5. Aram (The Syrians) the Biblical name for Syria, located north and east of Isr

2) HAM

   1. Cush (The Ethiopians) settled in Ethiopia south of Egypt, also early in their history some of them migrated to an area north of the Persian Gulf (Gen. 10:8-10).

   2. Mizraim (The Egyptians) the Bible name for Egypt, settled in northeastern Africa.

   3. Phut (The Libyans) sometimes translated Libya, settled in northern Africa.

   4. Canaan (The Canaanites) settled above Africa east of the Mediterranean (Later was given to the Hebrews).

3) JAPHETH

     1. Gomer (The Cimmerians) settled north of the Black Sea, but afterwards his descendants probably occupied Germany, France, Spain and the British Isles.

     2. Magog (The Scythians) lived north of the Caspian Sea.

     3. Madai (The Medes) settled south of the Caspian Sea.

     4. Javan (The Ionians or Greeks) Javan is the Hebrew name for Greeks, they settled in Greece.

    5. Tubal (The Turks) lived south of the Black Sea.

    6. Meshech (The Slavs) lived between the Black and Caspian Seas,

    7. Tiras (The Etruscans) located west of the Black Sea.

GENESIS 6:11-13
¹¹ The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. ¹² And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. ¹³ 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.

The word “corrupt” is mentioned three times in this verse, and “violence” twice.

“Corrupt” shachath – means to decay, ruin, to destroy, to ruin in a physical or moral sense. It is an infestation of evil and rebellion. This is the deplorable condition that the human race degenerated to.

“Violence” chamac – cruelty, malicious, a disruption of divinely established order of things; a violent wrong doing that has yet to be righted, a rebellious wrong-doing that leads to broken relationship with God, thus inhibiting His Blessing.

“As the days of Noah, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be . . .” (LUKE 17:26). 

Certainly, we are seeing a repeat of those days in our current state of this fallen world. Such violence and corruption that was unheard of only one generation ago!

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

The word for pitch in Hebrew is kopher; one of its meanings is a covering as in a redemption price, a ransom, and its based on the word kaphar meaning atonement. The fact that this pitch covered the entire ark both inside and out speaks of the atonement and redemption that we have in Christ, and the ark then becomes a type for Christ. 

When the LORD redeems and atones, it brings about a holy work not only within our hearts, but also without in our visible, practical lives.

The Ark is a Type of Christ 

GENESIS 6:15-16
¹⁵ And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.  ¹⁶ A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and THE door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.

The ark was 450’ long, 75’ wide and 45’ high, which means that this vessel, basically a barge contained almost 1,520,000 cubic feet. The dimensions of this vessel are such that it creates a perfectly balanced, buoyant ship that would remain stable even under the most adverse sea weather conditions. Modern vessels still use this ratio of length, width and height for barges and freight carriers.

Notice that there aren’t multiple entrances into the ark, not even three or just two – there was only one door, one way to escape the Flood Judgment, a single door to salvation. Again, this makes the Ark a wonderful type of Christ; He Himself is the Way (JOHN 14:6) and the Door to Eternal life and to the Father (JOHN 10:7).

GENESIS 6:17
¹⁷ And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and everything that is in the earth shall die.

There is ample evidence to prove a world-wide flood; Answers in Genesis provides A Flood of Evidence for the Flood Judgment of Noah’s day. 

Henry Morris’ landmark book The GENESIS FLOOD is an excellent source that lays out ample evidence proving a global flood. 

From Institute for Creation Research (ICR) we have the following article:

95 Reasons Why the Genesis Flood was Global 

GENESIS 6:18
¹⁸ But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee.

From GOT QUESTIONS we have these comments on this covenant spoken of here, and demonstrated in GENESIS 9:

“The Noahic Covenant, found in Genesis 9:8-17, is the promise that God made to Noah and his descendants after the flood which destroyed the world. The Noahic Covenant has several distinguishing features. First, it is an unconditional covenant. Second, it was made to Noah and all his descendants as well as “every living creature” and the earth in general (Genesis 9:8-10). Third, it was sealed with a sign, the rainbow.

“The Noahic Covenant is an unconditional covenant because it does not depend upon anything Noah or his descendants had to do to fulfill the covenant. The promise is based upon God’s faithfulness alone. Because of God’s faithfulness to always do what He says He will do, we can know today with certainty that there will never be another worldwide flood as there was in the days of Noah, no matter how wicked mankind becomes. Neither the wickedness nor the righteousness of mankind affects this unconditional covenant. There is no "condition" under which God will renege on His promise. This does not mean that God will never again destroy the earth, however. He has promised to one day destroy the earth by fire (2 Peter 3:10, 11; Revelation 20:9, 21:1) in the terrible events known as the “day of the Lord.”

GENESIS 6:19-21
¹⁹ And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. ²⁰ Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive. ²¹ And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.

How did all the animals fit on Noah’s Ark?

GENESIS 6:22
²² Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.