Ge. 7: Everybody in the Pool

I can only imagine the grief Noah got from his continually-evil-all-the-time neighbors and acquaintances for essentially building a seaworthy DeVos Place on his property. I am assuming he didn't get a whole lot of positive feedback. I would assume his walk with God was rather well known, so that probably got some airplay on Gossip Radio.

So, after the ark is built, God's like, "Go on in there." God explained to Noah that, because he was found righteous in this generation, God would shed His grace on him and his family. This flood was not without its consequences, such as wiping out all life, so God had Noah bring aboard the ark seven of every clean animal, (a male and its mate, either for dinner or rituals or both, and the Bible at this point doesn't speak to God's requirement for ceremonies) and two of every unclean animal (a male and its mate). So, if it was seven pairs of every clean animal, I wonder if it was actually two pairs of every unclean animal? The words are the same in regards to clean and unclean animals. Verse 15 and 16 just says "pairs" and "were male and female." Maybe not. I don't know Hebrew. But thats not the point here, the point is, the species of each was preserved.

Clean animals: 7 pairs
Unclean animals: 2 (pairs?)
Birds: 7 pairs

Noah had a week to get all these aminals into the ark, because that's when God said he would commence a 40-day deluge of rain. A weather phenomenon apparently heretofore unseen by the planet earth (see Genesis 2:6). I wonder if this speaks to the nature of a soul with animals. God wiped out the vast majority of them. God saw fit to save more animals than people at that time. Does this say something about how important animals are to God...how innocent they are...or just how completely subhuman man had become?

Noah was no spring chicken...being 600 years old on F-Day.

The Bible describes the flood in a terrifying way. It wasn't just a steady drizzle, it was more than a heavy downpour. It says all the springs from the deep burst forth. The floodgates of the heavens were open. It doesn't just rain for forty days and forty nights. The ground erupted with great seas pouring forth from underneath. I imagine the sky shattering and literally pouring its contents forth onto the earth. I don't imagine people had time to climb high mountains and get on top of buildings. I imagine the extinction was just about instantaneous. From the Bible's description, I can't imagine people climbing into their boats or canoes or whatever, and almost making it.

God made absolutely sure He was starting clean.

For forty days the deluge continued. Presumably unrelenting. The storm probably never lightened up. There was probably no break in the clouds. Just a constant rush of water. The ark was lifted high above the earth. Hopefully Noah didn't lean over and drop his keys or his sunglasses over the side.

It was so catastrophic that the highest mountains under the entire heavens were covered. to more than twenty feet. To cover Mount Everest by twenty feet means the water would have been about 5.5 miles above sea level. The distance from my house to Yesterdog. It increased the volume of the earth by 1.2 billion cubic miles.

Verse 22 says everything with the breath of life in its nostrils perished. Doesn't mention fish. Or plesiasaurs. Pleisiosaurs...you know, swimming monsters. Just...everything died, ok?

Only Noah and those on the ark were left. Noah was legend.

It took 150 days for the waters to recede to the point where Noah could set down on dry land. So we hear about the 40 days and 40 nights bit, and then we assume Noah could bail. We don't often hear about the extra 150 days, putting Noah on a floating toilet barge for a little over 6 months.

Questions for God:
1. Did you really have to completely wipe out mankind?
2. What is the meaning of a flood? Is it that a flood reaches completely into every available space, filling it totally? Is it ... cleansing? A flood is total, it is complete...?

Ge. 6: The Nephilim, and Only Evil, All the Time.

So by the time we get to Noah, after only ten generations, we have some beautiful daughters. So beautiful in fact that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful. They married whichever ones they wanted.

Although we are called the sons of God, there is a distinction drawn here, revealing that there is something different about these sons of God. This behavior is evidently displeasing to God, as he says, "My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal, his days will be a hundred and twenty years."

From this I gather that these "sons of God" are immortal. What good would it be for immortals to commit to and procreate with mere mortals? God knew this wasn't good for the bride to be drawn into a relationship that was only going to be permanent to them, and require only a temporary commitment for ... what I'm guessing at this point are angels. It is simply unequal. Probably to grease the wheels a little to put an end to this practice, God shortens life expectancy dramatically to 120 years. 12 sets of 10.

My second thought is that when God says man is mortal, it seems to be a reminder than man is also fallen. These "sons of God," being immortal, are apparently not fallen...not given to a sin nature. So perhaps God wanted to also protect the "sons of God."

The children of these sons of God and daughters of man were called the Nephilim. The Bible says they were "the heroes of old, men of renown." An immortal nature, although diluted by mortal daughters of man, endowed (maybe the wrong word here, deal with it) the Nephilim to a point in which they displayed super strength and shapeshifting and flying and time travel and accomplishments, which would appear to regular joe's to be godlike. I don't know what these accomplishments specifically were, but I can wonder.

Apparently, an incorruptible nature wasn't hereditary for the Nephilim, as the word goes on to say about man that "every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." I have already read dozens of amazing things in only a few short chapters, but I don't see exaggeration. The above statement is pretty damning. There was nobody helping old ladies cross the ... cave? Nobody teaching their kids about right and wrong? No love?

What God created with such beauty and intimacy has completely turned against him. The Bible said God was grieved, was sorry, that His heart was pained. Emotional passage here. Because of this, God decides to wipe out everyone and every living creature that moves along the ground and in the air (not the sea, apparently...would God drown fish?). God is grieved that He created them. He created them, and He can certainly end them.

At first glance, it seems pretty capricious of God to do this. Just wipe the slate clean everytime someone gets out of line? So the nature of God in this instance comes down to a couple of options. Either He failed at His creation, and is given to a sort of dictatorial whimsy of annihilating mankind, or He simply does not tolerate sin. He is separate from sin, and would that mankind be separate from sin as well. I sure hope it is the latter. And does God's wiping mankind from the face of the earth at this point equate to Him putting man out of his misery as he suffers from a terminal sin nature?

There was apparently one man who didn't fit in with the rest of humanity ("humanity" used loosely). And that is Noah.

The NIV says Noah was righteous, blameless among the people of his time. He "walked with God," as did Enoch back in chapter five. It seems that those who "walk with God" are preserved and protected from horrible fates, such as death, and the extermination of man. I want to walk with God....anyway. Noah isn't one of the aforementioned "sons of God." His genealogy is pretty specifically spelled out. It doesn't say Noah is perfect, but he was righteous enough.

God informs Noah that he is pwning the rest of mankind, and that He has chosen Noah to continue humanity. What an amazing responsibility. Granted, although we are a mere 10 generations into humanity, its still about 1600 years. How the earth must have populated by that time. If God, with whom you already have a close relationship, tells you he is saving you and yours only, thats pretty humbling.

How will he preserve Noah? Giant boat.

Bible says it will be 450 feet long (one and a half football fields), 75 feet wide (About 3/4 the length of a basketball court) and 45 feet high (almost a five-story building). So God gives all these instructions to Noah, and then reveals that he will send a flood.

What I find most interesting is that God reveals the way to escape, before he reveals exactly what the coming tribulation is going to be. And after that, God reveals why Noah has to build this gigantic vessel for him, his wife, his sons, and his sons wives. Because Noah, his wife, his sons, and his sons wives aren't going to be the only ones on the ark. No. They are going to have roommates. Two of all living creatures, male and female. I don't know if Noah was any kind of a herder, or if he had a particular skill with animals. We'll find out.

Noah did everything just as God commanded him. I would too.

Questions for God:
1. What were the Nephilim like?
2. Who were you protecting more with the shortened lifespan?
3. Were the men you created on other planets as rebellious as us?