Bible Basics: Genesis 6-8

Genesis 6

Humanity’s Downward Spiral

Verses 1–2: After Moses gives an account of Seth’s good lineage, he notes the increase in both population and corruption on the earth. The phrase “sons of God” in verse 2 possibly refer to Seth’s descendants intermarrying with Cain’s descendants, who like Cain, strayed from God. Whatever the case, men were often choosing their partners based on superficial qualities, like beauty, as opposed to good character that exhibited a love for God and his ways.

3: God addresses this tendency of humankind to leave the right path by shortening their lifespan, which he now limits to about 120 years. They won’t be allowed to live violent, self-destructive lives for long.

4: The result of this intermarriage is the Nephilim, (the Hebrew word for this is difficult to translate), which may mean “fallen ones.” In other words, this is a new generation of people even more corrupt than previous ones.(1)

5–7: At this point, God’s “heart [is] filled with pain” over man’s utter bent toward wrongdoing. He’s sorrowful over creating humanity, and determines to wipe out every living thing.

God’s Love and Justice

8–12: God sees Noah as the one exception to an earth filled with violence and corruption. He “walked with God,” and consequently was “righteous” and “blameless.” His three sons were Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

13–21: God tells Noah of his plan to destroy all people and living creatures with a great flood. He directs him to build a huge wooden boat of cypress wood about 450’ long, 75’ wide, and 45’ high, coated with pitch. It would have three decks, with enough room to carry Noah’s entire family, male/female pairs of every existing creature, and enough food to sustain them during the flood.

Noah’s Trust

22: Noah trusts God and faithfully follows his instructions. This verse beautifully displays Noah’s heart and character. His relationship with God saved him, and paints a vivid picture of the good that comes when we do the same.

Chapter 7

Getting Ready

1–5: These verses provide a reiteration of Genesis 6:19–22, with more details. God would bring every type of animal (seven pairs of “clean” and one pair of “unclean”) to the ark so they could repopulate the earth after the flood.(2) He instructs Noah and his family to enter the ark and begin preparations, warning them that the flood would come in seven days, and last forty days and forty nights. The duration of this calamity foreshadowed future times of struggle, including forty years of wilderness wandering by the Israelites and forty days of wilderness temptation by Christ.(3) Again, Noah faithfully obeys God.

Let the Rains Pour

6–16: God, always true to his word, sends the flood in seven days (Noah is six hundred years old). It comes on the seventeenth day of the second month according to an ancient calendar, but exact time of year this represents is unclear. Both rain and earthly springs release a full torrent of water on the earth. Fortunately, God shuts in Noah and his entire family, lovingly protecting those who are his by saving them from destruction.

17–24: Water rises twenty feet above the earth’s mountaintops, and every living thing is wiped out. In total, the flood lasts 150 days (five months).

Chapter 8

God Keeps His Word

1–5: God remembers his commitment to Noah and his family, stopping the rain and springs and sending wind to help the waters recede. After seven-plus months pass, the ark settles on Mt. Ararat, which is in far Eastern Turkey. At ten months, the mountaintops become visible again.

6–12: Noah sends a raven out to see if there’s enough dry land to settle, but it simply flies back-and-forth between the ark and the land, which is still covered with water. Next, he tries a dove. Same results. One week later, the dove leaves again, but returns with an olive leaf in his beak. Success! The water sufficiently receded. One more week, and the dove permanently flies away.

13–14: On the first day of the first month, an ancient New Year’s Day, the earth is dry. Just shy of the third month, it dries completely. In total, Noah and his family apparently spend exactly one solar year in the ark, or 365 days.

After the Storm, We Begin Again

15–19: While Noah tests the environment to see if it is safe to emerge from the ark, he waits for God’s go ahead. When God gives the signal, Noah and his family leave the ark, with the assurance that God still loves and has purpose for the human race: He blesses them again with task of filling the earth and fruitfully managing it, while remaining in a loving, connected relationship with him.

20–22: Noah sacrifices some animals. This demonstrates his devotion to God, but also an acknowledgment that even the righteous have to pay a penalty for wrongs committed, and need God’s grace and mercy to begin again. It is a beautiful picture of the future and final sacrifice of Christ’s life on the cross, which would fully and permanently offer a means of forgiveness, salvation, and new life to all who believe (1 John 1:9; Hebrews 9:19–28; John 10:10). The rainbow is a present-day reminder of this promise, that God will never again destroy us because of sin, but offer rescue from it to every individual through Christ.

(1) https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/who-are-the-nephilim-in-genesis-6/

(2) https://arkencounter.com/blog/2014/05/25/noah-and-the-animals-part-3-seven-or-fourteen/

(3) https://www.gotquestions.org/40-days-Bible.html