The Strand Study Bible

GENESIS

74

GENESIS

1. An explosion in population ( multiply – vs 1) Right before the event of the Flood an explosion in population occurred. The same is true of this day and age. According to population experts, the population of the earth during the time of Jesus was c. 250 million people. A thousand years later in 1000 AD the population grew to 335 million (a mere 85 million in 1,000 years). Five hundred years after that in 1500 AD the population grew to 480 million (a mere 145 million in 500 years). For the next 400 years (from 1500-1900 AD) we doubled our population, finally hitting the 1 billion mark. Thus, it took almost 2000 years, starting at c. 250 million people to finally reach a population of 1 billion on planet earth. Now, in a little over 100 years (from 1900 – 2011) we’ve gone from 1 billion to 7 billion people on planet earth. In 1900 years we added a mere 750 million to our population, and now in less than 100 years we’ve added 6 billion more. Jesus said, “ And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man .” 2. An explosion in the paranormal ( sons of God – vs 2; giants – vs 4) Right before the event of the Flood an explosion in the paranormal occurred. The same is true of this day and age ( II Thess 2:3 ). Erwin W. Lutzer in Oprah Miracles and the New Earth notes: Martha Sherrill, writing in O Magazine, says of this generation of seekers, “We want to feel we’re on the road to becoming spiritual beings whose lives are governed by wisdom, compassion and a sense of acceptance.” Today people equate Spirituality with growth, experience, and authenticity. They want to be socially aware and Spiritually conscious. It is not an exaggeration to say that a wave of Spiritual energy is sweeping the country. What used to be thought of as a fringe New Age movement is now mainstream. 1 All one has to do is turn on the television to realize how much paranormal activity is being funneled into the homes and minds of people all across the world these days. 3. An explosion in pure debauchery ( wickedness – vs 5) Right before the event of the Flood an explosion in pure debauchery occurred. The same is true of this day and age. All one has to do is turn on the news to realize how much debauchery and wickedness is being acted out throughout the world these days. 4. An explosion in pastime and activity ( they did … – Lk 17:27-28 and II Tim 3:1-4) Right before the event of the Flood an explosion in pastime and activity occurred. The same is true of this day and age. All one has to do is simply “look around” to realize how much people emphasize playtime these days. 6:2 There are two schools of thought concerning this verse. One school of thought believes that the “ sons of God” (the descendants of Seth) represented the Church of God on earth, and that the daughters of men (the descendants of Cain) represented the wicked and the worldly. Alfred M. Rehwinkel in The Flood notes:

In the genealogies of Genesis 4 and 5 is traced the development of the human race through two fundamentally different lines, headed by Cain and Seth respectively. The one line is called the children of God and the other the children of men. Up to a certain period in that early history of the human race the children of God had kept themselves separate from the children of men; but, as men began to multiply, the line of demarcation gradually vanished. Cordial relations came to exist. The godly intermarried with the ungodly. The result was that the godly were absorbed by the ungodly. Only one class remained. God warned them. He gave them 120 years time for repentance, but to no avail. 2

The other school of thought believes that the sons of God were angels (Job 1:6), “ which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation” (Jude 6) and cohabited with human women and thus produced mighty men, who became a hybrid race. This angelic intrusion, of course, has beenmemorialized in the legends and myths of every ancient culture on earth. In fact, most ancient races, among them the Roman, Greek, Persian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Egyptian and Hittite peoples have tales of men who were half god/half man. Hercules is but one example. M.R. De Haan II in his booklet called Jude –Recognizing The Danger Among Us notes:

There are several views of the meaning of this verse. But first we must understand that there are two classes of angels: faithful and fallen. And within the ranks of the fallen angels there are also two kinds: unchained (Mk. 1:23; Lk. 8:27; Eph. 6:12) and chained (Mk. 1:24; 2 Pet. 2:4). So who are the chained angels? I believe the answer is found in the connection between Genesis 6:1-4 (where the “sons of God” cohabited with the “daughters of men”), 2 Peter 2:4 (which also refers to chained angels), and Jude 1:6. These passages taken together seem to indicate that fallen angels (demons) had sexual relations with women during the time of Noah and produced a race of creatures that God destroyed in the flood. 3 As far back as the beginning of time and within every major culture of the ancient world, the astonishingly consistent story is told of “gods” that descended from heaven and materialized in bodies of flesh. From Rome to Greece–and before that, to Egypt, Persia, Assyria, Babylonia, and Sumer–the earliest records of civilization tell of the era when powerful beings known to the Hebrews as Watchers and in the book of Genesis as the benei ha-elohim (sons of God) mingled themselves with humans, giving birth to part-celestial, part-terrestrial hybrids known as nephilim . 4

Thomas Horn in Apollyon Rising 2012 agrees. He notes:

According to the extra-biblical book I Enoch 10:3-8 , two hundred of these powerful angels departed “high heaven” and used women (among other things – Jasher 4:18 ) to extend their progeny into mankind’s plane of existence. This forced entrance by Satan’s imps created a “gene pool” problem that God had to solve by destroying the earth with the Flood (Job 4:18, Jude 6 and II Pet 2:4 ). Both the early church fathers (Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Athenagoras, Pseudo-Clementine, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Commodianus, Lactantius, and Martin Luther) plus Jewish historians (Josephus Flavius, the Book of Enoch , the Book of Jubilees , the Book of Jasher , and the Septuagint translators) all understood the expression “sons of God” as referring to angels. Harold L. Willmington in Signs of the Times notes: