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Genesis 6:1–8 — Human Corruption and God’s Grief | Bible Commentary · A Tithe of Time Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to A Tithe of Time, verse by verse.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Today we begin reading from the ESV, Genesis 6, 1-8, Human Corruption and God's Grief.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: When man began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive, and they took as their wives any they chose.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Then the Lord said, My spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh, his days shall be one hundred twenty years.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came into the daughters of man, and they bore children to them.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: So the Lord said, I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Now let's look closer.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: The opening of Genesis 6 gives us several unusual statements very quickly, and the text does not stop to explain all the connections between them.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: First, it mentions the sons of God and the daughters of man.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: The daughters of man are human women, but Genesis does not tell us directly in this passage exactly who the sons of God were.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: That has been debated for centuries, so we should not present one interpretation as though Genesis clearly settles it.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: Then we read, The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Genesis tells us they were present during this period, when the sons of God were having children with the daughters of man, and then refers to the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: But here again, we need to stay with what the text actually says.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: Genesis 6 does not plainly tell us exactly who the Nephilim were, nor does it clearly explain their exact relationship to those children.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: And this passage itself does not call them giants.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: In Numbers 13, 33, the spies report seeing the Nephilim and compare themselves to grasshoppers.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: But Genesis leaves much of their identity unexplained.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: Then the focus suddenly becomes very clear.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever questions the opening verses leave unanswered, Genesis makes the main problem unmistakable.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Humanity had become deeply corrupt.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: It says that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: The problem is not described as occasional wrongdoing.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: The language reaches all the way into human thoughts and intentions.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: Then the passage says, The Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: The emphasis is on God's grief over what humanity had become.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: Human wickedness is not treated casually, it grieves him.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: God announces judgment, but the passage ends with one sentence that changes the direction of the story.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: Everything has been moving toward judgment.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: Now the passage turns our attention to Noah, who found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: This concludes Genesis 6 1 to 8.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Next, we'll continue with Genesis 6, 9 to 22.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: And remember, tithe your time.