Notes from my Pastor

 Notes from my Pastor on Gen Chapter 6
Here are a few thoughts. I hope it helps. Feel free to respond with any comments or question

“Sons of God & daughters of men”

Gen 6:1 Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, 2 that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose.

There are 2 standard interpretations:

Interpretation #1 - The godly line of Seth intermarried with the ungodly line of Cain.

In Genesis 4, we see the human race filling the earth through 2 ancestral lines:

1) Cain’s line (Gen 4:16-24) was ungodly, “ And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD” and his family included bigamy and murder.

2) Seth’s line, however, (Gen 4:25-26) produced a line of godly descendants, “then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.”

Genesis 5 continues the genealogy of Seth’s line (Gen 5:1-6...) and traces it down to Noah (5:28-32).

Genesis 6 picks up with the description of man’s sinfulness in Noah’s time.

Q: How did man become so sinful?

A: (Gen 6:1-2) The “sons of God” (Seth’s godly family) married the daughters of man (Cain’s ungodly family). Cain’s family had a negative influence for evil upon the godly line of Seth to such a degree “that the wickedness of man was great in the earth” (Gen 6:5). Therefore, God will destroy the earth with a flood because of this great wickedness of man.

*To me (Pastor), this seems to be the most straightforward flow of the story and meaning of the text.

But what about "giants/Nephilim" of verse 4? This could simply be Moses (author

of Gen-Deut) explaining the fact that mankind were much bigger in the pre-flood conditions of earth (with the water canopy & highly pressurized & oxygenated air) than they are now in Moses' day (post-flood earth).

Interpretation #2 - Sons of God are fallen angels who intermarried with humans and produced a race of giants (“Nethenims”) who were ungodly.

1) “sons of God” usually is language that refers to angels.

2) This view is supported by 2 Pet 2:4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; 5 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; 6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;

      Pastor's comment: Context: Peter is warning false prophets to repent or else face judgment. Peter sites 3 separate       examples of how God judges those who rebel. As such, Peter is not necessarily tying v 4 & v 5 together - that these angels cast out were the same ones that came to earth in Noah’s day and intermarried.

3) This view is also supported by Jude (context is also false prophets)

 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. 7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, 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.

4) What about angels “not marrying or given in marriage” (Matt 22:30)?

MacArthur’s notes on Gen 6:2 state, “This does not necessarily negate the possibility that angels are capable of procreation, but just that they do not marry. To procreate physically, they had to possess human, male bodies.”

*Pastor's comment: This is also a possible explanation and backed by Scripture; It could be fallen angels!

But I would lean toward the straightforward reading of the text of Genesis that leads us through the lineages of Cain & Seth (Gen 4-5) and into Gen 6 and the flood.

This has been debated by theologians for a long time. I guess when we get to heaven we will find out. But it really has no bearing today on our salvation and our commission to preach the gospel and to live holy lives 

  

May God Bless you,

Tracy 

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Notes from my Pastor on Job

Why does our Bible reading go from Genesis to Job? 

A: Job is believed to have lived in the timeframe between Babel (Gen 11) and/or during Abraham.

Since we are reading the Bible stories chronologically, we insert Job here.

(*Granted: there are other views as to the time of Job’s existence, but the above view is widely accepted by most theologians and scholars.)

If you're interested, here is an explanation:

Why is it calculated that Job lived some time between Babel or during Abraham?

A. We just finished Abraham offering Isaac. At the end of Gen 22, Abraham receives news about his brother,

    Nahor and his family. The genealogy of Nahor is given and Nahor’s firstborn is a man named “Huz” also translated “Uz”

    (Gen 22:21). Job 1:1 introduces us to the fact that Job lived in the land of Uz.” - the territory/property of this man here in Gen 22.

B. In John MacArthur’s study Bible, his introduction to the book of Job (p 685) gives excellent background material on this as well.

(I highly recommend you getting this Bible if you  are in the market for a new Bible.)

1) Job’s age (42:16);

2) his life span of nearly 200 years (42:16), which fit’s the [average life span of those living in the] patriarchal period (Abraham lived 175 years - Gen 25:7).

[Pastor's note: Job 42:16 states, “after this, Job lived 140 years” = after his trial. Going into the trial, Job was a grown man with a household full of 10 children and many servants. Some suggest (JFB) that because everything was doubled in Job’s life after his trial, that these remaining years of his life were also doubled to total 140 years. This would suggest that Job was 70 when his trial began, then his years were doubled to lived 140 more years “after his”. This would give Job a total life span of 210 years.]

3) the social unit being the patriarchal family;

4) the Chaldeans who murdered Job’s servants (Job 1:17) were nomads and had not yet become city dwellers;

5) Job’s wealth being measured in livestock rather than gold and silver (1:3; 42:12);

6) Job’s priestly functions within his family (1:4-5);

[Pastor;s note: The father would assume the priestly duties (responsibility for the family’s relationship before God)because this was prior to the Levitical priestly system being established in the time of Moses. Thus, Job lived before Moses.]

7) a basic silence on matters such as the covenant with Abraham, Israel, the exodus, and the law of Moses.    ...Job…seemed to know about Adam (31:33) and the Noahic flood (12:15). These cultural/historical features found in the book appear to place the events chronologically at a time probably after Babel (Gen 11:1-9) but before or contemporaneous with Abraham (Gen 11:27).

Enjoy your reading!

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Notes from my Pastor on end of Genesis

Few and evil have been my days

Some thought occurred to me as I read this passage this morning:

Gen 47:9 And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been,

Jacob considered his days to be few and “evil” or “unpleasant”. Here we learn the lesson of “what a tangled web we weave, when at first we attempt to deceive.” From the time he was born, Jacob was recognized as a deceiver. His name means, “tripper, or heal-catcher” because when he was born he had a hold of Esau’s heel. From the beginning, Jacob participated in deception which would come full-circle for him to pronounce at the end of his life that his days have been “few and evil/unpleasant”.

Jacob was a deceiver:

1. He caught hold of Esau’s heel at birth - Gen 25:26.

2. He tricked Esau out of Esau’s birthright - Gen 25:29f

3. He went along with his mother‘s plan to deceive Isaac into blessing him instead of Esau - Gen 27.

4. He fled from Esau’s anger and revenge.

5. Even though it was superstitious, Jacob attempted means to have all of his father-in-law’s flocks to give birth to stripped and spotted offspring - Gen 30.

Jacob was deceived.

1. Laban gave him Leah to marry instead of Rachel - Gen 29

2. He worked an additional 7 years for Rachel.

3. Rachel was barren for a long time, while his other wives bore children.

4. Laban had changed his wages 10 times - Gen 31.

5. Rachel had stolen the idols from her father’s house and put Jacob into a precarious position to vow that whoever had stolen the idols should be put to death - Gen 31.

6. His son, Reuben, committed adultery with Bilhah, Jacob’s concubine - Gen 35.

7. His daughter, Dinah, had been raped by a man of Shechem - Gen 34.

8. Jacob’s 2 sons, Simeon & Levi, wreaked revenge upon the men of Shechem.

9. Jacob’s sons deceived him about Joseph’s death - Gen 37.

10. Embarrassed at Judah’s escapades with Tamar - Gen 38.

11. Jacob’s sons were put in peril and confusion by how Joseph dealt with them when they went to Egypt to buy grain - Gen 42-45.

What a life filled with deception and mistrust! No wonder Jacob assessed his years to be “few and evil”!

However, Jacob did recognize that no matter how few and evil his days were, that his life was still considered a “pilgrimage”. That the affairs of this life were not the end-all of his existence. He held to the promises of God to/through him! (Heb 11:13-15, 21)

Spurgeon says of Jacob’s response, “He avowed himself a pilgrim, thus bearing witness to the hope which sustained him, but he gave to Pharaoh a more gloomy view of pilgrim life than Abraham or Isaac would have done. However, since this man of many trials yet reached the promised rest, even so shall every afflicted believer.”

Let us live our lives in simplicity and in truth and trust our Great Judge to vindicate all things rightly!