Evil Continually (Genesis 6)
by Chuck Richardson
via Biblical Insights, Vol. 15 No. 1, January 2015
Genesis chapter 6 opens with the revelation that man was desperately evil, and God responded with a complete destruction of all living persons and things, save Noah and his household. The reason: Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord (Genesis 6:8). Shall we think of God as arbitrary with His favor? God favored Noah because "Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God" (Genesis 6:9; NKJV). God was grieved in His heart that man had wholeheartedly forsaken Him, and rightly so, for man was God’s offspring (Genesis 1:26). This record illustrates the justice of God in destroying man; it is evident that man sinned in all his being, and God was sorry He created man. Is God’s destruction of evil the only lesson to learn? If so, fear is the only motivation for righteousness, however valid. Thanks be to God for a reason greater than fear! "And He was grieved in His heart" (Genesis 6:6 NKJV). Our hearts should be torn when we forsake our loving Creator (Psalms 51). Just as there is reason for God’s favor toward Noah, there is reason for the disfavor and destruction of the rest of mankind, which wrenched God’s heart. We need to identify the not-so-obvious reason to avoid the disfavor and destruction ourselves.
The record says: "Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man [was] great in the earth, and [that] every intent of the thoughts of his heart [was] only evil continually" (Genesis 6:5 NKJV). Why was this so?
Man’s sin had an origin. It sprang from a seemingly innocuous source. Man did not dwell upon evil at one moment in time and then act upon it. Notice what came before God exposed their sin:
"Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they [were] beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose" (Genesis 6:1-2 NKJV).
The foundation of man’s total wickedness was relational. The text tells us that daughters were born to man, which sets up the next statement that contrasts the sons of God with the daughters of men. Were the sons of God another species altogether? Were they supernatural or heavenly in nature? No, these sons of God were simply those who were identified with God through a relationship with Him. Moving forward in the text, we can see Noah would fit the description as a son of God inasmuch as God favored him because of his justness and perfection and because he walked with God (Genesis 6:9). Moving backwards in the text, Lamech called his son Noah because he was to provide rest for the people of God (Genesis 5:29). Even further back in history, the record states: "And Enoch walked with God; and he [was] not, for God took him" (Genesis 5:24 NKJV). Finally, at the beginning of the genealogy, Seth replaced righteous Abel, born in the likeness of his father Adam [spiritually], just as God created Adam in His likeness (Genesis 5:1-3). Therefore, the precedent is established: the sons of God are those men who have decided to walk with God, not from Him. Likewise, this principle is established throughout the remainder of scripture (cf. Job 1:6; Matthew 5:9; Romans 8:14).
If the sons of God are those who walked with God, then it stands to reason that the daughters of men are those who did not walk with God and, in fact, walked from God. The daughters of men were beautiful, therefore the natural appeal would be present, but beauty should not have guided the sons of men (Esther 1:11; Proverbs 6:23-26; Ezekiel 16:15).
"Charm [is] deceitful and beauty [is] passing, But a woman [who] fears the LORD, she shall be praised" (Proverbs 31:30 NKJV; cf. I Peter 3:3-6).
The unholy marriage bonds of the sons of God paved the road to continual evil. Therefore, these men, over time, ceased to be the sons of God so that when God was sorry He created man, there was only one man (Noah), who had not entered into an unholy matrimony. When children were born from these unholy relationships, wickedness became great (Genesis 6:4-5). Our relationships matter, especially our marriage relationship. If we pursue physical beauty only, or as the primary measure of the value of a wife, we pave the road of continual evil for ourselves and our posterity from generation to generation. At its core, the destruction of Noah’s generation was nurtured by unwise and even unholy marriage bonds.
Sons of God: Will you marry the daughters of men or God? The wife you choose may very well decide your relationship with God!
