Carbon 14 Dating and the Flood
Evidence for Accelerated Decay

Large amounts of carbon-14 found in coal and diamonds support a young earth and the biblical account of the Flood.

Technical Definitions:

● Carbon-14: a short-lived isotope used for dating organic materials like fossils. It has a half-life of 5,730 years. It is known as radiocarbon dating.

● Half-life: the amount of time it takes for half of the mass of an isotope to decay radioactively.

● Uniformitarianism: the belief that geological processes have remained constant since the earth was formed. It implies vast amounts of geological time needed for evolution.

In opposition to uniformitarianism, the Bible paints a radically different picture of our planet’s history. Specifically, it describes a time when God catastrophically destroyed the earth and essentially all its life. The only consistent way to interpret the geological record in light of this event is to understand that the fossil-bearing rocks are the result of a massive Flood that occurred only a few thousand years ago and lasted about one year. The biblical interpretation of the rock record implies that the animals and plants preserved as fossils were all contemporaries. This means trilobites, dinosaurs and mammals all lived on the planet at the same time, and they perished together in the world-destroying cataclysm that the bible calls the Flood.¹³³

But uniformitarianism opposes the biblical account and uses different methods to try to cut God out of the picture altogether. Carbon-14 is by far the most familiar radioisotope dating method used by evolutionists to prove the earth is billions of years old. It also is different from the other dating methods because of its especially short life scale. The half-life of carbon 14 is 5,730 years, compared with millions or billions of years for the radioisotopes used in other methods. Also, instead of rock samples, carbon-14 dating is applied to the remains of once-living plants, animals and humans – materials such as wood, charcoal, bone, shells and fossils. Scientist Willard Libby first introduced the radiocarbon dating method in the 1940s while he worked at the University of Chicago. Libby received the 1960 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for pioneering this important dating technique.¹³⁴

Carbon-14 atoms form several miles out in the atmosphere. They float down toward the earth’s surface and combine with oxygen to make carbon dioxide. As plants and trees absorb this carbon dioxide, the carbon-14 atoms become a small part of the fiber. After the vegetation dies, it no longer absorbs carbon from the air and any sign of accumulated carbon-14 slowly decays back to nitrogen. The remains of animals or humans react the same.

For earth materials, animals or humans to be classified as ancient, all of this original C-14 content should be completely decayed away. For example, after ten half-lives of decay, any radioactive material has only 0.1 percent remaining. To express this another way, any carbon-containing materials that are truly older than 100,000 years should be “carbon-14 dead” and traceable amounts of C-14 simply should not exist.¹³⁵

Modern technology has made reliable detection of minute amounts of carbon-14 possible. In the earlier decades, the carbon-14 content in samples was measured by counting the beta radiation emitted from the few C-14 atoms that decayed in a sample during a few hours of monitoring. This is a statistical process with serious limitations and has resulted in incorrect counting that has dated many samples as being much older than it actually is. Even though this technique is very questionable, it is still practiced today.

The evolutionary chain, linking apes to men, has been, and continues to be a sham. In China, in 1921, fragments of skulls, jaws, and teeth were found in a limestone cliff near Peking. All of these creatures had been killed and eaten, and the skulls preserved as trophies. These were tested with carbon-14 methods; however, during World War II, all the original bones were lost. Some prominent anthropologists believe this hunter was true man, but Peking “man” must have been simply a giant ape.

The first find of Australopithecines was discovered in 1924. They were supposed to have many ape-like features of the skull, but teeth like a man. Their brains were only about a third as large as that of modern man and they were only about four feet tall. But anatomists Dr. Solly Zuckerman and Dr. Charles Oxnard, both evolutionists, after many years of research employing the latest and most sophisticated methods of analysis, concluded that the Australopithecines did not walk upright in a human manner and were not an intermediate between ape and man.

Said to be 700,000 years old, Java Man was put together on the evidence of a femur (large leg bone), a skullcap and three molar teeth. These parts were found within a fifty-foot range and tested with C-14. Dr. Dubois, its discoverer, concealed for thirty years the fact that he had found human skulls near his Java Man, and at the same level. So, man was already there when this creature was alive. The femur was probably from a human, and the skull cap was probably that of a giant ape. Before his death, and after he had convinced most of the early skeptics, Dubois changed his mind and decided that Java Man was probably a giant ape and not man-like at all.

Neanderthal man had a skeletal structure similar to that of a modern man. His cranial capacity exceeded that of modern man. As a result of radiocarbon dating, it was claimed that he lived as long as 100,000 years ago. But that cannot be true because C-14 levels would simply not exist today. He would be Carbon-14dead.

At the famous Scopes monkey trial in 1925, the Nebraska Man evidence was presented by the leading scientific authorities of that day as proof of evolution. The evidence was that of a tooth that was supposed to have come from a prehistoric man who supposedly lived one million years ago. However, years later, when more fossils were unearthed, it was discovered that Nebraska Man was only a pig. The pig made a monkey out of an evolutionist!

In 1912 a piece of a jaw, two molar teeth, and a piece of skull were found in the Piltdown quarry in Sussex, England. Piltdown Man became the missing link, a mixture of human and ape. Through carbon-14 dating, it was proclaimed by experts that this ape-man was about a half million years old. But in 1953 the hoax was exposed. The jawbone turned out to be that of a modern ape. The teeth had been filed down, and the bones were artificially colored to deceive the public. The ease with which this fraud fooled the world’s greatest scientists illustrates the powerful influence of preconceived ideas among evolutionists.¹³⁶

Since the 1970s, a new approach became available called accelerator mass spectrometry, or AMS. This method allowed the actual counting of individual C-14 atoms without the requirement that they decay. It is this precise AMS technique that detects carbon-14 atoms in samples at lower levels than was possible with the previous beta counting system. AMS measurements carefully eliminate all possible sources of carbon contamination. These include any trace of C-14 that has possibly entered the samples in recent history, or C-14 introduction during the sample preparation and analysis. The extent of carbon-14 detection using AMS is about one carbon-14 atom for every 1016 stable carbon-12 atoms. This is an amazing sensitivity for detecting one part per ten thousand trillion. It is equivalent to detecting one unique sand grain along 100 miles of seashore!¹³⁷

The Institute for Creation Research had 12 diamond samples from West and South Africa independently tested for carbon-14 levels. Diamonds are a crystalline form of pure carbon. The hardest natural substance on earth, they are resistant to chemical alteration or contamination. They are thought to originate in the upper mantle of the earth at a depth of more than 90 miles, where both pressure and temperature are extreme. There are indications that, in the past, some of this high-pressure, gas-charged magma surged upwards at supersonic speeds of hundreds of miles per hour, carrying diamonds to the surface of the earth. Diamonds were typically assumed to be many millions of years old, if not billions, based on carbon-14 dating before the AMS technique. Testing of the ICR diamonds showed the average C-14 content in the diamonds was 0.09 percent of modern carbon. As far as can be determined, this was the first time that carbon-14 measurements had been made on diamonds. The presence of C-14 in extremely old fossils, rocks, coal and diamond samples clearly indicates that the earth cannot be billions of years old because there would be no C-14 left based on one C-14 half-life, or 5,730 years. Therefore, the present levels of C-14 are strong evidence for a young earth. The Carbon-14 data is now firmly on the side of the young-earth view of history.¹³⁸

Accelerated Decay and the Flood

Today secular scientists attempt to discover the age of the earth by measuring the radiation particles of various mined ores. This measuring process is called radioisotope dating, which concerns processes within the atoms in rocks. Each atom of carbon, for example, has six protons in its nucleus and a number of neutrons, depending if it is Carbon-12, Carbon-13, or Carbon-14. Carbon-12 and Carbon-13 are stable, but Carbon-14 is radioactive, possesses an extra neutron, is often unstable and eventually experiences what is called radioactive decay, which means the atom’s nucleus throws off energy and radiation particles that can be measured.

When fifty percent of the atom’s radioactive neutrons decay away it is called a nuclear (from the word nucleus) half-life. It is almost as if you kept slicing a pie in half, with an even-smaller portion of pie always remaining. Notice the unusual mathematics of accelerated decay; two half-lives do not equal a whole pie. Instead, the passing of two half-lives of time leaves one quarter of the original number of atoms remaining. Another way of saying it is that the number of atoms decaying at any given moment is proportional to the total number of atoms present. The half-life law eventually breaks down as the number of radioactive atoms approaches zero.¹³⁰

Therefore, the thesis of accelerated decay is millions of years’ worth of radioactive decay, at present rates, that took place very quickly as a result of extreme pressures on the earth during the creation week and the Flood. Creationists believe that there was a burst of nuclear decay during these time periods.¹³¹

Today, secular scientists assume that the rate of radioactive decay or the half-life of the atom’s nucleus has remained constant since the earth was formed. Why do they have this assumption? It is because they do not believe in the creation week and the worldwide Flood where accelerated decay took place. This is why secular radioisotope dates are unreliable; however, if the rate of radioactive decay were changed during the rock’s history (similar to a clock that runs either fast or slow), the calculated age of the rock would obviously be incorrect. Today, the evidence for accelerated decay, or the belief that radioactive decay has not remained constant throughout the earth’s history, comes from research in carbon-14 dating, helium diffusion, radiohalos and fission tracks.¹³²

The Science of a Young Earth
The Institute of Creation Research

To many people the battle going on today between the biblical worldview and the secular worldview pits the Bible against science. They ask, “Which is right, evolution or creationism?” But I believe that good science supports the Bible, and that they are not mutually exclusive. Those who oppose a God-centered worldview are desperate. They are desperate to embrace abortion and a woman’s “right to choose,” because if they believed that all the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be (Psalm 139:16), they would then have to be accountable to the LORD. And they cannot tolerate that because they are in rebellion. They are also desperate to embrace evolution for the same reason. If man evolved, then he is in control. But if man was created, then Elohim is in control, and He is the Master of the universe and one day they will be held accountable to a Holy God. The stakes are high in the young earth/creationism, and old earth/evolution, debate. Some believers, trying to account for dinosaur years, have tried to merge the two and say that evolution took place, but ADONAI guided that process. As I have tried to show, that view is contrary to the biblical account. In contrast to theistic evolution, the Bible teaches that in the beginning, Elohim created the heavens and the earth (1:1).

The Word of God is now, and has always been, scientifically reliable. When all the respected scientists of the world said the earth was flat, the Bible said that ADONAI sits enthroned above the circle of the earth (Isaiah 40:22).

The information I am about to present was given at a conference held at Shadow Mountain Community Church, San Diego, California on November 11, 2005 by the Institute for Creation Research called Thousands Not Billions. Presentations were made by the R.A.T.E. (Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth) Team. I have tried as best I can, not to be too technical and to present the material in layman’s terms. The newest discoveries in carbon-14 dating, helium diffusion, radiohalos, and fission tracks prove scientifically that accelerated decay has taken place, and the earth is about 6,000 years old. Therefore, the biblical account of the creation week and the Flood is correct, and God is in control (to see a great website revealing God in science click here to see Reasons to Believe).

The Waters Rose
and the Ark Floated on the Surface of the Water
7: 17-24

The waters rose and the ark floated on the surface of the water DIG: What is the evidence for a universal Flood? What are the twenty-five biblical reasons for a worldwide Flood? What are the six principles of divine judgment that are pictured by the Flood?

REFLECT: Could you defend the concept of the universal Flood to someone? Are the LORD’s judgments arbitrary? Is He consistent? Is He fair? Is He just? How so? To see a short video of the ark click here.

The previous section was the only one in the Flood narrative that used both of the most common names for God in the TaNaKh. This section, however, omits His name entirely. The reason is clear: As soon as Noah and his family are safely in the ark, ADONAI unleashes the full fury of His wrath on the rest of mankind. He turns His back on them, and the floodwaters are free to do their awful work of judgment. The people outside the ark had sinned once too often against the LORD, and He left them to their own devices.¹²⁷ The narrative here has rightly been described as a sea captain’s logbook. In this section, there are twenty-five reasons why Elohim’s judgment is worldwide and not merely local.¹²⁸

For forty days the Flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water (7:17-18). The LORD’s forty-day forecast was rain, rain and more rain! Exactly as God had said, the rains came for forty days and forty nights (7:12). The fountains of the deep opened up and added to the massive downpour from above. As the waters rose, the ark gradually began to float.

1. The wording of the entire account, both here and throughout Genesis Chapters 6 thru 9, could not be improved on if the intention of the writer was to describe a universal Flood. If it were a description of a river overflow, it is completely misleading and exaggerated.

2. Expressions involving the universality of the Flood and its effects occur more than thirty times in Chapters 6 thru 9.

3. The Flood poured down for forty days on the earth. A continual downpour lasting for forty days, with all the springs of the great deep bursting forth would be impossible under the uniformitarian position, which is the belief that geological processes have always been of the same kind and intensity. It implies that vast amounts of geological time were needed for evolution.

4. The word for the Flood is a special word. In Hebrew the word is hamabbul, and the Greek word is kataklyusmos. It is where we get the English words cataclysmic, catastrophic, or earth-shattering. These words are only used in connection with the Noahic Flood. The ordinary Hebrew words for a local flood are not used here at all.

5. The water rise was sufficient to lift the ark high above the earth, indicating a depth of at least twenty feet in the earliest stages of the Flood, since the ark was 45 feet high and heavily loaded. As already noted, the ark was far too large to accommodate a mere localized flood and was more than adequate to house two of every species of land animal in the entire world, living or extinct.

6. As the rains continued, they rose and increased greatly on the earth. This language would be quite inappropriate for a localized flood. Job 12:15 says that the waters overwhelmed the earth.

7. The construction, outfitting, and stocking of the ark, so that it floated on the surface of the water would have been a total waste of time and effort if the flood were to be only a local flood. Migration would have been a far better solution to the problem, for Noah as well as the animals and the birds.

They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under all the heavens were covered (7:19 KJV). The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet (7:20). These verses give every indication of a worldwide Flood. One would have to ignore the normal meanings of the words to make this a localized flood. Some of the critics of the worldwide Flood have calculated that this much water could not have been produced in 150 days. But we must remember that this is the same God who brought the ten plagues upon Egypt and who divided the waters of the Red Sea. Nothing is too difficult for Him! Without faith it is impossible to please God (see the commentary on Hebrews, to see link click Co – The Faith of Noah).

8. The waters covered all the high mountains and mountains. The repetition of the word mountains is common in Hebrew parallelism for the purpose of emphasis.

9. The waters not only greatly increased on the earth, but they also rose greatly on the entire earth.

10. All, and by all the Ruach ha-Kodesh means all, the mountains under the entire heavens were covered with at least 22 or 23 feet of water (half the height of the ark, probably representing its depth of submergence), telling us that the ark could float freely over all the mountains. These would clearly include at least the mountains of Ararat, the highest peak of which reaches 17,000 feet. A 17,000 foot Flood is not a local flood!

11. The mountains were covered. The Hebrew word here, kasha, conveys a very positive emphasis; it could well be translated overwhelmed, as it is translated in some instances. The waters not only inundated the mountains but also eventually washed them away.

12. The double superlative, all the high mountains under all the heavens, cannot possibly allow the use of the word all here in a “relative” sense, as is sometimes maintained by those who believe in a localized flood.

Every living thing that moved on the earth, excluding fish life, perished – birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out, literally erased, men and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth (7:21-23a). The reason for a new beginning was that sin had infected every part of life, and all other living creatures experienced the fatal effects of the sin of man as well.

The Flood has been included in the oral history of literally hundreds of civilizations from Babylon to Papua New Guinea to the tribes of Peru, Mexico, Greenland, Wales, China, India, to our own Native Americans, and many, many others. More than half the time, these oral histories attribute the cause of the Flood to the evil acts of humans. It is clear that all the accounts come from the same historical event. Although the fine points of the Flood accounts have been modified to fit the local culture, the historical accuracy and the moral implications are amazingly consistent.

Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark (7:23b).

13. Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out. In a local flood, most of the animals could escape death by fleeing the rising waters, by swimming to dry ground or in the case of the birds, flying away. But this would be impossible with a universal Flood.

14. Every living man, woman and child that was not on the ark died. This was the very purpose of the Flood. In a local flood, most people would escape. Furthermore, there is no longer any question that ancient man occupied the entire globe at a date, calculated by anthropologists, that was much earlier than the date of any supposed local flood. A local flood would not have reached every living thing on the face of the earth.

15. Not only did every living thing on the face of the earth die, but also every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out. The word translated every living thing is one Hebrew word, yequm, which is translated substance in Deuteronomy 11:6. It clearly refers here to vegetation, as well as animals. In fact, God had said to Noah: I am going to destroy both man and the earth (6:13).

16. Only Noah and those with him in the ark survived the Flood, so that everyone now living is a descendant of one of Noah’s three sons (also see 9:1 and 19). Likewise, all the earth’s present dry-land animals come from those on the ark. The very purpose of God had been to destroy all other living men (6:7) and land animals (6:17 and 7:22).

The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days (7:24). It was not until after this that the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens were closed, and the waters began to recede. The extreme length of the Flood points to its universal nature.

17. No local flood continues to rise for 150 days.

18. Even after the waters began to decrease, and the ark grounded on the highest of the mountains of Ararat (8:4), it was another two-and-a half months before the tops of other mountains could be seen (8:5).

19. Even after four months of receding floodwaters, the dove sent out by Noah could find no dry land on which to land (8:9).

20. It was more than an entire year (7:11; 8:13-19) before enough land had dried to permit the occupants of the ark to leave.

For all these reasons, it is inconceivable that anyone would believe the Flood was merely local. So, to the above twenty reasons I would like to add five additional biblical reasons for believing the Flood to be worldwide.

21. God’s promise never to send such a Flood again (8:21. 9:11 and 15) has been broken repeatedly if it were only a local or regional flood.

22. The world was different after the Flood, including sharply defined seasons (8:22), the rainbow along with the rain (2:5, 9:13-14), and enmity between man and beasts (9:2).

23. Mankind’s longevity began a long, slow decline immediately after the Flood (compare Chapter 5 to Chapter 11).

24. Later biblical writers accepted the universal Flood (Job 12:15, 22:16; Psalm 29:10, 104:6-9; Isaiah 54:9; First Peter 3:20; Second Peter 2:5, 3:5-6; Hebrews 11:7).

25. Jesus Christ Himself accepted the historicity and universality of the Flood, even making it the climactic sign and type of the coming worldwide judgment when He returns (Matthew 24:37-39; Luke 17:26-27).

Thus, here are six principles of divine judgment that are illustrated by the Flood.¹²⁹

First, God’s judgments are not arbitrary. Our God is not fickle in His decisions to judge His creatures. Divine judgment is always related to human wickedness. The LORD determined to wipe out mankind from the face of the earth because of their violent and corrupt behavior. Their conduct caused Him grief and filled His heart with pain so He decided to put an end to all the people on the earth, save Noah and his family (6:5-13).

Second, God always announces His judgments beforehand. Once having made a decision to judge His sinful creatures, God warns them of the impending judgment. He does not sneak up on them unawares and judge them without first telling them of His plans. Far from being a distant and hidden ADONAI who conceals His desires from His people, He proclaims to them in no uncertain terms and in a variety of ways (Hebrews 1:1-2) what He intends to do. In the case of the Flood, the LORD revealed to Noah that He was going to destroy the earth and every living creature on it (6:13). Although Elohim sometimes announces coming judgment directly, He more often does so through His chosen servants. While the ark was being built, Noah, a preacher of righteousness (Second Peter 2:5), proclaimed a message of condemnation for 120 years.

Third, God always grants time for repentance. If God merely warned sinful people of impending judgment and then immediately carried it out, the warning would be no more than a cruel joke. On the contrary, our patient and loving ADONAI is generous in giving us plenty of time to repent. Though the Holy Spirit will not contend with mankind forever (6:3), He will nevertheless contend and plead with him for a considerable period of time. In the case of the Flood, it was 120 years, more than enough time when we think of the depths of sin that mankind had reached during those days.

Fourth, God always follows through on His decision to judge unless man repents. Apart from mankind’s sincere remorse for his sinful ways and apart from his willingness to confess them, the LORD always follows through on His warnings of judgment. He said that He would send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights (7:4), and He did so (7:12). He said that He would wipe out from the face of the earth every living creature He had made (7:4), and He did so (7:23). Our God can be counted on to fulfill every promise He makes, even when they are promises of judgment. When His people refuse to respond to His warning, ADONAI’s judgments are both inevitable and irreversible. He is a promise keeper.

Five, God’s judgments always result in death. His announcements of impending judgment are serious indeed and although death may not be the immediate result of His judgments, it is always the ultimate result. In the case of the Flood, there is scarcely room for doubt that both spiritual and physical death are intended. The animals and birds may have experienced only physical death, but wicked mankind surely experienced both physical death and spiritual death. Just as eternal life is a gift from God, so is eternal death. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).

Sixth, God judges because He is just. Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows (Galatians 6:7). For the LORD not to judge sin would be to make a mockery of justice. Since God is love, He grants salvation to the righteous; because He is just, He judges the sinner. The Flood stands forever as a vivid reminder of this principle.

And Rain Fell on the Earth Forty Days and Forty Nights
7: 10-16

And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights DIG: What two sources of water were there? Where did they come from? Why are only Noah and his sons mentioned by name?

REFLECT: Where do you find comfort from the storms of life? Does the LORD shut you in? Do you feel threatened or protected by Him? Why?

Anyone who has experienced even a minor flood understands the force of water breaking free from that which held it back. We can only imagine what happened when all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. God had been patient for hundreds of years, but His patience had run out.

The rabbis teach that the seven days were days of mourning for Methuselah, whose death the LORD hastened so that the old man might be spared from the Flood. Then the floodwaters came upon the earth (7:10). The Flood is both a picture of Elohim’s wrath and His mercy. Just as the wrath of the Flood started a new beginning for those He spared, so the final judgment of God at His return (Revelation 19:16) will start a new Messianic government under the reign of Messiah, because the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment (Second Peter 2:9). When He returns and our world is destroyed, a new heaven and a new earth will be the home of the righteous (Second Peter 3:10-13). Therefore, our response should not be one of fear, but of godliness. ADONAI does not desire to scare us by threats of judgment but to woo us with acts of love, mercy and grace. His grace is most strikingly evident when set in contrast to the darkness and gloom of a sinful world racing toward its terrifying destiny.¹²²

In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month – on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up (NKJ 7:11). In other words, subterranean fountains of waters were released. Literally, it reads: the springs of the great abyss (tehom rabah). So, there was movement of the ground upward causing the waters to rise. The Hebrew word for broken up is the word baka, which means to divide and is used frequently in the Bible in connection with the use of water (Exodus 14:16 and 21; Judges 15:19; Nehemiah 9:11; Job 28:10; Psalm 74:15, 78:13-15; Proverbs 3:20: Isaiah 35:6; 48:21, 63:12; Habakkuk 3:9).

And the floodgates of the heavens were opened (7:11). Not only were the waters coming up from below, but the waters also came down from above. The two waters were separated on the second day of creation (1:6-7). The water above the expanse (1:7) made up the vast canopy, which maintained the earth as a beautiful greenhouse, preventing cold temperatures and preventing wind and rainstorms. Being in the vapor state, it was invisible and fully transparent, but nevertheless contained vast quantities of water extending far out into space. When it was time for the destruction of the earth in Noah’s day, all that was required was to reverse the process and bring the two waters back together again. Therefore, the Flood destroys what was originally created.¹²³

And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights (7:12). This is not how long the Flood lasted, rather, how long it kept on raining. The amazing power and speed of the huge amounts of water pouring out of the sky and surging up from the subterranean springs caught everyone by surprise. Everyone, that is, except Noah and his sons Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons (7:13). This is the third of five times Mrs. Noah is mentioned in the Bible (6:18; 7:7 and 13, 8:16 and 18). When you think about it, Mrs. Noah was the one person on the ark who didn’t seem to have an obvious role. It seems that her childbearing days were behind her even though there was an empty earth to repopulate. That mission would fall to her daughters-in-law. Had her usefulness run out? Did she feel like she was dead weight on the ark? Was she a disinterested spectator? Did others try to think of things for her to do so she wouldn’t feel left out? Was she energized, helping everyone out? We simply don’t know.

On the very day that the rains started to fall Noah and his family entered the ark and were saved (7:13). Noah’s sons are always listed before his wife (6:18, 7:7 and 13, 8:16 and 18). Mrs. Noah and the three daughters-in-law are never named probably because God is revealing the path through which the Seed of the woman (3:15a) will come. Now it is limited to those three; eventually it will get more specific. It will be Shem, then more specific, it will be through the nation of Isra’el; then more specific, it will be through the tribe of Judah; then it will be even more specific, it will be through the Messiah. The rabbis teach that the men and the women are listed separately because they were forbidden intimacy when the whole world was in distress. The three sons lived for a hundred years before the Flood, and yet no mention is made of any family they started. Noah fathers children only before the Flood. His sons father children only after the Flood is over.¹²⁴

They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock, or domesticated animals, according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings, which would include insects (7:14).

Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark (7:15). Noah and his three sons were not running around with butterfly nets trying to catch all these animals. The LORD commanded that they come into the ark.

The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as Elohim, the God of creation and destruction, had commanded Noah (7:16a). Then ADONAI shut them in (7:16b). This was the point of no return, both for those inside the ark and for those left behind. All those inside the ark would be saved and all those outside the ark would be lost. The use of these two most common names for God in the TaNaKh shows that He is both the Elohim of divine judgment and the ADONAI of divine redemption. The ark was salvation for Noah and his family. Much later, Jonah would state a very simple truth after being delivered from a watery grave himself: Salvation comes from ADONAI (Jonah 2:9).¹²⁵ The Hebrew translation of Yeshua means salvation.

If you are a follower of Jesus Christ you are also sealed or shut in. Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance (Ephesians 1:13b-14a; Second Corinthians 1:21). Because we are not transported into the Lord’s presence immediately at the moment of faith, some doubt their salvation. One way of guaranteeing His promises to us is to seal us in Him with the promised Holy Spirit at the moment we believe (see my commentary on The Life of Christ Bw –What God Does for Us at the Moment of Faith). This is a down payment, guaranteeing full payment at a later time. Life in the Savior is different because the Ruach ha-Kodesh is now within us. He is there to empower us, equip us for ministry, and function through the gifts He has given us. The Holy Spirit is our Helper and Advocate. He protects and encourages us. He guarantees our inheritance in Jesus Christ. When the Holy Spirit seals believers, He marks them as God’s divine possessions, who from that moment on entirely and eternally belong to Him. The Spirit’s seal declares the transaction of salvation as divinely official and final.¹²⁶ It should not be surprising then that, of all that were shut in the ark, none were lost. Yeshua said: All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do My will but to do the will of Him who sent Me, that I shall lose none of all that He has given Me, but raise them up at the last day (John 6:37-39).

The Chronology of the Flood

1 Year and 17 Days in the Ark
(based on a 360-day calendar year)

These dates are specified in the Scriptures; other dates are implied.¹²¹

Waiting in the ark for 7 days (7:7 and 10):

1. Noah entered the ark (7:7-9) month 2, day 10

2. 7 days later the rain began to fall (7:10-11) month 2, day 17

Water continued for 150 days (7:24)

3. 40 days later the heavy rains stopped (7:12) month 3, day 27

4. 110 days later the waters receded and the ark rested on Mt Ararat month 7, day 17

Water receded in 150 days (8:3)

5. 74 days later the tops of the mountains became visible (8:5) month 10, day 1

6. 40 days later raven sent out; dove sent out and returned (8:6-9) month 11, day 11

7. 7 days later dove was sent out again and returned with a leaf (8:10) month 11, day 18

8. 7 days later dove was sent out a third time and did not return (8:12) month 11, day 25

9. 22 days later the water receded (8:3) month 12, day 17

Earth dried in 70 days (8:13-19)

10. Noah saw dry land (8:13) month 1, day 1

11. The land was completely dry and Noah left the ark (8:14-19) month 1, day 27

Noah and His Wife and Sons Entered the Ark
to Escape the Waters of the Flood
7: 6-9

Noah and his wife and sons entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood DIG: How hard do you think it was on Noah to continue preaching in the midst of the ridicule and mocking that would have had to come his way? How long did he preach to his wicked generation? How did Mrs. Noah help her husband? Was Noah successful or faithful? What’s the difference?

REFLECT: Where is one place that the LORD might want you to step out in faith?

Having reached 500 years of age before Shem, Ham and Japheth were born (5:32), Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth (7:6). Solemnly, in order to stress that every one of God’s promises and commandments were being carried out to the letter, Moses recounts all who entered the ark.

And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the Flood (7:7). This is the second of five times Mrs. Noah is mentioned in the Bible (6:18; 7:7 and 13, 8:16 and 18). To his neighbors Noah was a fool. The size of the ark alone, not to mention his preaching, exposed Noah to ridicule and smirks. Any rabbi’s wife can tell you, its painful to see your husband mocked and rejected. It is mighty lonely when ADONAI sets you apart for ministry. But by any measure of ministry, Noah was an utter failure. After preaching for a 120 years he had not convinced one single person of the coming worldwide Flood. Fruitlessness is a heavy burden to bear if you’re a preacher. Noah must have had his low moments. He might have put on a brave face in public and maybe even in front of their sons. But at the end of the day, like most of us, he probably let down his guard at home. Mrs. Noah was a good listener, a comforter, and most of all a friend – ministering with him side by side.

What was everybody else doing just before the Flood came? Jesus gives us a vivid description: As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them away (Matthew 24:37-39). The tragedy of defying the LORD over and over again, of toying with His patience continually and persistently, is that eventually the time of repentance passes by and it becomes too late to seek His forgiveness. When the Flood came, everyone outside Noah’s immediate family was beyond hope and doomed to destruction. And the situation will be exactly the same when Yeshua Ha’Meshiach returns. The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare (Second Peter 3:9-10).

Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground entered the ark (7:8). The LORD had instructed Adam and Eve what was acceptable and unacceptable worship. They, in turn, taught their children, Cain and Abel. Abel was obedient, while Cain was rebellious to this standard (4:4-5). Although Moses had not yet put the Levitical system of clean and unclean animals in written form, there was an oral tradition. Noah understood the difference between clean and unclean animals.

Did Noah take dinosaurs on board the ark? The Bible does not list all the animals that were taken into the ark. But it does say that pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark (7:15), so that must have included dinosaurs. The ark was very large and specifically designed by God for this important purpose. So big, in fact, it took Noah 120 years to build it. It had plenty of room for all the animals, including the dinosaurs. Young dinosaurs would be small, easier to care for and needed less food.¹²⁰ It is also a possibility that many of the animals went into hibernation during the year that the ark was withstanding the Flood because no babies were born and the command to multiply and increase in number came only after the ark had rested (8:17).

Everything you need to know, you can learn from Noah’s ark. First, don’t miss the boat. Second, remember that we are all in the same boat. Third, plan ahead; it wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark. Fourth, stay fit; when you’re 500 years old, someone may ask you to do something really big. Fifth, don’t listen to your critics, just get on with the job that needs to be done. Sixth, for heaven’s sake, travel in pairs. Seventh, speed isn’t always an advantage; the snails were on board with the cheetahs. Eighth, when you’re stressed, float a while. Ninth, remember that amateurs built the ark, while professionals built the Titanic. Tenth, no matter the storm, when you are with God there is always a rainbow waiting.

The LORD Then said to Noah:
Go into the Ark,
Because I Have Found You Righteous
7: 1-5

The LORD then said to Noah: go into the ark, because I have found you righteous DIG: Given the unmitigated violence, pervasive corruption and heavy peer pressure surrounding Noah, what might Noah have thought when ADONAI told him to build the ark? What do you see as the biggest obstacle to his accomplishing that task? How does Noah persevere when the going gets tough? What do Noah’s actions tell you about his character (Hebrews 11:1 and 7)?

REFLECT: What is something difficult that the LORD is asking you to do? What obstacles stand in your way? How does ADONAI’s promise in Noah’s situation help in overcoming the obstacles you are facing?

In these verses the name of God changes exclusively to ADONAI, because He is the God of redemption and mercy. He will save His people physically, as Christ saves us spiritually. Of all those on the ark, none were lost.

To see the Ark Encounter go to arkencounter.com, located in Williamstown, Kentucky, it features a full-size Noah’s ark, built according to the dimensions given in the Bible. Spanning 510 feet long, 85 feet wide, and 51 feet high, this modern-day engineering marvel is just amazing.

God had spoken to Noah one hundred and twenty years earlier, giving instructions concerning the ark and the animals, and assuring him that the Flood would come on schedule. There had been no further word from heaven, but Noah remained faithful, obeying ADONAI’s commands without question. With all the urgency possible, he preached about the coming judgment, year after year, but without success. There were no converts. Finally, the ark was completed and all the animals were assembling. The one hundred and twenty years would be up in a few days, and grandfather Methuselah, who had served the LORD longer than any person who had ever lived, was on his deathbed. Then after more than a century of silence, ADONAI spoke once again to Noah.¹¹⁶

Noah was invited to come into this ark. Then ADONAI said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household (7:1 NKJ).” This is the first time come is found in the Scriptures. ADONAI was already inside because He said come. The NIV uses the word go here, but the Hebrew language views the action from the starting point; the English from that of a destination. The word go would imply that ADONAI was sending Noah away from Him; but by using come, it implies that He would be present with him. Jesus first says to each of us: Come and see (John 1:38-39). Then He says: Come and follow Me (Mark 1:17). And finally, He says: Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest (Mattityahu 11:28).

ADONAI spoke to Noah. It was through ADONAI’s attribute of mercy that Noah and his family were saved. The rabbis teach that this indicates that the LORD in His mercy would accept the sacrifice of the destruction of creation and give it another lease on life. According to rabbinic interpretation, the word ADONAI points to His mercy and the word Elohim points to His justice.

Eight people would enter the ark, but it was because of Noah that they were allowed to enter. Speaking to Noah, ADONAI would say: I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation (7:1 NKJ). God the Father sees Noah as being righteous. But didn’t Noah have a sin nature like all other human beings at this time? Of course he did. Then what made Noah righteous? He was righteous by faith. How was Noah faithful? By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith (see the commentary on Hebrews, to see link click Co – The Faith of Noah). If you are a believer, you are seen righteous before God, by faith.

This is the second time that Noah is said to be righteous in contrast to nearly everyone else (6-9), and as his righteousness led him to obey the LORD, God would also single him and his household out for salvation because ADONAI had found him righteous.¹¹⁷

Then the animals were detailed. Take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate (7:2a). Long before Moses and the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai, Noah already knew which animals were clean and are for food, and which are not clean and ought not to be used for human consumption. He took seven of every kind of clean animal because they were to be offered later as sacrifices (8:20). But how did Noah know clean animals from unclean animals? This is the book of Genesis, and the book of Leviticus had not yet been written. Noah knew because the LORD had taught the difference to Adam and Adam had passed that information down to his two sons Cain and Abel. That is how Abel knew what was an acceptable offering to ADONAI and was blessed. And that is how Cain was held accountable to God for an unacceptable offering and was cursed. So there was an oral tradition of the Levitical system, long before there were written laws in Leviticus 11:2-23. Noah was to take two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate (7:2b).

And also seven of every kind of bird, male and female. The number seven continues to figure prominently in this section. In addition to the seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, there were seven days between the LORD’s command to enter the ark and His sending the rain on the earth. The purpose of all this was to keep all their various kinds alive throughout the earth (7:3).

The timing of the Flood is seen in the next verse. Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth (7:4a). For seven days the world could have knocked at the door of the ark, and frankly, they could have come in. God would have saved them. All they had to do was believe.¹¹⁸This was the first rain in human history. According to rabbinic tradition the reason for the seven-day delay was to allow seven days of mourning for Methuselah, who had just died. Then the rain would last for forty days and forty nights. This length of time is often used in critical periods in the history of God’s people. Moses stayed on Mount Sinai for forty days and forty nights (Exodus 24:18), and there the LORD gave him the two stone tablets of the covenant on which the Ten Commandments were written (Deuteronomy 9:11). Yeshua fasted for forty days and forty nights in the desert (Matthew 4:2), and there the devil tempted Him three times (Matthew 4:3-11).¹¹⁹

Then the LORD said to Noah: I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made (7:4b). If Elohim had meant to convey a localized flood, He would not have used this phrase. From the face of the earth begs for a worldwide Flood. These are the last recorded words of ADONAI to Noah until after the Flood. A year and seventeen days later, God will say: Come out of the ark (8:16). During that time God was silent. It was a time of patient waiting for Noah and his household.

Presumably Moses could have added a lot of details about Noah’s building of the ark and the gathering of the animals, but he did not. Noah’s exploits are condensed into these few words: And Noah did all that ADONAI commanded him (7:5). The author concentrates on this one fact, Noah was obedient. To the best of his ability, he was obedient. That should be our goal as well. To the best of our ability, we should strive to be obedient and do all that the LORD commands us. Not that we have to be perfect, because we are not. But with the help of Ruach Ha’Kodesh, we can be His obedient children.

As we study the destruction of mankind by the Flood, we need to remember one critically important characteristic of the God who sent the Flood. ADONAI is a God of mercy. This was evident from the very beginning of the human race. When He made the agreement with Adam, He told Adam, “You may freely eat from every tree in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You are not to eat from it, because on the day that you eat of it, it will become certain that you will die” (2:16). There was indeed a spiritual death on that fateful day when he ate the forbidden fruit, but Adam did not physically die until many years later. This was a demonstration of the mercy of ADONAI.

Since the time of Adam, corruption has permeated mankind. But in every generation, God was merciful and left a witness of Himself to live among people. This was true concerning Seth’s generation (see Bl – The Line of Seth), and also true during Enoch’s generation (see Bv – Enoch was the Father of Methuselah and Walked with God for 300 Years). Finally, we see in this parashah, this was certainly true about Noah’s generation.

God’s mercy, however, was not only demonstrated by the witnesses He provided, it was also clearly seen in how ADONAI prepared that sinful people for the Flood. First, the very act of building the Ark would have provoked the people to ask the appropriate questions, affording Noah the opportunity to tell them about the forthcoming wrath of God. After all, he was a preacher of righteousness, and seven others (Second Peter 2:5). In addition to the time it took to build the Ark, there was also the time allotted for Noah to collect all the animals into the Ark. ADONAI was showing abundant mercy to a sinful generation by not only providing competent witnesses of Himself to them, but also by providing them ample time in which to see the error of their ways and repent.

Noah Was a Righteous Man, Blameless Among
the People of His Time and He Walked With God
6: 9-12

Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time and he walked with God DIG: How was Noah different than those of his time? How extensive had the corruption grown? How did Noah avoid the temptations of his day? How many other people were protected with him? Who were they?

REFLECT: Was it right to wipe out that many people? Why did God do it? When was the last time you opposed the evil in the world even though you were in the minority? Can you identify with Noah? How so?

Parashah 2: Noach (Noah) 6:9-11:32
(see my commentary on Deuteronomy, to see link click Af – Parashah)

The Key People include Noah, Shem, Ham, Japheth, and their wives, Canaan, Terah, Abram, Nahor, Haran, Lot, Sarai, and Milcah. The name Noah means comfort. The rabbis teach that he was a comfort to himself, a comfort to the world, a comfort to his fathers, a comfort to his children, a comfort to celestial beings and to mortals; a comfort in this world and the world to come (Bereshit Rabbah 30:5).

The Scenes include the mountains of Ararat, the plains of Shinar, Ur of the Chaldeans, and Haran.

The Main Events include the Ark and the Flood, the Covenant, the rainbow, the vineyard fiasco, Shem’s blessing, the Tower of Bab’el, and Terach’s move. The wicked generations of Cain and the ungodly mixture of the human and demonic through the Nephilim caused the world to be entirely steeped in anarchy and violence. So, after nine generations, ADONAI had “had enough” and was ready to wipe humanity from the face of the earth. However, God recognized Noah (from the godly line of Seth) as a righteous man, and graciously made provision to save him from the wrath to come. This parashah bridges the gap between pre-historic times and the beginning of recorded human history.

Noah is described in three complimentary ways in 6:9. First, Noah, like John the Baptist (Mark 6:20) and Simeon (Luke 2:25), was a righteous man. The word righteous, or tzaddik, is the act of God, whereby, negatively, He forgives the sins of believers and, positively, He declares them righteous by transferring to their account all the obedience and righteousness of Christ by faith (Luke 18:9-14). It is not a reward for anything good they have done, there is no way that they can earn it because it is an utterly undeserved free gift of God’s mercy (Romans 3:24; Titus 3:7). It is an internal condition, and it happens at the point of salvation (see my commentary on The Life of Christ, to see link click Bw –What God Does for Us at the Moment of Faith).

Secondly, Noah, like Abraham (17:1) and Job (Job 1:1) and Jacob (25:27) was also perfect (NKJ) or blameless (NIV) among the people of his time. The word perfect, or tammim, means without blemish and used in the book of Leviticus, Chapters 1, 3 and 10 for sacrificial offerings. In Leviticus 3:1 and 6 it means without defect, and emphasizes an outward condition. Therefore, Noah was inwardly and outwardly right before God, among the people of his time, meaning, unlike others of his generation, he was not contaminated by the intermarriage of demonic angels. In fact his was the most righteous of the ten generations starting with Adam. So he is described as being both righteous and without defect. When used together these two words emphasize a holy righteousness (Job 12:4; Proverbs 11:5).

And thirdly, like Enoch (5:22 and 24), Noah walked with Elohim, the God of righteousness (6:9b). That means he obeyed God’s commands. The writer of Hebrews makes the same point. By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith (Hebrews 11:7). It took faith to build an ark on dry land when it had never rained.

The Hebrew text in 6:9 has exactly ten words that begin and end with the name Noah. Perhaps Moses is pointing to the fact that Noah formed the tenth generation from Adam and must have wanted to give Noah as much attention as possible.

In 6:10 we are told about the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham and Japheth. Shem means name. Ham in Hebrew is cham, which means warm or hot, and Japheth, which in Hebrew is yaphed, which means fair or beautiful. The order listed here is not necessarily the order of birth. The twelve sons of Jacob are listed ten times and they are always in a different order, and the order is always significant. This is not a big deal here, but it will be when we get to Abraham. By Jewish tradition, Noah’s wife was Naamah, the daughter of Lamech. Noah might have had other sons and daughters who were not righteous, but we just don’t know. Although these three sons had been mentioned earlier in 5:32, their reference here points to the fact that they were also righteous believers, and along with theirwives, were saved from the Flood. Kefa tells us: God did not spare the ancient world when He brought the Flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others (Second Peter 2:5). But why was God going to send the Flood?

Mankind had corrupted Elohim’s creation and gone their own way (to see a video on life before the Flood click here). In 6:11 and 12 Moshe describes the corrupted state of the earth. The Hebrew word for corrupt, or shachath, is a very strong word and is often translated destroy. Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence (Hebrew: hamas). How appropriate! Many members of the Hamas are Arab Muslims living within the borders of Isra’el. They have killed dozens and have wounded hundreds of Israelites in suicide bus attacks and other fanatical acts of violence. I am not suggesting that there is a linguistic connection between the name of the Arabic group “Hamas” and this word used here in Bereshit. There is none. Nor, was there any political groups called Hamas in Noah’s day. However, the corruption, destruction and violence which so characterizes modern day Hamas is a perfect illustration of the type of violence that was being perpetrated in the days just before ADONAI unleashed His wrath by sending the Flood. It is rather uncanny that the word is similar for both!

At that time the world was corrupted by the intermarriage of fallen demonic angels and human women (6:1-4). The violence was a result of the corruption and shows the extent of Satan’s success. Elohim, the God of creation and destruction, saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people of the earth had corrupted their ways. It is interesting that 6:12 marks the middle point of Chapters 1 through 11. Although the earth had forgotten God, God was still trying to salvage the earth. Only four women were not corrupted by the intermarriage, Mrs. Noah and the wives of the three sons. But the end had come; there was no alternative. God has decided to destroy all mankind and to make Noah and his family the ancestors of a new humanity.¹⁰⁴

The Written Account of the Generations of Noah
6:9 to 9:29

Moses edited and compiled twelve family documents in the book of Genesis. The major structural word for Genesis is toldot, which means the written account of, or this is what became of these men and their descendants. The noun is often translated generations, histories or descendants. After the section on the written account of the generations of Adam from 5:1 to 6:8, we have the fourth toldot, the written account of the generations of Noah. The previous toldot went from the blessing of Seth to the cursing of the demonic angels; however, this toldot goes from the cursing of the flood to the blessing of salvation. Therefore, what this fourth family document tells us is what became of Noah. And what became of Noah was that He was saved through the ark, which is a type of salvation through Christ (First Peter 3:20-21).

The entire Flood account follows an antithetical structure. There is a parallelism, where the first letter is antithetical to the second letter, and so on, with the letter F being the turning point.

A God resolves to destroy humanity with a Flood (6:11-13)

B Noah builds an ark (6:14-22)

C God commands Noah to enter the ark (7:1-9)

D The Flood begins (7:10-16)

E The Flood covers the earth for 150 days with the mountains covered (7:17-24)

F God remembers Noah (8:1a)

E The Flood recedes after 150 days and the mountains become visible (8:1b-5)

D The earth dries (8:6-14)

C God commands Noah to leave the ark (8:15-19)

B Noah builds an altar (8:20)

A God resolves never again to destroy humanity with a Flood (8:21-22)

The number seven is also very prominent in this toldot. Seven days are mentioned (7:4 and 10, 8:10 and 12). There are seven pairs of clean animals and birds (7:2-3). God spoke to Noah seven times (6:13; 7:1; 8:15; 9:1, 8, 12, 17). The Hebrew stem aseh, to do or to make, is used seven times in 6:13-22 in conjunction with the building of the ark. The root word to come is used seven times from 7:1-16. The stem of to destroy, erase or wipe out is used seven times in the Flood account. The word covenant is used seven times from 9:8-17. And finally, Noah’s name appears thirty-five (5X7) times in the entire Flood account.

Up to this point, we have seen the name of God alternate back and forth between Elohim and ADONAI. From 1:1 to 2:3 the name God or Elohim is used, because He is the God of Creation.

Then from 2:4 to 4:26 the name the LORD or ADONAI is used to emphasize that He is the One who always exists, the God of redemption and mercy. There are only a couple of exceptions to this. One is the temptation in 3:1-4, where Satan lies to Eve that she will become like God, the God of creation. And the other is in 4:25 where Eve says that God, the God of creation, has given her another child. Other than these few exceptions, the name the LORD or ADONAI is used throughout.

In Chapter 5 the name changes back to God, or Elohim, with the exception of 5:29. The reason for this change is that the righteous line of Seth is traced down to Noah and what is emphasized is that Elohim is the God of righteousness.

In 6:1-8 the name changes back to ADONAI, or the LORD because as man becomes more corrupt, the fact that He is the God of redemption and mercy is emphasized.

In this section these names will continue to change back and forth. The question is, why? The answer lies with Him and not man. When the Ruach Ha’Kodesh wants to emphasize God, the creator or destroyer, the God of righteousness, He uses Elohim. And when He wants to emphasize redemption and mercy, the One who always exists, He uses ADONAI, or the LORD.

But Noah Found Grace in the Eyes of the LORD
6: 5-8

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD DIG: Did the sons of God and the daughters of men get away with anything? What do you think the LORD felt as He saw what His creation had become? Do you think His decision was justified? Why or why not? What did ADONAI mean when He said: I am grieved that I have made man?

REFLECT: Have you every grieved the heart of God? Have you ever caused someone else to suffer? When you realized it, what did you do about it (see First John 1:8-10)? As far as God is concerned, are you part of the problem or part of the solution?

The sons of God and the daughters of men were both judged by the LORD: First, let’s look at how ADONAI judged these fallen angels, or demons. The intermarriage of human women and demonic angels is the only reasonable explanation for the statements of Second Peter 2:4, Jude 6-7 and First Peter 3:20. Theirs was a particular, unique sin that is always in the context of the Flood. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses (Deuteronomy 19:15);thus, let’s look at our three witnesses.

Our first witness is Second Peter. Kefa said: God did not spare the demonic angels when they sinned by marrying the daughters of men and producing the Nephilim, but sent them to hell (Second Peter 2:4a). The phrase, sent them to hell, is actually the translation of a single Greek word. The verb, used only here in the New Covenant, is derived from Tartarus, which in Greek mythology identified a subterranean abyss that was even lower than hades or hell. Tartarus came to refer to the abode of the most wicked spirits, where the worst rebels and criminals received the severest divine punishment. Much like Jesus used the term Gehenna (the name for Jerusalem’s garbage dump, where fires burned continually) to illustrate the inextinguishable torments of eternal anguish, Peter used a familiar word from popular Greek thought to designate hell.¹⁰⁰ There, the LORD put them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment. Because their sin was so severe, ADONAI placed them in chains to prevent them from committing such wickedness ever again (Second Peter 2:4b). Then Peter puts Noah in the context. The LORD did not spare the ancient world when He brought the Flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others (Second Peter 2:5). Then Peter puts Sodom and Gomorrah in the context in the very next verse when he wrote: ADONAI condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly (Second Peter 2:6).

Our second witness is Jude. He said: And these fallen angels did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home. Instead of staying in their own realm of authority given by the LORD, they went outside of it. These He has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day (Jude 6).

Then Jude makes an astonishing comparison. Just as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire (Jude 7 NKJ). The wicked people of Sodom and Gomorrah engaged in sins equally morally wrong as those of the demons. They, like the fallen angels, went after strange flesh. This indicates that they went outside of what was proper for them, and like the demons, they will have the same punishment (Revelation 20:10; Isaiah 30:33).

Our third witness is First Peter. Kefa tells us that between Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection, our Lord was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit. He was spiritually alive but physically dead. Sometime during those three days He went and preached to the spirits in prison (First Peter 3:18-19). With Messiah dead on the cross the demons may have been celebrating their seeming victory only to have the living Christ show up and make a triumphant announcement that He had conquered death. Rabbi Saul mentions the same thing when Christ descended into the low, earthly regions of sh’ol (Ephesians 4:9). The TaNaKh refers to the place of the dead as sh’ol (Deuteronomy 32:22; Job 26:6; Psalm 16:10). One part of sh’ol was a place of torment and agony, occupied by the unrighteous dead and by the demons who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built (First Peter 3:20a). Another part of sh’ol was a place of contentment and rest, inhabited by the righteous dead who had put their faith in ADONAI. Abraham’s side (Luke 16:22) was a common name for sh’ol at the time of the Messiah. They resided there until Yeshua had paid for their sins on the cross. Then after declaring victory over those very demons, the Lord of Life liberated the godly captives and led them to heaven when He ascended on high (Ephesians 4:8). Among those who went with Him were Adam, Eve, Abel, Seth, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah and all the righteous of the TaNaKh before the cross, including those mentioned in the hall of faith in the book of Hebrews (see my commentary on Hebrews, to see link click Cl – The Hall of Faith).

What confirms this interpretation is when Peter, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, puts Noah in the context. The LORD proclaimed His triumph over Satan, sin, death and hell to the very worst of demons, who disobeyed ADONAI in the worst manner in the days of Noah before the Flood. The fallen angels’ long effort to demonize people, hinder the redemptive purpose of the LORD, and prevent the Seed of the woman (3:15) from crushing Satan’s head and sending the demons into the lake of fire (Matthew 25:41; Revelation 19:10, 20:10, 14-15) ultimately failed at the cross.¹⁰¹ So the fallen angels did not escape judgment, and neither would the wicked men and women on the earth.

Secondly, let’s look at how the LORD dealt with this great sin on the earth. ADONAI would hold the daughters of men just as accountable for their sin as God held Eve accountable for her sin. In the days before the Flood, sin had become pervasive. Its evil tentacles reached into every nook and cranny of a person’s life, and no one was ever free of its influence. The description here would be hard to match anywhere in Scripture. A state of anarchy and terror must have reigned. The LORD saw how great mankind’s wickedness on the earth had become. It was not merely that they entertained a somewhat sinful thought once in a while. On the contrary, their depravity was total; every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts and minds were only evil all the time (6:5).¹⁰²

Here, we witness a cruel and ruthless world. People of the flood generation were ruled by their desires alone, and as a result, the earth was filled with violence (Genesis 7:13). Then came the Flood and wiped out the world.

In the days of Noah, every person, or every small group, cared only for themselves and their own needs, on the account of others. Humans turn into bands of animals, that fight for food, shelter and hunting ground. They killed and raped to satisfy themselves.

The world turned into an endless warzone, where everyone is an enemy, and people lived in constant fear of death, rape, or other violent outcome. With no rules or limitations. Violence and wickedness filled the earth.

ADONAI was grieved that they had made man on the earth. Mankind had negated the LORD’s purpose in creation. ADONAI’S actions toward mankind changed when mankind’s actions toward the LORD changed. He responds one way to obedience and another way to disobedience. Although the demonic angels obviously contributed to the wickedness on the earth, people were ultimately responsible for their own sin. The soul who sins is the one who will die (Ezeki’el 18:20). Demons can control only those who are in rebellion against ADONAI, or are so obsessed with doing evil that they are open to being controlled. And His heart was filled with pain (6:6). Obviously, all of this was very painful for the LORD.

Then the LORD said: I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth – men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air – for I am grieved that I have made them (6:7). The solution for worldwide wickedness would be a worldwide Flood. The animals and the birds were merely innocent bystanders, but they were to be destroyed as well. The animals and birds had been created for man’s use, and since man was to be destroyed, there was no need for them. Notice no fish are mentioned here because the destruction is going to be by water. Yet this section ends with one glimmer of hope.

But Noah found grace in the eyes of ADONAI (6:8). This is the first mention of grace in the Bible. One righteous man stands in the way of human destruction. Here we do not have the judgment of the LORD but His grace. This was the way out of the devastation. We have grace in the context of judgment. Noah’s life was the one point of light shining bravely through the darkness that was about to engulf the world. When the whole world turned its back on ADONAI, he stood strong in the face of adversity. Though Noah was a righteous man (6:9), he and his family would survive the waters of the Flood not because of his goodness but because of God’s grace. Noah was merely a sinner saved by grace. And so it is with us today. We who are believers would do well to remind ourselves often that it is by grace that we have been saved, through faith – and this is not from ourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).¹⁰³

Haftarah b’Resheet:
Yesha’yahu (Isaiah) 42:5-43:10 (A); 42:5-21 (S)
(see the commentary on Deuteronomy, to see link click Af – Parashah)

This passage begins with the creation account (Isaiah 42:5), advancing quickly to Isra’el’s role as mediator of a covenant to all mankind and light to the nations (Isaiah 42:6). ADONAI convenes a court and assembles the nations for a trial (Isaiah 43:8-9). The idols of the nations have no witnesses or prophets to interpret. All are silent. They cannot explain the rise of Cyrus, king of Persia, as God’s anointed. Then YHVH summons Isra’el. Alas! She is deaf and blind (Isaiah 42:19). But ADONAI, who created the heavens and formed Isra’el from the beginning, has redeemed her (Isaiah 43:1-3). Deaf and blind from the effects of sin, Isra’el is led into court in the presence of the nations. Can Isra’el be shamed (Isaiah 42:17) into realizing God’s faithfulness (see the commentary on Ruth Af – The Concept of Chesed)? YHVH exclaims to Isra’el, “You are my witness, and My servant whom I have chosen, so that you can know and trust Me” (Isaiah 43:10a).

B’rit Chadashah suggested readings for Parashah b’Resheet:
Matthew 1:1-17, 19:3-9; John 1:1-18; Hebrews 1:1-3, 3:7-4:11; Revelation 21:1-5, 22:1-21.

The rest which Adam failed to enter when he disobeyed YHVH and ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden of Eden, the fathers of Isra’el also failed to enter (Hebrews 3:17) – due to unbelief and deliberate disobedience at Kadish Barnea (Psalm 95:10; Numbers 14:23, 29-30 and 35). ADONAI swears the fathers will not rest, even though He Himself has rested (Genesis 2:2; Exodus 31:17). God’s rest is offered again to Isra’el under Joshua (Joshua 21:44, 22:4, 23:1, and also see Deuteronomy 12:9-10), under David (Psalm 95:6-8, 11), and then under Yeshua (Matthew 11:28-30). The Shabbat rest of Ha’Shem is still avaliable today (Hebrews 4:8-9). One must run away from the message of the world, since listening without ears of faith leads to the hardening of the heart (Hebrews 3:7-19). Therefore, let us do our best to enter that rest; so that no one will fall short because of the same kind of disobedience (Hebrews 4:11), because the Lord is coming very soon (Revelation 22:7, 12). Believers are called to respond quickly and say: Come, Lord Yeshua, Come (Revelation 22:20).

The Sons of God Married the Daughters of Men
6: 1-4

The sons of God married the daughters of man DIG: Apart from the lack of details in these verses, what do you find most disturbing about this description of human corruption? Why? What would be disturbing to someone who believes human nature is essentially good? Why does God the Holy Spirit say: Do not be yoked together with unbelievers (Second Corinthians 2:14-18)?

REFLECT: When was the last time you were fooled into thinking someone was very different than they really were? What did you learn from that experience? Not to trust anyone or to test the spirits (First John 4:1-3)?

This chapter describes Satan’s attempt to make it impossible for mankind to be saved. When the deceiver saw an opportunity to destroy God’s prophecy that the Seed of the woman would crush his head, he took it. Moral and spiritual conditions at that time had deteriorated with passing years, not only among the descendants of Cain, but also among the descendants of Seth. The wickedness and sinfulness of mankind was so great, that the Adversary saw such an opportunity. His plan was pure evil.

The phrase, now it came to pass (NKJ), links Chapter 5, which focuses on the sons, with Chapter 6, which focuses on the daughters. Men began to increase in number on the earth when they had other sons and daughters. The Hebrew word for men is adam, which means man. The word is generic, meaning mankind in general, including male and female. This word cannot be limited to the son’s of Cain (as some would wrongly interpret this section as the intermarrying between the ungodly line of Cain and the godly line of Seth). Then Moses, the human author, added: and daughters were born to them. Once again, daughters is a general term, meaning both daughters from the line of Cain and daughters from the line of Seth, and all the other sons of Adam that had multiplied by this time.

The sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful. The term the sons of God in Hebrew is bnei ha Elohim. This phrase in the Hebrew Bible is always used in reference to angels. It might be good angels, or it might be bad angels, but it refers to angels (Job 1:6, 2:1, 38:7). The Septuagint uses the same term in Deuteronomy 32:8, and refers to angels. Another variation of this is bnei eilim, which means the sons of the mighty (Psalm 29:1, 89:6, 82:6). Another form of it is in Aramaic, bar Elohim, which means a son of the gods. Therefore, everywhere it is used, it is a reference to angels.

They are sons in the sense that God directly created them (Psalm 148:2 and 5, Psalm 104:4; Colossians 1:16). The term includes both fallen angels and faithful angels. In the New Covenant the term the sons of God is applied to others besides angels, but the common element of being directly created by God is still there. For example, Adam, in Luke 3:38 is called the son of God because he was created directly by God. Believers are called the sons of God in John 1:12 and Romans 8:14 (KJV) because they are a new creation (Second Corinthians 5:17), created by God. Therefore, there seems no reasonable doubt that, in so far as the language itself is concerned, the intent of the Holy Spirit is to convey the thought of angels – fallen angels, or demons, because they were acting in opposition to the will of ADONAI (see my commentary on Jude, to see link click Ak – The Angels Did Not Keep Their Positions of Authority). This also was the meaning placed on the passage by Josephus, by the writer of the ancient apocryphal book of Enoch, and by all the other ancient Jewish interpreters and earliest Christian writers.⁹⁸

In this verse there is also the phrase the daughters of men. This is a generic term for women or womankind. The sons of God, or fallen angels, saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. Angels always appear as “men” and the pronoun “he” is always used in reference to them. Yeshua said of angels: At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven (Matthew 22:30). However, this is not the equivalent of saying that angels are “sexless,” since people will surely retain their own personal identity.

The Destroyer of souls had not forgotten the LORD’s prophecy that the promised Seed of the woman would one day destroy him. He had implanted his own spiritual seed in Cain and his descendants, but God had preserved the line of the Seed of the woman through Seth (3:15). When Noah was born and Lamech was led to prophesy that comfort concerning the curse would come through him in 5:29, the devil devised a plan to completely corrupt mankind, making it impossible for them to be saved. The union between fallen angels and human females produced something abnormal, neither fully human or fully angel. Because fallen angels have no possibility of being saved, neither did their offspring. As the population eventually grew, the entire human race would be contaminated by these half-human, half-demon offspring, and Satan would have used the marvelous power of procreation, which God had given the human family, to corrupt the world.⁹⁹

Then the LORD, said: My Spirit will not contend with man forever. Here again we have the implication of a plurality in the Godhead. The pronoun My, refers to Elohim, and the word Spirit refers to the Holy Spirit, who has already been introduced as early as 1:2. The word contend appears only here in the entire Bible and means restraining sin. The verse could be translated: My Holy Spirit will not restrain man’s sin forever; there would be a limit. The restraining of sin was accomplished through the preaching of Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech and Noah. In contrast to the Holy Spirit, man is mortal and subject to death (6:13). Then ADONAI added: His days will be a hundred and twenty years. Those were the years remaining before the Flood as Noah built the ark (First Peter 3:20). The only reason for this delay was the grace of God. Lastly, we see the result of the intermarriage between demonic fallen angels and human women.

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days. The Hebrew word for Nephilim means the fallen ones. Some translations read giants, but this is a bad translation based on the Septuagint, not the Hebrew Scriptures. Some use Numbers 13:33 to support the idea that the Nephilim were giants. But the ten spies who came back gave a false report. There were no giants or fallen ones because Joshua never encountered any of them as he conquered the land. Therefore, these fallen ones were the result of the union, as is explained in the remainder of the verse. The rabbis teach that they were so named because they fell, and caused the whole world to fall. When the writer says they were on the earth in those days, he means in the days of Enoch and the children of Cain. The depravity of mankind had accelerated to such an alarming degree that the LORD made His decision right then and there that something drastic had to be done. Enoch named his son when he dies, it shall be sent. As long as Methuselah was alive, 969 years, the earth would be spared from judgment. Therefore, the Nephilim existed in those days of Enoch when Methuselah was born and also afterward in the days when they failed to repent.

When the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them they became the Nephilim. Those fallen ones were heroes of old, men of renown. These were men whose exploits of evil and violence had made them heroes in their time. This is true of our society today. Many times the more wicked and violent people become, the more famous they are. The rabbis interpreted this to mean that they were men of renown who brought desolation upon the world because of the similarity in Hebrew between the word renown and the word desolation. When the LORD was ready to judge the world, as He was about to do with the Flood, no one outside the ark would survive. There would be no glory in that, only death. In the eyes of the world the Nephilim were heroes, but in eyes of ADONAI they were merely satanic counterfeits.

The Nephilim Were on the Earth in Those Days
6: 1-8

The first age of human history came to its climax and conclusion in the days of Noah. The terminal disease of sin, which began so innocently when Eve was tempted to doubt God’s word, then began to grow in the life of Cain, came to completion in the godless civilization that could only be purged by the Flood. The characteristics of those awful and tragic days, as strange as they may seem to us today, are to be repeated in the last days of this present age. Thus, it is vitally important that we understand what happened in the last days of Noah. The human race had become wicked beyond all belief and death would be their punishment.

Two days before Messiah’s crucifixion, His talmidim asked Him, “What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age” (Mattityahu 24:3)? There would be a number of signs that would culminate in this warning from Yeshua: As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the son of Man. For in the days before the Flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the Flood came and took them away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man (Matthew 24:37-39). Therefore, this story not only confirms the account of the Flood, but also cautions us to be aware of how people lived in the days before the Flood, for these would also be the characteristics in the days just before the return of Christ.

After Noah Was 500 Years Old,
He Became the Father of Shem, Ham and Japheth
5: 32

After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth REFLECT: Do you have a family historian? Do you have a genealogical tree drawn up to pass down the line? Why do you suppose genealogies are less important today than they were to people in biblical times? How does Chapter 5 augment your story of fall and redemption?

Noah is the tenth generation and means rest. Contrary to what the evolutionists say, there were not billions of years between the Creation and the Flood. There were only two generations from Adam to Noah. After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth. They were not triplets. What this implies is that Noah was 500 years old before any of them were born. Shem means name, Ham means warm or hot, Japheth means fair or beautiful.

One can only imagine the ridicule that Noah endured. Before the Flood there was no rain. Yet Noah and his sons built the ark. It must have been a time of grief for the godly man as the world that he knew became more and more evil. I am sure his preaching and witnessing seemed futile. His own brothers and sisters and their families were overwhelmed by the wicked culture and were drowning in their sin. It is also likely that all this affected his own family, but we cannot be sure. We do know that he had three sons who escaped the Flood, but it seems likely that he, like the others in his line, would have had other sons and daughters who rejected his message. But Noah continued, for 120 years, to be faithful and build the ark. Mrs. Noah must have been an incredible woman (6:18, 7:7 and 13, 8: 16 and 18) to stand by his side in the mist of the evil and corruption of their world. He built and he preached, but his preaching to the world did not save it because there was no repentance except for the eight who entered the ark. His preaching did not save his generation; it condemned them (see the commentary on Hebrews, to see link click Co – The Faith of Noah).

Satan was watching all of this with sinister joy. He always looks for our weaknesses, just as he did in the garden of Eden. And at just the right moment of our greatest weakness he steps in with temptation. If we resist him, he will flee from us (James 4:7). But here, desire had given birth to sin, and sin was growing, which would eventually give birth to death (6:11 to 8:14). What we see next is the fruit of that evil generation.

When Lamech Had Lived for 182 Years,
He Had a Son and Named Him Noah
5: 28-31

When Lamech had lived for 182 years, he had a son and named him Noah DIG: Who were the four generations of godly men to preach to four wicked generations before the Flood? What is the play on words with Noah’s name? What does that point to? How did Lamech make the same mistake Eve made? What happened to all of Noah’s brothers and sisters? Why isn’t Mrs. Noah mentioned?

REFLECT: Is there a godly line in your family? Or do you hope to start one? How do you think this generation compares to the one that Noah preached to? What are the similarities? What are the differences?

Lamech is the ninth generation and means conqueror. Methuselah’s son Lamech, like his grandfather Enoch, was a prophet of God (prophesying at least concerning his own son). Lamech named his son Noah. He said: [Noah] will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the LORD has cursed. Lamech was aware that the ground was under a curse from the LORD. Unlike Enoch, however, Lamech boasted of murder (4:23). A descendent of the peaceful Seth, nevertheless, his flagrant lawlessness was characteristic of the civilization in which he lived.

There was a whole succession of preachers and godly men to before the Flood. We know that Enoch (dedication) was a preacher (Jude 14-15), and I believe that Methuselah (when he dies, then it shall be sent)was a preacher as stated previously; Lamech (conqueror)prophesied concerning his son Noah (comfort or rest), and the Bible teaches us that Noah was a preacher of righteousness (Second Peter 2:5). Enoch and Methuselah were godly men, but when Lamech grew up, things started to change. He and his generation got only worse. During Noah’s lifetime, the LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time (to see link click Cb – But Noah Found Grace in the Eyes of the LORD). Lamech characterized that generation. So God determined to drown the whole world.

When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son. He named him Noah, which means comfort or rest. There is a play on words here because Noah’s name means comfort (or rest from nuach), and Lamech said: He will comfort (nachem) us. Again, this points to the fact that Hebrew was the first language because the word play makes no sense except in Hebrew. He said of his son Noah: He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the LORD has cursed. What happens here is that Lamech made the same mistake that Eve made. When Cain was born, Eve thought he was the Messiah. When Noah was born, Lamech recognized that God had a special plan for his son’s life. The rabbis teach that the reason Lamech knew that Noah would be special was because he was born already circumcised. But he misinterpreted that role, thinking that his son would be the Messiah and remove the curse from the ground.

However, a change did indeed take place during the lifetime of Noah. By judgment of the Flood the corrupt race was all but exterminated, and Noah, who was preserved because of his blameless walk with God, secured the restoration of the human race in the ark with his family. The effects of the curse were not removed. But when ADONAI made the covenant with Noah after the Flood (9:8-17), there was hope of the eventual removal of that curse.

After Noah was born, Lamech lived 595 years and had other sons and daughters. These are Noah’s brothers and sisters and it seems that they all died in the Flood. Altogether, Lamech lived 777 years, and then he died.

When Methuselah Had Lived 187 Years,
He Became the Father of Lamech
5: 25-27

When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he became the father of Lamech DIG: What was significant about Methuselah’s name? What specific sin was so pervasive in the culture of Enoch’s day that he would give his son this prophetic name? How does this show that the Lord is patient, not wanting anyone to perish (Second Peter 3:8-9)? What was ADONAI’s ultimate goal in delaying the Flood?

REFLECT: How has God been patient with you? What is the difference between grace and mercy? What has been given to you as a sign of mercy in your life? How did you respond to His mercy?

Enoch was a prophet (Jude 14-15), and his son’s name was prophetic. At the birth of his son, Enoch received a special revelation concerning the judgment of the great Flood. Methuselah is the eighth generation and means when he dies, it shall be sent. This was both a warning and a promise from God. In other words, as long as his son was alive the earth would be spared from judgment. But when he died, the Flood would be sent. Methuselah became a living prophecy. I am sure that Enoch, being the godly man that he was, fully impressed upon his son the meaning of his name and the awesome responsibility to proclaim it. I believe that Methuselah, like his father before him, was a preacher of righteousness to the wicked generation of his time.

When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he became the father of Lamech. And after he became the father of Lamech, Methuselah lived 782 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Methuselah lived 969 years, and then he died. He was the oldest person who ever lived and this was a sign of God’s mercy, not grace. Grace is receiving what you do not deserve. Grace is unmerited favor. On the other hand, mercy is not receiving what you do deserve. And during Methuselah’s lifetime, mankind deserved judgment for their sin, but ADONAI withheld judgment in the hope that some would repent and be saved. As Peter reminds us: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (Second Peter 3:8-9). So as long as Methuselah lived, there was hope for mankind, and his ministry to the world probably postponed the Flood for 120 years. But when Methuselah was about 850 years old, his grandson, Noah, began building the ark in his driveway. And God’s word is true, because the same year that Methuselah died, the LORD sent the Flood. This fulfilled the prophecy of Methuselah’s father Enoch.

Enoch was the Father of Methuselah
and Walked with God for 300 Years
5: 21-24

Enoch was the father of Methuselah and walked with God for 300 years DIG: Why was Enoch the one exception to the reign of death? What does it mean for Enoch that God took him away? Why Enoch of all people (see Hebrews 11:5-6)? If Methuselah was the oldest man in the Bible, how could he die before his father?

REFLECT: When was the last time you felt that you walked with God? How could the picture of ADONAI taking Enoch away have anything to do with you? What can we learn practically about walking with God so that we can follow Enoch’s example?

Some leaders are made in a moment. Others are defined by a lifetime. This was true of Athanasius, a fourth-century believer who stood firm over many decades by refusing to compromise, even when it seemed the whole world was against him. Athanasius lived in Alexandria, Egypt, during the historic transition within the Roman Empire. Emperor Constantine had ascended to the throne and put an end to the imperial policy of persecution against Christians. But the Church’s newfound acceptance and rest didn’t last long. An apostate named Arius became an influential teacher against the deity of Messiah and, therefore, the doctrine of the Trinity.

The truth about the deity of Christ and the Trinity had been foundational doctrines of the Church since the time of the apostles. But the heretic Arius arrogantly challenged them both, claiming that God the Son was a created being who was inferior to, rather than equal with God the Father. In other words, he was the original Jehovah’s Witness! He perverted the true Good News and replaced it with a different Gospel (see the commentary on Galatians, to see link click Aj – No Other Gospel). Although his lies were unanimously condemned by the Council of Nicaea in 325, they remained popular even after his death in 336.

As early as 321, the twenty-three year old Athanasius began writing against the apostate teachings of Arius. In 328 he became the pastor of the church in Alexandria – one of the most influential churches in the Roman Empire. At great personal cost, “the saint of stubbornness” diligently dedicated his life to defending the deity of the Messiah and defeating the Arian heresy. Arius had powerful allies that made Athanasius’ life miserable. His life was in constant danger. He was banished from Alexandria five times and spent a total of seventeen years in exile because he would not back down. After defending the Trinity for more than fifty years, he died in 373. And ADONAI rewarded his faithfulness, empowering Athanasius to hold back the tide of apostasy at a crucial point in the history of the Church. During those long years of exile, when he felt almost completely alone, he didn’t give in.

Enoch was the same kind of man, who stood his ground over a long period of time. Like Athanasius, he boldly opposed the false teachers of his day, courageously confronting the faulty theology of the society in which he lived (see my commentary on Jude At – Enoch, the Seventh Generation from Adam, also Prophesied about These People). Even in the midst of a wicked generation, one in which God determined to destroy in the Flood, Enoch refused to bend to the whims of his culture. Some had used a Latin phrase to describe Athanasius, Athanasius contra mundum, meaning, “Athanasius against the world.” I am sure Enoch felt the same way, yet he remained faithful to the LORD.⁹⁵

Enoch, pronounced Chanoch in Hebrew, is the seventh generation and means dedication, consecration or beginning. Enoch’s name is also found in Cain’s line, but they are not the same people. The witness of Enoch is given to us as an oasis in this chapter. He is one of the few people before the Flood of whom we have any record at all.

When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. There is an interesting contrast between the father and the son. Enoch does not die, but his son outlives him. Of the ten generations listed, Enoch had the shortest lifespan of 365 years, but his son Methuselah had the longest lifespan of 969 years.

After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked (this is the first use of the word walked in the Bible) with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. The word walked used here is the same word used with Adam and emphasizes fellowship and communion. To walk with God is another way of saying that Enoch pleased God. In fact, the Greek translation of the TaNaKh translates the phrase exactly that way. The writer to the Hebrews sealed this meaning when he described Enoch’s life this way: he was known as a person who pleased God (Hebrews 11:5b NLT). Because Enoch sought to be pleasing to God, God was well pleased to be in fellowship with him.

Enoch understood that to walk with God included living in loving obedience to Him. As ADONAI told the Israelites when they were camped at the foot of Mount Sinai: If you live by My regulations, observe my commandments and obey them . . . I will walk among you and be your God and you will be My people (Leviticus 26:3a and 12b CJB). To walk in fellowship with ADONAI is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength (Mark 12:30) That kind of all-consuming love assumes obedience. As Yeshua told his apostles in the upper room: If you love Me, keep My commands (John 14:15). A few verses later He reiterated that point with these words: You are My friends if you do what I command (John 15:14).

Only three people in the Bible are said to have walked with God; Adam (3:8), Enoch and Noah (6:9). I am sure it was not easy for him to do so. The Bible teaches us that he was a preacher and a prophet. Being the seventh in the godly line of Seth, Enoch would have been a contemporary of Lamech, who was the seventh generation in the ungodly line of Cain (4:18b-24). He stood against the corruption of his culture and walked with God for three centuries.

It is remarkable that Enoch would prophesy of what we recognize as the Second Coming of Christ even before the Flood or the First Coming! His prophecy is indeed the oldest human prophecy in the Bible. Actually, it may be considered as an expansion of the prophecy that the LORD made in 3:25, the promise of the eventual crushing of the serpent, Satan, and his seed. He had not left Himself without testimony (Acts 14:17), even in those days. The promised coming judgment was partially fulfilled in the great Flood, but its final fulfillment will be in the glorious return and triumph of the Lord Jesus Christ.⁹⁶

Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. Enoch walked with God. He walked with God because he was God’s friend and liked His company. Moreover, he was going in the same direction as God, and had no desire for anything but what the LORD wanted. We walk with God when He is in all our thoughts; not because we think of Him all the time, but because all we think of naturally suggests Him to us. Everything we do has some connection to Him. When we fall into sin, we cannot rest until we have resumed our place at God’s side and are able to walk with Him again. It is constantly holding our lives open to the Lord’s inspection and in conformity to His will, and a readiness to give up what He finds contrary to His will. It is a cold and distant feeling when we are conscious of doing something that displeases Him. As you would instinctively avoid subjects which you know would hurt the feelings of a friend, as you would naturally want to please your company, so when the consciousness of God’s presence begins to have some weight with you, instinctively, you want to please Him.

Then he was no more, because God took him away. The King James Version says: and he was not. In the Hebrew it is one word, veeimemu, basically meaning he disappeared. Millennia later, another prophet, Elijah, was also snatched up to heaven without dying (Second Kings 2:11). ADONAI would have need of them both during the Great Tribulation (see the commentary on Revelation Dm – The Resurrection of the Two Witnesses: The Third Sign of Jonah). As the writer to the Hebrews says: By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:5-6a). The rabbis teach that when Enoch died he was a righteous man, but his mind was easily tempted to turn away and do evil. So God took him quickly and he died before his time. Of course this view is just the opposite of what is stated in Scripture where it says he walked with God.

Enoch was taken up to heaven. The only way I know how to describe this is the way a little girl described it to her mother when she came home from synagogue. She said, “Teacher told us about Enoch and how he walked with God.” Her mother said, “Well, what about Enoch?” And the little girl put it something like this: “It seems that every day God would come by and say to Enoch, ‘Enoch, would you like to walk with Me?’ And Enoch would come out of his house and down to the gate, and he’d go walking with God. He got to the place that he enjoyed it so much that he’d be waiting at the gate of his house every day. And one day God came along and said, ‘Enoch, let’s take a long walk. I have so much to tell you.’ So they were walking and walking, and finally Enoch said, ‘It’s getting late in the afternoon, I’d better get back home.’ And God said to him, ‘Enoch, you’re closer to My home than you are to your home; why don’t you come on home with Me.’ And so Enoch went home with God.”⁹⁷

Enoch’s being taken up to heaven is also a picture of the Rapture of the Church (see my commentary on Revelation By – The Rapture of the Church). Therefore, before the judgment of the Flood, God removed Enoch. But even Enoch did not entirely escape the consequences of sin because his son, Methuselah, also inherited the same death sentence as the rest of his family tree.

When Jared Had Lived 162 Years,
He Became the Father of Enoch
5: 18-20

Jared is the sixth generation and means descent. It is pronounced Yared. When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch. And after he became the father of Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Jared lived 962 years, and then he died. They all died. This has been a walk through the family graveyard. Seth died, then Enosh died, then Kenan died, then Mahalalel died, then Jared died, too. This is God’s answer to Satan’s lie when he said: You will not surely die (3:4). But then a remarkable thing happens. In the midst of all this death, one of their own was removed from the earth without dying. Enoch would be the exception (Second Kings 2:1-12; Hebrews 11:5).

When Mahalalel Had Lived 65 Years,
He Became the Father of Jared
5: 15-17

Mahalalel is the fifth generation and means God be praised. Kenan, Mahalalel and Jared are also in Jesus’ genealogy (Luke 3:23-38). They are simply a link, like some of the individuals in the line of Cain. Like them, they are also anonymous. But however inconspicuous they may be in the biblical record, they still play a vital role in forwarding God’s plan to produce an Abraham by whom the world will be blessed and, then One greater than Abraham, in whom the world again would be blessed.⁹⁵ When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he became the father of Jared. And after he became the father of Jared, Mahalalel lived 830 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Mahalalel lived 895 years, and then he died.

When Kenan Had Lived 70 Years,
He Became the Father of Mahalalel
5: 12-14

Kenan is the fourth generation and his name means smith. A smith is a metalworker and Cain’s son Tubal-Cain was identified with metal works: he forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron (4:22a).His name is similar to Cain, so perhaps they were related. All ten of the names in this genealogy are Hebrew and all existed before the Tower of Babel in Chapter 11. This is another indicator that the first language was Hebrew. When Kenan had lived 70 years, he became the father of Mahalalel. Kenan lived 840 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Kenan lived 910 years, and then he died.