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Genesis 4-11

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Genesis 4-11: This session tracks the process leading to further corruption of the earth that occurs in the heavens and the earth.

Notes Outline

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6 - THE REBELLION IN THE HEAVENS

GENESIS 9 - THE BLESSING TO NOAH

CHAPTER 10 - DESCENDANTS OF NOAH

CHAPTER 11 - THE REBELLION OF THE TOWER OF BABEL

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Notes Outline

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6 - THE REBELLION IN THE HEAVENS

GENESIS 9 - THE BLESSING TO NOAH

CHAPTER 10 - DESCENDANTS OF NOAH

CHAPTER 11 - THE REBELLION OF THE TOWER OF BABEL

CHAPTER 4

1. The first offspring of Adam and Eve.
2. Cain kills able
  1. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering; 5 but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” Genesis 4:4–7 (NAS)
  2. The process of sin begins with a desire rising up in the heart. This sin desires to take Cain over, but God instructs Cain to be master over it. Don’t let sin get a root in you, master it before the chance arises.
  3. This means both brothers are disqualified to be the seed of Genesis 3:15; the oldest is unrighteous, the youngest is dead. Will God still be faithful?
  4. And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For, said she, God hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel; for Cain slew him. Genesis 4:25 (ASV)
  5. Seth becomes the carrier of the seed promise, is Seth the seed?
3. First instance of multiple wives from a descendent of Cain:
  1. Lamech, took to himself two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other, Zillah. Genesis 4:19 (NAS)
4. At that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord. Genesis 4:26 (ESV)

CHAPTER 5

1. Genealogies are displays of God’s faithfulness to the humans to continue giving offspring, allowing them to be fruitful and multiply, and ultimately to bring the seed. Let’s look at a few key figures.
2. He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them Man (Adam) in the day when they were created. When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth. Genesis 5:2–3 (NAS)
  1. Just as the humans were in God’s image, so the human’s offspring were in their image. Possibly implying that the same sinful tendencies were present.
3. Jared lived one hundred and sixty-two years, and became the father of Enoch…Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. Genesis 5:18, 24 (NAS)
  1. It seems that in the understanding of the Biblical authors, Enoch most likely ascended into the paradise of God in the third heavens.
4. Now he called his name Noah, saying, “This one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the Lord has cursed.” Genesis 5:29 (NAS)
  1. What becomes clear, especially from the names of Seth and Noah, is that the naming of children reflected to hope of the coming seed. Perhaps Noah is the seed, the one to remove the curse and give rest?! We will find out later than even Noah fails to reach the qualification.

CHAPTER 6 - THE REBELLION IN THE HEAVENS

1. Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, 2 that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. 5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 The Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.” Genesis 6:1–7 (NAS)
  1. As we move forward in the biblical narrative, it is inaccurate to understand the problems in creation and in life as simply coming from a rebellion on earth by the humans. In fact, there is a much larger, secondary story line in the scriptures, woven in with the human story line, that is about the family of God in the heavens: “the Sons of Elohim” or simply, “elohim.”
  2. According to Job 38:4-7, these beings were present at creation, but are also created beings themselves. They were given delegated authority in the heavens to rule under the Lord, just is the humans were to rule on the earth. But, again, a rebellion occurred. As the humans wanted to leave their designated place of rulership by trying to be like the elohim, so the elohim left their designated place of governance by coming down to procreate with humans.
  3. The result, the Nephilim or “giants” were on the earth. For many, this paints a picture of corruption in the seed line of humanity from Adam and Eve to the coming seed. But, “Noah was a righteous man, blameless (whole, complete) in his time (Lit. generation); Noah walked with God” Genesis 6:9 (NAS). The word for blameless is later also used for a spotless lamb, a physical description. In other words, Noah’s line had not been corrupted by the influence of the procreation of the elohim with human women. The “seed” could still come through his line.
  4. The above description of the scenario in Genesis 6 is attested to by later Jewish works written prior to Jesus. The work bellow makes its way into our Bible when Jude pulled from its ideas in his writings.
  5. Enoch 12:1–6 (POT): 121 Before these things Enoch was hidden, and no one of the children of men knew where he was hidden, and where he abode, and what had become of him. 2 And his activities had to do with the Watchers, and his days were with the holy ones. 3 And I Enoch was blessing the Lord of majesty and the King of the ages, and lo! the Watchers called me—Enoch the scribe—and said to me: 4 ‘Enoch, thou scribe of righteousness, go, †declare† to the Watchers of the heaven who have left the high heaven, the holy eternal place, and have defiled themselves with women, and have done as the children of earth do, and have taken unto themselves wives: 5 “Ye have wrought great destruction on the earth: And ye shall have no peace nor forgiveness of sin: 6 and inasmuch as †they† delight themselves in† their† children,
  6. The Sons of God coming among the daughters of men is most likely the impetus that lead to the flood.

GENESIS 9 - THE BLESSING TO NOAH

1. And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. “The fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the sky; with everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given. “Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I gave the green plant. “Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. “Surely I will require your lifeblood; from every beast I will require it. And from every man, from every man’s brother I will require the life of man. “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man. “As for you, be fruitful and multiply; Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it.” Genesis 9:1–7 (NAS)
  1. Here we see God giving a very similar blessing to Noah as he did to Adam and Eve, excluding the call to rule over the earth and subdued it. Could this be significant?
  2. This is the beginning of animosity between the humans and animals.
  3. This is the beginning of humans and animals being allowed by God to eat meat. But not meat with blood in it.
  4. The commands given to Noah in these verses are called the Noahide laws, they would apply to all of humanity even outside of the future Mosaic commands.
2. I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.” God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations; I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. Genesis 9:11–13 (NAS)
3. Then Noah began farming and planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were turned away, so that they did not see their father’s nakedness. Genesis 9:20–23 (NAS)
  1. In this story we see the pattern of the garden replayed: Noah fails to meet the standards of being the seed of promise- Noah becomes naked, and an unrighteous son, Ham, becomes the agent that exposes his fathers nakedness, as satan did Adam and Eve. However, two righteous Sons, Shem and Japheth, come and cover Noah’s nakedness, as God did Adam.
    1. Ham shames his father through this act, resulting in a curse being places upon Ham’s son Canaan by Noah.
      1. So he said, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants he shall be to his brothers.” (Canaan being a descendant/seed of Ham Genesis 9:25 (NAS)
        
        ‘If there is a man who lies with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death, their bloodguiltiness is upon them. Leviticus 20:11 (NAS)
        
        You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, that is, the nakedness of your mother…‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is your father’s nakedness. Leviticus 18:7–8 (NAS)
        
        Could Ham have had relations with his fathers wife? Was the offspring of this union Canaan?
    2. Shem and Japheth are blessed, and it becomes clear that the seed promise will now continue down through the line of Shem. Blessed be the Lord, The God of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant. Genesis 9:26 (NAS)

CHAPTER 10 - DESCENDANTS OF NOAH

1. Significant verse
  1. Now Cush became the father of Nimrod; he became a mighty one on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.” The beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Genesis 10:8–10 (NAS)
    1. Some take the description of Nimrod above in a negative sense
    2. Babel was established by Nimrod, in the next chapter we see that the Tower of Babel was built in this city. Babel becomes the region of Babylon, the primary enemy of God’s people throughout the scriptures.
  2. In this chapter we get more genealogies including Shem’s, the seed line.

CHAPTER 11 - THE REBELLION OF THE TOWER OF BABEL

1. Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words. It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.” And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” Genesis 11:1–4 (NAS)
  1. Several things are at play in these verses.
    1. We are seeing the next major rebellion of the humans, now on a larger scale. This is the ”final straw” as we will see.
    2. We notice a gathering, when Yahweh instructed the humans to fill the earth.
    3. This tower was most likely a ziggurat, a building with the express purpose of providing a place where the gods to come down to: it’s a human made mountain.
    4. The desire to have the gods come down could have come out of the previous two rebellions. In the first rebellion, a divine being came down promising divine knowledge. In the next rebellion, the divine beings came down and produced offspring among the humans, these were “mighty men.” The humans could have attempted to attain eternal life through the second rebellion. In this next situation, the human race is trying to “make a name for themselves,” and possibly they were wanting the gods to come down and empower them to at last restore the garden reality on their own. Could Nimrod be attempting to make himself the “seed,” so to speak? Rather than call on the name of the Lord to restore, they are making their own name.
    5. We will see in the next chapter that Yahweh promises to make Abraham’s name great.
  2. How does the Lord respond to their tower for the gods to come down to?
    1. The Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. Genesis 11:5 (NAS)
2. The Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them. “Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. Genesis 11:6–8 (NAS)
  1. Again, several thing occur in this verse.
    1. This situation results in the establishment of “nations,” or “families of the earth.” Prior to this point, there were not other nations, but simply one unified humanity.
    2. Deuteronomy 32:8–9 (ESV) gives us a significant insight into this situation: “When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. But the Lord’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage.”
      1. The Lord divided mankind because of their reliance on other gods and on themselves. This was the last straw, here the Lord disinherits these nations, assigning them to the gods they wanted to follow after. But these are the very gods that rebelled against the Lord. Now the nations of the earth are under the rule of other gods to be led by them. This makes sense of our current reality, and the rest of the scriptures!
      2. But YHVH’s portion is Jacob (Israel), this is his heritage. Our story continues with the call of Abram in the next chapter, through whom the Lord will create his own nation, and through whom he will fulfill the seed promise and will restore the garden reality. Yahweh will make Abram’s name great as the chosen line to restore. Chapter 11 concludes with Shem’s genealogy, leading to Abram.

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