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| 1 And it came to pass when mankind began to multiply on the earth, and daughters were born to them, |
It came to pass – It might safely be estimated at about 1000 years after Adam's creation. SM193:2
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| 2 that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and took themselves wives of all that they chose. |
The sons of God – Materialized angels. OV17:3; SM97:2; R4880:1, R4976:1, R5706:3
Some of the angels to whom was committed the supervision of mankind prior to the flood. R2171:3
They were permitted to see what they could do for the uplift of humanity; or, rather, to demonstrate that the downward tendency of sin is incurable except in the manner which God has already arranged. R5043:2
While angels are sons of God they were not directly begotten by God but were created by our Lord Jesus. Q19:2
That they were fair – Jude 6 & 7 clearly shows the nature of the sin of these angels when, after mentioning them, it says: "Even as Sodom and Gomorrah ... in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh." HG724:6
And they – Being largely seduced by the evil of mankind. R5429:5; R1680:4
Probably at the instigation of Satan, who thus planned to outwit the Almighty and create a race that would live forever. R5429:5, R1686:5
Took them wives – In violation of the divine arrangement for them; apparently without consulting anyone. OV249:2; R4880:2, R5115:6; SM193:2; OV299:6
Thus they became the fathers of a new race, distinct from Adam's. PD15/24
For the purpose of attempting to uplift mankind. HG512:2
The result of the angels' loss of faith in God's wisdom and power. R5115:6
It is reasonable to think that when the fallen angels regain power they will use it in an immoral manner. SM118:2
But marriage between men and women is not in any scripture suggested as displeasing to God. (Heb. 13:4). S104
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| 3 And Jehovah said, My Spirit shall not always plead with Man; for he indeed is flesh; but his days shall be a hundred and twenty years. |
Yet his days – His age limit, as illustrated by Moses' life. D604
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| 4 In those days were the giants on the earth, and also afterwards, when the sons of God had come in to the daughters of men, and they had borne children to them; these were the heroes, who of old were men of renown. |
There were giants – The children of this combination of angelic vitality grafted upon the human stock were a race of giants. PD15/24; OV299:7; R4880:2, R4976:1, R5043:3
Physical and mental giants; brutish, sensual tyrants. R4797:2; PD15/24; OV300:T, SM62:3, SM64:1; R5160:1
They possessed greater virility than Adam's race. OV17:5
They had no right to existence, since they were born contrary to divine will, or law. SM64:1
Nephilim, fallen ones, unrecognized by God, destroyed in mercy to Adam's race. E104
They were in no sense of the word Adamic stock; hence, in no sense of the word covered by the ransom. R3341:6
This new race consisted exclusively of males, propagated through the human female. SM62:2
Typifying the trusts, the children of professed Christian governments, which today have the whole world in their grasp. R3935:2, R4797:2, R5457:3
Sons of God – It was approximately during the 655 years preceding the flood that the angelic sons of God took to themselves wives. SM193:2
Their illicit progeny was blotted out with the flood and they themselves were afterward restrained from the liberty of assuming physical bodies and isolated from the holy angels. R2171:4
Disobedient angels imprisoned in the days of Noah. OV17:3; SM192:3
Became mighty men – The father gives life, and the mother organism, as illustrated in the birth of Christ. E103
Men of renown – Intellectually strong, but morally perverted. SM547:1; R5160:2
Because of the vigor of their angelic fathers. E104
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| 5 And Jehovah saw that the wickedness of Man was great on the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart only evil continually. |
Evil continually – And progressively, proving the necessity of divine interposition if man is to be recovered. A71
Not merely from human depravity, but at the connivance of some of the angels. R5160:1
Man took pleasure in still further degrading himself instead of loathing his sinful condition and looking to God for relief. SM194:1; OV249:3; R2026:6
What a mercy that this condition should be brought completely to an end. SM62:3
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| 6 And Jehovah repented that he had made Man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart. |
Repented the LORD – The Lord changed his course of dealing, not his mind. The matter is so stated as to convey to the general reader as much as he is able to comprehend of God's reasons for changing his course. R2026:6
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| 7 And Jehovah said, I will destroy Man, whom I have created, from the earth--from man to cattle, to creeping things, and to fowl of the heavens; for I repent that I have made them. |
I will destroy – The world became so full of corruption that God destroyed all humanity, and began anew the propagation of the race from Noah and his family, who had remained untainted. R5910:1
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| 8 But Noah found favour in the eyes of Jehovah. |
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| 9 This is the history of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect amongst his generations: Noah walked with God. |
Perfect – Uncontaminated by the fallen angels and their influence. PD16/25; SM97:2, SM118:2; OV301:T, R4682:2, R5043:4; HG512:2
Noah's family was singled out as exceptional. PD16/ 25
In his generations – Toledaw, descent, family. R2844:2
Walked with God – Noah's faith in God was manifested in his building of the ark in obedience to the divine instructions. R4386:5
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| 10 And Noah begot three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. |
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| 11 And the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was full of violence. |
Filled with violence – The new race was vicious, brutal and violent, as well as immoral. SM62:3
"As it was in the days of Noah" (Luke 17:26) so it is now. R3241:6*
Corporate giants will very shortly give mankind a great deal of trouble and will fill the earth with violence. R2844:4, R4797:5
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| 12 And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted its way on the earth. |
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| 13 And God said to Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me, for the earth is full of violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. |
I will destroy – The account of the fall of the angels from being sons of God to being demons helps us to understand why God decreed the flood. PD17/26
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| 14 Make thyself an ark of gopher wood: with cells shalt thou make the ark; and pitch it inside and outside with pitch. |
Rooms shalt thou make – The Chicago Tribune, Aug. 13, 1883, printed a dispatch from London stating that a paper at Constantinople reports Turkish commissioners as having discovered the ark protruding from a glacier on Mt. Ararat. The interior was found divided into partitions 15 feet high. R524:3
The oldest records of Babylonia tell the story of the deluge-of Noah and his ark. R5159:1
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| 15 And thus shalt thou make it: let the length of the ark be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.
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This is the fashion – A design which has been found in actual practice to yield the best results for safety and stowage. R3934:2, R3525:4
Length... 300 cubits – 547.3 feet, by sacred cubit of 21.88 inches. R3679:4*
Breadth... 50 cubits – 91.2 feet. R3679:4*
Height... 30 cubits – 54.72 feet. R3679:4*
These dimensions would give a capacity of 2,730,782 cubic feet, a tonnage of 81,052. R3679:4*, R3934:1; Q778:2
Approximately three or four times the capacity of the largest vessels now afloat (1901). R2843:1
Providing plenty of room for pairs of all the 244 species of animals scheduled by Buffon and all the supplies they would need on the voyage. R3336:2*
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| 16 A light shalt thou make to the ark; and to a cubit high shalt thou finish it above. And the door of the ark shalt thou set in its side: with a lower, second, and third story shalt thou make it. |
A window – An opening 20 inches high all around the ark under the eaves. R2843:2; Q778:2
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| 17 For I, behold, I bring a flood of waters on the earth, to destroy all flesh under the heavens in which is the breath of life: everything that is on the earth shall expire. |
Flood of waters – God had already arranged that one of the aqueous "rings" still suspended above the earth should descend, causing the flood. R4682:1
The account of the deluge is not merely a Bible narrative, but Is** corroborated by the traditions of all races except the Black race. R1615:1, R3933:3*
Is the breath – Ruach, air, spirit, life-power, as in man. E174, E314
See comment on "Hath life" in Gen. 1:20.
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| 18 But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt go into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. |
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| 19 And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee: they shall be male and female. |
Bring into the ark – Type of Christ and the power in him which will replenish and reorganize society. A318
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| 20 Of fowl after their kind, and of the cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of each shall go in to thee, to keep them alive. |
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| 21 And take thou of all food that is eaten, and gather it to thee, that it may be for food for thee and for them. |
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| 22 And Noah did it; according to all that God had commanded him, so did he. |
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