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Expanded Comments |
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| 1 And it cometh to pass that mankind have begun to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters have been 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 and sons of God see the daughters of men that they [are] fair, and they take to themselves women of all whom they have chosen. |
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 saith, 'My Spirit doth not strive in man to the age; in their erring they [are] flesh:' and his days have been an hundred and twenty years. |
Yet his days – His age limit, as illustrated by Moses' life. D604
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| 4 The fallen ones were in the earth in those days, and even afterwards when sons of God come in unto daughters of men, and they have borne to them they [are] the heroes, who, from of old, [are] the men of name. |
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 seeth that abundant [is] the wickedness of man in the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart only evil all the day; |
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 repenteth that He hath made man in the earth, and He grieveth Himself unto 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 saith, 'I wipe away man whom I have prepared from off the face of the ground, from man unto beast, unto creeping thing, and unto fowl of the heavens, for I have repented 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 And Noah found grace in the eyes of Jehovah. |
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| 9 These [are] births of Noah: Noah [is] a righteous man; perfect he hath been among his generations; with God hath Noah walked habitually. |
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 begetteth three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. |
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| 11 And the earth is corrupt before God, and the earth is filled [with] 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 seeth the earth, and lo, it hath been corrupted, for all flesh hath corrupted its way on the earth. |
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| 13 And God said to Noah, 'An end of all flesh hath come before Me, for the earth hath been full of violence from their presence; and lo, I am destroying 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 for thyself an ark of gopher-wood; rooms dost thou make with the ark, and thou hast covered it within and without with cypress; |
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 this [is] that which thou dost with it: three hundred cubits [is] the length of the ark, fifty cubits its breadth, and thirty cubits its height; |
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 window dost thou make for the ark, and unto a cubit thou dost restrain it from above; and the opening of the ark thou dost put in its side, lower, second, and third [stories] dost 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 'And I, lo, I am bringing in the deluge of waters on the earth to destroy all flesh, in which [is] a living spirit, from under the heavens; all that [is] in the earth doth 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 'And I have established My covenant with thee, and thou hast come in unto the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy son's wives with thee; |
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| 19 and of all that liveth, of all flesh, two of every [sort] thou dost bring in unto the ark, to keep alive with thee; male and female are they. |
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 the fowl after its kind, and of the cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every [sort] they come in unto thee, to keep alive. |
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| 21 'And thou, take to thyself of all food that is eaten; and thou hast gathered unto thyself, and it hath been to thee and to them for food.' |
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| 22 And Noah doth according to all that God hath commanded him; so hath he done. |
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