Bible 101 – The Books of the Law
Genesis In the Beginning…
Bible 101
Books of History
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Bible 101
Joshua Judges Ruth 1&2 Samuel 1&2 Kings 1&2 Chronicles Ezra Nehemiah Esther
Disclaimer
• DISCLAIMER – NONE OF THIS EFFECTS SALVATION • Matt 24
Bible 101
The Pre Flood World Gen 6:1-7
• • • • • By the time of Noah, men had been on the earth for about 1500 yrs. Vs.1 They were having children (multiplying).
– Life spans were huge… 1 woman could have had hundreds of children
• Some have speculated numbers over 7 billion people on earth before the flood
The pre-flood environmental conditions still existed
– – – – Impossible to know hom much different it is now, even though they were under the curse. More on them in a bit Look at the chart, Jacob lived 147 years (800-1200 years after God made the decision)
• • Jacob and his predecessors were exceptions to the rule? God allowed the life-spans to slowly drop over time, perhaps as a result of the environmental changes after the flood.
But then vs. 2 – the weird stuff starts to happen Vs. 3 God decides that man will only live 120 yrs
Some feel this was not a limit on life spans but a limit on the time remaining until the flood – Noah would have been 480 yrs old at the time of this statement.
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vs. 4 there were Giants on the earth (Nephilim - Fallen ones) Vs. 5 Man’s heart was wicked – every intent of the thoughts of his heart was evil, continually
– Vs.11 The Earth was corrupt and filled with violence, ALL flesh was corrupt.
Vs. 6 the Lord was sorry (repented) He had made Man, Man Grieved God Vs. 7 God decided that He would destroy everything on earth (Man, beast, birds and creeping things)
Bible 101
The two Views of vs. 2
• The “Godly line of Seth” view
– – – – – View emerged around the 5th century Son’s of God are Seth’s descendants Daughters of men are Cain’s descendants These two lines started to intermarry (ess. Christians marrying non-Christians, believers marrying non believers)
• • • By product of these marriages were “famous and mighty men of renown” But they were also wicked, because the ungodly influence of their mothers corrupted them. And the animals had to suffer as well…
So, God repented of creating them and decided to destroy them
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Why do they believe this?
– – It’s a more rational view, who would believe that fallen angels and human women could mate and produce offspring? Main reason is from Jesus teaching in Matt 22:30 about the angels not marrying in heaven. Sons of God – only used 5 times in the OT, twice here, three times in Job – the Job references are angels (1:6; 2:1; 38:7) – every time the reference is to angels, never to men. Sons of God – the title implies direct creations of God, Adam could have been “a son of God”
• we are not creations of God, we are all born of women (sons and daughters of men - Gen 5:1-3) These angels aren’t in heaven, they are on earth we could assume that these angels are fallen, rebellious angels that have an agenda.
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My main issues with this view:
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True that angels in heaven don’t marry,
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MOST OBVIOUS REASON - Godly men who marry ungodly women do not have gigantic offspring, while they may become famous and/or mighty… they do not usually exceed 6-7feet tall. If everyone on earth died except Noah’s family (all of the Godly line), how did the giants re-appear after the flood? (Vs.4) If God had meant to convey “Sons of Seth” and “Daughters of Cain”, why didn’t He just SAY that?
Bible 101
The fallen angels view Gen 6:2;4
• The Sons of God – “bene-Elohim”
– – Every ref. to this phrase (5 total) refers to angels, never once to men. Job 1:6; 2:1; best one 38:7
• Daughters of men – human females – duh! • Children of these unions were called:
– – – – – Giants (Nephilim) Mighty Men Men of renown I dunno Jude 6-7 – confirms that it did happen
• • • • There are angels reserved in everlasting chains, why? Left heaven… I assume came to earth Like the men of Sodom, gave themselves over to sexual immorality Went after strange flesh (law of reproduction… each after its own kind)
• How is this possible?
Bible 101
The fallen angels view, p2
• Why would the fallen angels do this?
– – – – To corrupt the human race – for sure… we are bad on our own… but these Nephilim were evil all the time If Satan had corrupted all of us… then we wouldn’t be “men” anymore. A man could not be born of a woman who could come back and crush Satan’s head. Symbol of authority (in those days – a cover) on her head Because of the Angels – hmm… you bunch of tempters If angels stumbled over you girls, us men don’t have a chance – so cover up!
The early rabbis (not modern) The early church The new testament writers (Jude, Paul) Many conservative scholars today, but not all
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Another interesting fact – 1 Cor 11:10 – girls hate this portion of scripture anyway… here is another reason.
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This view was the generally accepted view by:
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Bible 101
Giants Gen 6:4
• • One of the ways we figure out what a word means is to look at how its used Hebrew word – Nephilim –
– – Verb form – Gen. translated to fall (fallen by the sword) or to fall away Gen 6:4/ Num 13:33 are nouns – found only 2 times in the OT
• • (YLT) translates as “the fallen ones” So where did we get the word “Giant” – They were really big people
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Greek word (LXX) – Gigantes – “earth born”
– – – – Greek, I thought the OT was in Hebrew… it was, up until 285 b.c. (300 years before Jesus was born) Jews needed the OT in a language they could read Every time Paul quotes the OT in his letters, its from the LXX, not the Hebrew Same word used to describe the “Titans” – part God and part man 1 Chron 20:6 - 6 fingers/6 toes (20:4-8 interesting read) Deut 3:11 - Og of Bashan’s bed was 9 cubits wide X 4 cubits wide (15.75ft long, 7 feet wide) – Og may have been 1314ft tall.
• Our beds are generally 7 ft. long
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Descriptions:
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1 Sam 17:4 – Goliath was between 10-11ft tall, armor weighed 156lbs… (smaller than Og?) Isa 26:14 – the word for “they are deceased” is “Rapha” which is a form from which we get Rephaim.
• • • Rephaim is one of many names for the Giants in the promised land. Other names are Anakim (Goliaths family), Emim, Zamzummim, Zuzim Og of Bashan was a remnant of the Rephaim Some creepy examples – Isa 14:9 – the dead; Isa 26:14 – “they are deceased”;
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Death…
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Apparently when they die, they go to hell (sheol), they are not going to be resurrected to judgement.
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Bible 101
Noah Gen 6:8-10
• Vs. 9 – 3 statements about Noah
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A just man
• Lawful, righteous correct
(like Enoch) He walked with God Perfect in his generations
• Tamiym – complete, whole, sound, entire • Appears 47 times in the OT, used 2 ways
– – – Translated as upright, perfect – moral sense » Sometimes as a command, rather than an accomplishment “be perfect” Sometimes used to describe the quality of perfection – not moral but in quality » It was a perfect day. also used to describe the perfection of the sacrifice – in the sense of Physical perfection – without defect or blemish
• Some speculate that was perfect about him was not his Morality, but his Genome – he wasn’t tainted by the fallen angels
• Vs 8 – most important verse about Noah
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Bible 101
Found grace
• (Khane - grace, favor, acceptance)
Praise God so did we.
Next week
• Review the rest Genesis 6
– The world before Noah’s flood.
• Memorize the names of the first 17 Books of the OT
Bible 101