The parable of Noah, which many Bible readers perceive as the story of the flood, is mysterious in many ways, although its most interesting riddles are not obvious. Still, there is one riddle that has drawn the attention of commentators for more than one century...
The parable of Noah, which many Bible readers perceive as the story of the flood, is mysterious in many ways, although its most interesting riddles are not obvious. Still, there is one riddle that has drawn the attention of commentators for more than one century: who are the "sons of God" mentioned in the parable, who "came in" to the "daughters of men"? Different interpreters sometimes build very ingenious theological schemes here, but the answer may turn out to be much simpler than it appears.
It has to do with historical realities connected with the cult of the Great Goddess, whose roots really do reach far back into prehistory. An essential part of this most ancient cult was ritual prostitution, and the priestesses of the goddess usually practiced it in a state of erotic and orgiastic ecstasy. In that state they really thought that they were uniting not with people but with spirits who took on human form.
For the readers of the age when the Prologue of Genesis was written, this was perfectly clear: the cult of the Great Goddess remained in the Near East right up to the final Christianization of the region. That is precisely why the prophets called paganism fornication: their definition was both literal and symbolic, since in the case of the cult of the Great Goddess, spiritual fornication was accompanied by physical fornication. It is no surprise that this cult became the symbol of the worst elements in pagan religiosity, and the sacred writer uses it to describe the spiritual situation in which humanity found itself before the flood.
Against this background, Noah is portrayed as the only righteous man in his generation, one who, as it says of him, "walked before God." What his "walking" means and what it was like can only be guessed; the parable gives no details. What matters, however, is that this very "walking" of Noah before God allowed the world not to perish completely.
The story of the flood itself is presented by the author of the Prologue somewhat schematically, and even symbolically. The details mattered so little to him that, as biblical scholars have long noted, he used two different accounts of the flood and joined them into one, in such a way that in some places the "seams" separating one version of the story from the other are still visible. These "seams" do not trouble the sacred writer: he is writing the parable of Noah, not a report about the flood.
The parable makes it clear that human beings have had a choice in every age. Today historians of religion have already moved away from the primitive linear schemes of humanity's religious development that were once popular. It is now clear that monotheism, once considered a historically very late phenomenon, actually has roots that reach as far back into history as many pagan cults. This means that even in prehistoric times a person could choose whether to worship the One or prefer someone else.
In that case Noah becomes a collective image. He becomes a symbol of all righteous people who have walked before God from the most ancient times down to our own day, righteous people who did not know, and perhaps still do not know, the tradition that goes back to Abraham. God never abandons anyone who seeks Him, regardless of where and when that person happened to live.
6 In this chapter we have,
Gen 6:11-12.
- In the character given of him, Gen 6:8-10.
- In the communication of God's purpose to him, Gen 6:13-17.
- In the directions he gave him to make an ark for his own safety, Gen 6:14-16.
- In the employing of him for the preservation of the rest of the creatures, Gen 6:18-21.
Lastly, Noah's obedience to the instructions given him, Gen 6:22.6:5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth - Abundance of sin was committed in all places, by all sorts of people:and those sins in their own nature most gross and heinous, and provoking: and committed daringly, with a defiance of heaven. And that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually - A sad sight, and very offensive to God's holy eye. This was the bitter root, the corrupt spring: all the violence and oppression, all the luxury and wantonness that was in the world, proceeded from the corruption of nature; lust conceives them, Jam 1:15, see Mat 15:19.The heart was evil, deceitful and desperately wicked; the principles were corrupt, and the habits and dispositions evil. The thoughts of the heart were so. Thought is sometimes taken for the settled judgment, and that was biased and misled; sometimes for the workings of the fancy, and those were always either vain or vile. The imagination of the thought of the heart was so, that is, their designs and devices were wicked. They did not do evil only through carelessness, but deliberately and designedly, contriving how to do mischief. 'Twas bad indeed, for it was only evil, continually evil, and every imagination was so. There was no good to be found among them, no not at any time: the stream of sin was full and strong, and constant; and God saw it. Here is God's resentment of man's wickedness. He did not see it as an unconcerned spectator, but as one injured and affronted by it; he saw it as a tender father sees the folly and stubbornness of a rebellious and disobedient child, which not only angers but grieves him, and makes him wish he had been written childless.
6:6 And it repented the Lord that he had made man upon the earth - That he had made a creature of such noble powers, and had put him onthis earth, which he built and furnished on purpose to be a comfortable habitation for him; and it grieved him at his heart - These are expressions after the manner of men, and must be understood so as not to reflect upon God's immutability or felicity. It doth not speak any passion or uneasiness in God, nothing can create disturbance to the eternal mind; but it speaks his just and holy displeasure against sin and sinners: neither doth it speak any change of God's mind; for with him there is no variableness; but it speaks a change of his way.When God had made man upright, he rested and was refreshed, Exo 31:17. and his way towards him was such as shewed him well pleasedwith the work of his own hands; but now man was apostatized, he could not do otherwise, but shew himself displeased; so that the change was in man, not in God.