giants = Nephilim. See App-25 . those days = "the days of Noah. " also after that = after their destruction by the Flood, as well as before it. There was another irruption, the result being like those "of old". See notes on Genesis 12:6 with Genesis 13:7 ; also App-23 and App-25 . renown. Hebrew the men of name. The "heroes" of the Greek mythology. The remains of primitive truth, corrupted in transmission. read more
GOD = Jehovah. App-4 . wickedness = lewdness, moral depravity. App-44 . great = multiplied. Very emphatic. read more
repented = the Figure of speech Anthropopatheia. App-6 . LORD = Jehovah, in His covenant relation with mankind. read more
"The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them; the same were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown.""The Nephilim were in the earth in those days ..." This is a citation of the time when the unlawful marriages proliferated and represents those marriages as "an event that followed the appearance of the Nephilim."[7] We must therefore disagree with Willis who thought that the... read more
"And Jehovah saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."What is visible here is the total corruption of humanity. The very citadel of human life, the heart, which in Hebrew thought meant the mind, was devoted exclusively to the contemplation of evil, and there were no exceptions. Furthermore, there were no men anywhere (with the exception noted in Genesis 6:8) who varied from this pattern; and there... read more
And it repented Jehovah that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.What is meant here is that, "God in consistency with his immutability, assumes a changed position in respect to changed man."[12] The expression that God repented (Jonah 3:10), or as here, "It repented Jehovah," cannot refer to any change in God; for as Malachi put it, "I, Jehovah, change not" (Malachi 3:6).The hardening and corruption of all mankind having become total and final, God announced the... read more
Genesis 6:4. There were giants in the earth, &c.— The grand question is, what is meant by these giants? were they really men of extraordinary size, or does the word refer solely to the enormity of their deeds? It is difficult, perhaps, to determine: but from the frequent mention of gigantic people in other parts of the scripture, from the general testimony of profane history, and from many proofs which we have had of bones of large dimensions, it seems most probable that the persons here... read more
Genesis 6:5. The wickedness of man—great, &c.— God saw their wickedness to be great, after the period of the hundred and twenty years which he had granted them to return and repent; he saw that they amended not, but arrived at the highest pitch of depravity, both in principle and practice. The longevity of the antediluvians is alone sufficient to account for that enormous height of wickedness to which they arose, according to this text and the traditions we have of their excessive lust,... read more
Genesis 6:6. It repented the Lord—it grieved him at his heart— "All things past, present, and future, lie open at once to the view of the Divine Mind," says Dr. Clarke; and therefore that he is immutable in his counsels, and cannot repent, is one of the plainest dictates both of natural and revealed religion, Numbers 23:19. 1 Samuel 15:29. For he is not a man, that he should repent. So that the expressions of God's repenting, grieving, and the like, are only figurative, and adapted to our... read more
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Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Genesis 6:1-8
6:1-9:29 REBELLION AND JUDGMENTThe wickedness of human society (6:1-8)As the population grew and societies developed, people again showed the tendency to want to exist independently of God. Like their original ancestors, they wanted to be as God and live for ever (cf. 3:5,22).It seems that certain angels (the probable meaning of ‘sons of God’ in this story; cf. Job 1:6; Job 38:7; Daniel 3:25) had, in rebellion against God, taken human form and co-operated with ambitious people in trying to... read more