OK, so let’s dig into some scripture that reveals truth about the character of YHVH (God). You’ll notice, though, that this concept is not typically taught in church.  I’ve approached a number of pastors with this understanding of scripture.  A couple told me I was probably correct, but they are not allowed to teach this idea because their governing denominational leadership will not allow it. Most just tell me (in a nice way) that I’m a nut job…  LOL
If believing what scripture says makes me a nut job, well, ok then.  I’ll be a nut job.

First things first.  How did I come to understand and believe an idea that is not taught in church?
When I was younger, I realized through various sermons that YHVH (God of the Old Testament-as often portrayed) did some things that were harsh.  Downright devastating sometimes…
One of the biggest things that comes to mind is Noah’s flood.  We are taught this story as young children.  There are cute pictures of Noah and his ark, with animals coming two by two.

As children, we are taught a very cute version of the story.
But look at the details…
It is horrifying!!
Every living being on the earth, save eight people and a boat full of animals, are killed in a violent scary manner.

We are taught that God chose to do this because mankind was evil and committed many sins.
So what??
Mankind has committed many sins today, yesterday, a hundred years ago, a thousand years ago.  What makes the Flood different?  We are taught that God ‘felt bad about it’ and promised not to do it again, providing a rainbow as evidence of this promise. We come away with an idea that God did something incredibly harsh, and then felt bad about it, as if it were a mistake.

Skip forward to the Exodus story.  The nation of Israel is told to enter the promise land and kill every living being, women, children, and livestock included.  Really???  Mass genocide again??  Why would God do something so horrible to so many people, just to show favor to His chosen people?
This isn’t fair, is it?
While His chosen people are rewarded, His unchosen people are slaughtered, even the babies.  What kind of God would not only allow this to occur, but command His followers to commit such atrocities?
We could dig deeper into scripture and see other circumstances similar to these, where YHVH responded with harsh consequences.
Check out Numbers 31-35
³¹ Now it came to pass, as he finished speaking all these words, that the ground split apart under them, ³² and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the men with Korah, with all their goods. ³³ So they and all those with them went down alive into the pit; the earth closed over them, and they perished from among the assembly. ³⁴ Then all Israel who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up also!” ³⁵ And a fire came out from the Lord and consumed the two hundred and fifty men who were offering incense.

In the story of Korah, we see that their entire households were swallowed into the earth. Their wives, their children… Everything they owned, and everything associated with them.

We also see in ‘the law’ that some offenses are punishable by death.  Upon the testimony of two or three witnesses, the offenders are stoned to death.  Sounds awful, right?

From start to finish, we see actions taken by God that seem very harsh, without mercy. Does that mean the God of the Old Testament has character issues?

I asked these types of questions when I was young.  My pastors were unable to answer them.  I was told we don’t understand God.  I was told we have to give God the benefit of the doubt. While I thought it was odd that ‘the experts’ could not answer my questions, I chose to continue on.  I did not give up my faith over some unanswered questions.

When my oldest son was about 13 or so, he started asking the same questions.  He was not willing to follow a God that killed women and children.  I went to church leadership again, asking the same questions again, and got the same non-answers yet again.  Except this time, my son’s faith was hanging in the balance.  While I continued to go on in my faith, my son was ready to abandon his faith.
When my pastors could not answer these questions, and didn’t seem to care much about it, I started posing the questions to other pastors outside my church.  Again, no answers.
Really?  The entire “Professional God Industry” can’t answer these questions?  The same questions that have probably been asked for centuries, throughout many generations of Christians?
Nope.
Nobody could answer the questions…

As a father of a child who would abandon his faith, I was extremely concerned.  I didn’t want answers, I needed answers.
Around that time, I was reading through the book of James and found this interesting bit of scripture:
James 1:5-8
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

I had stumbled across a promise by YHVH (God), saying He would give me His understanding.  All I had to do was pray and ask, and then believe what He reveals.
Could it really be this simple?
I needed answers for my son, so I decided to try this.  I prayed for YHVH’s (God’s) wisdom and understanding regarding the “God of Genocide” accusations that my son had leveled against YHVH (God).
I then went to scripture and read the stories again.
And I understood.
I saw clues in scripture that I had never noticed in the past.
It all clicked. It all made sense.
It wasn’t due to my efforts. I didn’t read, take notes, analyze and evaluate, connect the dots, etc.
It was not of my own doing.
I simply prayed, read, and understood.
YHVH (God) gave me His understanding, just as promised.

But wait a minute…

What I understood to be true was a foreign concept. I had never heard this idea.  Not one preacher had ever spoken of this in nearly thirty years of church attendance.  When I asked my questions, not one preacher had ever answered with these ideas.
So now what? 
Can I really proceed with an idea that millions upon millions of Christians and Pastors throughout thousands of years had never known or taught?
Well, let’s take another look at verse 6-8 in James…
6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Wow, YHVH (God) tells us, along with His promise, to NOT doubt.
If I ask and He answers, and I reject it???
Whoa…
I didn’t want to reject the very thing I had asked for. Even if what YHVH (God) revealed was bizarre and not a common teaching.

Let’s begin exploring this idea in Genesis 3.
After Adam and Eve were deceived and had fallen, YHVH (God) spells out some consequences.
In Genesis 3:14-15, we see the consequences communicated to the serpent:

¹⁴ So the Lord God said to the serpent:
“Because you have done this,
You are cursed more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you shall go,
And you shall eat dust
All the days of your life.
¹⁵ And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.”

In Genesis 3:16 we see the consequences for woman:

¹⁶ To the woman He said:
“I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception;
In pain you shall bring forth children;
Your desire shall be for your husband,
And he shall rule over you.”

In Genesis 3:17-19, we see consequences communicated to man:

¹⁷ Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’:
“Cursed is the ground for your sake;
In toil you shall eat of it
All the days of your life.
¹⁸ Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,
And you shall eat the herb of the field.
¹⁹ In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
Till you return to the ground,
For out of it you were taken;
For dust you are,
And to dust you shall return.”

 

We could spend a great deal of time studying all of this, but let’s concentrate on Genesis 3:15.
¹⁵ And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.”

What is the first thing we notice?
There will be enmity between her seed (the seed of humans) and the seed of the serpent (Satan, fallen angels).

Wow, do you see the significance of this? We are talking about genetics.  We see that the woman’s seed is capitalized, so we know this is referring to Yeshua (Jesus) down the line.
We are all familiar with the good vs. evil context of scripture.  We all know that the serpent, the devil, Satan, Lucifer… whatever name we ascribe to it – will be opposing Yeshua (Jesus) throughout all time.
But details in scripture matter.
The curse does not say there will be enmity between the serpent and the Seed of the woman.
It clearly says enmity between her Seed and his seed.
Genetics.
The serpent will have offspring that will battle against the human seed.

We are not taught this concept in church. At least, I never have been. We hear quite a bit about Satan, about the enemy, the devil.  But we don’t hear about “his seed.”
Ever.
At least I haven’t.
But this is not my idea.
It is right there in scripture.  It is what God’s word says.

Do I have your attention yet? Are you interested in hearing how this plays out?

OK, let’s move on to Noah’s flood and see what details we can find.
This concept picks up again in Genesis 6:1-2
Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, ² that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.

Now, we can read these verses and not really see any ‘seed of the serpent’ details in it.
Let’s evaluate the terms “sons of God” and “daughters of men”.
The daughters of men refers to exactly what we think.
Men, humans, had offspring, including beautiful daughters.
Let’s take a closer look at “sons of God” though…
“Sons” in Hebrew is Strong’s #1121
If we go to www.blueletterbible.com, what do we see?

We see that this word can simply mean son, or even grandson.
But one of the definitions refers to angels, when mentioned in the phrase sons of God, or in Hebrew, ‘ben Elohiym’.

Most pastors will argue that Genesis 6 is referring to men and women, all humans. But where else in the bible do we see the Hebrew phrase ‘ben Elohiym’?

Check out Job 1:6
“⁶ Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan^[b] also came among them. ⁷ And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?”
So Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.”

In this context, we can clearly see ‘sons of God’ (or ben Elohiym) is referring to angels. Those present are Satan, and the sons of God, which we find out the company that Satan keeps are his fallen angels, those angels that he persuaded to take his side in his rebellion against God.

Again, that is a whole other study. But for now, we can see the context in Job 1:6 establishes the idea that Genesis 6:1-2 is speaking of fallen angels.
And what did they do?  They took for themselves wives, from the daughters of men.

Getting interesting, eh?

So then what happened?
Genesis 6:3-4
³ And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”⁴ There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.

Most teachings say the ‘120 years’ reference is YHVH (God) reducing the life span of mankind.  Early men are documented living for nearly 1000 years. If God were going to change man’s life span, would he randomly insert this ‘decree’ in Genesis 6:3, right in the middle of another concept?  I don’t think so.
What we see here are fallen angels, violating YHVH’s (God’s) creation, by taking the daughters of men as their wives.  This results in corruption of DNA, the corruption of God’s creation in His own image. This was a major transgression against God.

God is not saying that the lifespan of mankind is reduced to 120 years. He is setting a time limit on how long he will wait out this transgression. Would the sons of God repent and stop? Or would they continue violating God’s creation?
Well, they were given a 120 year time limit to repent and stop.  This is a warning of the coming flood. God did not destroy them without warning. He is just.  He is kind. He is merciful. He gave warning, but they did not heed the warning.

 

Now it gets even more interesting.  In Genesis 6:4, we are told there were giants in those days. Not only that, but we are told there would be giants afterwards too.
Where did these giants come from? Verse 4 tells us this:
“when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them.”

When fallen angels mated with daughters of men, the result of mixed seed, corrupted DNA, are giants.
The serpent seed mentioned in Genesis 3:15 are giants, referred to as the Nephilim.

What kind of character did these beings have?
We see in Genesis 6:5
⁵ Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 

Again, I say that details matter.
This scripture tells us that EVERY intent was evil CONTINUALLY.

Scripture tells us that these beings had no goodness in them. They were all evil all the time, continually.
Wow, slow down and think about that.
Who do we know that was evil.  Hitler?
Was Hitler all evil all the time?
No. He was married. He fell in love and had a bride. He had friends. While he committed many atrocities, he was NOT all evil, all the time.

But scripture tells us that the offspring of fallen angels were all evil all the time.  And they were giants.
Imagine what kind of devastation a giant who only knows evil could create.
Then imagine a bunch of beings like this, unleashed on the earth.
Do you see where this is going?
Are you starting to realize the need for a flood?

Was the flood the result of random harshness from God?  Was it because God’s character was questionable?

No, let’s check out how God felt about it in verse Genesis 6:6-7
⁶ And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
⁷ So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 

Wow, this corruption of God’s creation, in His own image, grieved His heart.
It made YHVH (God) sad to know His creation was corrupted.
It made YHVH (God) sad to know that He would have to destroy them.

How does Noah come into play?
We are taught that YHVH (God) chose Noah and his family, to spare them because Noah was a righteous man.  We see time and time again that ‘righteous’ men played a major role in God’s plans.
But were these men perfect? Was Noah perfect?
No. Abraham was God’s chosen, and God used him to create the nation of Israel. But was Abraham perfectly righteous? No, he was not.  Out of fear of being killed so that other men could take his beautiful wife, he lied and told the gentile king that his wife was his sister.
The king took her to be his own wife, but God intervened and protected her, and protected the marriage of Abraham and Sarah.
Abraham also did not have faith or trust, and was not patient.  God had promised him a son.  But since Sarah had not become pregnant, he slept with her maid servant Hagar and had a son (Ishmael), outside the will of YHVH (God).
We could go on and on reading about Abraham and his failings.

David was a ‘man after God’s own heart.’
And yet, we know that David committed adultery and murder.
But he was pivotal in YHVH’s plan.

Same thing goes for Noah.  He was not a perfect man, but he did love YHVH (God) and made an effort to follow and obey Him.
But what clues do we have in scripture that confirms our story?
Genesis 6:9
⁹ This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. 

Did you catch that?  It says that Noah was perfect in his generations.
What does that mean?  Is this speaking of his behavior? No, because it says he was perfect.
Scripture tells us that Yeshua (Jesus) was the only man to live in perfection, without sin.
Verse 9 also tells us that his generations were perfect. If this were speaking of his behavior, it would mean his generations, his ancestors, would have had perfect behavior as well. We know this is not true.
So what does ‘perfect in his generations’ mean?

It tells us that his genetic line had not been corrupted by the fallen angels and their offspring.

Whoa, ever heard that in a church before?
Me either.

Am I just reading into scripture, making up ideas that really are not there?
Well, just in case we need clarification, God gives us this in Genesis 6:11-12
¹¹ The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. ¹² So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

Verse 12 does not tell us that man’s behavior was corrupt.
It says ‘flesh’ was corrupt.
Again, another reference to genetics, just in case we weren’t paying attention all along.
God is very clear on this. But you won’t hear it in a church.
Ever. Most likely.

Still not sure?
Well, what does YHVH (God) communicate to Noah in verse 13?
Genesis 6:13
¹³ And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

God is speaking to Noah, a man whose generations are perfect.
And He says, “for the earth is filled with violence through them.”
Using the word “them” sets up a contrast between “them” and Noah, men.  YHVH (God) communicates His intention to destroy “them” with the earth.

The narrative then goes on to speak of building the ark for the remainder of Chapter 6.
Genesis 7:1 is a verse used by typical church teachings to support the idea that Noah was chosen because he was righteous in his behavior.
But is this true?
Here is the verse:
Then the Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.

In this case, the Hebrew word “tsaddiyqis” is used for righteous.
While this word can be used to describe just, lawful, righteous behavior, there is another meaning.
It also means:  just, right (in one’s cause)

In Genesis 6:14-22, God commanded that Noah build an ark to His exact specifications.  Starting in verse 7:2, God begins to give Noah instructions about putting the animals on the ark.

Genesis 7:1 sits inbetween these two commands given to Noah.
Genesis 7:1 is not speaking of Noah’s righteous behavior, as the church typically teaches, but is speaking to the idea that Noah completed YHVH’s (God’s) instructions, and did indeed build the ark. He was “just or right in one’s cause” — and his cause was to build the ark.
Verse 7:1 is just confirming that Noah had completed YHVH’s (God’s) instructions.

So to summarize…
—Genesis 3:16 tells us of a curse between the Seed of man and the seed of the serpent.
—Genesis 6 tells us about the seed of the serpent, the corruption of human DNA.
—The idea of having to destroy His creation grieved the heart of God. He was saddened at having to destroy the earth to set things right.
—Noah was selected because his genetics were not compromised.
—The flood wiped the slate clean, getting rid of all corrupted DNA on the earth.

Probably never heard that at church, eh?
Again, I did not understand these things.  I needed to understand them, for my son’s sake (and for my own sake).
I prayed in accordance with James 1:5-8, and YHVH (God) revealed His truth to me.
And now, I share it with anyone willing to listen.

I believe the details available to us in scripture show us what has happened, even though this concept is not generally taught in church.
I believe these details clarify the character of YHVH (God).
He loved His creation and was grieved that it was corrupted, and was grieved that He had to destroy it.

What do you think?

By the way, there is much more. We can study continued references to Nephilim, or giants, in scripture.  They make another appearance in the Exodus story, when entering the promise land.
The nation of Israel was commanded to kill all living beings. Genocide?
No.
It was necessary to cleanse the earth of corrupt DNA.  Numbers 13:33 tells us this about the people occupying the promise land:
There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”

We can take a look at what it means now, in modern times. And specifically, we’ll look at when Israel entered the promise land, and again had to wipe out genetic corruption of the giants.

I’ll dig into more of this in future posts…