Genesis: Noah and the Flood

Noah After the Flood by Francesco Bassano

Before Noah and the flood is a list of the descendants of Adam. These descendants live for hundreds of years. Here is how long the descendants of Adam, and Adam himself, lived.

Adam: 930

Seth: 912

Enosh: 905

Kenan: 910

Mahalalel: 895

Jared: 962

Enoch:365

Methuselah: 969

Lamech: 777

"When Lamech had lived one hundred eighty two years, he became the father of a son; he named him Noah, saying, "Out of the ground that the Lord has cursed this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the toil of our hands." (Gen:5.28-31)

Seven is a recurring number throughout all of Genesis and The Bible. It is interesting that Noah's father lived to be 777 years old.

"When people began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that they were fair; and they took wives for themselves of all that they chose. Then the Lord said, "My spirit shall not abide in mortals forever, for they are flesh; their days shall be one hundred twenty years." The Nephilim were on the earth in those days- and also afterward- when the sons of God went in to the daughters of humans, who bore children to them. These were the heroes that were of old, warriors of renown." (Gen:6.1-4)

The statement that people will live no more than one hundred and twenty years seems a pretty close estimate to the maximum age of human beings. There have been a couple cases of people living past 120 years but those are rare and disputable.

"...the Nephilim [are], a race of giants said to exist both prior to and after those times." (New Oxford Annotated Bible, 4th ed.)

The Nephilim are something that I've never really heard talked about before. Again this is another question without an answer. Are Nephilim part of a human race? Is it possible that the wickedness of the Nephilim is what made God send a flood?

The reason for the flood to come is stated twice:

1) "The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart." (Gen:6.5-6)

2) "Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw that the earth was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted its ways upon the earth. And God said to Noah, "I have determined to make an end to all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence because of them; now I am going to destroy them along with the earth." (Gen:6.11-13)

The repetition could be looked at with source criticism. Or if it were looked at in a literary sense, perhaps the first verse is God speaking to himself then, after describing Noah, it is him repeating his reasoning to Noah.

Again, the number 7 comes up in Gen:8 as Noah waits 7 days to send the dove out from the ark and when the dove comes back he waits another 7 days.