4:17-24 Cain had a son named Enoch. He named the city he was building after Enoch. Next we see the genealogy of Cain's descendents all the way to the one named Lamech. Lamech had two wives. He killed a man and told his wives that if his ancestor Cain could be avenged 7 times then he should be avenged 77 times. Lamech expected greater leniency than the Lord had given Cain when he murdered Abel.

v. 25-26 Adam and Eve had another son named Seth. Eve saw Seth as Abel's replacement. Seth had a son named Enosh. It was Seth's descendants who began to "call on " (or proclaim) the name of the Lord. Click to see a chart of Cain and Seth's families.

5:1-32 Now Moses goes into a lengthy and detailed genealogy of Seth's descendents. He even includes their age when they had their first son and how long each man lived. This is quite unusual. Click to see the chart we discussed in class. We see that Noah's father, Lamech (not the same Lamech in Cain's line), died 5 years prior to the flood. Noah's grandfather, Methuselah, died the same year as the flood. Noah and his son Shem survived the flood. We also see that there were 10 generations between Adam and Noah as well as 10 generations between Noah and Abraham. Why is this genealogy important? Because it shows that there is order in the course of history. Things are not just happening randomly or spiraling out of control. The Lord is behind it all.

6:1-3 As the population of the world increased so did the wickedness. The Lord said He would not "contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years." This is not a reference to a shorter lifespan for mortal men, rather it means He was going to bring the flood in 120 years and wipe them out.

v. 4-6 There is much debate about who the Nephilim were. It's likely that they were powerful men, "heroes of old, men of renown," who were under demonic influence. "The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time." The Lord was grieved that He had made man. He wasn't surprised that it turned out this way but He was sorrowful about it. Notice that "man's heart was only evil" and the Lord's "heart was filled with pain."

v. 7-10 So the Lord declared that He would wipe out not only the people but also the animals and birds. Fortunately for us there was one man who found favor in the Lord's eyes-- Noah. He was apparently the only man who "walked with God" at that time. His three sons were Shem, Ham and Japheth.

v. 11-17 The earth was corrupt and full of violence because of the people. It was because of people that God was going to destroy the earth with a flood. He told Noah to make an ark. The details are given. God was about to bring a flood that would kill all the creatures on earth who were not in the ark.

v. 18-22 But God established a covenant with Noah. He was to bring his wife, his sons, and his sons wives into the ark along with 2 of every kind of animal to keep them alive during the flood. The animals would come to Noah (he didn't have to catch them) and he was to store enough food for them all. "Noah did everything just as God commanded him." This is how we know he was a righteous man.

7:1-16 The Lord told Noah to go into the ark and take 7 pair of every kind of clean animal as well as 2 pair of every unclean animal and 7 pair of every kind of bird. Notice that even before the covenant with the Israelites there was a clear distinction between clean and unclean. In 7 days God was going to make it rain for 40 days and 40 nights. Again we see that "Noah did all that the Lord commanded him." He was 600 years old when the flood came. They all entered the ark and "after 7 days the floodwaters came." The flood started on the 17th day of the 2nd month "in the 600th year of Noah's life." The Lord Himself shut the door on the ark.

v. 17-24 It kept raining and the ark floated high above the mountains. The water covered the mountains by more than 20 feet and remained for 150 days (5 months). All of the men and animals died except those who were with Noah in the ark.

8:1-12 "But God remembered Noah" and all who were with him in the ark. Keep in mind that Moses was writing this to the ancient Israelites who would have been thinking about the way God "remembered" them when He brought them out of Egypt. The rain stopped falling, God sent a wind and the waters receded steadily and on the 17th day of the 7th month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat (modern-day Armenia). On the 1st day of the 10th month the tops of the mountains became visible. After 40 days Noah sent out a raven. It kept flying back and forth until the waters dried up. Then once a week he sent out a dove. The first time it couldn't find a place to rest, the second time it brought a fresh olive leaf, and the third time it did not come back at all.

v. 13-17 "By the 1st day of the first month of Noah's 601st year the water had dried up from the earth." By the 27th day of the 2nd month the earth was completely dry. God told Noah to come out of the ark with his family and all the animals so they "can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number upon it."

v. 18-22 So Noah came out. He built an altar to the Lord and sacrificed some of the clean animals on it. The Lord smelled "the pleasing aroma" of the burnt offering and said to Himself, "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done." He went on to say that "as long as the earth endures" there will continue to be day and night, cold and heat, summer and winter... We will see in the next chapter what the Lord gave as a sign that He would never again destroy the earth with a flood.