That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
The sons of God were the descendants of Seth who professed to revere God and cherish His will, and the daughters of men were the daughters of Cain's ungodly and idolatrous race. They were drawn by beauty and took wives of all they chose by appearance, feeling and passion without seeking God's counsel or glory. That indiscriminate intermarriage of the professedly godly with those who did not obey God mingled the righteous seed with the ungodly and opened the flood-gates of sin. Through those unions the worshipers of God lost their distinct holy character, departed into idolatry and disobedience, and brought apostasy that ended in destruction by the Flood. The same uninfluenced human nature and lust-driven absorbing in marrying marks the last days and prefigures the age before Christ's appearing in the clouds.
Who Married Whom
The sons of God were the descendants of Seth, the children who professed to acknowledge and revere God, who had separated themselves from the wicked and cherished the knowledge of His will. They were the worshipers who claimed His name and sought to preserve the fear of God among men. The daughters of men were the daughters of Cain's descendants, an ungodly and idolatrous race corrupt of heart, with no respect for God and His sacred commandments. The distinction was between the holy line of Seth and the depraved companions of Cain's line who had cast off obedience.
The sons of God saw that those women were fair and were attracted by their beauty, and they took wives of all whom they chose. Their choice was made by appearance and inclination, by feeling and passion, to gratify lust and loose, depraved desires rather than to glorify God. They married without God's counsel, without inquiring whether it was His will and pleasure, without regard for His glory, and without the counsel of parents and the church. In this they disregarded the restrictions of the seventh commandment and took wives of their own choice from that idolatrous race.
The account belongs to the divine words of Genesis, which cannot be separated from the New Testament, and its record of Noah's generation is literal history, with Noah as a literal person and the Flood as a fact in history. Before the Flood men were vastly superior in size to any now living, and animals and trees were many times larger than now exist or have existed for thousands of years. At the Flood those large men, animals and trees were buried and thus preserved as an evidence to later generations that the antediluvians perished by water. Great changes took place at the Flood, so relics found in the earth give evidence of conditions differing in many respects from the present, but the time when those conditions existed can be learned only from the Inspired Record, which God designed to establish faith in inspired history.
Corruption and Judgment
Marriage in itself was lawful, belonging to God's order as one of the first institutions for humanity, appointed to be sacred and beautiful, but in this account it was perverted to serve passion. The great crime was indiscriminate intermarriage, the professed people of God forming alliances without distinction with those corrupt of heart who did not respect and obey God's commandments and had no connection with Heaven. That unequal yoking rested on no better foundation than mere sensual gratification, headstrong, blind and uncontrollable, enslaving honor, truth and every noble power of the mind to passion and making the infatuated deaf to reason and conscience, giving to the creature the love due the Creator in direct departure from God's express requirements. It mingled the righteous seed with the ungodly, for the influence of idolatrous spouses and relatives counteracts godly influence and builds barriers within the family, and it opened the flood-gates of sin. Eating, drinking, trading, marrying and being given in marriage are granted privileges safe only when done in the fear of God with reference to the eternal world, with careful and prayerful consideration and true love as motive rather than thoughtless vows taken like a business transaction.
Through these unions the worshipers of God were seduced from integrity and lost their distinct holy character, becoming like their depraved companions in spirit and conduct. The sons of God were the descendants of Seth who had separated themselves from the wicked, cherished the knowledge of God's will and professed to fear God, while the daughters of men were the daughters of Cain's ungodly and idolatrous descendants who had no respect for God and His sacred commandments. Attracted by their beauty, the children of Seth departed from God and displeased Him by taking wives of their own choice from that race, and under the influence of those wives they joined in idolatry, turned from fearing God, broke His commandments and disobeyed Him.
That seduction displays the bewitching power of woman enlisted in Satan's service to entrap and destroy souls, the same power by which Israel fell prey to the harlots of Midian, by which Joseph was tempted, Samson betrayed his strength into the hands of the Philistines, David stumbled, and Solomon, wisest of kings and thrice called the beloved of God, became a slave of passion and sacrificed his integrity until the holy seed became corrupt. Taking wives of all they chose disregarded the restrictions of the seventh commandment and departed from God's order of one wife for one man established with Adam to preserve happiness. That taking of multiple wives according to choice was one of the great sins of the people before the Flood that brought God's wrath upon them, producing discord and misery, and the same custom continued after the Flood and remained sinful even when righteous men practiced it.
These unhallowed and unlawful marriages led to apostasy which ended in the destruction of the world by the Flood, proving that choices that may seem small and acts of self-indulgence can have grave consequences for oneself and others. Satan overcame the inhabitants of the old world as he overcame Adam and Eve in Eden, by appeal to appetite, through indulgence of lustful appetite and corrupt passions and gratification of appetite, controlling appetite and exciting and strengthening the passions to a fearful degree until he worked their ruin. In that ruin the image of God in man was defaced and almost obliterated and physical and moral dignity destroyed, until man bore only a faint resemblance in character and noble perfection of form to dignified Adam in Eden, and their sin provoked the wrath of God to destroy them by water. That destruction belongs to the account of sins that brought God's judgment on the earth, a certain judgment when human wickedness persists, yet presented as an act of mercy to the world. The whole world perished with only few saved, proving that great numbers do not follow Christ and only few believe present truth and are saved, so believers must not be discouraged by small numbers nor follow the majority nor turn aside to fables, but know duty and lift the cross, for following the majority leads to destruction and to not seeing heaven.
Warning for Today
Human nature uninfluenced by the Spirit is the same now as in Noah's day, so the character and condition of that generation prefigures the present age. That age was marked by wickedness, spiritual decline and unbelief, and its social corruption is the pattern for the last days, which are the antitypical days of Noah before Christ's appearing in the clouds of heaven.
Before the Flood people were intensely preoccupied with and absorbed in eating, drinking and marrying, and their marriages were managed so as to make them a crime and an abuse of the sacred bond. Hearts filled with thoughts of marriage led the young to disobey parents, become wanton, and marry without the counsel of parents and the church and without inquiring whether it was God's will and pleasure. They married not to glorify God but to gratify loose passions and depraved lusts while refusing to keep God in their thoughts, and joined with eating and drinking this lust-driven marrying made the old world ripe for destruction by the Flood. The same sins now mark the last days and show the world almost ripe for destruction by unmingled fury, and a similar preoccupation with marriage will exist before Christ's second coming as a sign of the end.
The pre-Flood condition is repeated at the end, when self-indulgence controls men and women, with eating and drinking and violation of nature's laws that destroys the life-forces. The marriage relation is perverted and defiled, with marrying and giving in marriage coming to mean divorce after divorce, while violence fills the land, with men killing women and women killing men and young girls killed for refusing to marry, and oppression increases and the laws become oppressive. The same state exists today, and the nearer to the large cities the worse the evil is, showing that the coming of the Son of man is near. The antediluvians degenerated from lightness and frivolity to debasing sins that called forth God's wrath in dreadful destruction to rid the earth of their contaminating influence, with inclination and passion bearing sway over reason, self as their god, and the knowledge of the Most High nearly obliterated through selfish indulgence of corrupt passions. Their taking of wives means indiscreet, infatuated marriages entered as if bewitched under satanic power, with courtship and marriage as the all-absorbing themes, without consulting God, with human feelings, desires and passions bearing down everything before them until the die is cast. Such marriages bring untold misery, dishonor God, cover every kind of lustful abomination, and leave the marriage bed unsanctified and unholy, demanding a decided change, and the same infatuation now repeats what was in the days of Noah until the flood destroyed them all.
Eating, drinking, trading, marrying and being given in marriage are granted privileges, but they are safe only when done in the fear of God with reference to the eternal world. Marriage itself was lawful and part of God's order, established as one of the first human institutions and meant to be sacred and beautiful, yet the people forgot God's directions and chose spouses by appearance and inclination until marriage was turned to serve passion. Choice must be guided by God's counsel, Christian principle, true love and desire for His glory, not entered without careful and prayerful consideration, not with sacred vows taken as thoughtlessly as a business transaction without true love as the motive, and not governed by uncontrolled passion.
Married men and women were following the sinful ways of that generation, in a setting in which even concern about purity could itself be misused and lead to impurity. The belief that a woman could allow familiar freedom with men so long as she remained virtuous was the same spirit as in the days of Noah, and it was dangerous and corrupting then as it is now.
The sons of God were the descendants of Seth who professed to revere God and cherish His will, and the daughters of men were the daughters of Cain's ungodly and idolatrous race. They were drawn by beauty and took wives of all they chose by appearance, feeling and passion without seeking God's counsel or glory. That indiscriminate intermarriage of the professedly godly with those who did not obey God mingled the righteous seed with the ungodly and opened the flood-gates of sin. Through those unions the worshipers of God lost their distinct holy character, departed into idolatry and disobedience, and brought apostasy that ended in destruction by the Flood. The same uninfluenced human nature and lust-driven absorbing in marrying marks the last days and prefigures the age before Christ's appearing in the clouds.
Who Married Whom
The sons of God were the descendants of Seth, the children who professed to acknowledge and revere God, who had separated themselves from the wicked and cherished the knowledge of His will. They were the worshipers who claimed His name and sought to preserve the fear of God among men. The daughters of men were the daughters of Cain's descendants, an ungodly and idolatrous race corrupt of heart, with no respect for God and His sacred commandments. The distinction was between the holy line of Seth and the depraved companions of Cain's line who had cast off obedience.
The sons of God saw that those women were fair and were attracted by their beauty, and they took wives of all whom they chose. Their choice was made by appearance and inclination, by feeling and passion, to gratify lust and loose, depraved desires rather than to glorify God. They married without God's counsel, without inquiring whether it was His will and pleasure, without regard for His glory, and without the counsel of parents and the church. In this they disregarded the restrictions of the seventh commandment and took wives of their own choice from that idolatrous race.
The account belongs to the divine words of Genesis, which cannot be separated from the New Testament, and its record of Noah's generation is literal history, with Noah as a literal person and the Flood as a fact in history. Before the Flood men were vastly superior in size to any now living, and animals and trees were many times larger than now exist or have existed for thousands of years. At the Flood those large men, animals and trees were buried and thus preserved as an evidence to later generations that the antediluvians perished by water. Great changes took place at the Flood, so relics found in the earth give evidence of conditions differing in many respects from the present, but the time when those conditions existed can be learned only from the Inspired Record, which God designed to establish faith in inspired history.
Corruption and Judgment
Marriage in itself was lawful, belonging to God's order as one of the first institutions for humanity, appointed to be sacred and beautiful, but in this account it was perverted to serve passion. The great crime was indiscriminate intermarriage, the professed people of God forming alliances without distinction with those corrupt of heart who did not respect and obey God's commandments and had no connection with Heaven. That unequal yoking rested on no better foundation than mere sensual gratification, headstrong, blind and uncontrollable, enslaving honor, truth and every noble power of the mind to passion and making the infatuated deaf to reason and conscience, giving to the creature the love due the Creator in direct departure from God's express requirements. It mingled the righteous seed with the ungodly, for the influence of idolatrous spouses and relatives counteracts godly influence and builds barriers within the family, and it opened the flood-gates of sin. Eating, drinking, trading, marrying and being given in marriage are granted privileges safe only when done in the fear of God with reference to the eternal world, with careful and prayerful consideration and true love as motive rather than thoughtless vows taken like a business transaction.
Through these unions the worshipers of God were seduced from integrity and lost their distinct holy character, becoming like their depraved companions in spirit and conduct. The sons of God were the descendants of Seth who had separated themselves from the wicked, cherished the knowledge of God's will and professed to fear God, while the daughters of men were the daughters of Cain's ungodly and idolatrous descendants who had no respect for God and His sacred commandments. Attracted by their beauty, the children of Seth departed from God and displeased Him by taking wives of their own choice from that race, and under the influence of those wives they joined in idolatry, turned from fearing God, broke His commandments and disobeyed Him.
That seduction displays the bewitching power of woman enlisted in Satan's service to entrap and destroy souls, the same power by which Israel fell prey to the harlots of Midian, by which Joseph was tempted, Samson betrayed his strength into the hands of the Philistines, David stumbled, and Solomon, wisest of kings and thrice called the beloved of God, became a slave of passion and sacrificed his integrity until the holy seed became corrupt. Taking wives of all they chose disregarded the restrictions of the seventh commandment and departed from God's order of one wife for one man established with Adam to preserve happiness. That taking of multiple wives according to choice was one of the great sins of the people before the Flood that brought God's wrath upon them, producing discord and misery, and the same custom continued after the Flood and remained sinful even when righteous men practiced it.
These unhallowed and unlawful marriages led to apostasy which ended in the destruction of the world by the Flood, proving that choices that may seem small and acts of self-indulgence can have grave consequences for oneself and others. Satan overcame the inhabitants of the old world as he overcame Adam and Eve in Eden, by appeal to appetite, through indulgence of lustful appetite and corrupt passions and gratification of appetite, controlling appetite and exciting and strengthening the passions to a fearful degree until he worked their ruin. In that ruin the image of God in man was defaced and almost obliterated and physical and moral dignity destroyed, until man bore only a faint resemblance in character and noble perfection of form to dignified Adam in Eden, and their sin provoked the wrath of God to destroy them by water. That destruction belongs to the account of sins that brought God's judgment on the earth, a certain judgment when human wickedness persists, yet presented as an act of mercy to the world. The whole world perished with only few saved, proving that great numbers do not follow Christ and only few believe present truth and are saved, so believers must not be discouraged by small numbers nor follow the majority nor turn aside to fables, but know duty and lift the cross, for following the majority leads to destruction and to not seeing heaven.
Warning for Today
Human nature uninfluenced by the Spirit is the same now as in Noah's day, so the character and condition of that generation prefigures the present age. That age was marked by wickedness, spiritual decline and unbelief, and its social corruption is the pattern for the last days, which are the antitypical days of Noah before Christ's appearing in the clouds of heaven.
Before the Flood people were intensely preoccupied with and absorbed in eating, drinking and marrying, and their marriages were managed so as to make them a crime and an abuse of the sacred bond. Hearts filled with thoughts of marriage led the young to disobey parents, become wanton, and marry without the counsel of parents and the church and without inquiring whether it was God's will and pleasure. They married not to glorify God but to gratify loose passions and depraved lusts while refusing to keep God in their thoughts, and joined with eating and drinking this lust-driven marrying made the old world ripe for destruction by the Flood. The same sins now mark the last days and show the world almost ripe for destruction by unmingled fury, and a similar preoccupation with marriage will exist before Christ's second coming as a sign of the end.
The pre-Flood condition is repeated at the end, when self-indulgence controls men and women, with eating and drinking and violation of nature's laws that destroys the life-forces. The marriage relation is perverted and defiled, with marrying and giving in marriage coming to mean divorce after divorce, while violence fills the land, with men killing women and women killing men and young girls killed for refusing to marry, and oppression increases and the laws become oppressive. The same state exists today, and the nearer to the large cities the worse the evil is, showing that the coming of the Son of man is near. The antediluvians degenerated from lightness and frivolity to debasing sins that called forth God's wrath in dreadful destruction to rid the earth of their contaminating influence, with inclination and passion bearing sway over reason, self as their god, and the knowledge of the Most High nearly obliterated through selfish indulgence of corrupt passions. Their taking of wives means indiscreet, infatuated marriages entered as if bewitched under satanic power, with courtship and marriage as the all-absorbing themes, without consulting God, with human feelings, desires and passions bearing down everything before them until the die is cast. Such marriages bring untold misery, dishonor God, cover every kind of lustful abomination, and leave the marriage bed unsanctified and unholy, demanding a decided change, and the same infatuation now repeats what was in the days of Noah until the flood destroyed them all.
Eating, drinking, trading, marrying and being given in marriage are granted privileges, but they are safe only when done in the fear of God with reference to the eternal world. Marriage itself was lawful and part of God's order, established as one of the first human institutions and meant to be sacred and beautiful, yet the people forgot God's directions and chose spouses by appearance and inclination until marriage was turned to serve passion. Choice must be guided by God's counsel, Christian principle, true love and desire for His glory, not entered without careful and prayerful consideration, not with sacred vows taken as thoughtlessly as a business transaction without true love as the motive, and not governed by uncontrolled passion.
Married men and women were following the sinful ways of that generation, in a setting in which even concern about purity could itself be misused and lead to impurity. The belief that a woman could allow familiar freedom with men so long as she remained virtuous was the same spirit as in the days of Noah, and it was dangerous and corrupting then as it is now.