Spiritual beings are involved in mankind’s fall from the very beginning. In this episode, we discuss the Fall of Genesis 3, the Flood of Genesis 6, and how spiritual beings were present in bringing about rebellion against God.

Music:
“Kid Kodi”
Blue Dot Sessions
www.sessions.blue

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Creation Corruption

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and
female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Genesis 1:27-28

Introduction

Over the last couple of weeks we discussed the importance of spiritual realm studies listing that the topic:

       Is discussed in the Bible as well as extrabiblical literature

       Gives background to sinful behavior

       Keeps us focused on our true enemy

       Provides us greater appreciation for what God has done in our lives

We also dove into Psalm 82 to introduce ourselves to:

       The “divine council” of God – made up of spiritual beings (82:1)

       The role of the “divine council” – to oversee justice in nations (82:2-5)

       The failure of these spiritual beings (82:2-5)

       The ultimate punishment of these beings (82:6-7)

       The future hope of God’s inheriting the disinherited nations (82:8; see Dt. 32:8)

We also discussed the Hebrew “el-ohim” translated as “God” or “gods” is a general word indicating a heavenly being (either good or bad). “El-ohim” itself is a plural word. When followed by a singular verb it is reference to the three, yet one God of Israel.

Before the Foundations of the Earth (Job 38)

The opening chapters of Genesis do a great job of showing us who God is, who He wants us to be, and how we came into being, but it does very little to shed light on what, if anything, came before us.

Last week, our discussion on the “divine council” of God gave us a bit of a glimpse into the spiritual realm creation, or rather, that there are beings aside from God in the heavenly places, and that those beings:

       Have responsibilities

       Were created

       Have freewill

Questions we have to follow might be why do they exist? And when did they come into existence?

We’ll get to the “why” a bit later in our studies, but the when can be answered, at least in part, in Job 38:4-7:

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
5 Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
6 On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone,
7 when the morning stars sang together
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Here we are given a time “when I laid the foundation of the earth” and are told that while this was going on the “sons of God” (also referred to as “morning stars” here) were present. Simply put, God created spiritual beings first, then came earth and earthly beings.

The Serpent (Genesis 3)

In Genesis 1-2 we are shown the “good” (defined as “functioning as intended”) creation going according to plan. As quickly as we are introduced to the perfect creation, we are introduced to a corruptor of that creation, speaking through a serpent:

3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden,
neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and
you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Genesis 3:3-5

The serpent itself was not evil (part of God’s “good” creation), but the voice that used the serpent absolutely was (1 John 3:8; Revelation 12:9, 20:2).
NOTE: The only other time we see an animal speak its mouth is being opened by a supernatural force, God (Num. 22:28).

What we see in Genesis 3, is a freewill spiritual being exercising its power to lead another freewill being astray. This appears to be referred to in Ezekiel 28:2-13 (the prince of Tyre, will fall like the one who fell in Eden).

The point of what we’re told here. One of the spiritual beings created by God before the foundation of the world, came down into His “good” creation to corrupt it. The mission is successful, as God’s people rebel through disobedience, and the creation starts to be cursed/corrupted with them due to sin (Gen. 3:14-19).

This “beast” language is employed throughout other places in the Bible as well. Cain is told “sin is crouching at the door, its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” (Genesis 4:7). Peter and John will later employ this kind of language to discuss those opposed to God (1 Peter 5:8; Revelation 20:2). 

The Sons of God (Genesis 6)

Between the Fall of Genesis 3 and the Flood of Genesis 6, we pass almost 2000 years of time where corruption continues to spread (The next act of rebellion we see is Cain’s murder of his brother. Evil is escalating through the creation of God).

By the time we reach the flood of Genesis 6, corruption has so spread on the earth that we get this bit of information:

“When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them,
2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. 5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
Genesis 6:1-5

Notice first the phrase “sons of God” returning for us here. If we were reading straight through Genesis to begin with this phrase would be new to us, but we’ve already seen how this phrase is used to refer to spiritual beings in Job and Psalms.

Let’s discuss the phrase “sons of God” and how it is used in the Old Testament (not the New).

Genesis 6:2, 4 – ???
Deuteronomy 32:8 – speaks of a past event when the peoples of the earth were scattered, which is followed by God’s choosing of a people group “Jacob/Israel” (Dt. 32:9)
Job 1:6; 2:1 – the “sons of God” come to present themselves before the Lord, and along with them is a “Satan” or “adversary”. He is given the ability to stretch out his hand against Job. None of this seems like a natural occurrence. NOTE: that the Septuagint (LXX) translates this phrase as “angels of God”.
Job 38:7 – as we noted earlier, this must be a reference to spiritual beings because it predates the creation of the earth.
Psalm 89:5-7 – “sons of God” translated as “heavenly beings”. There is also reference to God’s “council of the holy ones” (compare with “council” and “gods” language in Psalm 82).

Since most of these references explicitly use the phrase in reference to spiritual beings, it stands to reason that this is true of the phrase in Genesis 6:2 and 4.

Some questions (with answers) that arise from this idea:

Are you saying that there were multiple spiritual beings that rebelled against God? Yes, and this is the Jewish belief too (we’ll see in some writings that follow).

Are you saying that these rebellious spiritual beings engaged in sexual relations with human women? Yes. As outlandish as that might sound, consider:

The references made by both Peter (2 Peter 2:4-5) and Jude (Jude 6-7) about the actions of some angels.

That this was the common Jewish belief, at least during the second temple period and into the New Testament.

That this belief was supported by ancient writers Philo, Josephus, and Justin Martyr.

How would natural means produce the giant children (“Nephilim”)? Something supernatural seems to be occurring here within the text of Genesis 6.

What about Matthew 22:30 which tells us that the angels in heaven do not marry? Marriage is not a part of the heavenly realm, aside from our ultimate marriage as the church to Christ. Consider:

Angels often appear in human form, doing human things. A few chapters later into Genesis we see angels actively eating with Abraham before laying waste to Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 18:8ff).

Also, the Hebrew for “wife” can also be translated “woman” or “female”. So we don’t have to be talking about marriage here, just sex.

It says that the Nephilim were on the earth “in those days, and also afterward”. How? The Hebrew phrase is a difficult one to translate well into English. The phrase itself encompasses not only the result of the action but the action itself. In other words, not only were the Nephilim on the earth in those days, and also afterward, but the reason for their existence occurred in those days and also afterward.

Are you saying that there were multiple rebellions of spiritual beings then? That seems to be the case, yes.

What’s stopping that from happening now, or is it still happening? There is a pattern that exists when it comes to the Nephilim (many wiped down to a few and then none) as well as with demons (many then few). It seems that there was a big rebellion, others joined later, but by the time we hit the New Testament it’s one individual (Satan as we know him).

It is here that we need to challenge a line of thinking we hold to be true.

In the New Testament, we read of a singular evil entity, or at least attribute all evil to a singular being, Satan.

“Satan” is actually a Hebrew word meaning “adversary” (Yahweh is even referred to as being a “Satan” in Numbers 22:22 among others places).

It isn’t until the New Testament that Bible readers encounter a singular evil entity, the devil, as a seeming ringleader of all demons, evil, etc.

For Jewish students, this singular idea of evil develops during the second temple period of time (post-exile Judaism writings), but even there (in places like Enoch, Testament of Moses) multiple evil beings are described to us.

Summary: The Old Testament teaches that there are multiple evil spiritual beings involved in leading the creation into further corruption. This was the common belief among Jewish people both in the Old Testament period, and into Jesus’ day (more on this in a moment).

Notice also the phrase “Nephilim”. These beings are described as being both giant and mighty. These beings (which go by others names like “Rephaim” and “Anakim” as well as other regional names like “Caphtorim”) are mentioned a number of times during the leadership of Moses, Joshua, and David.
Note: there are some references to them after this as well (though they are dead). We’ll cover that in a future study.

       These beings are products of the sexual union of divine beings and earthly
          beings.

Not only are they not a part of God’s “good” creation, they are agents of greater chaos within God’s creation. Here’s what was attributed to them in Jewish thought:

“And it came to pass when the children of men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born unto them, that the angels of God saw them on a certain year of this jubilee, that they were beautiful to look upon; and they took themselves wives of all whom they chose, and they bare unto them sons and they were giants. And lawlessness increased on the earth and all flesh corrupted its way, alike men and cattle and beasts and birds and everything that walks on the earth -all of them corrupted their ways and their orders, and they began to devour each other, and lawlessness increased on the earth and every imagination of the thoughts of all men (was) thus evil continually.”

Jubilees 5:1-3

“1. And all the others together with them took unto themselves wives, and each chose for himself one, and they began to go in unto them and to defile themselves with them, and they taught them charms and enchantments, and the cutting of roots, and made them acquainted with plants. 2. And they became pregnant, and they bare great giants, whose height was three thousand ells: 3. Who consumed all the acquisitions of men. And when men could no longer sustain them, 4. the giants turned against them and devoured mankind. 5. And they began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and fish, and to devour one another’s flesh, and drink the blood. 6. Then the earth laid accusation against the lawless ones.”

1 Enoch 7:1-6

These are just a couple quotes showing the danger the “Nephilim” presented to the creation in Jewish thought. Angels are also cited as being corrupting influences:

“1. And Azâzêl taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and made known to them the metals 〈of the earth〉 and the art of working them, and bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying of the eyelids, and all kinds of costly stones, and all colouring tinctures. 2. And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they were led astray, and became corrupt in all their ways. Semjâzâ taught enchantments, and root-cuttings, Armârôs the resolving of enchantments, Barâqîjâl, (taught) astrology, Kôkabêl the constellations, Ezêqêêl the knowledge of the clouds, 〈Araqiêl the signs of the earth, Shamsiêl the signs of the sun〉, and Sariêl the course of the moon. And as men perished, they cried, and their cry went up to heaven . . .

1 Enoch 8

Biblically speaking, there is some reference to this corruption through the making of your own things as well (Genesis 4:17-22). 

Summary

So far we have observed the damaging influence of evil spiritual forces in the Garden of God and in the whole creation leading to its ultimate destruction through the flood and recreation to a “new” sort of garden and first family in Noah and his children. Next week we will continue to see this theme in the Tower of Babel event of Genesis 11, and what God went about doing to resolve the issue.

material adapted from Dr. Michael Heiser’s Unseen Realm