Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. This is study #15 of Genesis, chapter 6 and we are going to read Genesis 6:10-13:

And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

I will stop reading there. In verse 10 we read that Noah begat three sons and God gives their names: Shem, Ham and Japheth. This restates what the Lord said at the end of Genesis 5:32:

And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Here, God is stating that Noah begat three sons. We discussed this before in regard to the genealogy, but Shem is not the firstborn, even though he is listed first. We then went to Abram and his father, where God did the same thing in Genesis 11:26:

And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

Again, three sons were begotten when Terah was 70 and Abram is listed first, but we saw that he could not have been the firstborn because of additional information God gives in chapter 11.

It is the same situation in the case of Noah. God lists his three sons and just as Abram was the more important son because God would use him in His Biblical calendar of history, Shem is going to be the Bible calendar reference patriarch and, therefore, he is also listed first.

Although it says that Noah begat these sons when he was 500 years old, it also says in Genesis 11:10:

These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood:

So, Shem was 100 years old two years after the flood, which means he was not born when Noah was 500, which would have been the year 5090BC, but he was born two years later in the year 5088BC when Noah was 502, because two years after the flood Noah was aged 602.

I am not sure if we mentioned this before, but the name “Shem” is a word that means “name.” It is Strong’s #8035 in the Hebrew and it is the same word as #8030 and it is “qârâ – shêm” or “called his name.” His name is a name we found several times when there is an immediate father/son relationship.

The name “Ham” is Strong’s is Strong’s #2526 and it is the same word as #2525, which is a word that means “hot” or “warm.”

The name Japheth is Strong’s #3315, but I am not sure exactly what the Hebrew word means.

Let us move on to Genesis 6:11:

The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.

Now God had already given us His assessment of man’s inner being. We read about that in Genesis 6:5:

And JEHOVAH saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

However, it seems like in verses 11 through 13 where God is discussing the sins of the people of the earth and why He is going to destroy them, it is more of an assessment of the outer condition of things – what is happening on the face of the earth and not so much in the hearts of men. Of course, when men do evil outwardly they are also doing evil inwardly. In Genesis 6, verse 11 notice that the earth is mentioned twice and it is also mentioned twice in the next two verses, in Genesis 6:12-13:

And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

It is clear that the Lord is placing emphasis upon the sin that is visible in the earth and the sins that are outward. Even though the population of the world was relatively small (a handful of millions), they are doing wickedly. When God says the “earth” was corrupt and the “earth” was filled with violence, we should not think that it is a reference to the ground or to the physical earth. It is basically a synonym for mankind because it is mankind that was involved in corruption and it was mankind that did violence, so the word “earth” is being used in a similar way to how God used it in Isaiah 34:1:

Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it.

In this verse God refers to the earth and to nations and to the world, but He is focused on mankind when He says, “Let the earth hear,” or when He says, “And hearken, ye people.” Therefore, we could read in our verse that the people were corrupt before God and the people were filled with violence. It could read, “And God looked upon the people, and behold, they were corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.” It is the “flesh” that identifies with sinful mankind and this is what has brought about the corruption and the violence that God is witnessing on the earth and, therefore, He determined to destroy the earth of that day.

The Hebrew word translated as “corrupt” is Strong’s #7843 and it is found in Exodus 32:7-8:

And JEHOVAH said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed hereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

Moses had been in the mount and God told him to go back down to his people Israel because they had not been patient and humble in looking to the Lord for guidance and waiting upon Him to complete His task. That is why it took 40 days for God to give the Law to Moses because God was testing the people. And they failed the test. All the while God took to give the Law to Moses, the Lord knew that the people were taking matters into their own hands as they required that Aaron create the “golden calf” which they worshipped as an idol. God described this as corruption, as He said that they “have corrupted themselves.” The calf was not God, was it? It was just an idol that could not hear or see or speak. It had nothing to do with their deliverance from Egypt, so how could they even begin to think it did? The gods of Egypt could not deliver the Egyptians, so why would they think this “golden calf” could help them? It is the fallen nature of mankind. In his rebellion and sinful condition, man prefers a lie to the truth and desires a false god rather than the one true God and that shows forth here.

We read the same word for “corrupt” in Judges 2:18-19:

And when JEHOVAH raised them up judges, then JEHOVAH was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented JEHOVAH because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them. And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way.

Do you see how God, once again, is putting His finger on the problem of idolatry? When God would raise up a judge, like Moses, and the judge would deliver them, the people would be so happy and so faithful, but once the judge was dead and no longer present, they corrupted their ways. It was just like when Moses went up into the mount and was no longer in the camp and it was just a short time before they would go after other gods. In Judges, God says they corrupted themselves even more than their fathers corrupted themselves. Again, this is typical and it is the way of the spiritually dead. It is the way of a sinner in rebellion against God and he will naturally corrupt himself and serve other gods. Of course, that can include other religions and other gospels or even other philosophies like being an atheist or a secularist and preferring the things of the world over the things of God. It is any sinful thing and any dark thing that is set over against the light of the Word of God and the truth of the Bible – that is corruption.

And that is what was happening in the world prior to the flood. Remember we learned that the “sons of God” mixed and intermarried with the “daughters of men” and they became “men of renown” and “men of a name.” Today we would say they wore the name of Christ and a name that identified with the name of God and, yet, they were corrupt. They were idolatrous. They were involved in all kinds of things that were not true and faithful and right. They were not doing the things that God’s elect (like Noah or Enoch) that walked uprightly would do. They were not maintaining the faith and following the Word of God faithfully.

In Ezekiel, chapter 28 we can see how it ties into man’s fall in the Garden of Eden. To pick up the context, it says in Ezekiel 28:13:

Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God…

Then it says in Ezekiel 28:15:

Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.

This is speaking of mankind that was created perfect in the Garden of Eden until the day he disobeyed God by eating of the tree that God commanded not to eat. Then it says in Ezekiel 28:17:

Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.

At the very beginning in the year 11,013BC, man had seen corruption. He corrupted his wisdom. The counsel of God and the Word of God was pure and holy and perfect and man had perfect communion and fellowship with God. God was His teacher, directing him day by day. Remember it said that God walked in the garden and man could hear the voice of God. So man had perfect wisdom.

Later when the Lord Jesus Christ walked upon the face of the earth, there was perfect Wisdom walking on earth again. But man brought corruption to the wisdom that man had once possessed. After man sinned, it was taken away from him and he lost sight of true wisdom. Then he would speak his own wisdom and, yet, it was not wisdom.

Let us turn to Psalm 14 where the same word translated as “corrupt” is found. It says in Psalm 14:1:

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

The fool is corrupt. God breaks down the human race into the “foolish” and the “wise.” A “fool” is someone that is unsaved and, therefore, does not possess the Spirit of Wisdom, the Lord Jesus Christ. We are all fools in our unsaved condition. Here, the fool is speaking in his heart. By the way, this is why God later says that the unsaved are “born speaking lies.” Of course, everyone knows a baby cannot speak. A critic might try to say, “Well, that is a mistake.” Even those of long ago knew that when babies were born it might be a year or two before they began to speak verbally and, yet, everyone that is born unsaved (and that is the majority) is “speaking lies” in their hearts, saying there is no God. The sinner is conceived in sin and born already in rebellion against God. It is as if we are born with our fists raised against the heaven and we are already opposed and contrary to the things of God. We are ready to dispute and argue and mock anything that has to do with God and, therefore, what we “speak” in the heart is a lie and we are born speaking lies. Every unsaved individual born into the world is born speaking lies in their hearts and they are hearts that God can see: “But all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” He looks upon the heart and the inclination of the heart is to be “desperately wicked” and deceitful above all things. To be deceitful is to lie and it is a lie that man “speaks” in his heart.

When God blesses the union between a man and a woman and a child is conceived and born, that child is conceived in sin and you cannot bring a clean thing from an unclean thing and both parents are unclean, so they give birth to a sinner. The baby develops and grows physically and already in his soul existence, he is dead in sin just as his parents. In his spiritually dead condition, the child already has a deceitful and lying heart and is, therefore, corrupt from conception to birth and onward. From our perspective, it is a beautiful baby that is born, but, spiritually, it is a whole different matter. Spiritually, God sees the corruption, wickedness and evil. To prove this, all you have to do is let the child grow until he can speak. Early on a baby or toddler that has learned how to speak breaks something or hits a sibling and the parent says, “Did you do that?” The response is, “No.” The little toddler naturally lies because it is his character and true nature to lie. And that is actually what is happening because his true nature is to lie. As time goes on, the child has more opportunity to show forth the true nature of his heart. And what happens? When the child becomes a youngster, a teenager or a young adult, the sin can easily be seen. There may be drunkenness, drug addiction, theft, hatred and lying, and forth. Sin in many forms will shoe itself and the person gives manifestation of what has been in his heart since conception.

The word translated as “corrupt” in our verse in Genesis, chapter 6, is also translated as “destroy” in Genesis 6:17:

And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.

The word “destroy” is our word here and in several other places. For instance, it says in Genesis 19:13:

For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of JEHOVAH; and JEHOVAH hath sent us to destroy it.

This is speaking of Sodom and Gomorrah. It is rather unusual that we see the same word translated as both “corrupt” and “destroy,” but corruption is a form of destruction – it does destroy. It does bring death to man, so it is fitting that God uses the same word. We could read it this way: “The earth also was destroyed before God and the earth was filled with violence and God looked upon the earth and, behold, it was destroyed; for all flesh had destroyed his way upon the earth.” It fits. Destruction is the same idea as corruption because this is what the sin of man does. It destroys whatever it touches.