The Story Of Flood: Sod

We are entering the last and most important part of our study: “Sod” – secret, mystery. Sod is His revelation, so let us try to see this story through His eyes. Whilst I have no doubt that various pieces of this story have already been revealed to different people, let us trust Him to assemble all these pieces together here.

BEGINNING

First of all, when and how did it begin? The narrative of the Flood starts in Genesis 6, but how far back should we go in order to comprehend this story?

I suppose, we all know the answer to this – as with all beginnings of human misery (but also the beginning of the messianic hope and salvation), our story also begins in Genesis 3. We remember how God cursed the serpent:

“Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.[1]

Yes, the serpent was cursed, yes, he was warned – but as a result of the Fall, he was also handed some power, not only to bruise the heel of the ‘seed of the woman’, as is clear from our text, but also, as we read in verse 15, to eat  “dust”.  In Hebrew, this is the very same word – “dust” , עפר – that Adam was formed from. Thus, we are given a very profound message that is often overlooked:  we are told that the serpent/sin   will “eat” man – just as in the book of Job:  The Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand”.[2] Moreover, the serpent/sin will be nourished by man. That is why we read regarding Cain: “And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”[3]

PATTERN

So now, as Satan is aware of God’s plan for his ultimate defeat and is given this ‘permission’ to be nourished by man, wouldn’t he try to destroy Gods plan? The question is, of course, how he will do that.

An attentive reader would see that, every time God’s plan is under attack, we find in Scripture the same pattern: first, Satan tries the most straightforward   approach, then he moves to the more subtle strategy. The first step – the most brutal and in a sense, the most simple – would be to kill. We saw this in the case of Moshe (Moses), when all the male babies were thrown into the river; we saw it in the case of Mordecai when Haman wanted to destroy him and all the Jews; we also saw it in the case of Jesus when the baby boys in Bethlehem were killed by Herod. (Only in the case of Adam and Eve the serpent had to start with temptation, because at this point he could not kill them – death had not entered the scene yet).

However, when this first step doesn’t work – Moshe was saved, Mordecai was not killed, and Jesus’ family fled  to Egypt to save Him – then Satan makes the next, much more subtle move: he tries to tempt and corrupt. We know he wants to destroy: if not to kill, then to steal. Moshe grew up as an Egyptian prince, and it was God’s miracle and grace that he didn’t begin to worship Egyptian gods: By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;[4] Esther – Hadassah – was a queen surrounded by all manner of heathen temptations, – and,  once again, it was a clear miracle that she remained faithful to God and the people of God; Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit in order to be tempted, and Satan was  allowed to tempt and to try to corrupt him.

We see this pattern again and again in Scripture and in history. Jewish tradition says that in Numbers 25, when the people of Israel “began to commit harlotry with the daughters of the Moabites[5] it happened as a result of Balaam’s advice: Balaam was called by Balak to curse Israel (in a sense, it was equal to “kill”:  Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people …. that we may smite them[6]), but when he could not curse Israel, he advised Balak to tempt and corrupt them. In this case, the desired result was achieved: The Moabite women called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods.[7]  So,  we can see this pattern over and over again:  first he tries to kill (or to curse) – and if that doesn’t work, he tries to corrupt.

THE PLOT

Now perhaps we can follow Satan’s plan right after the 3rd chapter of Genesis, and we can clearly see the same pattern. First, he started to “eat” Cain, and the first murder happened: Abel was killed by Cain and so his line was cut off. Almost the entire 4th chapter of Genesis is very gloomy, because it describes the men ‘eaten’ by sin – the godless line of Cain. However, God was determined to continue His plan, and therefore the place of Abel could not remain unfilled. Accordingly, in the last two verses of this chapter we find the hope: God gave to Adam and Eve another son, Seth, and in the last verse of chapter 4 we read: And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the Lord.[8]

It is probably at this point that Satan realizes that the first part of his plan didn’t work – a third son was born, and the righteous line of Seth was established. Therefore, he goes to the second level – temptation and corruption.

Finally, we are in Genesis 6. Now we can understand Satan’s plot:  to corrupt the human bloodline, so that the one who is destined to defeat him – the one promised from the seed of woman, not from some angelic seed – could not be born. Thus, was the plan unfolded: The sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them.[9] The hybrid angelic/human offspring, clearly unintended by God, had a corrupted bloodline. The plan seemed to be very successful indeed, and the time came when almost everyone had demonic DNA in their blood. So, in spite of what many may think, the flood was not a cruel and terrible punishment from an angry and vengeful God – rather, it was a merciful and protective act to leave hope for His creation, and not throw humanity into an abyss of wicked demonic hopelessness.

 

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To be continued [10].. . .

 

 

[1] Gen. 3:14-15

[2] Job 2:6

[3] Gen. 4:7

[4] Heb. 11:24-25

[5] Num. 25:1

[6] Num. 22:6

[7] Num. 25:2

[8] Gen. 4:26

[9] Gen. 6:4

[10] If these articles whet your appetite for discovering the hidden treasures of the Hebrew Bible, I would be happy to provide more information (and also a teacher’s discount) regarding eTeacher courses. I also encourage you to read my book, Abaraham had two sons: this is the first (and the only) Messianic book that is written according to PARDES layers of meaning, and it will give you a taste of this approach to Jewish biblical exegesis (click here to get the book: Read Julia Blum )

About the author

Julia BlumJulia is a teacher and an author of several books on biblical topics. She teaches two biblical courses at the Israel Institute of Biblical Studies, “Discovering the Hebrew Bible” and “Jewish Background of the New Testament”, and writes Hebrew insights for these courses.

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Join the conversation (35 comments)

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  1. Virginia Peterson

    I sure enjoy the marrying of the original Hebrew with our western understanding of these age old stories. Quite eye opening to catch those deeper meanings of stories a person thinks they know so well.

    I thought that perhaps the fallen angels fell twice, first to earth as Jesus said, where they retained a measure of their angelic beauty and enticed the earthly women. As time went by, the offspring of this strange hybrid were themselves giants, of whom there is physical remains all over the earth which most don’t know because the evolutionists have caused this evidence to be covered up or discarded. However, many of these giant remains finds were reported in newspapers from the turn of the century thru the 1920s.

    At that time, the Smithsonian began to dump giant remains in the ocean off Manhattan so they could embrace Darwins new theory. The museum was recently sued and found guilty for getting rid of these very interesting archeological remains. The Smithsonian is like an octopus, most major museums bow to its leadership. A museum in Peru is not controlled by the Smithsonian and has a genuine human giant skeleton on display.

    Anyway, you are so right about these hybrids waxing worse and worse. The must have run out of food and begun to eat people. Their size and knowledge of spiritual things caused them to terrorize the known world. They thought they were as gods on the earth and nothing could defeat them. Under every ocean we now know, there are remains of human civilizations, buildings, big statues, etc. Scientists can’t really say these evidences of pre-Noahic life are “millions of years old” so they just don’t know what to say.

    The great flood of Noah truly saved the world from the horrible blood baths and enslavements the giants practiced. Children’s stories, such as fee fi do fum, Jack and the bean stalk, although fanciful, the Giants were on earth, not in the clouds, do reflect the danger the giant people presented to all life on earth. What God did was a huge favor.

    With the mass die off of all the giants, their spirits went to the hell God finally had prepared for them. Their forms, in that place, changed dramatically since to be more like rabid beasts, incapable of mercy and/or love. God could not trust them to live on earth in any form.

    Well, that’s just some of my thoughts, which are not set in stone and may or may not be true.

    What do you think if the book of Enoch, which is mentioned in OT and NT

  2. Tracy

    Julia,
    Thank you for your incredible insights. i gleen so much from your writings and feel very blessed to have this type of input in my life. I am not even close to having the knowledge of your other readers, but I am grateful for this opportunity to grow. It’s very thought provoking. I have also been reading your book “Abraham Had Two Sons”, and am completely loving it. The amount of light bulbs going off in my head is astounding. The way you break everything down using PARDES, helps me look deeper than I ever have before. Again, thank you for sharing your insights!

    In His Service,
    Tracy

  3. Robert Mair

    SHALOM JULIE HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT ABOUT THE DAUGHTERS OF CAIN—MEN
    WHERE THE LINE OF SETH ARE THE SONS OF YAH THIS FRAZE COMES UP ELSE WHERE IN SCRIPTURE.ALSO
    THE 153 FISH IS THE GEMATRIA IN HEBREW FOR–THE SONS OF ELOHIM
    THE ROYAL SEED LINE APPEARS TO BE THE SONS OF YAH WHERE THOSE OF THE FLESH ARE OF MEN

    I AM REALLY ENJOYING YOUR WRITINGS

    SHALOM ROB
    BOKER TOV

  4. Jesse

    This is masterfully written Julia!

    I was invited to a Bible study by a coworker recently … it’s not every day or even some day’s people even mention the word “Bible at work so I said of course! The invite seemed strange and upon navigating there website I realized this was a cult (“The Way International”). My plan was to cancel however I felt God wanted there.

    After sitting through an uncomfortable session of “Biblical Knowledge” my heart began to break. The coworker that invited me here really believed this heretical teaching of Jesus, not least of which denies His deity! I’ve since expressed my concerns of this teaching and explained that I would not be attending any classes. However I did want to share with him my perspective and testimony in more detail so we scheduled a sit down next Monday.

    I’m sharing this because one of our major doctrinal differences is the virgin birth of Christ. While I hold to Jesus conceived of the power of the Holy Spirit my coworker thinks “Jesus Christ’s existence began when God created the sperm with soul-life in Mary” which is very strange to say the least!

    To sum this up your latest blog post helped me discover another attempt to deceive believers. Your comment “the one promised from the seed of woman, not from some angelic seed” uncovers what’s behind this way of thinking and dates back to the beginning of time! To say that Jesus was “created” by “sperm” doesn’t make Him equal to the Father it attempts to make Him equivalent to the Satan. They should change their name to “NO WAY!”

    Please pray that God direct my thinking and speech to reveal who Jesus truly is through the power of His Spirit while discussing the Bible together on Monday.

    1. Julia Blum

      Jesse, I am so glad you find these articles helpful and educational. I hope you will continue to follow the blog. Thank you for your kind words. Blessings!

  5. Boaz Gill

    great teaching and discussions!! blessings for all of you.

  6. Robert

    Very good so much is missed by not having good lessons as you are sending out. May God bless you. Yeshua (Jesus) is soon to come and bring the light on this dark world and reveal satins dark works.

    Robby

  7. David Fung

    I have the same question as Diana Bollinger. I find the explanation of Nephalim procreation contradicts Matthew 22:30. The so-called Dr Kuntz’s deduction is no more than wild speculation.

    1. Julia Blum

      Hi David, as I wrote in my answer to Diane, I believe, Jesus’ words in Mat. 22 refer to the angels in Heaven, not to the fallen angels who “abandoned their proper dwelling” (Jude 6). The angels from Genesis 6 are not in Heaven anymore.

  8. Carl Barnard

    Julia,

    “””The plan seemed to be very successful indeed, and the time came when almost everyone had demonic DNA in their blood. So, in spite of what many may think, the flood was not a cruel and terrible punishment from an angry and vengeful God – rather, it was a merciful and protective act to leave hope for His creation, and not throw humanity into an abyss of wicked demonic hopelessness.”””

    This is just one of the many insights into the word of God through your study that has blessed me and inspired me to continue learning the Hebrew language.

  9. Suliaman Ibn Smith

    Thank you Pro. For the indept of knowledge and understanding you have given me on the flood,about G-d plan to save the children of Adam.You have given me a deep meaning now to look always how to stay away from temptation and corruption from the devil.G-d Richly Bless you with Wisdonand Understanding.