Troublesome Topic: ADVANCED TECH FROM ADAM TILL THE FLOOD

DON’T BE LIKE THE TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED PEOPLE OF ANCIENT TIMES THAT DISAPPEARED!      

AFTER EDEN

Here is the pattern we saw last session:  Ancient peoples were very intelligent and they created a highly advanced society, but they became self-absorbed, self-sufficient, arrogant, godless and ruthless, so God took action against them.    

When God made Adam and Eve, He gave them a high degree of intelligence. I am convinced that Adam and Eve were both geniuses. Their genes contained all the richness that has given the human race all of its characteristics, including all the intelligence of every person.

While they were in the garden, Adam and Eve received a few basic concepts from God / Jesus. As a minimum, I believe they learned that Jesus came down to earth from heaven to visit with them. After they sinned, they also learned about sacrifices and what was accepted and what was not. Adam taught these things, and many more, to his descendants after him.

From his teaching there arose the practice of considering high hills as places that represent closeness to God. Therefore, they thought of high places as the way for humans to get to God and for God to come down to mankind. There arose worship of false gods at such places. Later God would accept worship of Himself at a high place, but only if He commanded it. That was because the true God actually does control access to Himself and He does come down to intervene in human life.

CAIN

Cain killed Abel out of jealousy and anger. As punishment for this murder, God sent Cain away and we can safely assume he took one of his sisters with him as his wife.

After that, Cain gained an advantage. How? Genesis 4:17 tells of the birth of Cain’s first child, Enoch, then it says that –

“Cain was building a fortified place, and he called the name of the fortified place after his son, Enoch.”

Why would Cain need fortification? Did he fear being attached by relatives in retribution for killing Abel?  Yes. Did he wish to make raids against his relatives and have a place to retreat to in safety? Maybe. The statement that Cain was building a fortified place (or a city) means he was getting ready for conflict in the future. He did this in two ways; he was purposefully building for protection, not just convenience, and he was increasing his population more quickly than his relatives were.    

Here is my timeline of the generations before the flood.

On my timeline notice that Cain’s line (in orange) did not wait till their sons were over 100 years old before giving them a wife, as we know from Genesis 5 that the line of Seth did (in green). The second generation outside of Eden in Cain’s line (Enoch), probably entered the picture a little bit before Seth, who was still in the first generation outside of Eden. For these reasons the line of Cain is likely to have reached generation number 7 at the same time the line of Seth reached generation number 4.

Since the time of Cain, their cities were probably built using stones, so they got good at it.

ENOSH

Genesis 4:26 tells of the birth of Adam’s Grandson, Enosh, and then it says, “Then they began to call on the name of YHVH (read Adonai).” Had they not been calling on God before that? Yes, they had been calling on Him, but at this point they became more intense in calling to Him. This tells us that the evil of evil men had become greater, necessitating greater commitment to God among those who wanted to do right.

It is possible that at this point in history, evil men began to worship substitute gods. That is why the text is specific that they began to call [earnestly] on the most sacred name of god, spelled YHVH. The name El became a common word meaning god in general; It is in the name ELOHIM; it is the name of a Babylonian god, and it is the basis for the Arabic name Allah. But I don’t know of any manmade god that has a name close to YHVH.

ENOCH

Even though he only reached the age of 365 years young, God wanted to highlight his life by taking him to heaven without death.   Therefore, the people of ancient times had at least one good example of what a godly life looked like. Most of the people became evil but it was not due to a total lack of good examples.

LAMECH AND HIS SONS

We have more information about Lamech than any other person between Adam and Noah. Here are my translations and paraphrases of the pertinent verses:

It appears that Lamech took more than one wife simply because he wanted to. It was a way to flaunt his willingness to go against what God had established. He wanted a wife that was “an ornament,” because she made him the envy of all other men.

The root word  behind the name Jabal means “stream, or flow.” It is also the root word for the names of his brothers, Jubal and Tubal. Thus, context must indicate what they were the flow of. In this case, the father, Lamech, was able to assign them power to rule or control the flow of certain aspects of society. When the text says, “He became the father of those who lived in tents” it could indicate a biological father, or “head, chief, or leader.”

In this case it makes more sense to think that he was given leadership over, those who lived the nomadic, herd-raising lifestyle, for there were already people living as nomads before he was born. I believe he was given this leadership role by his father, Lamech, and he became more knowledgeable about the breeding and care of animals than anyone before him. He took it to a whole new level.

The word that is usually translated “cattle or livestock,” can also mean “possession or purchase.” Thus, Jabal may have been assigned leadership over all types of commerce, not just livestock.

It is likely that Jubal did more than invent and play musical instruments. I envision his father using him to guide and control an entire entertainment industry which promoted a lascivious, party atmosphere throughout all of society. He was assisted in this by one of his half-sisters, Naamah, whose name means “pleasure.”

I believe Lamech included the name Cain in his son’s name because he wanted a son who would emulate Cain’s rebellion. Therefore, I think the best rendering for this name is a  “flow of strength acquired from rebellion.”    Lamech was shaking his fist at God and shouting, “I’ll show you that I can become powerful without submitting to you.”    The word that means “iron” comes from a root that apparently means “to pierce.” This seems to indicate that from the time of its discovery, iron was most often used to make weapons.

Why don’t we know the meaning of the name Lamech? It seems to be an irony planned by God that we do not know the meaning of his name, even though it appears that he became the most powerful man on earth in his day. By not giving us the meaning of his name, the Bible hints at the fact that he was not a great man; he was not someone we should emulate.

What can we deduce about Lamech and his family? Lamech put himself on the same level as God by saying he would be avenged 77 times. He was power-hungry. He was a picture of unrestrained greed, arrogance and brutality. The name Na-amah (which you may have heard pronounced Naema) means “pleasure”.  She is mentioned by name because she played an important role and because her name fits the story well. She may have been the leader of all prostitutes. She probably assisted her half-brother Jubal in promoting a lascivious lifestyle through various forms of entertainment. Did she also help start the practice of including sexual acts done publicly during the worship of a fertility god? Did she help start the practice of child sacrifice to the fertility gods?  We cannot know, but she was mentioned by name because she stood out as unique. Were there other beautiful women in those days? Sure. Were there other lascivious women during those days? Of course there were. But Naamah stood out beyond them all.

Tubal Cain probably did not discover Iron and Bronze, but he did take them to a whole new level. Since the word for Iron means “to pierce,” we can deduce that the line of Cain gained an advantage in warfare due to the leadership of Tubal Cain in the creation of iron weapons. We do not know how far they went in weapon-making before the flood, but it may have gone much further than most of us think.

For instance, making explosives is not a difficult task. Even the creation of firearms came along far before the industrial revolution.

I don’t think Genesis 4 mentions iron in order to tell us how advanced they were. Rather its intent is to tell us how powerful Lamech and his family became.  In the process it drops a hint that they had achieved a degree of technological advancement.

I estimate that Jabal, Jubal and Tubal Cain were born about 350 to 400 years after Adam left Eden. If the iron-making process was improved or its usage expanded by Tubal Cain when he was 100 years old, that would have been 450 to 500 years after creation, which is much earlier than most people realize  If I am right that it only took mankind 400 years to discover how to make iron, …

It means they had over 1200 years to perfect its use before the world-wide flood came 1656 years after creation (according to many Bible scholars).

Up till now we have been looking at only the top left-hand corner of this timeline. Lamech’s sons were born 8 columns in from the left. The flood is in the far-right hand bottom corner.

I repeat, they had over 1200 years to perfect the use of iron. In the end we have no idea how far they took the use of iron.

Notice that, according to my timeline, Lamech, and the three sons and one daughter of his that are mentioned, were no longer alive when the flood came. Noah’s birth is in green on the left side of the timeline, the estimated deaths of Lamech and his children are in orange at the top, and the world-wide flood is in the bottom right corner. I acknowledge that not everyone will agree with my timeline. If you are interested in how I came up with these numbers, please go to EVIL LAMECH AND HIS SONS DIED BEFORE THE FLOOD.

WHO WERE THE NEPHILIM?

Genesis 6:1-4 is intended to be the introduction to why a world-wide flood was necessary.

The Nephilim were more than simple giants.

Human genes at that time were very rich and one of the possible characteristics of an offspring was that of exaggerated size – giants. The word “Nephilim” comes from a root that means “bow down.” It can apply to the Nephilim in that they may have bowed down to false gods, or that they forced others to bow down to them, or both. I believe the true Nephilim possessed several characteristics which made them more adept at forcing others to bow down to them. They were large and powerful, brutal, political geniuses,  and very skilled in building or inventing. It is also quite possible that they had dedicated their lives to  following demonic forces. They were able to convince the people that “if you follow me, we will accomplish great things together, but if you don’t follow me, bad things will happen to your personal physical being.”  They were the “perfect storm,” if you will.

DOES GENESIS 6:2-4 MEAN THAT THE  NEPHILIM WERE THE OFFSPRING OF ANGELS THAT CAME TO EARTH TO MARRY HUMAN WOMEN?   

I find that interpretation to be spiritually dangerous and physically impossible.

My reasons for saying that are the following:

• it throws doubt on the reason God sent the flood, which is the purpose of Gen 6:1-4;
• it is unclear how they existed both before and after the flood (Gen 6:4) without being on the ark; 
• It violates the principle of reproduction in nature which always occurs “according to its kind;”
• it violates the words of Jesus in Matthew 22:30 about angels not marrying (even one another);
• it violates John 3:6, “flesh gives birth to flesh and spirit gives birth to spirit”.
• it violates I Corinthians 15:39, “All flesh is not the same” meaning creatures have different DNA which does not allow for reproduction across certain lines. In order for them to reproduce with human women they would need human DNA, making them humans, not angels. The only way for them to have human DNA is if God altered their make-up to include human DNA because we know they were created as spirit-beings, not as humans with human DNA. If God gave them our DNA, then He was complicit in wickedness, which is contrary to His character.
• It is based on only one verse of Scripture which contradicts the rest of scripture.
• What’s more such an interpretation is based on a highly questionable interpretation of the words “sons of Elohim.”
• Apart from the discussion about DNA, if they came to do something contrary to God’s will, they were no longer angels, but demons, and using the phrase “sons of Elohim” to refer to demons is questionable. Some people on the internet say “Elohim” can refer to any spirit being, including demons, but I don’t see that in any lexica I trust. In the Bible I have never seen “Elohim,” or “sons of Elohim,” used in a way that clearly refers to demons.

If you are interested in a more in-depth analysis of Genesis 6:1-4, I encourage you to read my translation and paraphrase of that passage. Here is a link to the first lesson in that topical study: The Beginning of the Wickedness that Necessitated the Flood

CAN WE TRUST THE BOOK OF ENOCH?

Enoch was a righteous man whose sayings were passed down in oral tradition and written down much later. I opine that the New Testament book of Jude quotes from things Enoch actually said, but the part of the book of Enoch which says that the “sons of Elohim” in Genesis 6 were angels, was added later. I believe that Satan introduced deception into what otherwise was a good man’s teaching.

If Enoch was a righteous man, and the books of Enoch were well known in the early church, why were they not included in the cannon of Scripture? The Bible quotes other sources that likewise were not included in the Cannon.

• We have here an interpretation that is based on a questionable meaning of a phrase, that disagrees with the rest of scripture, that violates the natural order God established, and that appears in a book which includes some reliable and some unreliable content.
• I cannot bring myself to trust the book of Enoch on this point.

WHY WERE THE MARRIAGES OF GENESIS 6:2 THE REASON FOR THE WORLD-WIDE FLOOD?

I envision that it happened like this. Some of the giants among the wicked (primarily the descendants of Cain) started forcing others to submit to their will, and so they became rulers over many people. Then the righteous people (primarily the descendants of Seth) felt threatened by forced subservience, so they appealed to the giants among their numbers to help protect them. The giants among the righteous quickly realized that for one giant to produce offspring of similar size he had to marry an equally large woman. Thus, a competition was created for women of great height and strength. However, in some cases, the only place some of them could go to find giant women was to the descendants of Cain. But once the God-fearing leaders began to marry ungodly women, they were not able to pass on godly principles to the next generation. They, like the descendants of Cain, became ungovernable, rebellious against God. This was a reality because the wife has a key role of educating the children.

Therefore, God destroyed them all and started over with the one man who had refused to become corrupted, Noah.

If seen in this light, the passage in Genesis 6:1-4 is the perfect introduction to the world-wide flood because it explains the need for extreme punishment. In the end there were no more good people (except Noah and his family) because the good people had mixed with the bad people in order to avoid oppression and persecution!

The next lesson in this study on Advanced Technology in Ancient times is ADVANCED TECH FROM THE FLOOD TILL BABEL