Updated American Standard Version
Giving Bible readers what God said not what translators think God meant
It is important to note that the account of the Ark and the flood in the Book of Genesis is an account from the Hebrew Bible. Its purpose is not necessarily to provide a scientific explanation of events. Nevertheless, there are many reasonable answers to this question.
Some have suggested that the prohibition against the fruit of this tree is symbolic, the fruit standing for sexual intercourse. Others have suggested that it stood for having a knowledge of or an awareness of right and wrong. Still, others have suggested that it stood for the knowledge that they would have attained upon reaching maturity, by way of experience, which could be used for good or bad.
The higher critics argue that every Bible verse that contains the Hebrew word for God, (Elohim), set off by itself has its own writer, designated by the capital “E” (“Elohist”). On the other hand, any verse that contains the Tetragrammaton, (Jehovah, Yahweh), God’s personal name, is attributed to yet another writer, “J” (“Jawist”). (Cassuto, 18-21) Let us see how they explain this. The critics argue that “God” (Elohim) is restricted to use exclusively in the first chapter of Genesis (1:1–31) in relation to God’s creative activity and that starting in Genesis 2:4 through the end of the second chapter, we find God’s personal name.
Genesis 11:5 Updated American Standard Version (UASV) 5 Jehovah came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men had built. Does not 2 Chronicles 6:18 (see, 1 Kings 8:27) tells us that “will God indeed dwell with man on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built!” Therefore, in what sense had Jehovah God come “down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built”?
After the creation of Adam, God informed him, “And God went on to say, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.” (Gen 1:29) However, meat was not on the human diet. Therefore, some are confused by God’s words to Noah after he came out of the ark, “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.” (Gen. 9:3) Is this a contradiction of God’s earlier command to Adam?
Genesis 8:11 says, “And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had abated from the earth.” This verse indicates that the dove brought an olive leaf to Noah, which he took as a sign that the floodwaters had receded.
This would seem to conflict with other texts that say God knows everything. (Ps. 139:2-4; Jer. 17:10; Heb. 4:13) Furthermore, Isaiah 49:15 has God Himself saying that He will not forget his holy ones. Therefore, how are we to reconcile what appears to be God temporarily forgetting Noah?
Our in-depth article dives into the enigmatic figure of the Nephilim mentioned in Genesis 6:4. Who were these beings, and why did they pose such a profound issue that led to a global flood? Unveiling the truth about these hybrid entities and their role in biblical history.
There are several different interpretations of who the “sons of God” mentioned in Genesis 6:2, 4 might be. One view is that they were a group of angels who rebelled against God and married human women, producing offspring who were half-human and half-angelic. Another interpretation is that the “sons of God” were a group of human descendants of Seth, the son of Adam, who intermarried with the descendants of Cain, the son of Adam, who was banished from the Garden of Eden. Some have suggested that they were worshipers of God, as opposed to the other wicked men. So who were “the sons of God” mentioned in Genesis 6:2, 4 that fathered the Nephilim, who lived before the Flood?
Many archaeologists and anthropologists date modern man back to at least 10,000 years ago. How are we to reconcile this when Bible Chronology takes us back to just a little over 6,000 years? It seems that some scholars who call themselves conservative or fundamentalist, who are supposed to believe that the original texts that contribute to our modern Bibles are “God-breathed” and fully inerrant, are not so conservative at times.
