There has been much speculation concerning the biblical passage about the sons of God and the daughters of men. The “sons of God” were not angels having sex with women.  The "sons of God" were the godly descendants of Seth. The “daughters of men” were the ungodly descendants of Cain. The Nephilim were giants intellectually and physically.  They were also know as bullies and tyrants. They were not necessarily large men.
(1Jn 3:10) You can tell God's children from the devil's children, because those who belong to the devil refuse to do right or to love each other.

Gen 6:3b
... his days will be a hundred and twenty years.
The book of Jasher (referred to in Joshua10:13 and 2 Samuel 1:18) states that God called Noah to preach against the evil the people were doing and He gave them 120 years to repent.  At the end of the 120 years this is is what the Lord saw...
Gen 6:5
The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.
What a condemning verse...every inclination and evil all the time.

Gen 6:6
The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.
He was displeased in the very center of His being.  He was displeased with their unbelief and their wickedness.

And so God sent the flood.

Scripture says that Noah was blameless.  It doesn't mean that Noah was without sin. It means he sinned but he was not blamed for his sins.


Did Noah and Mrs. Noah only have the three sons or did they have other children? Seems that there were lots of years before the births of these three sons for Mrs. Noah to bear many, many children. And yet, only three were saved from the flood.   What does that say about the other children they may have had?

Noah took two of every unclean animal and seven pairs of every kind of clean animal and seven pairs of every kind of bird. The animals came willingly to the ark.  Jasher also tells us that it took Noah and his sons five years to build the ark.

Gen 7:11
In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, on the seventeenth day of the second month-- on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.

The floodgates of heaven opened when the heavy water vapor above the earth (the canopy) fell in the form of intense rain. Water trapped inside the earth's crust gushed out when the crust of the earth was broken by earthquake activity.  This was an extremely violent time. More details may be found in the study, The Biblical View of Creation.

The book of Jasher records that many people came begging Noah to let them come into the ark once the earth began to tremble violently.  They wanted to come into the ark and be saved, but their hearts were still bent toward evil and so the wild animals that surrounded the ark drove the people back, according to Jasher.

The waters covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet.  The high mountains then may not have been the high mountains as we know them today.  The continents were shifted in the flood.  Things were different then.

Genesis 7 tells us that God sent a wind over the earth and the water receded.  Wind is caused by hot spots and cold spots.  There was no strong wind before the flood because the temperature was essentially the same over the earth.

The ark came to rest on the mountains (plural) of Ararat.  It was a range of mountains, not specifically a mountain peak named Ararat.

When Noah sent out the raven it "kept flying back and forth". Seems as if the raven didn't return to the ark, but just kept flying. The waters had not yet receded so was the raven feasting on dead things that had floated to the surface?  After all, ravens are carrion birds and eat dead meat.

Notice when the animals came out of the ark they came out in an orderly manner…one kind after another. It wasn't a stampede. Wonder of they came out in alphabetical order? Aardvarks first???

The first thing Noah did when he left the ark was to offer a sacrifice to God. Look how God reacted. … “he said in his heart….” . And God was pleased with Noah's sacrifice and gave the promise to never again destroy life in this way.
Gen 9:11 
I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

Gen 8:22
As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease. 
Prior to the flood, the earth experienced a tropical atmosphere with basically only one season. Temperatures didn't vary much.  There was warmth in the day and coolness in the evening. (see Genesis 3:8)

Back to Noah's sacrifice...
Gen 8:21
The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.

What a great illustration of God’s mercy and grace. Even though every inclination was still evil.

Before the flood, animals were not afraid of man. After the flood they were afraid of man. Why? The animals were now allowed by God for food for man. The animals had reason to be afraid of man. People were no longer vegetarians. They were allowed to eat meat.

Why did the rainbow make such an impact on Noah and his family? Why did God use the rainbow as a sign? We see rainbows all the time. What was so significant about a rainbow then?  The canopy that covered the earth was the reason. It shielded the surface of the earth from direct sunlight. The days before the flood were overcast.  People had never seen direct sunlight before. They had never seen a rainbow before, since rainbows are created as direct sunlight shines through water vapor. There can be no rainbow on a totally overcast day.  When the canopy fell in the form of rain, it allowed solar and cosmic radiation to strike the surface of the earth as well as affect the people and the animals living on it.  After the flood, the longevity of man began to decrease. The length of life was drastically shortened.  The main contributors of the shortening of lifespans were radiation into the gene pool and a drastic change of diet. Remember, after the flood, people were no longer vegetarians but were allowed to eat meat. Subsequent Scriptures will relate the shortened lifespans.  The canopy was essentially a protection by God against harmful radiation.  It was because of sin that God removed His protection.  An application for us today...when we sin, God often removes His hand of protection and allows us to suffer the consequences of our sins.

Gen 9:22
Ham, the father of Canaan saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers outside.
One definition of the Hebrew word "saw" (a combination of the Hebrew words "raah" and "eth") is "to enjoy" or "have experience with". Ham didn't just see Noah's nakedness.  He did something about it. Why else would a curse on Ham's descendents be a result? Also, could it be that Ham got Noah drunk on purpose so that he could gaze on Noah's nakedness?  (see page 997)
Habakkuk 2:15
“Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunk, so that he can gaze on their naked bodies.

Why did Noah curse Ham’s son? It was Ham who did a disrespectful thing to Noah, yet it was Ham's descendants who will suffer the consequences. This is a classic example of how when we sin, it usually affects more than just the sinner. Other people often get hurt in the process.  (See the previous application for today).

Look back at Gen 6:6....and his heart was filled with pain.
Shouldn't we want to everything we can to keep from filling God's heart with pain?