Gen. 6:7
As noted in the
previous section, the whole world was corrupted. Here, we read the
extent, because God promised to destroy not only the people, but also the
animals.
Why the
animals, too? Here are a few thoughts on that and the verse in general.
First, as
noted earlier, it's possible fallen angels or just people with no help
from them had created a lot of genetic combinations, may of which may have been
pure evil and rendered the creatures not human and unable to be saved, as noted
I the comment on Gen. 6:6 where warning is made of the Mark of the Beast in
Revelation. It is only a theory, and we don't know what the technology was
then, but the point is, people had become so evil, it's easy to imagine them
creating many horrible creatures without regard to the pain they would cause.
Even if this
isn't true, though, the mere fact that people cause such pain to
others now demonstrates the capacity for evil some possess. If people were
doing such horrid things to other people and animals as some cases that have
been reported, especially if there were no protective groups, it's no wonder
that God saw no way to protect them, as He won't force people to love. Adam and
Eve wanted to know evil when they ate of that tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, and boy, did they find out.
We sometimes
complain about too much government interfering in our lives, but let face it,
God uses government, and it's entirely possible He has let things get
like they are because we fallen people will not govern ourselves and enforce
kindness, love, mercy, self control, and other Godly attributes. It may
well be that before the Flood, there were no laws about being kind,
gentle, merciful, and so on. It is possible there were no laws against
cruelty then, and now people go overboard protecting animals and people from
things they don't need protection from, because either way, it shows how much
of a disaster mankind causes when it ignores God's plan of gentleness, self-control,
mercy, and so on.
God calls us to
be people who follow Him and do His will, and His will is to show mrrcy, never
to abuse. I'm not sure that he has used mankind - which has gone overboard with
human-created political correctness - to try to bring about an end to cruelty
toward others because we, His churvh, we're unwilling. However, I'm reminded of
the Israelite wandering in the wilderness complaining that all they got was
manna from Heaven, and God said fine, He would give them quail and prophesied
that they would consume it so much unto their lust that it would fill them till
it came out their noses.
Yes, God wanted
us to end cruelty and abuse of others, and with things such as slavery, to name
one example, we refused, consuming that evil unto our own lusts. He knows we
are not going to create a perfect world apart from Him.
So, why the
destruction? Remember, God had a plan to redeem fallen people. The plan
relied on there being some woman available through whom Messiah,
Jesus, would be born. There may have been such evil that there were few
choices left and He had to start anew. But, consider this as well.
There had to be
a way to save these people by their faith. He may well have decreed such
destruction so many could get saved, if not through the ark through calling on
Him as the waters rose. We know children are saved because Jesus promises their
angels (spirits) always see the Father's face.(Matt. 18:10) Also King
David in 2 Sam. 12:23
says he knows he will go to see his son who has died. So, there also are people
who would be saved. Other possibilities exist, to such as God shutting the
wombs for a time or allowing sickness to claim many before the Flood. The point
is that God still loved the dinners, as He has always done, and will try hard
to win people to His love, to that wonderful relationship He promises.
However, He won't wait forever for people to turn to Him. And, in the end,
only eight were saved on the ark
