The fifth chapter appears to fit on after verse 3 of the second chapter;
and it is rather curious that in the list of Adam's children, Cain
and Abel are not mentioned. Neither are Cain's descendants in any way
referred to. Cain not only went out of the presence of the Lord, but
both he and his wife and family seem entirely to have gone out of sight
of everybody.
Verse 24. 'And Enoch walked with God, and he was not.' The Breeches
Bible, in a marginal note, says that 'to inquire what became of Enoch is
mere curiosity.'
Verse 27. Methusalem must have just died in time to save himself from
drowning.
*Chapter vi, v. 2. 'The Sons of God.' Who are the Sons of God?; How
could God have Sons? Is not Jesus said to be the only Son of God?
Voltaire says of this verse, 'No nation has ever existed, unless perhaps
we may except China, in which some God is not described as having had
offspring upon women. These corporeal Gods frequently descended to visit
their dominions upon earth; they saw the daughters of our race, and
attached themselves to those who were most interesting and beautiful;
the issue of this connexion between Gods and mortals must, of course,
have been superior to other men, thus giants were produced.' But there
is a further objection to our authorised version; the original is not
'Sons of God,' but [----------] (Beni Alehim, Sons of the Gods). In the
mythologies of Greece, Italy, and India, we find the same idea of Gods
having intercourse with women; and it is also remarkable that, although
in many cases the woman bears a child, yet all true believers devoutly
contend for her virginity. Verse 3 seems out of place, it should come in
after 5 or 6; but in any place it is not correct. One hundred and twenty
years is neither the average nor the limit of man's life. What does God
mean when he says 'My Spirit shall not always strive with man?' What
was the striving about? Does the verse mean that God's spirit strove
in vain? What does 'that he also is flesh' mean? Does it mean that the
Lord's spirit and man are both flesh? {23} Verses 5 and 6. God made
mankind and the circumstances which surrounded them, and must have
foreknown what would have been the effect produced upon man; why not
have made better circumstances? Shall we presume either that God had not
the power to have created things differently, or that he is careless
of man's welfare? In what manner did God make known his repentance?
In Numbers, chap, xxiii, v. 19, we are led to believe that God never
repents. Why should God destroy the beasts, creeping things, and fowls?
they surely could not have been parties to man's wickedness. Why should
God repent that he made 'the beasts, the creeping things, and the fowls
of the air?' What does the phrase mean in relation to God, 'it grieved
him at his heart?' The expressions 'repent,' 'grieve,' etc., could
scarcely have been used if the book had been a revelation from a God who
intended to convey to us an idea of his omnipotence and immutability.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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