We are entering the last and most important part of our study: “Sod” – secret, mystery. Sod is His revelation, so let us try to see this story through His eyes. Whilst I have no doubt that various pieces of this story have already been revealed to different people, let us trust Him to assemble all these pieces together here.
BEGINNING
First of all, when and how did it begin? The narrative of the Flood starts in Genesis 6, but how far back should we go in order to comprehend this story?
I suppose, we all know the answer to this – as with all beginnings of human misery (but also the beginning of the messianic hope and salvation), our story also begins in Genesis 3. We remember how God cursed the serpent:
“Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”[1]
Yes, the serpent was cursed, yes, he was warned – but as a result of the Fall, he was also handed some power, not only to bruise the heel of the ‘seed of the woman’, as is clear from our text, but also, as we read in verse 15, to eat “dust”. In Hebrew, this is the very same word – “dust” , עפר – that Adam was formed from. Thus, we are given a very profound message that is often overlooked: we are told that the serpent/sin will “eat” man – just as in the book of Job: The Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand”.[2] Moreover, the serpent/sin will be nourished by man. That is why we read regarding Cain: “And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”[3]
PATTERN
So now, as Satan is aware of God’s plan for his ultimate defeat and is given this ‘permission’ to be nourished by man, wouldn’t he try to destroy Gods plan? The question is, of course, how he will do that.
An attentive reader would see that, every time God’s plan is under attack, we find in Scripture the same pattern: first, Satan tries the most straightforward approach, then he moves to the more subtle strategy. The first step – the most brutal and in a sense, the most simple – would be to kill. We saw this in the case of Moshe (Moses), when all the male babies were thrown into the river; we saw it in the case of Mordecai when Haman wanted to destroy him and all the Jews; we also saw it in the case of Jesus when the baby boys in Bethlehem were killed by Herod. (Only in the case of Adam and Eve the serpent had to start with temptation, because at this point he could not kill them – death had not entered the scene yet).
However, when this first step doesn’t work – Moshe was saved, Mordecai was not killed, and Jesus’ family fled to Egypt to save Him – then Satan makes the next, much more subtle move: he tries to tempt and corrupt. We know he wants to destroy: if not to kill, then to steal. Moshe grew up as an Egyptian prince, and it was God’s miracle and grace that he didn’t begin to worship Egyptian gods: By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;[4] Esther – Hadassah – was a queen surrounded by all manner of heathen temptations, – and, once again, it was a clear miracle that she remained faithful to God and the people of God; Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit in order to be tempted, and Satan was allowed to tempt and to try to corrupt him.
We see this pattern again and again in Scripture and in history. Jewish tradition says that in Numbers 25, when the people of Israel “began to commit harlotry with the daughters of the Moabites”[5] it happened as a result of Balaam’s advice: Balaam was called by Balak to curse Israel (in a sense, it was equal to “kill”: Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people …. that we may smite them[6]), but when he could not curse Israel, he advised Balak to tempt and corrupt them. In this case, the desired result was achieved: The Moabite women called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods.[7] So, we can see this pattern over and over again: first he tries to kill (or to curse) – and if that doesn’t work, he tries to corrupt.
THE PLOT
Now perhaps we can follow Satan’s plan right after the 3rd chapter of Genesis, and we can clearly see the same pattern. First, he started to “eat” Cain, and the first murder happened: Abel was killed by Cain and so his line was cut off. Almost the entire 4th chapter of Genesis is very gloomy, because it describes the men ‘eaten’ by sin – the godless line of Cain. However, God was determined to continue His plan, and therefore the place of Abel could not remain unfilled. Accordingly, in the last two verses of this chapter we find the hope: God gave to Adam and Eve another son, Seth, and in the last verse of chapter 4 we read: And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the Lord.[8]
It is probably at this point that Satan realizes that the first part of his plan didn’t work – a third son was born, and the righteous line of Seth was established. Therefore, he goes to the second level – temptation and corruption.
Finally, we are in Genesis 6. Now we can understand Satan’s plot: to corrupt the human bloodline, so that the one who is destined to defeat him – the one promised from the seed of woman, not from some angelic seed – could not be born. Thus, was the plan unfolded: The sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them.[9] The hybrid angelic/human offspring, clearly unintended by God, had a corrupted bloodline. The plan seemed to be very successful indeed, and the time came when almost everyone had demonic DNA in their blood. So, in spite of what many may think, the flood was not a cruel and terrible punishment from an angry and vengeful God – rather, it was a merciful and protective act to leave hope for His creation, and not throw humanity into an abyss of wicked demonic hopelessness.
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To be continued [10].. . .
[1] Gen. 3:14-15
[2] Job 2:6
[3] Gen. 4:7
[4] Heb. 11:24-25
[5] Num. 25:1
[6] Num. 22:6
[7] Num. 25:2
[8] Gen. 4:26
[9] Gen. 6:4
[10] If these articles whet your appetite for discovering the hidden treasures of the Hebrew Bible, I would be happy to provide more information (and also a teacher’s discount) regarding eTeacher courses. I also encourage you to read my book, Abaraham had two sons: this is the first (and the only) Messianic book that is written according to PARDES layers of meaning, and it will give you a taste of this approach to Jewish biblical exegesis (click here to get the book: Read Julia Blum )
