With the
Nephilim out of the way, it’s time to get down to it. The reason behind the
flood has been established, that people are wicked and violent (and making
Nephilim babies). This clearly indicates that God favors certain behaviors over
others.
So here, we have God establishing a
baseline for how humanity should behave. Those who do well are spared, and
those who do not will perish in the impending flood. Many flood myths define
moral behavior, so this is not remarkable for the Bible to do so. However, the
moral behavior underlined in the Bible is reinforced much more often. In fact,
God has already established moral
behaviors previous to the flood. We only need look over what we have so far.
Adam and Eve are presented with the
Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and make a choice. When God comes asking,
they make a choice. They violated God’s rule in one respect, and had to suffer
the consequences for it. In the second instance, they told the truth,
demonstrating that they are not completely hopeless.
An examination of Cain and Abel
also makes that clear. Murder, violence, lying, and other behaviors are clearly
out. This story reinforces the behaviors of Adam and Eve, but show harsh
consequences as well. These two stories so close to the creation make it clear
that God has a specific moral agenda for humanity, and that their growth
depends on this. Without the growth, without choosing to behave in a moral
manner, they cannot have access to the Tree of Life.
In Cain and
Abel, we have the idea that there may be more people on the planet than
previously supposed. Throw this in with the Nephilim, and earth can actually be
a pretty crowded place, full of people doing things that God does not approve
of. The story of Noah takes place almost 1,000 years after Adam was born, so
several centuries have gone by. By this time, people have reproduced
sufficiently to form a kind of civilization that makes God regret creating
humanity in the first place.