We understand from reading Genesis 5 that God is the prevailing God—constant, true and faithful to his creation despite their troubles and rebellion. He is a prevailing God also in that he assists faithful people to prevail as well. The projection of Cain’s family line was dark and disturbing. But what happened in the Biblical text next is even more deeply troubling. Perhaps what is most troubling about it is what we learn about God. How far will God let humanity go? Why is he willing to let us fall into such deep trouble? These two questions alone can press us into corners we would really rather not go.
Genesis 6:1-4 is a very perplexing passage. There are implications of fallen angels, giants or powerful kings (“heroes of old”) conquering women. This passage has perplexed Biblical scholars for centuries. While we will not attempt to explore all the possibilities in this ancient text, there is one very immediate take-away. What happened during this time promoted such a wicked culture that God intervened. Verse 3 reflects God’s response to this wickedness and his choice to limit the number of years a human being could live. For all of the conjecture, shadowy ancient language and unusual imagery, the record is clear. God was still in control—if not of the people themselves (for we are not puppets) but of the time that each generation was permitted a reign of terror.
It was not fallen angels, giants or powerful kings that caused what happened next. Blame it on fallen nature or corrupt nurture, humanity was wildly on the loose. And God saw it all as he always does.
Read Genesis 6:5-8.
“Every” and “all” are very big words. They are like superlatives with no diminishing. A few generations from Adam and Eve’s fall and humanity was in lascivious chaos. And God saw it all as he always does. This passage tells us much about God. He is always watching, always observant. He is omniscient—all knowing. He does not turn a blind eye to corruption, wickedness or evil. He is aware of what all of us do on a daily basis. That should give us pause.
A greater truth rests in this passage as well. God is completely engaged with humanity. It matters to him if we are wicked or righteous. It matters so much that our wickedness grieves his great heart. In regard to the gravity of the wickedness at this time God’s great heart, simply put, was broken. In one simple sentence we can almost hear him weeping over the corruption of his good, good creation. Did you know that God grieves over the sin in your life and in our world? He does.
Because God is omniscient he knew what the future of humanity without him would be. Do we dare imagine what it would be like if God refrained from his world? Terrible darkness and mayhem. But God does not divorce himself from his creation. He acts to correct it. Declaring his righteous judgment, the world would soon return to void again if it were not for God’s grace and promise.
Read Genesis 6:9-7:24.
God’s judgment was demonstrated by letting loose all the waters of the earth—upper and lower. Recall the horrifying images of major flooding we have seen on television, the tsunami’s power, the raging waters engulfing entire communities. These tiny demonstrations are nothing compared to what happened in the great Flood—the only world-wide deluge to have ever occurred. Who can withstand the power of our God? No one. His actions are decisive and complete. His judgment is right and thorough.
God’s engagement with his creation involves not only judgment but also salvation. We read this phrase in 7:1, “I have found you righteous in this generation.” In the midst of all the chaos, violence and corruption, God saw Noah. Noah stands as an ancient witness to the possibility and reality that those who look to God do not have to be subject to the pressures of a fallen world. We can rise above and live in such a way that God will honor and protect us. It was Noah’s dependence on God that led to obedience, faithfulness and protection of his loved ones. God’s wrath was about to be poured out on all of creation, but he had a plan for his faithful. And God’s compassion won out against his initial painful response to wipe out everything (6:7). He saw Noah and pulled back his hand just far enough to save some seeds. He would re-seed the earth with his select animals and people. He was willing to start again with the few faithful.
Read Genesis 8:1-22.
Noah was grateful, deeply grateful. They had been in that boat a very long time. They had heard the power of God’s waters and felt the same power vibrating through the timbers of the ark. Then the dove testified to the new beginning and they were freed to start again. Noah’s God was worthy to be worshipped. And that is precisely what that handful of humanity did upon reentering a remade world.
God was pleased and began to make promises he would keep. He promised to reverse the curse on the ground he gave at the Fall (3:17-18). He promised to withhold the kind of wrath that could utterly destroy. And he set in motion an ecosystem that would sustain humanity as long as the earth endures. Who is God? He is the God of promises kept.
Read Genesis 9:1-17.
Promises are good. But covenants are better. A covenant initiated by God is between the power of the Universe and tiny, powerless creatures. This was God’s first covenant of many. It was an agreement between God and his creation—all of it people and animals alike. This kind of covenant is powerful because of the One who initiated the covenant. He is able to keep such covenants, which are far more potent than promises. He created a flood-free relationship with his creation that could not be unbound and it would affect all future generations of humanity and the animal kingdom. It would not unravel because the God of Covenants had made it.
God chose a symbol for this covenant, the rainbow, as he chose symbols for other covenants he made. It was a symbol that came at the end of the storm. When the sun emerges and the waters are still dancing in the air it is not just we who see the rainbow. The God of Covenants sees it as well.
Amen
In 2018 I was meditating on this portion of Genesis. Out of that meditation came this poem.
When the Waters Covered the Earth
When the waters covered the earth
Leviathan bones floated over the mountaintops.
Awash with the swollen bodies of the unfaithful,
Pottery, shards and whole, were swept
Into caves with the little bones of little beasts
Waving back and forth at the water’s will.
Birds fell exhausted from the air
Among the water foul and sharks
Feasting, feasting from the waters of the earth.
When the waters covered the earth
Flora and fauna shifted around the globe
For humanity had pushed God too far.
Too far left, too far right, to low and too high.
He was grieved by their will, by their way,
By their violence.
So, He finally released the waters upon the earth.
So violently did the waters come
Boiling, seething, erupting, spouting, spraying, raining!
No ebb, only flow.
No low tide, only higher and higher and higher
Until there would be no place to run aground
When the waters covered the earth.
One boat, filled with life, drifted on God’s waters.
One family huddled, deep inside.
How long would they remember
The clawing, screeching, thudding sounds of
The rest of God’s creatures outside
When the waters covered the earth?
What did the drowning think
As they slipped beneath the flood?
Did they hold resolute to their humanity
And refuse the still-pursuing God?
Or did some cry out for Him as their throats
And lungs filled with the waters of the earth?
Where was the merciful and great God
When the waters filled the earth?
Those who know Him not do claim
He took delight in this kind of violence
This watery, overwhelming, earth-wide death
When His waters covered the earth.
But they, still deceived by their world-of-self,
Neither understand or know
That when God has given grace on grace
And more grace, with mercy laced,
An end must come to the darkness known
So that Light can cover the earth.
God’s judgment was displayed for all
And with that adjudication came
A lasting, arching demonstration that wickedness
Is tethered to the post of His grace.
So, look not on the violence of Him
But to the violence of man
And understand the desperate need for
When the waters covered the earth.
© M.R.Hyde 2026
The Bible study is a taken from a chapter in Who is God? A Devotional Journey Through Genesis and Exodus by M.R. Hyde. It is available by most online book retailers.
The poem "When the Waters Covered the Earth" is from Prayers from the Driven: Poems by a Christian by M.R. Hyde. It also is available by most online book retailers.
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