The King James Version of Genesis 6:5-6 reads “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.” The New Living Translation explicitly render these verse as God observed and saw the extent of human wickedness, which was consistently and totally evil and so the Lord was sorry to he had made man and his heart was broken.”
The Merriam-Webster’s dictionary gives the two meanings of the word “grieve” . One is to cause someone to be unhappy or sad, and the other is to cause someone to suffer. Sin entered into this world with the disobedience of one man, Adam (Romans 5:12), and like a gangrene infected the whole human race with immense wickedness – so much so, that it caused the Lord to be sad (in his heart), and to suffer and making him sorry that he had even made man.
It is important to note that God ‘saw‘ the rampant wickedness on the earth. He saw not just the actions of man, but their very thoughts; and every imagination of the thoughts of the heart of man was continually evil. The Bible counsels us to guard our hearts for out of the heart comes the springs (the issues) of life (Proverbs 4:23). The Bible also counsels us that out of the heart comes the evil things which defile a man. These include evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness (Mark 7:20-23). The willful disobedience of man which defiles man makes God grieve – so much so that God is sorry for having made man.
Points to ponder:
Jesus said that “As in the days of Noah (Noe) so shall the days before his coming be.” (Matthew 24:37). While this statement of Jesus indicates the suddenness of his coming, it also is reflective of the sinful and sad state that the world will be in before his coming. Unfortunately, it does not take much to look around and see that the world is rife with wickedness and evil; filled with evil thoughts, adulteries (sexual immorality and idolatory), murders (anger), thefts (withholding of tithes, time and talent), covetousness (greed), deceit, lustful desires (such as pornography, sodomy (homosexuality)), envy (jealousy), slander (blasphemy against the Holy Spirit of God by rejecting the Lordship of God’s only son, Jesus), pride (trying to be like gods), and foolishness (denying the existence of God). One or more of these sins may be the poison that defiles our own life. Let each of us, take stock to determine, what’s your poison? If we don’t guard our hearts with the breastplate of righteousness (found in Jesus Christ alone), and if we don’t put on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18), we can be beguiled and ensnared by the wiles of the devil, and sin against God. Our sinfulness and wickedness makes God, not just sad, but also causes him to suffer and be sorry for having knit us together in our mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13). Let us love God with all our heart, so that we don’t grieve the Lord; i.e., we don’t make God sad, to suffer or be sorry!
Genesis 6:5-6 (KJV)
5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6 And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
Matthew 24:37-39 (KJV)
37 But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Todd Reeder
We are taught that God knows everything that will happen. And that he knew people would be like this. So why would he allow for the possibility for sin? A well known preacher says that God allows evil to continue because He will get more glory getting rid of evil later than if he got rid of it in the beginning. And I heard a Rabbi say that Satan did not choose to rebel and become a fallen angel because angels do not have free will. And he said when Satan tempted Eve in the garden of Eden he was only doing what God told him to do. And Satan could not have refused to tempt Eve because angels don’t have the ability to choose to disobey.
Mano 'dash4rk' Paul
Dear Todd:
First and foremost, thank you for your comment as it got me thinking and searching the Bible to address the viewpoints presented in your comment.
The Bible does support the fact that God is omniscient (knows all things) – 1 John 3:20 which then brings us to your question of “Why would God allow the possibility for his people to sin, if he knew that they would?” Personally, I don’t believe that God was wanting to see “if man would sin?” but more so, I think, like he tested (not tempted) Abram, he was wanting to see “if man loved him?” for Jesus said, if you love me, you will keep my commandments (John 14:15). Not to mention, that every other seed bearing tree that was in the garden of Eden was pleasing to the eye and desirable for food. So when man and woman, willfully chose to ignore all of God’s excellent provisions and go after the fruit of the one tree he had placed to test their love for him, they were exercising their own free will (desire). The Bible actually establishes this fact, that God does not tempt anyone but every man is tempted when he drawn away by his OWN lust and enticed (James 1:13). The Bible also refers to the devil as the tempter (Matthew 4:3) and so while God is never a tempter, the devil always is.
Now to this well known preacher’s viewpoint – it is a little skewed which does not present the Scripture accurately. We need to be careful of our understanding of the Scripture, apropos. God is holy and so he cannot have any communion with evil and so it is not about God allowing evil to get (relatively more) glory. In the Biblical account of the 10 plagues of Egypt, it is said that God hardened the heart of Pharaoh which does not mean, God allowed Pharaoh to be evil, but instead, God’s restraining Holy Spirit was taken from Pharaoh, so he could do what he willed (again, Pharaoh’s own lust). God allows natural events (not evil) such as death so that his name is glorified when the dead are resurrected (as was the case in the death and resurrection of Jesus’ friend, Lazarus).
Regarding the Rabbi’s exposition – I must say that he is incorrect and certainly mistaken in his understanding of the Scripture. Satan (the dragon) does have free will (2 Timothy 2:26) and he exercised his free will to rebel against God in heaven, along with the angels who chose freely to be in allegiance with him (Revelation 12:7-9).
Having said this, instead of being bogged down and guesstimate on matters that needs to be accepted by faith, I reckon that we see focus on what is eternally important and that is that we don’t grieve the heart of God by being enticed by the devil, who tempts us to do his will, not God’s and be like Jesus, who as a man, had free will and yet he subjected his will to the will of God (Luke 22:42) and remained sinless and blameless, when tempted (Matthew 4:1-11).
Blessings to you, Todd. Don’t hesitate to respond to this reply, if you have the need for any other clarification.
Mano
Todd Reeder
Thank you.