Genesis 6:1-2. The Allure of Pleasure

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Genesis 6:1-2. “And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.” 

And so it happened that as the “pond” of options got bigger, so did men’s eyes. Young men of godly upbringing, who if they couldn’t stay single should have at least kept their eyes single to the glory of God, became distracted and infatuated when “they saw the daughters of men that they were fair.” Matrimonial priorities shifted from spiritual and moral character to physique and social charm: pretty and pleasing somehow replaced virtuous and industrious. Which makes the name Naamah from Genesis 4:22 even more significant as the name which ends Cain’s genealogy. Naamah means pleasantness, or pleasure. Perhaps hers was the generation when these unequally-yoked marriages became mainstream, turning the lineage of Cain into a Trojan-horse takeover of  the sons of God. Men who knew better began striving to please their pleasant but worldly wives instead of striving to please God. Spiritual compromise crept in. The daughters of these unholy unions then grew up and intermarried with more of the “sons of God,” and so it was that while men multiplied, the godly diminished.

The phrase, “they took them wives of all which they chose” is also strikingly similar to the inspired commentary on Naamah’s father, Lamech: “he took unto him two wives” (4:19). Unfortunately, godly young men began to take wives, not asking God to give them wives, but just making and taking their own choice... or choices: for the text says, “of all which they chose,” (emphasis supplied) suggesting that at least some of them picked up on Lamech’s polygamous example of take two and ran further with it. This multi-wives business would, it seems, have also helped kick the multiplication of the human race into high gear.

Thus, while the explicit lineage of Cain ended with Namah, his rebellion certainly didn’t. Instead, it spread. The allure of pleasure seduced the people of God and brought the world down to rapid ruin. What about now? Could it be that the pleasantness of pleasure has again caused the church to blend with the world and put us on a fast track to destruction? Indeed, prophecy shows another woman as the last of a succession of rebels who seduces the whole world with her delights and intoxicating mixtures of truth with error (Rev 17-18). What follows will be a flood, not of water, but of fire (Rev 20:10,14-15). 

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Ezra James
The Word of God is bread from heaven. God sent it, but we must gather it, appreciate it, digest it, and live by it. These days it is increasingly scarce. Many are starving for it and don't know it because they keep feasting on bad bread that doesn't satisfy. But if we would learn to carefully gather up the fragments of the True, Heavenly Bread of Life, we would always enjoy a feast of crumbs, because even God's crumbs are miracles mighty to save (Mark 7:24-30). ESPAÑOL: La Palabra de Dios es pan del cielo. Dios lo envió, pero debemos recogerlo, apreciarlo, digerirlo y vivir por él. Hoy en día es cada vez más escaso. Muchos están muriendo de hambre por falta de él sin saberlo porque se alimentan de pan falso que no satisface. Pero si aprendiéramos a recoger cuidadosamente los fragmentos del Verdadero Pan Celestial, Pan de Vida, siempre disfrutaríamos de un banquete de migajas, porque hasta las migajas de Dios son milagros poderosos para salvar (Marcos 7:24-30).