Genesis 6

When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them,  the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose.  Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be  years.”  The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.
 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.  So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”  But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.  And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
 Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence.  And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.  And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.  Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch.  This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark  cubits, its breadth  cubits, and its height  cubits.  Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks.  For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die.  But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you.  And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female.  Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive.  Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up. It shall serve as food for you and for them.”  Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.

Genesis 6

After reading about a bunch of people who live way beyond 100 years old, God says that our lives will be limited to 120 years.  Most people don't live past 100 years old nowadays, so 120 years old is quite a stretch.  Looking it up, the current record is 122 years by a woman named Jeanne Louise Calment.  This is weird, does this contradict God's word?  Well, I needed some help so I did some searching.  Apparently, this is referring to the time till God's judgment, not man's lifespan.  Good thing there are people wiser than me, though I wish I had spent more time with the word to dig in myself...

There are a bunch of things here I don't quite understand.  We read about sons of God taking wives and about the Nephilim.  What is going on here?  Well, one thing is for sure, things are very bad.  It is so bad that God decides to "blot out man" and he says "I am sorry that I have made them".  Wow, that's harsh.  There is a ray of hope, "But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord".

In walks Noah.  We read about how great this guy is.  As a quick note, we know that "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).  This applies to everyone, including Noah.  So, when we read that "Noah was a righteous man", we know that he is still a sinner.  To learn more about what this means, we read about Noah that he is "blameless in his generation".  So, everyone is really bad, but Noah is really good compared to them, even though he's still a sinner like everyone.

God instructs Noah to build an ark and there are details as to how is he to build it.  God decides to establish a covenant with Noah in spite of his decision to destroy everything.  So, Noah and his family will be saved.  This is where we learn about how he is to take 2 of every animal to keep alive with him when everything else is to be destroyed.  I don't really know how he did this apart from God's help.  He was also instructed to take every sort of food that is eaten.  They are to be floating about for a long time and they would obviously need food to eat.  And so, Noah followed all of God's instructions.

I wonder, did it smell on that ark?  There were a lot of animals and I'm guessing that there were a lot of animal (and human) waste on the ark.  There was probably a lot of feeding and cleaning that Noah and his family had to do.  Again, probably something that I can't imagine how he would do apart from God's help.