middlemonk

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days… These were the heroes that were of old, warriors of renown.

— Genesis 6:4.

There are sentences in the Bible that last for centuries; tiny fragments in God’s story that just barely hint at enormous, unseen things. The Nephilim were supposedly heroes and warriors, but who did they save? Who did they fight? Genesis is moving at an alarming speed and I’m begging it to slow down.

Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.

— Genesis 6:22.

On the one hand, it is fascinating to imagine a world where God simply walks the earth alongside His people and speaks to them directly (as opposed to only speaking to a chosen few or solely through Jesus). On the other hand, I can’t imagine the sheer magnitude of God resting his hand on your shoulder and telling you that he’s going to erase every family in the world except yours.

Genesis tells its stories very simply, but there must be so much more to this particular story than what’s in the book. I remember the rest of the Pentateuch being much more involved with the internal lives of its characters — Exodus has some incredible interpersonal moments — but Genesis is just moving so fast it can’t spare to tell me how anyone is feeling.