1. Daughters have been mentioned, without elaboration, in 5:4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 22, 26, & 30.
2. Click here to see examples of "take a woman" as meaning marriage.
3. See, e.g., the notes on this verse in the NIV Study Bible.We have already looked at this verb before in our commentary on 2:15 and 3:6-7 (click on the references to read the discussion there; these open in the SPanel).
4. U. Cassuto, A Commentary on the Book of Genesis. Vol 1: From Adam to Noah. Trans. I. Abrahams (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1961), 294.
5. G. Wenham, Genesis 1-15 (WBC 1; Waco, Tx: Word Books, 1987), 141.
6. The difference between ki tobot and ki tob has to do with the fact that the adjective in the former applied to a feminine object (the daughters of men) while the latter referred to a masculine object (the fruit). All objects are either masculine or feminine in Biblical Hebrew.
7. David Petersen goes so far as to insinuate that Yahweh was sleeping on His job; "He [Yahweh] checked them [humans] by fencing them out of the garen. However, Yahweh had not reckoned on interference from the bene ha'elohim, the members of the divine council in Israelite tradition. . . He had been able to keep up with humanity's antics; however, he was unready for the response of the bene ha'elohim, and unable, apparently, to control their action . . ." ("Genesis 6:1-4, Yahweh and the Organization of the Cosmos," JSOT 13 (1979):57).
8. G. Wenham, Genesis 1-15 (WBC 1; Waco, Tx: Word Books, 1987), 142. For a summary of the debate about the meaning of yadon, see Victor P. Hamilton, The Book of Genesis. Chapters 1-17 (NICOT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990), 266-7.
9. beshaggam is composed of the preposition b ('in') + the relative sh ('who,' 'which') + the adverb gam ('also,' 'again'), giving the sense "in which also." For a short summary of the debate, see C. Westermann, Genesis 1-11. A Commentary. Trans. J. J. Scullion. (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1984), 375-6.
10. The additional comment that "yet his [Moses's] eyes were not weak nor his strength gone" suggests that in his days, 120 was as much as a great man could be expected to live.
11. Extrabiblical accounts of the flood, such as the Gilgamesh and Atrahasis, also evince a reduction in the ages of men after the flood.