6:5-8 - 5The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7So the Lord said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them." 8But Noah found favour in the eyes of the Lord.T
The scene switches back to Yahweh as he reflects on what is happening. It is not possible to find another verse anywhere in Scriptures as superlative as v5: human's wickedness is here qualified by all three adjectives found in the language for expressing the depth of a thing: kol ('every'), raq ('only'), and kol-hayyam ('all the time, lit., "the whole day"), and by an exhausting chain of construct nouns to define the totality of the object involved: 'inclination of the thoughts of his heart' (click here to view the other English translations). Nothing—nothing—that humans can come up with in his thoughts, intentions, and sensibilities escapes the infectious influence and corrosive domination of wickedness. The reformed concept of total depravity states only the no aspects of our humanity is untouched by sin; here it seems total depravity implies not just the breath but also the dept of their depravity, i.e., they are as bad as they can be.
In our local papers there is a section for out-of-town subscribers which deals with news of local interest. As it is its editors tend to be rather lax about what appears in it. One of the quotes that gets rehashed often comes from a certain Joseph Campbell who says "Computers are like Old Testament gods; full of rules and no mercy." If Campbell thinks that funny he should also know he is absolutely ignorant, both about computers and of the Old Testament. What makes computers so useful is that they do nothing but obey rules without mercy; ask any programmer and she will tell you she wouldn't want it any other way. I don't know anything about the Old Testament 'gods' Campbell speaks of; as far as I know in all the decades I have read the OT there is only one. Here this God of the Old Testament is grieved and his heart is filled with pain at the sight to which humans have descended. I wonder if Joseph Campbell does the same, or even understands what that means.
Of the great religions of the world, it is only in the Christian faith that we learn of a God who "grieves" and "whose heart is pained." This revelation shapes uniquely the Christian concept of sin. Sin is not simply the act of breaking a divine rule; first and foremost sin is a a personal affront to God in His holiness. A sin has never needed an explicit command to make it one, even if, as Paul says, a declared law certainly has the power to show up sin more clearly for everyone not to know it.
Low Chai Hok
©Alberith, 2020