I wish summer ends quickly!

Several weeks back, while we were walking in the Mall, one of my friends said, "I wish summer ends quickly!" This remark led to a discussion, where I notice things that I have never noticed before: Most of the ladies in the Mall use to ware less clothes in summer. It was not their fault. Summer days are extremely hot.

Yes, he was right! Summer is a hard time for singles (I suppose even to the married). It is the time where we get easily tempted by sight.

I have recently come across two articles which shed insight to this subject. Steven Fockner said that the punishment for deluge in Genesis 6 is due to human guilt of mixing with each other, resulting lost of faith on the earth. [1] He sees 'sons of God' as human beings who were the remnant safe guard the faith. In the second article Kaminski states the sin was committed by sight as in the Eden story (Gen 3). [2] The echos Gen 3:6 could be heard in Gen 6:2. Note the incidental sequence made in the successive story.

"Waltke observes that 3:6 and 6:2 have shared vocabulary and suggested that the sin of the sons of God 'repeat the patten (Saw... good... took) of the original sin in 3:6"[3]

"The trigger action of the flood strong is 'the sons of God saw (wayyir'u) the daughters of men, kitob, 'how good', they were and they took wives from whomever the chose. Note here that this trigger event parallels nicely the one in the Adam and Eve story, 'the woman saw' (wattere') how good (kitob) the tree was for food... and she took from its fruit and she eat." [3]

John put it perfectly,

"I write to you, young people, because you are strong and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world; for all that is in the world-- the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches-- comes not from the Father but from the world " (1 John 2:14-16 NRSV).

Summer arouse many feelings. Some of them are regrets and of loneliness. A deep longing for marriage may lead to harbour wrong thoughts. It may make us to envy others, that have what we don't or hold grudges and resentments toward God for the failure in His part to supply a suitable mate for us.

After reading this article, like me, you may also notice things that passed unnoticed. It may arouse the curiosity or may wake up the long sleeping adversary. However, this note is to caution us to hold our guards high and not entertain thoughts which rob the joy and sweet communion of our Lord.

My plea in this summer, is to be cautious!

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[1] Steven Fockner, "Reopening the Discussion: Another Contextual Look at the Sons of God," Journal for the Study of the Old Testament vol. 32.4 (2008): 435-456.

[2] Carol M. Kaminski, "Beautiful Women of 'false Judgement?': Interpreting Genesis 6.2 in Context of the Primeval History," Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, vol. 32.4 (2008): 457-473.

[3] B. Waltke, Genesis: A commentary. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001), 117.

[4] I.M. Kikawada, "A Quantitative Analysis of 'Adam and Eve', 'Cain and Abel', 'Noah' stories" in E.W. cord and E.G. Newing eds., Perspective on language and text (Winona Lake, IN: Eisebrauns, 1987), 198.