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Marrying and Giving in Marriage, January 30
Genesis 6:1-8
In the days that were before the flood they were ... marrying and giving in
marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark.
Matthew 24:38
.
In Noah’s day brute force was the prevailing influence in the world. By
threatened punishment, men intimidated other men
Instead of doing justice to their neighbors, they carried out their own unlawful
wishes. They had a plurality of wives, which was contrary to God’s wise
arrangement. In the beginning God gave to Adam one wife—showing to all who
should live upon the earth, his order and law in that respect. The transgression
and fall of Adam and Eve brought sin and wretchedness upon the human race,
and man followed his own carnal desires, and changed God’s order. The more
men multiplied wives to themselves, the more they increased in wickedness and
unhappiness. If one chose to take the wives, or cattle, or anything belonging to
his neighbor, he did not regard justice or right but if he could prevail over his
neighbor by reason of strength, or by putting him to death, he did so, and exulted
in his deeds of violence. They loved to destroy the lives of animals. They used
them for food, and this increased their ferocity and violence, and caused them to
look upon the blood of human beings with astonishing indifference
The descendants of Seth were called the sons of God; the descendants of
Cain, the sons of men. As the sons of God mingled with the sons of men, they
became corrupt and, by intermarriage with them, lost, through the influence of
their wives, their peculiar, holy character, and united with the sons of Cain in their
idolatry. Many cast aside the fear of God and trampled upon His commandments.
But there were a few that did righteousness, who feared and honored their Creator.
Noah and his family were among the righteous few
Polygamy was practiced at an early date. It was one of the sins that brought
the wrath of God upon the antediluvian world.... It was Satan’s studied effort
to pervert the marriage institution, to weaken its obligations and lessen its
sacredness; for in no surer way could he deface the image of God in man and
open the door to misery and vice
[37]
60
Manuscript 29, 1911
.
61
Spiritual Gifts 3:63, 64
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62
The Story of Redemption, 62
.
63
Patriarchs and Prophets, 338
.
35