Unhealthy Genital Sexual Intercourse-To Come Into-BO: (Genesis 6:4)

Evil-RA: (Genesis 6:5)

Covenant-BRT: (Genesis 6:18)

Incest-ARWAH: (Genesis 9:22)

Infertility-AQR: (Genesis 11:30)

Unhealthy Genital Sexual Intercourse-To Come Into-BO: (Genesis 6:4)

The Biblical Hebrew BO, בּוֹא, is pronounced BO as in BO-tox. BO appears as an unhealthy sexuality term in 29 of the 2,591 times used in the Hebrew Old Testament. The range of meaning for BO includes to go, to come, abide, befall, bring, call, send, strike, and unhealthy genital sexual intercourse (Strong, H935).

Genesis uses BO 16 times. All BO citations in Genesis connect to unhealthy sexuality. BO does not appear in chapters 1-5 of the Genesis sexual health big picture. BO first occurs in the pathogenesis section of chapter 6, the coercive intercourse with Hagar and Bilhah the concubine, the incest of Lot’s daughters with their biological father, Laban coercing his son-in-law Jacob to have sex with Leah, the bartering of mandrakes for sexual favors between rival sisters, the fatal Onan coitus interruptus snapshot, and Tamar’s incestuous seduction of her father-in-law. Deuteronomy uses BO twice to refer to marriage customs. 

The Prophets

BO appears once in Judges and Samuel. The Samuel passage refers to the rape of a concubine. Ezekiel cites BO three times for the sacred sex trade. Ezekiel repeats the use of BO  three times: “And they slept with her. As men sleep with a prostitute, so they slept with those lewd women, Oholah and Oholibah” (Ezekiel 23:44).

The Writings

Proverbs cites BO asa warning against adultery in a sexual health section of chapter 6. The Song of Solomon uses BO in a sexual health context. I hold the view that the Song of Solomon is actually a pathogenesis piece showing the decline of sexual health to the idolatrous addict behavior of Solomon’s reign. The Ruth citation appears in the strange marriage and conception snapshot of Ruth and Boaz. Chronicles seems to be a grief narrative of Ephraim having intercourse and conceiving with his wife after death of a son.

Evil-RA: (Genesis 6:5)

The word RA, meaning ‘evil’ appears 666 times in the Hebrew text. 666 may reflect the literary device of Hebrew numerology. Six often means evil in the Bible and three can signify completion. 666 most likely connotes comprehensive evil. The writer of Revelation uses 666 as the mark identifying the coercive apocalyptic beast in Revelation 13:18: “This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666” (Revelation 13:18). 666 also occurs in 1 Kings to refer to Solomon’s wealth, which may infer the pathogenesis of his apostasy to idolatry: “The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents, not including the revenues from merchants and traders and from all the Arabian kings and the governors of the territories” (1 Kings 10:14-15).

RA, רע, meaning evil and pronounced RAW as in ‘rocket,’ ranges in meaning: bad, disagreeable, malignant, unpleasing, pain or painful, unhappiness, unhealthy, agony, negativity, comparison in terms of bad to worse, sad, without compassion, hurtful, vicious, ethically: bad thinking, or actions; adverse, injury, or wrongdoing (BLB/RA, 2021; Strong, H7451).
RA occurs 34 times in Genesis, appearing seven times in the sexual health big picture of Genesis 1-11. RA appears five times along with the intimacy word, YDA, meaning ‘to know,’ in Genesis 1-5. RA may therefore connect to a sense of loss of knowing God. When humankind disregards the boundaries of Eden, Adam and Eve immediately experience shame and distance from God by hiding. The Creator seems to track down Adam and Eve, asking, ‘Where are you?’ This may set the stage for the meaning of RA as the loss of intimacy with God. RA appears three times in chapters 6-8, tracking the decline of conscious awareness to sexual abuse. If one moves backward from Genesis 6-8, reverse engineering all uses, RA most likely means a loss of intimacy with God that results in coercive behavior. 

The next use of RA forms an inclusio with Genesis 6 and 8. The judgment for the RA of sexual nihilism begins in Genesis 6 with the flood. The inclusio ends with the RA relating to incest between Ham and his biological mother. The two uses of RA in Genesis 6-8 connect directly to coercive sexual assault, perhaps intended to teach children appropriate boundaries to prevent abuse.

The next two occurrences of RA form an inclusio with the Sodom unhealthy sexuality snapshot (Genesis 13:13-19:19). The RA of the Sodom community formed around violent sexual assault and gang rape. The disaster, RA, of 19:19 is the judgment for the erotic violence of Sodom. The reader may note that the Sodom inclusio of 13:13 to 19:19 is similar in length to Genesis 1-5 and the pathogenesis section in Genesis 6-11. These three sections of similar length may demonstrate intentional organization by the author around sexual health themes. 

RA weaves through the Jacob snapshot, expanding in meaning from coercion and sexual abuse to physical or emotional harm. RA refers to unhealthy sexuality, where it is used when Esau marries a Canaanite bride (Genesis 28:8). Canaan was the incestuous child of Ham and his mother (Genesis 9). 

The Joseph snapshot completes the Genesis sexual health big picture. Beginning with the RA report of Joseph against his brothers, an inclusio forms with Joseph forgiving his brothers in chapter 50 (Genesis 37:2; Genesis 50:20). Joseph compassionately exclaims that the RA the brothers intended, God makes meaning for good. Joseph’s betrayal of his brothers in the opening scene of chapter 37 is a RA report. The RA of chapter 50 touches the intimacy of reconciling family abuse. The report in the chapter 50 reconciliation snapshot reflects the intimacy of compassionate presence and reconciliation. Joseph isolates from his brothers in chapter 37, then makes amends with his family once again in chapter 50 with forgiveness.

The Onan unhealthy sexuality snapshot of Genesis 38 uses the word RA, perhaps in a sexual abuse context. Unnamed evil acts brought the death sentence to Er by God. Onan’s unspecified coercive behavior killed him. Both incidents use the word, RA, meaning evil.
The use of RA in the Joseph snapshot ranges from his brothers’ murder conspiracy, Joseph’s emphatic rejection of the RA threat of an affair with Potiphar’s wife, the depressed demeanor of prisoners, the dream of emaciated livestock, the alleged evil of stealing, the misery of grief, God’s deliverance from harm, and reflection on the brothers’ coercive plot against Joseph. In all, the number of uses of RA that connect directly to sexual health snapshots totals eight. The use of RA to refer to coercion totals eight. RA meaning the antithesis of intimacy with God occurs four times, while RA appears to describe the Pharoah’s dream sequence predicting famine six times. This seems to be a strategic literary organization of RA using Biblical numerology in the book of Genesis.

The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 2:9)

…but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die. (Genesis 2:17)

“For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:5)

And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” (Genesis 3:22)

The LORD saw how great the wickedness (sexual abuse) of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. (Genesis 6:5)

The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination (sexual abuse) of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. (Genesis 8:21)

Now the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD. (Genesis 13:13)

Your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die. (Genesis 19:19)

Laban and Bethuel answered, “This is from the LORD; we can say nothing to you one way or the other.” (Genesis 24:50)

…that you will do us no harm, just as we did not harm you but always treated you well and sent you away peacefully. And now you are blessed by the LORD. (Genesis 26:29)

Esau then realized how displeasing the Canaanite women were to his father Isaac. (Genesis 28:8)

Then God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.” (Genesis 31:24)

I have the power to harm you; but last night the God of your father said to me, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.” (Genesis 31:29)

This heap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not go past this heap to your side to harm you and that you will not go past this heap and pillar to my side to harm me. (Genesis 31:52)

This is the account of Jacob’s family line. Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them. (Genesis 37:2)

“Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.” (Genesis 37:20)

He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.” (Genesis 37:33)

But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the LORD’s sight; so the LORD put him to death. (Genesis 38:7)

But Onan knew that the child would not be his; so whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from providing offspring for his brother. 

What he did was wicked in the LORD’s sight; so the LORD put him to death also. (Genesis 38:9-10)

“No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:9)

So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “Why do you look so sad today?” (Genesis 40:7)

After them, seven other cows, ugly and gaunt, came up out of the Nile and stood beside those on the riverbank. (Genesis 41:3)

And the cows that were ugly and gaunt ate up the seven sleek, fat cows. Then Pharaoh woke up. (Genesis 41:4)

After them, seven other cows came up—scrawny and very ugly and lean. I had never seen such ugly cows in all the land of Egypt. (Genesis 41:19)

The lean, ugly cows ate up the seven fat cows that came up first. (Genesis 41:20)

But even after they ate them, no one could tell that they had done so; they looked just as ugly as before. Then I woke up. (Genesis 41:21)

The seven lean, ugly cows that came up afterward are seven years, and so are the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the east wind: They are seven years of famine. (Genesis 41:27)

They had not gone far from the city when Joseph said to his steward, “Go after those men at once, and when you catch up with them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid good with evil?’” (Genesis 44:4)

If you take this one from me too and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray head down to the grave in misery. (Genesis 44:29)

How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? No! Do not let me see the misery that would come on my father. (Genesis 44:34)

And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty. My years have been few and difficult, and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers.” (Genesis 47:9)

…the Angel who has delivered me from all harm—may he bless these boys. May they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they increase greatly on the earth.” (Genesis 48:16)

When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?” (Genesis 50:15)

This is what you are to say to Joseph: “I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.“ When their message came to him, Joseph wept. (Genesis 50:17)

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. (Genesis 50:20)

RA appears four times in the Book of Exodus. All occurrences connect to sexual health narratives. Exodus 21 appears with legislation on servants and slaves. Verse eight states that if a servant/slave commits RA toward her master, he can release her with some form of payment. Exodus 32 and 33 represent the pathogenesis of one of the most tragic declines of spirituality in the Bible. Moses meets with God to receive the Ten Commandments. The people of Israel pressure Aaron, Moses’ brother in law and second in command, to craft an idol. The people of Israel relapse into unhealthy sexuality with co-occurring addict behaviors. The use of the word RA in Exodus 32 and 33 reflects the judgment of God on the grounds of idolatrous unhealthy sexuality.

RA appears three times in two verses within the Book of Leviticus. All occurrences connect to animals: the reference is to wild or RA animals (Leviticus 26:6) and the passage that compares good animals to RA animals (Leviticus 27:10).

RA appears in the Book of Numbers eight times. The range of meaning includes hardships of the people, a personal sense of ruin, comparison of good and terrible land, a negative scouting report, bad conduct, and injury with evil intent. One of the occurrences connects to the unhealthy sexuality history of the Israelites in Numbers 32:13. The evil the Israelis did in the sight of God included unhealthy sexuality. “The LORD’s anger burned against Israel and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the whole generation of those who had done evil in his sight was gone” (Numbers 32:13).

RA appears 32 times in Deuteronomy. The phrase ‘you must purge the evil from among you’ appears nine times. The range of meanings include evil generations choosing idolatrous unhealthy sexuality and inheriting the land of Israel, idolatry, signs from God, disease, sacrificial animals, unhealthy sexuality in marriage, disease, and disaster. Deuteronomy 7:17 begins the nine “you must purge the evil from among you” phrases, covering court matters, testimony, addict family members, rape, and kidnapping. Nine occurrences of RA in Deuteronomy connect to unhealthy sexuality in terms of marriage, idolatry with sacred sex trade, and rape. Fifteen uses of the word RA connect to sexual health passages.

The Prophets

RA appears twice in the Book of Joshua. The first citation can be found in Joshua (Joshua 23:15), describing the judgment of God on the Israelis. The final scene features Joshua pledging his commitment to the Lord. He uses the term RA, translated as ‘undesirable,’ to communicate whether the people of Israel should choose to worship the Lord or the deities of the Near East. The Joshua 24:15 citation can be considered a sexual health term since worship of these deities included participation in the sacred sex trade. 

The Book of Judges records Israel’s decline of conscious awareness or loss of intimacy with God, resulting in genocide. The word RA occurs 17 times in Judges. Not only does the term HLL appear for loss of intimacy with God, the reader may see unhealthy sexuality escalating from the erotic rage of rape to murder with dismemberment. The phrase, “The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord” emerges as a significant theme of traumatic repetition. The phrase appears six times in Judges, six is often a Biblical symbol of evil (Judges 2:11,15, 3:7,12, 4:1, 6:1). 

This phrase reflects the loss of intimacy theme within the sexual health big picture. In Genesis 6-11, humankind declines to sexual abuse and engages in incest. All ‘the Israelites did evil in the sight of the Lord’ phrases connect directly to unhealthy sexuality. When the Israelites do RA in the eyes of the Lord, it connects specifically to idolatry by participating in the sacred sex trade and surrendering political military power. 

The balance of the use of RA means emotional distress, treachery, waging war, physical harm, rape, murder with dismemberment, and physical disaster. The number of sexual health uses for RA totals 10 of the 17 passages in Judges (Judges 2:11, 3:7, 12, 4:1, 6:1,10:6, 13:1, 20:3,12,13). All ten uses of RA connect to unhealthy sexuality, or the RA that resulted from the sacred sex trade, rape and murder. 

1 and 2 Samuel utilize the term RA 44 times. The word appears four times in a sexual health context: King David’s abuse of Bathsheba (2 Samuel 12:9), the judgment on King David for the murder conspiracy of Uriah and adultery (2 Samuel 12:11), addressing the incestuous rape of Tamar by Amnon (2 Samuel 13:22), and connecting to David’s murder/adultery conspiracy (2 Samuel 16:8).

The other uses of the word RA include references to wicked deeds, disaster, inappropriately asking God for a king, Saul’s misuse of his office, an evil spirit which came upon Saul, the threat of physical harm, and the discerning of good and evil.

Isaiah uses the term RA 19 times. One verse speaks of RA as being like Sodom in Isaiah 3:9. Jeremiah uses the term RA in unhealthy sexuality contexts five times. Four of the citations connect to the sacred sex trade with adultery. One reference occurs in the term, ‘…did evil in the eyes of the Lord….’  This phrase is a common theme in the books of Judges and Kings. Ezekiel utilizes the term RA 22 times. Three references connect to unhealthy sexuality. It is possible  many more references to RA and unhealthy sexuality occur, but I desire to err on the side of conservatism. None of the Minor Prophets use RA in a direct unhealthy sexuality context.

The Writings

RA appears 64 times in the Psalms. The writers of Psalms record one connection of RA with unhealthy sexuality: “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge” (Psalms 51:4). Proverbs also records one usage of the term RA related to unhealthy sexuality: “…keeping you from your neighbor’s wife, from the smooth talk of a wayward woman” (Proverbs 6:24).

Ezra and Nehemiah record five unhealthy sexuality uses of the word RA, and four directly connect to the unhealthy sexuality of idolatry involved in the sacred sex trade. One reference reflects the practice of marrying outside of the tribe of Israel. The phrase ‘evil in the sight of’ connects to the idolatry of Israel with participation in the sacred sex trade.

The New Testament

The word evil in the Greek New Testament is poneros, πονηρός,  pronounced pawn-eh-ROS. Poneros connects to a derivative of Strong G4192, meaning hurtful, in result or influence. This differs from Strong G2556, which touches essential character. Strong G4550 means decline of conscious awareness from original virtue, calamitous, diseased, morally culpable, derelict, vicious, mischief, malice, guilt, the devil, sinners, bad, evil, harm, lewd, malicious, or wicked (Strong, G4191).

Poneros appears 78 times in 72 verses of the Greek New Testament. Eight times poneros occurs in a sexual health context. Matthew 12-16 form an inclusio of Jesus’ defense against the attacks of the religiously conservative Pharisees. The beginning of the inclusio features “a wicked and adulterous generation”and 16:4 brings the inclusio to close with the same words. The citations within the inclusio identify the source of evil: a hardened heart. The term hard heart neurologically may mean the dysregulation of the PFC that is the disabling of the part of the brain that regulates anger, greed, and sexual neural pathways. When the anterior cingulate located within the PFC is deprived of blood flow, compassion is disabled. This neurological state cannot regulate anger, rage, fear, or sexual neural pathways. Is this state a hard heart? Mark 7:23 refers to poneros, meaning “evil,” connecting to the Matthew passages. Luke 3:19 records the arrest of John the Baptist by Herod. The incarceration leads to beheading when the preacher calls the ruler to task for the evil of incestuous adultery. 

The General Epistles

Revelation 6:2 completes the sexual health use of poneros with the description of festering sores breaking out on those who worship the Beast and by context participated in the sacred sex trade. Could festering sores be sexually transmitted infections?

Covenant-BRT: (Genesis 6:18)

Intimacy between God with humankind forms the big picture or meta-narrative among all the books of the Bible. The seven kinds of intimacy in Genesis 1-3 can be tracked through the entire revelation of the Bible through the life of Christ, the early church, and eternal destiny. The word the Bible uses to describe intimacy between God and humankind is covenant, BRT, בְּרִית, pronounced buh-RITH, occurring 284 times in 264 verses in the Hebrew Old Testament (Strong, H1262). The range of meaning includes a sense of cutting, an agreement made by walking between pieces of sacrificial flesh, a contract, or covenant, whether between God and humankind, marriage, family, or business. The word BRT appears 24 times in Genesis. Nineteen of the citations connect to intimacy between God and humankind. Fourteen of these connect specifically to Abraham. Twelve of the Abraham citations appear in Genesis 17. Five times BRT references treaties between humans (Genesis 14:13, 21:27, 32, 26:28, 31:44). 

The word covenant first appears in Genesis 6:18 with the promise to Noah and his family. BRT appears eight times in the Noah snapshot, the same number as the eight ark survivors. Twelve times BRT occurs in the Abraham snapshot, perhaps connecting to the twelve tribes of Israel?

But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. (Genesis 6:18)

“I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you.” (Genesis 9:9)

“I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.” (Genesis 9:11)

And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come.” (Genesis 9:12)

“I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.” (Genesis 9:13)

“I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.” (Genesis 9:15)

“Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” (Genesis 9:16)

So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.” (Genesis 9:17)

A man who had escaped came and reported this to Abram the Hebrew. Now Abram was living near the great trees of Mamre the Amorite, a brother of Eshkol and Aner, all of whom were allied with Abram. (Genesis 14:13)

On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates.” (Genesis 15:18)

“Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.” (Genesis 17:2)

“As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.” (Genesis 17:4)

I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. (Genesis 17:7)

Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come.” (Genesis 17:9)

This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. (Genesis 17:10)

You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. (Genesis 17:11)

Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. (Genesis 17:13)

“Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.” (Genesis 17:14)

Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.” (Genesis 17:19)

“But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.” (Genesis 17:21)

So Abraham brought sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelek, and the two men made a treaty. (Genesis 21:27)

After the treaty had been made at Beersheba, Abimelek and Phicol the commander of his forces returned to the land of the Philistines. (Genesis 21:32)

They answered, “We saw clearly that the LORD was with you; so we said, ‘There ought to be a sworn agreement between us’—between us and you.” (Genesis 26:28)

Come now, let’s make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a witness between us.” (Genesis 31:44)

New Testament

The New Testament term for covenant diatheke, διαθήκη, pronounced diah-THEY-kay, matches Strong G1242 appearing 33 times within 30 verses in the Greek New Testament. The meaning of diatheke parallels the Hebrew word BRT. Fifteen of the 33 uses of the word diatheke in the New Testament connect directly to the Old Testament. The balance of the passages reflect new covenant in Christ. If the BRT of the Old Testament bases on intimacy with God and sexual health, it seems reasonable the diatheke of the New Testament establishes the same foundations of intimacy with God and sexual health.

Infertility-AQR: (Genesis 11:30)

The sexual health term infertility AQR, עָקָר, pronounced aw-KAR, appears twelve times in eleven passages of the Hebrew Old Testament. Three times the word occurs in Genesis. AQR occurs once in Exodus and Deuteronomy, twice in Judges, and once each in 1 Samuel and Job. All citations connect to infertility (Strong, H6135).

Now Sarai was childless because she was not able to conceive. (Genesis 11:30)

Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. (Genesis 25:21)

When the LORD saw that Leah was not loved, he enabled her to conceive, but Rachel remained childless. (Genesis 29:31)

Genesis 6-11

After the sexual health-positive images of Genesis 1-5, chapters 6-10 contrast the pathogenesis or decline to abuse. This too may be a literary device of paradox highlighting the stark contrast of sexual health with sexual abuse. The flood account of Noah and his family paints loss of intimacy between God and humankind. Spiritual distance from God parallels decline of sexual health. Genesis 1-5 sets the sexual health-positive big picture and chapters 6-10 details the pathogenesis to the incestuous sexual assault of Noah’s wife by their biological son, Ham. The Flood snap shot pictured as an unhealthy sexuality teaching piece is new technology and may be counter intuitive for the reader. The teaching learning theory thus far looks like this: Genesis 1-5 teaches children the foundations of sexual health with positive developmentally appropriate images. Genesis 6-11 teaches children about boundaries for abuse prevention. The decline of sexual health to abuse in chapter 6 shows the impact of loss of intimacy with God. This can be thought of as not only a boundary statement for children warning about coercive sexuality but also may teach children the origin of sin and sexual abuse. Chapters 1-5 teaches positive foundational principles and chapters 6-11 frames boundaries preventing abuse specifically incest.

Pathogenesis or Decline From Intimacy with God-HLL, Coercive Sexuality

The pathogenesis section or decline of sexual health, begins with the Hebrew word, HLL    (Strong, H2490). HLL, חָלַל, pronounced ha-LAL, means to profane, defile, pollute, desecrate, to begin, to defile oneself sexually, to wound, to pierce. The majority of uses for the Hebrew word HLL connect to decline of intimacy with God. HLL can mean ‘to begin’, but the majority use of the word appears as a term of pathogenesis or the decline of intimacy with God. As a term of decline, HLL can mean profaning, defiling, polluting, desecrating, wounding, or unhealthy sexuality. HLL as a word signaling decline of sexual health adds clarity to the flood snap shot of Genesis 6-9. The Biblical Theology section treats all the sexual health uses of HLL in detail.

When human beings began (HLL) to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them,  the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.” (Genesis 6:1)

The passage does not make coherent sense without the translation of HLL as decline of sexual health. Why would God lament the mortality of humans and exterminate the human race without cause? The reason for global judgement ? The pathogenesis to sexual abuse.

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown. (Genesis 6:4)

This translation struggles. The term Nephilim, נְּפִלִים, pronounced nu-fil-EEM is the Hebrew word  meaning ‘to fall upon or attack’ with alternate meanings of ‘to bully’ or ‘tyrant’ (Strong, H5303). The Greek text uses the word, gigantes, γίγαντες, pronounced GEE-gan-tes. The gigantes were Greek mythological snake-footed giants born of the blood spatter from the castration gore of Uranus, the heaven deity (Mussies, 2021). The most ancient Greek origin stories cite Uranus’ wife Gaia as his incestuous mother. Hesiod states in the Theogony that Gaia the mother-wife of Uranus coerced Cronus to castrate her husband for imprisoning her children. Cronus ambushed his father, violently castrated him throwing the testicles into the sea. Aphrodite came forth from the bloody castrated genitals (Hesiod Theogony). Perhaps the Greek translators purposely used the back story of the gigantes? Could it be that Uranus’ incestuous relationship with Gaia and his bloody castration add depth to the Nephilim snap shot ending with the incest of Ham and his mother? The term in Genesis 6:4 for sexual intercourse, BO, always means unhealthy sexuality in Genesis. The word, heroes, too is unfortunate and can also mean, ‘warrior tyrants’. An Arabic equivalent for heroes, _{جَبَّارً}, means one who acts proudly, magnifies himself, or an ‘audacious bold-tyrant’ (Strong, H1368). Men of renown may not have the flattering intention of the author, but rather may mean, ‘infamously bad reputation.’

The Book of Enoch is a non canonical ancient Near East text dating from 200 BCE to 100 AD which gives helpful insight into this pathogenesis text. 

And it came to pass that the children of men had multiplied in those days and were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters. And the angels, the children of heav- en, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: ‘Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children… ’ [They] took unto themselves wives, and each chose for himself one, and they began to go unto them and to defile themselves with them, and they taught tyrants… And there arose much godlessness, and they com- mitted fornication, and they were led astray, and became corrupt in all their ways (Enoch Book 6.1-2).

The NIV translation uses unfortunate warm words like “going into, beautiful women, marriage to heroes of renown”(Genesis 6:4) These terms seem to craft a romantic narrative perhaps?  Enoch sets the tone for a more accurate translation based on context and language study. Enoch uses the words lusted, defile, charms and enchantments meaning perhaps the use of sorcery, tyrants, godlessness, fornication, and corrupt. These unhealthy sexuality descriptors dramatically differ from the NIV translator’s Hallmark movie rendition. Enoch’s translation connects to my proposed translation.

The following reflection is a possible translation based on Hebrew textual analysis and the ancient source of Enoch with the big picture of sexual health in Genesis. The alternate Biblical theological translation appears without italics so the reader can compare the (NIV) text with the proposed translation. 

“When (unhealthy sexuality increased, HLL) among human beings on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and married any of them they chose.  Then the Lord said, ‘My Spirit will not (fight) with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.’ (Sexual predators coerced, BO unhealthy sexuality) the daughters of humans and impregnated them. They were the (infamous tyrants of history).” (Genesis 6:1-4) 

The reader can note that HLL, unhealthy sexuality, of verse one can connect to form an inclusio with verse four, “sexual predators coerced.” This proposed translation not only connects more closely to the version of Enoch but seems to make a coherent transition to the next section.

The Lord saw how great the (violent abuse, RA, רע) of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only (coercive, RA, רע) all the time.  The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.  So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the crea- tures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.”  But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. (Genesis 6:5-8)

Sexual Nihilism, Evil

The cause for terminating the human race?  Loss of spiritual intimacy leading to sexual nihilism. This pathogenesis or decline of sexual health snap shot starting in Genesis 6:1-8 forms a thematic inclusio with the assault of Noah’s wife by her son Ham in Genesis 9:21-25. Sexual nihilism underlies the philosophy that sexuality has no values and nothing can be truthfully known or communicated. Nihilism connects with extreme pessimism and radical skepticism condemning existence. True nihilism trusts nothing, possesses neither loyalty nor purpose and anarchy is impulse. Friedrich Nietzsche projected that nihilism’s destructive effects would undermine  moral, religious, and metaphysical convictions creating the greatest crisis in human history (Nietzsche, 2010). In the 20th and 21st centuries nihilistic value destruction and purposelessness preoccupy politics, arts, and sexual media. By the beginning of the 21st century, existential despair transitioned to indifference, as seen in escalating suicide statistics across all age groups, school shootings without national policy, political insurrection, and U.S. multi trillion dollar indebtedness. A sexual nihilist then may have no boundaries, no loyalties, no purpose, and present a ‘nothing matters’ destructive pattern in sexual relationships  (Pratt, 2021). Global sexual nihilism with abuse seems to be a more just judgement for the flood sequence of Genesis 6-9.

The word for wickedness and evil, RA, רע in Genesis 6:5 is the same word used in the Genesis creation snap shot of 2:17 (Strong, H7451). RA forms the one boundary statement God draws for humankind, “You must not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of God and Evil (RA) for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” (Genesis 2:17) The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil according to von Rad (1967)  means omniscience, to be like God in knowledge. Perhaps another possible translation may be, ‘You must not confuse intimacy with coercion, for when you do, relationships die.’ What immediately follows this boundary is the coercive temptation of the snake with Adam and Eve in Genesis 3, Cain’s premeditated ambush murder of his brother in Genesis 4, and the sexual assault snap shots of Genesis 6-9. Trace each of these events to the pathogenesis of decline and the reader may see loss of intimacy with God begins the movement from sexual health to abuse. The idea of evil in the first 11 chapters of the Genesis sexual health big picture has clear connection to sexual coercion and decline from intimacy with God.

Covenant Intimacy of Relationship, Incest Boundaries

Chapters 9 and 10 end with the Noah inclusio snap shot. Noah with his family survive the pathogenesis. The text reads, 

Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil (RA, רע) from childhood (NAR, נער). And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.” God blessed Noah and his sons saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase, and fill the earth.”  (Genesis 8:20)  

The Creator reconciles distance with humankind through the intimacy of forgiveness mirroring reconciliation with the covering of sexual shame in Genesis 3:21. A sacrificial life exchanges for the pain of unhealthy sexuality.

The statement, “even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood”  may need clarity. (Genesis 8:20) The term childhood is the Hebrew word, NAR, נער, pronounced, NAH-ar (Strong, H5271). This word appears 46 times in the Hebrew Old Testament for pubescent adolescents and once for little children in this passage. The usage of NAR may not permit the translation to be ‘childhood’ found only in this verse. Perhaps a more accurate translation could be, ‘sexually mature young adults’ connecting to the introduction with the abuse of the tyrants. This statement “even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood” too forms an inclusio at the opening of chapter 6 with the decline of sexual health. A more contextual translation may be, ‘even though every inclination of the human heart can be coercive from onset of puberty.’

The repetition of the “be fruitful and increase” sexual health phrase  of Genesis 8:20 mirrors the first blessing of God in Genesis for humans reconnecting to the big picture of sexual health. The word for covenant or intimate relationship, BRT, appears seven times in chapter 9. Seven is a perfect number in Hebrew numerology and the author may be emphasizing the point for God’s comprehensive compassion toward humans. The Creator once again takes responsibility for the distance of humankind with the intimacy of reconciliation.

Immediately after the ‘be fruitful and increase’ sexual health reconciliation snap shot, the story picks up the sexual abuse theme from the introduction of chapter 6. This forms a succinct literary inclusio. 

The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth.

Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside.  But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their fa- ther’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked.

 When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him,  he said,

“Cursed be Canaan!
    The lowest of slaves
    will he be to his brothers.”

He also said,

“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Shem!
     May Canaan be the slave of Shem.

May God extend Japheth’s territory;
  may Japheth live in the tents of Shem,
    and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth.”

After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 29 Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died. (Genesis 9:18-29)

So, the English translation reads that God eternally cursed Canaan because his father, Ham, saw his naked grandfather, Noah, blacked out from a binge-drinking bender. A more accurate version leans on another Hebrew literary device called euphemism. Jewish writers used words carefully, more comfortable speaking of bodily functions in terms of ‘covering the feet’ or ‘watering the feet’ instead of defecating or urinating. Today incest is a difficult topic not spoken of lightly. So it seems with the Biblical writers. In Leviticus 18 laws prohibiting sexual intercourse between family members appear. Each time the word for incest occurs, a Hebrew euphemism softens the conversation perhaps protecting young ears. The words used for incest are “to uncover the nakedness of” beginning with Leviticus 18:6. The literal translation of this Hebrew verse is “Oh man, oh man, do not come near to any of your blood relatives to uncover the nakedness, I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 18:6)

The prohibitions which follow address uncovering the nakedness of or genital sexual intercourse with one’s mother, stepmother, sister, grand daughter, half sister, aunt, uncle’s wife, daughter in law, and sister in law. Ham’s sexual assault of his biological mother seems to be a better explanation for the curse against the incestuous offspring, Canaan. The territory belonging to Canaan along with its inhabitants will be a source of pain and conflict for the family of Israel throughout the Old Testament. The negative undertone of the Land of Canaan may connect to the incestuous assault of Ham with his mother.

The Genesis 6-10 pathogenesis ends with a genealogy of Noah, the ark maker’s family. The Noah snap shot transitions with reconciliation and reconnection to the big picture of sexual health in chapters 1-5. Noah’s family is blessed by God. The Creator repeats the command for human beings to be ‘fruitful and increase’ connecting with the opening passages of Genesis. Genesis 1-5 paints the picture of foundation for sexual health and Genesis 6-11 illustrates boundaries protecting children from abuse. Now humankind has awareness of not only the intimacy of sexual health from Genesis 1-5, but clarity on the pathogenesis or decline to unhealthy sexuality of Genesis 6-11. When humans move away from intimacy with God and one another, sexuality trends toward coercion, violence, and nihilism. When humans engage God intimately, sexual health appears spiritual, beautiful, pleasurable, compassionate, balanced, and reconciliatory.