Bereshit (Genesis) 6 — The LORD’s Regret and the World Before the Flood

The LORD’s Regret and the Question of Authority

In Bereshit (Genesis) 6 of the Torah, the narrative states that the LORD regretted creating people.

This statement raises a fundamental question. What does it mean for a “divine figure” to regret what he has made?

If the Almighty is understood as the Creator of the Universe, the idea of regret appears difficult to reconcile with such perfection. Regret implies a recognition that something has gone wrong or that an action must be reconsidered.

For this reason the passage invites reflection on the role of the figure called the LORD within the narrative. The text portrays a being who reacts to events within the created world rather than one who stands beyond them in complete knowledge.

The Moral Condition of the World Before the Flood

The verses of Bereshit 6 describe a world in which human behavior has become deeply corrupted. Violence and disorder dominate society, and the thoughts of the human heart are described as continually inclined toward evil — a moral decline already visible in earlier passages of Bereshit such as the story of Cain and Abel.

Within the narrative this condition leads to the decision of the LORD that culminates in the Flood narrative later described in the chapter — the destruction of much of the world.

In this reading, the Flood marks a turning point between an earlier structure of the world and the more closed condition in which humanity later lived. What is happening now is the final stage of the full cycle, when the old order weakens, hidden influences lose their former power, and each soul becomes more clearly revealed through its own choices.

Civilizational Cycles and the Revelation of Symbols

The revelation of the seven lampstands (Menorah) — the seven sacred tables, the six-pointed star often called the Shield of David, and other forms reflecting the order of creation shows that humanity has approached the end of a long civilizational cycle.

This is why the corruption described in Bereshit 6 is not only a story about the past. It is also a warning about the condition of the world at the end of the cycle.

The questions raised here continue in later passages of Bereshit, including the story of Abraham’s trial in Bereshit 22.

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* The text is quoted from the Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures, published by JPS (1985). ↑ back