Genesis
6
1 And it came
to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth,
and daughters
were born unto them, 2 That the
sons of God saw the
daughters of men that
they were fair; and they took them wives of all which
they chose. And it
came to pass. Literally, it was; not in immediate
sequence to
the preceding chapter, but at
some earlier point in the antediluvian period;
perhaps about the time of Enoch
(corresponding to that of Lamech the Cainite),
if not in the days of Enos. Havernick joins the passage
with ch. 4:26. When
men -
ha'adham, i.e. the human race in general, and not the posterity of Cain in
particular
(Ainsworth, Rosenmüller, Bush) - began to
multiply - in virtue of the Divine
blessing (ch. 1:28)
- on (or over) the face of the earth. "Alluding
to the
population spreading itself out as
well as increasing" (Bonar). And daughters
were born unto them. Not referring to any special
increase of the female sex
(Lange), but simply
indicating the quarter whence the danger to the pious
Sethites rose: "who became snares to the race of Seth" (Wordsworth).
That the sons of God. Bene-ha Elohim.
1. Not young men of the upper
ranks, as distinguished from maidens of humble
birth (Onk., Jon., Sym., Aben Ezra); an opinion which "may now be regarded
as exploded" (Lange).
2. Still less the angels
(Septuagint - some manuscripts having ἄγγελοι τοῦ θεοῦ -
angeloi tou Theou - Philo, Josephus, Justin Martyr, Clement, Tertullian, Luther, Gesenius,
Rosenmüller, Von Bohlen, Ewald, Baumgarten, Delitzsch, Kurtz, Hengstenberg,
Alford);
for:
(a) they
are either good angels,
in which case they might be rightly styled sons
of God (Psalm 29:1; 89:7; Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7; Daniel 3:25), though it is
doubtful
if this
expression does not denote their official rather than natural relationship
to God, but
it is certain they would not be guilty of the sin here referred to;
or they are
bad angels, in which ease they might readily enough commit the sin,
if it were
possible, but certainly they would not be called "the sons of God."
(b) The statement of Jude (Jude
1:6-7), though seemingly in favor of this
nterpretation, does
not necessarily require it; since
(α) it is uncertain whether the phrase "τὸν ὅμοιον
τούτοις τρόπον
ἐκπορνεύσασαι καὶ ἀπελθοῦσαι
ὀπίσω σαρκὸς ἑτέρας
- ton omoion
toutois tropon ekrorneusasai kai apelthousai opiso sarkos heteras -
similarly in the same way as these, upon
prostituting themselves
out and going after other flesh,
refers to the angels or to αἱ περὶ αὐτὰς
πόλεις, - hai peri autas poleis - their surrounding cities, in which case
the
antecedent of τούτοις (these)
will not be the ἀγγέλοι (angels) of v. 6,
but Σόδομα καὶ Γόμοῥῤα - Sodoma kai Gomorra -
of v. 7;
(β) if even it refers to the angels it does not follow that the
parallel between
the cities
and the angels consisted in the "going after strange flesh,"
and
not rather
in the fact that both departed from God, "the sin of the apostate
angels
being in God s view a sin of like kind spiritually with
going
away from God's order of nature after strange flesh" (Fausset);
(γ) again, granting that Jude's language describes the sin of
the angels as
one of
carnal fornication with the daughters of men, the sin of which the
sons of Elohim are represented as guilty is not πορνεία - porneia -
fornication - but the forming of unhallowed
matrimonial alliances.
Hence:
(c) the assertion of our Lord
in Luke 20:35 is
inconsistent with the hypothesis that
by the sons
of God are meant the angels; and
(d) consistent exegesis
requires that only extreme urgency, in fact absolute necessity
(neither of which can be alleged here), should
cause the sons of God to be looked
for
elsewhere than among the members of the human race.
3. The third interpretation, therefore, which regards the sons of God as
the pious
Sethites (Cyril of
Lange, Murphy, Wordsworth,
Quarry, 'Speaker's Commentary'), though not without
its difficulties, has the
most to recommend it.
(a) It is natural, and not
monstrous.
(b) It is Scriptural, and not
mythical (compare Numbers 25; Judges 3;
1 Kings 11,
16; Revelation 2, for sins of
a similar description).
(c) It accords with the
designation subsequently given to the pious
followers of God (compare Deuteronomy 14:1; 32:5; Psalm 73:15;
Proverbs
14:26; Luke 3:38; Romans 8:14; Galatians 3:26).
(d) It has a historical basis
in the fact that Seth was regarded by his
mother as a son from God (ch. 4:25),
and in the circumstance that
already the Sethites had begun
to call themselves by the name of Jehovah
(ibid. v. 26). Dathius
translates, "qui de nomine Dei vocabantur."
(e) It is sufficient as an
hypothesis, and therefore is entitled to the
preference. Saw the daughters of men (not
of the Cainitic race
exclusively, but of men generally) that they were fair,
and had regard
to this alone in contracting marriages. "Instead of looking at the
spiritual kinsmanship, they had an eye
only to the pleasure of sense"
(Lange - It also sounds all too
familiar with what is going on today,
which practices have the same characteristics of the
days of Noah, which
brought about the Flood and are to be harbingers of the
return of Jesus Christ
at the end of time!
CY - 2024). "What the historian condemns
is not that
regard was had to beauty, but that mera libido regnaverit (mere lust reigns)
in the choice of wives" (Calvin). And
they took them wives. Lakachisha,"
a standing expression throughout the Old
Testament for the marriage
relationship established by
God at the creation, is never
applied to
πορνεία, or the simple act of physical connection, which
is sufficient of
itself to exclude any reference to angels" (Keil; compare ch. 4:19;; 19:14;
Exodus 6:25; 1 Samuel 25:43). Of
all whom they chose. The emphasis on
טִכֹּל (of all) signifies
that, guided by a love of merely sensual attractions,
they did not confine themselves to the beautiful
daughters of the Sethite
race, but selected their brides from the fair women of
the Cainites, and
perhaps with a preference for these. The opinion that they
selected
"both virgins and wives,
they cared, not, whom," and "took them by
violence (Willet), is not warranted by the language of the
historian. The
sons of God were neither the Nephilim*
nor the Gibborim** afterwards
described, but the parents of the latter. The evil indicated
is simply that
of promiscuous marriages without regard to spiritual
character.
* The Hebrew word Nephilim
is sometimes translated as "giants", and sometimes
as
its literal meaning "the fallen ones". Their origins are disputed. Some,
including
the
author of the
Others view them as offspring of the
descendants of Seth and Cain.
** In the Hebrew Bible, it is used to
describe people who are valiant, mighty, or of
great
stature. There is some confusion about Gibborim as a
class of beings
because of
the term's use in Genesis 6:4, which describes the Nephilim as
mighty (gibborim).
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3 And the
LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man,
for that
he also is flesh:
yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
And the Lord - Jehovah; not because due to the Jehovist (Tuch, Bleek, Colenso),
but because the sin above
specified was a direct violation of the footing of
grace on which the Sethites stood - said, - to himself, i.e. purposed, My spirit -
neither "ira,
seu rigida Dei justitia" (Venema), nor
"the Divine spirit of life
bestowed upon man, the principle
of physical and ethical, natural and
spiritual life" (Keil); but the Holy Ghost, the Ruach Elohim
of ch.1:2 - shall
not always strive- Lo-gadon.
1. Shall not dwell (Septuagint, οὐ
μὴ καταμείνη
- su mae katametaen -
He should stay behind - Vulgate, non permanebit; Syriac,
Onkelos).
2. Shall not be humbled, i.e. by dwelling in men (Gesenius, Tuch).
3. More probably, shall not rule (De Wette, Delitzsch, Kalisch, Furst),
or shall not judge (οὐ κρίνει - ou krinei), as the consequence of
ruling
(Symmachus, Rosenmüller,
Keil), or shall not contend in judgment
(arguere, reprehendere; compare Ecclesiastes 6:10), i.e. strive with a
man by moral force (Calvin, Michaelis, Dathe, 'Speaker's Commentary,'
Murphy, Bush). With man,
for that he also - beshaggam.
Either
be, shaggam, inf.
of shagag, to wander, with pron. surf. = "in their
wandering" (Gesenius, Tuch, Keil) - the meaning being that men by
their straying had proved
themselves to be flesh, though a
plural suffix with a singular
pronoun following is inadmissible in
Hebrew (Kalisch); or be, sh (contracted from asher), and gain (also) =
quoniam.
Compare Judges 5:7; 6:17; Song of Solomon 1:7 (Authorized
Version). Though an Aramaic
particle, "it must never be
forgotten that
Aramaisms are to be expected
either in the most modern or in the
most ancient portions of Scripture" ('Speaker's
Commentary) - is flesh,
not "transitory
beings" (Gesenius, Rosenmüller,
Tuch), or corporeal
beings (Kalisch),
but
sinful beings; bashar being already employed
in its ethical signification,
like σάρξ - sarx - flesh - in the New
Testament, to denote "man's
materiality as rendered ungodly by
sin"
(Keil).
"The doctrine of the carnal mind (Romans 8.) is merely
the outgrowth, of the thought
expressed in this passage ' (Murphy).
Yet his days -
not the individual's (Kalisch), which were not
immediately
curtailed to the limit
mentioned, and, even after the Flood, extended far
beyond it (vide ch. 11.); but the races, which
were only to be
prolonged in gracious respite
(Calvin) - shall be an hundred and
twenty years. Tuch, Colenso, and others, supposing this to have been
said by God in Noah's 500th
year, find a respite only of 100 years,
instead of 120; but the
historian does not assert that it was then God either
formed or announced this
determination.
Probation,
Approbation, and Reprobation (v. 3)
“And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man,” etc.
The life of man,
whether longer or shorter, is a time during which the Spirit
of God strives
with him. It is at once in
judgment and in mercy that the strife
is not prolonged; for where there is
continued opposition to the will of God
there is continual
laying up of judgment against the day of wrath. (If you
don’t believe it, think of it this way. God has given you another week of life,
from this time last week. If you have not repented of the opportunity
given to
you to repent last week at this time,
then you have a week’s more of sins of
which to seek repentance, and now a week less in your life to do so! CY - 2024)
The allotted time of man upon the earth is sufficient for
the required probation,
clearly manifesting the direction of the will, the decided
choice of the heart.
Here is:
I. THE GREAT MORAL FACT OF MAN’S CONDITION IN HIS
FLESHLY STATE. The striving of
God’s Spirit with him.
1. In the
order of the world and of human life.
2. In the revelation of truth and positive
appeals of the Divine Word.
3. In the constant nearness and influence of spiritual
society.
4. In the working
of conscience and the moral instincts generally.
II. THE DIVINE APPOINTMENT OF SPIRITUAL
PRIVILEGE at once
a righteous limitation and a gracious
concentration. That which is unlimited
is apt to be undervalued. Not always shall
the Spirit strive.
1. Individually
this is testified. A heart
which knows not the day of its
visitation becomes hardened.
2. In the history of spiritual work in
communities. Times of
refreshing
generally followed by withdrawments
of power. The limit of life itself is
before us all. Not always can we hear the
voice and see the open door.
III. THE NATURAL AND THE SPIRITUAL ARE INTIMATELY
RELATED
TO ONE ANOTHER IN THE LIFE OF MAN. He who
decreed the length of days to His creature did
also strive with the evil of his
fallen nature that he might cast it out. The
hundred and twenty years are
seldom reached; but is it not because the evil is
so obstinately retained?
Those whose
spirit is most in fellowship with the Spirit of God are least
weighed down with the burden of the
flesh, are strongest to resist the
wearing, wasting influence of the world.
IV. THE STRIVING OF GOD’S SPIRIT WITH US MAY CEASE.
What follows? To fall on the stone is to be
broken, to be under it is to be
crushed. (Matthew 22:44) The alternative is before
every human life —
to be dealt with as with God or against Him. “Woe
unto him that
striveth with
his Maker!” (Isaiah 45:9) The progressive revelations
of the Bible (to those of you who consider themselves
politically
progressisve, here is an example of what Progressivism reallly is -
CY - 2024) point
to the winding up of all earthly history.
There
will not always strife. Be ye reconciled to God. (II Corinthians\
5:17-21)
The
Striving of the Spirit (v. 3)
This implies:
I. THE DOCTRINE OF HUMAN DEPRAVITY.
II. THE GRANTING OF GOD’S SPIRIT TO OUR FALLEN
WORLD.
III. THAT GOD’S SPIRIT IS OPPOSED BY MAN.
IV. THAT THE EFFORT OF GOD’S SPIRIT FOR MAN’S
SALVATION, EVEN THOUGH UNSUCCESSFUL,
COMES TO AN END.
V. THAT THE STRIVING OF GOD’S SPIRIT COMES TO AN END,
NOT
BECAUSE GOD’S WILLINGNESS TO HELP COMES TO AN
END, BUT
BECAUSE HUMAN NATURE SINKS BEYOND THE
POSSIBILITY OF HELP. (That for God to continue [I will say a
pseudo-civilization],
will only mean more evil and more suffering
eternally apart from God - CY - 2024)
VI. THAT IT BELONGS TO GOD AS SOVERIGN TO
FIX THE DAY OF GRACE.
·
LEARN:
1. The richness of Divine
mercy.
2. The possibility of falling away
beyond the hope of repentance.
3. The
fact that our day of grace is limited.
4. The certainty that, however short, the
day of grace which we
enjoy is available
for
salvation.
4 There were giants
in the earth in those days; and also after that,
when the sons of
God came in unto the daughters of men, and they
bare children to
them, the same became mighty men which were of
old, men of
renown. There were. Not became, or
arose, as if the
giants were the fruit of the
previously-mentioned misalliances; but
already existed contemporaneously
with the sons of God (compare Keil,
Havernick, and Lange). Giants. Nephilim, from naphal, to fall; hence
supposed to describe the offspring
of the daughters of men and the fallen
angels (Hoffman, Delitzsch). The Septuagint, translate by γίγαντες -
gigantes - ;
whence the "giants" of the Authorized Version and Vulgate,
which Luther rejects as
fabulous; but Kalisch, on the strength of Numbers 13:33,
accepts as the certain import of
the term. More probable is the interpretation
which understands them as men of violence, roving, lawless gallants,
"who
fall on others;" robbers, or tyrants (
Luther, Calvin, Kurtz, Keil,. Murphy, 'Speaker's
Commentary'). That they
were "monsters,
prodigies" (Tueh, Knobel),
may be rejected, though it is not
unlikely they were men of large
physical stature, like the Anakim, Rephaim,
and others (ibid.). In
the earth. Not merely on it, but largely occupying
the populated
regions. In those
days. Previously referred to, i.e. of the
mixed marriages. And
also - i.e. in addition to
these nephilim - after
that,
i.e. after their uprising - when the sons of God came in unto the
daughters
of men, and they bare children to them, the same became
mighty men.
Ha'gibborim,
literally, the strong, impetuous, heroes (compare ch.
10:8).
"They were probably
more refined in manners and exalted in thought
than their predecessors of
pure Cainite descent" (Murphy). Which
were
of old. Not "of the world," as a note of
character, taking olam as equivalent
αἰὼν - aion - aeon - to
but a note of time, the narrator reporting from his
own standpoint. Men of renown. Literally, men of the name; "the first
nobility of the world,
honorable robbers, who boasted of their wickedness"
(Calvin) or gallants,
whose names were often in men's mouths (Murphy).
For contrary phrase, "men
of no name," see Job 30:8.
5 And God saw
that the wickedness of man was great in the earth,
and that every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only
evil
continually. And God (Jehovah, which should have been rendered
'the
Lord') saw - indicative of the long-continued patience (Calvin) of the
Deity, under whose immediate
cognizance the great experiment of the
primeval age of the world was
wrought out - that the wickedness (ra'ath; from
the root raa,
to make a loud noise, to rage, hence to be wicked) of man (literally,
of the Adam: this was the first aggravation of the wickedness which God
beheld; it was the
tumultuous rebellion of the being whom He had created
in His own
image) was
great (it was no slight iniquity, but a wide-spread,
firmly-rooted, and
deeply-staining corruption, the second aggravation)
in the earth. This was the third aggravation; it was in the world which
He had made, and not only in it, but pervading it so "that integrity
possessed no longer a single corner" (Calvin). And
that every
imagination - yetzer, a device, like pottery
ware, from yatza, to
fashion as a potter (Ch. 2:7; 8:19). Compare yotzer, a potter, used of God
(Psalm 94:9, 20). Hence the
fashioned purpose (ἐνθύμησις - enthumaesis -
lay to
heart, think much/deeply of - as distinguished from the thought
out
of which it springs -
"a distinction not generally or constantly
recognized by the mental
philosopher, though of essential importance
in the theory of the
mind" (Murphy) - of the thoughts - mahshevoth; from
hashal, to think, to meditate = ἔννοια - ennoia - sense - compare
Hebrews 9:12 (T.
Lewis) - of his heart - or, the
heart, the seat
of the affections and emotions of the mind. Compare:
·
Judges 16:15 (love);
·
Proverbs
31:11 (confidence);
·
Proverbs 5:12 (contempt);
·
Psalm 104:15 (joy).
Here "the feeling, or
deep mother heart, the state of soul, lying below all,
and giving moral character to
all (Lewis). Compare the psychological
division of Hebrews 4:12 - was
only evil continually. Literally, every day.
"If this is
not total depravity, how can language express it?" Though
the phrase does not mean
"from infancy," yet "the general doctrine"
(of
man's total and universal depravity) "is properly
and consistently
elicited hence" (Calvin).
The
Demoralization of the Race (vs. 1-5)
This was due to:
I. THE LONG LIVES OF THE ANTEDILUVIANS. Long
life, if helpful
to the good, is much
more injurious to the wicked. Giants in health and life
are often giants in wickedness.
II. THE UNHOLY
ALLIANCES OF THE SETHITES AND CAINITES.
There is nothing so demoralizing as marriage with an evil woman. Its bad effects
are commonly
transmitted to, and intensified in,
posterity.
III. THE DEPRAVITY INDUCED BY THE FALL, which was universal
in its extent, and gradually deepening in its
intensity.
LESSONS:
1. The
inherent evil of our natures.
2. The
curse clinging to ungodliness.
3. The
true function of worldly sorrows and of frequent and early death.
6 And it
repented the LORD that He had made man on the earth, and
it grieved Him
at His heart. And it repented the Lord. Yinnahem; from naham,
to pant, to groan; Niph., to lament, to grieve because of the misery of
others,
also because of one's own
actions; whence to repent (compare German,
"Verbum
nostae pravitatae accommodatum" (Chrysostom);
"non est
perturbatio, sod judi-cium, quo irrogatur pinna;" and again,
"poenitudo
Dei est mutandorum immutabilis ratio" (Augustine). "Deus est immutabilis;
sed cum ii, quos eurat, mutantur,
murat ipse res, prout ils expedit
quos
eurat" (Justin Martyr: Latin Version). "The repentance here ascribed
to God does not properly
belong to Him, but has reference to our
understanding of Him (Calvin).
"The repentance of God does not
presuppose any variableness in His
nature or purposes" Keil). "A peculiarly
strong anthropathic
expression, which, however, presents the truth that God,
in consistency with His
immutability, assumes a changed position in
respect to changed man"
(Lange). That He had made man on the earth.
i.e. that He had created man at all, and in particular that He had
settled
him on the earth. And
it grieved Him at His heart. A touching indication
that God did not hate man, and
a clear proof that, though the Divine
purpose is immutable, the Divine
nature is not impassible (incapable of
suffering pain).
7 And the
LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from
the face of the
earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing,
and the fowls
of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made
them.
And the Lord said, - "Before weird
(doom) there's word: Northern
Proverb" (Bonar)
- I will destroy - literally, blot or
wipe out by
washing (compare Numbers 5:23; II Kings 21:13; Proverbs 30:20;
Isaiah 25:8). "The
idea of destroying by washing away is peculiarly
appropriate to the Deluge, and the
word is chosen on account of its
significance" (Quarry) - man
whom I have created from the face of the earth.
An
indirect refutation of the angel hypothesis (Keil,
Lange).
If the angels
were the real authors of the
moral corruption of the race, why are they not
sentenced as the serpent was
in Genesis 3:14? Both
man, and beast, and
the creeping thing. Literally, from
man unto beast, etc. The lower
creatures were involved in the
punishment of man neither because
of any moral corruption
which had entered into them, nor as sharing
in the atonement for human
sins (Knobel); but rather on the ground
of man's sovereignty over
the animal world, and its dependence on
him (Keil,
Lange), and in exemplification of that great principle
of Divine government by
which the penal consequences of moral evil
are allowed to extend beyond
the immediate actor (compare Romans 8:20).
For it repenteth me that I
have made them. Vide supra on v. 6.
8 But Noah
found grace in the eyes of the LORD. But Noah found grace.
Hen;
the same letters as in Noah, but reversed (compare ch. 18:3; 39:4;
1 Kings 11:19). The
present is the first occurrence of the word in Scripture.
"Now for the first
time grace finds a tongue to express
its name" (Murphy);
and it clearly signifies the
same thing as in Romans
chapters 4 and 5,
Ephesians 2, Galatians 2, the gratuitous favor of God to sinful men!
The Days That Were Before
the Flood (vs. 1-8)
(Matthew
24:38).
I. SIN INCREASING.
1. Licentiousness raging. The special form it assumed was that of sensuous
gratification,
leading
to a violation of the law of marriage. In the seventh
age
Lamech the Cainite became a
polygamist. By and by the sons
of God,
captivated by the charms of beauty,
cast
aside the bonds of self-restraint
(Proverbs 29:18), and took them wives of all whom they chose.
(a) They married
with ungodly
women,
— beautiful, perhaps talented and
accomplished, like the Adahs,
Naamahs, and Zillahs of the
race of Cain,
but unbelieving
and ungodly, — which, as the professing followers of
Jehovah,
they should not have done. Holy Scripture forbids the union of
believers with unbelievers (II Corinthians 6:14).
(b) They married to please
their fancies, leaving altogether out of
reckoning,
as necessary qualifications in their partners, spiritual affinity,
intellectual compatibility, and even general
suitability, and fixing their eyes
only on what
charmed the senses, physical loveliness.
(c) They
married as many wives as they desired. Lamech, the first
polygamist, was satisfied with two; the degenerate
sons of Seth, having
yielded to self-indulgence, only limited their wives by
the demands of their
passion.
2. Violence
prevailing. Those who begin by breaking the
laws of God are
not likely to end by keeping those of man. From the beginning a
characteristic of the wicked line (witness Cain and Lamech), lawlessness at
length passed over to the holy seed. What with the Nephilim.
on the one
hand (probably belonging to the line of Cain)
and the Gibborim on the
other (the offspring of the degenerate Sethites), the world was overrun
with tyrants. Sheer brute force was the ruler, and
the only code of morals
was “Be
strong.” Moral purity
alone has a God-given right to occupy the
supreme seat of influence and power upon the
earth. (Romans 13:1-7)
After
that, intellectual ability. Mere
physical strength, colossal stature,
immense bulk, were designed for subjection and
subordination.
The subversion of this Divinely
appointed order results in tyranny; and,
of all tyrannies, that of
strong, coarse, passion-driven animalism is the
worst.
And this was the condition of mankind in these antediluvian ages.
And what was
even a worse symptom of the times, the people loved to
have it so. (Jeremiah 5:31)Those
lawless robbers and tyrants and these
reckless, roving gallants were men of name and
fame, in everybody’s
mouth, as the
popular heroes of the day. As
mere physical beauty
was woman’s pathway to marriage, so was sheer
brute force,
displaying itself in feats of daring and of blood,
man’s road to
renown.
3. Corruption deepening. Most appalling is the picture sketched by
the
historian of the condition of the Adam whom God at
first created in His
own image, implying:
(a) Complete extinction of the higher
nature. Through
persistence in the
downward
path of sin it had at length become lost, swallowed up, in the
low, carnal portion of his
being called the “flesh.”
(b) Complete
supremacy of evil — evil in the imaginations, evil in the
thoughts, evil in the heart, nothing but evil; and that not temporarily,
but
always; nor in the case of one or two individuals
merely, but in the case of
all, with one solitary exception.
(c) Complete
insensibility to Divine influences. Hence the withdrawal of
God’s Spirit. There
was no use for further striving to restrain or improve
them; they were “past feeling” (Ephesians
4:19).
II. GOD REPENTNG.
1. A mysterious
fact. “We do not gain much by
attempting to explain
philosophically such states or movements of the Divine
mind. They are
strictly ἄῥῥητα - arrhaeta
- unspeakable; ineffable (too great to be
described in words).
So the Scripture itself represents them —
Isaiah 55:9”
(Taylor Lewis). What is here asserted of the Divine thoughts is
likewise true of the Divine emotions; like the
Deity Himself, they are past
finding out.
2. A real fact. The language
describes something real on the part of God. If
it is figurative, then there must be
something of which it is the figure; and
that something is the
Divine grief and repentance. These,
however, are
realities that belong to a realm which the human intellect cannot
traverse.
As of the Divine
personality man’s personality is but an image or reflection,
so of the Divine affections and emotions are man’s
affections and emotions
only shadows. Man repents when he changes his mind, or his attitude, or
his actions. God repents when His thoughts are
changed, when His feelings
are turned, when His acts are reversed. But
God is “in one
mind, and who
can turn him?” (Job 23:13)
He is “without variableness and shadow
of turning”
(James 1:17); “the same
yesterday, today, and for ever.”
(Hebrews
13:8). Hence we rather try to picture to ourselves
the Divine
penitence as expressive of the changed attitude
which the immutable
Deity maintains
towards things that are opposite, such as
holiness and sin.
3. An
instructive fact, telling us
(a) that the Divine nature is not impassible (not
capable
of suffering or
feeling);
(b) that sin is not the end of man’s creation; and
(c) that a sinful man is a disappointment to God.
4. An
ominous (menacing) fact. As thus explained, the grief and penitence
of God describe the effect which human sin
ever have upon the Divine
nature. It fills Him with heart-felt grief and
pity. It excites
all the
fathomless ocean of sympathy for sinning men with
which His
infinite bosom is filled. But at the same time, and notwithstanding
this, it moves Him to inflict judicial retribution. “And the Lord
said, I will destroy man.”
III. GRACE OPERATING.
1. In restraining
sinners. It
was impossible that God could leave men to
rush headlong to their own destruction without
interposing obstacles in
their path. In the way of these apostates of the
human race He erected quite
a series of barriers to keep them back from
perdition. He gave them:
(a) a gospel of mercy in the promise of the
woman’s seed;
(b) a ministry of mercy, raising up and maintaining
a succession of pious
men to preach the
gospel, and warn them against the ways of sin;
(c) a Spirit of mercy to strive within them;
(d) a providence of mercy:
(a) measuring out to them a long term of years, yet
(b) solemnly reminding
them of their mortality, and finally
(c) giving them a
reprieve,
even after they were sentenced to
destruction.
2. In sarong
believers.
(a) Accepting them
as He accepted Noah;
(b) preserving them amid the general
defection of the times,
as He did Noah, who without
Divine assistance must have
been inevitably
swept away in the general
current of ungodliness;
(c) providing for their
safety against the coming judgment. They
were all removed by
death before the flood came, and Noah was
delivered by the
ark.
·
LESSONS:
1. The terrible degeneracy of human nature.
2. The danger of
mixed marriages.
3. God may pity, but
He must likewise punish, the evil-doer.
4. The day of grace has its limits.
5. If a soul will go to
perdition, it must do so over many mercies.
6. God never leaves Himself without a witness, even in the worst of
times.
The
Work of Sin (vs. 1-8)
The MORAL CHAOS out of which the new order is about to be evolved. We
find these features in the corrupt state depicted.
I. ILL-ASSORTED MARRIAGES. The sons of God — i.e. the
seed of
the righteous, such men as the patriarchs
described in Genesis 5., men who
walked with God, and were His prophets — fell away from
their allegiance
to the Divine order, and
went after the daughters of the Cainites, The self-will
and mere carnal
affections are denoted
by the expression “all whom
they chose.”
II. VIOLENCE AND MILITARY AMBITION. The giants were the
“nephilim,” those who assaulted and fell upon their
neighbors. The increase
of such men is distinctly traced to the corrupt alliances.
III. THE WITHDRAWAL BY JUDGMENT OF THE DIVINE SPIRIT
FROM MAN, by which may be meant not only the individual degeneracy
which we see
exemplified in such a case as Cain, driven out from the
presence of the
Lord, given up to a reprobate mind, and afterwards in
Pharaoh; but the withdrawal of prophecy and such special
spiritual
communications as had been given by such men as Enoch.
IV. THE SHORTENING OF HUMAN LIFE. Since the higher moral
influence of Christianity has been
felt in society during the last three
centuries, it is calculated that the
average length of human life has been
increased twofold. The anthropomorphism of these verses is in
perfect
accordance with the tone of the whole Book of
Genesis, and is not in the
least a perversion of truth. It is rather a
revelation of truth, as anticipating
the great central
fact of revelation, God manifest in the flesh. But why is
God said to have determined to destroy the
face of the earth, the animal
creation with the sinful man? Because the life of man involved
that of the
creatures round him. “The earth is filled with
violence.” To a large extent
the beasts,
creeping things, and fowls of the air participate in the disorder
of the human race, being rendered unnaturally savage and degenerate in
their condition by man’s
disorderly ways.
Moreover, any destruction which
should sweep away a
whole race of men must involve the lower creation.
The defeat of a king is the defeat of his
subjects. In all this corruption and
misery there is yet, by the grace of God, one
oasis of spiritual life, the
family of Noah. He found grace not because he
earned it, but because he
kept what had been
given him, both through
his ancestors and by the work
of the Spirit in his own heart.
9 These are
the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and
perfect in his
generations, and Noah walked with God.
These are the generations of Noah. "
"haec est historia Noachi (Rosenmüller; compare ch.
5:1). Noah (ch. 5:29)
was a just man. צַדִּיק: not of spotless
innocence (Knobel); but upright,
honest, virtuous, pious (vir probus); from צָדַּק, to be straight, hence
to be just; Piel to render just or righteous (Eccl. Lat., justificare),
to declare any one just
or innocent (Gesenius); better "justified"
or
declared righteous, being derived
from the Piel form of the verb (Furst).
"Evidently the
righteousness here meant is that which represents
him as justified in view of
the judgment of the Flood, by reason of
his faith, Hebrews 11:7"
(Lange). "To be just is to be right in point
of law, and thereby entitled
to all the blessings of the acquitted
and justified. When applied
to the guilty this epithet implies
pardon of sin among other
benefits of grace" (Murphy). And perfect.
תָּמִים: complete, whole (τέλειος - teleios - perfect) in the sense not
of sinlessness,
but of moral integrity (Gesenius, Calvin). It
describes
"completeness
of parts rather than of degrees in the renewed character"
(Bush). "The just is the
right in law, the perfect is the tested in
holiness" (Murphy). If,
however, the term is equivalent to the τελείωσις -
teleiosis - complete;perfection - of the Christian system
(1 Corinthians 2:6; Hebrews 7:11), it denotes that
complete readjustment
of the being of a
sinful man to the law of God, both legally and morally,
which is
effected by the whole work of Christ for man and in man;
it is
"the establishment of complete, unclouded, and enduring communion
with God, and
the full realization of a state of peace with Him which,
founded on a true
and ever valid remission of sins, has for its
consummation
eternal
glory" (Delitzsch on Hebrews 7:11). In his generations. בְּדְֹּרֹתַיו,
from דּוּר, to go in a circle; hence
a circuit of years; an age or generation
(generatio, seeulum) of men. The clause marks
not simply the sphere of
Noah's virtue, among his
contemporaries, or only the duration of his
piety, throughout his lifetime,
but
likewise the constancy of his religion,
which, when surrounded by the filth of iniquity on every side, contracted
no contagion (Calvin). "It is
probable, moreover, that he was of pure
descent, and in that
respect also distinguished from his contemporaries,
who were the offspring of promiscuous marriages between the
godly and
the ungodly" (Murphy). And Noah walked with God.
The special form in
which his just and perfect
character revealed itself amongst his sinful
contemporaries. For the
import of the phrase see on ch. 5:22. Noah was
also a preacher of
righteousness (II Peter 2:5),
and probably announced
to the wicked age in which
he lived the coming of the Flood (Hebrews 11:7).
10 And Noah
begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
(compare ch. 5:32).
Here (in the story of the
Flood) if anywhere, observes Rosenmüller, can traces
be detected of two distinct
documents (duorum monumentorum), in the
alternate use of the names of the
Deity, the frequent repetitions of the same
things, and the use of peculiar
forms of expression; and in vs. 9-13, compared
with vs. 5-8, Bleek, Tuch, Colenso,
and others find' the first instance of
needless repetition, on the
supposition of the unity of the narrative, but a
sure index of the Elohistic pen, on the hypothesis of different authors; but
the so-called
"repetition" is explained by remembering that vs. 5-8 forms
the close of a section "bringing down
the history to the point at which the
degeneracy of mankind
causes God to resolve on the destruction of the world,"
while the new section, which
otherwise would begin too abruptly, introduces
the account of the Deluge by
a brief description of its cause (cf. Quarry, p. 367).
The structure of the
narrative here is not different from what it appears
elsewhere (compare ch. 2:4; ; 5:1
11 The earth
also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filledwith
violence.
The earth:
(1) its inhabitants, as in v. 11 (compare ch.
11:1) - mankind being
denominated earth because wholly earthly (Chrysostom);
(2) the land, which had become defiled through their wickedness
(vs. 12-13; compare Psalm 107:34)
also (literally, and the earth) was corrupt - in a moral sense, the causes and forms
of which corruption have
already been detailed in the preceding paragraph. The
term is elsewhere applied to
idolatry, or the sin of perverting and depraving the
worship of God (Exodus 32:7; Deuteronomy 32:5; Judges 2:19; II Chronicles 27:2);
but the special sins
of the antediluvians were rather licentiousness and
lawlessness - before
God - i.e. openly, publicly,
flagrantly, and
presumptuously
(compare
ch. 10:9); noting the intensity of their wickedness,
or intimating
the fact
that God had seen their corruption, and so commending the Divine long-suffering
(Calvin), - and
the earth was filled with violence. "The outward exhibition of
inward carnality" (Murphy); "injurious and cruel dealing, the
violating of
duties towards men, 'rapines or
robberies (Chaldee)'" (Ainsworth). Compare
ch. 49:5; Joel 3:19; Obadiah 1:10
12 And God
looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all
flesh had
corrupted his way upon the earth. And God looked upon the earth.
"God knows at all
times what is doing in our world, but His looking upon the
earth denotes a special
observance of it, as though He had instituted an
inquiry into its real
condition" (Bush; compare Psalm 14:2; 33:13, 14; 80:2-3).
And, behold, it was corrupt. "Everything stood in
sharpest contradiction with
that good state which God the
Creator had established" (Delitzsch, quoted by
Lange). The nature of
this corruption is further indicated. For all flesh,
i.e. the human race, who are so characterized here not so much for
their
frailty (Isaiah 40:5, 6) as for their moral and
spiritual degeneracy
(ch. 6:3, q.v. ) - had
corrupted - skachath (καταφθείρω - kataphtheiro -
was ruining - Septuagint); literally, had destroyed,
wrecked, and ruined,
wholly subverted and overthrown
- his way - derech (from darach, to tread
with
the feet), a going; hence a journey, a way; e.g.
(1) of living or acting (Proverbs 12:15; 1 Samuel
18:44);
(2) of worshipping God - ὁδὸς - hodos - way Acts 19:9, 23;Psalm 139:24;
Amos 8:14). Here it
signifies the entire plan and course of life in all
its ethical and
religious aspects as designed for man by God (compare
Psalm 119:9; and contrast "the way of Cain," Jude 1:11;
"the
way of Balaam," II Peter 2:15)
- upon the earth
13 And God said
unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me;
for the earth
is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I
will destroy
them with the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end. קֵצ (from
Hophal of קָצַצ, to cut off) that which is cut off,
the end of a time (ch. 4:3)
or
of a space (Isaiah 37:24); specially the end or destruction of a people
(Ezekiel 7:2; Amos 8:2), in which sense
it is to be here understood
(Gesenius,
Rosenmüller). The rendering which regards ketz as, like τέλος -
telos - end - the completion,
consummation, fullness of a thing; the limit,
either at which a person or
thing ceases to be what he or it was up to that
point (here of human
fleshliness or wickedness), and the following clause
as epexegetic (additional
explanation) of the present (Bush), though admissible
in respect of Scriptural
usage (compare Jeremiah
51:13; Ecclesiastes
12:13;
Romans 10:4) and
contextual harmony, is scarcely so obvious; while a third,
that the end spoken
of is the issue to which the moral corruption of the world
was inevitably
tending (Keil, Lange), does not materially differ from the
first.
Of all flesh, I.e. of the human race,
of course with the exception of Noah
and his family, which
"teaches us to beware of applying an inflexible
literality to such terms as all, when used in the sense of ordinary conversation"
(Murphy). Is
come before me. Literally, before
my face. Not "a me constitutus
est"
(Gesenius),
"is decreed before my throne" (Kalisch);
but, "is in the contemplation
of my mind as an event soon
to be realized" (Murphy), with perhaps a glance
at the circumstance
that man s ruin had not been sought by God, but, as it
were, had thrust
itself upon his notice as a thing that could no longer be
delayed. If בָּא
לְפָנַי = the similar expression בָּא אֶל, which, when applied
to rumors, signifies to
reach the ear (compare ch. 18:21; Exodus 3:9;
1 Kings 2:28; Esther 9:11), it may likewise
indicate the closeness or near
approach of the impending
calamity. For
the earth is filled with violenc
through them. More correctly, "from their faces; a facie eorum"
(Vulgate).
That is, "the flood of wickedness which
comes up before God's face goes
out from their
face" in the sense of being perpetrated openly (Lange), and
"by
their conscious agency" (Alford). And, behold, I will destroy them.
Literally, and behold me destroying them. The verb is the same as
is
translated "corrupt' in v. 12,
q.v., as if to convey the idea of fitting
retribution (compare 1 Corinthians 3:17: εἴ τις
τὸν ναὸν
τοῦ θεοῦ
δθείρει φθερεῖ
τοῦτον ὁ θεός - eitis ton naon tou Theou dtheirei phtherei
touton ho Theos - if anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy
him. (Revelation 11:18: καὶ διαφθεῖραι
τοὺς διαφθείροντας
τὴν γῆν
-
kai diaphtheirai tous diaphtheirontas taen gaen - and (the time) to destroy
the ones destroying the earth.). Whether
this destruction which was
threatened against the antediluvian sinners
extended to the loss of their
souls throughout eternity may be reasoned (pro and con) from other
Scriptures, but
cannot be determined from this place, which refers solely to the
extinction of their bodily lives. With
the earth. Not from the earth (Samaritan),
or on the earth (Syriac, Rosenmüller), or even the earth, "thus identifying the
earth with its inhabitants" (Bush), but, together
with the earth (Kalisch,
Keil, Alford; compare ch. 9:11; πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν - pasan taen gaen -
all the earth - Septuagint).
14 Make thee an ark of gopher
wood; rooms shalt thou make in the
ark, and shalt
pitch it within and without with pitch. Make thee an ark.
תֵּבַת, constr. of תֵּבָה,
etymology unknown (Gesenius); of Shemitic
origin,
from תָּבָה, to be
hollow (Furst); of Egyptian derivation, a boat being
called
tept (Keil, Kalisch, Knobel); from the Sanskrit pota, a pot or boat (Bohlen);
"a peculiar archaic term for a very unusual thing, like מַבּוּל, the
term for
the Flood itself" (T. Lewis); translated κιβωτός θίβη - kibotos thibae -
wooden boxing -
(Septuagint), area (Vulgate), λάρναξ - larnax - coffer,
box, chest · cinerary urn, coffin, larnax ·
bathtub (Nicolas Damaseenus),
πλοῖον - ploion - floating
vessel - (Berosus);
not a ship in the ordinary
acceptation of the
word, but a box or chest (compare Exodus 2:3) capable
of floating
on the waters. "Similar vessels, generally, however, drawn by
horses or men,
were and are still used in some parts of Europe and
(Kalisch). Of gopher wood. Literally, woods of gopher (גֹפֶר: ἅπαξ λεγόμενον -
hapax legomenon - one time usage - the root
of which, like כפר, seems to
signify to cover
(Kalisch); ligna bituminata (Vulgate);
pitch trees, resinous
trees, such as
are used in ship-building (Gesenius); most likely
cypress,
κυπάρισσος - kuparissos - cypress (Bochart,
Celsius, Keil), which was
used "in
some parts of
"It is said too that the gates of St. Peter's Church at
wood), which
lasted from the time of
i. e. 1100 years, had in that period
suffered no decay" (Bush). Rooms -
kinnim, nests,
applied metaphorically to the chambers of the ark -
shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt
pitch it within and without with pitch.
וְכָפַרְתָּ בַּכֹּפֶר:
literally, shalt cover it with a covering. The substance to be
employed was
probably bitumen or asphalt (ἄσφαλτος - asphaltos - asphalt -
Septuagint
- bitumen, Vulgate). The root (compare English, cover) signifies
also
to pardon sin, i.e. to
cover them from God's sight (Psalm 65:3;
78:38; II Chronicles
30:18), and to make expiation for sin, i.e.
to obtain covering for them (ch. 32:20; Daniel 9:24); whence copher
is used for
a ransom (Exodus 21:30; 30:12), and cap-poreth, the
covering of the
ark (Exodus 25:17), for the mercy-seat (ἱλαστήριον -
hilastaerion - Septuagint; propitiatorium, Vulgate).
15 And this is the fashion which thou shalt make
it of: The length of
the ark shall be three hundred cubits,
the breadth of it fifty cubits,
and the height of it thirty cubits. And
this is the fashion which thou shalt
make it of. The
shape of it is not described, but only its dimensions given.
The length of the ark shall be three
hundred cubits, - a cubit = the length
from the elbow to the middle finger (Deuteronomy 3:11); nearly
twenty-two inches, if the sacred cubit; if the common,
eighteen inches, -
the breadth
of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. With a
cubit of twenty-one inches, the length would he 525
feet, the breadth 87
feet 6 inches, dimensions not dissimilar to those of
the Great Eastern which
is 680 feet long, 83 feet broad, and 58 feet deep.
The cubic contents of
the ark with these dimensions would be 2,411,718'75
feet, which,
allowing forty cubic feet per ton, would give a carrying
capacity equal to
32,800 tons. P. Jansen of
that a ship constructed after the pattern of the ark,
though not adapted
for sailing, would in reality carry a cargo greater
by one-third than any other
form of like cubical content. The difficulty of
building a vessel of such
enormous magnitude, T. Lewis thinks, may be got over by
remembering
the extreme simplicity of its structure, the length
of time allowed for its
erection, the physical constitution of the builders, and
the facilities for
obtaining materials which may have existed in abundance in
their vicinity.
Bishop
Wilkins ('Essay towards a Philosophical Character and Language'),
Dr. A. Clarke, and Bush are satisfied that the ark was large enough
to contain
all the animals directed to be taken into it, along
with provision for a
twelvemonth period; but computations founded on the number of
the species presently existing must of necessity be
precarious; and
besides, it is at least doubtful whether the Deluge was
universal, or
only partial and local, in which case the difficulty
(so called) completely
vanishes.
16 A window shalt thou
make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou
finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side
thereof; with lower, second, and third
stories shalt thou make it.
A window - עֹהַר, from עָהַר,
to shine, hence light (עָהֲרַיִם,
double light,
or light of midday - Genesis 43:16; Jeremiah 6:4). Not the
window which
Noah
afterwards opened to let out the dove, which is called הַלּון (Genesis 8:6),
but obviously a lighting apparatus, which may have
been a series of windows
(Gesenius), scarcely one (Theodotion, θύραν - thuran
- door; Symmachus,
διαφανές - diaphanes - transparent;
Vulgate, fenestram; Kimchi,
Luther,
Calvin);
or an opening running along the top of the sides of the ark, occupied
by some translucent substance, and sheltered by the
eaves of the roof
(Knobel); or, what appears more probable, a light opening in
the upper deck,
stretching along the entire length, and continued down
through the
different stories (Baumgarten,
Lange); or, if the roof sloped, as is most
likely, an aperture along the ridge, which would admit
the clear light
of heaven (tsohar), and serve as a meridional
line enabling Noah and the
inmates of the ark to ascertain the hour of noon (Taylor
Lewis). Keil and
Murphy think we can form no proper conception of the light
arrangement of
the ark. The conjecture of Schultens,
which is followed by Dathius, Michaelis,
Rosenmüller, and others, that the tsohar meant the
covering (tectum, dorsum),
"quo sane hoc aedificium carere non potuit, propter pluviam tot diernm
continuam,"
is obviously incorrect - shalt thou
make to the ark, and in a cubit -
to a cubit, i.e. all but a cubit (T. Lewis);
into a cubit, i.e. to
the extent of a
cubit (Ainsworth); by the cubit, i.e. by a just measure (Kalisch)
- shalt thou
finish it -
not the window (Gesenins, Ewald,
Tueh), the feminine suffix
agreeing with tebah, which is feminine, and not with tsohar, which is masculine;
but the ark - above. Literally, from above to above; i.e., according to the above
interpretations of the preposition, either the roof, after
the construction of the
windows, should be regularly finished "by the just
measure" (Kalisch); or the
roof should be arched but a cubit, that it might be
almost flat (Ainsworth); or
from the eaves up toward the ridge it should be
completed, leaving a cubit open
or unfinished (T. Lewis). And the door of the ark -
the opening which should
admit its inmates - shalt thou
set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and
third stories. The word
stories is not in the original, but some such word must be
supplied. Lunge thinks that each flat or story had an
entrance or door in the side.
17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to
destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of
life, from under heaven;
and every thing that is in the earth
shall die. And, behold, I, even I.
More
correctly, "And I, behold, I,"
an emphatic assertion that what was
coming was a Divine visitation,
and not simply a natural occurrence.
Do bring.
Literally, bringing, the participle standing in place
of the finite
verb to indicate the certainty of the future
action (see Gesenius,
'Gram.,' § 134). A flood of waters upon the earth. מַכּוּל,
pronounced by
Bohlen "far-fetched," "is an archaic word
coined expressly for the
waters of Noah (Isaiah 44:9), and is used nowhere
else except Psalm 29:10
waters upon the earth" (Keil).
The first intimation of the means to be
employed in inflicting judgment on
the morally corrupted world.
To destroy all flesh, wherein is the
breath of life, from under heaven;
and every thing that is in the earth
shall die. The fishes only being
excepted,"either”
(1) because they did not live
in the same element wherein man lived
and sinned.
; or
(2) because they were not so
instrumental in man's sins as the beasts
might be, or,
(3) because
man had a greater command over the beasts than over
the fishes, and
greater service and benefit from them" (Peele).
18 But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come
into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy
wife, and thy sons’ wives
with thee. But
with thee will I establish my covenant. בְּרית (διαθήκη =
diathaekae - covenant
- Septuagint; fae-dus,
Vulgate; testamentum,
New
Testament), from בָּרַא, to cut
or carve; hence a covenant, from
the custom of passing between the divided pieces of
the victims slain
on the occasion of making such solemn compacts (compare
ch. 15:9;
Gesenius); from בָּרַה, to eat,
hence an eating together, a banquet
(compare ch. 31:54; Lee). On the Bible
idea of covenant see ch. 15:9.
My covenant = the
already well-known covenant which I have made
with man. And thou shalt
come into the ark, thou, and thy sons,
and thy wife, and thy son's wives with
thee. This was
the substance
of the covenant agreement so far as Noah was
concerned. The next
three verses describe the arrangements about the
animals.
19 And of every living thing
of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou
bring into the ark, to keep them alive
with thee; they shall be male
and female. 20 Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after
their kind,
of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall
come unto thee, to keep them alive. 21 And take thou unto thee of all
food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for
food for thee, and for them. And of
every living thing of all flesh, two
of every sort (literally,
by twos, i.e. in
pairs) shalt thou bring into -
or cause
to enter, i.e. receive them when they come
(v. 20) - the ark, to keep them alive -
literally, to cause to live; ἴνα τρέφης - hina trephaes - in order that you should
be feeding (Septuagint); in order to
preserve alive (sc. the animals) - with thee;
they shall be male and female. Of
fowls after their kind (literally, of the fowl
after its kind), and of cattle after their kind (literally, of the cattle after its kind),
of every creeping thing
of the earth after its kind, two of every sort shall come
unto thee. "Non
hominis actu, sed Dei nutu" (Augustine). Perhaps
through
an instinctive presentment of the impending calamity
(Lange, 'Speaker's
Commentary'). And take thou unto thee of all food that is
eaten, and
thou shalt
gather it to thee (collecting sufficient for a twelve month's
sustenance); and it shall be for food for thee, and for
them.
22 Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did
he. . Thus
did Noah; according to all that God (Elohim; in ch.7:5 it is
Jehovah)
commanded (with respect to the building of the ark, the
receiving of the animals,
the collecting of provisions) him,
so did he.
The
Building of the
I. THE MAN AND
HIS CONTEMPORARIES. A common saying, and
one possessed of a show of wisdom, that a person seldom rises far above
the average goodness,
or sinks far below the average wickedness, of the
age in
which he lives.
Yet it is precisely in proportion as individuals either
excel or fall beneath their
generation that they are able to affect it for good
or evil. All epoch-making
men are of this stamp. Noah, it is obvious, was
not a man whose character was shaped by his
contemporaries. In respect of
three things, the contrast
between him and them was as great and decided
as could well be imagined.
1. Legal
standing. Noah
was a just man, i.e. a sinner justified by his
believing acceptance of the gospel promise of the
woman’s seed; while
they were corrupt, or had declined into infidelity.
2. Spiritual character. Noah was perfect in the sense that his
heart was
right
with God, and his nature was renewed by Divine grace; His
contemporaries were wanting
in all the essential characteristics of true
being, “alienated from the life
of God through
the ignorance that was
in them, because of the hardness of their hearts.” (Ephesians 4:18)
3. Outer walk. As a consequence the daily life of Noah was
one of eminent
piety — a walking with God, like that of
Enoch; while theirs was one of
impious defiance of the laws of God, and ruthless oppression
of the rights
of men. Learn:
(a) that it is
quite possible to be pious in the midst of evil times; and
(b)
that only a life of close communion with God will prevent one from
being overborne by the wickedness of his age.
II. THE EVENT
AND ITS OCCASION. The event was:
1. Appalling
in its form. The
destruction of a world by a flood of waters.
“In
the beginning,” at God’s command, the goodly fabric had risen from
the waters (ch. 1:2; II
Peter 3:5), radiant in beauty, swimming
in a sea of light, rejoicing its Creator’s heart (ch.1:31); now it was
about to return to the dark and formless matrix whence it sprang.
If
the world’s birth woke music among the morning stars (Job 38:7),
surely its destruction was enough to make the
angels weep!
2. Universal
in its sweep. Without engaging at
present in any controversy
as to the actual extent of the Deluge, we may notice
that Elohim represents
it as destructive of the entire human race (Noah and
his family excepted).
Considering
the impression made upon our hearts by the report of some
sudden accident (the explosion of a mine, the sinking of
a ship, the collision
of a train), in which a number of lives are lost, it
is not wonderful that the
echo of this stupendous catastrophe should have
vibrated through the
world (see ‘Traditions of the Deluge’).
3. Supernatural in its origin. It was not an ordinary occurrence, but a
distinctly miraculous phenomenon. “Behold, I, even I, do bring a
flood of
waters upon the earth.”
4. Punitive in its purpose. Its retributive character
was distinctly implied in
the form of its announcement — “I will destroy.” All
temporal calamities
are not of this description. That all suffering is
penal was the mistake of
Job’s
friends (Job 4:7, et passim), though not
of Job himself, and
certainly it is not the teaching of the Bible (compare
Job 33:29;Psalm
94:12; Romans 8:28; II Corinthians 4:17). But this was:
5. Melancholy in its occasion — the
total, absolute, and radical corruption
of the earth’s inhabitants. Through unbelief and disobedience they had
ruined the
moral nature which God had given them; and now there was
no help for it but that they should be swept away. (Compare II Chronicles 36:14)
6. Inevitable
in its coming. Implied in one interpretation of the words “the
end of all flesh” (see Exposition). Sin ever carries
its own retribution in its
bosom; not merely, however, in
recoiling upon itself with inward misery,
sense of loss, weakness, depravation; but
likewise in necessitating the
infliction
on the part of Elohim of positive retribution.
7. NEAR
IN ITS APPROACH. “Behold,
I am bringing I” as if it were
already at hand. See here:
(a) the danger of sin;
(b) the certainty of retribution;
(c) the righteousness of the wrath of God;
(d) the
mercy of God in making this known to sinners, as He
foretold
the Flood to the antediluvians.
III. THE
COMMISSION AND ITS EXECUTION.
1. It related to the safety of the Church (v. 18). At that time the
antediluvian Church was small,
consisting only of Noah and his family
(ch. 7:1), and in all probability uninfluential
and despised, by the
Gibborim and Nephilim
of the day ridiculed and oppressed. Endangered by
the immorality and violence of the times, it was likewise imperiled by the
impending Deluge. Yet God never leaves his people
unprotected or
unprovided
for (Deuteronomy
33:12; Psalm 34:15; 46:5; Zechariah 2:5;
II Peter 2:9). The Church of God and Christ is imperishable (Isaiah 54:17;
Matthew
16:18; 18:14). That was symbolized to
(Exodus
3:2), and to all postdiluvian
time by the ark.
It was impossible
that God could be unconcerned about the safety of the
believing remnant
in antediluvian times. The commission which came to Noah concerned
the
rescue of himself and children.
2. It was Divinely given (vs. 13-14). Salvation is of the Lord (Psalm 3:8;
Jonah 2:9). Manifestly only God could have provided
for the safety
of Noah and his family. Directions from any other
quarter, or even
expedients devised by himself, must
have proved both futile and
presumptuous. So, whatever
instructions may be given to man with a view
to salvation must come from God, if they are to be
successful. Schemes of
redemption may be beautiful,
ingenious, attractive, hopeful; if they are not
God’s
schemes they are worthless (Isaiah 43:11; Hosea 13:4).
3. It was minutely detailed (vs. 14-16). The plan
which God proposed to
Noah for the salvation of
himself and house was building of an ark
according to Divinely-prepared
specifications. In its construction there was
no room left for the
exercise of inventive genius. Like the tabernacle in the
wilderness, it was fashioned
according to a God-given pattern. And
so, in
all that concerns the salvation of sinful
men, from first to last the plan is
God’s, admitting neither of addition nor
subtraction, correction nor
improvement, at the hands of the men themselves.
4. It was believingly received (Hebrews 11:7). Perhaps
the last device
that would ever have suggested
itself to the mind of Noah, very likely
ridiculed by his contemporaries as
an act of folly, probably at times
regarded with considerable
misgivings by the patriarch himself, and
certainly an
undertaking that would involve immense labor, patient
endurance, heroic self-sacrifice, it was yet accepted in a spirit of meek and
unquestioning faith. And so should it be with us. When God speaks we
should hear. When He directs we should obey.
5. It was obediently carried through (v. 22). This was the best
test of his
faith. Where obedience is absent,
faith is not present. Faith always
discovers its existence by
obedience (Hebrews 11:8).
·
LEARN:
(1) God’s
care of His people.
(2) The
sufficiency of God’s plan of salvation.
(3) The wisdom of implicitly following God’s directions.
The
Obedience of Noah (V. 22)
II. PROMPT
IN ITS OPERATION.
III. LABORIOUS IN
ITS EXERCISE.
IV. UNIVERSAL
IN ITS EXTENT.
V. PERSEVERING
IN ITS COURSE.
VI. SUCCESSFUL
IN ITS END.
—
Righteousness and Peace (vs. 9-22)
The
description of Noah is very similar to that of Enoch, just and perfect in
his generation, that is, blameless in his
walk before men, which is
saying
much of one who lived in a time of
universal corruption. And he walked
with God, i.e. devout and religious, and, from the
analogy of the preceding
use of the words, we may say,
a prophet. He preached righteousness both
with lip and life. To this good and great
prophet the announcement is made
of the coming judgment. “The
secret of the Lord is with them that fear
Him, and He will show them His covenant.” (Psalm 25:14) The earth is
filled with
violence through men, and therefore with man must be
destroyed. With the message of judgment there
is also the message of
mercy, as at the first.
THE
AFTERWARDS (compare 1 Peter.
3:19-22). The offer of salvation was a
trial of faith. God did not Himself
provide the ark; it was made by the hands of
men, of earthly materials,
with ordinary earthly measurements and
appointments, and prepared as for an
ordinary occasion. There was nothing
in the visible ark to
stumble faith; but, as it was connected with a positive
commandment and prophecy, it was a
demand on the simple faith of the
true child of God, which is of
the nature of obedience. We cannot doubt
that this Divine message to Noah was the
Bible of that time. It appealed to
faith as the word of God. And,
as in all times, with the written or spoken
word there was the unwritten law, the lex
non scripta; for we are told that
“Noah did according to all that
God commanded him, so did he.” In this
primitive dispensation notice these
things:
1. The
righteousness of God is the foundation.
2. The
accordance of the world with God’s heart, as at once commanding
righteousness and hating
violence, is the condition of its preservation.
3. The
mercy of God is connected with His special revelations in and
by the men who have found grace in His
sight.
4. The provisions of redemption are embodied in
an ark, which is the
symbol of Divine ordinances and the
associated life of believers.
5. The
salvation of man is the real end and aim of all
judgments.
6. With the redeemed human
race there is a redeemed earth — creatures
kept alive in the ark to commence, with the family of
God, a new life.
7. While we must not push the
symbology of the Flood too far, still it is
impossible to overlook the figure which the Apostle
Peter saw in the ark
floating on the waters — the Church of Christ as
washed by the Holy
Ghost
in those waters, which represent not the putting away of the filth of
the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward
God. (I Peter 3:21-22)
—
The
Way of Safety (v. 14)
Prediction of deluge and
way of escape were alike trials of faith; beyond
reach of foresight; rejected
or neglected by the world. Key to the typical
meaning, 1 Peter 3:20-21. Baptism
is the initial seal of the Christian
covenant. The text therefore sets
forth salvation through Christ.
“Make thee
an ark.” Why?
I. BECAUSE THE SENTENCE
OF DEATH RESTS UPON ALL MEN
(Romans 5:12) - as in the destruction of first-born (Exodus 11:5).
There
are no exceptions. The covenant people are saved only by the blood;
so here (compare Job 9:30). Men,
even now, are slow to believe this. Maxims
of society contradict it. From
childhood they are trained to live as if there
were no danger, as if there were many things more important
than salvation.
And when the
preacher proclaims (Acts 2:40), men listen, approve and then
go on living as before. Yet
this is the first step towards salvation, the first
work of the Holy Spirit — to
convince the careless (Matthew 16:26) and
well-living people that they cannot save themselves. Until this is done Christ
has no attractiveness (Isaiah
53:2). Who would shut himself up in the ark if there
were no deluge coming? Who
would trust it if another way would afford safety?
“Make thee an ark.”
II. IT
IS GOD’S APPOINTED WAY OF SAFETY.
“The Lord hath made known his
salvation.” (Psalm 98:2) As surely as the
deluge is according to His word, so surely is the way of deliverance
(Romans 5:20). But mark
the way. Can you trust that which seems so frail?
AT THE ROOT
OF SIN LIES UNBELIEF OF GOD’S WORD! This was
caused the fall. God says, Will you trust me?
·
One will say, I live a good life;
is not that the main thing? (compare
1 Corinthians 3:11).
·
Another, I pray that God would love me, and be reconciled to me.
Does He not love thee? (Titus 3:4). Is He not longing for thee?
(Isaiah 1:18).
And
is not this unbelief of what God says? Thou needest indeed to
pray
that the Holy Spirit should
open thine eyes to what God has done. But that
thy prayer may be answered there
must be the will to be taught (Psalm 85:8).
“Make thee an ark.”
III. THE
TEST OF FAITH. There is a faith which does nothing, which
merely accepts a
doctrine. Such was not that of Noah. His life’s work was to
act on what he believed. The
object of our faith is Jesus
Christ, the personal,
living, loving Savior; not merely the doctrine
that He died and rose again.
“Make thee an ark” is more than knowledge
that He is the Deliverer.
It is taking refuge in Him, and walking
in His steps.
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