2 Peter 2:5

2 Peter 2:5. and spared not the old world, but preserved Noah, the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly. The second historical instance of the penal justice of God does not appear in the companion statement of Jude. On the other hand, Jude introduces as his first case another historical event to which Peter makes no reference here, namely the Divine punishment of the unbelieving Israelites who had been delivered out of Egypt. The ‘flood' is described here by the term (= cataclysm) which is used in Matthew 24:38-39, and by the Greek Version of the O. T. (Genesis 5:17). The region of the flood is termed not only ‘the old (or, ‘ancient') world,' but also ‘the world of the ungodly,' the fact that it had practically become the absolute possession of the ungodly being the reason for God's act of judgment. Noah is designated ‘a preacher (or, ‘herald') of righteousness,' in explanation of his exemption. He is styled ‘the eighth person,' or as it may be rendered (with the R. V.), ‘with seven others,' simply in reference to the historical fact. There is nothing to suggest that Peter intended the phrase to convey any mystical meaning, as if, e.g., it served as a symbol of the completeness of the saved Church. It expresses, however, the fewness of the righteous in comparison with the world-wide multitude of the ungodly. The number of those saved from the Deluge is specified also in 1 Peter 3:20. Perhaps in mentioning this case, and the following, Peter had in mind his Lord's own words (Luke 17:26; Luke 17:29). The verb rendered ‘saved' by the A. V. means simply to keep, or guard, and is supposed by some to refer particularly here to the words ‘shut him in' in the narrative of Genesis (Genesis 7:16).