INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 6 This chapter gives an account of the wickedness of the old world, both among the profane and the professors of religion, which was taken notice of and resented by God, upon which he determined the destruction of it, Genesis 6:1 only one man, Noah, is excepted, who found fa... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN MEN BEGAN TO MULTIPLY UPON THE FACE OF THE EARTH,.... Either mankind in general, or rather the posterity of Cain, who were mere natural men, such as they were when born into the world, and as brought up in it, destitute of the grace of God, and of the knowledge and fear of... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT THE SONS OF GOD SAW THE DAUGHTERS OF MEN, THAT THEY WERE FAIR,.... Or "good" k, not in a moral but natural sense; goodly to look upon, of a beautiful aspect; and they looked upon, and only regarded their external beauty, and lusted after them: those "sons of God" were not angels either good or... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD SAID,.... Not to Noah, as in Genesis 6:13 for, as yet, he is not taken notice of, or any discourse addressed to him; but rather to or within himself, he said what follows, or thus concluded, and resolved on in his own mind: MY SPIRIT SHALL NOT ALWAYS STRIVE WITH MAN; meaning either the... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE WERE GIANTS IN THE EARTH IN THOSE DAYS,.... That is, in the days before the sons of God took the daughters of men for wives, in such a general manner as before declared, or before the declension and apostasy became so universal; even in the times of Jared, as the Arabic writers n understand it... [ Continue Reading ]
AND GOD SAW THE WICKEDNESS OF MAN WAS GREAT IN THE EARTH,.... That it spread throughout the earth, wherever it was inhabited by men, both among the posterity of Cain and Seth, and who indeed now were mixed together, and become one people: this respects actual transgressions, the wicked actions of me... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT REPENTED THE LORD THAT HE HAD MADE MAN ON THE EARTH,.... Because of the wickedness of man, the wickedness of his heart, and the wickedness of his life and conversation, which was so general, and increased to such a degree, that it was intolerable; wherefore God could have wished, as it were,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD SAID,.... Not to the angels, nor to Noah, but within himself, on observing to what a height the sin of man had got, and what a spread it made on the earth: I WILL DESTROY MAN, WHOM I HAVE CREATED, FROM THE FACE OF THE EARTH; though he is my creature, the work of my hands, I have made h... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT NOAH FOUND GRACE IN THE EYES OF THE LORD. This man and his family were the only exception to the general apostasy; God always reserves some, in the worst of times, for himself; there is a remnant, according to the election of grace; it was but a small one, and that now appeared; and this was owi... [ Continue Reading ]
THESE ARE THE GENERATIONS OF NOAH,.... Or this is the account of his posterity, of the persons that were generated by him, that sprung from him, and peopled the earth after the flood, who are mentioned in the next verse, what follows being to be put in a parenthesis; as the genealogy of Adam is carr... [ Continue Reading ]
AND NOAH BEGAT THREE SONS, SHEM, HAM, AND JAPHETH. When he was five hundred years of age, and before the flood came upon the earth; and when it was so wicked as is next described: of these sons of his, and of the order in which they are placed, Genesis 5:32.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE EARTH ALSO WAS CORRUPT BEFORE GOD,.... That is, the inhabitants of the earth were corrupt in their lives and conversations; they were corrupt both in principle and practice, and did abominable things; and those corruptions were, according to Jarchi, uncleanness and idolatry; they were corrupt in... [ Continue Reading ]
AND GOD LOOKED UPON THE EARTH, AND, BEHOLD, IT WAS CORRUPT,.... This is spoken as if he had never looked upon it before; whereas his eyes are always upon the earth, and the inhabitants of it, and upon all their ways and works: but this denotes the special notice he took, and the particular observati... [ Continue Reading ]
AND GOD SAID UNTO NOAH,.... This is a proof that he found favour in his eyes, since he spake to him, and told him what he had observed, and what he was determined to do, and gave him directions to make an ark for the security of himself and family, when he should destroy the world: THE END OF ALL F... [ Continue Reading ]
MAKE THEE AN ARK OF GOPHER WOOD,.... It is not called a ship, for it was not made for sailing to any distant parts, but an ark or chest, being like one, flat bottomed, and ridged and sloping upwards, and was made for floating on the waters for a little way. So Lucian c, and other Heathen writers, ca... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THIS [IS THE FASHION] WHICH THOU SHALL MAKE IT OF,.... The form and size of it, its length, breadth, and height, as follows: THE LENGTH OF THE ARK [SHALL BE] THREE HUNDRED CUBITS, THE BREADTH OF IT FIFTY CUBITS, AND THE HEIGHT OF IT THIRTY CUBITS; which some interpret of geometrical cubits, eac... [ Continue Reading ]
A WINDOW SHALT THOU MAKE TO THE ARK,.... Or a "light", such as is that at noon, for which the word in the dual number is used; and therefore Junius and Tremellius translate it a "clear light". The Jewish writers s will have it to be a precious stone, a pearl which Noah fetched from the river Pison,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND, BEHOLD, I, EVEN I, DO BRING A FLOOD OF WATERS UPON THE EARTH,.... That there was such a flood of waters brought upon the earth, is confirmed by the testimonies of Heathen writers of all nations; only instead of Noah they put some person of great antiquity in their nation, as the Chaldeans, Sisi... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT WITH THEE WILL I ESTABLISH MY COVENANT,.... Made with Noah at this time, though not expressed, that on his making an ark, as God directed him, and going into it at his command, he would preserve him while building it from the rage of wicked men, and save him in it and his family, when the flood... [ Continue Reading ]
AND OF EVERY LIVING THING OF ALL FLESH, TWO OF EVERY SORT SHALT THOU BRING INTO THE ARK,.... That is, of fowls, cattle, and creeping things, as after explained; and two of each sort at least were to be brought, as Jarchi observes, and not fewer; though of the clean sort there were to be more, even s... [ Continue Reading ]
OF FOWLS AFTER THEIR KIND, AND OF CATTLE AFTER THEIR KIND, OF EVERY CREEPING THING OF THE EARTH AFTER HIS KIND,.... What before is generally expressed by "every living thing", is here particularly explained of every sort of them; and from the order of them some have thought that in the same manner t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND TAKE THOU UNTO THEE OF ALL FOOD THAT IS EATEN,.... By man and beast; of which see Genesis 1:29 AND THOU SHALL GATHER [IT] TO THEE; to lay up in the ark: AND IT SHALL BE FOR FOOD FOR THEE, AND FOR THEM: during the flood, a quantity sufficient for them: and according to the calculation of learne... [ Continue Reading ]
THUS DID NOAH,.... Or "and" or "therefore Noah made" o the ark; and "all things", as the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions: ACCORDING TO ALL THAT GOD COMMANDED HIM, SO DID HE; he made the ark according to the pattern God gave him, he gathered together food for himself and family, and for all th... [ Continue Reading ]