1 And after a time, when men were increasing on the earth, and had daughters,
2 The sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair; and they took wives for themselves from those who were pleasing to them.
3 And the Lord said, My spirit will not be in man for ever, for he is only flesh; so the days of his life will be a hundred and twenty years.
4 There were men of great strength and size on the earth in those days; and after that, when the sons of God had connection with the daughters of men, they gave birth to children: these were the great men of old days, the men of great name.
5 And the Lord saw that the sin of man was great on the earth, and that all the thoughts of his heart were evil.
6 And the Lord had sorrow because he had made man on the earth, and grief was in his heart.
7 And the Lord said, I will take away man, whom I have made, from the face of the earth, even man and beast and that which goes on the earth and every bird of the air; for I have sorrow for having made them.
8 But Noah had grace in the eyes of God.
9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was an upright man and without sin in his generation: he went in the ways of God.
10 And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11 And the earth was evil in God's eyes and full of violent ways.
12 And God, looking on the earth, saw that it was evil: for the way of all flesh had become evil on the earth.
13 And God said to Noah, The end of all flesh has come; the earth is full of their violent doings, and now I will put an end to them with the earth.
14 Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood with rooms in it, and make it safe from the water inside and out.
15 And this is the way you are to make it: it is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high.
16 You are to put a window in the ark, a cubit from the roof, and a door in the side of it, and you are to make it with a lower and second and third floors.
17 For truly, I will send a great flow of waters over the earth, for the destruction from under the heaven of all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything on the earth will come to an end.
18 But with you I will make an agreement; and you will come into the ark, you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you.
19 And you will take with you into the ark two of every sort of living thing, and keep them safe with you; they will be male and female.
20 Two of every sort of bird and cattle and of every sort of living thing which goes on the earth will you take with you to keep them from destruction.
21 And make a store of every sort of food for yourself and them.
22 And all these things Noah did; as God said, so he did.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Genesis 6
Commentary on Genesis 6 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 6
Ge 6:1-22. Wickedness of the World.
2. the sons of God saw the daughters of men—By the former is meant the family of Seth, who were professedly religious; by the latter, the descendants of apostate Cain. Mixed marriages between parties of opposite principles and practice were necessarily sources of extensive corruption. The women, religious themselves, would as wives and mothers exert an influence fatal to the existence of religion in their household, and consequently the people of that later age sank to the lowest depravity.
3. flesh—utterly, hopelessly debased.
And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive—Christ, as God, had by His Spirit inspiring Enoch, Noah, and perhaps other prophets (1Pe 3:20; 2Pe 2:5; Jude 14), preached repentance to the antediluvians; but they were incorrigible.
yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years—It is probable that the corruption of the world, which had now reached its height, had been long and gradually increasing, and this idea receives support from the long respite granted.
4. giants—The term in Hebrew implies not so much the idea of great stature as of reckless ferocity, impious and daring characters, who spread devastation and carnage far and wide.
5, 6. God saw it … repented … grieved—God cannot change (Mal 3:6; Jas 1:17); but, by language suited to our nature and experience, He is described as about to alter His visible procedure towards mankind—from being merciful and long-suffering, He was about to show Himself a God of judgment; and, as that impious race had filled up the measure of their iniquities, He was about to introduce a terrible display of His justice (Ec 8:11).
8. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord—favor. What an awful state of things when only one man or one family of piety and virtue was now existing among the professed sons of God!
9. Noah … just … and perfect—not absolutely; for since the fall of Adam no man has been free from sin except Jesus Christ. But as living by faith he was just (Ga 3:2; Heb 11:7) and perfect—that is, sincere in his desire to do God's will.
11. the earth was filled with violence—In the absence of any well-regulated government it is easy to imagine what evils would arise. Men did what was right in their own eyes, and, having no fear of God, destruction and misery were in their ways.
13. And God said unto Noah—How startling must have been the announcement of the threatened destruction! There was no outward indication of it. The course of nature and experience seemed against the probability of its occurrence. The public opinion of mankind would ridicule it. The whole world would be ranged against him. Yet, persuaded the communication was from God, through faith (Heb 11:7), he set about preparing the means for preserving himself and family from the impending calamity.
14. Make thee an ark—ark, a hollow chest (Ex 2:3).
gopher wood—probably cypress, remarkable for its durability and abounding on the Armenian mountains.
rooms—cabins or small cells.
pitch it within and without—mineral pitch, asphalt, naphtha, or some bituminous substance, which, when smeared over and become hardened, would make it perfectly watertight.
15. And this is the fashion—According to the description, the ark was not a ship, but an immense house in form and structure like the houses in the East, designed not to sail, but only to float. Assuming the cubit to be 21.888 inches, the ark would be five hundred forty-seven feet long, ninety-one feet two inches wide, and forty-seven feet two inches high.
16. A window—probably a skylight, formed of some transparent substance unknown.
in a cubit shalt thou finish it above—a direction to raise the roof in the middle, seemingly to form a gentle slope for letting the water run off.
17-22. And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood—The repetition of the announcement was to establish its certainty (Ge 41:32). Whatever opinion may be entertained as to the operation of natural laws and agencies in the deluge, it was brought on the world by God as a punishment for the enormous wickedness of its inhabitants.
18. But with thee will I establish my covenant—a special promise of deliverance, called a covenant, to convince him of the confidence to be reposed in it. The substance and terms of this covenant are related at Ge 6:19-21.
22. Thus did Noah—He began without delay to prepare the colossal fabric, and in every step of his progress faithfully followed the divine directions he had received.