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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
G E N E S I S
CHAP. VI.
The most remarkable thing we have upon record concerning the
old world is the destruction of it by the universal deluge, the
account of which commences in this chapter, wherein we have,
I. The abounding iniquity of that wicked world,
and
II. The righteous God’s just resentment of that
abounding iniquity, and his holy resolution to punish
it,
III. The special favour of God to his servant Noah.
1. In
the character given of him,
2. In the communication
of God’s purpose to him,
3. In the directions he
gave him to make an ark for his own safety,
4. In
the employing of him for the preservation of the rest of the
creatures,
Lastly, Noah’s obedience to the instructions
given him,
And this concerning the old world
is written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the new
world have come.
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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.
For the glory of God’s justice, and for
warning to a wicked world, before the history
of the ruin of the old world, we have a full
account of its degeneracy, its apostasy from
God and rebellion against him. The destroying
of it was an act, not of an absolute sovereignty,
but of necessary justice, for the
maintaining of the honour of God’s government.
Now here we have an account of two
things which occasioned the wickedness of
the old world:–
1. The increase of mankind:
Men began to multiply upon the face of the
earth. This was the effect of the blessing
(ch. i. 28),
and yet man’s corruption so abused
and perverted this blessing that it was turned
into a curse. Thus sin takes occasion by
the mercies of God to be the more exceedingly
sinful.
When the wicked are
multiplied, transgression increaseth. The more
sinners the more sin; and the multitude of offenders
emboldens men. Infectious diseases
are most destructive in populous cities;
and sin is a spreading leprosy. Thus in the
New-Testament church, when the number of
the disciples was multiplied, there arose a
murmuring
(Acts vi. 1),
and we read of a
nation that was multiplied, not to the increase
of their joy,
Numerous families
need to be well-governed, lest they become
wicked families.
2. Mixed marriages
(v. 2):
The sons of God (that is, the professors of
religion, who were called by the name of the
Lord, and called upon that name), married
the daughters of men, that is, those that were
profane, and strangers to God and godliness.
The posterity of Seth did not keep by themselves,
as they ought to have done, both for
the preservation of their own purity and in
detestation of the apostasy. They intermingled
themselves with the excommunicated
race of Cain: They took them wives of all
that they chose. But what was amiss in these
marriages?
(1.) They chose only by the
eye: They saw that they were fair, which was
all they looked at.
(2.) They followed the
choice which their own corrupt affections
made: they took all that they chose, without
advice and consideration. But,
(3.) That
which proved of such bad consequence to
them was that they married strange wives,
were unequally yoked with unbelievers,
2 Cor. vi. 14.
This was forbidden to Israel,
It was the unhappy occasion of
Solomon’s apostasy
and was of bad consequence to the Jews after
their return out of Babylon,
Note, Professors of religion, in marrying
both themselves and their children, should
make conscience of keeping within the bounds
of profession. The bad will sooner debauch
the good than the good reform the bad.
Those that profess themselves the children
of God must not marry without his consent,
which they have not if they join in affinity
with his enemies.
3 And the LORD said, My spirit
shall not always strive with man, for
that he also is flesh: yet his days
shall be a hundred and twenty years.
This comes in here as a token of God’s
displeasure at those who married strange
wives; he threatens to withdraw from them
his Spirit, whom they had grieved by such
marriages, contrary to their convictions:
fleshly lusts are often punished with spiritual
judgments, the sorest of all judgments. Or
as another occasion of the great wickedness
of the old world; the Spirit of the Lord,
being provoked by their resistance of his
motions, ceased to strive with them, and then
all religion was soon lost among them. This
he warns them of before, that they might not
further vex his Holy Spirit, but by their
prayers might stay him with them. Observe
in this verse,
I. God’s resolution not always to strive
with man by his Spirit. The Spirit then
strove by Noah’s preaching
and by inward checks, but it was in vain
with the most of men; therefore, says God,
He shall not always strive. Note,
1. The
blessed Spirit strives with sinners, by the
convictions and admonitions of conscience,
to turn them from sin to God.
2. If the
Spirit be resisted, quenched, and striven
against, though he strive long, he will not
strive always,
3. Those are
ripening apace for ruin whom the Spirit of
grace has left off striving with.
II. The reason of this resolution: For that
he also is flesh, that is, incurably corrupt, and
carnal, and sensual, so that it is labour lost
to strive with him. Can the Ethiopian
change his skin? He also, that is, All, one
as well as another, they have all sunk into
the mire of flesh. Note,
1. It is the corrupt
nature, and the inclination of the soul towards
the flesh, that oppose the Spirit’s
strivings and render them ineffectual.
2. When a sinner has long adhered to that
interest, and sided with the flesh against the
Spirit, the Spirit justly withdraws his agency,
and strives no more. None lose the Spirit’s
strivings but those that have first forfeited
them.
III. A reprieve granted, notwithstanding:
Yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty
years; so long I will defer the judgment
they deserve, and give them space to prevent
it by their repentance and reformation. Justice
said, Cut them down; but mercy interceded,
Lord, let them alone this year also;
and so far mercy prevailed, that a reprieve
was obtained for six-score years. Note, The
time of God’s patience and forbearance towards
provoking sinners is sometimes long,
but always limited: reprieves are not pardons;
though God bear a great while, he will not
bear always.
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.
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.
We have here a further account of the
corruption of the old world. When the sons
of God had matched with the daughters of
men, though it was very displeasing to God,
yet he did not immediately cut them off, but
waited to see what would be the issue of
these marriages, and which side the children
would take after; and it proved (as usually
it does), that they took after the worst side.
Here is,
I. The temptation they were under to
oppress and do violence. They were giants,
and they were men of renown; they became
too hard for all about them, and carried all
before them, 1. With their great bulk, as
the sons of Anak,
2. With
their great name, as the king of Assyria,
These made them the terror
of the mighty in the land of the living; and,
thus armed, they daringly insulted the rights
of all their neighbours and trampled upon
all that is just and sacred. Note, Those
that have so much power over others as to
be able to oppress them have seldom so
much power over themselves as not to oppress;
great might is a very great snare to many.
This degenerate race slighted the honour
their ancestors had obtained by virtue and
religion, and made themselves a great name
by that which was the perpetual ruin of
their good name.
II. The charge exhibited and proved
against them,
v. 5.
The evidence produced
was incontestable. God saw it, and that
was instead of a thousand witnesses. God
sees all the wickedness that is among the
children of men; it cannot be concealed from
him now, and, if it be not repented of, it
shall not be concealed by him shortly. Now
what did God take notice of?
1. He observed
that the streams of sin that flowed along in
men’s lives, and the breadth and depth of
those streams: He saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth. Observe the
connection of this with what goes before:
the oppressors were mighty men and men of
renown; and, then, God saw that the wickedness
of man was great. Note, The wickedness
of a people is great indeed when the
most notorious sinners are men of renown
among them. Things are bad when bad
men are not only honoured notwithstanding
their wickedness, but honoured for their
wickedness, and the vilest men exalted.
Wickedness is then great when great men
are wicked. Their wickedness was great,
that is, abundance of sin was committed in
all places, by all sorts of people; and such
sin as was in its own nature most gross, and
heinous, and provoking; it was committed
daringly, and with a defiance of heaven, nor
was any care taken by those that had power
in their hands to restrain and punish it.
This God saw. Note, All the sins of sinners
are known to God the Judge. Those that
are most conversant in the world, though
they see much wickedness in it, yet they
see but little of that which is; but God sees
all, and judges aright concerning it, how
great it is, nor can he be deceived in his
judgment.
2. He observed the fountain of
sin that was in men’s hearts. Any one might
see that the wickedness of man was great, for
they declared their sin as Sodom; but God’s
eye went further: He saw that every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil
continually–a sad sight, and very offensive
to God’s holy eye! This was the bitter root,
the corrupt spring: all the violence and
oppression, all the luxury and wantonness,
that were in the world, proceeded from the
corruption of nature; lust conceived them,
See
(1.) The heart was naught; it was deceitful and desperately
wicked. The principles were corrupt,
and the habits and dispositions evil.
(2.) The thoughts of the heart were so.
Thought is sometimes taken for the settled
judgment or opinion, and this was bribed,
and biased, and misled; sometimes it signifies
the workings of the fancy, and these were
always either vain or vile, either weaving the
spider’s web or hatching the cockatrice’s egg.
(3.) The imagination of the thoughts of the
heart was so, that is, their designs and
devices were wicked. They did not do evil
through mere carelessness, as those that
walk at all adventures, not heeding what
they do; but they did evil deliberately and
designedly, contriving how to do mischief.
It was bad indeed; for it was only evil, continually
evil, and every imagination was so.
There was no good to be found among them,
no, not at any time: the stream of sin was
full, and strong, and constant; and God saw
it; see
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6 And it repented the LORD that
he had made man on the earth, and
it grieved him at his heart.
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.
Here is,
I. God’s resentment of man’s
wickedness. He did not see it as an unconcerned
spectator, but as one injured and
affronted by it; he saw it as a tender father
sees the folly and stubbornness of a rebellious
and disobedient child, which not
only angers him, but grieves him, and makes
him wish he had been written childless.
The expressions here used are very strange:
It repented the Lord that he had made man
upon the earth, that he had made a creature
of such noble powers and faculties, and had
put him on this earth, which he built and
furnished on purpose to be a convenient,
comfortable, habitation for him; and it
grieved him at his heart. These are expressions
after the manner of men, and
must be understood so as not to reflect upon
the honour of God’s immutability or felicity.
1. This language does not imply
any passion or uneasiness in God (nothing
can create disturbance to the Eternal Mind),
but it expresses his just and holy displeasure
against sin and sinners, against sin as odious
to his holiness and against sinners as obnoxious
to his justice. He is pressed by
the sins of his creatures
(Amos ii. 13),
wearied
broken
(Ezek. vi. 9),
grieved
(Ps. cxv. 10),
and here grieved to
the heart, as men are when they are wronged
and abused by those they have been very
kind to, and therefore repent of their kindness,
and wish they had never fostered that
snake in their bosom which now hisses in
their face and stings them to the heart.
Does God thus hate sin? And shall we not
hate it? Has our sin grieved him to the
heart? And shall we not be grieved and
pricked to the heart for it? O that this
consideration may humble us and shame us,
and that we may look on him whom we
have thus grieved, and mourn!
2. It does not imply any change of God’s
mind; for he is in one mind, and who can
turn him? With him there is not variableness.
But it expressed a change of his way.
When God had made man upright, he rested
and was refreshed
and his
way towards him was such as showed he
was pleased with the work of his own hands;
but, now that man had apostatized, he could
not do otherwise than show himself displeased;
so that the change was in man,
not in God. God repented that he had
made man; but we never find him repenting
that he redeemed man (though that was a
work of much greater expense), because
special and effectual grace is given to secure
the great ends of redemption; so that those
gifts and callings are without repentance,
Rom. xi. 29.
II. God’s resolution to destroy man for
his wickedness,
v. 7.
Observe,
1. When God
repented that he had made man, he resolved
to destroy man. Thus those that truly repent
of sin will resolve, in the strength of
God’s grace, to mortify sin and to destroy
it, and so to undo what they have done
amiss. We do but mock God in saying
that we are sorry for our sin, and that it
grieves us to the heart, if we continue to
indulge it. In vain do we pretend a change
of our mind if we do not evidence it by a
change of our way.
2. He resolves to destroy
man. The original word is very significant:
I will wipe off man from the earth
(so some), as dirt or filth is wiped off from
a place which should be clean, and is thrown
to the dunghill, the proper place for it. See
Those that are the spots
of the places they live in are justly wiped
away by the judgments of God. I will blot
out man from the earth (so others), as those
lines which displease the author are blotted
out a book, or as the name of a citizen is
blotted out of the rolls of the freemen, when
he is dead or disfranchised.
3. He speaks
of man as his own creature even when he
resolves upon his ruin: Man whom I have
created. “Though I have created him, this
shall not excuse him,”
He that made him will not save him; he that is
our Creator, if he be not our ruler, will be
our destroyer. Or, “Because I have created
him, and he has been so undutiful and ungrateful
to his Creator, therefore I will destroy
him:” those forfeit their lives that do
not answer the end of their living.
4. Even
the brute-creatures were to be involved in
this destruction–Beasts, and creeping things,
and the fowls of the air. These were made for
man, and therefore must be destroyed with
man; for it follows: It repenteth me that I
have made them; for the end of their creation
also was frustrated. They were made that
man might serve and honour God with
them; and therefore were destroyed because
he had served his lusts with them, and made
them subject to vanity.
5. God took up
this resolution concerning man after his
Spirit had been long striving with him in
vain. None are ruined by the justice of
God but those that hate to be reformed by
the grace of God.
8 But Noah found grace in the
eyes of the LORD.
9 These are the
generations of Noah: Noah was a
just man and perfect in his generations,
and Noah walked with God.
10 And Noah begat three sons,
Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
We have here Noah distinguished from
the rest of the world, and a peculiar mark of
honour put upon him.
1. When God was
displeased with the rest of the world, he favoured
Noah: But Noah found grace in the
eyes of the Lord,
v. 8.
This vindicates God’s
justice in his displeasure against the world,
and shows that he had strictly examined the
character of every person in it before he pronounced
it universally corrupt; for, there
being one good man, he found him out, and
smiled upon him. It also magnifies his
grace towards Noah that he was made a vessel
of God’s mercy when all mankind besides
had become the generation of his wrath:
distinguishing favours bring under peculiarly
strong obligations. Probably Noah did not
find favour in the eyes of men; they hated
and persecuted him, because both by his life
and preaching he condemned the world. But
he found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and
this was honour and comfort enough. God
made more account of Noah than of all the
world besides, and this made him greater
and more truly honourable than all the
giants that were in those days, who became
mighty men and men of renown. Let this
be the summit of our ambition, to find grace
in the eyes of the Lord; herein let us labour,
that, present or absent, we may be accepted
of him,
Those are highly favoured
whom God favours.
2. When the
rest of the world was corrupt and wicked,
Noah kept his integrity: These are the generations
of Noah (this is the account we have
to give of him), Noah was a just man,
v. 9.
This character of Noah comes in here either,
(1.) As the reason of God’s favour to him;
his singular piety qualified him for singular
tokens of God’s loving-kindness. Those
that would find grace in the eyes of the
Lord must be as Noah was and do as Noah
did; God loves those that love him: or,
(2.) As the effect of God’s favour to him. It was
God’s good-will to him that produced this
good work in him. He was a very good
man, but he was no better than the grace of
God made him,
Now observe
his character.
[1.] He was a just man, that
is, justified before God by faith in the promised
seed; for he was an heir of the righteousness
which is by faith,
Heb. xi. 7.
He was
sanctified, and had right principles and dispositions
implanted in him; and he was
righteous in his conversation, one that made
conscience of rendering to all their due, to
God his due and to men theirs. Note,
None but a downright honest man can
find favour with God. That conversation
which will be pleasing to God must be governed
by simplicity and godly sincerity, not
by fleshly wisdom,
2 Cor. i. 12.
God has
sometimes chosen the foolish things of the
world, but he never chose the knavish things
of it.
[2.] He was perfect, not with a sinless
perfection, but a perfection of sincerity;
and it is well for us that by virtue of the
covenant of grace, upon the score of Christ’s
righteousness, sincerity is accepted as our
gospel perfection.
[3.] He walked with God,
as Enoch had done before him. He was
not only honest, but devout; he walked, that
is, he acted with God, as one always under
his eye. He lived a life of communion with
God; it was his constant care to conform
himself to the will of God, to please him,
and to approve himself to him. Note, God
looks down upon those with an eye of favour
who sincerely look up to him with an eye of
faith. But,
[4.] That which crowns his
character is that thus he was, and thus he
did, in his generation, in that corrupt degenerate
age in which his lot was cast. It is
easy to be religious when religion is in
fashion; but it is an evidence of strong faith
and resolution to swim against a stream to
heaven, and to appear for God when no one
else appears for him: so Noah did, and it
is upon record, to his immortal honour.
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11 The earth also was corrupt before
God, and the earth was filled
with violence.
12 And God looked
upon the earth, and, behold, it was
corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted
his way upon the earth.
The wickedness of that generation is here
again spoken of, either as a foil to Noah’s
piety–he was just and perfect, when all the
earth was corrupt; or as a further justification
of God’s resolution to destroy the
world, which he was now about to communicate
to his servant Noah.
1. All kinds of
sin was found among them, for it is said
(v. 11)
that the earth was,
(1.) Corrupt before
God, that is, in the matters of God’s worship;
either they had other gods before him,
or they worshipped him by images, or they
were corrupt and wicked in despite and
contempt of God, daring him and defying him
to his face.
(2.) The earth was also filled
with violence and injustice towards men.
There was no order nor regular government;
no man was safe in the possession of that
which he had the most clear and incontestable
right to, no, not the most innocent life;
there was nothing but murders, rapes, and
rapine. Note, Wickedness, as it is the
shame of human nature, so it is the ruin of
human society. Take away conscience and
the fear of God, and men become beasts and
devils to one another, like the fishes of the
sea, where the greater devour the less. Sin
fills the earth with violence, and so turns the
world into a wilderness, into a cock-pit.
2. The proof and evidence of it were undeniable;
for God looked upon the earth, and was
himself an eye-witness of the corruption that was
in it, of which before,
v. 5.
The righteous
Judge in all his judgments proceeds
upon the infallible certainty of his own omniscience,
3. That which
most aggravated the matter was the universal
spreading of the contagion: All flesh had
corrupted his way. It was not some particular
nations or cities that were thus wicked,
but the whole world of mankind were so;
there was none that did good, no, not one
besides Noah. Note, When wickedness has
become general and universal ruin is not far
off; while there is a remnant of praying
people in a nation, to empty the measure as
it fills, judgments may be kept off a great while;
but when all hands are at work to
pull down the fences by sin, and none stand
in the gap to make up the breach, what can
be expected but an inundation of wrath?
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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.
14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood;
rooms shalt thou make in the ark,
and shalt pitch it within and without
with pitch.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Here it appears indeed that Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. God’s favour
to him was plainly intimated in what he
said of him,
where his name is
mentioned five times in five lines, when
once might have served to make the sense
clear, as if the Holy Ghost took a pleasure
in perpetuating his memory; but it appears
much more in what he says to him in these
verses–the informations and instructions
here given him.
I. God here makes Noah the man of his
counsel, communicating to him his purpose to
destroy this wicked world by water. As, afterwards,
he told Abraham his resolution concerning
Sodom
Shall I hide from
Abraham?) so here “Shall I hide from Noah
the thing that I do, seeing that he shall become
a great nation?” Note, The secret of
the Lord is with those that fear him
(Ps. xxv. 14);
it was with his servants the prophets
(Amos iii. 7),
by a spirit of revelation, informing
them particularly of his purposes;
it is with all believers by a spirit of wisdom
and faith, enabling them to understand and
apply the general declarations of the written
word, and the warnings there given. Now,
1. God told Noah, in general, that he
would destroy the world
(v. 13):
The end of
all flesh has come before me; I will destroy
them; that is, the ruin of this wicked
world is decreed and determined; it has
come, that is, it will come surely, and come
quickly. Noah, it is likely, in preaching to
his neighbours, had warned them, in general,
of the wrath of God that they would bring
upon themselves by their wickedness, and
now God seconds his endeavours by a particular
denunciation of wrath, that Noah
might try whether this would work upon
them. Hence observe, (1.) That God confirmeth
the words of his messengers,
Isa. xliv. 26.
(2.) That to him that has, and
uses what he has for the good of others, more
shall be given, more full instructions.
2. He told him, particularly, that he would
destroy the world by a flood of waters:
And behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of
waters upon the earth,
v. 17.
God could
have destroyed all mankind by the sword of
an angel, a flaming sword turning every way,
as he destroyed all the first-born of the
Egyptians and the camp of the Assyrians;
and then there needed no more than to set a
mark upon Noah and his family for their
preservation. But God chose to do it by a
flood of waters, which should drown the
world. The reasons, we may be sure, were
wise and just, though to us unknown. God
has many arrows in his quiver, and he may
use which he please: as he chooses the rod
with which he will correct his children, so
he chooses the sword with which he will cut
off his enemies. Observe the manner of
expression: “I, even I, do bring a flood; I that
am infinite in power, and therefore can do
it, infinite in justice, and therefore will do it.”
(1.) It intimates the certainty of the judgment:
I, even I, will do it. That cannot but
be done effectually which God himself undertakes
the doing of. See
(2.) It intimates the tendency of it to God’s
glory and the honour of his justice. Thus
he will be magnified and exalted in the earth,
and all the world shall be made to know that
he is the God to whom vengeance belongs;
methinks the expression here is somewhat
like that,
Ah, I will ease me of
mine adversaries.
II. God here makes Noah the man of his
covenant, another Hebrew periphrasis of a
friend
(v. 18):
But with thee will I establish
my covenant.
1. The covenant of providence,
that the course of nature shall be continued
to the end of time, notwithstanding the interruption
which the flood would give to it.
This promise was immediately made to Noah and
his sons,
&c. They were as
trustees for all this part of the creation, and
a great honour was thereby put upon him
and his.
2. The covenant of grace, that
God would be to him a God and that out of
his seed God would take to himself a people.
Note,
(1.) When God makes a covenant,
he establishes it, he makes it sure, he makes
it good; his are everlasting covenants.
(2.) The covenant of grace has in it the recompence
of singular services, and the fountain
and foundation of all distinguishing favours;
we need desire no more, either to make up
our losses for God or to make up a happiness
for us in God, than to have his covenant
established with us.
III. God here makes Noah a monument
of sparing mercy, by putting him in a way to
secure himself in the approaching deluge,
that he might not perish with the rest of the
world: I will destroy them, says God, with
the earth,
v. 13.
“But make thee an ark;
I will take care to preserve thee alive.”
Note, Singular piety shall be recompensed
with distinguishing salvations, which are in
a special manner obliging. This will add
much to the honour and happiness of glorified
saints, that they shall be saved when
the greatest part of the world is left to perish.
Now,
1. God directs Noah to make an ark,
v. 14-16.
This ark was like the hulk of a
ship, fitted not to sail upon the waters
(there was no occasion for that, when there
should be no shore to sail to), but to float
upon the waters, waiting for their fall. God
could have secured Noah by the ministration
of angels, without putting him to any care,
or pains, or trouble, himself; but he chose
to employ him in making that which was to
be the means of his preservation, both for
the trial of his faith and obedience and to
teach us that none shall be saved by Christ
but those only that work out their salvation.
We cannot do it without God, and he will
not without us. Both the providence of
God, and the grace of God, own and crown
the endeavours of the obedient and diligent.
God gave him very particular instructions
concerning this building, which could not
but be admirably well fitted for the purpose
when Infinite Wisdom itself was the architect.
(1.) It must be made of gopher-wood.
Noah, doubtless, knew what sort of wood
that was, though we now do not, whether
cedar, or cypress, or what other.
(2.) He
must make it three stories high within.
(3.) He must divide it into cabins, with partitions,
places fitted for the several sorts of
creatures, so as to lose no room.
(4.) Exact
dimensions were given him, that he might
make it proportionable, and might have room
enough in it to answer the intention and no
more. Note, Those that work for God must
take their measures from him and carefully
observe them. Note, further, It is fit that
he who appoints us our habitation should
fix the bounds and limits of it.
(5.) He must
pitch it within and without–without, to shed
off the rain, and to prevent the water from
soaking in–within, to take away the bad
smell of the beasts when kept close. Observe,
God does not bid him paint it, but
pitch it. If God gives us habitations that
are safe, and warm, and wholesome, we are
bound to be thankful, though they are not
magnificent or nice.
(6.) He must make a
little window towards the top, to let in light,
and (some think) that through that window
he might behold the desolations to be made
in the earth.
(7.) He must make a door in
the side of it, by which to go in and out.
2. God promises Noah that he and his
shall be preserved alive in the ark
(v. 18):
Thou shalt come into the ark. Note, What
we do in obedience to God, we ourselves are
likely to have the comfort and benefit of.
If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself.
Nor was he himself only saved in the ark,
but his wife, and his sons, and his sons’ wives.
Observe,
(1.) The care of good parents; they
are solicitous not only for their own
salvation, but for the salvation of their families,
and especially their children.
(2.) The
happiness of those children that have godly
parents. Their parents’ piety often procures
them temporal salvation, as here; and it
furthers them in the way to eternal salvation,
if they improve the benefit of it.
IV. God here makes Noah a great blessing
to the world, and herein makes him an eminent
type of the Messiah, though not the
Messiah himself, as his parents expected,
1. God made him a preacher to the
men of that generation. As a watchman, he
received the word from God’s mouth, that
he might give them warning,
Thus, while the long-suffering of God waited,
by his Spirit in Noah, he preached to the old
world, who, when Peter wrote, were spirits in
prison
and herein he was
a type of Christ, who, in a land and age
wherein all flesh had corrupted their way,
went about preaching repentance and warning
men of a deluge of wrath coming.
2. God made him a saviour to the inferior creatures,
to keep the several kinds of them from
perishing and being lost in the deluge,
This was a great honour put upon
him, that not only in him the race of mankind
should be kept up, and that from him
should proceed a new world, the church, the
soul of the world, and Messiah, the head of
that church, but that he should be instrumental
to preserve the inferior creatures, and
so mankind should in him acquire a new
title to them and their service.
(1.) He was
to provide shelter for them, that they might
not be drowned. Two of every sort, male
and female, he must take with him into
the ark; and lest he should make any difficulty
of gathering them together, and getting
them in, God promises
(v. 20)
that they shall
of their own accord come to him. He that
makes the ox to know his owner and his
crib then made him know his preserver and
his ark.
(2.) He was to provide sustenance
for them, that they might not be starved,
He must victual his ship according to
the number of his crew, that great family
which he had now the charge of, and according
to the time appointed for his confinement.
Herein also he was a type of Christ,
to whom it is owing that the world stands,
by whom all things consist, and who preserves
mankind from being totally cut off
and ruined by sin; in him the holy seed is
saved alive, and the creation rescued from
the vanity under which it groans. Noah
saved those whom he was to rule, so does
Christ,
22 Thus did Noah; according to all
that God commanded him, so did he.
Noah’s care and diligence in building the
ark may be considered,
1. As an effect of his
faith in the word of God. God had told him
he would shortly drown the world; he believed
it, feared the threatened deluge, and,
in that fear, prepared the ark. Note, We
ought to mix faith with the revelation God
has made of his wrath against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men; the
threatenings of the word are not false alarms.
Much might have been objected against the
credibility of this warning given to Noah.
“Who could believe that the wise God, who
made the world, should so soon unmake it
again, that he who had drawn the waters off
the dry land
should cause them
to cover it again? How would this be reconciled
with the mercy of God, which is
over all his works, especially that the innocent
creatures should die for man’s sin?
Whence could water be had sufficient to
deluge the world? And, if it must be so,
why should notice be given of it to Noah
only?” But Noah’s faith triumphed over
all these corrupt reasonings.
2. As an act
of obedience to the command of God. Had
he consulted with flesh and blood, many objections
would have been raised against it.
To rear a building, such a one as he never
saw, so large, and of such exact dimensions,
would put him upon a great deal of care, and
labour, and expense. It would be a work of
time; the vision was for a great while to
come. His neighbours would ridicule him
for his credulity, and he would be the song
of the drunkards; his building would be
called Noah’s folly. If the worst came to the
worst, as we say, each would fare as well as
his neighbours. But these, and a thousand
such objections, Noah by faith got over. His
obedience was ready and resolute: Thus did
Noah, willingly and cheerfully, without murmuring
and disputing. God says, Do this,
and he does it. It was also punctual and
persevering: he did all exactly according to
the instructions given him, and, having
begun to build, did not leave off till he had
finished it; so did he, and so must we do.
3. As an instance of wisdom for himself,
thus to provide for his own safety. He
feared the deluge, and therefore prepared the
ark. Note, When God gives warning of
approaching judgments, it is our wisdom and
duty to provide accordingly. See
Exod. ix. 20, 21; Ezek. iii. 18.
We must prepare to
meet the Lord in his judgments on earth, flee
to his name as a strong tower
enter into our chambers
especially prepare to meet him at death
and in the judgment of the great day, build
upon Christ the Rock
go into Christ the Ark.
4. As intended for
warning to a careless world; and it was fair
warning of the deluge coming. Every blow
of his axes and hammers was a call to repentance,
a call to them to prepare arks too.
But, since by it he could not convince the
world, by it he condemned the world,
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