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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
G E N E S I S
CHAP. VII.
In this chapter we have the performance of what was foretold in
the foregoing chapter, both concerning the destruction of the
old world and the salvation of Noah; for we may be sure that no
word of God shall fall to the ground. There we left Noah busy
about his ark, and full of care to get it finished in time, while
the rest of his neighbours were laughing at him for his pains.
Now here we see what was the end thereof, the end of his care
and of their carelessness. And this famous period of the old
world gives us some idea of the state of things when the world
that now is shall be destroyed by fire, as that was by water. See
We have, in this chapter,
I. God’s gracious call
to Noah to come into the ark
(ver. 1),
and to bring the creatures
that were to be preserved alive along with him
(ver. 2, 3),
in consideration of the deluge at hand,
II. Noah’s obedience
to this heavenly vision,
When he was six hundred years
old, he came with his family into the ark
(ver. 6, 7),
and brought
the creatures along with him
(ver. 8, 9),
an account of which is
repeated
(ver. 13-16),
to which is added God’s tender care to
shut him in.
III. The coming of the threatened deluge
(ver. 10);
the causes of it
(ver. 11, 12):
the prevalency of it,
IV. The dreadful desolations that were made by it in the
death of every living creature upon earth, except those that were
in the ark,
V. The continuance of it in full sea,
before it began to ebb, one hundred and fifty days,
| Noah Invited into the Ark. | B. C. 2349. |
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1 And the LORD said unto Noah,
Come thou and all thy house
into the ark; for thee have I seen
righteous before me in this generation.
2 Of every clean beast thou
shalt take to thee by sevens, the male
and his female: and of beasts that
are not clean by two, the male and
his female.
3 Of fowls also of the
air by sevens, the male and the female;
to keep seed alive upon the
face of all the earth.
4 For yet
seven days, and I will cause it to rain
upon the earth forty days and forty
nights; and every living substance
that I have made will I destroy from
off the face of the earth.
Here is,
I. A gracious invitation of Noah
and his family into a place of safety, now
that the flood of waters was coming,
v. 1.
1. The call itself is very kind, like that of
a tender father to his children, to come in
doors, when he sees night or a storm coming:
Come thou, and all thy house, that small
family that thou hast, into the ark. Observe,
(1.) Noah did not go into the ark till God
bade him; though he knew it was designed
for his place of refuge, yet he waited for a
renewed command, and had it. It is very
comfortable to follow the calls of Providence,
and to see God going before us in every step
we take.
(2.) God does not bid him go into
the ark, but come into it, implying that God
would go with him, would lead him into it,
accompany him in it, and in due time bring
him safely out of it. Note, Wherever we are,
it is very desirable to have the presence of
God with us, for this is all in all to the comfort
of every condition. It was this that
made Noah’s ark, which was a prison, to be
to him not only a refuge, but a palace.
(3.) Noah had taken a great deal of pains to build
the ark, and now he was himself preserved alive
in it. Note, What we do in obedience to the
command of God, and in faith, we ourselves
shall certainly have the comfort of, first or
last.
(4.) Not he only, but his house also,
his wife and children, are called with him
into the ark. Note, It is good to belong to
the family of a godly man; it is safe and
comfortable to dwell under such a shadow.
One of Noah’s sons was Ham, who proved
afterwards a bad man, yet he was saved in
the ark, which intimates,
[1.] That wicked
children often fare the better for the sake of
their godly parents.
[2.] That there is a mixture
of bad with good in the best societies on
earth, and we are not to think it strange. In
Noah’s family there was a Ham, and in
Christ’s family there was a Judas. There is no
perfect purity on this side heaven.
(5.) This
call to Noah was a type of the call which the
gospel gives to poor sinners. Christ is an
ark already prepared, in whom alone we can
be safe when death and judgment come.
Now the burden of the song is, “Come,
come;” the word says, “Come;” ministers
say, “Come;” the Spirit says, “Come, come
into the ark.”
2. The reason for this invitation is a very
honourable testimony to Noah’s integrity:
For thee have I seen righteous before me in
this generation. Observe,
(1.) Those are
righteous indeed that are righteous before
God, that have not only the form of godliness
by which they appear righteous before
men, who may easily be imposed upon, but
the power of it by which they approve themselves
to God, who searches the heart, and
cannot be deceived in men’s characters.
(2.) God takes notice of and is pleased with
those that are righteous before him: Thee
have I seen. In a world of wicked people
God could see one righteous Noah; that
single grain of wheat could not be lost, no,
not in so great a heap of chaff. The Lord
knows those that are his.
(3.) God, that is a
witness to, will shortly be a witness for, his
people’s integrity; he that sees it will proclaim
it before angels and men, to their immortal
honour. Those that obtain mercy to
be righteous shall obtain witness that they
are righteous.
(4.) God is, in a special manner,
pleased with those that are good in bad
times and places. Noah was therefore illustriously
righteous, because he was so in that
wicked and adulterous generation.
(5.) Those
that keep themselves pure in times of common
iniquity God will keep safe in times of
common calamity; those that partake not
with others in their sins shall not partake
with them in their plagues; those that are
better than others are, even in this life, safer
than others, and it is better with them.
II. Here are necessary orders given concerning
the brute-creatures that were to be
preserved alive with Noah in the ark,
They were not capable of receiving the warning
and directions themselves, as man was,
who herein is taught more than the beasts of
the earth, and made wiser than the fowls of
heaven–that he is endued with the power of
foresight; therefore man is charged with the
care of them: being under his dominion,
they must be under his protection; and,
though he could not secure every individual,
yet he must carefully preserve every species,
that no tribe, no, not the least considerable,
might entirely perish out of the creation.
Observe in this,
1. God’s care for man, for
his comfort and benefit. We do not find
that Noah was solicitous of himself about
this matter; but God consults our happiness
more than we do ourselves. Though God
saw that the old world was very provoking,
and foresaw that the new one would be little
better, yet he would preserve the brute creatures
for man’s use. Doth God take care for
oxen?
1 Cor. ix. 9.
Or was it not rather for
man’s sake that this care was taken?
2. Even the unclean beasts, which were least
valuable and profitable, were preserved alive
in the ark; for God’s tender mercies are
over all his works, and not over those only
that are of most eminence and use.
3. Yet
more of the clean were preserved than of the
unclean.
(1.) Because the clean were most
for the service of man; and therefore, in
favour to him, more of them were preserved
and are still propagated. Thanks be to God,
there are not herds of lions as there are of
oxen, nor flocks of tigers as there are of
sheep.
(2.) Because the clean were for sacrifice
to God; and therefore, in honour to
him, more of them were preserved, three
couple for breed, and the odd seventh for
sacrifice,
God gives us six for
one in earthly things, as in the distribution
of the days of the week, that in spiritual
things we should be all for him. What is
devoted to God’s honour, and used in his
service, is particularly blessed and increased.
III. Here is notice given of the now imminent
approach of the flood: Yet seven days,
and I will cause it to rain,
v. 4.
1. “It shall
be seven days yet, before I do it.” After the
hundred and twenty years had expired, God
grants them a reprieve of seven days longer,
both to show how slow he is to anger and
that punishing work is his strange work, and
also to give them some further space for repentance:
but all in vain; these seven days
were trifled away, after all the rest; they
continued secure and sensual until the day
that the flood came.
2. “It shall be but
seven days.” While Noah told them of the
judgment at a distance, they were tempted
to put off their repentance, because the
vision was for a great while to come; but
now he is ordered to tell them that it is at
the door, that they have but one week more
to turn them in, but one sabbath more to improve,
to see if that will now, at last, awaken
them to consider the things that belong to
their peace, which otherwise will soon be
hidden from their eyes. But it is common
for those that have been careless of their
souls during the years of their health, when
they have looked upon death at a distance,
to be as careless during the days, the seven
days, of their sickness, when they see it approaching,
their hearts being hardened by
the deceitfulness of sin.
| The Deluge. | B. C. 2349. |
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5 And Noah did according unto all
that the LORD commanded him.
6 And Noah was six hundred years old
when the flood of waters was upon
the earth.
7 And Noah went in, and
his sons, and his wife, and his sons’
wives with him, into the ark, because
of the waters of the flood.
8 Of clean
beasts, and of beasts that are not clean,
and of fowls, and of every thing
that creepeth upon the earth,
9 There went in two and two unto Noah
into the ark, the male and the female,
as God had commanded Noah.
10 And it came to pass after seven
days, that the waters of the flood were
upon the earth.
Here is Noah’s ready obedience to the
commands that God gave him. Observe,
1. He went into the ark, upon notice that the
flood would come after seven days, though
probably as yet there appeared no visible
sign of its approach, no cloud arising that
threatened it, nothing done towards it, but
all continued serene and clear; for, as he
prepared the ark by faith in the warning given
that the flood would come, so he went into it
by faith in this warning that it would come
quickly, though he did not see that the second
causes had yet begun to work. In every
step he took, he walked by faith, and not by
sense. During these seven days, it is likely,
he was settling himself and his family in the
ark, and distributing the creatures into their
several apartments. This was the conclusion
of that visible sermon which he had long
been preaching to his careless neighbours,
and which, one would think, might have
awakened them; but, not obtaining that desired
end, it left their blood upon their own
heads.
2. He took all his family along with
him, his wife, to be his companion and comfort
(though it should seem that, after this,
he had no children by her), his sons, and his
sons’ wives, that by them not only his family,
but the world of mankind, might be built up.
Observe, Though men were to be reduced
to so small a number, and it would be very
desirable to have the world speedily repeopled,
yet Noah’s sons were each of them to have
but one wife, which strengthens the argument
against having many wives; for from
the beginning of this new world it was not
so: as, at first, God made, so now he kept
alive, but one woman for one man. See
3. The brute creatures
readily went in with him. The same hand
that at first brought them to Adam to be
named now brought them to Noah to be
preserved. The ox now knew his owner, and
the ass his protector’s crib, nay, even the
wildest creatures flocked to it; but man had
become more brutish than the brutes
themselves, and did not know, did not consider,
11 In the six hundredth year of
Noah’s life, in the second month, the
seventeenth day of the month, the
same day were all the fountains of
the great deep broken up, and the
windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was upon the earth
forty days and forty nights.
Here is,
I. The date of this great event;
this is carefully recorded, for the greater certainty
of the story.
1. It was in the 600th year of Noah’s life,
which, by computation, appears to be 1656
years from the creation. The years of the
old world are reckoned, not by the reigns of
the giants, but the lives of the patriarchs;
saints are of more account with God than
princes. The righteous shall be had in everlasting
remembrance. Noah was now a very
old man, even as men’s years went then.
Note,
(1.) The longer we live in this world
the more we see of the miseries and calamities
of it; it is therefore spoken of as the privilege
of those that die young that their eyes
shall not see the evil which is coming,
(2.) Sometimes God exercises his
old servants with extraordinary trials of
obedient patience. The oldest of Christ’s
soldiers must not promise themselves a discharge
from their warfare till death discharge
them. Still they must gird on their harness,
and not boast as though they had put it off.
As the year of the deluge is recorded, so,
2. We are told that it was in the second
month, the seventeenth day of the month, which
is reckoned to be about the beginning of November;
so that Noah had had a harvest just
before, from which to victual his ark.
II. The second causes that concurred to
this deluge. Observe,
1. In the self-same day that Noah was
fixed in the ark, the inundation began. Note,
(1.) Desolating judgments come not till God
has provided for the security of his own
people; see
I can do nothing till
thou be come thither: and we find
that the winds are held till the servants of
God are sealed.
(2.) When good men are
removed judgments are not far off; for they
are taken away from the evil to come,
Isa. lvii. 1.
When they are called into the chambers, hidden
in the grave, hidden in heaven, then God
is coming out of his place to punish,
Isa. xxvi. 20, 21.
2. See what was done on that day, that fatal
day to the world of the ungodly.
(1.) The
fountains of the great deep were broken up.
Perhaps there needed no new creation of
waters; what were already made to be, in the
common course of providence, blessings to
the earth, were now, by an extraordinary act
of divine power, made the ruin of it. God
has laid up the deep in storehouses
and now he broke up those stores.
As our bodies have in themselves those humours
which, when God pleases, become the
seeds and springs of mortal diseases, so the
earth had in it bowels those waters which,
at God’s command, sprang up and flooded it.
God had, in the creation, set bars and doors
to the waters of the sea, that they might not
return to cover the earth
(Ps. civ. 9; Job xxxviii. 9-11);
and now he only removed
those ancient land-marks, mounds, and fences,
and the waters of the sea returned to cover
the earth, as they had done at first,
Note, All the creatures are ready to fight
against sinful man, and any of them is able
to be the instrument of his ruin, if God do
but take off the restraints by which they are
held in during the day of God’s patience.
(2.) The windows of heaven were opened, and
the waters which were above the firmament
were poured out upon the world; those
treasures which God has reserved against the
time of trouble, the day of battle and war,
Job xxxviii. 22, 23.
The rain, which ordinarily
descends in drops, then came down
in streams, or spouts, as they call them in the
Indies, where clouds have been often known
to burst, as they express it there, when the
rain descends in a much more violent torrent
than we have ever seen in the greatest shower.
We read
that God binds up the
waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not
rent under them; but now the bond was
loosed, the cloud was rent, and such rains
descended as were never known before nor
since, in such abundance and of such continuance:
the thick cloud was not, as ordinarily
it is, wearied with waterings
that is, soon spent and exhausted;
but still the clouds returned after the rain,
and the divine power brought in fresh recruits.
It rained, without intermission or
abatement, forty days and forty nights
(v. 12),
and that upon the whole earth at once, not,
as sometimes, upon one city and not upon another.
God made the world in six days, but
he was forty days in destroying it; for he is
slow to anger: but, though the destruction
came slowly and gradually, yet it came effectually.
3. Now learn from this,
(1.) That all the
creatures are at God’s disposal, and that he
makes what use he pleases of them, whether
for correction, or for his land, or for mercy,
as Elihu speaks of the rain,
(2.) That God often makes that which should
be for our welfare to become a trap,
Ps. lxix. 22.
That which usually is a comfort and benefit
to us becomes, when God pleases, a scourge
and a plague to us. Nothing is more needful
nor useful than water, both the springs
of the earth and the showers of heaven; and
yet now nothing was more hurtful, nothing
more destructive: every creature is to us
what God makes it.
(3.) That it is impossible
to escape the righteous judgments of God
when they come against sinners with commission;
for God can arm both heaven and
earth against them; see
God can surround men with the messengers of his
wrath, so that, if they look upwards, it is
with horror and amazement, if they look to
the earth, behold, trouble and darkness,
Isa. viii. 21, 22.
Who then is able to stand before
God, when he is angry?
(4.) In this
destruction of the old world by water God
gave a specimen of the final destruction of
the world that now is by fire. We find the
apostle setting the one of these over against
the other,
As there are waters
under the earth, so Ætna, Vesuvius, and other
volcanoes, proclaim to the world that there
are subterraneous fires too; and fire often
falls from heaven, many desolations are made
by lightning; so that, when the time predetermined
comes, between these two fires the
earth and all the works therein shall be burnt
up, as the flood was brought upon the old
world out of the fountains of the great deep
and through the windows of heaven.
13 In the selfsame day entered
Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth,
the sons of Noah, and Noah’s
wife, and the three wives of his sons
with them, into the ark;
14 They,
and every beast after his kind, and
all the cattle after their kind, and
every creeping thing that creepeth
upon the earth after his kind, and
every fowl after his kind, every bird
of every sort.
15 And they went
in unto Noah into the ark, two and
two of all flesh, wherein is the breath
of life.
16 And they that went in,
went in male and female of all flesh,
as God had commanded him: and
the LORD shut him in.
Here is repeated what was related before
of Noah’s entrance into the ark, with his family
and creatures that were marked for
preservation. Now,
I. It is thus repeated for the honour of
Noah, whose faith and obedience herein shone
so brightly, by which he obtained a good report,
and who herein appeared so great a favourite
of Heaven and so great a blessing to
this earth.
II. Notice is here taken of the beasts going
in each after his kind, according to the
phrase used in the history of the creation
(ch. i. 21-25),
to intimate that just as many kinds
as were created at first were saved now, and
no more; and that this preservation was as a
new creation: a life remarkably protected is,
as it were, a new life.
III. Though all enmities and hostilities
between the creatures ceased for the present,
and ravenous creatures were not only so mild
and manageable as that the wolf and the lamb
lay down together, but so strangely altered as
that the lion did eat straw like an ox
yet, when this occasion was over, the
restraint was taken off, and they were still of
the same kind as ever; for the ark did not
alter their constitution. Hypocrites in the
church, that externally conform to the laws
of that ark, may yet be unchanged, and then
it will appear, one time or other, what kind
they are after.
IV. It is added (and the circumstance deserves
our notice), The Lord shut him in,
v. 16.
As Noah continued his obedience to God, so
God continued his care of Noah: and here
it appeared to be a very distinguishing care;
for the shutting of this door set up a partition
wall between him and all the world besides.
God shut the door,
1. To secure him, and
keep him safe in the ark. The door must be
shut very close, lest the waters should break
in and sink the ark, and very fast, lest any
without should break it down. Thus God
made up Noah, as he makes up his jewels,
Mal. iii. 17.
2. To exclude all others, and
keep them for ever out. Hitherto the door
of the ark stood open, and if any, even during
the last seven days, had repented and
believed, for aught I know they might have
been welcomed into the ark; but now the
door was shut, and they were cut off from all
hopes of admittance: for God shutteth, and
none can open.
V. There is much of our gospel duty and
privilege to be seen in Noah’s preservation in
the ark. The apostle makes it a type of our
baptism, that is, our Christianity,
Observe then,
1. It is our great
duty, in obedience to the gospel call, by a
lively faith in Christ, to come into that way
of salvation which God has provided for poor
sinners. When Noah came into the ark, he
quitted his own house and lands; so must
we quit our own righteousness and our
worldly possessions, whenever they come into
competition with Christ. Noah must, for a
while, submit to the confinements and inconveniences
of the ark, in order to his preservation
for a new world; so those that come
into Christ to be saved by him must deny
themselves, both in sufferings and services.
2. Those that come into the ark themselves
should bring as many as they can in with
them, by good instructions, by persuasions,
and by a good example. What knowest thou,
O man, but thou mayest thus save thy wife
as Noah did his? There is
room enough in Christ for all comers.
3. Those that by faith come into Christ, the ark,
shall by the power of God be shut in, and
kept as in a strong-hold by the power of God,
1 Pet. i. 5.
God put Adam into paradise, but he
did not shut him in, and so he threw himself out;
but when he put Noah into the ark he shut him
in, and so when he brings a soul to Christ
he ensures its salvation: it is not in our own
keeping, but in the Mediator’s hand.
4. The
door of mercy will shortly be shut against
those that now make light of it. Now, knock
and it shall be opened; but the time will come
when it shall not,
17 And the flood was forty days
upon the earth; and the waters increased,
and bare up the ark, and it
was lift up above the earth.
18 And
the waters prevailed, and were increased
greatly upon the earth; and
the ark went upon the face of the
waters.
19 And the waters prevailed
exceedingly upon the earth; and all
the high hills, that were under the
whole heaven, were covered.
20 Fifteen
cubits upward did the waters prevail;
and the mountains were covered.
We are here told,
I. How long the flood was increasing–forty
days,
v. 17.
The profane world, who
believed not that it would come, probably
when it came flattered themselves with hopes
that it would soon abate and never come to
extremity; but still it increased, it prevailed.
Note,
1. When God judges he will overcome.
If he begin, he will make an end; his way is
perfect, both in judgment and mercy.
2. The
gradual approaches and advances of God’s
judgments, which are designed to bring sinners
to repentance, are often abused to the
hardening of them in their presumption.
II. To what degree they increased: they
rose so high that not only the low flat countries
were deluged, but to make sure work,
and that none might escape, the tops of the
highest mountains were overflowed–fifteen
cubits, that is, seven yards and a half; so that
in vain was salvation hoped for from hills or
mountains,
Jer. iii. 23.
None of God’s creatures
are so high but his power can overtop
them; and he will make them know that
wherein they deal proudly he is above them.
Perhaps the tops of the mountains were
washed down by the strength of the waters,
which helped much towards the prevailing of
the waters above them; for it is said
(Job xii. 15),
He sends out the waters, and they not
only overflow, but overturn, the earth. Thus
the refuge of lies was swept away, and the
waters overflowed the hiding-place of those
sinners
and in vain they fly to
them for safety,
Now the mountains
departed, and the hills were removed,
and nothing stood a man in stead but the
covenant of peace,
Isa. liv. 10.
There is no
place on earth so high as to set men out of
the reach of God’s judgments,
God’s hand will find out all his
enemies,
Ps. xxi. 8.
Observe how exactly they
are fathomed (fifteen cubits), not by Noah’s
plummet, but by his knowledge who weighs
the waters by measure,
Job xxviii. 25.
III. What became of Noah’s ark when the
waters thus increased: It was lifted up above
the earth
(v. 17),
and went upon the face of the
waters,
v. 18.
When all other buildings were
demolished by the waters, and buried under
them, the ark alone subsisted. Observe,
1. The waters which broke down every thing
else bore up the ark. That which to unbelievers
is a savour of death unto death is
to the faithful a savour of life unto life.
2. The more the waters increased the higher
the ark was lifted up towards heaven. Thus
sanctified afflictions are spiritual promotions;
and as troubles abound consolations much
more abound.
21 And all flesh died that moved
upon the earth, both of fowl, and of
cattle, and of beast, and of every
creeping thing that creepeth upon the
earth, and every man:
22 All in
whose nostrils was the breath of life,
of all that was in the dry land, died.
23 And every living substance was
destroyed which was upon the face of
the ground, both man, and cattle,
and the creeping things, and the fowl
of the heaven; and they were destroyed
from the earth: and Noah
only remained alive, and they that
were with him in the ark.
24 And
the waters prevailed upon the earth
a hundred and fifty days.
Here is,
I. The general destruction of all
flesh by the waters of the flood. Come, and
see the desolations which God makes in the
earth
(Ps. xlvi. 8),
and how he lays heaps upon
heaps. Never did death triumph, from its
first entrance unto this day, as it did then.
Come, and see Death upon his pale horse, and
hell following with him,
1. All the cattle, fowl, and creeping things,
died, except the few that were in the ark.
Observe how this is repeated: All flesh died,
v. 21.
All in whose nostrils was the breath of
life, of all that was on the dry land,
v. 22.
Every living substance,
v. 23.
And why so?
Man only had done wickedly, and justly is
God’s hand against him; but these sheep,
what have they done? I answer,
(1.) We are
sure God did them no wrong. He is the
sovereign Lord of all life, for he is the sole
fountain and author of it. He that made
them as he pleased might unmake them when
he pleased; and who shall say unto him,
What doest thou? May he not do what he
will with his own, which were created for his
pleasure?
(2.) God did admirably serve the
purposes of his own glory by their destruction,
as well as by their creation. Herein his
holiness and justice were greatly magnified;
by this it appears that he hates sin, and is
highly displeased with sinners, when even the
inferior creatures, because they are the servants
of man and part of his possession, and
because they have been abused to be the servants
of sin, are destroyed with him. This
makes the judgment the more remarkable,
the more dreadful, and, consequently, the
more expressive of God’s wrath and vengeance.
The destruction of the creatures was
their deliverance from the bondage of corruption,
which deliverance the whole creation
now groans after,
It was
likewise an instance of God’s wisdom. As
the creatures were made for man when he
was made, so they were multiplied for him
when he was multiplied; and therefore, now
that mankind was reduced to so small a
number, it was fit that the beasts should proportionably
be reduced, otherwise they would
have had the dominion, and would have replenished
the earth, and the remnant of mankind
that was left would have been overpowered
by them. See how God considered
this in another case,
Lest the
beast of the field multiply against thee.
2. All the men, women, and children, that
were in the world (except that were in the
ark) died. Every man
and
v. 23),
and perhaps they were as many as are now upon
the face of the earth, if not more. Now,
(1.) We may easily imagine what terror and
consternation seized on them when they saw
themselves surrounded. Our Saviour tells
us that till the very day that the flood came
they were eating and drinking
they were drowned in security and sensuality
before they were drowned in those
waters, crying Peace, peace, to themselves,
deaf and blind to all divine warnings. In
this posture death surprised them, as
But O what an amazement were
they in then! Now they see and feel that
which they would not believe and fear, and
are convinced of their folly when it is too
late; now they find no place for repentance,
though they seek it carefully with tears.
(2.) We may suppose that they tried all ways
and means possible for their preservation, but
all in vain. Some climb to the tops of trees
or mountains, and spin out their terrors there
awhile. But the flood reaches them, at last,
and they are forced to die with the more
deliberation. Some, it is likely, cling to the
ark, and now hope that this may be their
safety which they had so long made their
sport. Perhaps some get to the top of the
ark, and hope to shift for themselves there;
but either they perish there for want of food,
or, by a speedier despatch, a dash of rain
washes them off that deck. Others, it may
be, hoped to prevail with Noah for admission
into the ark, and pleaded old acquaintance,
Have we not eaten and drunk in thy presence?
Hast thou not taught in our streets? “Yes,”
might Noah say, “that I have, many a time,
to little purpose. I called but you refused;
you set at nought all my counsel
and now it is not in my power to help
you: God has shut the door, and I cannot
open it.” Thus it will be at the great day.
Neither climbing high in an outward profession,
nor claiming relation to good people,
will bring men to heaven,
Those that are not found in Christ,
the ark, are certainly undone, undone for
ever; salvation itself cannot save them. See
(3.) We may suppose that some
of those that perished in the deluge had
themselves assisted Noah, or were employed
by him, in the building of the ark, and yet
were not so wise as by repentance to secure
themselves a place in it. Thus wicked ministers,
though they may have been instrumental
to help others to heaven, will themselves
be thrust down to hell.
Let us now pause awhile and consider this
tremendous judgment! Let our hearts meditate
terror, the terror of this destruction.
Let us see, and say, It is a fearful thing to
fall into the hands of the living God; who can
stand before him when he is angry? Let us
see and say, It is an evil thing, and a bitter,
to depart from God. The sin of sinners will,
without repentance, be their ruin, first or last;
if God be true, it will. Though hand join in
hand, yet the wicked shall not go unpunished.
The righteous God knows how to bring a
flood upon the world of the ungodly,
Eliphaz appeals to this story as a standing
warning to a careless world
Hast thou marked the old way, which
wicked men have trodden, who were cut down
out of time, and sent into eternity, whose
foundation was overflown with the flood?
II. The special preservation of Noah and
his family: Noah only remained alive, and
those that were with him in the ark,
v. 23.
Observe,
1. Noah lives. When all about him
were monuments of justice, thousands falling
on his right hand and ten thousands on his
left, he was a monument of mercy. Only
with his eyes might he behold and see the
reward of the wicked,
Ps. xci. 7, 8.
In the
floods of great waters, they did not come nigh
him,
Ps. xxxii. 6.
We have reason to think
that, while the long-suffering of God waited,
Noah not only preached to, but prayed for,
that wicked world, and would have turned
away the wrath; but his prayers return into
his own bosom, and are answered only in his
own escape, which is plainly referred to,
Noah, Daniel, and Job, shall
but deliver their own souls. A mark of honour
shall be set on intercessors.
2. He but lives.
Noah remains alive, and this is all; he is, in
effect, buried alive–cooped up in a close
place, alarmed with the terrors of the descending
rain, the increasing flood, and the
shrieks and outcries of his perishing neighbours,
his heart overwhelmed with melancholy
thoughts of the desolations made. But
he comforts himself with this, that he is in
the way of duty and in the way of deliverance.
And we are taught
that when desolating judgments are abroad
we must not seek great nor pleasant things
to ourselves, but reckon it an unspeakable
favour if we have our lives given us for a
prey.
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