Genesis 7 commentary

The call to Noah is very kind, like that of a tender father to his children to come in-doors when he sees night or a storm coming. Noah did not go into the ark till God bade him, though he knew it was to be his place of refuge. It is very comfortable to see God going before us in every step we take. Noah had taken a great deal of pains to build the ark, and now he was himself kept alive in it. What we do in obedience to the command of God, and in faith, we ourselves shall certainly have the comfort of, first or last. This call to Noah reminds us of the call the gospel gives to poor sinners. Christ is an ark, in whom alone we can be safe, when death and judgment approach. The word says, “Come;” ministers say, “Come;” the Spirit says, “Come, come into the Ark.” Noah was accounted righteous, not for his own righteousness, but as an heir of the righteousness which is by faith, Heb 11:7. He believed the revelation of a saviour, and sought and expected salvation through Him alone. Thus was he justified by faith, and received that Spirit whose fruit is in all goodness; but if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. After the hundred and twenty years, God granted seven days' longer space for repentance. But these seven days were trifled away, like all the rest. It shall be but seven days. They had only one week more, one sabbath more to improve, and to consider the things that belonged to their peace. But it is common for those who 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 few days of their sickness, when they see death approaching; their hearts being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. As Noah 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. And on the day Noah was securely fixed in the ark, the fountains of the great deep were broken up. The earth had within it those waters, which, at God's command, sprang up and flooded it; and thus our bodies have in themselves those humours, which, when God pleases, become the seeds and springs of mortal diseases. The windows of heaven were opened, and the waters which were above the firmament, that is, in the air, were poured out upon the earth. The rain comes down in drops; but such rains fell then, as were never known before or since. It rained without stop or abatement, forty days and forty nights, upon the whole earth at once. As there was a peculiar exercise of the almighty power of God in causing the flood, it is vain and presumptuous to attempt explaining the method of it, by human wisdom.

The ravenous creatures were made mild and manageable; yet, when this occasion was over, they were of the same kind as before; for the ark did not alter their natures. Hypocrites in the church, who outwardly conform to the laws of that ark, are yet unchanged; and it will appear, one time or other, what kind they are after. God continued his care of Noah. God shut the door, to secure him and keep him safe in the ark; also to keep all others for ever out. In what manner this was done, God has not been pleased to make known. There is much of our gospel duty and privilege to be seen in Noah's safety in the ark. The apostle makes it a type of christian baptism, 1Pe 3:20, 21. Observe then, 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. Those that come into the ark, should bring as many as they can with them, by good instructions, by persuasions, and by good examples. There is room enough in Christ for all comers. God put Adam into paradise, but did not shut him in, so he threw himself out; but when God put Noah into the ark, and so when he brings a soul to Christ, the salvation is sure: it is not in our own keeping, but in the Mediator's hand. But the door of mercy will shortly be shut against those that now make light of it. Knock now, and it shall be opened, Lu 13:25.

The flood was increasing forty days. The waters rose so high, that the tops of the highest mountains were overflowed more than twenty feet. 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 21:8. When the flood thus increased, Noah's ark was lifted up, and the waters which broke down every thing else, bore up the ark. That which to unbelievers betokens death unto death, to the faithful betokens life unto life.

All the men, women, and children, that were in the world, excepting those in the ark, died. We may easily imagine what terror seized them. Our Saviour tells us, that till the very day that the flood came, they were eating and drinking, Lu 17:26, 27; they were deaf and blind to all Divine warnings. In this posture death surprised them. They were convinced of their folly when it was too late. We may suppose they tried all ways and means possible to save themselves, but all in vain. And those that are not found in Christ, the Ark, are certainly undone, undone for ever. Let us pause, and consider this tremendous judgment! Who can stand before the Lord when he is angry? The sin of sinners will be their ruin, first or last, if not repented of. The righteous God knows how to bring ruin upon the world of the ungodly, 2Pe 2:5. How tremendous will be the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men! Happy they who are part of Christ's family, and safe with him as such; they may look forward without dismay, and rejoice that they shall triumph, when fire shall burn up the earth, and all that therein is. We are apt to suppose some favourable distinctions in our own case or character; but if we neglect, refuse, or abuse the salvation of Christ, we shall, notwithstanding such fancied advantages, be destroyed in the common ruin of an unbelieving world.

1. And the Lord said unto Noah . I have no doubt that Noah was confirmed, as he certainly needed to be, by oracles frequently repeated. He had already sustained, during one hundred years, the greatest and most furious assaults; and the invincible combatant had achieved memorable victories; but the most severe contest of all was, to bid farewell to the world, to renounce society and to bury himself in the ark. The face of the earth was, at that time, lovely; and Moses intimates that it was the season in which the herbs shoot forth and the trees begin to flourish. Winter, which binds the joy of sky and earth in sharp and rugged frost, has now passed away; and the Lord has chosen the moment for destroying the world, in the very season of spring. For Moses states that the commencement of the deluge was in the second month. I know, however, that different opinions prevail on this subject; for there are three who begin the year from the autumnal equinox; but that mode of reckoning the year is more approved, which makes it commence in the month of March. However this might be, it was no light trial for Noah to leave of his own accord, the life to which he had been accustomed during six hundred years, and to seek a new mode of life in the abyss of death. He is commanded to forsake the world, that he may live in a sepulcher which he had been labouriously digging for himself through more than a hundred years. Why was this? Because, in a little while, the earth was to be submerged in a deluge of waters. Yet nothing of the kind is apparent: all indulge in feasts, celebrate nuptials, build sumptuous houses; in short, everywhere, daintiness and luxury prevail; as Christ himself testifies, that that age was intoxicated with its own pleasures, (Luke 17:26.) Wherefore, it was not without reason, that the Lord encouraged and fortified the mind of his servant afresh, by the renewal of the promise, lest he should faint; as if he would says ‘Hitherto thou hast labored with fortitude amid so many causes of offense; but now the case especially demands that thou shouldst take courage, in order to reap the fruit of thy labor: do not, however, wait till the waters burst forth on every side from the opened veins of the earth, and till the higher waters of heaven, with opposing violence, rush from their opened cataracts; but while everything is yet tranquil, enter into the ark, and there remain till the seventh day, then suddenly shall the deluge arise.’ And although oracles are not now brought down from heaven, let us know that continual meditation on the word is not ineffectual; for as new difficulties perpetually arise before us, so God, by one and another promise, establishes our faith, so that our strength being renewed, we may at length arrive at the goal. Our duty, indeed, is, attentively to hear God speaking to us; and neither through depraved fastidiousness, to reject those exercises, by which He cherishes, or excites, or confirms our faith, according as he knows it to be still tender, or languishing, or weak; nor yet to reject them as superfluous. For thee have I seen righteous. When the Lord assigns as his reason for preserving Noah, that he knew him to be righteous, he seems to attribute the praise of salvation to the merit of works; for if Noah was saved because he was righteous, it follows, that we shall deserve life by good works. But here it behaves us cautiously to weigh the design of God; which was to place one man in contrast with the whole world, in order that, in his person, he might condemn the unrighteousness of all men. For he again testifies, that the punishment which he was about to inflict on the world was just, seeing that only one man was left who then cultivated righteousness, for whose sake he was propitious to his whole family. Should any one object, that from this passage, God is proved to have respect to works in saving men, the solution is ready; that this is not repugnant to gratuitous acceptance, since God accepts those gifts which he himself has conferred upon his servants. We must observe, in the first place, that he loves men freely, inasmuch as he finds nothing in them but what is worthy of hatred, since all men are born the children of wrath, and heirs of eternal malediction. In this respect he adopts them to himself in Christ, and justifies them by his mere mercy. After he has, in this manner, reconciled them unto himself, he also regenerates them, by his Spirit, to new life and righteousness. Hence flow good works, which must of necessity be pleasing to God himself. Thus he not only loves the faithful but also their works . We must again observe, that since some fault always adheres to our works, it is not possible that they can be approved, except as a matter of indulgence. The grace, therefore, of Christ, and not their own dignity or merit, is that which gives worth to our works. Nevertheless, we do not deny that they come into the account before God: as he here acknowledges and accepts the righteousness of Noah which had proceeded from his own grace; and in this manner (as Augustine speaks) he will crown his own gifts. We nay further notice the expression, “I have seen thee righteous before me;” by which words, he not only annihilates all that hypocritical righteousness which is destitute of interior sanctity of heart, but vindicates his own authority; as if he would declare, that he alone is a competent judge to estimate righteousness. The clause, in this generation, is added, as I have said, for the sake of amplification; for so desperate was the depravity of that age, that it was regarded as a prodigy, that Noah should be free from the common infection.

2. Of every clean beast . He again repeats what he had before said concerning animals, and not without occasion. For there was no little difficulty in collecting from woods, mountains, and caves, so great a multitude of wild beasts, many species of which were perhaps altogether unknown; and there was, in most of them, the same ferocity which we now perceive. Wherefore, God encourages the holy man, lest being alarmed with that difficulty, and having cast aside all hope of success, he should fail. Here, however, at first sight, appears some kind of contradiction, because whereas he before had spoken of pairs of animals, he now speaks of sevens . But the solution is at hand; because, previously, Moses does not state the number, but only says that females were added as companions to the males; as if he had said, Noah himself was commanded not to gather the animals promiscuously together, but to select pairs out of them for the propagation of offspring. Now, however, the discourse is concerning the actual number. Moreover, the expression, by sevens, is to be understood not of seven pairs of each kind, but of three pairs, to which one animal is added for the sake of sacrifice. Le Clerc objects to this interpretation, and supposes that seven of each sex, of unclean animals, were admitted into the ark. Perhaps a skeptical objection to the use of the seventh animal, as a sacrifice, inclined him to adopt this interpretation. Commentators, however, have generally preferred the solution here given. — Ed. Besides, the Lord would have a threefold greater number of clean animals than of others preserved, because there would be a greater necessity of them for the use of man. In which appointment, we must consider the paternal goodness of God towards us, by which he is inclined to have regard to us in all things.

3. To keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth . That is, that hence offspring might be born. But this is referred to Noah; for although, properly speaking, God alone gives life, yet God here refers to those duties which he had enjoined upon his servant: and it is with respect to his appointed office, that God commands him to collect animals that he may keep seed alive. Nor is this extraordinary, seeing that the ministers of the gospel are said, in a sense, to confer spiritual life. In the clause which next follows, upon the face of all the earth, there is a twofold consolation: that the waters, after they had covered the earth for a time, would again cease, so that the dry surface of the earth should appear; and then, that not only should Noah himself survive, but, by the blessing of God, the number of animals should be so increased, as to spread far and wide through the whole world. Thus, in the midst of ruin, future restoration is promised to him. Moses is very earnest in showing that God took care, by every means, to retain Noah in obedience to his word, and that the holy man entirely acquiesced. This doctrine is very useful, especially when God either promises or threatens anything incredible, since men do not willingly receive what seems to them improbable. For nothing was less accordant with the judgment of the flesh, than that the world should be destroyed by its Creator; because this was to subvert the whole order of nature which he had established. Wherefore, unless Noah had been well admonished of this terrible judgment of God, he never would have ventured to believe it; lest he should conceive of God as acting in contradiction to himself. The word היקום ( hayekom ,) which Moses here uses has its origin from a word signifying to stand; but it properly means whatever lives and flourishes.

5. And Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded . This is not a bare repetition of the former sentence; but Moses commends Noah’s uniform tenor of obedience in keeping all God’s commandments; as if he would say, that in whatever particular it pleased God to try his obedience, he always remained constant. And, certainly, it is not becoming to obey one or another commandment of God only, so that when we have performed a defective obedience, we should feel at liberty to withdraw; for we must keep in memory the declaration of James,

‘He who forbade thee to kill, forbade thee also to steal, and to commit adultery,’ (James 2:11.)

6. And Noah was six hundred years old . It is not without reason that he again mentions the age of Noah. For old age has this among other evils, that it renders men more indolent and morose; whence the faith of Noah was the more conspicuous, because it did not fail him in that advanced period of life. And as it was a great excellence, not to languish through successive centuries, so big promptitude deserves no little commendation; because, being commanded to enter the ark, he immediately obeyed. When Moses shortly afterwards subjoins, that he had entered on account of the waters of the deluge, the words ought not to be expounded, as if he were compelled, by the rushing of the waters, to flee into the ark; but that he, being moved with fear by the word, perceived by faith the approach of that deluge which all others ridiculed. Wherefore, his faith is again commended in this place, because, indeed, he raised his eyes above heaven and earth.

8. Of clean beasts . Moses now explains, — what had before been doubtful, — in which manner the animals were gathered together into the ark, and says that they came of their own accord. If this should seem to any one absurd, let him recall to mind what was said before, that in the beginning every kind of animals presented themselves to Adam, that he might give them names. And, truly, we dread the sight of wild beasts from no other cause than this, that seeing we have shaken off the yoke of God, we have lost that authority over them with which Adam was endued. Now, it was a kind of restoration of the former state of things when God brought to Noah those animals which he intended should be preserved through Noah’s labor and service. For Noah retained the untamed animals in his ark, in the very same way in which hens and geese are preserved in a coop. And it is not superfluously added, that the animals themselves came, as God had instructed Noah; for it shows that the blessing of God rested on the obedience of Noah, so that his labor should not be in vain. It was impossible, humanly speaking, that in a moment such an assemblage of all animals should take place; but because Noah, simply trusting the event with God, executed what was enjoined upon him; God, in return, gave power to his own precept, that it might not be without effect. Properly speaking, this was a promise of God annexed to his commands. And, therefore, we must conclude, that the faith of Noah availed more, than all snares and nets, for the capture of animals; and that, by the very same gate, lions, and wolves, and tigers, meekly entered, with oxen, and with lambs, into the ark. And this is the only method by which we may overcome all difficulties; while, — being persuaded, that what is impossible to us is easy to God, — we derive alacrity from hope. It has before been stated that the animals entered in by pairs. We have also related the different opinions of interpreters respecting the month in which the deluge took place. For since the Hebrews begin their year in sacred things from March, but in earthly affairs from September; or, — which is the same thing, — since the two equinoxes form with them a double commencement of the year, some think that the sacred year, and some the political , is here intended. But because the former method of reckoning the years was Divinely appointed, and is also more agreeable to nature, it seems probable that the deluge began about the time of spring.

11. The same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up . Moses recalls the period of the first creation to our memory; for the earth was originally covered with water; and by the singular kindness of God, they were made to recede, that some space should be left clear for living creatures. And this, philosophers are compelled to acknowledge, that it is contrary to the course of nature for the waters to subside, so that some portion of the earth might rise above them. And Scripture records this among the miracles of God, that he restrains the force of the sea, as with barriers, lest it should overwhelm that part of the earth which is granted for a habitation to men. Moses also says, in the first chapter, that some waters were suspended above in the heaven; and David, in like manner, declares, that they are held enclosed as in a bottle. Lastly, God raised for men a theater in the habitable region of the earth; and caused, by his secret power, that the subterraneous waters should not break forth to overwhelm us, and the celestial waters should not conspire with them for that purpose. Now, however, Moses states, that when God resolved to destroy the earth by a deluge, those barriers were torn up. And here we must consider the wonderful counsel of God; for he might have deposited, in certain channels or veins of the earth, as much water as would have sufficed for all the purposes of human life; but he has designedly placed us between two graves, lest, in fancied security, we should despise that kindness on which our life depends. For the element of water, which philosophers deem one of the principles of life, threatens us with death from above and from beneath, except so far as it is restrained by the hand of God. In saying that the fountains were broken up, and the cataracts opened, his language is metaphorical, and means, that neither did the waters flow in their accustomed manner, nor did the rain distil from heaven; but that the distinctions which we see had been established by God, being now removed, there were no longer any bars to restrain the violent irruption.

12. And the rain was upon the earth . Although the Lord burst open the floodgates of the waters, yet he does not allow them to break forth in a moment, so as immediately to overwhelm the earth, but causes the rain to continue forty days; partly, that Noah, by long meditation, might more deeply fix in his memory what he had previously learned, by instruction, through the word; partly, that the wicked, even before their death, might feel that those warnings which they had held in derision, were not empty threats. For they who had so long scorned the patience of God, deserved to feel that they were gradually perishing under that righteous judgment of his, which, during a hundred years, they had treated as a fable. And the Lord frequently so tempers his judgments, that men may have leisure to consider with more advantage those judgments which, by their sudden eruption, might overcome them with astonishment. But the wonderful depravity of our nature shows itself in this, that if the anger of God is suddenly poured forth, we become stupefied and senseless; but if it advances with measured pace, we become so accustomed to it as to despise it; because we do not willingly acknowledge the hand of God without miracles; and because we are easily hardened, by a kind of superinduced insensibility, at the sight of God’s works.

13. In the self-same day entered Noah , and Shem , etc . A repetition follows, sufficiently particular, considering the brevity with which Moses runs through the history of the deluge, yet by no means superfluous. For it was the design of the Spirit to retain our minds in the consideration of a vengeance too terrible to be adequately described by the utmost severity of language. Besides, nothing is here related but what is difficult to be believed; wherefore Moses the more frequently inculcates these things, that however remote they may be from our apprehension, they may still obtain credit with us. Thus the narration respecting the animals refers to this point; that by the faith of holy Noah they were drawn from their woods and caverns and were collected in one place from their wandering courses, as if they had been led by the hand of God. We see, therefore, that Moses does not insist upon this point without an object; but he does it to teach us that each species of animals was preserved, not by chance, nor by human industry, but because the Lord reached out and offered to Noah himself, from hand to hand, (as they say,) whatever animal he intended to keep alive.

16. And the Lord shut him in . This is not added in vain, nor ought it to be lightly passed over. That door must have been large, which could admit an elephant. And truly, no pitch would be sufficiently firm and tenacious, and no joining sufficiently solid, to prevent the immense force of the water from penetrating through its many seams, especially in an irruption so violent, and in a shock so severe. Therefore, Moses, to cut off occasion for the vain speculations which our own curiosity would suggest, declares in one word, that the ark was made secure from the deluge, not by human artifice, but by divine miracle. It is, indeed, not to be doubted that Noah had been endued with new ability and sagacity, that nothing might be defective in the structure of the ark. But lest even this favor should be without success, it was necessary for something greater to be added. Wherefore, that we might not measure the mode of preserving the ark by the capacity of our own judgment, Moses teaches use that the waters were not restrained from breaking in upon the ark, by pitch or bitumen only, but rather by the secret power of God, and by the interposition of his hand.

17. And the flood was forty days , etc . Moses copiously insists upon this fact, in order to show that the whole world was immersed in the waters. Moreover, it is to be regarded as the special design of this narrations that we should not ascribe to fortune, the flood by which the world perished; how ever customary it may be for men to cast some veil over the works of God, which may obscure either his goodness or his judgments manifested in them. But seeing it is plainly declared, that whatever was flourishing on the earth was destroyed, we hence infer, that it was an indisputable and signal judgment of God; especially since Noah alone remained secure, because he had embraced, by faith, the word in which salvation was contained. He then recalls to memory what we before have said; namely how desperate had been the impiety, and how enormous the crimes of men, by which God was induced to destroy the whole world; whereas, on account of his great clemency, he would have spared his own workmanship, had he seen that any milder remedy could have been effectually applied. These two things, directly opposed to each other, he connects together; that the whole human race was destroyed, but that Noah and his family safely escaped. Hence we learn how profitable it was for Noah, disregarding the world, to obey God alone: which Moses states not so much for the sake of praising the man, as for that of inviting us to imitate his example. Moreover, lest the multitude of sinners should draw us away from God; we must patiently bear that the ungodly should hold us up to ridicule, and should triumph over us, until the Lord shall show by the final issue, that our obedience has been approved by him. In this sense, Peter teaches that Noah’s deliverance from the universal deluge was a figure of baptism, (1 Peter 3:21;) as if he had said, the method of the salvation, which we receive through baptism, degrees with this deliverance of Noah. Since at this time also the world is full of unbelievers as it was then; therefore it is necessary for us to separate ourselves from the greater multitude, that the Lord may snatch us from destruction. In the same manner, the Church is fitly, and justly, compared to the ark. But we must keep in mind the similitude by which they mutually correspond with each other; for that is derived from the word of God alone; because as Noah believing the promise of God, gathered himself his wife and his children together, in order that under a certain appearance of death, he might emerge out of death; so it is fitting that we should renounce the world and die, in order that the Lord may quicken us by his word. For nowhere else is there any security of salvation. The Papists, however, act ridiculously who fabricate for us an ark without the word.

CHAPTER 8.

Genesis 8:1-22

1. And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged;

1. Recordatus est autem Deus Noah, et omnis bestiae, et omnis animalis quae erant cum eo in arca: et transire fecit Deus ventum super terram, et quieverunt aquae.

2. The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;

2. Et clauserunt se fontes abyssi, fenestraeque coelo.

3. And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.

3. Et reversae sunt aquae a superficie terrae, eundo et redeundo, et defecerunt aquae in fine quinquaginta et centum dierum.

4. And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.

4. Et requievit arca mense septimo, septimadecima die mensis super montes Ararath.

5. And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month , on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.

5. Et aquae ibant et deficiebant usque ad mensem decimum: in decimo, in prima mensis visa sunt cacumina montium.

6. And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:

6. Et fuit, in fine quadraginta dierum, aperuit Noah fenestram arcae quam fecerat.

7. And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.

7. Et misit corvum, et egressus est egrediendo et redeundo, donex siccarentur aquae quae erant super terram.

8. Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;

8. Deinde misit columbam a se, ut videret an extenuatae essent aquae a superficie terrae.

9. But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.

9. Et non invenit columba requiem plantae pedis sui, et reversa est ad eum in arcam: quia aquae erant in superficie omnis terrae: et misit manum suam, et accepit eam, introduxitque eam ad se in arcam.

10. And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;

10. Et expectavit adhuc septem dies alios, et addidit ut mitteret columbam ex arca.

11. And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.

11. Et venit ad eum columba tempore vespertimo, et ecce, folium olivae raptum erat in ore ejus, et cognovit Noah quod extenuatae essent aquae a superficie terrae.

12. And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.

12. Et expectavit adhuc septem alios, et misit columbam: et non addidit ut reverteretur ad cum amplius.

13. And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month , the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.

13. Et fuit, primo et sexcentesimo anno, primo mense , in prima mensis, siccatae sunt aquae a superficie terrae: removit autem Noah operimentum arcae, et vidit, et exxe siccata erat facies terrae.

14. And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.

14. Et in mense secundo, in septima et vicesima die mensis, aruit terra.

15. And God spake unto Noah, saying,

15. Loquutus est autem Deus ad Noah, dicendo,

16. Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons’ wives with thee.

16. Egredere ex arca, tu, et uxor tua, et filii tui, et uxores filiorum tuorum tecum.

17. Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.

17. Omnem bestiam quae est tecum, ex omni carne, tam de volatili quam de animali, et omni reptili quod reptat super terram educ tecum: ut se moveant in terra, et crescant, multiplicenturque super terram.

18. And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him:

18. Et egressus est Noah, et filii ejus, et uxor ejus, et uxores filiorum ejus cum eo.

19. Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.

19. Omnis bestia, omne reptile et omne volatile, omne quod movetur super terram, secundum familias eorum egressa sunt ex arca.

20. And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

20. Et aedificavit Noah altare Jehovae, et tulit ex omni animali mundo, et ex omni volatili mundo, et obtulit holocausta in altari.

21. And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.

21. Odoratusque est Jehova odorem quietis. Et dixit Jehova in corde suo, Non addam ut maledicam ultra terrae propter hominem: quia cogitatio cordis hominis mala est a pueritia sua: nec addam ultra ut percutiam omne vivens quemadmodum feci.

22. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

22. Posthac omnibus diebus terrae, sementis et messis, et frigus et aestus, et aestas et hyems, et dies et nox non cessabunt.

CHAPTER 7

Ge 7:1-24. Entrance into the Ark.

1. And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark--The ark was finished; and Noah now, in the spirit of implicit faith, which had influenced his whole conduct, waited for directions from God.

2-3. Of every clean beast ... fowls--Pairs of every species of animals, except the tenants of the deep, were to be taken for the preservation of their respective kinds. This was the general rule of admission, only with regard to those animals which are styled "clean," three pairs were to be taken, whether of beasts or birds; and the reason was that their rapid multiplication was a matter of the highest importance, when the earth should be renovated, for their utility either as articles of food or as employed in the service of man. But what was the use of the seventh? It was manifestly reserved for sacrifice; and so that both during Noah's residence in the ark, and after his return to dry land, provision was made for celebrating the rites of worship according to the religion of fallen man. He did not, like many, leave religion behind. He provided for it during his protracted voyage.

4. For yet seven days--A week for a world to repent! What a solemn pause! Did they laugh and ridicule his folly still? He whose eyes saw and whose heart felt the full amount of human iniquity and perverseness has told us of their reckless disregard (Lu 17:27).

9. There went in two and two--Doubtless they were led by a divine impulse. The number would not be so large as at first sight one is apt to imagine. It has been calculated that there are not more than three hundred distinct species of beasts and birds, the immense varieties in regard to form, size, and color being traceable to the influence of climate and other circumstances.

16. and the Lord shut him in--literally, "covered him round about." The "shutting him in" intimated that Noah had become the special object of divine care and protection, and that to those without the season of grace was over (Mt 25:10).

17. the waters increased, and bare up the ark--It seems to have been raised so gradually as to be scarcely perceptible to its occupants.

20. Fifteen cubits upward ... and the mountains were covered--twenty-two and a half feet above the summits of the highest hills. The language is not consistent with the theory of a partial deluge.

21. all flesh died ... fowl ... cattle, and ... creeping thing--It has been a uniform principle in the divine procedure, when judgments were abroad on the earth, to include every thing connected with the sinful objects of His wrath (Ge 19:25; Ex 9:6). Besides, now that the human race was reduced to one single family, it was necessary that the beasts should be proportionally diminished, otherwise by their numbers they would have acquired the ascendancy and overmastered the few that were to repeople the world. Thus goodness was mingled with severity; the Lord exercises judgment in wisdom and in wrath remembers mercy.

24. an hundred and fifty days--a period of five months. Though long before that every living creature must have been drowned, such a lengthened continuance of the flood was designed to manifest God's stern displeasure at sin and sinners. Think of Noah during such a crisis. We learn (Eze 14:14) that he was a man who lived and breathed habitually in an atmosphere of devotion; and having in the exercise of this high-toned faith made God his refuge, he did not fear "though the waters roared and were troubled; though the mountains shook with the swelling thereof" [Psa 46:3].

Thee have I seen righteous - See the note on Gen 6:8

Of every clean beast - So we find the distinction between clean and unclean animals existed long before the Mosaic law. This distinction seems to have been originally designed to mark those animals which were proper for sacrifice and food, from those that were not. See Leviticus 11.

For yet seven days - God spoke these words probably on the seventh or Sabbath day, and the days of the ensuing week were employed in entering the ark, in embarking the mighty troop, for whose reception ample provision had been already made.

Forty days - This period became afterwards sacred, and was considered a proper space for humiliation. Moses fasted forty days, Deu 9:9, Deu 9:11; so did Elijah, 1Kgs 19:8; so did our Lord, Mat 4:2. Forty days' respite were given to the Ninevites that they might repent, Jon 3:4; and thrice forty (one hundred and twenty) years were given to the old world for the same gracious purpose, Gen 6:3. The forty days of Lent, in commemoration of our Lord's fasting, have a reference to the same thing; as each of these seems to be deduced from this primitive judgment.

In the six hundredth year, etc. - This must have been in the beginning of the six hundredth year of his life; for he was a year in the ark, Gen 8:13; and lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood, and died nine hundred and fifty years old, Gen 9:29; so it is evident that, when the flood commenced, he had just entered on his six hundredth year.

Second month - The first month was Tisri, which answers to the latter half of September, and first half of October; and the second was Marcheshvan, which answers to part of October and part of November. After the deliverance from Egypt, the beginning of the year was changed from Marcheshvan to Nisan, which answers to a part of our March and April. But it is not likely that this reckoning obtained before the flood. Dr. Lightfoot very probably conjectures that Methuselah was alive in the first month of this year. And it appears, says he, how clearly the Spirit of prophecy foretold of things to come, when it directed his father Enoch almost a thousand years before to name him Methuselah, which signifies they die by a dart; or, he dieth, and then is the dart; or, he dieth, end then it is sent. And thus Adam and Methuselah had measured the whole time between the creation and the flood, and lived above two hundred and forty years together. See Genesis 5 at the end, Gen 5:32 (note).

Were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened - It appears that an immense quantity of waters occupied the center of the antediluvian earth; and as these burst forth, by the order of God, the circumambient strata must sink, in order to fill up the vacuum occasioned by the elevated waters. This is probably what is meant by breaking up the fountains of the great deep. These waters, with the seas on the earth's surface, might be deemed sufficient to drown the whole globe, as the waters now on its surface are nearly three-fourths of the whole, as has been accurately ascertained by Dr. Long. See the note on Gen 1:10.

By the opening of the windows of heaven is probably meant the precipitating all the aqueous vapours which were suspended in the whole atmosphere, so that, as Moses expresses it, Gen 1:7, the waters that were above the firmament were again united to the waters which were below the firmament, from which on the second day of creation they had been separated. A multitude of facts have proved that water itself is composed of two airs, oxygen and hydrogen; and that 85 parts of the first and 15 of the last, making 100 in the whole, will produce exactly 100 parts of water. And thus it is found that these two airs form the constituent parts of water in the above proportions. The electric spark, which is the same as lightning, passing through these airs, decomposes them and converts them to water. And to this cause we may probably attribute the rain which immediately follows the flash of lightning and peal of thunder. God therefore, by the means of lightning, might have converted the whole atmosphere into water, for the purpose of drowning the globe, had there not been a sufficiency of merely aqueous vapours suspended in the atmosphere on the second day of creation. And if the electric fluid were used on this occasion for the production of water, the incessant glare of lightning, and the continual peals of thunder, must have added indescribable horrors to the scene. See the note on Gen 8:1. These two causes concurring were amply sufficient, not only to overflow the earth, but probably to dissolve the whole terrene fabric, as some judicious naturalists have supposed: indeed, this seems determined by the word מבול mabbul, translated flood, which is derived from בל bal בלל or balal, to mix, mingle, confound, confuse, because the aqueous and terrene parts of the globe were then mixed and confounded together; and when the supernatural cause that produced this mighty change suspended its operations, the different particles of matter would settle according to their specific gravities, and thus form the various strata or beds of which the earth appears to be internally constructed. Some naturalists have controverted this sentiment, because in some cases the internal structure of the earth does not appear to justify the opinion that the various portions of matter had settled according to their specific gravities; but these anomalies may easily be accounted for, from the great changes that have taken place in different parts of the earth since the flood, by volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, etc. Some very eminent philosophers are of the opinion "that, by the breaking up of the fountains of the great deep, we are to understand an eruption of waters from the Southern Ocean." Mr. Kirwan supposes "that this is pretty evident from such animals as the elephant and rhinoceros being found in great masses in Siberia, mixed with different marine substances; whereas no animals or other substances belonging to the northern regions have been ever found in southern climates. Had these animals died natural deaths in their proper climate, their bodies would not have been found in such masses. But that they were carried no farther northward than Siberia, is evident from there being no remains of any animals besides those of whales found in the mountains of Greenland. That this great rush of waters was from the south or south-east is farther evident, he thinks, from the south and south-east sides of almost all great mountains being much steeper than their north or north-west sides, as they necessarily would be if the force of a great body of water fell upon them in that direction." On a subject like this men may innocently differ. Many think the first opinion accords best with the Hebrew text and with the phenomena of nature, for mountains do not always present the above appearance.

The rain was upon the earth - Dr. Lightfoot supposes that the rain began on the 18th day of the second month, or Marcheshvan, and that it ceased on the 28th of the third month, Cisleu.

And they went in, etc. - It was physically impossible for Noah to have collected such a vast number of tame and ferocious animals, nor could they have been retained in their wards by mere natural means. How then were they brought from various distances to the ark and preserved there? Only by the power of God. He who first miraculously brought them to Adam that he might give them their names, now brings them to Noah that he may preserve their lives. And now we may reasonably suppose that their natural enmity was so far removed or suspended that the lion might dwell with the lamb, and the wolf lie down with the kid, though each might still require his peculiar aliment. This can be no difficulty to the power of God, without the immediate interposition of which neither the deluge nor the concomitant circumstances could have taken place.

The Lord shut him in - This seems to imply that God took him under his especial protection, and as he shut Him in, so he shut the Others out. God had waited one hundred and twenty years upon that generation; they did not repent; they filled up the measure of their iniquities, and then wrath came upon them to the uttermost.

Fifteen cubits upward - Should any person object to the universality of the deluge because he may imagine there is not water sufficient to drown the whole globe in the manner here related, he may find a most satisfactory answer to all the objections he can raise on this ground in Mr. Ray's Physico-theological Discourses, 2d edit., 8vo., 1693.

Of all that was in the dry land - From this we may conclude that such animals only as could not live in the water were preserved in the ark.

And the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days - The breaking up of the fountains of the great deep, and the raining forty days and nights, had raised the waters fifteen cubits above the highest mountains; after which forty days it appears to have continued at this height for one hundred and fifty days more. "So," says Dr. Lightfoot, "these two sums are to be reckoned distinct, and not the forty days included in the one hundred and fifty; so that when the one hundred and fifty days were ended, there were six months and ten days of the flood past." For an improvement of this awful judgment, see the conclusion of the following chapter, Gen 8:22 (note).

Here is a gracious invitation of Noah and his family into a place of safety, now the flood of waters was coming. For thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation - 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 searcheth the heart.

Here are necessary orders given concerning the brute creatures that they were to be preserved alive with Noah in the ark. He must carefully preserve every species, that no tribe, no, not the least considerable, might entirely perish out of the creation. Observe in this: God's care for man. Doth God take care for oxen? 1Cor 9:9, or was it not rather for man's sake that this care was taken? Even the unclean beasts were preserved alive in the ark, that were least valuable. For God's tender mercies are over all his works, and not only over those that are of most use. Yet more of the clean were preserved than of the unclean. 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. 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, Ge 8:20.

Yet seven days and I will cause it to rain - It shall be seven days yet before I do it, After the 120 years were expired, God grants them a reprieve of seven days longer, both to shew how slow he is to anger, and to give them some farther space for repentance. But all in vain; these seven days were trifled away after all the rest, they continued secure until the day that the flood came. While Noah told them of the judgment at a distance, they were tempted to put off their repentance: 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, to see if that will now at last awaken them to consider the things that belong to their peace. But it is common for those that have been careless for 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.

And Noah went in with his sons, and his wife, and his sons wives - And 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 six hundredth year of Noah's life, was 1656 years from the creation. 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. The same day the fountains of the great deep were broken up - There needed no new creation of waters; God has laid up the deep in store - houses, Ps 33:7, and now he broke up those stores. God had, in the creation, set bars and doors to the waters of the sea, that they might not return to cover the earth, Psa 104:9 Job 38:9 - 11, and now he only removed these ancient mounds and fences, and the waters of the sea returned to cover the earth, as they had done at first, Ge 1:9. And 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 38:22,23. The rain, which ordinarily descends in drops, then came down in streams. We read, Job 26:8. 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 or since.

It rained without intermission or abatement, forty days and forty nights - And that upon the whole earth at once.

And every beast after his kind - According to the phrase used in the history of the creation, Ge 1:21,24,25, to intimate, that just as many species as were created at first were saved now, and no more.

The mountains were covered - Therefore there were mountains before the flood.

All flesh died, all in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was on the dry land, every living substance - 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 dost thou? 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. 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 mankind was reduced to so small a number, it was fit that the beasts should proportionable 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.

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 .

When the Ark was finished and furnished, and the time of Gods patience expired, Gen. 6. 3.

(i. e.) Prepare to enter.

(i. e.) Thy Family; which consisted only of eight persons, 1 Pet. 3. 20. To wit▪ Noah and his three Sons, and their four Wives, Gen. 6. 18. Whereby it appears that each had but one wife, and consequently it is more than probable that Polygamy as it began in the posterity of wicked Cain, Gen. 4. 19. So it was confined to them, and had not as yet got footing amongst the Sons of God. For if ever Polygamy had been allowable it must have been now▪ for the repeopling of the perishing World.

With the Righteousness of Faith, as it is explained Heb. 11. 7. evidenced by all the fruits of Righteousness and true Holiness.

Not only before men and seemingly, but really, and to my all-seeing eye.

Of which expression see notes on Gen. 6. 9.

Marginal references: Matth. 24. 33. Luke 17. 26. 2 Pet. 2. 5.; Cap. 6. 9.

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.

Obj. The distinction of clean and unclean Beasts was not before the Law. Answ. Some legal things were prescribed and used before the Law, as abstinence from the eating of Blood, Gen. 9. 4. and among other things, Sacrifices, as Learned men have sufficiently proved; and consequently the distinction of Beasts to be Sacrificed was then in some measure understood, which afterwards was expressed, Levit. 1. &c. Nor is this a good argument, This was not written before, therefore it was not commanded and practised before, especially concerning a time when no commands of God were written, but only delivered by tradition.

Either 1. Seven single, as most think. Or rather 2. Seven couples, as may be gathered 1. From the duplication of the word in Hebrew. If it be said, seven seven signifies only seven of every kind, then it would have been said concerning the unclean Beasts, two two, (i. e.) two of each sort: Whereas now there is an apparent difference, there it is said only by two, but here, by sevens, or seven seven, which difference of the phrase suggests a difference in the things. 2. By the following words, the Male and his Female, which being indifferently applied to the clean and unclean, plainly shews that none of them entred into the Ark single, and therefore there was no odd seventh among them, but all went in by couples, which was most convenient in all for the propagation of their kind, and in the clean for other uses also, as for Sacrifices to God, if not for the sustentation of Men in the Ark, and after they came out of it. Which gives us the reason why God would have more of the clean than of the unclean put into the Ark, because they were more serviceable both to God and Men.

Marginal references: Heb. seven seven.; Heb. the Man and his Wife.

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.

(i. e.) Of clean Fowls: Which he leaves to be understood out of the foregoing verse.

And of the unclean by two; as before of the beasts.

(i. e.) The issue, or breed of them.

Marginal references: Isa. 1[illegible: 1+ letters]. 6[illegible: 1+ letters]. 9▪

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.

Or, After seven days, the Hebrew Lamed being put for after, a[illegible: 1+ letters] it i[illegible: 1+ letters] Exod. 16. 1. Psal. 19. 3. Ier. 41. 4. Or, within seven days, which time God allowed to the World as a further space of Repentance, whereof, therefore it is probable, Noah gave them notice: And it is not unlikely that many of them who slighted the threatning, when it was at 120 years distance, now hearing a second threatning, and considering the nearness of their danger, might be more affected and brought to true Repentance: Who though destroyed in their bodies by the Flood for their former and long impenitency, which God would not so far pardon, yet might be saved in their Spirits. See 1 Pet. 4. 6. And as some preserved in the Ark were damned, so others drowned in the deluge might be eternally saved.

All that hath in it the breath of Life, as was said ch. 6. 17.

Marginal references: Heb. blot out▪

5. And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him .

Which was said chap. 6. 22. and is here repeated, because this was an eminent instance of his Faith and Obedience.

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.

Or, For fear of: For fear is ascribed to and commended in Noah, Heb. 11. 7. Or, from the face of.

9. There went in two and two unto Noah into the Ark, the Male and the Female, as God had commanded Noah.

By the secret impulse of their great Creator and Governour. See Gen. 2. 19. and 6. 20.

Of which see above ver. 2.

11. In the six hundredth year of Noahs Life , in the second moneth , the seventeenth day of the moneth, the same day were all the Fountains of the great deep broken up , and the Windows of Heaven were opened.

Either compleat: Or rather current or begun; otherwise he had lived three hundred fifty one years after the Flood, not three hundred fifty onely, as it is written, Gen. 9. last.

Either 1. Of that year of Noahs Life. Or, 2. of the year. Now as the year among the Hebrews was two-fold, the one sacred, for the celebration of Feasts, beginning in March, of which see Exod. 12. 2. The other Civil for the better ordering of mens Political or Civil Affairs, which began in September. Accordingly this second moneth is thought by some to be part of April, and part of May, the most pleasant part of the year, when the Flood was least expected or feared: By others part of October and part of November, a little after Noah had gathered the Fruits of the Earth and laid them up in the Ark. So the Flood came in with Winter, and was by degree[illegible: 1+ letters] dried up by the heat of the following Summer: And this opinion seems the more probable, because the most antient and first beginning of the year was in September, and the other beginning of the year in March, was but a latter institution among the Jews with respect to their Feasts and Sacred Affairs only, which are not at all concerned here.

(i. e.) Of the Sea, called the deep, Iob 38. 16, 30. and 41. 31. Psal. 106. 9. and also of that great abyss or Sea of Waters, which is contained in the Bowels of the Earth. For that there are vast quantities of Waters there, is implied both here and in other Scriptures, as Psal. 33. 7. 2 Pet. 3. 5. and is affirmed by Plato in his Phaedrus, and by Seneca in his natural questions, 3. 19. and is evident from Springs and Rivers which have their rise from thence, and some of them have no other place into which they issue themselves, as appears from the Caspian Sea, into which divers Rivers do empty themselves, and especially that great River Volga, in such abundance, that it would certainly drown all those parts of the Earth, if there were not a vent for them under ground, for other vent above ground out of that great Lake or Sea they have none. Out of this deep therefore, and out of the Sea, together, it was very easie for God to bring such a quantity of Waters as might overwhelm the Earth, without any production of new Waters, which yet he with one word could have created. So vain are the cavils of Atheistical Anti-Scripturists in this.

The Fountains are said to be broken up here, also Psal. 74. 15. by a Metonymy, because the Earth and other obstructions were broken up, and so a passage opened for the Fountains: As Bread is said to be bruised, Isa. 28. 28. and Meal to be ground, Isa. 47. 2. Because the Corn, of which the Meal and Bread were made, was bruised and ground.

Which some understand of the Waters which, from Gen. 1. 7. they suppose were placed by God above the visible Heavens, and reserved and kept as it were in prison for this very purpose, and now the Prison doors were opened, and they let loose and sent down for the destruction of the World: But others more fitly understand it of the Clouds, which are called the windows of Heaven, Mal. 3. 10. So 2 Kings 7. 2. 19. Psal. 78. 23. Isa. 24. 18. Which then grew thicker and bigger with Waters; nor is there any inconvenience in it, if we say that God created a great quantity of Waters, for this end, which afterwards he annihilated.

Marginal references: Or, Flood-gates

12. And the Rain was upon the Earth forty days and forty nights .

God by this gradual proceeding both awakened to Repentance, and gave them space for it.

13. In the self same day entred Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Iapheth, the Sons of Noah, and Noahs Wife, and the three Wives of his Sons with them, into the Ark.

On which the Flood began by that terrible shower. Heb. In the Body, or Essence, or Strength of the Day, as Gen. 17. 26. Levit. 23. 14. Ios. 10. 27. q. d. Not in the dark or twilight, like one ashamed of his action, or afraid of the People, but when it was clear day, or about noon-tide, in the publick view of the World.

Marginal references: Job 21. 25.

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 .

The first word signifies the greater, the second the less sort of Birds, as appears from Gen. 15. 9, 10. Levit. 14. 4. Psal.. 104.. 17.

Heb. Of every kind of Wing, whether Feathered, as it is in most Birds, or skinny and grisly as in Bats.

Marginal references: Heb. wing.

15. And they went in unto Noah into the Ark, two and two of all Flesh wherein is the breath of Life .

See on ver. 9.

(i. e.) All living Creatures.

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 .

Or, shut the door after him, or upon him, or for him, i. e. his good and safety against the fury either of the Waters, or of the people. This God did in some extraordinary manner.

17. And the Flood was forty days upon the Earth: And the Waters encreased , and bare up the Ark, and it was lift up above the Earth.

Or, that Flood of Waters which was poured down in that shower mentioned ver. 12. otherwise the Flood was one hundred and fifty days upon the Earth, ver. 24.

By the accession of more Waters from above and beneath.

18. And the Waters prevailed, and were encreased greatly upon the Earth; and the Ark went upon the face of the Waters.

Overthrowing Men, and Houses, and Trees, where possibly they did or thought to secure themselves.

19. And the Waters prevailed exceedingly upon the Earth, and all the high Hills that were under the whole Heaven were covered .

Profane Wi[illegible: 1+ letters]s pretend this to be impossible because of the vast height of divers Mountains. But 1. This cannot be thought impossible by any man that believeth a God; to whom it was as easie to bring forth a sufficiency of water for this end as to speak a word. And if we acknowledge a miracle of the Divine Power and Providence here, it is no more than even Heathens have confessed in other cases. 2. Peradventure this Flood might not be simply universal over the whole Earth, but only over all the habitable World where either Men or Beasts lived, which was as much as either the meritorious cause of the Flood, mens sins, o[illegible: 1+ letters] the end of it, the destruction of all Men and Beasts, required. And the or that whole Heaven may be understood of that which was over all the habitable parts of it. And whereas our modern Heathens that mis-cal themselves Christians laugh at the History of this Flood upon this and the like occasions as if it were an idle Romance, they may please to note that their Predecessors the antient and wiser Heathens have diverse of them acknowledged the Truth of it, though they also mixed it with their Fables, which was neither strange, nor unusual for them to do. Lactantius appeals to the Heathens of his age concerning it. Nay there is not onely mention of the Flood in general, but also of the Dove sent out of the Ark, in Plutarch, and Berosus, and Abydenus. And the memory of this general Flood is preserved to this day among the poor ignorant Indians, who asked the Christians who invaded their Land, whether they ever heard of such a thing, and whether another Flood was to be expected. And the Chinese Writers relate that but one person, whom they call Pumcu[illegible: 1+ letters]s, with his Family were saved in the Flood, and all the rest perished.

20. Fifteen Cubits upwards did the Waters prevail ; and the Mountains were covered.

Which was sufficient for the destruction of the highest men or other Creatures, though placed upon the highest Mountains.

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.

(i. e.) Lived, for motion is a sign of Life.

22. All in whose nostrils was the breath of Life , of all that was in the dry Land, died .

Of which phrase see the note on Gen. 2. 7.

Whether Men or Beasts, &c. all that breathed the same Air with Man, all that lived in the same Element, which man by his sins had infected: whereby the Fishes are excepted, as living in another Element.

Marginal references: Heb. the breath of the spirit of Life, 2 Sam. 22. 16.

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.

This is so often repeated that it may be more deeply ingrafted into the dull minds and hard hearts of men, to teach men that they ought again and again to consider this dreadful instance, of Gods justice against sin and incorrigible sinners.

Marginal references: 2 Per. 2. [illegible: 1+ letters].

24. And the Waters prevailed upon the Earth an hundred and fifty days .

(i. e.) Either grew higher and higher, or rather continued to prevail, and did not decrease.

In all, whereof one part was the forty days mentioned, ver. 17. as appears from chap. 8. 4.

Gen 7:1-12

When the ark was built, and the period of grace (Gen 6:3) had passed, Noah received instructions from Jehovah to enter the ark with his family, and with the animals, viz., seven of every kind of clean animals, and two of the unclean; and was informed that within seven days God would cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights. The date of the flood is then given (Gen 7:6): “Noah was six hundred years old, and the flood was (namely) water upon the earth;” and the execution of the divine command is recorded in Gen 7:7-9. There follows next the account of the bursting forth of the flood, the date being given with still greater minuteness; and the entrance of the men and animals into the ark is again described as being fully accomplished (Gen 7:10-16). - The fact that in the command to enter the ark a distinction is now made between clean and unclean animals, seven of the former being ordered to be taken, - i.e., three pair and a single one, probably a male for sacrifice-is no more a proof of different authorship, or of the fusion of two accounts, than the interchange of the names Jehovah and Elohim. For the distinction between clean and unclean animals did not originate with Moses, but was confirmed by him as a long established custom, in harmony with the law. It reached back to the very earliest times, and arose from a certain innate feeling of the human mind, when undisturbed by unnatural and ungodly influences, which detects types of sin and corruption in many animals, and instinctively recoils from them (see my biblische Archäeologie ii. p. 20). That the variations in the names of God furnish no criterion by which to detect different documents, is evident enough from the fact, that in Gen 7:1 it is Jehovah who commands Noah to enter the ark, and in Gen 7:4 Noah does as Elohim had commanded, whilst in Gen 7:16, in two successive clauses, Elohim alternates with Jehovah-the animals entering the ark at the command of Elohim, and Jehovah shutting Noah in. With regard to the entrance of the animals into the ark, it is worthy of notice, that in Gen 7:9 and Gen 7:15 it is stated that “they came two and two,” and in Gen 7:16 that “the coming ones came male and female of all flesh.” In this expression “they came” it is clearly intimated, that the animals collected about Noah and were taken into the ark, without his having to exert himself to collect them, and that they did so in consequence of an instinct produced by God, like that which frequently leads animals to scent and try to flee from dangers, of which man has no presentiment. The time when the flood commenced is said to have been the 600th year of Noah’s life, on the 17th day of the second month (Gen 7:11). The months must be reckoned, not according to the Mosaic ecclesiastical year, which commenced in the spring, but according to the natural of civil year, which commenced in the autumn at the beginning of sowing time, or the autumnal equinox; so that the flood would be pouring upon the earth in October and November. “The same day were all the fountains of the great deep (תּהום the unfathomable ocean) broken up, and the sluices (windows, lattices) of heaven opened, and there was (happened, came) pouring rain (גּשׁם in distinction from טטר) upon the earth 40 days and 40 nights.” Thus the flood was produced by the bursting forth of fountains hidden within the earth, which drove seas and rivers above their banks, and by rain which continued incessantly for 40 days and 40 nights.

Gen 7:13-16

“In the self-same day had Noah...entered into the ark:” בּא, pluperfect “had come,” not came, which would require יבא. The idea is not that Noah, with his family and all the animals, entered the ark on the very day on which the rain began, but that on that day he had entered, had completed the entering, which occupied the seven days between the giving of the command (Gen 7:4) and the commencement of the flood (Gen 7:10).

Gen 7:17-24 contain a description of the flood: how the water increased more and more, till it was 15 cubits above all the lofty mountains of the earth, and how, on the one hand, it raised the ark above the earth and above the mountains, and, on the other, destroyed every living being upon the dry land, from man to cattle, creeping things, and birds. “The description is simple and majestic; the almighty judgment of God, and the love manifest in the midst of the wrath, hold the historian fast. The tautologies depict the fearful monotony of the immeasurable expanse of water: omnia pontus erant et deerant litera ponto.” The words of Gen 7:17, “and the flood was (came) upon the earth for forty days,” relate to the 40 days’ rain combined with the bursting forth of the foundations beneath the earth. By these the water was eventually raised to the height given, at which it remained 150 days (Gen 7:24). But if the water covered “all the high hills under the whole heaven,” this clearly indicates the universality of the flood. The statement, indeed, that it rose 15 cubits above the mountains, is probably founded upon the fact, that the ark drew 15 feet of water, and that when the waters subsided, it rested upon the top of Ararat, from which the conclusion would very naturally be drawn as to the greatest height attained. Now as Ararat, according to the measurement of Perrot, is only 16,254 feet high, whereas the loftiest peaks of the Himalaya and Cordilleras are as much as 26,843, the submersion of these mountains has been thought impossible, and the statement in Gen 7:19 has been regarded as a rhetorical expression, like Deu 2:25 and Deu 4:19, which is not of universal application. But even if those peaks, which are higher than Ararat, were not covered by water, we cannot therefore pronounce the flood merely partial in its extent, but must regard it as universal, as extending over every part of the world, since the few peaks uncovered would not only sink into vanishing points in comparison with the surface covered, but would form an exception not worth mentioning, for the simple reason that no living beings could exist upon these mountains, covered with perpetual snow and ice; so that everything that lived upon the dry land, in whose nostrils there was a breath of life, would inevitably die, and, with the exception of those shut up in the ark, neither man nor beast would be able to rescue itself, and escape destruction. A flood which rose 15 cubits above the top of Ararat could not remain partial, if it only continued a few days, to say nothing of the fact that the water was rising for 40 days, and remained at the highest elevation for 150 days. To speak of such a flood as partial is absurd, even if it broke out at only one spot, it would spread over the earth from one end to the other, and reach everywhere to the same elevation. However impossible, therefore, scientific men may declare it to be for them to conceive of a universal flood of such a height and duration in accordance with the known laws of nature, this inability on their part does not justify any one in questioning the possibility of such an event being produced by the omnipotence of God. It has been justly remarked, too, that the proportion of such a quantity of water to the entire mass of the earth, in relation to which the mountains are but like the scratches of a needle on a globe, is no greater than that of a profuse perspiration to the body of a man. And to this must be added, that, apart from the legend of a flood, which is found in nearly every nation, the earth presents unquestionable traces of submersion in the fossil remains of animals and plants, which are found upon the Cordilleras and Himalaya even beyond the limit of perpetual snow.The geological facts which testify to the submersion of the entire globe are collected in Buckland’s reliquiae diluv., Schubert’s Gesch. der Natur, and C. v. Raumer’s Geography, and are of such importance that even Cuvier acknowledged “Je pense donc, avec MM. Deluc et Dolomieu, que s'il y a quelque chose de constaté en géologie; c'est que la surface de notre globe a été victime d'une grande et subite révolution, dont la date ne peut remonter beaucoup au delà de cinq ou six mille ans” (Discours sur les rιvol. de la surface du globe, p. 190, ed. 6). The latest phase of geology, however, denies that these facts furnish any testimony to the historical character of the flood, and substitutes the hypothesis of a submersion of the entire globe before the creation of man: 1. because the animals found are very different from those at present in existence; and 2. because no certain traces have hitherto been found of fossil human bones. We have already shown that there is no force in these arguments. Vid., Keerl, pp. 489ff.

In Gen 7:23, instead of ויּמּח (imperf. Niphal) read ויּמח (imperf. Kal): “and He (Jehovah) destroyed every existing thing,” as He had said in Gen 7:4.

Noah Invited into the Ark. (b. c. 2349.)

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, v. 2, 3. 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, ch. viii. 20. 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.)

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 Matt. xix. 4, 8. 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, Isa. i. 3.

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 Kings xxii. 20. (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 ch. xix. 22, I can do nothing till thou be come thither: and we find (Rev. vii. 3) 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 (Ps. xxxiii. 7), 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, ch. i. 9. 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 (Job xxvi. 8) 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 (Job xxxvii. 11), 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, Job xxxvii. 12, 13. (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 Job xx. 27. 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, 2 Pet. iii. 6, 7. 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 (Isa. xi. 6, 7), 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, 1 Pet. iii. 20, 21. 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 (1 Cor. vii. 16), 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, Luke xiii. 25.

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 (Isa. xxviii. 17), and in vain they fly to them for safety, Rev. vi. 16. 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, Jer. xlix. 16; Obad. 3, 4. 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, Rev. vi. 7, 8.

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, Rom. viii. 21, 22. 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, Exod. xxiii. 29, 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 (v. 21 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 (Luke xvii. 26, 27); 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 1 Sam. xxx. 16, 17. 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 (Prov. i. 24, 25), 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, Matt. vii. 22; xxv. 8, 9. Those that are not found in Christ, the ark, are certainly undone, undone for ever; salvation itself cannot save them. See Isa. x. 3. (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, 2 Pet. ii. 5. Eliphaz appeals to this story as a standing warning to a careless world (Job xxii. 15, 16), 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, Ezek. xiv. 14, 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 (Jer. xlv. 4, 5) 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.

CHAP. VII.

ANd Iehovah said unto Noe, Enter thou and all thy house into the Ark: for thee have I seene just before mee, in this generation. Of every cleane beast, thou shalt take to thee, seven and seven, the male and his female: and of the beast which is not cleane, two, the male and his female. Also of the fowle of the heavens, seven and seven, the male and the female: to keepe alive seed upon the face of all the earth. For seven dayes hence I will cause-it-to raine upon the earth, forty dayes, and forty nights: and will blot-out every living substance that I have made, from upon the face of the earth. And Noe did: according to all that Iehovah commanded him. And Noe was sixe hundred yeeres old: and the Flood was; waters upon the earth. And Noe went in, and his sonnes, and his wife, and his sonnes wives with him, into the Arke: because of the waters of the Flood. Of the cleane beast, and of the beast which was not cleane: and of the fowl, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth. Two and two went in unto Noe, into the Ark, the male and the female: even as God had commanded Noe. And it was at the seventh of the dayes; that the waters of the Flood were upon the earth. In the yeere, the sixe hundred yeere, of the life of Noe, in the second moneth; in the seventeenth day of the moneth: in the same day, all the fountaines of the great deepe were broken-up; and the windowes of the heavens were opened. And the raine was upon the earth: forty dayes, and forty nights. In this selfe same day, entred Noe, and Sem, and Cham, and Iapheth, the sonnes of Noe: and the wife of Noe, and the three wives of his sonnes, with them, into the Ark. They, and every beast after his kind; and all the cattell after their kind; and every creeping-thing that creepeth upon the earth, after his kind; and every fowle after his kind; every bird of every wing. And they went in unto Noe, into the Ark: two and two of all flesh which had in it the spirit of life. And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, even as God had commanded him: and Iehovah shut him in. And the Flood was forty dayes upon the earth: and the waters increased, and bare-up the arke, and it was lift-up from the earth. And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth: and the arke went upon the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed most exceedingly upon the earth: and all the high mountaines that are under all the heavens, were covered. Fifteene cubits upwards did the waters prevaile: and the mountaines were covered. And all flesh that moved upon the earth, gave up the ghost; of fowle, and of cattell, and of beast; and of every creeping-thing, that creepeth upon the earth: and every man. All which had the breath of the spirit of life in his nostrils; of all which was in the dry land, they died. And every living substance was blotted out, which was upon the face of the earth; from man unto cattell, unto the creeping thing, and unto the fowle of the heavens; and they were blotted out from the earth: and Noe onely remained, and they that were with him in the arke. And the waters prevailed upon the earth: a hundred and fifty dayes.

Annotations. ENter thou] that is, Betake thy selfe unto my tuition and providence, who will save thee and thine from the wrath that commeth upon the world, 2 Pet. 2. 5. A like speech is made unto the godly, in Esa. 26. 20. just before me] that is, syncerely just, by faith, and so heyre of the justice which is by faith, Heb. 11. 7. for no flesh is just before God, by the workes of the Law, Rom. 3. 20. Noc is also named a preacher of justice, 2 Pet. 2. 5. The just before God, are opposed to hypocrites, which justifie themselves before men, Luke 16. 15. Rom. 2. 29. in this generation] that is, among the men of this age: which are called the world of ungodly ones, 2 Pet. 2. 5. See Gen. 6. 9. Vers. 2. of every cle[illegible: 2 letters]e beast] Of these there were after by Moses law, two sorts; some cleane for men to eate in common use, such as were all that parted the [illegible: 1 span] two, and chewed the cudd, Lev. 11. 3. &c. all other were uncleane. And some that were clean for sacrifice to God, which were either beeves, or sheepe, or goats, Lev. 1. 2. 10. So of fowles, many were counted cleane for mans meat, Lev. 11. 13. 21. &c. but for sacrifice to the Lord, onely tur[illegible: 1 letter]le doves and pigeons, Lev. 1. 14. And all these sacrifices Abram offered, Gen. 15. 9. and of every cleane beast and cleane fowle, Noe offered a burnt offering after hee came out of the Arke, Gen. 8. 20. wherefore by cleane beasts here, such onely seeme to be meant, as were sanctified of God for sacrifice: which ordinances (as appeareth) were revealed of God to the Fathers from the beginning, as divers others, after written by Moses; as clensing of mens persons, and garments, Gen. 35. 2. paying of tythes to the Priests, Gen. 14. 20. offering of first fruits, Gen. 4. 3. 4. and the like. As for civill use, all beasts seeme to be cleane to the sonnes of Noe, for meat, by that law in Gen. 9. 3. see the notes there. By nature all Gods creatures are good, Gen. 1. 31. and there is nothing uncleane of it selfe, Rom. 14. 14. but onely by the institution of God, to teach men holinesse and obedience, Act. 10. 15. Lev. 11. 44. 45. and seven,] Hebr. seven, seven, that is, by sevens, or seven of each sort: so after, two two, vers. 9. that is, two of each. This number of seven was after much used in sacrificing, as Iob 42. 8. 1 Chron. 15. 26. Num. 23. 1. 14▪ 29. male and his female] the Hebrew is, man and his wife: which the Greeke and Chaldee translateth, male and female, and so the Hebrew it selfe is in the next verse for the fowles. It is the manner of the Hebrew tongue, to call all living creatures by the name of man and wife, and their young ones sonnes, Lev. 1. 5. and things also without life, woman and sister, Exod. 26. 3. The mystery of things may by such names the better be descerned: for beasts cleane and uncleane, figured out men; as the vision shewed to Peter, manifesteth, Act. 10. 11. 20. 28. two] the Greeke explaineth it, two two, that is, by twoes; as before by sevens: and in the 9. verse following, the word two is doubled. Vers. 3. seven] to weet, of the cleane, and two of the uncleane, as was before of beasts. And so the Greek expresseth it. Vers. 4. seven dayes hence] Hebr. to yet seven daies, that is, the seventh day after this, as vers. 10. So, yet three dayes, 2 Chron. 10. vers. 5. is in vers. 12. shewed to be in the third day: So in Gen. 40. 13. The Hebrew to, is sometime used for after, as Exod. 16. 1 Psal. 19. 3. Num. 33. 38. Ier. 41. 4. Ezr. 3. 8. I will cause] Hebr. I causing: it is spoken as if it were then in doing, for the more certainty. So, thou heaping coles, Prov. 25. 22. is translated, thou shalt heape, Rom. 12▪ 20. forty dayes] This time of vengeance is after used for the time of humiliation: as Moses, Elias, and Christ our Lord, fasted forty dayes, and forty nights, Deut. 9. 9. 11. 1 King. 19. 8. Mat. 4. 2. And forty daies respite was given to Niniveh, Ion. 3. 4. as thrice 40. (that is 120.) yeeres to the old world before it was drowned, Gen. 6. 3. blot out] or, wipe out: that is, destroy, and abolish. This the Hebrew Doctors expound to be out of the land of the world to come, the land of the living: R. Menachem. on Gen. 7. and the Apostle placeth their spirits in prison, 1 Pet. 3. 19. living substance] every thing that standeth up, or subsisteth. This word is also used Deuteron. 11. 6. and Iob. 22. 20. Vers. 6. 600 yeere old] Hebr. a sonne of 600. yeeres: that is, going in his 600 yeere. See Gen. 5. 32. and hereafter in vers. 11. waters] or, as the Greeke hath, the Flood of water. Vers. 7. his sonnes wives] Thus but a few, that is, eight soules were saved by water: as the Apostle observeth, 1 Pet. 3. 20. And here againe, Noes rare faith and obedience is set forth, Heb. 11. 7. because] or, for feare of: Hebr. from the face. Vers. 9. and two] that is, by twoes: as v. 2. Vers. 10. at the seventh] or, as the Greeke saith, after seven dayes: see before v. 4. Vers. 11. the 600 yeere] or, In the yeere of 600 yeres; that is, while Noe was living, in the 600 yeere of his life: which was from the creation of the world the 1656 yeere, and this was the beginning of that yeere of his life, for hee continued a yeere in the Arke, Gen. 8. 13. and lived 350 yeere after the flood, and dyed 950 yeere old, Gen. 9. 28. 29. the second moneth] to weet, of the yeere: agreeable in part to that we now call October: for the end, and revolution of the yeere, was about the moneth which we call September, Exod. 23. 16. and 34. 22. and so the new yeere then began: this was after called the moneth of Ethanim, 1 King. 8. 2. where the Chaldee paraphraseth, that they called it of old, the first moneth, but now (saith he) it is the seventh moneth. For the yeere changed the beginning of it ecclesiastically, upon the comming of Israel out of Aegypt: see Exod. 12. 2. and Lev. 23. 39. compared with Exod. 23. 16. Some take it here to bee meant of the second moneth, according to the Iewes ecclesiasticall account, that is, April. of the great deepe,] that is, of the waters, which had by the providence of God beene put into treasuries (or store-houses) under the earth, Iob 28. 4. 10▪ Psal. 33. 7. Deut. 8. 7. As also of the Ocean sea, which sometime is called the Deepe, Iob 38. 16. 30. and 41. 31. Psal. 106. 9. the windowes] or sluices, flood-gates of heaven: that is, of the ayre; as is noted on Gen. 1. 7. So Esay 24. 18. This denoteth the extraordinary violent falling of the waters from above; as the former did their springing up from beneath. Hereupon waters, deeps, floods, and the like, are used for great afflictions, whereby the life is indangered, Psal. 69. 2. 3. 15. 16. Vers. 12. the raine] or shower, that is, vehement raine. After this manner the Israelites were baptized in the cloud and sea; when the clouds streamed downe waters, 1 Cor. 10. 1. 2. Psal. 77. 18. Exod. 14. 24. 25. And now was Noe saved in the arke in the midst of the waters, and was spiritually baptized into Christs death by faith, 1 Pet. 3. 20. 21. Heb. 11. 7. Vers. 13. In this selfe same] Hebr. In the strength (or body) of this day. So Gen. 17. 23. Levit. 23. 14. Ios. 10. 27. Vers. 14. every beast,] that is, some of every sort, two of the uncleane; as before, v. 2. every wing] that is, of every sort; for some are winged with fethers, others with skin, as Batts. Therefore the Greeke translateth here, as before, according to his kind. Vers. 15. went in] of their owne accord, miraculously, God so moving them: that they seemed beforehand to know the wrath of God that should come on the world. Vers. 16. shut him in] or, shut (the doore) upon him, or after him: the Greeke saith, shut the Arke on the outside of him. And this was to keepe him safe, and (as the Chaldee translateth) protect him, from the violence of the raine: also that no other should come in: for so the like speech seemeth to import, in 2 King. 4. 4. 5. The record of this grace to Noe, is found in sundry heathen Writers; they say Deucalion (when waters drowned all the rest) was with his wife preserved in a ship or arke, Ovid. Metamorph. l. 1. Lucian. de Dea Syriae. Noe was of the Greekes called Deucalion, (as Iustin Martyr Apol. 1. testifieth) and the name implieth so much, it being made of the wet and of the sea. Vers. 17. 40 dayes] that is, large dayes, comprehending nights also: as v. 4. and so the Greeke expresseth it, forty dayes, and forty nights. See the notes of Gen. 1. 5. from] or from upon: but the Greek saith, from the earth: and the Hebrew meghnal, from upon, is sometime onely from: as Exod. 10. 28. Therefore that which in 2 Chron. 33. 8. is written from upon the Land, in 2 King. 21. 8. is but from the land. So from by me, Gen. 13. 9. Vers. 18. went upon the face] that is, as the Greeke translateth, was caried upon the waters: So ships are said to goe (or walke,) Psal. 104. 26. Thus Noe in the Arke escaped the waters of Gods wrath, wherin the world perished: as Israel after this, passed safe through the waters of the sea, wherein the Aegyptians were drowned, Exod. 14. Hebr. 11. 29. Noe was baptized into Christs death, and buried, (in the Arke) with him into his death, but raised up againe with him also, God giving him victory through faith in Christ, Rom. 6. 3. 4. 1 Pet. 3. 20. 21 Vers. 19. most exceedingly] or, most vehemently: the Hebrew phrase (as also the Greeke) doubleth the word, vehemently vehemently. So Gen. 17. 2. and 30. 43. and often. Vers. 20. Fifteene cubits] that is, 22 foot and an halfe. God weigheth the waters by measure, Iob 28. 25 prevaile] that is, as the Greeke explaineth, were lifted up, higher then all mountaines: To this Iob hath reference, saying; he sendeth out (the waters) and they overturne the earth, Iob 12. 15. this judgement was admirable, seeing there are mountaines, as Atlas, Olympus, Causacus, Athos, and other such, that are so high, as their tops are above the clouds, and winds; as Historiographers do report. And the mountaines of Ararat so high, that the Arke rested upon them long before the face of the earth was discovered, Gen. 8. 4. 5. &c. Vers. 21. every man] the flood came and destroyed them all, Luke 17. 27. they were wrinkled before their▪ time; a flood was powred upon their foundations, Iob. 22. 16. Vers. 23. Noe onely] or, but Noe. To this the Scripture after hath reference, Ezek. 14. 14. though Noe, Daniel, and Iob were among them, they should deliver but their owne soules. So, a few were saved, 1 Pet. 3. 20. and 2. 5. And heathen stories give testimony unto this truth, that at the deluge of all men Deucalion onely was left alive, (that is, Noe;) by going with his wife and children into a certaine great Arke which he had, &c. Lucian. l. de Dea Syriae.