Commentaires bibliques

Genesis 6:3. And the Lord said, &c.— On a view of the extreme degeneracy of mankind, God said, i.e.. "He resolved and made known" by the mouth of his prophets, such as Enoch and Noah, by whom the Spirit of Christ preached to the unbelievers and disobedient of the old world, 1 Peter 3:18-20. 2Pe 2:5 that his Spirit should not always strive, or plead with man; that is to say, after having exhorted these men in vain to repentance, after having laboured in vain in their hearts by the internal operations of his grace, he would use no more efforts to reclaim them, but would exercise his justice upon them.

Yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years— "That is," says Mr. Locke, "their days, or time of trial for repentance, shall be so long, before I destroy the race." This hath been often understood as referring to the general age of man; whereas it is evident, that it refers to that period of God's waiting for the reformation of the world, while the ark was preparing. The Chaldee has it, a period of an hundred and twenty years shall be given them, wherein to repent.

It is here objected, that, on a comparison of Genesis 5:32; Gen 7:11 this time is found to have been not a hundred and twenty, but only a hundred years. How then did God perform his promise? I answer, this promise, though mentioned after what we read in ch. Genesis 5:32. was nevertheless made twenty years before it, for that verse is added there only to complete the genealogy; and therefore, after this narrative of the wickedness of the world, it is repeated here in its due order, in the 10th verse. Nor are such transpositions, says Poole, uncommon in scripture, without any diminution of its authority.

Observe here, the merciful respite, a hundred and twenty years! God never strikes without warning: but when his grace is rejected, his calls disregarded, his admonitions made light of: though he wait long, his time of patience ends; the sword is drawn, the sinner dies. Let us hear then, and fear, and do no more wickedly.

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Genesis 6:4. There were giants in the earth, &c.— The grand question is, what is meant by these giants? were they really men of extraordinary size, or does the word refer solely to the enormity of their deeds? It is difficult, perhaps, to determine: but from the frequent mention of gigantic people in other parts of the scripture, from the general testimony of profane history, and from many proofs which we have had of bones of large dimensions, it seems most probable that the persons here spoken of were of extraordinary bulk, and famous not only for their crimes but their size.

You may observe, the produce of the marriages mentioned above was giants, and men of renown for their conquests and their power. But whenever a wicked man has great power, we may expect great oppression. The renown of such conquerors is their greatest dishonour, and the trumpet of fame the sound of infamy. We are apt to admire a Caesar, or an Alexander, and in the glare of conquest forget the pests of society, and the scourges of mankind. But let us not forget the root of all this wickedness; the apostate nature of man. His inward parts are still worse than his ways; his heart is naught; all his thoughts perverse; yea, every rising imagination big with evil; and this determinedly and continually. Behold a lively picture of a fallen spirit! However great outward wickedness is, God sees greater abominations within.

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Genesis 6:5. The wickedness of man—great, &c.— God saw their wickedness to be great, after the period of the hundred and twenty years which he had granted them to return and repent; he saw that they amended not, but arrived at the highest pitch of depravity, both in principle and practice. The longevity of the antediluvians is alone sufficient to account for that enormous height of wickedness to which they arose, according to this text and the traditions we have of their excessive lust, impiety, and violence.

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Genesis 6:6. It repented the Lord—it grieved him at his heart— "All things past, present, and future, lie open at once to the view of the Divine Mind," says Dr. Clarke; and therefore that he is immutable in his counsels, and cannot repent, is one of the plainest dictates both of natural and revealed religion, Numbers 23:19. 1 Samuel 15:29. For he is not a man, that he should repent. So that the expressions of God's repenting, grieving, and the like, are only figurative, and adapted to our apprehensions; signifying, not any change in God himself, but only a difference of event with regard to us. Thus good parents, without any change in themselves, encourage or discourage their respective children, according as they change their behaviour for the better or the worse. Thus laws themselves, which can have no affection, and consequently no change of affection towards one person or another, yet vary their effect, themselves remaining unvaried. So when it is here said, God repented, was grieved, &c. the meaning is, that he was resolved to alter his conduct; and, as men, when they repent of any thing, are sorry for it, and endeavour to undo it, so was the Almighty determined to destroy man whom he had created, and whose change from good to evil brought on these consequences from a God continuing ever the same. We must remember, that it is by way of analogy, or comparison only, that the nature and passions of men are ascribed to God.

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Genesis 6:7. I will destroy both man and beast, &c.— God made the beasts for the service and delight of man; they therefore must perish with him, as with him they became subject to vanity and abuse. And God might certainly destroy them thus with as much justice as by a natural death; it is only a recalling that temporary breath which God himself had given them. And as the recalling it at that time, served to render this example of the Divine severity against sin the more signal and tremendous to future ages, we may venture to affirm, it answered the purposes of God's moral government, even better than if he had saved them by miracle from the common wreck. And, considered in that light, it is so far from being an imputation upon his justice, that it is rather an act of mercy; for whatever tends to reclaim inconsiderate mortals from their infatuation in counteracting the laws, which infinite Wisdom has devised to raise them to happiness, is an act of goodness and benevolence.

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Genesis 6:8. Noah found grace— Obtained favour, or mercy; and the reasons follow in the next verse, why he obtained such favour, and so much regard from God. He was a just man, a justified person, fully accepted and approved of God: he was an heir of the justice or righteousness which is by faith; Hebrews 11:7. צדיק tsadik, answers to the word δικαιος, in the New Testament; see Romans 3:22, and, I apprehend, refers not merely to the moral virtue of justice or righteousness, but to that justice which is obtained by faith in a Redeemer, and of which St. Paul (in the text above from the Hebrews) witnesses that Noah was an heir or inheritor: it is translated righteous, ch. Genesis 7:1. Thee have I seen righteous. He was also perfect, תמים tamim, i.e.. very complete in his generations, בדרתיו bedorotau, in or among that generation of men with whom he lived; en son tems, in his time, is the French translation. The word used for generations here is different from that used in the first clause of the verse; these are the generations of Noah, תולדת toldoth.

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Genesis 6:9. He walked with God— See ch. Genesis 5:22. lived as if ever in his sight, and consequently in the most exact discharge of all duties to the Lord; both in a private manner, and as a prophet, or preacher of righteousness.

Observe in this character of Noah, 1. He walked with God when all beside were walking in their own ways; he dared to be eminently singular, and to profess it too. It is a blessed proof of a heart right with God, when in evil days a man dare openly avow himself on the Lord's side. 2. He was a despised preacher in a careless world; but the favour of God amply repaid him, and made him more highly honourable than the giants of renown. I had rather find favour in the eyes of the Lord, than be regarded by an admiring world; and have my name written in the Lamb's book of life, than emblazoned in the annals of fame among the mightiest heroes.

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Genesis 6:11. The earth also was corrupt—filled with violence— Instead of also the Hebrew may be rendered, with rather more propriety, and the earth; that is, all the men upon the earth (except Noah, &c.) were corrupt before God; i.e.. were become totally impious and irreligious, having thrown off all reverence to the true God, and become either entirely profane and atheistical, or else gross idolaters: the word here used is generally applied to the corruption of idolatry. And the violence wherewith the earth was filled, plainly means those notorious acts of rapine, injustice, and oppression, which were committed by that irreligious race. This description of the original corruption is well explained by the account which St. Paul gives us of the heathen idolatry, and its flagitious consequences, Romans 1:21; Romans 1:32. And the comparison which St. Peter and St. Jude make of the heretics and apostates of their times, with the sinners before the flood, confirms that the last had forsaken the true worship of God.

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