Chú giải Kinh Thánh

Ge 6:1-22.

WICKEDNESS OF THE WORLD.

2. the sons of God saw the daughters of men--By the former is meant the family of Seth, who were professedly religious; by the latter, the descendants of apostate Cain. Mixed marriages between parties of opposite principles and practice were necessarily sources of extensive corruption. The women, religious themselves, would as wives and mothers exert an influence fatal to the existence of religion in their household, and consequently the people of that later age sank to the lowest depravity.

3. flesh--utterly, hopelessly debased.

And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive--Christ, as God, had by His Spirit inspiring Enoch, Noah, and perhaps other prophets

(1Pe 3:20; 2Pe 2:5; Jude 14),

preached repentance to the antediluvians; but they were incorrigible.

yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years--It is probable that the corruption of the world, which had now reached its height, had been long and gradually increasing, and this idea receives support from the long respite granted.

4. giants--The term in Hebrew implies not so much the idea of great stature as of reckless ferocity, impious and daring characters, who spread devastation and carnage far and wide.

5, 6. God saw it . . . repented . . . grieved--God cannot change

(Mal 3:6; Jas 1:17);

but, by language suited to our nature and experience, He is described as about to alter His visible procedure towards mankind--from being merciful and long-suffering, He was about to show Himself a God of judgment; and, as that impious race had filled up the measure of their iniquities, He was about to introduce a terrible display of His justice

(Ec 8:11).

8. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord--favor. What an awful state of things when only one man or one family of piety and virtue was now existing among the professed sons of God!

9. Noah . . . just . . . and perfect--not absolutely; for since the fall of Adam no man has been free from sin except Jesus Christ. But as living by faith he was just

(Ga 3:2; Heb 11:7)

and perfect--that is, sincere in his desire to do God's will.

11. the earth was filled with violence--In the absence of any well-regulated government it is easy to imagine what evils would arise. Men did what was right in their own eyes, and, having no fear of God, destruction and misery were in their ways.