Genesis 7:4-15 sits inside this longer paragraph.
1Yahweh said to Noah, “Come with all of your household into the ship, for I have seen your righteousness before me in this generation. 2You shall take seven pairs of every clean animal with you, the male and his female. Of the animals that are not clean, take two, the male and his female. 3Also of the birds of the sky, seven and seven, male and female, to keep seed alive on the surface of all the earth. 4In seven days, I will cause it to rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights. I will destroy every living thing that I have made from the surface of the ground.”
5Noah did everything that Yahweh commanded him.
6Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came on the earth. 7Noah went into the ship with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, because of the floodwaters. 8Clean animals, unclean animals, birds, and everything that creeps on the ground 9went by pairs to Noah into the ship, male and female, as God commanded Noah. 10After the seven days, the floodwaters came on the earth. 11In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the sky’s windows opened. 12It rained on the earth forty days and forty nights.
13In the same day Noah, and Shem, Ham, and Japheth—the sons of Noah—and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered into the ship— 14they, and every animal after its kind, all the livestock after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. 15Pairs from all flesh with the breath of life in them went into the ship to Noah. 16Those who went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God commanded him; then Yahweh shut him in. 17The flood was forty days on the earth. The waters increased, and lifted up the ship, and it was lifted up above the earth. 18The waters rose, and increased greatly on the earth; and the ship floated on the surface of the waters. 19The waters rose very high on the earth. All the high mountains that were under the whole sky were covered. 20The waters rose fifteen cubits higher, and the mountains were covered. 21All flesh died that moved on the earth, including birds, livestock, animals, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. 22All on the dry land, in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died. 23Every living thing was destroyed that was on the surface of the ground, including man, livestock, creeping things, and birds of the sky. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ship. 24The waters flooded the earth one hundred fifty days.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 8, 11, 12, 13 5. And Noah did according to all that the…
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.)
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv5, 9, 11, 15 Matt. 24:37; Luke 27:26; 1 Pet. 3:20
Matt. 24:37; Luke 27:26; 1 Pet. 3:20
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv4–15 Gen 7:4 For yet seven days, and I will…
Gen 7:4 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.
Ver. 4. For yet seven days, &c.] God could have destroyed them by water, or otherwise, in a far shorter space: But, of his free grace, he gives them yet seven days further, and then rains upon the earth forty days, as, not willing that any should "eternally perish, but that all should come to repentance". {2Pe 3:9} The Hebrew doctors are very injurious to Noah, because we read not that he prayed for the old world, but only took care of himself, and his own family, censuring him therefore of self-love and hard-heartedness. So they judge very uncharitably of those that perished in the flood; sending them all to hell, and wresting some scriptures thereunto; as, that in this present verse, God saith, he will destroy them, or blot them out; that is, say they, {a} out of the land of the world to come, the land of the living. I deny not, but many of their "spirits are in prison"; so saith St Peter. {1Pe 3:19} But withal, in the next chapter, the same apostle tells us, that "for this cause the gospel was preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit". {1Pe 4:6} Compare these words with those in 1Pe 3:18-20, and it will appear, the apostle speaks of these antediluvians. All were not saved that were in the ark, nor all damned, we may well think, that were out of it. Could they see their "foundation overflown with a flood," as the phrase is, {Job 22:16} and "not lay for themselves a good foundation" by "laying hold on eternal life"? {1Ti 6:19} St Ambrose conceiveth, that Noah was seven days in the Ark, before the flood came; that as God was six days in creating the world, and rested the seventh; so these perishing persons, admonished by the number of the days of the creation, might "remember their creator," {Ecc 12:1} and make their peace. Nunquam sero, si serio .
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{a} R. Menachem, in loc.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 Yet seven days, or, after seven days, the Hebrew…
Yet seven days, or, after seven days, the Hebrew Lamed being put for after, as it is Exo 16:1; Psa 19:3; Jer 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 threatening when it was at one hundred and twenty years distance, now hearing a second threatening, 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 1Pe 4:6. And as some preserved in the ark were damned, so others drowned in the deluge might be eternally saved.
And every living substance, all that hath in it the breath of life, as was said Gen 6:17.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv5, 11, 13 Here is Noah's ready obedience to the commands that…
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 Mat 19:4, Mat 19:8. 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 1:3.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv4–15 For yet seven days,.... Or one week more, after…
For yet seven days,.... Or one week more, after the above orders were given, which, the Jews say, were for the mourning at Methuselah's death; others, that they were an additional space to the one hundred and twenty given to the old world for repentance; in which time some might truly repent, finding that the destruction of the world was very near, and who might be saved from everlasting damnation, though not from perishing in the flood: but it rather was a space of time proper for Noah to have, to settle himself and family, and all the creatures in the ark, and dispose of everything there, in the best manner, for their sustenance and safety:
and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights: this was not an ordinary but an extraordinary rain, in which the power and providence of God were eminently concerned, both with respect to the continuance of it, and the quantity of water that fell:
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and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth: not every substance that has a vegetative life, as plants, herbs, and trees, which were not destroyed, see Gen 8:11 but every substance that has animal life, as fowls, cattle, creeping things, and men.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv4, 7, 11, 12, 14 Yet seven days and I will cause it to…
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.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv4, 11, 12, 15 Verse 4. For yet seven days] God spoke these…
Verse 4. 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, De 9:9; De 9:11; so did Elijah, 1Kg 19:8; so did our Lord, Mt 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, Ge 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.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv4, 11, 12, 14 Gen 7:4. Yet seven days — Or after seven…
Gen 7:4. Yet seven days — Or after seven days, which time the long- suffering of God (1Pe 3:20) granted to the world, as a further space for repentance, of which, therefore, it is probable, Noah gave them notice. And it is not unlikely that many of them, who slighted the threatening when it was at the distance of one hundred and twenty years, now hearing another threatening, and considering the nearness of their danger, might be more affected, and brought to repentance. And although destroyed, as to their bodies, by the flood, for their former and long-continued impenitence, yet might be saved in their spirits, 1Pe 4:6. And as it is likely that some, who were preserved from the waters by the ark, nevertheless, at last, perished in hell; so some that were drowned in the deluge might be eternally saved into heaven. With respect, however, to the generality, this reprieve was certainly in vain: see Luk 17:26, and 2Pe 2:5. These seven days were trifled away after all the rest, and 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. Reader, art thou the man?
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v10 - XXV. The Flood
- XXV. The Flood
The date is here given, at which the flood commenced and the entrance into the ark was completed. “In seven days.” On the seventh day from the command. “In the second month.” The primeval year commenced about the autumnal equinox; we may say, on the nearest new moon. The rains began about a month or six weeks after the equinox, and, consequently, not far from the seventeenth of the second month. “All the fountains of the great deep, and the windows of the skies.” It appears that the deluge was produced by a gradual commotion of nature on a grand scale. The gathering clouds were dissolved into incessant showers. But this was not sufficient of itself to effect the overwhelming desolation that followed. The beautiful figure of the windows of the skies being opened is preceded by the equally striking one of the fountains of the great deep being broken up. This was the chief source of the flood. A change in the level of the land was accomplished. That which had emerged from the waters on the third day of the last creation was now again submerged. The waters of the great deep now broke their bounds, flowed in on the sunken surface, and drowned the world of man, with all its inhabitants. The accompanying heavy rain of forty days and nights was, in reality, only a subsidiary instrument in the deluging of the land. We may imagine the sinking of the land to have been so gradual as to occupy the whole of these forty days of rain. There is an awful magnificence in this constant uplifting of the billows over the yielding land.
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Gen 7:13-16
There is a simple grandeur in the threefold description of the entrance of Noah and his retinue into the ark, first in the command, next in the actual process during the seven days, and, lastly, in the completed act on the seventh day. “Every living thing after its kind” is here unaccompanied with the epithet רעה rā‛âh, evil, or the qualifying term of the land or of the field, and therefore may, we conceive, be taken in the extent of Gen 6:20; Gen 7:2-3, Gen 7:6. At all events the whole of the wild animals did not need to be included in the ark, as their range was greater than that of antediluvian man or of the flood. “And the Lord shut him in.” This is a fitting close to the scene. The whole work was manifestly the Lord’s doing, from first to last. The personal name of God is appropriately introduced here. For the Everlasting now shows himself to be the causer or effecter of the covenant blessing promised to Noah. In what way the Lord shut him in is an idle question, altogether unworthy of the grandeur of the occasion. We can tell nothing more than what is written. We are certain that it would be accomplished in a manner worthy of him.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v11 Seventeenth day. On the tenth, God had given the…
Seventeenth day. On the tenth, God had given the last warning to the wretched and obstinate sinners, to whom Noe had been preaching, both by word and by building the ark, for 120 years; all in vain. This second month is, by some, supposed to be the month of May; by others, that of November. Usher makes Noe enter the ark on the 18th December 1656. The waters decreased May 17, mountains appear July 31, he sends out the raven September 8, and leaves the ark December 29, after having remained in it a year and ten days, according to the antediluvian computation, or a full year of 365 days. The systems of those pretended philosophers, who would represent this flood as only partial, affecting the countries which were then inhabited, are all refuted by the plain narration of Moses. What part of the world could have been secure, when the waters prevailed fifteen cubits above the highest mountains? To give a natural cause only for this miraculous effect, would be nugatory: but as waters covered the earth at first, so they surely might again, by the power of God. (Haydock) --- Fountains and flood-gates. These are the two natural causes which Moses assigns for the deluge, the waters below, and those above in the sky or firmament. Heaven is said to be shut when it does not rain, (Luke iv. 25.) so it is here opened, and flood-gates, or torrents of rain, pour down incessantly. But God attributes not the deluge to these causes alone; he sufficiently intimates that it would be miraculous, (ver. 4, I will rain,) and still more emphatically, chap. vi. 17, Behold I. Hebrew, "I, even I myself, do bring on a flood of waters." The idea which Moses give of the flood, corresponds with that which he before gave of chaos, when earth and water were undistinguished in one confusing mass, chap. i. 6. The Hebrews look upon it as a continual miracle, that the earth is not always deluged, being founded, as they represent it, on the waters, Jeremias v. 22. Calmet and others have proved, both from Scripture and from philosophical arguments, the universality of the deluge, against Isaac Vossius, &c. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v10 The Flood and the Judgment
SECOND SECTION
The Flood and the Judgment
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Gen_7:10-24
10And it came to pass after seven days [literally, seven of days] that the waters of the flood were upon the earth. 11In the sixth 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,7 and the windows8 of heaven were opened. 12And the rain9 [גשם, heavy rain, imber, cloud-bursting] was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. 13In the selfsame day10 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. 14They, and every beast11 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. 15And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh wherein is the breath of life. 16And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him; and the Lord shut him in. 17And the flood was forty days upon the earth; 18and the waters increased and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth. And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went 19[drove here and there] upon the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills that were under the whole heaven were covered. 20Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered. 21And 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: 22All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land. 23And every living thing was destroyed [Lange reads יִמַח in Kal, and renders, he destroyed] which was Upon the face of the ground,12 both man and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth; an Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. 24And the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. The Time of the Flood.—The beginning of the flood is first determined in reference to the age of Noah. It was in the sixth hundredth year of Noah’s life, that is, in the year when the six hundredth year of his life would be completed. The number 600 appears here to have a symbolical meaning, as also the week for his going into the ark. Six is the number of toil and labor. Next there is fixed the date of the beginning: on the seventeenth day of the second month. According to Knobel, must this date be reckoned from the first day of the six hundredth year of Noah’s life. For this there appears no ground here, if we assume that the narrator had in view a known and determined numbering of the months. The question is this—whether the months are to be determined according to the theocratic year, which the Jews kept after the Exodus from Egypt, and which began with Nisan in April (so that the beginning of the flood would have fallen in the month Ijar, or May), or whether it was after the œconomic years’ reckoning, according to which Tisri (September and October) made the end of the year (Exo_23:16; Exo_34:32). Rabbi Joshua, Lepsius, and others, are for the theocratic time-reckoning. According to this, the flood began in the month that followed Nisan. Keil and Knobel, on the contrary, are for the œconomic reckoning, according to which the second month would have fallen in our October or November. “Josephus (Antiq. i. 3, 3) has in mind the month named by the Hebrews Marhezvan, which follows after Tisri; so the Targum of Jonathan, as well as Jarchi and Kimchi. The continuous increase, then, or swelling of the waters from the 17th of the second month, to the 17th of the seventh month, a period of five months, or 150 days, would fall in the winter months.” Knobel. Instead of this, we hold that in a cosmical catastrophe, such as the flood appears to have been, the regard paid to the season of the year becomes fallacious; and then we are not here to think of any usual climatic events, such as took place in the case of the Egyptian plagues, though miraculously effected. It appears, therefore, to us, to have no bearing on the case, that the Euphrates and the Tigris fall towards the end of May, and in August and November reach their lowest point, or the consideration that, for the ancients, the winter season was a mournful time of desolation, etc. Knobel. It would seem from Gen_8:22, that the flood broke through all the ordinary constitution of nature. In the first place must we endeavor to set ourselves right with respect to the connection in the dates as given in our narration. On the 17th day of the second month, then, came the flood, and it rained, from that time on, forty days and forty nights. The consequence was the height of water in the flood which continued for 150 days (Gen_7:24). Then began the waters to fall, and, on the 17th day of the seventh month, the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat. Thus far five months have passed. On the first day of the 10th month, that is, after about eight months, the tops of the mountains appeared. Finally, in the six hundred and first year of Noah’s age, in the first day of the first month, the ground was becoming dry, and on the seven-and-twentieth day of the next month, it had become wholly dry (Gen_8:14). From the statement that this ensued in the six hundred and first year of Noah’s age, it cannot follow that his birthday fell on New Year, but only that about one year had elapsed. The extreme end of the flood, however, was ten days after the full year which the flood had continued. Knobel conjectures that the flood was originally reckoned according to the solar year of 365 days, but that the Hebrew narrator, reckoning by lunar years, transposes the account to one year and eleven days (p. 81). That would make the solar year to have been before the lunar year, which seems to us impossible. It would seem to aid, to some extent, in getting a right view of the times of the year, to bear in mind that the dove which Noah let fly the second time brought back a fresh olive-leaf in its mouth (Gen_8:11). That was probably forty days, and fourteen days, after the first day of the tenth month, and therefore, at all events, towards the end of the eleventh month. If we must regard this fresh olive-leaf as belonging to the spring season, then the beginning of the flood may have well fallen eleven months before, or in the time of May. But this conclusion is insecure, because the olive-leaf, in its budding, is not confined to the spring. For the opposite view, Delitzsch (p. 257) presents something that is specially worthy of notice, namely, that the observation of the earlier œconomic reckoning of time continued among the Jews after the introduction of the theocratic computation. If, however, the flood began with the autumnal rainy season, it must have ceased exactly as the rainy season of the next year commenced. In regard to the reckoning of the year, Knobel remarks that the Hebrews reckoned it according to lunar months, 354 days, other nations by solar months, making 365 days,—for example, the Egyptians and the Persians, and also, in astronomical matters, the Chaldæans.
In regard to the world-year of the flood, the citations of Delitzsch (p. 244) are worthy of attention. The mythologically enlarged numbering of the Babylonians, Delitzsch and others, reduce to the 2500th year before Christ. In respect to the day when the flood commenced, the Babylonian legend gives the 15th of Dasio.13 This statement favors the Bible reckoning of the year from Nisan (that is, according to the theocratic reckoning), not from Tisri. For a table of the different monthly suns, see Delitzsch, p. 246.
2. Gen_7:10-16. The opening of the Flood the shutting up of the Ark.—All the fountains of the great deep were broken up.—The Niphal or passive form of בקע is to be noticed. It denotes violent changes in the depths of the sea, or in the action of the earth,—at all events, in the atmosphere (see the preceding Section). תהום, the deep of the sea, whose fountains (Job_38:16; Pro_8:28) or origins are conditioned by the heights and depths of the earth itself. This fact is placed first. The rain appears to be mentioned as a consequence. “Similar views of water in the interior of the earth found place among the Greeks and Romans; from this, too, many sought to explain the ebb and flow of the tides.” Knobel. Only, here there is expressed no distinct view respecting the fountains of the sea-deep.14 The expression, too, “the windows of heaven,” is not to be too literally pressed.—In the selfsame day entered Noah, etc.—That is, by the time of the breaking out of the flood was the difficult embarkation accomplished—happily accomplished. חַיָּה denotes here the wild beast. All birds, all winged creatures, Knobel takes as synonymous. But since the kind is named before, there would seem to be intended a subdivision of the kind, and that what is said relates to birds in a narrower and in a wider sense.—As God had commanded him, and the Lord shut him in.—Here most distinctly presents itself the contrasting relation of these two names. Elohim gives him the prescription in relation to the pairs of animals for the preservation of the animal world, but Jehovah, the covenant God, shuts him in, that is, makes sure the closing of the ark for the whole voyage, and for the salvation of his people. This inclusion was, at the same time, an exclusion of the race devoted to death.
3. Gen_7:17-24.—The full Development of the Flood and its Effect, the Destruction of every Living Thing. And the flood was forty days upon the earth.—The first forty days denote the full development of the flood, which lifted up the ark and set it in motion. The advance of the flood is measured by reference to the ark. It is lifted up; it is driven on. With the waves she sails, and over the high hills. The last is said in a general acceptation, as a measurement of the height of the flood by the height of the hills. The estimate that seems to be expressed by saying, “fifteen cubits did the waters prevail over the high hills,” would neither give sense if taken literally, since the high hills have very different heights, nor could it mean that the flood was fifteen cubits above the highest mountain on the earth. But since now Noah could hardly have sailed directly over the highest mountain of the earth, much less have known the fact, we must suppose that this exact estimate was imparted to himself, or to some later writer, through direct revelation—an idea which is little in harmony with the true character of a divine revelation. We must, therefore, suppose that the epic-symbolical view according to which the flood rose high over all the mountains of the earth, became connected with the tradition that Noah found out the measure denoted, by some kind of reference to the mountain on which the ark settled. Knobel: “The representation may amount to this: since the ark drew about fifteen cubits water, its first settling on Ararat in the falling of the flood would give that measure. The 150 days, within which the destruction was accomplished, include the forty days of storm at the beginning. According to Gen_8:2, the rain continued all through these 150 days. Still must we distinguish its more moderated continuance from the first storm of rain in the forty days.” In respect to the universality of the flood, see Keil, whose judgment about it is similar to that of Ebrard, whereas Delitzsch is unwilling to insist upon it as an article of faith, especially the geographical universality (p. 260). Compare the preceding Section.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The threatenings of God are as certain as his promises; for God’s word is certain. As sure, however, as is the word of God, so sure is faith in its holy fear, its holy confidence and joy.
2. As God has provided help and deliverance for men by means of exposed infants, or abandoned orphans, so also through old men, as in the case of Abraham, Moses, Noah. The like wonders happen in all times.
3. When the necessity is greatest, then is the help at the nearest, and the highest. When sin (and the flood) become most powerful, then grace, and the miracles of grace, become most mighty for deliverance.
4. The safe embarkation of a little world in the ark before the breaking out of the flood. A wonderful instinct, a still more wonderful procession, a wonderful peace as the consequence of a wonderful terror.
5. The animal-world in the ark, type and symbol of the animal-world in general: the mention of man and woman, man and wife, presents prominently the fact that the ark was to become the point of departure for new generations.
6. Jehovah shut him in.—The innermost motive for the salvation of every living thing is God’s covenant with his own. Christ is here the head and star of history.
7. The ark, with its souls, in the waters of the great flood (sintflut), which was at the same time a sin-flood (sündflut), a destroying flood of wrath and judgment; in like manner Moses in the ark upon the Nile, and Christ on the cross and in the grave.—There are moments in which the kingdom of God seems lost, or in the most fearful peril, and yet is it all the more securely hidden and protected in the truthfulness of God himself, in the everlasting love he has for his people.
8. The terror of judgment in the flood immensely great, and yet not equal to the terror of the last judgment-day (1Pe_3:4).
9. The waters of the flood as a symbol of the judgment of redemption, of the baptism at the world’s end, and generally, of the passage of believers with Christ through death to life (Psa_69:77), is to be distinguished from the waters of the sea as the symbol of peoples and nations, their births and revolutions, as compared with the kingdom of God (Psalms 93; Daniel 7; Rev_13:1).
10. The most fearful sorrows are measured by comparing them with the height of water in the flood, and the hardest days of sorrow are reckoned as the days of the deluge.
11. The symbolic of the forty days. Four is the number of the world, ten the number of the completed development. It therefore denotes the fulness of the world-times, and of the world’s judgment.
12. God’s dominion as great as God himself.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
See the preceding.—The embarkation into the ark.—Jehovah’s shutting in.—The measured deeps of terror, the numbered days of trouble.—The ark as the cradle of the new human race rocked by the billows: 1. a frail chest, an infinitely precious content; 2. fearfully threatened, securely protected; trembling in the deep abyss of waters, lifted high on the wave of consecration.—The help of God in the floods of distress.—The watery grave: 1. deep for the human eye; not too deep for the eye of God.—The sea, too, shall give up her dead.—Noah’s faith; its grandeur: as in contrast, 1. to the universal apostasy, 2. to the impending judgment, 3. to its once great task and labor, 4. to the sport of the world, 5. to the terrors of the flood, 6. to the terrors of the animal world inclosed with him—the ark a lion’s den.—Noah in the floating ark, and Moses. Both, though seeming lost, preserved for the greatest things.
Starke: As God suffered the waters to increase gradually, so had the ungodly time for repentance; a thing which may, perhaps, have happened in the case of many, so that the soul was saved in the destruction of the flesh. According to this, it would be false what the Jews say of the men who perished in the flood, that they have neither part in the eternal life, nor in the resurrection of the dead,—a conclusion which they draw from an improper interpretation of Gen_6:3. It may be easily believed that the fish in great part died, not because the waters were seething hot, as the Rabbins say, but because, with the fresh water, there mingled itself the salt, which is contrary to the nature of many kinds of fish.
Lisco: God shut Noah in; so was the pressure into the ark prevented as against the godless, whilst Noah was made safe.
Gerlach: The clean beasts. Before their use as food they were offered in sacrifice, devoted to God; partly because in each enjoyment thanks should be offered to God, and partly because thereby even the enjoyment itself becomes sanctified.
Calwer, Handbuch: The first judgment of the world through water, the last through fire (2Pe_8:6).—So sinks the old world in its grave. Jehovah, the trusted, shuts him in. So, too, watches over us the shepherd of Israel, who slumbers not nor sleepeth.—Schröder: There seest thou that all the words of God have the power of an oath (Val. Herberger).—A night of death reigns over a world abandoned to its doom. Because the earth was corrupt, morally, the Lord destroys it—(that is, gives it up to physical corruption). So Luther. To say the fountains were broken up, and the flood-gates were opened, is a biblical mode of speech whereby is expressed the fact, that the waters were not suffered to flow in their wonted manner (Calvin).—The Lord preserved the ark and Noah therein as a treasure (Verleb. Bibel).
Footnotes:
[7][Gen_7:11.—נִבְקְעוּ, a very strong word. Sudden cleaving; used of the earthquake or earth-cleaving, Num_16:31; ZaGen Gen_14:4. Hence the noun בִּקְעָה, a valley, as though the Hebrews had some notion of valleys having their origin in fissures or violent separations of the earth. Comp. Hab_3:9, נְהָרוֹת תְּבַקַּצ אָרֶץ, “Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers”—or floods.—T. L.]
[8][Gen_7:11.—אֲרֻבֹּת windows, openings—general sense very clear from parallel passages, such as Isa_60:5 and Ecc_12:3, though in the latter passage it is used metaphorically of the eyes as the windows of the body. LXX., κ́αταῤῥάκται, Syriac, ܒܿܣܒ̈ܐ, or pourers.—T. L.]
[9][Gen_7:12.—גֶּשֶׁם, the very great rain, that which comes down in a body, as it were. מָטָר denotes the common rain, except when this word is joined with it, as in Job_37:6, מְטַר גֶשֶׁם, and in ZaGen Gen_10:1,—when it is intensified. In the Arabic, ּװד is never used for the rain, but it keeps the primary sense of magnitude, weight, density, pinguis, crassus.—T. L.]
[10][Gen_7:13.—בְּצֶצֶם הַיּוֹם, in ipso die, in that very day. It denotes a statistical particularity, which takes this account entirely out of the legendary or mythical view. It is most exactly true, or it is the boldest of forgeries in every unit and decimal employed in its reckonings.—T. L.]
[11][Gen_7:14.—וְכָל חַחַיָּה—וְכָל הָרֶמֶשׂ. It need only be remarked that all the alls, here and elsewhere, in this account, are to be taken as unlimited, or as specific, according to the view we are compelled, from other considerations, to form of the universality or partiality of the flood itself. Elsewhere only the בְּהֵמָה are mentioned, as is noticed by Dr. Murphy, p. 212, and there is good reason to regard it here as specifically limiting the more general word חיה before it. Their coming to the ark by pairs was evidently supernatural, but this in no respect affects the other question.—T. L.]
[12][Gen_7:23.—עַל פְּנֵי הָאֲדָמָה. Rendered in our Version, “on the face of the ground.” Rather, “on the face of the Adamah,” the word, in the chapters before, used for the inhabited territory in distinction from ארץ, as in Gen_4:14;—ארץ, in that connection, being used for the wide, unknown earth, into which Cain feared he should be driven, as a wanderer and a vagabond. The use of אֲרָמָה here certainly seems to imply some territorial limitation. Even when ארץ occurs, it may be better rendered land, indefinitely, than with that idea of totality which our modern knowledge makes us attach to it. See further on this in the Excursus, at the end of the account.—T. L.]
[13][Dasios was the eighth month of the Babylonian and Macedonian year. See the Table of Delitzsch, p. 246.—T. L.]
[14] “The great deep,” תּהוֹם רַבָּה, Gen_7:21. Comp. Gen_1:2; Pro_8:27-28; Job_38:16; Psa_104:6; Jon_2:6; Isa_51:10, and other places. Sometimes tehom is joined with ים, and seems to be used as synonymous with the great sea, as in Psa_104:6; Jon_2:5; but for the primary idea we must look to Gen_1:2. In creation, it was all water, or fluid (so conceived). Afterwards the land (the solid) is commanded to appear, and the waters are gathered to one place, מָקוֹם אֶחָר, whether it means the surface sea, or the supposed great abyss beneath. In the poetical parts of the Bible, the conception is that of the earth (the land or ground) as built upon the waters lying below. It was the contrast to the heavens or skies above, as in Pro_8:28, בְּאַמְּצוֹ שְׁחָקִים מִמָּעַל בַּעַזוֹז עֵינוֹת תִּהוֹם. In regard to all this, it may be said, that the Bible is responsible neither for Neptunian nor Plutonian theories. Facts are given, but they are presented according to the conceptions of the day. Water gushed from the earth, and the writer describes it by saying that the fountains of the tehom rabba, the great deep, were broken up. Aside from the traditional creative account, nothing could have been more natural than the idea that the interior earth, or the space under the earth (whatever notions might have been had of the earth’s shape or support), was a region of water. It was a direct deduction (true or false) from the phenomena of springs and wells,—and that, by a process strictly Baconian. Afterwards, but very early, the sight of volcanoes (see Psa_104:32) must have given also the idea of interior fire. We know, even yet, hardly any thing about it. Researches on the surface, or shell, of the globe, have given us much curious knowledge as to its progressive surface-formation, and the great periods which it indicates; but beyond this, our knowledge of the vast interior is about as great as that which one who had pierced half through the shell of an egg, would, by such means alone, have obtained of that most curious structure. He might conjecture that there was heat and fluid there, but that would be all. Perhaps it is well that we have so little means of penetrating this vast unknown. We could not rest very securely if we knew all that was going on inside the earth, or had even a glimpse of the surging, boiling, or burning, that may be taking place ten miles, or even ten furlongs, right beneath our feet. There is a tehom rabba there, filled with something that might make a rapid ruin of our earth, if we had nothing to trust to but the unknown nature, and no other insurance against it but our much-lauded science. Our only secure trust is in One in whom we believe, as having a higher than a physical purpose in the continuance of the earth,—one who “binds the floods from overflowing,” and the fires from yet bursting forth.
This conception of the tehom rabba is most graphically presented Gen_49:25. It is there called הַּחַת תְּהוֹם רֹבֶצֶת, “the abyss couchant below,” like a wild beast crouching down and ready to spring upon his prey, just as in Gen_4:7 sin is described as רֹנֵץ, ready to spring upon a man at any moment.—In the Arabian tradition the waters are represented as coming out of an oven (the vaulted interior earth), and as being boiling hot. See Koran, Surat 11:41, ֵِהَ ַ ֱֲּَ ֳוْל ُ׀ַَ זَ ׀ַَ ׁَ ֳב׀ٌז ׂ,
“when our command went forth, then boiled the furnace.” This came from the idea of Geysers, or hot springs, and may have had some truth in it, since it does not detract from Scripture to suppose that there may have been other minor facts respecting the flood, preserved in other and independent accounts. Sale says that the Arabians got this from the Jews; and so also Reckendorf states in the Introduction to his Hebrew translation of the Koran, citing from the Talmud (Sanhedrin), but this does not bear them out, since the word רותח, there used, means simply the effervescence or tumultuous boiling motion which Maimonides says came from the violence of the eruption, and not from heat. It is by him, and the Talmud, compared with the violent fermentations and eruptions of sensuality that brought on such an outbursting flood as a fitting judgment; and so says Rabbi Hasada, in the passage quoted from the Sanhedrin: “They corrupted everything (ברותחין), in the boiling sensuality of their transgression, and by the boilings of an all-destroying water wore they judged.” Such a mode of interpretation is peculiarly Rabbinical, but the fact of hot eruptions (like those of the Icelandic geysers) may well have been, or of boiling water, as the Arabian account states it.—T.L.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv4, 9 For yet seven days--A week for a world to…
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 (Luk 17:27).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv4, 11, 13 4. Yet seven days — One full week yet…
4. Yet seven days — One full week yet remained for gathering all into the ark.
Seven… forty… forty — We naturally note here the occurrence of these significant numbers. Comp. also Gen_8:4; Gen_8:10; Gen_8:12 (notes); and Moses forty days on the mount; Israel forty years in the desert; the spies forty days in searching Canaan. But in these historical narratives there is no reason to question the literal significance of the numbers. Their prominence in history made them specially significant in prophecy.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15 4. seven days] Note the period of seven days,…
4. seven days] Note the period of seven days, the same interval as occurs again, in the J narrative, in Gen_8:10; Gen_8:12.
forty days and forty nights] The duration of the Flood is here announced. Cf. Gen_7:12 and Gen_8:6. In the Babylonian version the rain lasts for six days.
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every living thing] or rather, “every existing thing.” A peculiar word in the Heb. occurring only here and Deu_11:6. (LXX ἀνάστεμα, Lat. substantiam.) It is, therefore, different from the expression “living thing,” which is used by P in Gen_6:19, Gen_8:1; Gen_8:17; Gen_8:21.
destroy] Heb. blot out, so also Gen_7:23 (J): see note on Gen_6:7.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv4, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14 (4) Forty days.—Henceforward forty became the sacred number of…
(4) Forty days.—Henceforward forty became the sacred number of trial and patience, and, besides the obvious places in the Old Testament, it was the duration both of our Lord’s fast in the wilderness and of His sojourn on earth after the Resurrection.
Every living substance.—The word “living” is found neither in the Hebrew nor in the ancient versions, and limits the sense unnecessarily. The word is rare, being found only thrice, namely, here, in Gen_7:23, and in Deu_11:6. It means whatever stands erect. Thus God “destroys”—Heb., blots out (see on Gen_6:7)—not man and beast only, but the whole existent state of things—“from the face of the earth”—Heb., the adâmâh, the cultivated and inhabited ground. This section is much more limited in the extent which it gives to the flood, not including reptiles, or rather, small animals, among those saved in the ark, and confining the overflow of the waters to the inhabited region.
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The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 15 Vers. 4, 5. For yet seven days. Literally, for…
Vers. 4, 5. For yet seven days. Literally, for today"s yet seven after seven days; thus giving Noah time to complete his preparations, and the world one more opportunity to repent, which Peele thinks many may have done, though their bodies were drowned for their former impenitency. And I will cause it to rain literally, I causing it, the participle indicating the certainty of the future action (cf. Gen_6:17; Pro_25:22; cf. Ewald"s "Hebrews Synt.," upon the earth forty days and forty nights. The importance assigned in subsequent Scripture to the number forty, probably from the circumstance here recorded, is too obvious to be overlooked. Israel wandered forty years in the wilderness. (Num_14:33) The scouts remained forty days in Canaan. (Num_13:26) Moses was forty days in the mount. (Exo_24:18) Elijah fasted forty days and forty nights in the wilderness of Beersheba. (1Ki_19:8) A respite of forty days was given to the Ninevites. (Jon_3:4) Christ fasted forty days before the temptation, (Mat_4:2) and sojourned forty, days on earth after his resurrection. (Act_1:3) It thus appears to have been regarded as symbolical of a period of trial, ending in victory to the good and in ruin to the evil. And every living substanceyekum; literally, standing thing, omne quod subsistit, i.e. "whatever is capable by a principle of life of maintaining an erect posture" (Bush); ajnasthma (LXX; cf. Deu_11:6; Job_22:20) that I have made will I destroy literally, blot out (cf. Gen_6:7) from off the face of the earth. And Noah did according to all that the Lord (Jehovah, the God of salvation, who now interposed for the patriarch"s safety; in Gen_6:22, where God is exhibited in his relations to all flesh, it is Elohim) had commanded him.
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The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 7, 11 For yet seven days, and I will cause it…
Gen_7:4
For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth.
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The Divine threat of destruction
I. VERY SOON TO BE EXECUTED.
II. VERY MERCIFUL IN ITS COMMENCEMENT.
III. VERY TERRIBLE IN ITS DESTRUCTION. And every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.
1. The destruction was determined.
2. The destruction was universal.
3. The destruction was piteous.
IV. VERY SIGNIFICANT IN ITS INDICATION. The Fatherhood of God is not incompatible with the punishment of sinners. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
Divine threatenings
1. That they will surely be executed.
2. At the time announced.
3. In the manner predicted.
4. With the result indicated. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v11 Gen_7:11. Great deep.] “The great abyss—the mighty roaring deep:”…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Gen_7:11. Great deep.] “The great abyss—the mighty roaring deep:” Heb. tehôm—same word as in Gen_1:2; Pro_8:24, &c: Sept. and Vulg. “abyss.” Broken up.]—Or, “burst open.—Windows.] Prop. “the latticed, enclosed; hence gen. window, flood-gate;” but Sept. “waterfalls.”—
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Gen_7:16. Shut him in.] Lit. “Then does Jehovah shut up round about him.” How touchingly beautiful! “Then”—a closing act, as when a mother closes up about her dear ones for the night: “Jehovah,”—the God of covenant grace, the Becoming One, ever becoming some further and something fresh to those who trust in him. It is He who performs this graceful and gracious act.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Gen_7:11-24
THE DELUGE; OR, THE JUDGMENTS OF GOD UPON THE SIN OF MAN
There are some who regard the deluge as the outcome of the natural workings of physical laws, and not as a miraculous visitation of heaven; they intimate that it was the ordinary result of flood and rain, so common in those Eastern climes. We think, however, that the supposition is far from being satisfactory, and is inadequate to the requirements of the case. It was evidently the result of supernatural intervention. The ordinary floods and rains of these Eastern countries have never exercised such a destructive influence upon the lives of men and animals either before or since. It was unique in its effects. And certainly if it had been the ordinary outcome of natural laws, it would have been of frequent occurrence. It is true that God sometimes sends his retribution through the ordinary workings of nature, thus rebuking and punishing the sin of man; but the deluge is no instance of this method of retribution. We are inclined to think that the flood occurred about April; certainly before Autumn. Both the time of its advent, the effect of its working, and the purpose of it, mark it as a miracle of heaven. As such Noah would regard it, and as such it is full of significant teaching to human souls.
I. That the chronology of the Divine judgments is important, and should be carefully noted and remembered. “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.”
1. The chronology of Divine retribution is important as a record of history. Some men are accustomed to regard historic dates as of very little importance, as things only to be learnt by the schoolboy. And certain it is that dates are not as important as facts or principles, but they have a significance peculiarly their own, and are generally evidences of credibility and certainty. We cannot afford to neglect them. History is full of them. They remind us of great transactions, of battles won. They are also important in the domestic life. They chronicle events both joyous and sad; the birth of a child, the death of a parent. They are useful in the Church, either to recall days of persecution, acts of heroism, and times of emancipation from the power of evil. It is well that the exact dates should be assigned to the judgments of heaven, that men may study and remember them, and that their anniversary may be hallowed by becoming reverence and prayer. In those primitive times the long lives of the greatest men were as calendars for the chronicle of important events, they denoted the progress of the world. And it is better to fasten history to the life of an individual than to the dead pages of a book, as men make the record they chronicle. We ought to be more minute students of the histories of God, and of His judgments upon the sin of man, as they relate to the inner life of the soul, and record a history no unaided human pen could write.
2. The chronology of Divine retribution is important as related to the moral life and destinies of men. The deluge is not merely a cold record of history, a transaction of the hoary past, but an event of more than ordinary moral meaning. It contains a great lesson for humanity to learn, and ought to be the continued study of men. It announces the terrible ruin which sin irretrievably works to the life and commerce of countries; that it destroys a multitude of lives, and renders the material universe a desolate watery grave. It shows that the judgments of God are determined, and that they are not deterred by consequences. How many souls would be hurried into an unwelcome eternity of woe by the deluge. Hence the date of such a calamity should never be obliterated from the mind of man; but should be the portal to all the great verities of which it is the symbol.
3. The chronology of Divine retribution is important, as the incidental parts of Scripture bear a relation to those of greater magnitude. We are not to regard the events and parts of Scripture as unrelated to each other; but as blending in one sublime harmony and purpose. The blade of grass is related to the tree. The flower is related to the star, and we are not to neglect the former because it is not of equal size to the latter. We must pay heed to the incidental and lesser portions of sacred history, even to its dates, as parts of a great and sacred whole, needful and useful.
II. That God hath complete control over all the agencies of the material universe, and can readily make them subserve the purpose of His will. “The same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up.”
1. The Divine Being can control the latent forces and the unknown possibilities of the universe. Man is ignorant of the grand and untoward possibilities of the created world. He beholds things, announces their properties, defines their spheres of action, proclaims their names, and vainly imagines that he has exhausted their capability. Thus he views the sea and the dry land. But the most elementary forms of matter are unknown even to the most industrious investigator and to the most learned in scientific discovery. Men may write books about the wonders of the great deep, but their pages are as the mutterings of a child. Science cannot tabulate the resources of the earth; they are only seen by the eye of the Creator. They are only responsive to the touch of omnipotence. This consideration should make men reverent in mood when they speculate as to the future of the material structure in which they now reside. The, as yet, undrilled, yea, almost unknown, legions of the material world are ready at the call of heaven to rebuke and punish the misdoing of man.
2. The Divine Being can control all the recognized and welcome agencies of the material universe, so that they shall be destructive rather than beneficial. The agencies now brought into the service of Divine retribution were, in the ordinary method of things, life-giving and life-preserving. But immediately upon the behest of God they became most destructive in their influence. When Jehovah would reprove the sin of man He can easily change His choicest blessings into emissaries of pain and grief. He can make the fertilizing waters to overflow their banks and to drown the world they were intended to enrich.
3. That the agencies of the material universe frequently co-operate with the providence of God. The world in which man lives is so arranged that it shall minister to his need, enrich his commerce, and delight his soul. It was made for man. But not less was it made for God, primarily to be the outlet of His loving heart, but often to manifest His repugnance to moral evil. All the forces and agencies of nature are arranged on the side of moral rectitude under the command of the Eternal King of heaven and earth. They will reward the good. They will punish the wicked. They re-echo the voices of inspired truth. The waters of the mighty deep catch their rhythm from the truth of God. The Spanish armada was defeated by a storm more than by the arms of men. Providence is on the side of rectitude and truth.
III. That the retributive judgments of God are a signal for the good to enter upon the safety provided for them. “In the self-same 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.” It was not enough for Noah to build an ark for his safety during the coming deluge; he must also enter it. And when the good man saw the rain falling upon the earth, he felt that the threatened judgment was near, and that the closing scenes had come upon the degenerate multitude. This was the signal for his final entrance into the ark. And so when the predicted end of the universe shall come, and all things are about to be destroyed by fire, then shall the good enter into the permanent enjoyment of the heavenly rest and condition, and the wisdom of their conduct will be acknowledged. But in that day men will stand in their own individuality, they will not be saved, as were the sons and relatives of Noah, because they belong to pious families. There will be many holy parents in the ark, while their wicked sons will be carried away by the great waters.
IV. That in Divine judgments, the agencies of retribution, which are destructive to the wicked, are sometimes effective to the safety and welfare of the good. “And the waters increased and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth.” Thus we find that the same waters which were destructive to the wicked inhabitants of the ancient world, were in harmony with the provision made by Noah, and so enhanced his safety in these perilous times. And so it has sometimes occurred that the retributive events of Providence, which have been injurious to the sinful, have been a means of benediction to the good. The cloud may be a guide to the Israelites, whereas to the Egyptians it may only be a great darkness, or a wild flame. The rod of heaven may smite the evil and the good, but to the latter it blossoms and brings forth fruit.
V. That in the retributive judgments of God wicked men are placed without any means of refuge or hope. “And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills that were under the whole heaven, were covered.” The degenerate multitudes of that wicked age had no method of escape in the time of this terrible retribution. They had made no provision for the deluge; they had rejected the warnings of Noah. They might climb the tall trees, and ascend the high mountain, but the rising and angry tide soon swept them from their refuge. Men cannot climb above the reach of the judgment of God. They can only be saved in the appointed way, according to the Divine invitation. Those who despise the ark can be saved in no other manner. And so in the judgments which shall come upon the world in its last days, then those who have rejected the offers of mercy urged upon them by a faithful gospel ministry, will be without hope and without refuge amidst the terrible doom.
VI. That the measure and limits of the retributive judgments of God are divinely determined. “Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail.” “And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.” The judgments of God are marked and definite as to their duration. They are determined beforehand in this respect, and are not left to wild caprice, or uncertain chance. The Divine Being determines how high the waters shall rise, and how long they shall prevail. He only knows the entire meaning of sin, and therefore alone arranges its punishment. God knows the measure of all human sorrow. LESSONS:
1. That the judgments of heaven are long predicted.
2. That they are commonly rejected.
3. That they are wofully certain.
4. That they are terribly severe.
5. They show the folly of sin.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Gen_7:11-12. It is the Spirit’s purpose that the Church should keep a true chronology of God’s works.
Admirable is God’s providence in keeping souls alive between waters above and beneath.
It is God’s word alone to break and bind the fountains of the great deep, shut and open the windows of heaven.
At God’s word heaven and the deep are both ready to destroy sinners.
“In the second month.” In April, as it is thought, when everything was in its prime and pride; birds chirping, trees sprouting, &c., nothing less looked for than a flood; then God “shot at them with an arrow suddenly,” (Psa_64:7), as saith the Psalmist. So shall “sudden destruction” (1Th_5:3) come upon the wicked at the last day, when they least look for it. So the sun shone fair upon Sodom the same day wherein, ere night, it was fearfully consumed. What can be more lovely to look on than the cornfield a day before harvest, or a vineyard before the vintage?—(Trapp).
Gen_7:13-15. An important and eventful day:—1 The fulfilment of promise.
2. The commencement of retribution.
3. The time of personal safety.
4. The occasion of family blessing.
Polygamy was not in the church saved from the waters.
Some of all kinds of creatures hath God’s goodness saved in the common deluge.
The breath of life is in God’s hand to give or take.
The animals:—
1. Their number.
2. Their order.
3. Their obedience.
THE DOOR WAS SHUT
Gen_7:16. “And the Lord shut him in,” Gen_7:16. Noah could build the ark, could preach to the people, could bear all manner of scorn and contempt, but I conceive, strong man as he was, there was one thing he could not do, that was to shut the door of the ark against the people who in a few hours would clamour for admittance. We can readily picture to ourselves this great-hearted man as he receives the last creature into the ark, looking round on the crowd who wondered and scoffed at his procedure. There he sees his old workmen, young wives leaning on their strong husbands; little children playing with simple gladness; old men and women leaning on their staffs; perhaps distant relatives and friends. What conflict must have raged in his bosom at the thought of cutting them off from the only means of salvation, from the awful and impending doom which awaited the world. It was too much for Noah to do, so the Lord shut him in! Let us meditate on the significance of this act.
I. It teaches us, as God is the author so also is he the finisher of our work. God implants in the mother’s heart the desire to teach her children of Himself, but He must apply the instruction. Paul may plant and Apollos water, but God must give the increase. The seeker after salvation may pray, and read the word, and attend the means of grace, but God only can save the soul. We may speak words of comfort to the distressed, the Holy Spirit must convey the message to the heart.
II. It teaches that they who do His will shall not go unrewarded. Noah built the ark, so God insures his safety therein. Paul may fear lest after doing God’s will in preaching to others, that he shall be a castaway; but he has no ground for alarm. Paul was never less like himself than when he said those words, or rather when he was distressed with that fear. The righteous cannot know the misery of rejection. Those who put their trust in God shall never be confounded.
III. It teaches that those who do God’s will are preserved from all dangers. The Lord shut him in! so that he might not perpetrate any rash act. Had he possessed the power of opening the door, he might have jeopardized the safety of the whole family by bringing down the vengeance of God. Noah’s had been a critical position but for this. Think of him as he hears the rush of waters; the shrieks of the drowning; the cries of the young and old. If you had been in his position, with the knowledge you could open the door, and take some in, would you not have been tempted to do so? But God shut him in, and when He shutteth no man can open. So shall God fortify the soul at the great day of final judgment. Mothers, fathers, children, shall see their relatives cast out, and yet be preserved from one rash word, or unbelieving act.
IV. It teaches that those who do God’s will must not expect immediate reward. Noah becomes a prisoner—for five months he had no communication from God—for twelve months he resided in the ark. But God remembered Noah and brought him out into a wealthy place.
V. It teaches that the hand which secures the saint destroys the sinners. As God shut Noah in, insuring his safety, He shut out the world to experience the fearful doom of their sin. Hereafter the door shall be shut. On which side will you be.—[Stems and Twigs.]
THE DIVINE COMMANDS
Gen_7:16. “As God had commanded him.”
I. The Divine commands are severe in their requirements, Noah was required by them to build an ark, which would involve him in much anxiety and labour. He was exposed to the ridicule and fanaticism of men in so doing; for the commands of God relate to unseen things and to future events, and are not understood by the wicked. The commands of God often impose a great and continuous service, somewhat difficult to be performed. They sometimes place men in important and critical stations of life.
II. The Divine commands are extensive in their requirements. They relate not merely to the building of the ark as a whole, but to every minute detail in the great structure; and so in the moral life of man, the commands of God have reference to all the little accidents of daily life. They extend to the entire manhood—to its every sphere of action. If we offend in little, we are verily guilty of sad disobedience.
III. The Divine commands are influential to the welfare of man. Through obedience to the commands of God, Noah was preserved from the deluge; and if men would only obey the voice of God in all things, they would be shielded from much harm, and many perils. Obedience renders men safe, safe from the guilt of sin, and from the woe of Divine retribution. Thus the commands of God, though they may involve arduous service through many years, and though they extend to the entire life of man, are nevertheless influential to the temporal and eternal welfare of obedient souls.
INCREASED AFFLICTION
Gen_7:17. “And the waters increased.”
I. That affliction is progressive in its development and severity. In the first place the rain is sent, then the fountains of the great deep are broken up, and then the high hills are covered with water. “Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.” (Psalms 42-7). Sorrow does not generally advance upon men all at once, its cold wave gradually rises and chills their hearts. How many souls in the wide world could write a mournful comment on the gradual increase of human grief.
II. That increased affliction is the continued and effective discipline and punishment of God. The waters of the deluge were designed to exterminate the sinful race which had corrupted the earth, and hence they covered the highest mountains, that all life should be destroyed. Augmented affliction is often occasioned by sin, and is intended to punish and remove it.
Every word of vengeance must exactly be fulfilled which God hath spoken.
God’s judgments are gradual on the wicked.
Waters of death to some, are made waters of life to others by the word of God.
Gen_7:19-24. The bounds of nature cannot keep water from destroying, when God makes it to overflow.
Not a word of God falls to the ground concerning those whom he appoints to ruin.
No kind of life can be exempt from death, when wickedness giveth up to vengeance.
The times of increasing and perfecting vengeance are determined by God. He measures waters and numbers days.
THE ALMOST SOLITARY PRESERVATION OF A GOOD MAN FROM IMMINENT AND LONG-CONTINUED PERIL
Gen_7:23. “And Noah only remained alive and they that were with him in the ark.”
I. Then moral goodness is sometimes a safeguard from the imminent perils of life. The Christian Church is constantly being reminded that the good share the dangers and calamities of the wicked, and that the same event happens to all irrespective of moral character. But this statement is not always true, for even in the circumstances of this life moral goodness is often a guarantee of safety. Heavenly ministries are ever attendant upon the good, to keep them in all their ways. God often tells good men of the coming woe, and also shows them how to escape it. Purity is wisdom.
II. Then moral goodness is signally honoured and rewarded by God. Of all the inhabitants of that ancient and degenerate world, many of them illustrious and socially great, only Noah and his relatives were saved from the destructive deluge. In this we see the true honour which God puts upon the good, as well as the safety by which He environs them. It is honourable to be morally upright.
III. Then moral goodness may sometimes bring a man into the most unusual and exceptional circumstances. It may make a man lonely in his occupation and life-mission, even though he be surrounded by a crowded world; it may make him unique in his character, and it may render him solitary in his preservation and safety. Noah was almost alone in the ark; he would be almost alone in his occupation of the new earth on which he would soon tread. And thus goodness often makes men sublimely unique in their circumstances. It requires a brave heart to be equal to the requirements of such a position.
ILLUSTRATIONS
BY THE
REV. WM. ADAMSON
Flood! Gen_7:11. The scientific man asserts as the latest generalization of his science, that there is in nature the uniformity of natural sequence, in other words, that nature always moves along the same path, and that law is a necessity of things. He thus indirectly asserts the probability of miracles, indeed, he admits them. For, where there is no law, there is no transgression; and the very belief in miracles depends upon this uniformity. In nature we and deviations from this law of uniformity; and so it is in the region of providence and grace. God has a certain course of dealing generally with man, and He is pleased to diverge from that course at times, as in this instance of the flood, of Sodom’s miraculous overthrow, and of Pharaoh’s destruction in the Red Sea. Thus—
“Nature is still as ever
The grand repository where He hides
His mighty thoughts, to be dug out like diamonds.”—Bigg.
Lessons! Gen_7:11. It is not enough to follow in the track of the deluge, and listen to the wail of the antediluvians; it is not enough to analyse philosophically the causes of the earth’s upheaval and overflow; it is not enough to regard the narrative as a school for the study of Noah’s character, and to gaze with an admiration that is almost awe upon one of the stalwart nobility of mankind. We must draw the lessons which the record is designed to teach, how abhorrent sin is in the sight of God in all ages, how earnest He is in the preservation of His saints to the end of time, how He shapes the things of time and sense for the evolution of His own design, educing order from its vast confusions, and resolving its complications into one grand and marvellous unity, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever, and how He can and will accomplish all that He has purposed in spite of wrath of men, or rage of seas:—
“For what He doth at first intend,
That He holds firmly to the end.”—Herrich.
Divine Dates! Gen_7:12. Man’s dates are often trivial, as we see in the pages of an almanac or diary. Not so with the Divine chronology. His dates stand out like suns amid encircling stars. Around them human dates must constellate. Therefore He does not despise them. With Him they are no trifle; and He would have us view them in the same light, regarding each date in the Divine chronology as the poet expressed himself of nature, that—
“Each moss,
Each shell, each crawling insect, holds a rank
Important in the plan of Him who framed
This scale of beings.”—Thomson.
Helplessness! Gen_7:18. “A man overboard!” is the cry! Then the passengers lean over the bulwarks with eyes riveted on the spot where a few rising airbells tell his whereabouts. Presently the head emerges above the wave, then the arms begin to buffet the water. With violent efforts he attempts to shake off the grasp of death, and to keep his head from sinking. He makes instinctive and convulsive efforts to save himself; though these struggles only exhaust his strength, and sink him all the sooner. When the horrible conviction rushed into the souls of the antediluvian sinners that the flood had really come, how they must have struggled, clutching at straws and twigs in the vain hope of physical salvation. Yet, though the bodies of all perished; shall we doubt that the spirits of many were pardoned? As it is at times with the dying sinner, when the horrible conviction rushes into his soul that he is lost, when he feels himself going down beneath a load of guilt, he grasps that which before he despised; so these drowning wretches clutched at the saving truth of Noah’s preaching. They were saved, yet so as by fire, as—
“With failing eye, and thickening blood,
They prayed for mercy from their God.”—Studley.
Chronology! Gen_7:12. The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done, and there is no new thing under the sun. Spring clothes the earth with verdure; summer develops this verdure into its highest beauty and luxuriance; autumn crowns it with ripeness and fruitfulness; but Winter comes with its storms and frosts apparently to destroy all. Yet this apparently wanton destruction tends more to advance the progress of nature than if summer were perpetual. Just so with the Divine retribution of the deluge. As the wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about to the north; as it whirleth continually, and returneth again according to his circuits; so with the flood of waters. It was a part of the Divine plan, by which moral progress should be made, so that creation might by retrogression rise to a higher platform of inner life. Schiller says that the Fall was a giant stride in the history of the human race. So was the Divine retribution at the deluge. A wise and benevolent purpose lay hid under the apparently harsh and severe judgment. It was not only a terrible remedy for a terrible disease, but also a lever by which humanity was raised nearer to God. Dark as it was, the darkness was needed to display the lights, in it we see the sable robe,
“Of the Eternal One, with all its rich,
Embroidery and emblazonment of stars.”
God’s Door! It was shut as much for the security of those within, as for the exclusion of those without. When the father nightly bars the house-door, he does it for the protection of his family who are safely slumbering. God shut the door not merely to signify that the day of grace was past, but to secure the comfort and safety of Noah and his family from perishing by water. For this then was it that
“The ark received her freightage, Noah last,
And God shut to the door.”
Security! Swinnock says of travellers on the top of the Alps that they can see the great showers of rain fall under them—deluging the plains and flooding the rivers—while not one drop of it falls on them. They who have God for their refuge and ark are safe from all storms of trouble and showers of wrath. Noah and his family had no wetting though the windows of heaven yawned wide enough for seas to descend.
“Yes! Noah, humble, happy saint,
Surrounded with the chosen few,
Sat in his ark, secure from fear,
And sang the grace that steered him through.”
Troubles! Gen_7:18. An old Puritan said that God’s people were like birds: they sing best in cages. The people of God sing best when in the deepest trouble. Brooks says: The deeper the flood was, the higher the ark went up to heaven. God imprisoned Noah in the ark that he might learn to sing sweetly. No doubt the tedium of their confinement was relieved by many a lark-like carol. The elements would make uproar enough at the first; but God could hear their song as well as when the commotion in nature ceased, and
“None were left in all the land,
Save those delivered by God’s right hand,
As it were in a floating tomb.”
Graduation! Gen_7:19. Sorrows come not single spies, but in battalions. This gradual increase of human grief—this progressive rise of the waters of affliction is doubtless designed to lead men to repentance. It is said that when a rose-tree fails to flower, the gardener deprives it of light and moisture. Silent and dark it stands, dropping one faded leaf after another. But when every leaf is dropped: then the florist brings it out to bloom in the light. God sought by the graduation of the waters of the flood—by the progressive loss of each foothold, to awaken men to repentance. Over the result He has cast a veil; but hope prompts the thought that some sought and obtained mercy, before—
“Beast, man and city shared one common grave,
And calm above them rolled the avenging wave,
Whilst yon dark speck, slow-floating, did contain
Of beast or human life the sole remain.”—Procter.
Judgment! Gen_7:20. The men of the age of Noah were not more taken by surprise when the windows of heaven were opened to rain upon the earth—the men of Jerusalem were not struck with greater consternation when the eagles of Rome came soaring towards them, bearing on their wings the vengeance of one mightier than Cæsar—than the men of the last day shall be. Signs and wonders shall, no doubt, precede the coming of that day; but the men then living will fail to take note of these signs! But why is it thus? Has Providence any delight in snaring the sinner? No; but he is blinded and infatuated by his own sin. No matter how plain the warnings of approaching doom may be, he passes on with an eye that will not see! No matter how terribly it may lighten and thunder, he has no ear to hear; until at length he is taken and destroyed—receiving as he sinned
“The weight
And measure of eternal punishment
Weigh’d in the scales of Perfect Equity.”—Bickersteth.
Divine Care! Gen_7:23. A pious old man, who had served God for many years, was sitting one day with several persons, eating a meal upon the bank near the mouth of a pit in the neighbourhood of Swansea. While he was eating, a dove, which seemed very tame, came and fluttered in his breast and slightly pecked him. It then flew away, and he did not think much about it; till in five minutes it came again, and did the same. The old man then said: “I will follow thee, pretty messenger, and see whence thou comest.” He rose up to follow the bird; and whilst he was doing so, the banks of the pit fell in. On his return he discovered that all his companions were killed. Thus was Noah preserved!
“Who then would wish or dare, believing this,
Against His messengers to shut the door?”—Lowell.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv7, 9, 11 went in
went in
(See Scofield "Gen 6:9").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv7, 11 The Embarkation
The Embarkation
v. 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. The members of Noah’s household were thus one with him in faith and in obedience, for which reason they all, unlike Lot’s wife, were saved in the catastrophe from the waters of the Deluge, which destroyed all other men.
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v. 8. of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
v. 9. there went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah. It was not a mere presentiment of coming danger that prompted the animals to gather about Noah, the clean and the unclean mammals, birds, and reptiles, neither was it a matter of instinct only, but it happened thus by God’s arrangement, and it was He that commanded the animals to assemble at the place where the ark stood ready for occupancy. By pairs they entered into the ark under the direction of Noah, who thus fulfilled the command of God.
v. 10. And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the Flood were upon the earth. Exactly according to the prediction of God, on the seventh day after His final command to Noah, the Flood came upon the earth. God’s promises, whether they concern a blessing or a punishment, can never fail of fulfillment. It is a part of true wisdom in the believers to rely implicitly in His Word.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv4, 6, 8, 11, 13, 15 forty days and forty nights
forty days and forty nights
This was a full forty days. It was not a total of eighty days. AT: "forty days and nights"
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living
This refers to physical life.
translationWords
life
Yahweh
command
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv4, 6, 8, 11 7:4 The number forty is often associated with affliction,…
7:4 The number forty is often associated with affliction, trial, or punishment (see Exod 16:35; Judg 13:1; 1 Kgs 19:8; Ezek 4:6; Jon 3:4; Matt 4:2; Acts 1:3).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.