open at His knock, and He will be your guest, you shall have His sweet company; repulse Him, and you have not a promise He will knock again. And if He once leave off striving with thee,unhappy man, thou art lost for ever; thou liest like a ship cast up by the waves upon some high rock, where the tide never comes to fetch it off. Thou mayest come to the word, and converse with other ordinances, but in vain. It is the spirit of them which is both tide and wind, to set the soul afloat, and carry it on; or else it lies like a ship on dry ground, which stirs not.-Gur nall. 4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. 5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. V. 5. The very embryo of every idea, the fragment of every thought, the very materials out of which perception, conception, and ideas were formed, were all evil. The fountain which produced them, with every thought, purpose, wish, desire, and motive, were incurably poisoned.-Dr. A. Clarke. What an affecting proof we have here of man's apostasy! For can any man imagine that God should make a thinking creature-endow a creature with a power of thought, originally from the beginning-to think nothing but what was evil, and continually evil?-Howe. And who is the prime agent in all this? Satan. He keeps the baneful machinery a-going, and that with the most consummate ease. We ourselves allow that there is an established order in which our thoughts succeed each other; that, detached and promis "And it repented the LORD that and it grieved him at his heart. cuous as they appear to be, they are linked together with all the strength and sequence of a chain; and the principle which thus unites them we call the principle of suggestion-the law of association.' Now, admitting the existence of such a law-a law common to all minds, like gravity to all matter-operating by mental affinity and attraction, it is only to suppose that Satan has mastered this principle, that the result of the experience of many thousand years, in studying the structure, watching the movements, and experimenting on the properties of mind, is, that he knows the universal bearing and operation of this principle; and what a fearful amount of power, what an immense command over the human mind, may he possess in the knowledge of this principle alone!-Dr. J. Harris. he had made man on the earth, And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. Repentance in God is only a change of His outward conduct, according to His infallible foresight and immutable will. When God speaks of His 'repenting that He had made man,' it is only His changing His conduct from a way of kindness to a way of severity, and is a word suited to our capacities, to signify His detestation of sin, and His resolution to punish it, after man had made himself quite another thing than God had made him.. 'It repents me,' that is, I am purposed to destroy the world, as he that. repents of his work throws it away; as if a potter cast away the vessel he had framed, it were a testimony that he repented that ever he took pains about it; so the destruction of them seems to be a repentance in God that ever He made them; it is a change of events, not of counsels.-Charnock. 8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. 9 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. V. 9. It is easy to be religious when religion is in fashion; but it is an evidence of strong faith and resolution to swim against the stream to heaven, and to appear for God when no one else appears for Him. So Noah did, and it is on record to his immortal honour.-M. Henry. 10 And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. "The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. 18 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. When wickedness is become general and universal, ruin is not far off. While there is a remnant of praying people in a nation, to empty the measure as it fills, judgment may be kept off a great while (see ch. xv. 16); but when all hands are at work to pull down the fences by sin, and none stand in the gap to make up the breach, what can be expected but an inundation of wrath ?-M. Henry. 14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. Bishop Wilson observes that great quantities of this wood grew about Babylon, near which place the ark was built. The wood is incorrup tible, so that the remains of the ark might have been seen in Josephus's time, as he and others say it was. 15 And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. 16 A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. The cubit being nearly 22 inches, and the ark being 300 cubits in length, 50 in breadth, and 30 in height, its size was equal to 547 feet long, 91 feet broad, and 54 feet high; and it is computed to have been 81,062 tons burden. The dimensions were sufficient to contain all the persons and animals said to have been in it, with sufficient food for more than twelve months.-Comp. Bible. 17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die. 18 But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. 19 And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. 20 Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive. "And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them. Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he. V. 22. Noah's obedience to the Divine command was thorough, and it exposed him to the continual reproaches of all his neighbours for 120 years. None of them believed what he told them of a flood which was coming to drown the world. For a man to undertake such a vast piece of work, under the notion that it should be the means of saving him when the world should be destroyed, it made him the continual laughing-stock of the world. When he was about to hire workmen, doubtless all laughed at him; and we may suppose that, though the workmen consented to work for wages, yet they laughed at the folly of him who employed them. When the ark was begun, we may sup A1 pose that every one that passed by and saw such a huge bulk stand there laughed at it, calling it Noah's folly. It is very difficult for a man to go on in a way wherein he makes himself the laughing-stock of the whole world. Where is the man that could stand the shock of such a trial for twenty years? Such an undertaking Noah engaged in and went through in order to a temporal salvation. How great an undertaking, then, should men be willing to engage in and go through in order to their eternal salvation!-a salvation from an everlasting deluge; from being overwhelmed by the billows of God's wrath, of which Noah's flood was but a shadow! - President Edwards. CHAP. VII. ND the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. Though saving grace descends not by generation from parents to their children, yet many temporal blessings are bestowed on them for their sakes. 2 Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. 3 Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. 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. 5 And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him. "And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth. 7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood. 8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth, There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had com 9 manded Noah. 10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth. The unclean beasts God would have to live, the clean to multiply; and therefore He sends to Noah seven of the clean, and of the unclean two. But why seven? Surely that God that created seven days in the week, and made one for Himself, did here preserve of seven clean beasts, one for Himself for sacrifice. He gives us six for one in earthly things, that in spiritual we should be all for Him.Bp. Hall. 11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. 12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. The first king of Phrygia mentioned in history is Nannacus, who is said to have reigned before the flood. He attained to a very great age, for it is recorded of him that when he was 300 years old, he sent to inquire of all the oracles that were then in repute how long he should live. The oracles unanimously re plied, that at his death all things should perish; whereupon he repaired, with his subjects, to the temples, and strove, with many sighs and tears, to appease the wrath of the gods. However, Nannacus died soon after, and the deluge ensued, which was attended with the threatened destruction.-Universal History. 18 In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark; 14 They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort. And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life. The suspension of the ferocity of the savage beasts during their continuance in the ark is generally considered as an apt figure of the change which takes place in the dis 15 position of sinners when they enter the true church of Christ; but it may also remind us of the hypocrite's external good behaviour, though his nature is not changed.-Scott. 16 And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in. 'The Lord shut him in.'-The door of such a stupendous building may be supposed to have been too large for human hands to fasten, especially so few as they were, and all within-side of it. It is possible, too, there might be, by this time, numbers crowding round it for admittance; for those who trifle with danger at a distance are often the most terrified when it approaches. But lo, all is over! That act which shut Noah and his family in, shut them for ever out! And let it be considered that something very nearly resembling this will ere long be acted over again: 'As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of man.' Not only shall the world, as then, be full of dissipation, but the concluding scene is described in nearly the same words, And they that were ready went in, and the door was shut!'A. Fuller. 17 And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth. 18 And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. 19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. 20 Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail, and the mountains were covered. 21 And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beasts, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man : 22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. 28 And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. 24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days. Observe, 1. The waters, which broke down everything else, bore up the ark. That which to unbelievers is 'a savour of death unto death,' is to the faithful' a savour of life unto life.' 2. The more the waters increased, the higher the ark was lifted towards heaven. Thus sanctified afflictions are spiritual promotions.-M. Henry. The highest and most inaccessible mountains afforded the delinquents no retreat. In vain does he fly whom God pursues. There is no way to fly from Divine judgments but to fly to Divine mercy by repenting. — Bp. Hall. CHAP. VIII. AND God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the 3 cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged; 2 The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained; And the waters returned from off the earth continually and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated. And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. 4 How soon is God weary of punishing who is never weary of blessing! Yet may not the ark rest suddenly. If we did not stay some time under God's hand, we should not know how sweet His mercy is, nor how great our thankfulness should be.Bp. Hall. 5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen. If we had been on a long and dangerous voyage at sea, we should be better able to conceive of the joy which this sight must have occasioned, than we possibly can be without it.-A. Fuller. |