Chapter 6:
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Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 Revelation Exodus
Genesis 6
Concise Complete
The wickedness of the world which provoked God's wrath.
(1-7) Noah finds grace. (8-11) Noah warned of the flood, The directions
respecting the ark. (12-21) Noah's faith and obedience. (22)
Verses 1-7 The
most remarkable thing concerning the old world, is the destroying of it by the
deluge, or flood. We are told of the abounding iniquity of that wicked world:
God's just wrath, and his holy resolution to punish it. In all ages there has
been a peculiar curse of God upon marriages between professors of true religion
and its avowed enemies. The evil example of the ungodly party corrupts or
greatly hurts the other. Family religion is put an end to, and the children are
trained up according to the worldly maxims of that parent who is without the
fear of God. If we profess to be the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty, we
must not marry without his consent. He will never give his blessing, if we
prefer beauty, wit, wealth, or worldly honours, to faith and holiness. The
Spirit of God strove with men, by sending Enoch, Noah, and perhaps others, to
preach to them; by waiting to be gracious, notwithstanding their rebellions; and
by exciting alarm and convictions in their consciences. But the Lord declared
that his Spirit should not thus strive with men always; he would leave them to
be hardened in sin, and ripened for destruction. This he determined on, because
man was flesh: not only frail and feeble, but carnal and depraved; having
misused the noble powers of his soul to gratify his corrupt inclinations. God
sees all the wickedness that is among the children of men; it cannot be hid from
him now; and if it be not repented of, it shall be made known by him shortly.
The wickedness of a people is great indeed, when noted sinners are men renowned
among them. Very much sin was committed in all places, by all sorts of people.
Any one might see that the wickedness of man was great: but God saw that every
imagination, or purpose, of the thoughts of man's heart, was only evil
continually. This was the bitter root, the corrupt spring. The heart was
deceitful and desperately wicked; the principles were corrupt; the habits and
dispositions evil. Their designs and devices were wicked. They did evil
deliberately, contriving how to do mischief. There was no good among them. God
saw man's wickedness as one injured and wronged by it. He saw it as a tender
father sees the folly and stubbornness of a rebellious and disobedient child,
which grieves him, and makes him wish he had been childless. The words here used
are remarkable; they are used after the manner of men, and do not mean that God
can change, or be unhappy. Does God thus hate our sin? And shall not we be
grieved to the heart for it? Oh that we may look on Him whom we have grieved,
and mourn! God repented that he had made man; but we never find him repent that
he redeemed man. God resolves to destroy man: the original word is very
striking, 'I will wipe off man from the earth,' as dirt or filth is wiped off
from a place which should be clean, and is thrown to the dunghill, the proper
place for it. God speaks of man as his own creature, when he resolves upon his
punishment. Those forfeit their lives who do not answer the end of their living.
God speaks of resolution concerning men, after his Spirit had been long striving
with them in vain. None are punished by the justice of God, but those who hate
to be reformed by the grace of God.
Verses 8-11 Noah
did not find favour in the eyes of men; they hated and persecuted him, because
both by his life and preaching he condemned the world: but he found grace in the
eyes of the Lord, and this made him more truly honourable than the men of
renown. Let this be our chief desire, let us labour that we may be accepted of
him. When the rest of the world was wicked, Noah kept his integrity. God's
good-will towards Noah produced this good work in him. He was a just man, that
is, justified before God, by faith in the promised Seed. As such he was made
holy, and had right principles; and was righteous in his conversation. He was
not only honest, but devout; it was his constant care to do the will of God. God
looks down upon those with an eye of favour, who sincerely look up to him with
an eye of faith. It is easy to be religious when religion is in fashion; but it
shows strong faith and resolution, to swim against the stream, and to appear for
God when no one else appears for him; Noah did so. All kinds of sin were found
among men. They corrupted God's worship. Sin fills the earth with violence, and
this fully justified God's resolution to destroy the world. The contagion
spread. When wickedness is become general, ruin is not far off; while there is a
remnant of praying people in a nation, to empty the measure as it fills,
judgments may be long kept off; 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 a flood of wrath?
Verses 12-21 God
told Noah his purpose to destroy the wicked world by water. The secret of the
Lord is with them that fear him, Ps 25:14. It is with all believers, enabling
them to understand and apply the declarations and warnings of the written word.
God chose to do it by a flood of waters, which should drown the world. As he
chooses the rod with which he corrects his children, so he chooses the sword
with which he cuts off his enemies. God established his covenant with Noah. This
is the first place in the Bible where the word 'covenant' is found; it seems to
mean, 1. The covenant of providence; that the course of nature shall be
continued to the end of time. 2. The covenant of grace; that God would be a God
to Noah, and that out of his seed God would take to himself a people. God
directed Noah to make an ark. This ark was like the hulk of a ship, fitted to
float upon the waters. It was very large, half the size of St. Paul's cathedral,
and would hold more than eighteen of the largest ships now used. God could have
secured Noah without putting him to any care, or pains, or trouble; but employed
him in making that which was to be the means to preserve him, for the trial of
his faith and obedience. Both the providence of God, and the grace of God, own
and crown the obedient and diligent. God gave Noah particular orders how to make
the ark, which could not therefore but be well fitted for the purpose. God
promised Noah that he and his family should be kept alive in the ark. What we do
in obedience to God, we and our families are likely to have the benefit of. The
piety of parents gets their children good in this life, and furthers them in the
way to eternal life, if they improve it.
Verse 22 Noah's
faith triumphed over all corrupt reasonings. To rear so large a building, such a
one as he never saw, and to provide food for the living creatures, would require
from him a great deal of care, and labour, and expense. His neighbours would
laugh at him. But all such objections, Noah, by faith, got over; his obedience
was ready and resolute. Having begun to build, he did not leave off till he had
finished: so did he, and so must we do. He feared the deluge, and therefore
prepared the ark. And in the warning given to Noah, there is a more solemn
warning given to us, to flee from the wrath to come, which will sweep the world
of unbelievers into the pit of destruction. Christ, the true Noah, which same
shall comfort us, hath by his sufferings already prepared the ark, and kindly
invites us by faith to enter in. While the day of his patience continues, let us
hear and obey his voice.
Chapter 6:
| Calvin
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 Revelation Exodus
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther
Job
Psalm
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Solomon
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Ezekiel
Daniel
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
Matthew
Mark
Luke
John
Acts
Romans
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians
1 Timothy
2 Timothy
Titus
Philemon
Hebrews
James
1 Peter
2 Peter
1 John
2 John
3 John
Jude
Revelation
