A Help for the Understanding of the Holy Scriptures, Genesis · Chapter 6 – Chapter 7
CHAP. VI.
ANd it came to paſſe when men began to multiply, &c.]
This muſt reach further then the age of Noah, of which he ſpake in the latter end of the foregoing chapter, namely to the firſt increaſe of Cains wicked progeny. As the world began to be filled with them▪ ſo did it more and more increaſe in wickedneſſe: for the men here ſpoken of, are thoſe men whoſe daughters the ſonnes of God married, as is clear by the laſt branch of this verſe, namely thoſe that were out of the Church, never reputed members of Gods Church, or the ſonnes of God, but (as I may therefore ſay) meer men: 1. Cor. 3. 3. Walk ye not as men?
Verſ. 2. That the ſonnes of God ſaw the daughters of men, &c.]
Though all other wickedneſſe did no doubt abound, yet this is noted as the chief cauſe of Gods diſpleaſure, that even the ſonnes of God alſo, that is, the men of the Church of God (for ſuch are eſteemed the ſonnes of God, Deut. 14. 1.) vvithout any reſpect of the Religion they profeſſed, promiſcuouſly matched vvith the daughters of thoſe outcaſts, Cains vvicked progeny, from vvhom they had been hitherto ſeparated, taking them vvives, yea perhaps many vvives, of all that their eyes liked, not at all minding vvhat for matter of religion or manners they vvere.
Verſ. 3. And the Lord ſaid, &c.]
The Lord made known this his purpoſe to that wicked generation, namely by Noah, (yea and happely by Methuſelah and Lamech, who were then alſo living) to whom he revealed ſo much that except they repented within 120 years the world ſhould be deſtroyed.
My ſpirit ſhall not alwayes strive with man.]
That is, I have now a long time laboured to reclaim this wicked generation; my ſpirit hath contended with them both by the outward miniſtry in the mouthes of the Patriarches (as is expreſſed, 1. Pet. 3. 18, 19.) and alſo by inward motion and check of conſcience: but all is in vain: and therefore I will no longer trouble my ſelf with them, but at once ſweep them all away with a generall deluge.
For that he alſo is fleſh.]
That is, even man alſo, whom I created after mine own image, is become as brutiſh as the beaſts that periſh; he is wholy carnall, no courſe that I can take will do any good on him; therefore I will deſtroy him.
Yet his dayes ſhall be 120 years.]
120 years are granted for triall of their repentance; whence we ſee that this was revealed to Noah in the 480 year of his age: for he was 600 years old when the Flood came▪ chap. 7. 6. & conſequently but 480 when he had this warning of 120 years, which was 20 years before the birth of his ſonn…s Shem Ham and Japheth, though that be mentioned before in the former chapter.
Verſ. 4. There were giants in the earth in thoſe dayes.]
Men who for their extraordinary ſtature and ſtrength were even admired in thoſe dayes, to wit, in that age before ſpoken of, when the ſonnes of God did promiſcuouſly match with the da…ghters of men; at that time and before that time, that is, in that age, there were theſe giants on the earth, who in the pride and confidence of their huge ſtrength did without all fear of God or man (as lawleſſe men) commit any villany, and like ſavage and wild beaſts deſtroyed and wa…ted the countreyes and people where they lived. Amongſt other the corruptions of thoſe times this Moſes inſtances peculiarly in, to let us ſee how inſufferably wicked mankind was grown, when they did in a manner even fight againſt God.
And alſo after that when the ſonnes of God, &c.]
Yea, and after that age, the progenie of theſe unlawfull matches, betwixt the ſonnes of God and the daughters of men, became many of them ſuch giants, the curſe of God follovving ſuch unequall mixtures of the ſeed of Seth vvith that of Cain. And hereby alſo Moſes gives us to underſtand, that even among the outvvard members of the Church theſe villanies grevv rife, yea and after the holy Patriarchs had by Gods commandment threatened them vvith that del…ge vvhichwhich aftervvards came upon them.
Verſ. 6. And it repented the Lord that he had made man, &c.]
God is not as man, that he ſhould repent▪ or that he ſhould be grieved for any thing that is done, 1. Sam. 15. 29. The ſtrength of Iſrael will not lie nor repent: for he is not as man, that he ſhould repent: and that becauſe he is not mutable in his purpoſes, as being the Father of lights, Jam. 1. 17. with whom there is no variableneſſe nor ſhadow of changing; neither can any thing happen to croſſe him in his counſel, which he did not foreſee from everlaſting, nor can he be in danger to erre in his purpoſes, and to find out any thing in proces of time that is better then that which before he determined ſhould be done: yet here, as elſwhere in ſeverall places of Scripture, the Lord is ſaid to repent and to grieve, 1. becauſe the Lord now intended to do what men, that repent and are grieved for that which they have formerly done are wont to do, that is, to undo what he had done, and to deſtroy the work of his own hands, and therefore ſpeaks thus of himſelf, after the manner of men, as ſtooping to our capacity; and 2. to imply thereby the grievouſneſſe of their tranſgreſſions and provocations, that ſhould move the Lord to deſtroy ſo great a part of thoſe creatures which he had made for his own glory, & as it were to repent of making man, in whom he had determined to honour himſelf above all the creatures beſides: He muſt needs be a deſperate wicked wretch that makes his father that tenderly loves him wiſh he had never been born.
Verſ. 16. And in a cubit ſhalt thou finiſh it above.]
That is, the Ark. The meaning is this, When he had built up the Ark thirty cubits high, then he was to finiſh it, or cover it▪ which covering went up ſloping, ſo that the ridge was a cubit higher then the ſide of the Ark.
Verſ. 19. Two of every ſort, &c.]
That is, pairs of every ſort, a male and a female: the number is ſet down afterward, chap. 7. verſ. 7. Of every clean beaſt by ſevens, the male and his female, &c. here onelyonly the kind, and that he ſhould take them by twoes or by pairs.
CHAP. VII.
Verſ. 2. OF every clean beaſt, &c.]
That is, ſuch as might be offered in ſacrifice.
Verſ. 11. In the ſix hundredth year of Noahs life, &c.]
So then the Floud began in the ſeventeenth day of the monethmonth Zin, which was about the beginning of our May, as ſome Authours think, Anno Mundi 1656. or the beginning of October, as others hold.
Verſ. 12. And the rain was upon the earth fourty dayes, &c.]
It rained therefore unto the twentie ſeventh day of the third monethmonth.
Verſ. 16. And the Lord ſhut him in, &c.]
That is, the Lord either by the miniſtrie of the angels, or by his own immediate power, cauſed the doore of the Ark on the outſide to be ſure and ſafe againſt the rain and violence of the waters; and ſo, what could not be done by any care, or skill, or labour of Noah himſelf, was ſupplied by Gods providence: whereas reading this hiſtory men might be ready to queſtion in their minds, How Noah could poſſibly ſo ſhut the doore on the inſide, but that ſtill there would be danger of the waters working through the joynts and creviſes on the outſide, where Noah could not cover it with pitch, as it was within, all ſuch imaginations, which our own curioſitie might ſuggeſt, are cut off with this ſhort clauſe, that the Lord ſhut him in, that is, that the Lord by his own immediate hand and almighty power did as it were ſo faſten and ſhut up the doore upon them, that by no means the flouds of water beating upon it ſhould be able to looſen it, or any way break in to the endangering either of man or beaſt.
Verſ. 20. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail.]
That is, ſo much higher then any mountain did the waters riſe.
Verſ. 24. And the waters prevailed on the earth an hundred and fifty dayes.]
That is, for one hundred and fifty dayes after the beginning of the Flo…d, the waters did either increaſe or continue in their full ſtrength▪ to wit, unto the end of the ſixteenth day of the ſeventh monethmonth.