5 And GoD saw that the | nation of the thoughts of his heart wickedness of man was great in was only evil continually.

e

the earth, and that every imagi

e ch. 8.21. Deut. 29. 19. Prov. 6. 18. Matt. 15. 19.

the dead (Heb. the giants, the Rephaim) are there;' i. e. he does not consider that it was by this sin that the renowned rebels before the flood perished, and that he is in danger of meeting the same fate. Prov. 21. 16, 'He that wandereth out of the way of understanding, shall remain in the congregation of the dead,' (Heb. of the giants ;) i. e. shall be in imminent peril of being joined to that wretched society. Prov. 2. 18, The house of the strange woman inclineth unto death,' (Heb. unto the giants.) Again, Job 26. 5, 'Dead things, (Heb. the giants, Rephaim,) are formed under the waters and the inhab-emulated not the virtues of their fathers itants thereof.' This conveys no in- but the vices of their mothers, and thus telligible meaning. It is probably more the race of giants was perpetuated.———— correctly rendered by the Lat. Vulgate, 'The giants groan (Heb. shake, or tremble) under the waters with the inhabitants thereof.' The clew to this is to be found in the fact, that it was this class of men, who were buried in the waters of the deluge, and whose spirits, i. e. shades, manes, were supposed, in popular estimation, to be imprisoned in the caverns of the earth. It was to these spirits that Christ, by his Holy Spirit, preached during their lifetime, 1 Pet. 3. 19. Farmer supposes that the Apostle James, in saying, 'The devils (Gr. demons, i. e. spirits of dead men) believe and tremble,' alludes to this very passage of Job. The conceit of the Grecian poets, that earthquakes were occasioned by the attempts of the giants to shake off the mountains that were heaped upon them, owes its origin to the same source, viz. the traditions respecting the fate of the antediluvian rebels, who after death were held to be incarcerated for their crimes in the subterranean regions of the earth. It is supposed by some that no other than

these apostate 'sons of God' are intended by the sacred writer in the term angels,' 2 Pet. 5. 4, who are often styled 'Elohim.'- T And also after that when, &c. Heb. 'And even after it was so that the sons of God went in,' &c. This implies that the result of such marriages disappointed previous expectation; that although the sons of God' might have flattered themselves with the idea of exerting a predominant influence of a religious kind upon their wives, and of begetting and rearing up a godly seed, yet the experiment was unsuccessful. The children when grown

The same became mighty men, which were of old, men of renown. Heb. Gibborim and Nanshe shem, men of name. The contrary phrase occurs Job 30. 8, 'base men.' Heb. 'men of no name.' The words denote a class of men who had made themselves famous with after ages by their exploits, by their deeds of violence, robbery, and wreng. With this repute had their characters been handed down to posterity. If we are not mistaken, the passage conveys an intimation that these antediluvian giants and heroes were the principal personages of the ancient heathen mythology, celebrated by the poets. However this may be, they were men that became renowned in popular estimation for their deeds of prowess, oppression, and blood, and it is but little to the credit of humanity that such characters have been the principal themes of historic record and worldly admiration in all ages..

5. God saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth. Every thing in the narrative is so framed as

6 And fit repented the LORD | earth, and it grieved him at his that he had made man on the heart.

f See Num. 23. 19. 1 Sam. 15. 11, 29. 2 Sam. 24. 16. Mal. 3. 6. Jam. 1. 17.

g Isa. 63. 10. Eph. 4. 30.

Had it been drawn by the pen of a prejudiced erring mortal it might have been supposed to exceed the truth. But this is not the testimony of man, but of God who sees things precisely as they are, and his infallible declaration is, that the thoughts of man were evil without exception, without mixture, and without intermission

6. It repented the Lord. As it is said 1 Sam. 15. 29, 'The strength of Israel will not lie nor repent; for he is not a man that he should repent;' it is obvious that we are not to ascribe to an immutable mind the fickleness that belongs to man, nor to suppose that the

pointed. This and similar expressions are taken from what passes among men when they are disappointed in their expectations and endeavours. As a potter finding that a vessel which he has formed with the utmost care does not answer the desired purpose, regrets his labour, and casts out of his sight the worthless object, so God, ma

to vindicate the judgment of God in the fearful proceeding soon to be detailed. The drift of these words is evidently to show, that it was not from a slight cause or a hasty impulse that the destruction of a world was determined upon. As the result of a deliberate survey, and not of a superficial glance, God saw that the earth had become replete with wickedness, and therefore ripe for a curse. Had the sins of men been of the mere ordinary stamp, or had they been local and limited in their prevalence, they might have been pardoned; but as it was, they were at once enormous in degree and universal in extent. What more could be neces-omniscient Jehovah was really disapsary to justify the extremest rigour in the sentence of the Judge?- -T And that every imagination, &c. Heb. the whole fabrication or formation. The term is that which is usually applied to the work of the potThe language of Paul, Heb. 4. 13, is probably equivalent; Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight.' Gr. KTIσis creation, for-king use of language accommodated to mation, i. e. of the heart. The church being thus corrupted and in a manner lost to the world, there was nothing left to resist the torrent of depravity. This, it would appear from the picture here drawn, had now attained its highest pitch. The words, we apprehend, are not to be understood as originally descriptive of the general state of the human heart, though in this view but little abatement is to be made from the assertion, but of the race of men then living; and the sense is, that the wickedness of men had become so great in the earth that the very intents, and thoughts, and purposes of the heart were only evil continually. But the portrait, though appalling, is doubtless no more than just.

ter.

our feeble apprehensions, represents himself as repenting and being grieved at heart that he had bestowed upon man so much labour in vain. As a general rule, wherever 'repenting' is attributed to God, it implies not a real inward change in his feelings and purposes, but simply a change in his dispensations towards his creatures, in view of some previous change in their conduct towards him. Thus it is said 1 Sam. 15. 10, 11, 'Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying, It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king; for he hath turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments.' Here the effect follows the cause. 'Repentance

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;

9

These are the generations and perfect in his generations, of Noah: Noah was a just man, and Noah walked with God.

ich 7. 1. Ezek. 14 14, 20.

by others. It is, moreover, encouraging to find that one upright man was singled out from the rest when the world was to be destroyed. If he had perished with the world, God could indeed have taken him to himself, and all would have been well with him; but then there would have been no public expression of what he loved, as well as of what he hated.

k ch. 5. 22

That

9. The generations of Noah. is, the matters of record relating to him, the character he sustained and the events which happened to him. See on Gen. 37. 2.-¶ A just man and perfect in his generations. That is, upright and sincere among the men of the age in which he lived, the original word for 'generations' being different from that (3) in the preceding clause. Whether this character of Noah is introduced here as the reason or the effect of the divine favour towards him it is not easy to determine; but however it may be, it is a most honorary testimonial to his worth. He is the first man whom the Scriptures call just, though doubtless not the first who was so. In a legal sense, a just man is one that doeth good and sinneth not; but since the fall no such man has existed upon earth, save the man Christ Jesus. If any man is now so denominated it is in the sense in which the Scriptures use the term when they represent the just as living by faith. Such was the life of Noah, as it is expressly said of him, Heb. 11. 7, that he became an heir of the righteousness which is by faith;' and the faith by which he was justified before God operated, as it always will, to render him just before men. But he was not only just or righteous, he was also perfect in his generations (Heb.

་

*** At this place, ver. 8, ends, in the Hebr. Scriptures, the first Parashâ, or great section of the Law, i. e. the portion appointed to be read on the Sabbath in the Jewish synagogues, Acts, 15. 21. The five books of Moses were divided by the Jews into fifty-four sections, because, in their intercalated years, by a month being added, there were fifty-four Sabbaths; but in other years they reduced them to fifty-two by joining two together. Thus the reading of the whole Law was completed in the course of a year. In the time of the Maccabees, who restored the reading of the Law after it had been suspended by the persecutions of Antiochus Epiphanes, a corresponding number of sections from the Prophets were read in connection, the Law forming the first lesson, and the Prophets the second. This was practised in the times of the Apostles, as may be seen Acts, 13. 15. Of this usage the Hebrew doctors write, 'It is a common custom tamim) i. e. not perfect in the sense throughout all Israel that they finish of sinless, but sincere, simple, upright, wholly the Law in one year; beginning having respect to all God's commandon the Sabbath which is after the Feast ments, and like Caleb following the of Tabernacles at the first section of Lord fully. Christian perfection is not Genesis, (thence called 'Bereshith ;') absolute freedom from sin, but evanon the second Sabbath at 'These are gelical integrity; a perfection implying the generations of Noah,' ch. 6. 9; on completeness of parts rather than of the third, at 'The Lord said unto Abra- degrees, in the renewed character; and ham, ch. 12. 1; so they read and go on it may be better understood by viewin this order till they have ended the ing it as opposed to partiality and hyLaw at the Feast of Tabernacles.' pocrisy, to a partial obedience and an in

10 And Noah begat three sons, 1 Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

11 The earth also was corrupt before God; and the earth was "filled with violence.

1 ch. 5. 32. m ch. 7. 1. Chron. 34. 27. Luke, 1. 6. n Ezek. 8. 17. & 28. 16.

& 10. 9. & 13. 13, 2 Rom. 2. 13. & 3. 19. Hab. 2. 8, 17.

12 And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt: for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.

o ch. 18. 21. Ps. 14. 2. & 33. 13, 14. & 53. 2, 3.

sincere profession. As the term is so and burning incense in the high plafrequently applied to different individu- ces.' This flagrant wickedness was als in the Old Testament and the pos- perpetrated 'before God,' i. e. openly, session of the character so frequently publicly, without disguise, to his very enjoined in the New, there can be no face, as it were. Gen. 10. 9.-17. 1. doubt that perfection, in the scriptural - Was filled with violence. Heb. sense of the term, is actually attaina-'violent wrong.' Chal. 'rapines, or able, and ought to be an object of more robberies ;' i. e. injurious and cruel dealanxious solicitude among Christians ing towards men; whereas the 'corrupthan it usually is. Walked with tion' mentioned above denotes the corGod. The same that is said of Enoch; ruption of religion or wickedness toimplying his being reconciled to God, wards God. Or, by a common idiom his acknowledging him in all his ways, in the Heb. 'violence' may here be put and enjoying habitual communion with for 'violent men.' Thus, Prov. 13. 6, him. 'Wickedness overthroweth the sinner (Heb. n the sin).' 2 Kings, 24. 14, 'None remained save the poorest sort (Heb. the poverty) of the land.' Jer. 50. 31, 'Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud (Heb. 1777 O pride).' The degeneracy, therefore, which had commenced in the domestic, gradually extended itself to the civil, and finally to the religious, state of the world. The springs of domestic and social life being poisoned, the tender ties of blood and affinity violated, quarrels, intrigues, oppressions, robberies, and murders pervaded the abodes of men. The fear of God and a due regard to our fellowmen are closely connected; and where the one is given up, the other will soon follow. Indeed it appears to be the fixed decree of the God of providence, that when men have cast off his fear they shall not long continue in amity one with another. He has only to let the laws of nature take their course, and the effect will surely follow.

11. The earth also was corrupt before God. Heb. 'and the earth was corrupt.' The word 'also' is not felicitously introduced in this place into our translation. It usually implies something supplemental to what has been before said and closely connected with it, but the preceding context does not well allow such a sense here, and the probability is, it was employed to prevent the twofold occurrence of 'and' in the same sentence. The literal rendering, though lacking in euphony, would have been better.-By the first 'earth' is undoubtedly meant the inhabitants of the earth, and by the 'corruption' charged upon them is intended a moral degeneracy, though the word is frequently employed in the sense of physical destruction or wasting. It is especially applied to that kind of corrupting or depraving the worship of God which consists in introducing idolatry, as in Ex. 32. 7. Deut. 32. 5. Judg. 2. 19; and 'the people's doing corruptly,' 2 Chron. 27. 2, is elsewhere explained, 2 Kings, 15, 35, by their 'sacrificing

12. God looked upon the earth. The universal violence and corruption which overspread the earth, attracted the no