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9 T 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.

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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 wholly the Law in one year; beginning on the Sabbath which is after the Feast of Tabernacles at the first section of Genesis, (thence called 'Bereshith ;') on the second Sabbath at 'These are the generations of Noah,' ch. 6. 9; on the third, at 'The Lord said unto Abra-degrees, in the renewed character; and ham, ch. 12. 1; so they read and go on in this order till they have ended the Law at the Feast of Tabernacles.'

of sinless, but sincere, simple, upright, having respect to all God's commandments, and like Caleb following the Lord fully. Christian perfection is not absolute freedom from sin, but evangelical integrity; a perfection implying completeness of parts rather than of

it may be better understood by viewing it as opposed to partiality and hy 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 m 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.

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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.

and burning incense in the high places.' This flagrant wickedness was perpetrated 'before God,' i. e. openly, publicly, without disguise, to his very face, as it were. Gen. 10. 9.-17. 1.

sincere profession. As the term is so frequently applied to different individuals in the Old Testament and the possession of the character so frequently enjoined in the New, there can be no doubt that perfection, in the scriptural -T 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 anxious solicitude among Christians than it usually is.- -T Walked with God. The same that is said of Enoch; implying his being reconciled to God, his acknowledging him in all his ways, and enjoying habitual communion with him.

robberies ;' i. e. injurious and cruel dealing towards men; whereas the 'corruption' mentioned above denotes the corruption of religion or wickedness towards God. Or, by a common idiom in the Heb. 'violence' may here be put for 'violent men.' Thus, Prov. 13. 6, 'Wickedness overthroweth the sinner 11. The earth also was corrupt before (Heb. On the sin).' 2 Kings, 24. 14, God. Heb. 'and the earth was cor- 'None remained save the poorest sort rupt.' The word 'also' is not felicitous- (Heb. the poverty) of the land.' ly introduced in this place into our Jer. 50. 31, 'Behold, I am against thee, translation. It usually implies some- O thou most proud (Heb. 1777 O pride).' thing supplemental to what has been The degeneracy, therefore, which had before said and closely connected with commenced in the domestic, gradually it, but the preceding context does not extended itself to the civil, and finally well allow such a sense here, and the to the religious, state of the world. probability is, it was employed to pre- The springs of domestic and social life vent the twofold occurrence of 'and' in being poisoned, the tender ties of blood the same sentence. The literal render- and affinity violated, quarrels, intrigues, ing, though lacking in euphony, would oppressions, robberies, and murders have been better.-By the first 'earth' is pervaded the abodes of men. The fear undoubtedly meant the inhabitants of the of God and a due regard to our fellow> earth, and by the 'corruption' char- men are closely connected; and where ged upon them is intended a moral the one is given up, the other will degeneracy, though the word is fre- soon follow. Indeed it appears to be quently employed in the sense of phys- the fixed decree of the God of proviical destruction or wasting. It is espe- dence, that when men have cast off his cially applied to that kind of corrupting fear they shall not long continue in or depraving the worship of God amity one with another. He has only which consists in introducing idolatry, to let the laws of nature take their as in Ex. 32. 7. Deut. 32. 5. Judg. 2. course, and the effect will surely follow. 19; and the people's doing corruptly,' 12. God looked upon the earth. The 2 Chron. 27. 2, is elsewhere explained, universal violence and corruption which 2 Kings, 15, 35, by their 'sacrificing | overspread the earth, attracted the no

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tice of heaven. God knows at all times what is doing in our world, but his looking upon the earth denotes a special observance of it, as though he had instituted an inquiry into its real condition. Ps. 33. 13.- - All flesh had corrupted its way. All mankind; called 'flesh' from their frailty, Is. 40. 5, 6, but more especially from the corruption and carnality of their unregenerate state. Gen, 6. 3. By their 'way' is meant not only their religion or faith, Acts, 18. 25, 26–22. 4. 2 Pet. 2. 2, but also their manners,conduct, course of life. Thus the way of Cain' Jude, 11, is used for maliciousness, the 'way of Balaam' for covetousness, 2 Pet. 2. 15, and so in other cases. In allusion probably to this language it is said in Job, ch. 22. 15, 16, 'Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden ? Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood?' i. e. with the waters of the general deluge, Compare Luke, 17. 27.

13. The end of all flesh is come before me. A twofold import seems to be couched in these words; first, that the end, that is, the completion, the fulness, the consummation of all fleshliness, had come before God. In other words, human corruption had reached its utmost height. Viewed in this light the ensuing words are exegetical of the first clause, and this is favoured by the fact that the original word for 'end' (Heb. 7) is frequently so used in the Scriptures, as well as the Gr, relos by which it is translated. Thus Jer. 51. 13, "Thine end is come, (even) the measure of thy covetousness,' i. e. thou hast reached the utmost summit of thy de

behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

14 Make thee an ark of gopher-wood: rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.

sires. Eccl. 12. 13, 'Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter;' i. e. the summing up, the substance. Rom. 10. 4, 'Christ is the end of the law for righteousness;' i. e. the perfection, the consummation, of the law. So often elsewhere. In such cases, however, the subordinate idea of time or termination of time is often, perhaps usually, involved; and from this arises the second and more generally received sense of this passage, viz. that the decreed end of all men (excepting Noah) had come before God; the allotted term of 120 years was now upon the point of expiring, and the universal de pravity was to be visited with condign punishment. Comp. Ezek. 7. 2-6. Amos, 8. 2. -TI will destroy them.

Heb. am corrupting i. e. about to corrupt or destroy. The present participle both in Heb. and Gr. has often a future import. In the former verse, corrupt' had the sense of corrupting by sin; here, that of corrupting by punishment, or in other words, of destroying, A parallel distinction occurs, Rev. 11, 8, 'That thou shouldst destroy them that destroy the earth;' Gr. 'That thou shouldst corrupt them that corrupt the earth.'- -T With the earth. Or Heb. 'even the earth;' thus identifying 'the earth' with its inhabi tants, according to a common idiom of the Scriptures, and giving us a clew to the real meaning of the word 'earth' in numberless instances, particularly in the prophets. Gr. 'I destroy them and the earth,' i. e. probably, 'even the earth.'

14. Make thee an ark. Heb. nan tebath. The original word which oc curs only here and Ex. 2. 3, where it is

applied to the ark of bulrushes in which Moses was laid, is different from the term used for the 'ark of the covenant'

we find wood of frankin-
cense, i. e. odoriferous wood, w
wood of oil, i. e. wood producing oil;
and in like manner, we take y
to signify wood of pitch, or in other
words as a general term for any kind
of resinous wood suitable for the pur-

(177 aron) Ex. 25. 10. But in the Greek the same term («ßwrus kibotos) signifying a hollow chest is applied to both. Comp. Heb. 11. 7, with 9. 4. As to the form of the ark, there is much difference of opinion among commen-pose. If any particular species of tree

tators. As it was not constructed so much with a view to progressive motion, as to float for a given time upon the water, it is not necessary to suppose it to have been modelled like the hull of a modern ship, or placed in a sort of boat, as in the common figures. We may be content with the simple idea given in the text, which is that of an enormous oblong box or flat bottomed wooden house, divided into three stories, and apparently with a sloping roof. Had it been built from a keel, with a curving bottom like a ship, it could not well have rested on the dry land after the flood without falling over upon one side or other to the imminent peril of all its inmates. Moreover, it is clear that it was not furnished with either mast, rudder, or sails; so that in all these particulars the work was a still greater trial of Noah's faith. The most moderate statement of its dimensions makes the ark by far the largest vessel ever made to float upon the water, as will appear from the statements below.. - Of gopher-wood. Heb. atze gopher, probably trees or rather woods of pitch, i. e. such as the pine, fir, cypress, turpentine, cedar, and other trees of a pitchy kind adapted to the purpose of ship-building. It is doubtful whether gopher is the name of any particular species of tree; if it were, usual analogy would seem to require that it should be in the plural, like wood of cedartrees, wood of fir-trees, kapharta bakkopher, thou wood of almug-trecs. shalt coat it with a coating. The Heb.

of this description be intended more than another, it is probably the cypress Gr. (KVяpioσos kuprissos), as the radical consonants (vap and 3) in the Greek and Hebrew words are the same, and as the cypress is eminently distinguished for its durability and the power of resisting the injuries incident to other kinds of wood, while its resinous properties would tend to render it impenetrable to water. Being a very compact and heavy kind of wood, and not liable to rot or become worm-eaten, it was much used in the construction of coffins among the Athenians, and of mummy-cases among the Egyptians. It is said too that the gates of St. Peter's church at Rome, which lasted from the time of Constantine to that of Eugene the fourth, that is to say, eleven hundred years, had in that period suffered no decay. This tree, therefore, if any, would seem to have the best title to the credit of having furnished the material for the ark, though it is highly probable that different kinds of pitchy or resinous wood would be employed in different parts of the structure. T Rooms shalt thou make in the ark. Heb. nests; metaphorically applied to the numerous cells, cabins, or small apartments into which the interior of the ark was laid out. Chal, mansions.' Comp. Job 29. 18. Obad. 4, where the word occurs in the sense T Pitch it withof dwelling-places.Heb.

in and without with pitch.

This is the common and almost uni- kopher, closely related in sound form phraseology. On the other hand

and sense to gopher above, as well

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.

as to

Da gophrith, sulphur, is supposed to denote some kind of bituminous substance which from its soft and pliable qualities was well adapted to smearing over the ark and closing every chink and crevice. A coat of it spread over the inside and outside of the ark besides producing a wholesome smell would make it perfectly water-proof, and the more so as the substance itself would probably be continually acquiring greater tenacity and hardness. The original word kopher is worthy of notice as the parent of our English word cover, and from its root

kaphar

being often used in the sense of expiating, atoning, i. e. covering, sin; whence the noun itself in almost every other instance in the Scriptures is rendered 'atonement.' From the peculiar use of the term in this connection, some have supposed that we are to recognise in the ark thus covered a designed emblem of the church, the ark of salvation, the inmates of which are secured by the effects of Christ's atonement from the overflowing waters of God's wrath.

15. The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, &c. The ark, therefore, was by far the largest floating edifice ever borne upon the waters. There is some doubt as to the kind of cubit here alluded to; whether it were the common cubit of eighteen inches or the sacred cubi of about three inches longer. But taking the shortest of the two, it is capable of demonstration, that it must have been been of the burden of 43,413 tons. Now a first-rate manof-war is between 2200 and 2300 tons; the ark consequently possessed a capacity of storage equal to that of eighteen

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.

ships of the line of the largest class, which upon a very moderate computation are capable of carrying 20,000 men, with stores and provisions for six month's consumption, besides 1800 pieces of cannon. As all the various distinct species of four-footed animals may be reduced to two hundred or two hundred and fifty, it cannot for a moment be doubted, that the ark would contain the specified proportion of these, of birds, insects, and eight human beings, with the requisite supplies of food for a year. Indeed the truth is, as Bp. Wilkins has observed, 'that of the two, it is much more difficult to assign a number and bulk of creatures necessary to answer the capacity of the ark, than to find sufficient room for the several species of animals already known to have been there.' The objection therefore sometimes urged, that the ark was incapable of affording accommodation to its alleged inmates, falls to the ground. According to the measurements given, the ark, being six times as long as it was broad, and ten times as long as it was high, had nearly the proportions of a perfect human body.

16. A window shalt thou make to the ark. Heb. tzohar. The true import of this word it is difficult to fix, as it occurs nowhere else but here. If taken to signify but a single window for so immense a building, it exhibits a sense which we may well hesitate to admit. It is a wholly different word from that used for the window (halon) which Noah is said ch. 8. 6, to have opened at the end of forty days, and unquestionably denotes an entirely different object. But what that object was precisely we

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