Noah, the ark, and the great flood
6
And it came about when men began to increase in number on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 2 📚that the sons of God 📖 saw the daughters of men that they were beautiful, and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. 3 📚And the LORD said, “My spirit will not always strive 📖 with man, for he also is flesh. Yet his days will be a hundred and twenty years 📖”.4 📚There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterwards, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they gave birth to children by them. They became the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
5 📚And LORD saw that the wickedness of man in the earth was great, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6:5 See Gen 5:3; 8:21; Mark 7:21-23; Jer 17:9. Here we see the terrible results of the one sin of Adam. Observe that sin begins as an inward thing, a depravity of the heart. Observe also that a person abandoned to his sinful nature will not have a single thought that God counts good. Let us not vainly imagine that we are better by nature than those who lived before the flood. See Rom 3:9, 19, 23; 7:18. If we do not believe the Bible’s statements regarding the depravity and sinfulness of the human race we will not understand God’s actions in judging and punishing individuals and peoples and nations.⚜
6 📚And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart.
6:6 God feels great grief at the fallen, sinful, unrepentant condition of men (Ps 78:40; Ezek 18:31-32; 33:11; Hos 11:8; Matt 23:37; Luke 9:41-42; Eph 4:30).⚜
7 📚And the LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the surface of the earth, both man, and beast, and creeping things, and the birds of the air, for I regret having made them”.
6:7 God is love (1 John 4:8). But this does not mean that He can forget holiness and justice, and spare the guilty and unrepentant (Ex 34:6-7; Deut 7:9-10; Rom 2:4-5). God is also the holy and just Judge and Ruler of the universe – Gen 18:25; 1 Sam 2:10; Ps 47:2 (see the note there); Ps 75:7; 94:2; 96:13; Ezek 7:3; Acts 17:31; 2 Tim 4:1; Rev 19:11. In Noah’s time only one godly man was left on the whole earth. Sin had reached such proportions that, for the good of the world, the God of justice had to punish it and destroy a perverted, rebellious, unbelieving and unrepentant generation of men.
After this time God also handed nations and whole civilizations over to destruction because of their sins. See notes on Gen 15:16; Lev 18:24; Deut 13:12-18; 28:18-19. But when He did so He felt pain and grief. See Luke 19:41 and the notes at Jer 48:30-39. When God acts in judgment it is always for the good of those people who remain, the eventual good of humanity as a whole. And even in times of judgment any individual who looks to God for mercy will find it (Isa 55:6-7). See notes at Gen 15:16 and Ps 47:2.
The Lord Jesus said that the condition of mankind at the end of this present age will be as it was in Noah’s day (Matt 24:37-38).⚜
8 📚But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
9 📚These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a righteous man and blameless 📖 in his time, and Noah walked with God.
6:9 See Gen 5:24; Ps 37:37-40. Noah was both a righteous man and a preacher of righteousness (2 Pet 2:5). He preached God’s truth to that generation.⚜
10 📚And Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11 📚The earth also was corrupt in the eyes of 📖 God and the earth was filled with violence. 12 📚And God looked at the earth, and saw that it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.
13 📚And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come in my presence, for the earth is filled with violence through them, and, look, I will destroy them with the earth. 14 📚Make yourself an ark of gopher 📖 wood. You shall make rooms in the ark, and shall cover it inside and outside with pitch 📖. 15 📚And this is the way you shall make it: the length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.
6:15 One cubit equals 18 inches.⚜
16 📚You shall make a window in the ark, and shall finish it to a cubit from the top 📖. And you shall put the door of the ark in its side. You shall make the ark with lower, second, and third decks. 17 📚And, look, I, even I, am going to bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh which has the breath of life. Everything that is on the earth will die. 18 📚But I will establish my covenant with you. And you shall come into the ark, you, and with you, your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives.
6:18 In this verse the first use in the Bible of the word “covenant” occurs. It is a very important word, used nearly 300 times. The Hebrew word means an agreement between two or more parties (Gen 21:27; 26:28; 2 Sam 3:12-13), or a promise given by one party to another (Gen 9:8-11). Sometimes there were conditions laid down, sometimes not. There was often some sign given and a sacrifice offered in connection with the establishment of a covenant.
God made very important covenants with men on several occasions –
with Noah and all mankind (Gen 9:8-17);
with Abraham and his descendants (Gen 15:18-21);
with the nation Israel (Ex 19:5);
with David and his offspring (2 Sam 7:16);
and the New Covenant (Matt 26:27-29).
See notes at the above places. The first part of the Bible is called the Old Testament (or Covenant) because it has to do for the most part with God’s covenant made with Israel at Sinai (Ex 19:5). The second part of the Bible is called the New Testament (or Covenant) because it has to do with the covenant Christ made with His disciples just before His crucifixion.⚜
19 📚And you shall bring into the ark two of each kind of every living thing of all flesh, to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. 20 📚Two of each kind shall come to you, of birds according to their kind, and of cattle according to their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth according to its kind, two of every kind shall come to you, to keep them alive. 21 📚And you shall gather for yourself some of every food that is eaten, and take it with you, and it will be for food for you and for them”.
22 📚Noah did this. He did according to all that God commanded him.