Genesis 6

Genesis 6:3

The most remarkable thing we have upon record concerning the old world, is the destruction of it by the universal delays, of which this chapter begins the history; wherein we have, 1. The abounding iniquity of that wicked world, vers. 1-5, and vers. 11, 12. 2. God’s just resentment, and reflection is punish it, vers. 6, 7. 3. The special favour of God is Noah. 1. In the character given of him, vers. 8, 9, 10. 2. In the communication of God’s purpose to him, vers. 13, 17. 3. In the directions he gave him to make an oath for his own safety, vers. 14, 15, 16. 4. In the employing of him for the preservation of the rest of the creatures, vers. 18-21. Lords, Noah’s obedience to the instructions given him, vers. 22. And this concerning the old world is written for our admonition upon whom the oath of the new world are come.

1. AND it came to pass when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them. 2. That the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

2. 2. The chapter opens with an account of the causes of that universal degeneracy which began to prevail on the earth.

3. The increase of men. The multitude of evil doers is the great encouragement and support of sin. Now, it is a bad symptom of a bad state, when any man’s plea is, that he is too world than his neighbours. It is enough, that he is like the world, to be condemned with the world.

4. Their unholy marriages. The sons of God, the seed of Sath, distinguish’d for their piety, behold the beauty of the daughters of men, the wicked seed of Cain, and took them

Sahara Chaffa

of their spoofery from God. Learn hence, (1.) A bad woman armed with beauty is one of the most deadly instruments the devil can employ against the foes of God. (2.) Those who in marriage consult only the pleasing the eye, will soon find an aching heart. (3.) A Christian man or woman should dread as much to be yoked with an unbeliever, as a living body to be tied for life to a dead corpse: the one can communicate contagious, but the other cannot enliven.

2. And the LORD said, ‘My Spirit shall not always thrive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

The Lord’s displeasure for these proceedings, and his threatened judgments against the evil doers.

1. His displeasure. He will withdraw his Spirit. He had raised up Noah, a preacher of righteousness; he had given them secret convictions; and now he threatens to leave them to fill up the measure of their iniquities, till they should be ripe for destruction. Observe, (1.) Nothing grieves the Spirit of God more forcibly than fleshly lusts. (2.) Every fresh indulgence of sin is a new resistance against God’s shrieves. (3.) When the Spirit of God is resisted, his calls become less terrible, till he is quite withdrawn. (4.) When God strives no more, then we rush headlong into sin and ruin. Lord, take not thy holy Spirit from us.

2. The reason given. Man is flesh, incurably corrupt, and altogether become abominable. When there is a total mortification, there is no help but amputation, only recidendom. What can be so abating as this view of our vile natures: Man is funk totally into flesh, and his very soul is become earthly, sensual.

3. A merciful respite. An hundred and twenty years. God never strikes without warning; but when his gospel is rejected, his calls disregarded, his admonitions made light of, though he wait long, his time of patience ends; the sword is drawn, the dinner dies. Let us hear then, and fear, and do no more wickedly.

4. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them: the same became mighty men, which were of old, men of renown. 5. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil + continually.

Genesis 6:4

5. Things went from evil to worse. What else could be hoped from such ungodly connections. The produce of these marriages was giants, mighty men, men of renown for their conquests and their power. (1.) Whenever a wicked man has great power, we may expect great oppression. (2.) The renown of conquerors is their greatest dishonour, and the trumpet of fame the found of infamy. We are apt to admire a Castor, or Alexander, and in the glare of conquest forget the pails of society, and the forgeries of mankind.

God saw. How could he but see, when his eyes go continually to and see them the earth. He saw, 1. The wickedness of man was great in the earth. The cry of the oppressed, and the tears of the injured, came up before him, and it was universal. The earth was filled with it; all ranks and all degrees had corrupted their ways. Note, (1.) When great men are wicked, their wickedness is great. (2.) The examples of the great are deadly inflections; what they begin, will quickly be initiated. (3.) But God takes notice. There is a book of remembrance written: not an oppressive dead, or wicked word, but is minutest for judgment.

2. The root of this great wickedness; the apostles nature of man. His inward parts are still worse than his way; his heart is naught; all his thoughts perverse; yea, every rising imagination lay with evil; and this determinally and continually. Behold a lively picture of a fallen Spirit. Note, However great outward wickedness is, God sees greater abominations within: the heart of every sinner contains greater crimes than ever were yet committed.

3. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 7. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created, from the face of the earth, both man and healt, and the creeping thing, and the foals of the air: for it repenteth me that I have made them:

Genesis 6:8

7. God could not behold without concern a catholic so offensive to his purity, and so dishonourable to his moral government, and therefore most justly determines to visit for these things.

8. God repented that he had made man; it grieved him at his heart. Not that he is susceptible of sorrow, or capable of change: he speaks after the manner of men only, when affected with such provocations. His displeasure against sin is without any painful sensation, yea, is the emanation of his immaculate purity; and his repentance, a change of conduct, not a change of mind. Doth God thus regard sin, and shall not we grieve for it, and repent over it? Note, Man now made shall not disappoint his labour. In Jesus Christ, and the new creation in him, he will be able to eternity to say, This same shall comfort us concerning the work of our heads. Chap. v. 25.

9. The purpose of God to destroy man, the work of his hands; to wipe out his name from among the living, and, as involved in his sin, to consume the whole brute creation with him. Note, (1.) He that makes can unmake us in an infamy; he need only heretic in anger, and the candle of life in faith lighted shall be extinguished. (2.) Those who will not be converted, must be consumed. (3.) If the sinner will have God to change his judgments, he must by faith change his way. In vain are the hopes of mercy, where there remains the indulgence of sin.

10. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

11. These are the generations of Noah; Noah was a just man, and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. 10. And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Elain, and Japhet.

v. 8, 9, 10. Noah was an exception from the general corruption; for we find,

1. A token of God’s approbation of him. God given to every man according to his work is. His judgment is according to truth. Though Noah was a despised preacher in a careless world, God’s favour amply repack him, and made him more highly honourable than the giants of renown. I had rather fond favour in the eyes of the Lord, than he regarded by an admiring world; and have my name written in the book of life of the Lamb, than emblazoned in the annals of fame amongst the mightiest heroes.

2. The reason of this approbation. (1.) He was a just man, or a justified man; he was first a believer, and then a preacher of the righteousness of faith. No acceptance with God without faith. (2.) A perfect man; sincere before God, and without allowed guide, though, as we find, compelled as other men with infirmities. Note, Though perfection of sincerity be found in men, freedom from sin never was nor will he in this world, save in him who was more than man. (3.) He walked with God, when all before were walking in their own ways. He dared to be eminently singular, and to profess it too. It is a blessed proof of a heart with God, when in evil days a man dare openly snow himself on the Lord’s side.

3. The earth also was corrupt before God; and the earth was filled with violence. 12. And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.

v. 11, 12. God takes repeated notice of the wickedness of men. He will not only be, but he does to be just in his judgments. Violence and spoil disfigured the earth, and, like devouring healt let loose, the fallen sons of men preyed one on another. Every kingdom, city, family, was anarchy; and every place confusion. It was surely high time to interpose. Sin is the cause of every mislaid: if kingdoms fail, or healt are divided, to this it must be ascribed. Note, The people of God are usually looked upon as the burden and the treason of the earth. How little do men know, that for these takes only judgment this hour lingereth.

13. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them: and 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. 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. 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. 17. And behold, I, even I do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breadth of life, from under heaven: and every thing that is in the earth shall die. 18. But with thee will I establish my covenant: and thou shalt come into the ark; thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons wives with thee. 19. And of every living thing

Before Christ about 1900. 6 See Chap. viii.

thing of all flesh, two of every sort shall thou bring into the ark, so keep them alive with thee: they shall be male and female. 20. Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind: two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive. 21. And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee and for them.

Genesis 6:13-21

God’s favour to Noah now begins to appear in a very figual instance.

1. He communicates to him his fixed purpose to destroy the world of the ungodly. Their end is come, their measure of iniquity is filled, and his patience at an end: the vessels of wrath are now fitted for destruction. When the appointed hour in God’s eternal counsels arrives, then the end of the world, and of all flesh, comes in a more awful feast.

2. The manner of their end. By a flood. I that bound up the waters in swaddling bands, when the great deep first broke from the womb of nature, will open its fountains: I, even I; my power will accomplish it, and my decree is unchangeable. Their burning lofts shall be quenched in a deluge of waters.

3. His covenant with him and his family. A covenant of meretes temporal and spiritual: a deliverance from the devouring dead; but, better still, a deliverance from the deluge of iniquity too. Note, (1.) The covenant of grace was from the beginning the only saving hope. (2.) With whomsoever God establishes it, nothing can disappoint the fulfilment: it is ordered in all things, and fare. (3.) That faith in God’s promise is the only and sure way of laying hold of an interest in this covenant.

4. The means and methods prescribed for the saving himself and his family. An ark. He must provide it. Note, God’s first promise do not make our labours needless, but encourage us to work, from the assurance of success. God orders the manner of the ark. He who saves will direct us in the proper methods to work out our salvation. It is not designed for failing, but to save from sinning; and it is to be made large enough to contain himself, his family, and some of every species of animals. Mark the blessing of pious parents; Noah’s whole family were kept alive for their father’s sake.

5. The assurance that God would collect the proper freight, when he had prepared the vessel. Though we may often be in the dark, how things shall be brought about, yet if we are acting under the divine command, and trusting upon the divine promise, he will bring it to pass.

6. Noah first preached to those who persist, and then became a favour to those who survived: in both an eminent type of his Lord, who, when he left those inaccessible who rejected his word, opened the door of his heart, a safe retreat from all the floods of wrath to every guilty sinner who should flee thither. To this ark, my sinful soul, betake thyself.

7. Thus did Noah, according to all that God commanded him, so did he.

Genesis 6:22

No sooner commanded, but he obeys: such is the ready mind of every true believer. Speak, Lord, for thy fervent heareth.

1. His unreserved faith. A thousand corrupt reasonings no doubt intruded, of the how, and why, and wherefore; but it was enough for Noah, he had God’s word, that silenced every doubt. Note, The reason why men do not now flee from the wrath to come, is because they attend to the vain reasonings of their mind against the express revelation of God.

2. His diligence. He began immediately, and finished it according to the pattern. He staggered neither at the trouble and expense, nor could be diverted by the mockeries of the unbelievers, who, no doubt, thought him a very ridiculous enthusiasm, to attempt providing against such an improbable, or, as to them it appeared, impossible event. Note, Those who cannot bear the scroful of the world, or be ready to give up all for Christ, will never swim in the ark.

3. It was a continual sermon: every blow of the axe and hammer was a call to repentance. It convinced not the world indeed, but it condemned it. Heb. xi. 7. Note, The time will come, when sinners will remember their obstinacy and hardiness of heart, too late to amend it.