Genesis 7

Genesis 7:13-16

In this chapter we have the performance of what was revealed in the foregoing chapter. 1. God’s practices call to Noah and his family to come into the ark, ver. 1. and to bring the creatures that serve to be preserved alive along with him, ver. 2. 3. in consideration of the deluge of hand, ver. 4. a. Noah’s obedience to this foreword, which, ver. 5—9. an amount of which is repeated, ver. 13—16. to which is added God’s tender were, to that him in. 3. The course of the throated deluge, ver. 10. the course of it, ver. 11.

12. the prevalence of it, ver. 17—20. 4. The dreadful definitions that were made by it in the death of every living creature upon earth, except what were in the ark, ver. 21, 22, 23. 5. The continuance of the deluge, before it began to abate, was hundred and fifty days, ver. 24.

Before Christ about 1900.

1. AND the LORD said unto Noah, “Come thou, and all thy house into the ark: for” there have I seen righteous before me in this generation. 2. Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by “fevens the male and his female: and of the beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. 3. Of fowls also of the air, by fevens, the male and the female: to keep feed alive upon the face of all the earth. 4. For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made, will I destroy from off the face of the earth.

v. 1, 2, 3, 4. When the work was finished, and the one hundred and twenty years at an end, then God begins to fulfil his faithful word.

1. Noah is commanded to enter with his family, and all the creatures. “Come into the ark.” Sweet voice of mercy, thus inviting to a first refuge from the impending storm. Such is the gracious call of Jesus to the sinful soul; Come unto me, and I will give you rest. And shall we be obdurate, as blind to our own interest as infallible to the Saviour’s love! Surely then we deserve to perish. His family were not all like their father; one we are assured was wicked enough, yet his father’s mercies descend upon him. Learn, (1.) There is no pure society under the sun: in the ark was a reprobate, and, amongst the twelve apostles, a traitor. (2.) A bad child fares often the better for his parent’s sake.

2. A comfortable testimony repeated of his integrity. It is a blessed thing to have God’s attestation to our simplicity before him; and it is the Lord’s delight to behold it, his care to reward it. He will preserve such from the pleasure of the ungodly, and reserve them as monuments of his distinguished mercy.

3. The regulations concerning the beasts, their nature and number. Of clean and unclean both most come, for none must be lost; yet their number differs, not only because the clean are most serviceable for man, and therefore shall be most numerous, (behold the wise providence of God!) but also because of them he must offer unto the Lord. Note, Man, in the provision that is made for his comfort, should never lose sight, that the greater end still proposed in all God’s works is his own glory.

4. Another respite of seven days. A moment more, another call, and the last. They who will not regard the judgment at their door, must perish without remedy. Note, When the heart hath long been hardened against the calls of God, there is little hopes of a change at last. Of the multitudes of dying beds I have attended, I never saw one man, of whom I had Christian grounds of confidence, who only then began to be warned of their danger, when at the gate of death.

5. And Noah did according to all that the LORD commanded him. 6. And Noah was for hundred years old, when the flood of waters was upon the earth. 7. And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood. 8. Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creeps upon the earth, 9. There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and female, as God had commanded Noah. 10. And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.

v. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. He was not disobedient to the heavenly admonition.

1. He went in, and all his, and the creatures God had brought him.

2. As soon as he was safe lodged, that moment the flood came. Note, God waits now only for his last feast to be gathered in, and for the number of his elect to be accomplished, and then a more terrible deluge of fire shall descend upon the ungodly.

3. In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. 12. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

v. 11, 21.

Philip Chill. v. 191, 12. We have the time and manner of this awakening judgment particularly recorded.

1. The time; the 600th year of Noah, of the world 1656, on the 17th day of the second month. And as we suppose the earth was created with the ripe fruit upon it, the second month should answer our November: So that Noah had time to collect his harvest, and make provision for his long voyage. Note, Noah was an old man: the oldest saints must expect their trials to the land day; and as they are veterans in the service, they are the better prepared for it.

2. The manner. Two causes are affirmed; the deep broken up, and the windows of heaven opened. When God pleases to avenge his quarrel, all creatures above, below, around us, are ready instruments for his judgments.

(1.) The fountains of the great deep were broken up. The earth is founded upon the floods; its bowels contain enough to destroy it, if God lets loose the waters from their prisons. (2.) The windows of heaven were opened: the clouds poured down excellent torrents, forty days and nights; and from these concurrent causes, the earth took as a stone in the mighty waters. Learn here. (1.) The greatest bleedings may quickly be made the heaviest judgments. (2.) To look beyond second causes to the first. If floods deluge, or earthquakes swallow up, or fore confidæ, there is one who gives such elements its commission, and each judgment its orders. (3.) That there are within the earth, as in the heavens above,但却因为 of fire, as well as water; and that this world is doomed one day to experience their fatal influence. Be it our care then to secure a cover from the impending storm, in him who is the only refuge; and then, When thou passest through the waters, they shall not overflow thee; and when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt. If so, xiii. 2.

Heb. Wing.

13. In the self-same day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark. 14. They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every *fort. 15. And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life. 16. And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.

We have a repetition of the care God took of Noah and his family; and, 1. It is particularly observed, that his three sons were no polygamists; they were content with one wife: and no butchlers, against the ordinance of God. It appears to be God’s will (some special calls excepted), that every man should have a wife, as it is evident he should have but one.

2. That God shut them in. (1.) He brought them in; Noah by his grace, and the creatures by his power, refraining their mutual enmities for a time. Note, 1. If ever we come into the ark, we must think to whom we are indebted for it. By grace ye are saved. 2. Not the refrainers of sin for a season, but the subdued of sin in the heart, is the proof of a change of nature.

(2.) He kept them in, safe amidst the surrounding floods. The soul which God calls, he keeps; for his gifts and ceilings are without repentance, Rom. xi. 29. He shut them in, as separate from the wicked world. Those that are Christ’s people, though in the world, are not of the world, but chosen out of the world, and in affection and temper separated from the world.

(3.) In shutting them in, he shut all the world out. No doubt, when they began to see the lowing clouds, and the rising waters, then they were impenetrable enough for that admission they had slighted. But it is too late to cry, Open unto us, when the door is shut. Note, (1.) This is the day of salvation. Christ is a willing Saviour, and his arms of mercy are stretched out, to save the vices sinner from the wrath of God. He that cometh to him now, shall be in no wise cast out. (2.) If men neglect the day of mercy, it will be too late to come when it is the day of judgment. It must be now, or never.

17. And the flood was forty days upon the earth: and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth. 18. And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth: and the ark went upon the face of the waters. 19. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. 20. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.

Genesis 7:17-20

Now the waters prevail. He that begins will make an end. We have, Vol. I.

1. Noah’s safety. The ark was lifted up above the earth. Note, (1.) The church of Christ will swim, where its enemies shall sink like lead in the mighty waters. (2.) The incense of the waters raised it the higher above the earth, and the nearer heaven. See the sanctified use of afflictions.

2. The rising of the waters above every hill and mountains, fifteen cubits. The sinners, no doubt, fled to their refuge, hoping to find the waters abate; and driven at last to the utmost verges, with trembling hearts felt its approach to their bodies, and the vanity of all their efforts to stem the dreadful tide. There is no security for the soul who is out of Christ: every refuge to him is a refuge of lies.

3. And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beall, and of every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth, and every man. 22. All in whose nostrils may the breath of life, of all that cast in the dry land, died. 23. And every living substance was destroyed, which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. 24. And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.

Genesis 7:21-24

Behold the dreadful scene; what ravages are made on the earth? See its inhabitants swept away with the bosom of destruction. They are all dead corpses shutting upon the waters. How awful, how sudden the supper! when casting and drinking, building, marrying, and in the height of the bridal feast, to bear the craft of elements, to see the wreck of nature, and a dissolving world. In vain they cry, in vain they climb, in vain they intreat; every avenue is shut up, and escape impossible; whilst Noah, secure in the divine protection, swims in safety, and sleeps in peace. See.

1. How fearful a thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Sinner, read and tremble; a more fearful doom awaits thee, except thou repent.

2. Though Noah’s relations, or his carpenters, might plead their blood, or their labours, it will not procure them admittance. Ties of blood will be dissolved in the judgment day, and not the work, but the temper will be regarded. Let ministers beware; their success is not their security.

3. Noah with his family lives alone, whilst the world, more numerous probably than the present, perishes without exception. Let no man then doubt of the seamen of those who shall be saved. As it was in the days of Noah, it will be in the days of the son of man. Shall few then be saved? give thy diligence to be of that few.

4. Though Noah lives, he lives but in a melancholy situation: around him seas without a shore, and there overspread with delusion. Many, no doubt, near and dear to him were among the slain; and he could not but lament over what his preaching and prayers could not prevent. Note, It is a mercy if amidst general visitations we escape, like Job, with the skin of our teeth. Job xix. 20.