Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
Genesis Ch.6 / 50 Ch.s
GE:6
* The wickedness of the world which provoked God's wrath. (1-7)
Noah finds grace. (8-11) Noah warned of the flood, The
directions respecting the ark. (12-21) Noah's faith and
obedience. (22)
#1-7 The most remarkable thing concerning the old world, is the
destroying of it by the deluge, or flood. We are told of the
abounding iniquity of that wicked world: God's just wrath, and
his holy resolution to punish it. In all ages there has been a
peculiar curse of God upon marriages between professors of true
religion and its avowed enemies. The evil example of the ungodly
party corrupts or greatly hurts the other. Family religion is
put an end to, and the children are trained up according to the
worldly maxims of that parent who is without the fear of God. If
we profess to be the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty, we
must not marry without his consent. He will never give his
blessing, if we prefer beauty, wit, wealth, or worldly honours,
to faith and holiness. The Spirit of God strove with men, by
sending Enoch, Noah, and perhaps others, to preach to them; by
waiting to be gracious, notwithstanding their rebellions; and by
exciting alarm and convictions in their consciences. But the
Lord declared that his Spirit should not thus strive with men
always; he would leave them to be hardened in sin, and ripened
for destruction. This he determined on, because man was flesh:
not only frail and feeble, but carnal and depraved; having
misused the noble powers of his soul to gratify his corrupt
inclinations. God sees all the wickedness that is among the
children of men; it cannot be hid from him now; and if it be not
repented of, it shall be made known by him shortly. The
wickedness of a people is great indeed, when noted sinners are
men renowned among them. Very much sin was committed in all
places, by all sorts of people. Any one might see that the
wickedness of man was great: but God saw that every imagination,
or purpose, of the thoughts of man's heart, was only evil
continually. This was the bitter root, the corrupt spring. The
heart was deceitful and desperately wicked; the principles were
corrupt; the habits and dispositions evil. Their designs and
devices were wicked. They did evil deliberately, contriving how
to do mischief. There was no good among them. God saw man's
wickedness as one injured and wronged by it. He saw it as a
tender father sees the folly and stubbornness of a rebellious
and disobedient child, which grieves him, and makes him wish he
had been childless. The words here used are remarkable; they are
used after the manner of men, and do not mean that God can
change, or be unhappy. Does God thus hate our sin? And shall not
we be grieved to the heart for it? Oh that we may look on Him
whom we have grieved, and mourn! God repented that he had made
man; but we never find him repent that he redeemed man. God
resolves to destroy man: the original word is very striking, 'I
will wipe off man from the earth,' as dirt or filth is wiped off
from a place which should be clean, and is thrown to the
dunghill, the proper place for it. God speaks of man as his own
creature, when he resolves upon his punishment. Those forfeit
their lives who do not answer the end of their living. God
speaks of resolution concerning men, after his Spirit had been
long striving with them in vain. None are punished by the
justice of God, but those who hate to be reformed by the grace
of God.
#8-11 Noah did not find favour in the eyes of men; they hated
and persecuted him, because both by his life and preaching he
condemned the world: but he found grace in the eyes of the Lord,
and this made him more truly honourable than the men of renown.
Let this be our chief desire, let us labour that we may be
accepted of him. When the rest of the world was wicked, Noah
kept his integrity. God's good-will towards Noah produced this
good work in him. He was a just man, that is, justified before
God, by faith in the promised Seed. As such he was made holy,
and had right principles; and was righteous in his conversation.
He was not only honest, but devout; it was his constant care to
do the will of God. God looks down upon those with an eye of
favour, who sincerely look up to him with an eye of faith. It is
easy to be religious when religion is in fashion; but it shows
strong faith and resolution, to swim against the stream, and to
appear for God when no one else appears for him; Noah did so.
All kinds of sin were found among men. They corrupted God's
worship. Sin fills the earth with violence, and this fully
justified God's resolution to destroy the world. The contagion
spread. When wickedness is become general, ruin is not far off;
while there is a remnant of praying people in a nation, to empty
the measure as it fills, judgments may be long kept off; but
when all hands are at work to pull down the fences, by sin, and
none stand in the gap to make up the breach, what can be
expected but a flood of wrath?
#12-21 God told Noah his purpose to destroy the wicked world by
water. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, #Ps
25:14|. It is with all believers, enabling them to understand
and apply the declarations and warnings of the written word. God
chose to do it by a flood of waters, which should drown the
world. As he chooses the rod with which he corrects his
children, so he chooses the sword with which he cuts off his
enemies. God established his covenant with Noah. This is the
first place in the Bible where the word 'covenant' is found; it
seems to mean, 1. The covenant of providence; that the course of
nature shall be continued to the end of time. 2. The covenant of
grace; that God would be a God to Noah, and that out of his seed
God would take to himself a people. God directed Noah to make an
ark. This ark was like the hulk of a ship, fitted to float upon
the waters. It was very large, half the size of St. Paul's
cathedral, and would hold more than eighteen of the largest
ships now used. God could have secured Noah without putting him
to any care, or pains, or trouble; but employed him in making
that which was to be the means to preserve him, for the trial of
his faith and obedience. Both the providence of God, and the
grace of God, own and crown the obedient and diligent. God gave
Noah particular orders how to make the ark, which could not
therefore but be well fitted for the purpose. God promised Noah
that he and his family should be kept alive in the ark. What we
do in obedience to God, we and our families are likely to have
the benefit of. The piety of parents gets their children good in
this life, and furthers them in the way to eternal life, if they
improve it.
#22 Noah's faith triumphed over all corrupt reasonings. To rear
so large a building, such a one as he never saw, and to provide
food for the living creatures, would require from him a great
deal of care, and labour, and expense. His neighbours would
laugh at him. But all such objections, Noah, by faith, got over;
his obedience was ready and resolute. Having begun to build, he
did not leave off till he had finished: so did he, and so must
we do. He feared the deluge, and therefore prepared the ark. And
in the warning given to Noah, there is a more solemn warning
given to us, to flee from the wrath to come, which will sweep
the world of unbelievers into the pit of destruction. Christ,
the true Noah, which same shall comfort us, hath by his
sufferings already prepared the ark, and kindly invites us by
faith to enter in. While the day of his patience continues, let
us hear and obey his voice.