7 And the Lord said, I will take away man, whom I have made, from the face of the earth, even man and beast and that which goes on the earth and every bird of the air; for I have sorrow for having made them.
<A Psalm. Of David.> The earth is the Lord's, with all its wealth; the world and all the people living in it. For by him it was based on the seas, and made strong on the deep rivers.
For my people are foolish, they have no knowledge of me; they are evil-minded children, without sense, all of them: they are wise in evil-doing, but have no knowledge of doing good. Looking at the earth, I saw that it was waste and without form; and to the heavens, that they had no light. Looking at the mountains, I saw them shaking, and all the hills were moved about. Looking, I saw that there was no man, and all the birds of heaven had gone in flight. Looking, I saw that the fertile field was a waste, and all its towns were broken down before the Lord and before his burning wrath. For this is what the Lord has said: All the land will become a waste; I will make destruction complete.
But you, O Lord, have knowledge of me; you see me, searching and testing how my heart is with you: let them be pulled out like sheep to be put to death, make them ready for the day of death. How long will the land have grief, and the plants of all the land be dry? because of the sins of the people living in it, destruction has overtaken the beasts and the birds; because they said, God does not see our ways.
Because by the works of the law no man is able to have righteousness in his eyes, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. But now without the law there is a revelation of the righteousness of God, to which witness is given by the law and the prophets; That is, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, to all those who have faith; and one man is not different from another,
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Genesis 6
Commentary on Genesis 6 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 6
The most remarkable thing we have upon record concerning the old world is the destruction of it by the universal deluge, the account of which commences in this chapter, wherein we have,
Gen 6:1-2
For the glory of God's justice, and for warning to a wicked world, before the history of the ruin of the old world, we have a full account of its degeneracy, its apostasy from God and rebellion against him. The destroying of it was an act, not of an absolute sovereignty, but of necessary justice, for the maintaining of the honour of God's government. Now here we have an account of two things which occasioned the wickedness of the old world:-
Gen 6:3
This comes in here as a token of God's displeasure at those who married strange wives; he threatens to withdraw from them his Spirit, whom they had grieved by such marriages, contrary to their convictions: fleshly lusts are often punished with spiritual judgments, the sorest of all judgments. Or as another occasion of the great wickedness of the old world; the Spirit of the Lord, being provoked by their resistance of his motions, ceased to strive with them, and then all religion was soon lost among them. This he warns them of before, that they might not further vex his Holy Spirit, but by their prayers might stay him with them. Observe in this verse,
Gen 6:4-5
We have here a further account of the corruption of the old world. When the sons of God had matched with the daughters of men, though it was very displeasing to God, yet he did not immediately cut them off, but waited to see what would be the issue of these marriages, and which side the children would take after; and it proved (as usually it does), that they took after the worst side. Here is,
Gen 6:6-7
Here is,
Gen 6:8-10
We have here Noah distinguished from the rest of the world, and a peculiar mark of honour put upon him.
Gen 6:11-12
The wickedness of that generation is here again spoken of, either as a foil to Noah's piety-he was just and perfect, when all the earth was corrupt; or as a further justification of God's resolution to destroy the world, which he was now about to communicate to his servant Noah.
Gen 6:13-21
Here it appears indeed that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. God's favour to him was plainly intimated in what he said of him, v. 8-10, where his name is mentioned five times in five lines, when once might have served to make the sense clear, as if the Holy Ghost took a pleasure in perpetuating his memory; but it appears much more in what he says to him in these verses-the informations and instructions here given him.
Gen 6:22
Noah's care and diligence in building the ark may be considered,