All the inhabitants of the earth die; A.M. 1656. CHAP. VIII. only Noah and his family escape. A. B.C. 2343. the ark, and it was lift up above creepeth upon the earth, and 4. M. 1656. 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. every man : d e B. C. 2348. 22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was 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 de 20 Fifteen cubits upward did the waters pre-stroyed from the earth: and 'Noah only revail; and the mountains were covered. 21 And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that Ps. civ. 26.- b Ps. civ. 6. Jer, iii. 23.- Ch. vi. 13, 17. Ver. 4. Job xxii. 16. 2 Esdr. iii. 9, 10. Wisd. x. 4. Matt. xxiv. 39. Luke xvii. 27. 2 Pet. iii. 6.—d Ch. ii. 7. Heb. the breath of the spirit of life. Ch. ii. 7. vii, 17. Verse 12. The rain was upon the earth] Dr. Lightfoot supposes that the rain began on the 18th day of the second month or Marcheshvan, and that it ceased on the 28th of the third month, Cisleu. Verse 15. And they went in, &c.] It was physically impossible for Noah to have collected such a vast Lumber of tame and ferocious animals, nor could they have been retained in their wards by mere natural means. How then were they brought from various distances to the ark and preserved there? Only by the power of God. He who first miraculously brought them to Adam that he might give them their names, now brings them to Noah that he may preserve their lives. And now we may reasonably suppose that their natural enmity was so far removed or suspended that the lion might dwell with the lamb, and the wolf lie down with the kid, though each might still require his peculiar aliment. This can be no difficulty to the power of God, without the immediate interposition of which neither the deluge nor the concomitant circumstances could have taken place. mained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. 24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days. the measure of their iniquities, and then wrath came upon them to the uttermost. Verse 20. Fifteen cubits upward] Should any person object to the universality of the deluge because he may imagine there is not water sufficient to drown the whole globe in the manner here related, he may find a most satisfactory answer to all the objections he can raise on this ground in Mr. Ray's Physicotheological Discourses, 2nd edit., 8vo., 1693. Verse 22. Of all that was in the dry land] From this we may conclude that such animals only as could not live in the water were preserved in the ark. Verse 24. And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.] The breaking up of the fountains of the great deep, and the raining forty days and nights, had raised the waters fifteen cubits above the highest mountains; after which forty days it appears to have continued at this height for one hundred and fifty days more. "So," says Dr. Lightfoot, "these two sums are to be reckoned distinct, and not the forty days included in the one hundred and fifty; so that when the one hundred and fifty days were ended, there were six months and ten days of the flood past." For an improvement of this awful judgment, see the conclusion of the following Verse 16. The Lord shut him in.] This seems to imply that God took him under his especial protection, and as he shut HIM in, so he shut the OTHERS out. God had waited one hundred and twenty years upon | chapter. that generation; they did not repent; they filled up CHAPTER VIII. The dove sent At the end of one hundred and fifty days the waters begin to subside, 1-3. The ark rests O mount Ararat, 4. On the first of the tenth month the tops of the hills appear, 5. The window opened, and the raven sent out, 6, 7. The dove sent forth, and returns, 8, 9. The dove sent forth a second time, and returns with an olive leaf, 10, 11. out the third time, and returns no more, 12. On the twentieth day of the second month the earth is completely dried, 13, 14. God orders Noah, his family, and all the creatures, to come out of the ark, 15-19. Noah builds an altar, and offers sacrifices to the Lord, 20. They are accepted; and God promises that the earth shall not be cursed thus any more, notwithstanding the iniquity of man, 21, 22. 5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen. 6 And it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made : 7 And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried 3 And the waters returned from off the earth continually and after the end of the hun-up from off the earth. dred and fifty days, the waters were abated. 4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. a Ch. xix. 29. Exod. ii. 24. 1 Sam. i, 19.- b Exod. xiv. 21 - Ch. xi. T Prov. viii. 28.- d Job xxxviii. 37. e Heb. in going and returning.f Ch. vii, 24.— Heb. 8 Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground; 9 But the dove found no rest for the sole of were in going and decreasing.h Ch. vi. 16. Heb. in going forth and returning. time the world has been amused with reports that the remains of the ark were still visible there; but Mr. Tournefort, a famous French naturalist, who was on the spot, assures us that nothing of the kind is there to be seen. As there is a great chain of mountains which are called by this name, it is impossible to determine on what part of them the ark rested; but the highest part, called by some the finger mountain, has been fixed on as the most likely place. These things we must leave, and they are certainly of very little consequence. NOTES ON CHAP. VIII. Verse 1. And God made a wind to pass over the earth] Such a wind as produced a strong and sudden evaporation. The effects of these winds, which are frequent in the East, are truly astonishing. A friend of mine, who had been bathing in the Tigris, not far from the ancient city of Ctesiphon, and within five days' journey of Bagdad, having on a pair of Turkish drawers, one of these hot winds, called by the natives samiel, passing rapidly across the river just as he had got out of the water, so effectually dried him in a moment that not one particle of moisture was left From the circumstance of the resting of the ark on either on his body or in his bathing dress! With the 17th of the seventh month, Dr. Lightfoot draws such an electrified wind as this, how soon could God this curious conclusion: That the ark drew exactly dry the whole of the earth's surface! An operation || eleren cubits of water. On the first day of the month something similar to the conversion of water into its Ab the mountain tops were first seen, and then the two constituent airs, oxygen and hydrogen, by means waters had fallen fifteen cubits; for so high had they of the galvanic fluid, as these airs themselves may be prevailed above the tops of the mountains. This reconverted into water by means of the electric spark. decrease in the waters took up sixty days, namely, See the note on chap. vii. 11. And probably this from the first of Sivan; so that they appear to have was the agent that restored to the atmosphere the abated in the proportion of one cubit in four days. quantity of water which it had contributed to this On the 16th of Sivan they had abated but four vast inundation. The other portion of waters, which cubits; and yet on the next day the ark rested on one had proceeded from the breaking up of the fountains of the hills, when the waters must have been as yet of the great deep, would of course subside more eleven cubits above it. Thus it appears that the ark slowly, as openings were made for them to run off drew eleven cubits of water. from the higher lands, and form seas. By the first cause, the hot wind, the waters were assuaged, and the atmosphere having its due proportion of vapours restored, the quantity below must be greatly lessened. By the second the earth was gradually dried, the waters, as they found passage, lessening by degrees, till the seas and gulfs were formed, and the earth completely drained. This appears to be what is intended in the third and fifth verses by the waters decreasing continually, or, according to the margin, they were in going and decreasing, ver. 5. Verse 7. He sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro] It is generally supposed that the raven flew off, and was seen no more, but this meaning the Hebrew text will not bear; ï xy” vaiyetse yatso rashob, and it went forth, going forth and returning. From which it is evident that she did return, but was not taken into the ark. She made frequent excursions, and continued on the wing as long as she could, having picked up such aliment as she found floating on the waters; and then, to rest herself, regained the ark, where she might perch, though she was not admitted. Indeed this must be allowed, as it is impossible she could have continued twenty-one days upon the wing, which she must have done had she not returned. But the text itself is sufficiently Verse 4. The mountains of Ararat.] That Ararat was a mountain of Armenia is almost universally agreed. What is commonly thought to be the Ararat of the scriptures has been visited by many travellers, and on it there are several monasteries. For a long determinate. Noah and his family leave the ark, CHAP. VIII. A.M. 1656. her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth; then he put forth his hand, and took her, and * pulled her in unto him into the ark. 10 And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark; 11 And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. 12 And he stayed yet other seven days, and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more. A. M. 1657. 13 And it came to pass in the B. C. 2347. six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and xoked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry. and offer a sacrifice to God. 14 And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried. A. M. 1657. 15 And God spake unto Noah, saying, 16 Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee. 17 Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth. e 18 And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him: 19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their 'kinds, went forth out of the ark. 20 And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of ever clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. Heb. caused her to come. Verse 8. He sent forth a dove] The dove was sent forth thrice; the first time she speedily returned, having, in all probability, gone but a little way from the ark, as she must naturally be terrified at the appearance of the waters. After seven days, being set out a second time, she returned with an olive leaf plekt of, ver. 11, an emblem of the restoration of peace between God and the earth; and from this circumstance the olive has been the emblem of peace among all civilized nations. At the end of the other days the dove, being sent out the third time, returned no more, from which Noah conjectured that the earth was now sufficiently drained, and therefore removed the covering of the ark, which probably gave liberty to many of the fowls to fly off, which circumstance would afford him the greater facility in making arrangements for disembarking the beasts and reptiles, and heavy-bodied domestic fowls, which night yet remain. See verse 17. b Ch. vii. 11.— Ch. vii. 13. | d Ch. vii. 15.- e Ch. i. 22.Heb. families.—————g Lev. xi. Verse 14. And in the second month, on the seven twentieth day] From this it appears that Noah was in the ark a complete solar year, or three hundred end sixty-five days; for he entered the ark the 17th by of the second month, in the six hundredth year of his life, chap. vii. 11, 13, and continued in it till eth day of the second month, in the six hundredth and first year of his life, as we see above. The months of the ancient Hebrews were lunar; the first is consisted of thirty days each, the latter six of twenty-nine; the whole twelve months making three hundred and fifty-four days; add to this eleven days (for though he entered the ark the preceding year on the seventeenth day of the second month, he did not come out till the twenty-seventh of the same month in the following year), which make exactly three hundred and sixty-five days, the period of a complete solar revolution; the odd hours and minutes, as being fractions of time, non-computed, though very likely all included in the account. This year, according to the Hebrew computation, was the one thousand six hundred and fifty-seventh year from the creation; but according to the reckoning of the Septuagint it was the two thousand two hundred and forty-second, and according to Dr. Hales, the two thousand two hundred and fifty-sixth. See on chap. xi. 12. Verse 20. Noah builded an altar] As we have already seen that Adam, Cain, and Abel, offered sacrifices, there can be no doubt that they had altars on which they offered them; but this, builded by Noah, is certainly the first on record. It is worthy of remark that, as the old world began with sacrifice, so also did the new. Religion, or the proper mode of worshipping the Divine Being, is the invention or institution of God himself; and sacrifice, in the act and design, is the essence of religion. Without sacrifice, actually offered or implied, there never was, there never can be, any religion. Even in the heavens, a lamb is represented before the throne of God as newly slain, Rev. v. 6, 12, 13. The design of sacrificing is two-fold: the slaying and burning of the victim point out, 1st, that the life of the sinner is forfeited to divine justice; 2ndly, that his soul deserves the fire of perdition. The Jews have a tradition that the place where Noah built his altar was the same in which the altar stood which was built by Adam, and used by Cain and Abel, and the same spot on which Abraham afterwards offered up his son Isaac. The word na mizbeach, which we render altar, signifies properly a place for sacrifice, as the root a Lev. i. 9. Ezek. xx. 41. 2 Cor. ii. 15. Eph. v. 2. b Heb. a savour of rest. c Ch. iii. 17. vi. 17.- d Or, though.- e Ch. vi. 5. Job xiv. 4. xv. 14. Ps. li. 5. Jer. na zabach signifies simply to slay. Altar comes from the Latin altus, high or elevated, because places for sacrifice were generally either raised very high, or built on the tops of hills and mountains, hence they are called high places in the scriptures; but such were chiefly used for idolatrous purposes. Burnt-offerings] See the meaning of every kind of offering and sacrifice largely explained on Lev. vii. Verse 21. The Lord smelled a sweet savour] That is, He was well pleased with this religious act, performed in obedience to his own appointment, and in faith of the promised Saviour. That this sacrifice prefigured that which was offered by our blessed Redeemer in behalf of the world, is sufficiently evident from the words of St. Paul, Eph. v. 2: Christ hath loved us, and given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a SWEET-SMELLING SAVOUR; where the words orμny evwdiag of the apostle are the very words used by the Septuagint in this place.. I will not again curse the ground] N N lo osiph, I will not add to curse the ground-there shall not be another deluge to destroy the whole earth; for the imagination of man's heart,ki, ALTHOUGH the imagination of man's heart should be evil, i. e. should they become afterwards as evil as they have been before, I will not destroy the earth by a FLOOD. God has other means of destruction; and the next time he visits by a general judgment, FIRE is to be the agent. 2 Pet. iii. 7. Verse 22. While the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest, &c.] There is something very expressive in the original, od col yemey haarets, until all the DAYS of the earth; for God does not reckon its duration by centuries, and the words themselves afford a strong presumption that the earth shall not have an endless duration. of the seasons. A. M. 1657. fneither will I again smite any more B. C. 2347. every thing living, as I have done. 228 While the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease. xvii. 9. Matt. xv. 19. Rom. i. 21. iii. 23.f Ch. ix. 11, -g Isai. liv. 8.- Heb. as yet all the days of the Jer. xxxiii. 20, 25. 15. earth. The Copts begin their autumn on the 15th of September, and extend it to the 15th of December. Their winter on the 15th of December, and extend it to the 15th of March. Their spring on the 15th of March, and extend it to the 15th of June. Their summer on the 15th of June, and extend it to the 15th of September, assigning to each season three complete months. Calmet. There are certainly regions of the earth to which neither this nor our own mode of division can apply; there are some where summer and winter appear to divide the whole year, and others where, besides summer, winter, autumn, and spring, there are distinct seasons that may be denominated the hot season, the cold season, the rainy season, &c., &c. This is a very merciful promise to the inhabitants of the earth. There may be a variety in the seasons, but no season essentially necessary to vegetation shall utterly fail. The times which are of greatest consequence to the preservation of man are distinctly noted; there shall be both seed-time and harvest—a proper time to deposit the different grain in the earth, and a proper time to reap the produce of this seed. Thus ends the account of the general deluge, its cause, circumstances, and consequences. An account that seems to say to us, Behold the goodness and severity of God! Both his justice and long-suffering are particularly marked in this astonishing event. His justice, in the punishment of the incorrigibly wicked; and his mercy, in giving them so fair and full a warning, and in waiting so long to extend his grace to all who might seek him. Such a convincing proof has the destruction of the world by water given of the divine justice, such convincing testimony of the truth of the sacred writings, that not only every part of the earth gives testimony of this extraordinary revolution, but also every nation of the universe has preserved records or traditions of this awful display of the justice of God. Seed-time and harvest.—It is very probable that the seasons, which were distinctly marked immediately after the deluge, are mentioned in this place; but A multitude of testimonies, collected from the it is difficult to ascertain them. Most European most authentic sources in the heathen world, I had nations divide the year into four distinct parts, called intended for insertion in this place, but want of room quarters or seasons; but there are six divisions in obliges me to lay them aside. But the state of the the text, and probably all intended to describe the earth itself is a sufficient proof. Every part of it seasons in one of these postdiluvian years, particu- bears unequivocal evidence of disruption and violarly in that part of the globe, Armenia, where Noah lence. From the hand of the God of order it never was when God gave him, and mankind through him, could have proceeded in its present state. In every this gracious promise. From the Targum of Jonathan part we see marks of the crimes of men, and of the on this verse we learn that in Palestine their seed-justice of God. And shall not the living lay this to time was in September, at the autumnal equinox; their harvest in March, at the vernal equinox; that their winter began in December, at the solstice; and their summer at the solstice in June. heart? Surely God is not mocked; that which a man soweth he shall reap. He who soweth to the flesh shall of it reap destruction; and though the plague of water shall no more destroy the earth, yet an equal if not sorer punishment awaits the world | of the ungodly, in the threatened destruction by fire. In ancient times almost every thing was typical, and no doubt the ark among the rest; but of what and in what way farther than revelation guides, it is both difficult and unsafe to say. It has been considered a type of our blessed Lord; and hence it has been observed, that "as all those who were out of the ark perished by the flood, so those who take not refuge in the meritorious atonement of Christ Jesus must perish everlastingly." Of all those who, having the opportunity of hearing the gospel, refuse to accept of the sacrifice it offers them, this saying is true; but the parallel is not good. Myriads of those who perished during the flood probably repented, implored mercy, and found forgiveness; for God ever delights to save, and Jesus was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And though, generally, the people continued in carnal security and sensual gratifications till the flood came, there is much reason to believe that those who during the forty days' rain would naturally flee to the high lands and blessed. tops of the highest mountains, would earnestly implore that mercy which has never been denied, even to the most profligate, when under deep humiliation of heart they have returned to God. And who can say that this was not done by multitudes while they beheld the increasing flood; or that God, in this last extremity, had rendered it impossible? St. Peter, 1 Epist. iii. 21, makes the ark a figure of baptism, and intimates that we are saved by this, as the eight souls were saved by the ark. But let us not mistake the apostle by supposing that the mere ceremony itself saves any person; he tells us that the salvation conveyed through this sacred rite is not the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God; i. e. remission of sins and regeneration by the Holy Spirit, which are signified by this baptism. A good conscience never existed where remission of sins had not taken place; and every person knows that it is God's prerogative to forgive sins, and that no ordinance can confer it, though ordinances may be the means to convey it when piously and believingly used. CHAPTER IX. God blesses Noah and his sons, 1. The brute creation to be subject to them through fear, 2. The first grant of animal food, 3. Eating of blood forbidden, 4. Cruelty to animals forbidden, 5. A manslayer to forfeit his life, 6. The covenant of God established between him and Noah and the whole brute creation, 8-11. The rainbow given as the sign and pledge of this covenant, 12-17. The three sons of Noah people the whole earth, 18, 19. Noah plants a vineyard, drinks of the wine, is intoxicated, and lies exposed in his tent, 20, 21. The reprehensible conduct of Ham, 22. The laudable carriage of Shem and Japheth, 23. Noah prophetically declares the servitude of the posterity of Ham, 24, 25; and the dignity and increase of Shem and Japheth, 26, 27. The age and death of Noah, 28, 29. NOTES ON CHAP. IX. Verse 1. God blessed Noah] Even the increase of families, which appears to depend on merely natural ans, and sometimes fortuitous circumstances, is all of God. It is by his power and wisdom that the being is formed, and it is by his providence ake that man is supported and preserved. race would long ere this have been totally destroyed by the beasts of the field. Did the horse know his own strength, and the weakness of the miserable wretch who unmercifully rides, drives, whips, goads, and oppresses him, would he not with one stroke of his hoof destroy his tyrant possessor? But while God hides these things from him he impresses his Verse 2. The fear of you and the dread, &c.] mind with the fear of his owner, so that either by Prise to the fall man ruled the inferior animals by cheerful or sullen submission he is trained up for, and love and kindness, for then gentleness and docility employed in, the most useful and important purposes; were their principal characteristics. After the fall and even willingly submits when tortured for the untractableness, with savage ferocity, prevailed sport and amusement of his more brutish oppressor. among almost all orders of the brute creation; en- Tigers, wolves, lions, and hyænas, the determinate mity to man seems particularly to prevail; and had foes of man, incapable of being tamed or domestinot God in his mercy impressed their minds with the cated, flee, through the principle of terror, from the fear and terror of man, so that some submit to his dwelling of man, and thus he is providentially safe. will while others flee from his residence, the human | Hence, by fear and by dread, man rules every beast |