Page images
PDF
EPUB

favour here and hereafter. In a word, let us be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.

CHAP. VII.

Noah enters the ark. The beginning, increase, and continuance of the flood.

1

A

ND the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou, that is, be ready to come at the end of seven days, and all thy house, thy wife, and thy three sons, and their wives, into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me, and studious to approve thyself in my sight, in this generation. Of every clean beast, 2 such as I have appointed for sacrifice and food, thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female; seven couples of a sort, that some may be for food and sacrifice, others for breed: and of beasts that [are] not clean by two, the male 3 and his female. Of clean fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all 4 the earth. For yet seven days from this time, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth incessantly forty days and forty nights, and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth, except what is in the 5 ark. And Noah did according unto all that the LORD Com6 manded him. Such was his faith and obedience. And Noah [was] six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.

7

And Noah went in, and his three sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood, which they believed was just at hand to deluge the earth. The creatures also which came by a kind of instinct, 8 Noah received and placed in their proper apartments: Of clean beasts, and of beasts that [are] not clean, and of fowls, and of 9 every thing that creepeth upon the earth, There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah to receive them.

10

And it came to pass after seven days, or on the seventh day, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth, began to descend in such torrents, as plainly indicated the truth of the di11 vine threatenings. In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month of their years, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day, that very day, so worthy to be remembered, were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, the waters that were sunk into the earth, and kept in storehouses there,* (Psalm xxxiii. 7.) gushed out in mighty torrents, and the windows of heaven were opened, from whence the ruin 12 descended, not in drops, but in immense cataracts. And the rain was in coming down upon the earth forty days and forty 13 nights. In the self same day that the flood began 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, 14 into the ark; They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl af 15 ter his kind, every bird of every sort. And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein 16 [is] the breath of life. And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him to receive them; and the Lord shut him in, directing him when and how to shut the door of the ark, that no one else might intrude.

17

And the flood was forty days without intermission in coming upon the earth; and the waters every day increased, and bare 18 up the ark, and it was lift above the earth. And now all hope of escape from the ceasing of the rain was given up, for the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and 19 the ark went upon the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and arose so high that they not only covered the plain, but all the high hills, that is, the highest in those days, that (were] under the whole heaven, were covered; so that in vain was salvation looked for from

20 the hills and mountains; for Fifteen cubits upward, that is, seven yards and an half, did the waters prevail over the highest lands; and the highest mountains were covered; so that the destruction of all but those who were in the ark was inevitable.

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 creepeth upon the earth, and every man, woman, and child : 22 All in whose nostrils [was] the breath of life, of all that [was] in the dry [land,] died; but fish, and every thing that could 23 live in the water, are plainly excepted. 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 in their full strength an hundred and fifty days,

Thus hills might burst, the rocks be rent, the earth be raised to higher mountains than before, shells and light bodies might be thrown to the tops of hills, where they continue to this day: and others might sink into the ground, where they are still discove red very deep in all parts of the earth.

١٠٠

1.

H

REFLECTIONS.

1.

TOW happy are they who are righteous before God! This was Noah's character; and his deliverance is an emblem of the great salvation of all good men; they shall be saved from the wrath to come. Let us follow after righteousness, like Zacharias and Elizabeth, who were righteous before God, walking in all the statutes and ordinances of the Lord, blameless. Let us not partake of the sins of a wicked generation, lest we also partake of their plagues; but set the Lord always before us, approve ourselves in his sight, and, whatever others do, serve the Lord; then will he hide us in his secret places, and surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh us.

2. How hateful is sin, which provoked God to blot out and destroy the creatures he had made! What a fearful thing is it to fall into the hands of the living God! Sin is that abominable thing which his soul hateth, and which he will severely punish. This story should be a warning to a careless world. Let us attend to that important question in Job xxii. 15, 16. Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden? which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood. Let us hear and fear, and do no more wickedly..

3. How uncontrollable is the divine power over all his creatures, animate and inanimate! over the beasts, to make them tame and gentle; over all the elements; he layeth up the deep waters in his storehouses, he setteth bars that they shall not cover the earth; he taketh off those bars when he pleaseth, and causeth the waters below and above to unite their force to execute his divine commission, and chastise an incorrigible world. He sendeth rain in its season, or can withhold the bottles of heaven. Who would not adore and fear this awful God? Who can stand before him when he is angry!

4. Observe how exactly God fulfils his threatenings, as well as his promises. He had long foretold this judgment by the preachers of righteousness in the old world, but the ungodly thought it would never come. Probably when Noah was building this ark, they came and asked him what he was about. When he told them, they laughed at him, and asked him, if he would sail on dry ground? and thought much piety had made him mad. What contempt must have been poured upon Noah, when they saw him shut himself up in his ark, with so many beasts and birds. If there were any poets in those days, they were probably satirical and witty upon the enthusiastical old man; perhaps they made ballads of him, and he became the song of the drunkard. Mark the end. The flood came, as God had said. Just and true are all his declarations. Men may sneer and despise, but the Lord is a God of truth and judgment; and blessed are all they that wait for him, and hope in him. Once more,

5. How unable shall sinners be at the great day to escape di

A

vine judgment! So sudden and unexpected shall that day come, as Luke says, ch. xvii. 26. As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of Man. How awful was the judgment in the days of Noah; to be surprised by death in so carnal and secure a state; in the midst of peace and safety, perhaps of mirth and riot. Alas! What became of their sumptuous buildings, of the tyrants of the earth, of their giants and oppressors !

Uplifted,

the floating vessel swum

all dwellings else

Flood overwhelm'd, and them with all their pomp
Deep under water roll'd.

Milton.

No doubt they tried all means to escape; in vain they fled to trees and mountains; perhaps clung about the ark, and believed what Noah had spoken; but too late. Thousands might be waiting round the ark, and crying for admittance before it was borne upon the waters, but in vain; God had shut the door, and man could not open it again. They saw that ark with envy, which before they ridiculed and scorned. When God judges he will overcome. Noah is safe in his vessel amidst the gushing torrents, the roar of beasts, and the shrieks and cries of his drowning neighbours. So shall the coming of the Son of Man be, sudden and unexpected. Sinners shall have no way of escaping; none but those who are in Christ, of whose salvation the ark was a type, shall be safe; all the rest shall perish. The Saviour, the Ark, whom they despised, will not take them in. Be sober, lest that day come upon you unawares. Seeing we look for such things as these, what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness.

CHAP. VIII.

This chapter presents a new scene; the former was dark, and judgment was over the earth; but in the midst of judgment God remembers mercy. The waters assuage. Noah comes out of the ark; offers an acceptable sacrifice; and God promises to drown the world no more.

1

A

ND God kindly remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that [was] with him in the ark: and as soon as the end was answered for which the flood was sent, God made a sharp drying wind which he brought out of his treasures, to pass over the earth, and the waters 2 were assuaged; The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven 3 was restrained; And the waters returned from off the earth continually; gradually gathering into seas, or sinking into the

4

bowels of the earth: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days in which they continued in their strength, the waters were abated, or began to abate.,

And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon one of the mountains of Ararat.* 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; about the beginning of May, when the heat of the sun would contribute much to dry the ground,

6

And it came to pass at the end of forty days after the tops of the mountains were first seen, that is, about the end of our July, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had 7 made: And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro about the ark, until the waters were dried up from off the 8.earth. Also seven days after, the air probably being still foggy, and Noah incapable of making observations, he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from the 9 face of the ground; But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, the ground being still muddy, and she returned unto him in the ark, for the waters [were] on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pull10 ed her in unto him into the ark, And he stayed yet other seven days; † and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark, probably on the evening of the sabbath, after some peculiar 801 lemnities of devotion, in order to strengthen his faith; And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth [was] an olive leaf plucked off : so Noah knew that the waters were greatly abated from off the earth, though not quite 12 gone. And he stayed yet other seven days, that is, till the next sabbath, and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more, finding rest and food sufficient.

13

[ocr errors]

And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year of Noah's life, in the first [month.] the first [day] of the month, the waters were entirely dried up from off the earth and Noah removed part of the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry, free from waters, 14 yet soft and muddy, And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried, grown hard and fit for use; so that it was a complete solar year, or three hundred and seventy five days, from the beginning of the flood to the drying up of the waters. See ch. vii. 11.

15 16 And God spake unto Noah, saying, Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives 17 with thee. Bring forth with thee every living thing that [is] with thee, of all flesh, (both] of fowl, and of cattle, and of every

A long chain of mountains like the Alps. The Syriac renders it Armenia, so docs the Vulgate. ↑ An intimation of their early measuring time by weeks.

« PreviousContinue »