Part 7

5:21. And Henoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Mathusala.

5:22. And Henoch walked with God: and lived after he begot Mathusala, three hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

5:23. And all the days of Henoch were three hundred and sixty-five years.

5:24. And he walked with God, and was seen no more: because God took him.

5:25. And Mathusala lived a hundred and eighty-seven years, and begot Lamech.

5:26. And Mathlusala lived after he begot Lamech, seven hundred and eighty-two years, and begot sons and daughters.

5:27. And all the days of Mathusala were nine hundred and sixty-nine years, and he died.

5:28. And Lamech lived a hundred and eighty-two years, and begot a son.

5:29. And he called his name Noe, saying: This same shall comfort us from the works and labours of our hands on the earth, which the Lord hath cursed.

5:30. And Lamech lived after he begot Noe, five hundred and ninety-five years, and begot sons and daughters.

5:31. And all the days of Lamech came to seven hundred and seventy-seven years, and he died. And Noe, when he was five hundred years old, begot Sem, Cham, and Japheth.

Genesis Chapter 6

Man’s sin is the cause of the deluge. Noe is commanded to build the ark.

6:1. And after that men began to be multiplied upon the earth, and daughters were born to them,

6:2. The sons of God seeing the daughters of men, that they were fair, took to themselves wives of all which they chose.

The sons of God.... The descendants of Seth and Enos are here called sons of God from their religion and piety: whereas the ungodly race of Cain, who by their carnal affections lay grovelling upon the earth, are called the children of men. The unhappy consequence of the former marrying with the latter, ought to be a warning to Christians to be very circumspect in their marriages; and not to suffer themselves to be determined in their choice by their carnal passion, to the prejudice of virtue or religion.

6:3. And God said: My spirit shall not remain in man for ever, because he is flesh, and his days shall be a hundred and twenty years.

His days shall be, etc.... The meaning is, that man’s days, which before the flood were usually 900 years, should now be reduced to 120 years. Or rather, that God would allow men this term of 120 years, for their repentance and conversion, before he would send the deluge.

6:4. Now giants were upon the earth in those days. For after the sons of God went in to the daughters of men, and they brought forth children, these are the mighty men of old, men of renown.

Giants.... It is likely the generality of men before the flood were of a gigantic stature in comparison with what men now are. But these here spoken of are called giants, as being not only tall in stature, but violent and savage in their dispositions, and mere monsters of cruelty and lust.

6:5. And God seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the earth, and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times,

6:6. It repented him that he had made man on the earth. And being touched inwardly with sorrow of heart,

It repented him, etc.... God, who is unchangeable, is not capable of repentance, grief, or any other passion. But these expressions are used to declare the enormity of the sins of men, which was so provoking as to determine their Creator to destroy these his creatures, whom before he had so much favoured.

6:7. He said: I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth, from man even to beasts, from the creeping thing even to the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made them.

6:8. But Noe found grace before the Lord.

6:9. These are the generations of Noe: Noe was a just and perfect man in his generations, he walked with God.

6:10. And he begot three sons, Sem, Cham, and Japheth.

6:11. And the earth was corrupted before God, and was filled with iniquity.