John Calvin Commentary Genesis 7

And the Lord said unto Noah. I have no doubt that Noah was confirmed, as he certainly needed to be, by oracles frequently repeated. He had already sustained, during one hundred years, the greatest and most furious assaults; and the invincible combatant had achieved memorable victories; but the most severe contest of all was, to bid farewell to the world, to renounce society and to bury himself in the ark.

The face of the earth was, at that time, lovely; and Moses intimates that it was the season in which the herbs shoot forth and the trees begin to flourish. Winter, which binds the joy of sky and earth in sharp and rugged frost, has now passed away; and the Lord has chosen the moment for destroying the world, in the very season of spring.

For Moses states that the commencement of the deluge was in the second month. I know, however, that different opinions prevail on this subject; for there are three who begin the year from the autumnal equinox; but that mode of reckoning the year is more approved, which makes it commence in the month of March.

However this might be, it was no light trial for Noah to leave of his own accord, the life to which he had been accustomed during six hundred years, and to seek a new mode of life in the abyss of death. He is commanded to forsake the world, that he may live in a sepulcher which he had been labouriously digging for himself through more than a hundred years.

Why was this? Because, in a little while, the earth was to be submerged in a deluge of waters. Yet nothing of the kind is apparent: all indulge in feasts, celebrate nuptials, build sumptuous houses; in short, everywhere, daintiness and luxury prevail; as Christ himself testifies, that that age was intoxicated with its own pleasures, (Luke 17:26.) Wherefore, it was not without reason, that the Lord encouraged and fortified the mind of his servant afresh, by the renewal of the promise, lest he should faint; as if he would says ‘Hitherto thou hast labored with fortitude amid so many causes of offense; but now the case especially demands that thou shouldst take courage, in order to reap the fruit of thy labor: do not, however, wait till the waters burst forth on every side from the opened veins of the earth, and till the higher waters of heaven, with opposing violence, rush from their opened cataracts; but while everything is yet tranquil, enter into the ark, and there remain till the seventh day, then suddenly shall the deluge arise.’ And although oracles are not now brought down from heaven, let us know that continual meditation on the word is not ineffectual; for as new difficulties perpetually arise before us, so God, by one and another promise, establishes our faith, so that our strength being renewed, we may at length arrive at the goal.

Our duty, indeed, is, attentively to hear God speaking to us; and neither through depraved fastidiousness, to reject those exercises, by which He cherishes, or excites, or confirms our faith, according as he knows it to be still tender, or languishing, or weak; nor yet to reject them as superfluous.

For thee have I seen righteous. When the Lord assigns as his reason for preserving Noah, that he knew him to be righteous, he seems to attribute the praise of salvation to the merit of works; for if Noah was saved because he was righteous, it follows, that we shall deserve life by good works.

But here it behoves us cautiously to weigh the design of God; which was to place one man in contrast with the whole world, in order that, in his person, he might condemn the unrighteousness of all men. For he again testifies, that the punishment which he was about to inflict on the world was just, seeing that only one man was left who then cultivated righteousness, for whose sake he was propitious to his whole family.

Should any one object, that from this passage, God is proved to have respect to works in saving men, the solution is ready; that this is not repugnant to gratuitous acceptance, since God accepts those gifts which he himself has conferred upon his servants. We must observe, in the first place, that he loves men freely, inasmuch as he finds nothing in them but what is worthy of hatred, since all men are born the children of wrath, and heirs of eternal malediction.

In this respect he adopts them to himself in Christ, and justifies them by his mere mercy. After he has, in this manner, reconciled them unto himself, he also regenerates them, by his Spirit, to new life and righteousness. Hence flow good works, which must of necessity be pleasing to God himself.

Thus he not only loves the faithful but also their works. We must again observe, that since some fault always adheres to our works, it is not possible that they can be approved, except as a matter of indulgence. The grace, therefore, of Christ, and not their own dignity or merit, is that which gives worth to our works. Nevertheless, we do not deny that they come into the account before God: as he here acknowledges and accepts the righteousness of Noah which had proceeded from his own grace; and in this manner (as Augustine speaks) he will crown his own gifts. We nay further notice the expression, “I have seen thee righteous before me;” by which words, he not only annihilates all that hypocritical righteousness which is destitute of interior sanctity of heart, but vindicates his own authority; as if he would declare, that he alone is a competent judge to estimate righteousness. The clause, in this generation, is added, as I have said, for the sake of amplification; for so desperate was the depravity of that age, that it was regarded as a prodigy, that Noah should be free from the common infection.

Of every clean beast. He again repeats what he had previously said concerning animals, and not without reason. For there was considerable difficulty in collecting from woods, mountains, and caves such a great multitude of wild beasts, many species of which were perhaps entirely unknown; and in most of them, there was the same ferocity that we now perceive.

Therefore, God encourages the holy man, lest, being alarmed by that difficulty and having cast aside all hope of success, he should fail. Here, however, at first sight, some kind of contradiction appears, because while he had previously spoken of pairs of animals, he now speaks of sevens. But the solution is close at hand: previously, Moses did not state the number but only said that females were added as companions to the males, as if he had said that Noah himself was commanded not to gather the animals indiscriminately, but to select pairs from them for the propagation of offspring. Now, however, the discussion concerns the actual number.

Moreover, the expression "by sevens" is to be understood not as seven pairs of each kind, but as three pairs, to which one animal is added for sacrifice. Besides, the Lord intended that a threefold greater number of clean animals than of others be preserved, because they would be more necessary for human use. In this provision, we must consider the fatherly goodness of God toward us, by which He is inclined to care for us in all things.

To keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. That is, so that offspring could be born. But this is referred to Noah; for although, properly speaking, God alone gives life, God here refers to those duties which He had commanded His servant. And it is with respect to his appointed role that God commands him to collect animals so that he might keep seed alive.

Nor is this extraordinary, since the ministers of the gospel are said, in a sense, to confer spiritual life. In the following clause, 'upon the face of all the earth,' there is a twofold consolation: first, that the waters, after they had covered the earth for a time, would subside, so that the dry surface of the earth would appear; and second, that not only would Noah himself survive, but, by the blessing of God, the number of animals would be so increased that they would spread far and wide throughout the whole world.

Thus, in the midst of ruin, future restoration is promised to him. Moses is very careful to show that God took care, by every means, to keep Noah obedient to His word, and that the holy man entirely submitted.

This teaching is very useful, especially when God either promises or threatens anything incredible, since people do not willingly accept what seems improbable to them. For nothing was less consistent with the judgment of the flesh than that the world would be destroyed by its Creator, because this was to subvert the whole order of nature which He had established.

Therefore, unless Noah had been well warned about this terrible judgment of God, he never would have ventured to believe it, lest he conceive of God as acting in contradiction to Himself. The word היקום (hayekom), which Moses here uses, originates from a word meaning 'to stand,' but it properly means whatever lives and flourishes.

And Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded. This is not a mere repetition of the former sentence; rather, Moses commends Noah’s consistent character of obedience in keeping all God’s commandments. It is as if he would say that in whatever particular it pleased God to test his obedience, he always remained constant.

And certainly, it is not fitting to obey only one or another of God’s commandments, so that when we have performed a defective obedience, we should feel free to withdraw. For we must remember the declaration of James:

He who forbade you to kill, forbade you also to steal, and to commit adultery, (James 2:11).

And Noah was six hundred years old. It is not without reason that Moses again mentions Noah's age. For old age has this among other ills: it tends to make people more indolent and morose. Consequently, Noah's faith was all the more conspicuous because it did not fail him in that advanced stage of life.

And just as it was a great virtue not to languish through successive centuries, so his promptness likewise deserves great commendation, because when commanded to enter the ark, he immediately obeyed.

When Moses shortly afterwards adds that Noah had entered on account of the waters of the deluge, these words should not be interpreted as if he were compelled by the rushing of the waters to flee into the ark. Rather, moved by fear because of God's word, he perceived by faith the approach of that deluge which all others ridiculed. Therefore, his faith is again praised here because, indeed, he raised his eyes above heaven and earth.