Matthew Henry Commentary Genesis 6

The most remarkable thing about the old world is its destruction by the deluge, or flood. We are told of the abounding iniquity of that wicked world: God's just wrath and His holy resolution to punish it. In all ages, there has been a peculiar curse of God upon marriages between professors of true religion and its avowed enemies. The evil example of the ungodly party corrupts or greatly hurts the other.

Family religion is put an end to, and the children are trained according to the worldly maxims of the parent who is without the fear of God. If we profess to be the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty, we must not marry without His consent. He will never give His blessing if we prefer beauty, wit, wealth, or worldly honors to faith and holiness. The Spirit of God strove with people by sending Enoch, Noah, and perhaps others to preach to them; by waiting to be gracious, despite their rebellions; and by arousing alarm and convictions in their consciences.

But the Lord declared that His Spirit should not strive with people in this way always; He would leave them to be hardened in sin and ripened for destruction. This He determined, because man was flesh: not only frail and feeble but carnal and depraved, having misused the noble powers of his soul to gratify his corrupt inclinations. God sees all the wickedness that is among the children of men; it cannot be hidden from Him now, and if it is not repented of, it will be made known by Him shortly.

The wickedness of a people is great indeed when noted sinners are renowned men among them. Much sin was committed in all places by all sorts of people. Anyone might see that the wickedness of man was great; but God saw that every imagination, or purpose, of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually. This was the bitter root, the corrupt spring.

The heart was deceitful and desperately wicked; the principles were corrupt; the habits and dispositions evil. Their designs and devices were wicked. They did evil deliberately, contriving how to do mischief. There was no good among them. God saw man's wickedness as one injured and wronged by it.

He saw it as a tender father sees the folly and stubbornness of a rebellious and disobedient child, which grieves him and makes him wish he had been childless. The words used here are remarkable; they are used after the manner of men and do not mean that God can change or be unhappy. Does God hate our sin in this way? And should we not be grieved to the heart for it?

Oh, that we may look on Him whom we have grieved, and mourn! God repented that He had made man, but we never find Him repent that He redeemed man. God resolves to destroy man: the original word is very striking, I will wipe off man from the earth, as dirt or filth is wiped off from a place that should be clean and is thrown to the dunghill, its proper place. God speaks of man as His own creature when He resolves upon his punishment.

Those forfeit their lives who do not fulfill the purpose of their living. God speaks of His resolution concerning people, after His Spirit had been long striving with them in vain. None are punished by the justice of God but those who hate to be reformed by the grace of God.

Noah did not find favor in the eyes of men; they hated and persecuted him because, by both his life and preaching, he condemned the world. But he found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and this made him more truly honorable than the men of renown. Let this be our chief desire; let us labor that we may be accepted by Him. When the rest of the world was wicked, Noah kept his integrity.

God's goodwill toward Noah produced this good work in him. He was a just man, that is, justified before God by faith in the promised Seed. As such, he was made holy and had right principles; and he was righteous in his conduct. He was not only honest but devout; it was his constant care to do the will of God. God looks down upon those with an eye of favor who sincerely look up to Him with an eye of faith.

It is easy to be religious when religion is in fashion; but it shows strong faith and resolution to swim against the stream and to appear for God when no one else appears for Him. Noah did so. All kinds of sin were found among men. They corrupted God's worship. Sin fills the earth with violence, and this fully justified God's resolution to destroy the world.

The contagion spread. When wickedness has become general, ruin is not far off. While there is a remnant of praying people in a nation to empty the measure as it fills, judgments may be kept off for a long time; but when all hands are at work to pull down the fences by sin, and none stand in the gap to make up the breach, what can be expected but a flood of wrath?

God told Noah his purpose to destroy the wicked world by water. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him (Psalms 25:14). It is with all believers, enabling them to understand and apply the declarations and warnings of the written word. God chose to do it by a flood of waters that would drown the world. As he chooses the rod with which he corrects his children, so he chooses the sword with which he cuts off his enemies. God established his covenant with Noah. This is the first place in the Bible where the word “covenant” is found; it seems to mean:

1. The covenant of providence: that the course of nature will be continued to the end of time.
2. The covenant of grace: that God would be a God to Noah, and that from his seed God would take a people for himself.

God directed Noah to make an ark. This ark was like the hulk of a ship, fitted to float upon the waters. It was very large, half the size of St. Paul's Cathedral, and would hold more than eighteen of the largest ships used today. God could have secured Noah without putting him to any care, pains, or trouble; but he employed him in making what was to be the means to preserve him, for the trial of his faith and obedience.

Both the providence of God and the grace of God acknowledge and crown the obedient and diligent. God gave Noah particular orders on how to make the ark, which therefore was undoubtedly well-fitted for its purpose. God promised Noah that he and his family would be kept alive in the ark.

What we do in obedience to God, we and our families are likely to benefit from. The piety of parents brings good to their children in this life and furthers them on the way to eternal life, if they make good use of it.

Noah's faith triumphed over all corrupt reasonings. To rear so large a building, of a kind he had never seen, and to provide food for the living creatures, would require from him a great deal of care, labour, and expense. His neighbours would laugh at him. But Noah, by faith, overcame all such objections; his obedience was ready and resolute.

Having begun to build, he did not stop until he had finished: so did he, and so must we do.

He feared the deluge, and therefore prepared the ark. And in the warning given to Noah, there is a more solemn warning given to us, to flee from the wrath to come, which will sweep the world of unbelievers into the pit of destruction.

Christ, the true Noah, which same shall comfort us, has by His sufferings already prepared the ark, and kindly invites us by faith to enter in. While the day of His patience continues, let us hear and obey His voice.