LESSON IV.--JANUARY 23.

NOAH AND THE ARK.--GEN. 6:9-22.

      GOLDEN TEXT.--Noah did according to all the Lord commanded him.--GEN. 7:5.
      TIME.--Not certainly known; according to Usher B. C. 2447.
      PLACE.--Somewhere in Western Asia.
      HELPFUL READINGS.--Gen. 5:28-6:8; Gen. 7:1-24; 8:1-22; 9:1-19; Heb. 11:1-7; 1 Peter 3:18-22.
      LESSON ANALYSIS.--1. A Righteous Family; 2. A Wicked World; 3. An Ark of Safety.

INTRODUCTION.

      It is one of the most remarkable, and at the same time most pleasing, corroborations of the early narratives of Scripture, that they are found to be repeated in substance, often with surprising exactness of detail, by the traditions and primitive records of the most widely separated countries and races. This is especially seen in the echoes of the story of the Flood, which meet us in every age and region. The notice of this appalling and unique catastrophe, which has thus imprinted itself on the memory of the world from the most ancient times, is fitly introduced by a statement of the condition of things among mankind, which drew down such an awful punishment. Evil had grown rampant, and threatened to utterly extirpate good from the world. The immediate cause of this portentous corruption is, moreover, stated, though in language so dark from its metaphorical expression, that endless controversy has arisen as to the meaning of some essential words. "There were giants on the earth in those days," it is said, but the name only means famous men, whether for stature or deeds, though they may have been of unusual size.   *   *   It is added that "the sons of God" allied themselves with "the daughters of men," and that their children became mighty and renowned men. By the "giants" seem to have been meant a race of violent chiefs, who made themselves great names by deeds of war, filling the earth with violence.--Geikie.

      I. A RIGHTEOUS FAMILY.--9. These are the generations of Noah. Genesis divides itself into sections, which give the accounts of various generations or families. It is a collection of Toledoth, or genealogical histories. We have first the "generation of the heavens and the earth," from chap. 2:4, to the end of chap. 4; next "the book of the generations of Adam," from chap. 5:1 to 6:8; "the generations of Noah," beginning with chap. 6:9, [33] and extending to the close of chap. 9; "the generations of the sons of Noah," from chap. 10:1 to 11:9; "the generations of Shem," from chap. 11:10 to 26; "the generations of Terah," from chap. 11:27 to 25:11; "the generations of Ishmael," from chap. 25:12 to 25:18; "the generations of Isaac," from chap. 25:19 to the end of chap. 35; "the generations of Esau," from chap. 36:1 to 37:1; "the generations of Jacob," chap. 37:2 to the end of chap. 50. This verse opens one of these sections. Noah. The son of Lamech, the grandson of Methusaleh, the great grandson of Enoch, "who walked with God and was not, for God took him." He belonged to the righteous race of Seth, and preserved the hereditary piety of his kindred. He had now reached the age of about six hundred years, the prime of life in the antediluvian period of the world, and had lived such a life that "he found grace in the eyes of the Lord." Noah was a just man. He is the first person to whom this term is applied in the Scriptures. "The just shall live by faith," and in Heb. 11:7, Noah is held up as one of the great examples of the power of faith. He was "perfect in his generations," or in his times, living a blameless life among his contemporaries in an age distinguished by wickedness, an eminent specimen of piety in a degenerate age. The term "perfect" is not to be used in its absolute sense, but implies that his life, as compared with his fellow men, was blameless. Walked with God. This is also stated of the great grandfather of Noah, Enoch, (Gen. 5:22), and implies walking in the fear of God, keeping his commandments, and in constant communion with Him.

      10. And Noah begat three sons. It is said of Enoch, "he walked with God three hundred years, after he begat Methuselah and begat sons and daughters;" the same in substance is affirmed of Noah. A life of celibacy was not necessary to the perfection of the two most exalted saints of the primitive world. The three sons of Noah are first named in chap. 5:22, and were born somewhere about the five hundredth year of Noah's life. Ham was the youngest son (Gen. 9:24); Japheth is supposed to have been the oldest, born when Noah was five hundred years old, and Shem when Noah was in his five hundred and third year (Gen. 11:10). The latter, named first, as the ancestor of the Jews and of Christ, was ninety-eight years old at the Flood. From these three sons spring three great divisions of the human race.

      II. A WICKED WORLD.--11. The earth also was corrupt before God. A general statement is here made of the causes that led God to send the Deluge upon man. The earth was filled with corruption. In the preceding part of the chapter the causes that led to this corruption are more fully described. The righteous race of Seth, which had preserved its piety by keeping itself [34] distinct from the wicked offspring of Cain, had ceased to do so; they had intermarried, and a tide of wickedness, sensuality and violence had swept over the earth. The race had become almost universally corrupt--so utterly depraved that its reform would be a hopeless task; its only possible fate was destruction. It has always been the policy of the divine government to destroy that which is hopelessly corrupt. The decaying carcass is always finally removed, whether it be physical or moral.

      12. God looked upon the earth. The simple, primitive way of saying that God took note of the condition of things upon the earth. He always does, and though he may spare so long that men often conclude that he is indifferent or powerless, yet at last his arm is bared in judgment. Nothing is plainer in history than the retributions visited by the Governor of the Nations on wickedness in national life.

      13. God said unto Noah. Noah is chosen as the medium of the revelation of the will of God. As Abraham was chosen to leave his kindred, so Noah was selected to continue the human race. The election is not arbitrary in either case. They are chosen because of their fitness of character. Noah "walked with God." So, in all ages, God chooses those who fear and serve him. In order that Noah be saved it was needful that he have a special revelation. Hence God reveals to him the fate of the world, and how he can be saved. The end of all flesh is come before me. Is under consideration, is present to my view, and is about to take place. This would be true absolutely of all flesh, did he not appoint to Noah a means of salvation. The reason why this fate shall befall "all flesh" is next stated: "The earth is filled with violence through them (through men)." I will destroy them with the earth. Men would be delivered over to God's retributive justice, and with them destruction would come upon all the animal tribes, and the fair face of the earth would be overwhelmed. The fact that the earth was involved in the destruction seems to imply that geological agencies were active.

      III. AN ARK OF SAFETY.--14. Make thee an ark. The term here used is not that for an ordinary ship, but rather for a vessel without mast or rudder, being intended only for a floating structure, not for navigation. The [35] word means a chest. Of gopher wood. The timbers were to be of the gopher, some kind of resinous or pitchy wood, held by the best authorities to be the cypress, a timber well adapted to ship building. Others think that gopher was a general term, including cedar, juniper, cypress, etc. In Western Asia woods that are not resinous are soon perforated by worms, and the gopher wood would therefore be durable in that section of the earth. Rooms shalt thou make. With its vast and varied cargo of animals and food, it would be needful that it be divided into many apartments. The word means, rather, cells, or stalls. In the margin it is rendered lodging-places, and elsewhere in the Scriptures the term is rendered "nests." Thou shalt pitch it. Some bituminous substance was to be applied to the wood, within and without, so as to make it impervious to water. Probably asphaltum is intended.

      15. The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits. " The fashion of the ark," its proportions, but not its actual form, are given. The cubit was not a fixed measure, varying from 18 to 21 inches. "The proportions do not vary much from those of the Great Eastern. Reckoning the cubit at 21 inches the proportions would be: Length, 626 feet; breadth, 87 feet, 6 inches; height, 62 feet, 6 inches; those of the Great Eastern being, length, 680; breadth, 83, height, 58."--S. C. German writers state that in 1609 Peter Jansen built a vessel of the same proportions as the ark, only much smaller, with a length of 120 feet; width, 20 feet; and depth or height, 12 feet. It was found most convenient for stowage, containing one-third more freight than ordinary vessels of the same tonnage, though it was not adapted to great speed. Curious calculations have been made of the capacity of the ark, and it has been shown that it would contain all the animals then known, with food for them. It has been shown that it would have received 7,000 species.

      16. A window shalt thou make to the ark. This account of the window has been puzzling to the commentators. The most probable idea is that it was, not a single window, but a window system. Gesenius says that the word means window course, or set of windows--a system of lighting--and translates: "A window system shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish them from above;" that is, they shall be placed a cubit below the decks or floors. It is quite possible that there was a window course to each [36] story, a cubit below the ceiling or floor. Others have held that "in a cubit shalt thou finish it above" does not refer to the windows at all, but to the deck, or roof, which was to be raised a cubit in the center, so as to give a slope. From the general description we gather that the ark was a great building, over 500 feet long, 80 wide, and 60 high, with windows for the entrance of light near the roof, a door in the side, three stories high, constructed of resinous wood, and pitched within and without.

      17. I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth. There has been much discussion of the question whether the flood was universal. The language used, at first glance, would seem to declare this, but the usage of the Hebrew will allow of its application to a flood that covered the then known world. It was undoubtedly universal, as far as the human race was concerned. This is shown by the fact that all races have traditions of the flood. As to the agencies employed, they were both geological and meteorological. "The windows of heaven were opened"--great rain storms; "and the fountains of the great deep were broken up"--the sea overflowed the land, caused by a depression of the land from earthquakes or other causes. Everything that is in the earth shall die. All the land animals and man. Murphy has made a calculation that renders it probable that the human race amounted to three or four millions.

      18. But with thee will I establish my covenant. This is the first covenant expressly named in the Bible, though covenants virtually existed before. It is an agreement, with conditions, between two parties. In the covenant with Noah God promises salvation to Noah and his family, on condition that they obey his will in preparing the ark.

      19, 20. Every living thing . . . two of every sort. All land animals, male [37] and female, were to be preserved in the ark along with Noah, his sons and their wives. Of the clean animals--those used by the Jews for sacrifice or food--he was to take seven, evidently either for food or sacrificial purposes, If the flood was confined to the portion of earth inhabited by man, the animals of that region are referred to.

      22. Thus did Noah; according to all that Goa commanded. Noah demonstrated his faith by doing just what God said. To fail to do thus is the proof of unbelief. Paul says: "By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, being moved by fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith." The building of the ark was an act of faith, and Noah was saved by the obedience of faith.

PRACTICAL AND SUGGESTIVE.

      TRADITIONS OF A DELUGE.--All the great nations of history have traditions, more or less definite, of a vast deluge in the days of their fathers. As should be expected, these traditions compared with the Bible record are variously modified, corrupted we might Bay, mixed with fable, magnified as great stories are wont to be in passing from lip to lip through many generations. In general those are most pure which are nearest to the locality of Eden and were earliest committed to writing. Some authors classify them into the West Asiatic, including the Babylonian, that of the Sybilline books, the Phrygian, the Armenian, and the Syrian, some of which are remarkably close to the truth; the East Asiatic, including the Persian, the Chinese, and the Indian; Grecian, found in the Greek and Roman writers; and those of peoples and tribes outside of the old world;--the Celts, Mexicans, Peruvians and Indians of America and the tribes of the Pacific islands. Lange remarks that the ethical idea of the flood as a judgment on men for their sins is everywhere apparent.--Cowles.

      THE REASONS FOR THE FLOOD.--It was essential to the moral results that God Bought to effect, that the reasons for the flood should be very plainly brought out. Hence they are stated again and again. From such statements as Gen. 6:5-13, and other passages, we are shown in the most emphatic terms that the whole living race, outside of Noah and his family, had deeply apostatized from God and were boldly and defiantly irreligious. It was a whole generation hopelessly corrupt, daring the Almighty to make good his awful words of warning. The result is on record in order that all sinners of every age, tempted to like hardihood and defiance of God, may study it [38] with profound consideration. The lesson is, "If God spared not the old world, but saved Noah, the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;--the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation and preserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished." 2 Pet. 2:4-9.

      NOAH'S FAITH.--Noah's faith stands pre-eminent. 1. All the world was against him. 2. There were no appearances in nature that looked like a flood was coming. 3. It seemed like folly to build a monster ship on dry land and thus be jeered at as a lunatic by all men. Yet he did this great work by faith, faith in God's word. "Moved by fear he prepared the ark." The result was the saving of his house. Thus faith always acts. Unless it moves to obedience it is worthless.

POINTS FOR TEACHERS.

      1. Note the state of the world. Men of bloody deeds; no regard for right; weakness trampled on. Hence God was angry with man. 2. Note one righteous family. Righteous because they "walked with God." All who do thus are righteous. 8. Note God's purpose. Why he resolved to destroy the earth. Long suffering and kind, but total depravity he will destroy. 4. Note the revelation to Noah. What was it? What for? What was its effect? Why did Noah obey? 6. Picture the ark, near the size of the Great Eastern, three decked ship; note details. 6. Observe the faithful obedience of Noah, the demonstration that he was a man of faith, and how faith saved him. Also how unbelief destroyed his cotemporaries. 7. Apply the moral lessons of the Flood and show that God thus deals with all who are hardened and hopelessly corrupt.

Source: Barton Warren Johnson. The Christian International Lesson Commentary for 1887. Des Moines, IA: