1. Tlie name of this patriarch; Enoch, from "jin chanack, which signifies to instruct, to initiate, to dedicate. From his subsequent conduct we arc authorized to believe he was early instructed in the things of God, initiated into the worship of his Maker, and dedicated to his Mrvice. Ry these means, under the influonee of the Divine Spirit, whicli will ever attend pious parental instructions, his mind got that sacred bias which led him to act a pari so distinguished through the course of a long life.
3. His religious conduct. He walked with God; ■]Snr\' yithhallech, he set himself lowalk, he was ft.Tedly purposed and determined to live lo God. Those who are acquainted with the original will at once sec that it has this force. A verb in the conjugation called hithpael signifias a reciprocal act, that which a man docs
19 And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:
20 And all the days of Jared A. M. 1422.
21 And Enoch lived sixty and ^^-^ five years, and begat " Methuselah:
22 And Enoch "walked with God after he begat IMcthusclah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:
upon himself: here we may consider Enoch receiving a pious education, and the Divine influence through it; in consequence of which he determines to be a worker with God, and therefore takes up the resolution to walk with his Maker, that he might not receive the grace of God in vain.
3. The fiVcumj^ances in which he was placed. He was a patriarch; the king, the priest, and the prophet of a numerous famil)', to whom he was to administer justice, among whom he was to perform all the riles and ceremonies of religiim, and leach, both by precept and e.xample, the way of truth and righteousness. Add to this, he was a married man, he had a numerous family of his own, independently of the collateral branches over which he was obliged, as patriarch, to preside; he walked three hundred years with God, and begat sons and daughters; therefore marriage is no hindcrancc even to the perfection of piety; much less inconsistent with it, as some have injudiciously taught.
4. The astonishing height of piety to which he had arrived; being cleansed from all filthmcss of ihe flesh and of the spirit, and having perfected holiness in the fear of God, we find not only his soul but his body purified, so that, without being obliged to visit Ihe empire of death, he w.as capable of immediate translation to the paradise of God. There are few cases of tnis kind on record; but prob.ibly there might he more, many more, were the followers of God more faithful to the grace they receive.
5. Enoch attained this state of religious and spiritual excellence in a time when, comparatively speaking, there were few helps, and no written revelation. Here then we cannot hut see and admire how mighty the grace of God is, and what wonders it works in the behalf of those who arc faithful, who set themselves to walk icith God. It is not the want of grace nor of the means of grace that is the cause of Ihe decay of this primitive piety, but the want of faithfulness in those who have the light, and yet will not walk as children of the light.
G. If the grace of God could work such a mighty change in those primitive times, when life and immortality were not brought to ligiit by the Gospel, what
24 And " Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.
25 And Methuselah lived a hundred eighty and seven years, and begat i Lamech:
26 And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters:
27 And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died. 28 And Lamech lived a hundred eighty
may we not expect in these times, in which the Son of God tabernacles among men, in which God gives the Holy Spirit to them who ask him, in which all things are possible to him who believes \ No man can prove that Enoch had greater spiritual advantages than any of the other patriarchs, though it seems pretty evident that he made a better use of those that were common to all than any of the rest did; and it would be absurd to say that he had greater spiritual helps and advantages than Christians can now expect, for he lived under a dispensation much less perfect than that of the law, and yet the law itself was only the shadow of the glorious suhstance of Gospel blessings and Gospel privileges.
7. It is said that Enoch not only walked xvith God, setting him always before his eyes, beginning, continuing, and ending every work to his glory, but also that he pleased God, and had the testimony that he did please God, Heb. xi, 5. Hence we learn that it was then possible to live so as not to offend God, consequently so as not to commit sin against him; and to have the continual evidence or testimony that all that a man did and purposed was pleasing in the sight of Him who searches the heart, and by whom devices are weighed: and if it was possible then, it is surely, through the same grace, possible now; fur God, and Christ, and /«;//(, are still tlie same.
Verse 27. The days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixlij and nine years'\ This is the longest life mentioned in Scripture, and probably the longest ever lived; but we have not authority to say positively that it was the longest. Before the flood, and before artificial refinements were much known and cultivated, the life of man was greatly protracted, and yet of him who lived within thirty-one years of a thousand it is said he died; and the longest life is but as a moment when it is past. Though life is uncertain, precarious, and full of natural evils, yet h is a blessing in all its periods if devoted to the glory of God and the interest of the soul; for while it lasts we may more and more acquaint ourselves willi God and be at peace, and thereby good shall come unto us; Job xxii. 2 1.
29 And he called his name ^ Noah, ' saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground ' which the Lord hath cursed.
30 And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters:
3 1 And all the days of Lamech A. M, i65i
Verse 29. This same shall comfort w«] This is an allusion, as some think, to the name of Noah, which they derive from Dn3 nacham, to comfort; but it is much more likely that it comes from nJ nach or nu nuach, to rest, to settle, &c. And what is more co?nfortahle than rest after toil and labour? These words seem to have been spoken prophetically concerning Noah, who built the ark for the preservation of the human race, and who seems to have been a typical person; for when he offered his sacrifice after the drying up of the waters, it is said that God smelled a savour of rest, and said he would not curse the ground any more for man's sake, chap. viii. 21; and from that time the earth seems to have had upon an average the same degree of fertility; and the life of man, in a few generations after, was settled iu the mean at threescore years and ten. See chap. ix. 3.
Verse 32. Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.\ From chap. x. 21; 1 Chron. i. 5, &c., we learn that Japheth was the eldest son of Noah, but 6'Aem is mentioned first, because it was from him, in a direct line, that the Messiah came. Ham was certainly the youngest of Noah's sons, and from what we read, chap, ix. 22, the leorst of them; and how he comes to be mentioned out of his natural order is not easy to be accounted for. AVhen tlie Scriptures design to mark precedency, though the subject be a younger son or brother, he is always mentioned first; so Jacob is named before Esau, his elder brother, and Ephraim before Manasses. See chap, xxviii. 5; xlviii. 20.
' Hebrew, Jered.-
Among many important things presented to our view in this chapter, several of which have been already noticed, we may observe that, of all the antediluvian patriarchs, Enoch, who was probably the best man, was the shortest time upon earth; his years were exactly as the days in a solar revolution, viz., three hundred and sixty-five; and like the sun he fulfilled a glorious course, shining more and more unto the perfect day and was taken, when in his meridian splendour, to shine like the sun in the kingdom of his Father for ever. 1 From computation it appears, 1. That Adam lived 65 a
10 see Lamech, the ninth generation, in the fifty-sixth year of whose hfe he died; and as he was the first who hved, and the first that sinned, so he was the first who tasted deatli in a natural way. Abel's was not a natural but a violent death. 2. That Enoch was taken away next after Adam, seven patriarchs remaining witness of his translation. 3. That all the nine first patriarchs were taken away before the Hood came, which happened in the sixth hundredth year of Noah's life. 4. That Methuselah lived till the very year in which the flood came, of which his name is snpposed to liave been prophetical; 1,T3 mcthu, " he dieth," and nh'a slialach, " he sendelh out;''' as if God had designed to teach men that as soon as Methuselah died the flood should be sent forth to drown an ungodly world. If this were then so understood, even the iiame of this patriarch contained in it a gracious wam^ ing. See the genealogical plate after chap, xi
The children of God, among whom the true religion was at first preserved, corrupt it ly forming malrvmomec. connections ivith irreligious xvomen, 1,2. God, displeased with these connections and their consequences, limits the continuance of the old world to one hundred and twenty years, 3. The issue of those improper connections termed giants, 4. An affecting description of the depravity of the world, 5, 6. God threatens the destruction of every living creature, 7. Noah and his family Jind grace in his sight, 8. The character and family of Noah, 9, 10. And a farther description of the corruption of man, 11, 12. Noah is forewarned of the approaching destruction of the human race, 13; and is ordered to build an ark for the safety of himself and household, the form and dimensions oftvhich are particularly described, 14-16. The delwe threatened, 17. The covenant of God's mercy is to be established between him and the family of Noah, 18. A male and female of all kinds of animals that could not live in the waters to be brought into the ark, 19, 20. Noah is commanded to provide food for their sustenance, 21; and punctually folloivs all these directions, 22.
face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,
2 Tliat tlie sons of God saw the dauglitcrs of men that thev were fair; and tliey '' took them wives of all which they chose.
3 And the Lord said, "^ My Spirit shall not
Verse 1. When men began to mull iply'\ It was not at this time that men began to multiply, but the inspired penman speaks now of a fact which had taken place long before. As there is a distinction made here between men and those called the sons of God, it is generally supposed that the immediate posterity of Cain and that of Seth are intended. The first were mere men, such as fallen nature inay produce, degenerate sons of a degenerate father, governed by the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eye, and the pride of life. The others were sons of God, not angels, as some have dreamed, but such as were, according to our Lord's i\ocu'mc, born again, born from above, ioha iii. 3, 5, 6, &c., and made children of God by the influence of the Holy Spirit, Gal. v. 6. The former were apostates from the true religion, the latter were those among whom it was preserved and cultivated.
Dr. Wall supposes the first verses of this chapter should be paraphrased thus: " When men began to multiply on the earth, the chief men took wives of all the handsome poor women they chose. There were tyrants in the earth in those days; and akso after the antediluvian days powerful men had unlawful cona 66
always strive with man, "^ for that he also is flesh: yet his days sliall be a hundred and twenty years.
4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God caine in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which we7-e of old, men of renown.
nections with the inferior women, and the children which sprang from this illicit commerce were the renowned heroes of antiquity, of whom the heathens made their gods."
Verse 3. My spirit shall not always strive] It is only by the influence of the Spirit of God that the carnal mind can be subdued.and destroyed; but those who wilfully resist and grieve that.Spirit inust be ultimately left to the hardness and blindness of their own hearts, if they do not repent and turn to God. God delights in mercy, and therefore a gracious warning is given. Even at this time the earth was ripe for destruction; but God promised them one hundred and twenty years' respite: if they repented in that interim, well; if not, they should be destroyed by a flood. See on ver. 5.
Verse 4. There were giants in the earth] D'hsi ncphilim, from Ssj naphal, " he fell." Those who had apostatized or fallen from the true religion. The Septuagint translate the original word by yiyavTt(, which literally signifies earth-born, and which we, following them, term giants, without having any reference to the meaning of the word, which we generally conceive to signify persons of enormous stature. But the word ( 6«)
5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that ° every ^ imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil e continually.
6 And it ^ repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it ' grieved him at his heart.
7 And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; ^ both man and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it re-
when properly understood makes a very just distinction between the sons of men and the sons of God; those were the nephilim, the fallen earth-born men, with the animal and devilish mind. These were the sons of God, who were born from above; children of the kingdom, because children of God. Hence we may suppose originated the different appellatives given to sinners and saints; the former were termed yr/avrcc, earth-born, and the latter, uyioi, i. e. saints, persons not of the earth, or separated from the earth.
The same became mightij men — men of renown.^ O'l^J gibborim, which we render mighty men, signifies properly conquerors, heroes, from 13J gabar, " he prevailed, was victorious," and DBTl 'tVJN anshcy hashshe/n, **men of the name," avQpunot ovofiaarot., Septuagint; the same as we render men of renown, renominati, twice named, as the word implies, having one name which they derived from their fathers, and another which they acquired by their daring exploits and enterprises.
It may be necessary to remark here that our translators have rendered seven different Hebrew words by the one term giants, viz., nephilim, gibborim, enachim, rephaim, emim, and zamzummini; by which appellatives are probably meant in general persons of gi-eat knowledge, piety, courage, wickedness, &c., and not men of enormous stature, as is generally conjectured.
Verse 5. The wickedness of man was great] ^ hat an awful character does God give of the inhabitants of the antediluvian world! 1. They were_/7«/i, (ver. 3,) wholly sensual, the desires of the mind overwhelmed and lost in the desires of the flesh, their souls no longer discerning their high destiny, but ever minding earthly things, so that they were sensualized, brutalized, and become flesh; incarnated so as not to retain God in then: knowledge, and they lived, seeking their portion m this life. 2. They were in a state of wickedness. All was corrupt within, and all unrighteous without; neither the science nor practice of religion existed. Piety was gone, and every form of sound words had disappeared. 3. This wickedness was great HDI rahbah, " was multiplied;" it was continually increasing, and multiplying increase by increase, so that the whole earth was corrupt before God, and was filled with violence, (ver. 1 \;) profligacy among the lower,
8 But Noah ' found gi-ace in the eyes of the
9 These are the generations of Noah: " Noah was a just man, and " perfect in his generations, and Noah ° walked with God:
1 1 The earth also was corrupt i before God, and the earth was ^ filled with violence.
and cruelty and oppression among the higher classes, being only predominant. 4. All the imaginations of their thoughts zoere evil — the very first embryo of every idea, the figment of every thought, the very materials out of which perception, conception, and ideas were formed, were all evil; the fountain which produced them, with every thought, purpose, wish, desire, and motive, was incurably poisoned. 5. All these were evil without any mixture of good — the Spirit of God which strove with the'rn was continually resisted, so that evil had its sovereign sway. 6. They were evil continually — there was no interval of good, no moment allowed for serious reflection, no holy purpose, no righteous act. What a finished picture of a fallen sou!! Such a picture as God alone, who searches the heart and tries the spirit, could possibly give. 7. To complete the whole, God represents himself as repenting because he had made them, and as grieved at the heart because of their iniquities! Had not these been voluntary transgressions, crimes which they might have avoided, had they not grieved and quenched the Spirit of God, could he speak of them in the manner he does here? 8. So incensed is the most holy and the most merciful God, that he is determined to destroy the work of his hands: And the Lord said, I loill destroy man whom I have created; ver. 7. How great must the evil have been, and how provoking the transgressions, which obliged the most compassionate God, for the vindication of his own glory, to form this awful purpose! Fools make a mock at sin, but none except fools.
Verse 8. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.] Why! Because he was, 1. A just man, p'Ti" ty'S ish tsaddik, a man who gave to all their due; for this is the ideal meaning of the original word. 2. He was perfect in his generation — he was in all things a consistent character, never departing from the truth in principle or practice. 3. He walked ivith God — he was not only righteous in his conduct, but he was ■pious, and had continual communion with God. The same word is used here as before in the case of Enoch. See chap. v. 22.
corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way;ipon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, ' The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them: " and, behold, I will destroy them '■' with the earth.
Verse 13. I will destroy themivilh the earth.'] Not only the human race was to be destroyed, but all terrestrial animals, i. e. those wliich could not live in the waters. These must necessarily be destroyed when the whole surface of the earth was drowned. But destroying the earth may probably mean the alteration of its constitution. Dr. Woodward, in his natural history of the earth, has rendered it exceedingly probable that the whole terrestrial substance was amalgamated with the waters, after which the dilferent materials of its composition settled in beds or strata according to their respective gravities. This theory, however, is disputed by others.
Verse 14. Make thee an ark] nnn tebath, a word which is used only to express this vessel, and that in which INIoses was preserved, Exod. ii. 3, 5. It signifies no more than our word vessel in its common acceptation — a hollow place capable of containing persons, goods, <fcc., without any particular reference to shape oi form.
Gopher tt'ood] Some think the cedar is meant; others, the cypress. Bocliart renders this probable, 1. From the appellation, supposing the Greek word KVKapiaan^, cypress, was formed from the Hebrew 13J gopher; for take away the termination wao^, and then gopher and Kvrrap will have a near resemblance. 2. Because the cypress is not liable to rot, nor to be injured by worms. 3. The cypress was anciently used for ship-building. 1. This wood abounded in Assyria, where it is probable Noah built the ark. After all, the word is of doubtful signification, and occurs nowhere else in the Scriptures. The Septuagint render the place, en ^v7.uv rerpayuvuv, " of square timber;" and the Vulgate, de lignis lavigalis, " of planed timber;" so it is evident that these translators knew not what kind of wood was intended by the original. The Syriac and Aral)ic trifle with the passage, rendering it wicker work, as if the ark had been a great basket! Both the Targuiiis render it cedar; and the Persian, pine OT fir.
Verse 15. Thou shalt make — the length of the ark — three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits] Allowing the cubit, which is the length from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger, to be eighteen inches, the ark must have heen four hundred and fifty [eel in length, seventy-five in breadth, and forty-five in heiglit. But that the ancient cubit was more than eighteen inches has been demonstrated by Mr. Greaves, who travelled in Greece, Palestine, and Egypt, in order to be able to ascertain he weights, moneys, and measures of antiijuity. He
the ark, and shalt pitch it " within and without with pitch.
15 And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, ^ the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.
measured the pyramids in Egypt, and comparing the accounts which Herodotus, Strabo, and others, give of their size, he found the length of a cubit to be twerslyone inches and eight hundred and eighty-eight decimal parts out of a thousand, or nearly tiventy-two inches. Hence the cube of a cubit is evidently ten thousand four hundred and eighty-six inches. And from this it will appear that the three hundred cubits of the ark's length make five hundred and forty-seven feet; the fifty for its breadth, ninety-one feet two inches; and the thirty for its height, fifty-four feet eight inches When these dimensions are examined, the ark will be found to be a vessel whose capacity was more than sufficient to contain all persons and animals said to have been in it, with sufficient food for each for more than twelve months. This vessel Dr. Arbuthnot computes to have been eighty-one thousand and sixty-two tons in burden.
As many have supposed the capacity of the ark to have been much too small for the things which were contained in it, it will be necessary to examine this subject thoroughly, that every difficulty may be removed. The things contained in the ark, besides the eight persons of Noah's family, were one pair of all unclean animals, and seven pairs of all clean animals, with provisions for all sufficient for twelve months.
At the first view the number of animals may appear so immense that no space but the forest could bi. thought sufficient to contain them. If, however, we come to a calculation, the number of the different genera or kinds of animals will be found much less than is generally imagined. It is a question whether in this account any but the different genera of animals necessary to be brought into the ark should be included. Naturalists have divided the whole system of zoology into classes and orders, containing genera and species. There are six classes thus denominated: 1. Mammalia; 2. Aves; 3. Amphibia; 1. Pisces; 5. Inseclie; and 6. Vermes. With the three last of these, viz., fishes, insects, and worms, the question can have little to do.
The first class. Mammalia, or animals with teats contains seven orders, and only forty-three genera if we except the seventh order, cete, i. e. all the irhale kind, which certainly need not come into this account. The different species in this class amount, the cete excluded, to five hundred and forty-three.
The second class, Aves, birds, contains six orders, and only seventy-four genera, if we exclude the third order, anseres, or web-footcd fowls, all of which could very well live in the water. The different species in
to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou
finish it above; and the door ^ of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stoi'ies shalt thou make it.
17 '' And behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh,
this class, the anseres excepted, amount to two thousand three hundred and seventy-two.
The third class, Amphibia, contains only two orders, reptiles and serpents; these comprehend ten genera, and three hundred and sixty-six species, but of the reptiles many could live in the water, such as the tortoise, frog, <SfC. Of the former there are thirty-three species, of the latter seventeen, which excluded reduce the number to three hundred and sixteen. The whole of these would occupy but little room in the ark, i'or a small portion of earth, dj-c, in the hold would be sufficient for their accommodation.
Bishop Wilkins, who has written largely and with his usual accuracy on this subject, supposes that quadrupeds do not amount to one hundred dilTerent kinds, nor birds which could not live in the water to two hundred. Of quadrupeds he shows that only seventy-two species needed a place in the ark, and the birds lie divides into nine classes, including in the whole one hundred and ninety-Jive kinds, from which all the webfooted should be deducted, as these could live in the water.
He computes all the carnivorous animals equivalent, as to the bulk of their bodies and food, to tioenty-seven wolves; and all the rest to one hundred and eighty oxen. For the former he allows one thousand eight hundred and twenty-five sheep for their annual consumption; and for the latter, one hundred, and nine thousand five hundred cubits of hay: these animals and their food will be easily contained in the two first stories, and much room to spare; as to the third story, no person can doubt its being sufficient for the fowls, with Noah and his family.
One sheep each day he judges will be sufficient for six wolves; and a square cubit of hay, which contains forty-one pounds, as ordinarily pressed in our ricks, will be amply sufficient for one ox in the day. When the quantum of room which these animals and their provender required for one year, is compared with the capacity of the ark, we shall be lead to conclude, with the learned bishop, " that of the two it is more difficult to assign a number and bulk of necessary things to answer to the capacity of the ark, than to find sufficient room for the several species of animals and their food already known to have been there." This he attributes to the imperfection of our lists of animals, especially those of the unknown parts of the earth; and adds, " that the most expert mathematicians at this day," and he was one of the first in Europe, " could not assign the proportion of a vessel better accommodated to the purpose than is here done;" and concludes thus: " The capacity of the ark, which has been made
1 8 But with thee will I <* establish my covenant; and '^ thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee.
an objection against Scripture, ought to be esteemed a confirmation of its Divine.authority; since, in those ruder ages men, being less versed in arts and philosophy, were more obnoxious to vulgar prejudices than now, so that had it been a human invention it would have been contrived, according to those wild apprehensions which arise from a confused and general view of things, as much too big as it has been represented too little.^'' See Bishop Wilkins's Essay towards a Philosophical Character and Language.
Verse 16. A window shalt thou malie'\ What this was cannot be absolutely ascertained. The original word "Hi" ^.soAa;- signifies clear or bright; the Septuagint translate it by eiriawayuv, " collecting, thou shalt make the ark," which plainly shows they did not understand the word as signifying any kind of window or light. Symmachus translates it duKpave^, a transparency; and Aquila, iieaiJii(}pi.vov, the noon. Jonathan ben Uzziel supposes that it was a precious luminous stone which Noah, by Divine command, brought from the river Pison. It is probably a word which should be taken in a collective sense, signifying apertures for air and light.
In a cubit shalt thou finish it above^ Probably meaning that the roof should be left a cubit broad at the apex or top, and that it should not terminate in a sharp ridge. But this place is variously understood.
Verse 17. / — do bring a flood] 7UD; mabbul; a word used only to designate the general deluge, being never applied to signify any other kind of inundation; and does not the Holy Spirit intend to show by this that no other^ooJ was ever like this, and that it should continue to be the sole one of the kind? There have been many partial inundations in various countries, but never more than one general deluge; and we have God's promise, chap. ix. 15, that there shall never be another.
Verse 18. With thee will I establish my covenant] The word n'lD berith, from ID bar, to purify or cleanse, signifies properly a purification or purifier, (see on chap. XV.,) because in all covenants made between God and man, sin and sinfulness were ever supposed to be on man's side, and that God could not enter into any covenant or engagement with him without a purifier; hence, in all covenants, a sacrifice was oiTered for the removal of ofiences, and the reconciliation of God to the sinner; and hence the word n'l; berith signifies not only a covenant, but also the sacrifice offered on the occasion, Exod. xxiv. 8; Psalm 1. 5; and Jesus Christ, the great atonement and purifier, has the same word for his title, Isa. -xlii. 0; xlix. 8; and Zech. U. 11.
all flesh, ^ two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.
20 Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort s shall
Almost all nations, in forming alliances, &c., made their covenants or contracts in the same way. A sacrifice was provided, its throat was cut, and its blood poured out before God; then the whole carcass was divided through the spinal marrow from the head to the rump, so as to make exactly two equal parts; these were placed opposite to each other, and the contracting parties passed between them, or entering at opposite ends met in the centre, and there took the covenant oath. This is particularly referred to by Jeremiah, chap, xxxiv. 18, 19, 20: "I will give the men (into the hands of their enemies, ver. 20) that have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before me, when they cut the. calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof,^^ djc. See also Deut.
A covenant, says Mr. Ainsworth, is a disposition of good things faithfully declared, which God here calls his, as arising from his grace towards Noah (ver. 8) and all men; but implying also conditions on }nan's part, and therefore is called our covenant, Zech. ix. 11. The apostles call it iSia6r]K7i, a testament or disposition; and it is mi.xcd of the properties both of covenant and testament, as the apostle shows, Heb. i.x. 16, &c., and of both may be named a teslamental covenant, whereby the disposing of God's favours and good things to us is declared. The covenant made with Noah signified, on God^s part, that he should save Noah and his family from death by the ark. On Noah's part, that he should in faith and obedience make and enter into the ark — Thou shalt come into the ark, JfC, so committing himself to God's preservation, Heb. xi. 7. And under this the covenant or testament of eternal salvation by Christ was also implied, the apostle testifying, 1 Pet. iii. 21, that the antitype, baptism, doth also now save us; for baptism is a seal of our
2 1 And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.
22 ^ Thus did Noah; * according to all that God commanded him, so did he.
salvation, Mark xvi. 16. To provide a Saviour, and the means of salvation, is GOD'S part: to accept this Saviour, laying hold on the hope set before us, is ours. Those who refuse the way and means of salvation must perish; those who accept of the great Covenant Sacrifice cannot perish, but shall have eternal life. See on chap. xv. 10, &c.
Verse 19. To keep them aZrVe] God might have destroyed all the animal creation, and created others to occupy the new world, but he chose rather to preserve those already created. The Creator and Preserver of the universe does nothing but what is essentially necessary to be done. Nothing should be wantonly wasted; nor should power or skill be lavished where no necessity exists; and yet it required more means and economy to preserve the old than to have created new ones. Such respect has God to the work of his hands, that nothing but what is essential to the credit of his justice and holiness shall ever induce him to destroy any thing he has made.
Verse 21. Of all food that is eaten] That is, of the food proper for every species of animals.
Verse 22. Thus did Noah] He prepared the ark; and during one hundred and twenty years preached righteousness to that sinful generation, 2 Pet. ii. 5. And this we are informed, 1 Pet. iii. 18, 19, &c., he did by the Spirit of Christ; for it was only through him that the doctrine of repentance could ever be successfully preached. The people in Noah's time are represented as shut up in prison — arrested and condemned by God's justice, but graciously allowed the space of one hundred and tvs-enty years to repent in. This respite was an act of great mercy; and no doubt thousands who died in the interim availed themselves of it, and believed to the saving of their souls. But the great majority of the people did not, else the^ood had never come.
God informs Noah that within seven days he shall send a rain upon the earth, that shall continue for forty days andnighls; and therefore commands him to take his family, with the different clean and unclean animals, and enter the ark, 1-4. This command punctually obeyed, 5-9. In the seventeenth day of the second month, in the six hundredth year of Noah'' s life, the waters, frotn the opened windows of heaven, and the broken up fountains of the great deep, ivere poured out upon the earth, 10-12. The different quadrupeds, fowls, and reptiles come unto Noah, and the Lord shuts him and them in, 13-16. The waters increase, and the ark floats, 17. The whole earth is covered with water fifteen cubits above the highest mountains, 18-20. All terrestrial animals die, 21-23. And the waters prevail one hundred and fifty days, 24. 70 a
— — '■ " Come thou and all thy house
into the ark: for •> thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
2 Of every " clean beast thou shall take to thee by <• sevens, the male and his female; « and of beasts that a)-e not clean by two, the male and his female
3 Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.
4 For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth ^ forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I? destroy from off the face of the earth.
5 ^ And Noah did according unto all that the Lord commanded him.
6 And Noah was six hundred years old
Verse 2. Of every clean beasl] So we find ihe distinction between clean and unclean animals existed long before the Mosaic law. This distinction seems to have been originally designed to mark those animals which were proper for sacrifice and food, from tliose tiiat were not. See Lev. xi.
Verse 4. For yet seven days] God spoke these words probably on the seventh or Sabbath day, and the days of the ensuing week were employed in entering the ark, in embarking the mighty troop, for whose reception ample provision had been already made.
Forty days] This period became afterwards sacred, and was considered a proper space for humiliation. Moses fasted forty days, Deut. ix. 9,11; so did Elijah, 1 Kings xix. 8; so did our Lord, Matt. iv. 2. Forty days' respite were given to the Ninevites that they might repent, Jonah iii. 4; and thrice forty (one hundred and twenty) years were given to the old world for the same gracious purpose, Gen. vi. 3. The forty days of Lent, in commemoration of our Lord's fasting, have a reference to the same thing; as each of these seems to be deduced from this primitive judgment.
Verse 11. In the six hundredth year, 4c.] This must have been in the beginning of the six hundredth year of his life; for he was a year in the ark, chap, ▼iii. 13; and lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood, and died nine hundred and fifty years old, chap. ix. 29; so it is evident that, when the flood commenced, he had just entered on his six hundredth year.
Second mmilh] The first month was Ttsri, which answers to (he latter half of September, and first half of October; and the second was Marcheshvan, which answers to part of October and part of November.
7 ' And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
10 And it came to pass, ^ after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the
1 1 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all ' the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the " windows of heaven were " opened.
After the deliverance from Egypt, the beginning of the year was changed from Marcheshvan to Nisan, which answers to a part of our March and April. But it is not likely that this reckoning obtained before the flood. Dr. Lightfoot very probably conjectures that Methuselah was alive in the first month of this year. And it appears, says he, how clearly the Spirit of propliccy foretold of things to come, when it directed his father Enoch almost a thousand years before to name him Methuselah, which signifies they die by a dart; or, he dielh, and then is the dart; or, he dieth, and thc7i it is sent. And thus Adam and Methuselah had measured the whole time between the creation and the food, and lived above two hundred and forty years together. See chap. v. at the end.
Were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven loere opeyied.] It appears that an immense quantity of waters occupied the centre of the antediluvian earth; and as these burst forth, by the order of God, the circumambient strata must sink, in order to fill up the vacuum occasioned by the elevated waters. This is probably what is meant by breaking up the fountains of the great deep. These waters, with the seas on the earth's surface, might be deemed sufficient to drown the whole globe, as the wafers now on its surface are nearly three-fourths of the whole, as has been accurately ascertained by Dr. Long. See note on chap. i. ver. 10.
By the opening of the u-indoics of heaven is probably meant the precipitating all the aqueous vapours which were suspended in the whole atmosphere, so that, as Moses expresses it, chap. i. 7, the waters that were above the firmament were again united to the waters which were below the firmament, from which on the second day of creation they had been separated. A multitude of facts have proved that water itself is com-
^•??'.',^^S" 12 "And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
1 3 In the self-same day ^ entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japlicth, tlie sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark;
14 1 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 after his kind, every bird of every ' sort.
1 5 And they ^ went in unto Noah into the
posed of two airs, oxygen and hydrogen; and that 85 parts of the first and 15 of the last, making 100 in the whole, will produce e.xaclly 100 parts of water. And thus it is found that these two airs form the constituent parts of water in the above proportions. The electric spark, which is the same as lightning, passing through these airs, decomposes them and converts them to water. And to this cause we may probably attribute the rain which immediately follows the flash of lightning and peal of thunder. God therefore, by the means of lightning, might have converted the whole atmosphere into water, for the purpose of drowning the globe, had there not been a sufficiency of merely aqueous vapours suspended in the atmosphere on the second day of creation. And if the electric fluid were used on this occasion for the production of water, the incessant glare of lightning, and the continual peals of thunder, must have added indescribable horrors to the scene. See the note on chap. viii. 1. These two causes concurring were amply suflicient, not only to overflow the earth, but probably to dissolve the whole terrene fabric, as some judicious naturalists have supposed: indeed, this seems determined by the word Si::^ mabltul, translated flood, which is derived from 73 bal or '^'^>2 halal, to mix, mingle, confound, confuse, because the aqueous and terrene parts of the glol)e were then mixed and confounded together; and when the supernatural cause that produced this mighty change suspended its operations, the different particles of matter would settle according to their specific gravities, and thus form the various strata or beds of which the earth appears to be internally constructed. Some naturalists have controverted this sentiment, because in some cases the mternal structure of the earth does not appear to justify the opinion that the various portions of matter had settled according to their specific gravities; but these anomalies may easily be accounted for, from the great changes that have taken place in different parts of the earth since \.\\eflood,\>y volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, &c. Some very eminent philosophers are of the opinion " that, by the breaking tip of the fountains of the great deep, we are to understand an eruption of waters from the Southern Ocean.'''' Mr. Kirwan sup- Boses " that this is pretty evident from such animals as the elephant and rhinoceros being found in great masses in Siberia, mixed with different marine substances; -8
ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.
1 6 And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, ' as God had commanded him: and the Lord shut him in.
17" And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, aiid it was lift up above the
18 And the waters prevailed, and were Ipcreased greatly upon the earth; ^ and the ark went upon the face of the waters.
whereas no animals or other substances belonging to the northern regions have been ever found in southern cUmates. Had these animals died natural deaths in their proper climate, their bodies would not have been found in such masses. But that they were carried no farther northward than Siberia, is evident from there being no remains of any animals besides those of whales found in the mountains of Greenland. That this great rush of icaters was from the south or southeast is farther evident, he thinks, from the south and south-east sides of almost all great mountains being much steeper than their north or north-west sides, aa they necessarily would be if the force of a great body of water fell upon them in that direction." On a subject like this men may innocently difler. Many think the first opinion accords best with the Hebrew text and with the phenomena of nature, for momitains do not always present the above appearance.
Verse 12. The rain was upon the earth] Dr. Lightfoot supposes that the rain began on the 18th day of the second month, or Marcheshvan, and that it ceased on the 28th of the third month, Cisleu.
Verse 15. And they went in, JfC.'] It was physically impossible for Noah to have collected such a vast number of tame and ferocious animals, nor could they have been retained in their wards by mere natural means. How then were they brought from various distances to the ark and preserved there? Only by the power of God. He who first miraculously brought them to Adam that he might give them their names, now brings them to Noah that he may preserve their lives. And now we may reasonably suppose that their natural enmity was so far removed or suspended that the lion might dwell with the lamb, and the wolf lie down with the kid, though each might still require his peculiar aliment. This can be no difl^culty to the power of God, without the immediate interposition of which neither the deluge nor the concomitant circumstances could have taken place.
Verse 1 6. The Lord shut him in.] This seems to im. ply that God took liim under his especial protection, and as he shut hi.m in, so he shut the others out. God had wailed one hundred and twenty years upon that generation; they did not repent; they filled up the measure of their iniquities, and then wrath came upon them to the uttermost.
19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; ^ and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.
20 Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
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:
22 All in y whose nostrils was ^ the breath
Verse 20. Fifteen cubits upward] Should any person object to the universality of the deluge because he may imagine there is not water sufficient to drown the whole globe in the manner here related, he may find a most satisfactory answer to all the objections he can raise on this ground in Mr. Ray's Physico-theological Discourses, 2d edit., 8vo., 1693.
Verse 22. Of all that was in the dry land] From this we may conclude that such animals only as could not live in the water were preserved in the ark.
23 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 a hundred and fifty days.
a hundred and fifty days.] The breaking up of the fountains of the great deep, and the raining forty days and nights, had raised the waters fifteen cubits above the highest mountains; after which forty days it appears to have continued at this height for one hundred and fifty days more. " So," says Dr. Lightfoot, " these two sums are to be reckoned distinct, and not the forty days included in the one hundred and fifty; so that when the one hundred and fifty days were ended, there were six months and ten days of the flood past." For an improvement of this awful judgment, see the conclusion of the following chapter.
At the end of one hundred and fifty days the waters begin to subside, 1—3. The ark rests on Mount Ararat, 4. On the first of the tenth month the tops of the hills appear, 5. The laindow opened and the raven sent out, 6, 7. The dove sent forth, and returns, 8, 9. The dove sent forth a second time, and returns with an olive leaf, 10, 11. The dove sent out the third time, and returns no more, 12. On the twentieth day of the second month the earth is completely dried, 13, 14. God orders Noah, his family, and all the creatures to come out of the ark, 15-19. Noah builds an altar, and offers sacrifices to the Lord, 20. They are accepted; and God promises that the earth shall not be cursed thus any more, notwitstanding the iniquity of man, 21, 22.
the cattle that was with him in the ark: '' and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged; 2 "= The fountains also of the deep and the
NOTES ON CHAP. VIII. Verse 1. And God made a wind to pass over the earth] Such a wind as produced a strong and sudden evaporation. The effects of these winds, which are frequent in the east, are truly astonishing. A friend of mine, who had been bathing in the Tigris, not far from the ancient city of Ctesiphon, and within five days' journey of Bagdad, having on a pair of Turkish drawers, one of these hot winds, called by the natives
windows of heaven were stopped, and ^ the rain from heaven was restrained;
3 And the waters returned from off the earth * continually: and after the end ' of the hundred and fifty days, the waters were abated.
samiel, passing rapidly across the river just as he had got out of the water, so effectually dried him in a moment, that not one particle of moisture was left either on his body or in his bathing dress! With such an electrified wind as this, how soon could God dry the whole of the earth's surface! An operation something similar to the conversion of water into its two constituent airs, oxygen and hydrogen, by means of the galvanic fluid, as these airs themselves may be
4 And the ark rested in tlie seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.
5 And the waters sr decreased continually imtil the tenth month: in the tenth montli, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.
6 And it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened •• the window of the ark wliicli he had made:
7 And he sent forth a raven, which went forth ' to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.
8 Also he sent forth a dove from him, to.»ee if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;
9 But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the
reconverted into water by means of the electric spark. See the note on chap. vii. 1 1. And probably this was the agent that restored to the atmosphere the quantity of water which it had contributed to this vast inundation. The other portion of waters, which had proceeded from the breaking up of the fountains of the great deep, would of course subside more slowly, as openings were made for them to run off from the higher lands, and form seas. By the first cause, the hot wind, the waters were assuaged, and the atmosphere having its due proportion of vapours restored, the quantity below must be greatly lessened. By the second, the earth was gradually dried, the waters, as they found passage, lessening by degrees till the seas and gulfs were formed, and the earth completely drained. This appears to be what is intended in the third and fifth verses by the waters decreasing continually, or, according to the margin, they were in going and decreasing, ver. 5.
Verse 4. The mountains of Ararat.^ That Ararat was a mountain of Armenia is almost universally agreed. What is commonly thought to be the Ararat of the Scriptures, has been visited by many travellers, and on it there are several monasteries. For a long time the world has been amused with reports that the remains of the ark were still visible there; but Mr. Toume/ort, a famous French naturalist, who was on the spot, assures us that nothing of the kind is there to be seen. As there is a great chain of mountains which are called by this name, it is impossible to determine on what part of thnm the ark rested; but the highest part, called by some the finger mountain, has been fixed on as the most likely place. These things we must leave, and they are certainly of very little consequence.
From the circumstance of the resting of the ark on Ae 17th of the seventh month. Dr. Lightfoot draws
1 0 And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;
1 1 And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off. So Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.
1 2 And he stayed yet other seven days, and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.
the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the groimd was dry.
this curious conclusion: That the ark drew exactly eleven cubits of water. On the first day of the month Ah the mountain tops were first seen, and then the waters had fallen fifteen cubit.i; for so high had they prevailed above the tops of the mountains. This decrease in the waters took up sixty days, namely, from the first of Sivan; so that they appear to have abated in the proportion of one cubit in four days. On the 1 6th of Sivan they had abated but four cubits; and yet on the next day the ark rested on one of the hills, when the waters must have been as yet eleven cubits above it. Thus it appears that the ark drew eleven cubits of water.
Verse 7. He sent forth a raven, ivhich went forth to and fro"] It is generally supposed that the raven_/?et« off, and was seen no more, but this meaning the Hebrew text will not bear; 2W\ NIS' Xi"l vaiyetse yatso vashob, and it went forth, going forth and returning. From which it is evident that she did return, but was not taken into the ark. She made frequent excursions, and continued on the wing as long as she could, having picked up such aliment as she found floating on the waters; and then, to rest herself, regained the ark, where she might perch, though she was not admitted. Indeed this must be allowed, as it is impossible she could have continued twenty-one days upon the wing, which she must have done had she not returned. But the text itself is suflicicntly determinate.
Verse 8. He sent forth a dove] The dove was sent forth thrice; the first time she.v/icfrfi/y returned, having, in all probability, gone but a little way from the ark, as she must naturally be terrified at the appearance of the waters. After seven days, being sent out a second time, she returned with an olive leaf plucit off. ver. 1 1, an emblem of the restoration of peace between God and the earth; and from this circumst.ince the olive has been the emblem of peace among all civilissed
15 And God spake unto Noah, saying,
1 6 Go forth of the ark, " thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee.
17 Bring forth with thee " every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and " be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.
18 And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him:
soever creepeth upon tlie earth, after their p kinds, went forth out of the ark.
20 And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of « every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered bumt-offerings on the altar.
2 1 And the Lord smelled ' a ^ sweet savour. and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again * curse the ground any more for man's sake; " for the " imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; ■" neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.
nations. At the end of the other seven days the dove, being sent out the third time, returned no more, from which Noah conjectured that the earth was now sufficiently drained, and therefore removed the covering of the ark, which probably gave liberty to many of the fowls to fly off, which circumstance would afford him the greater facility in making arrangements for disembarking the beasts and reptiles, and heavy-bodied domestic fowls, which might yet remain. See verse 17. Verse 14. And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day] From this it appears that Noah was in the ark a complete solar year, or three hundred and stxty-five days; for he entered the ark the 17th day of the second month, in the six hundredth year of his life, chap. vii. 11, 13, and continued in it till the 27th day of the second month, in the six hundredth and first year of his life, as we see above. The months of the ancient Hebrews were lunar; the first six consisted of thirty days each, the latter six of twentynine; the whole twelve months making three hundred and fifty -four days: add to this elevendays, (for though he entered the ark the preceding year on the seventeenth day of the second month, he did not come out till the twenty-seventh of the same month in the following year,) which make exactly three hundred and sixty-five days, the period of a complete solar revolution; the odd hours and minutes, as being fractions of lime, noncompuled, though very likely all included in the account. This year, according to the Hebrew computation, was the one thousand six hundred and fifty-seventh year from the creation; but according to the reckoning of the Septuagint it was the two thousand two hundred and forty-second, and according to Dr. Hales, the two thousand two hundred and fiftysixth. See on chap. xi. 12.
Verse 20. Noah builded an altar] As we have already seen that Adam, Cain, and Abel, offered sacrifices, there can be no doubt that they had altars on which they offered them; but this, builded by Noah, Is certainly the first on record. It is worthy of remark that, as the old world began with sacrifice, so also did the new. Religion, or the proper mode of worshipping the Divine Being, is the invention or institution of God himself; and sacrifice, in the act and design, is the essence of religion. Without sacrifice, actually offered or implied, there never was, there never can be, any religion. Even in the heavens, a lamb is represented before the throne of God as newly slain. Rev. v. 6, 12, 13. The design of sacrificing is two-fold: the slaying and burning of the victim point out, 1st, that the life of the sinner is forfeited to Divine justice; 2dly, that his soul deserves the fire of perdition.
The Jews have a tradition that the place where Noah built his altar was the same in which the altar stood which was built by Adam, and used by Cain and Abel, and the same spot on which Abraham afterwards offered up his son Isaac.
The word n3;a mizbach, which we render altar, signifies properly a place for sacrifice, as the root n3T zabach signifies simply to slay. Altar comes from the Latin altus, high or elevated, because places for sacrifice were generally either raised very high or built on the tops of hills and mountains; hence they are called high places in the Scriptures; but such were chiefly used for idolatrous purposes.
Bumt-offerings] See the meaning of every kind of offering and sacrifice largely explained on Lev. vii.
Verse 2 1. The Lord smelled a sweet savour] That is, he was well pleased with this religious act, performed in obedience to his own appointment, and in faith of the promised Saviour. That this sacrifice prefigured that which was offered by our blessed Redeemer in behalf of the world, is sufficiently evident from the words of St. Paul, Eph. v. 2: Christ hath loved us, and given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour; where the words oa/iT/v evuiiar of the apostle are the very words used by the Septuagint in this place.
I will not again curse the ground] 'IDN Nv lo osiph, I will not add to curse the ground — there shall not be another deluge to destroy the whole earth; for the imagination of man^s heart, ^2 hi, although the imagination of man's heart should be evil, i. e, should they
22 ^ While the earth ^ rcniaiiicth, seed-time and harvest, and cold and
■ Isa. liv. 8. y Heb. ew yet all the days of the earth.
become afterwards as evil as they liave been before, I will not destroy the earth by a flood. God has other means of destruction; and the next time ho visits by a general judgment, fike is to be the agent. 2 Pet. iii. 7.
Verse 22. While the earth rcmainelh, seed-time and harvest, djrc.] There is something very expressive in the original, yiNn 'O' h3 ly od col yemey hoards, until all the DAYS of the earth; for God does not reckon its duration by centuries, and the words themselves afford a strong presumption that the earth shall not have an endless duration.
Seed-time and harvest. — It is very probable that the seasons, which were distinctly marked immediately after the deluge, are mentioned in this place; but it is difficult to ascertain them. Most European nations divide the year into four distinct parts, called quarters or scasims; but there arc six divisions in the text, and probably all intended to describe the seasons in one of these postdiluvian years, particularly in that part of the globe, Armenia, where Noah was when God gave him, and mankind through him, this gracious promise. From the Targum of Jonathan on this verse we learn that in Palestine their seed-time was in September, at the autumnal equinox; their harvest in March, at the vernal equinox; that their winter began in December, at the solstice; and their summer at the solstice in June.
The Copts begin their autumn on the 15th of September, and extend it to the 15th of December. Their winter on the 15th of December, and extend it to the 15th of March. Their spring on the 15th of March, and extend it to the I5lh of June. Their summer on the 15th of June, and extend it to the 15th of September, assigning to each season three complete months. Calmet.
There are certainly regions of the earth to which neither this nor our own mode of division can apply: there are some where summer and ivinter appear to divide the whole year, and others where, besides summer, winter, autumn, and spring, there are distinct seasons that may be denominated the hot season, the cold season, the rainy season, &c., &c.
This is a very merciful promise to the inhabitants of the earth. There may be a variety in the seasons, but no season essentially necessary to vegetation shall utterly fail. The times which arc of greatest consequence to the preservation of man are distinctly noted; there shall be both seed-time and harvest — a proper time to deposit the different grain in the earth, and a proper time to reap the produce of this seed.
Tnus ends the account of the general deluge, its cause, circumstances, and consequences. An account that seems to say to us. Behold the goodness and severity of God! Both his justice and long-suffering are particularly marked in this astonishing event. His justice, in the puni.shmcnt of the incorrigibly wicked, and his mercy, in giving them so fair and full a warning, and in waiting so long to extend his grace to all who might seek him. Such a convincing proof has the destruction of the world by water given of the Divine justice, such convincing testimony of the truth of the sacred writings, that not only every part of the earth gives testimony of this extraordinary revolution, but also every nation of the universe has preserved records or traditions of this awful display of the justice of God.
A multitude of testimonies, collected from the most authentic sources in the heathen world, I had intended for insertion in this place, but want of room obliges me to lay them aside. But the state of the earth itself is a sufficient proof. Every part of it bears unequivocal evidence of disruption and violence. From the hand of the God of order it never could have proceeded in its present state. In every part we see marks of the crimes of men, and of the justice of God. And shall not the living lay this to heart ^ Surely God is not mocked; that which a man soweth he shall reap. He who soweth to the flesh shall of it reap destruction; and though the plague of water shall no more destroy the earth, yet an equal if not sorer punishment awaits the world of the ungodly, in the threatened da struction by fire.
In ancient times almost every thing was typical, and no doubt the ark among the rest; but of what and in ivhat way farther than revelation guides, it is both difficult and unsafe to say. It has been considered a type of our blessed Lord; and hence it has been observed, that " as all those who were out of the ark perished by the flood, so those who take not refuge in the meritorious atonement of Christ Jesus must perish everlastingly." Of all those who, having the opportunity of hearing the Gospel, refuse to accept of the sacrifice it offers them, this saying is true; but the parallel is not good. Myriads of those who perished during the flood probably repented, implored mercy, and found forgiveness; for God ever delights to save, and Jesus was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And though, generally, the people continued in carnal security and sensual gratifications till the flood came, there is much reason to believe that those who during the forty days^ rain would naturally flee to the high lands and tops of the highest mountains, would earnestly implore that mercy which has never been denied, even to the most profligate, when under deep humiliation of heart they have relumed to God. And who can say that this was not done by multitudes while they beheld the increasing flood; or that God, in this last extremity, had rendered it impossible?
St. Peter, 1st Epist. iii. 21, makes the ark a figure of baptism, and intimates that we are saved by this, as the eight souls were saved by the ark. But let us not mistake the apostle by supposing that the mere ceremony itself saves any person; he tells us that the salvation conveyed through this sacred rite is not the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God; i. e. remission of sins and regeneration by the Holy Spirit, which are signi- ficd by this baptism A good conscience never existed where remission of sins had not taken place; and every person knows that it is God's prerogative to for- give sins, and that no ordinance can confer it, though ordinances may be the means to convey it when piously and believingly used.
God blesses Noah and his sons, 1. The brute creation to be subject to them through fear, 2. The first grant of animal food, 3. Eating of blood forbidden, 4. Cruelly to animals forbidden, 5. A man-slayer to forfeit his life, 6. The covenant of God established betivcen him and Noah and the whole brute creation, 8—11. The rainboio given as the sign and pledge of this covenant, 12-17. The three sons of Noah people the whole earth, 18,19. Noah plants a vineyard, drinks of the wine, is intoxicated, and lies exposed in his tent, 30, 21. The reprehensible conduct of Ham, 22. The laudable carriage of Shem and Japheth, 23. Noah prophetically declares the servitude of the posterity of Ham, 24, 25; and the dignity and increase of Shem and Japheth, 26, 27. The age and death of Noah, 28, 29.
3 ' Every moving thing that hveth shall be meat for you; even as the ^ green herb have I given you " all things:
4 f But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
sons, and said unto them, ^ Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. 2 •' And the fear of you and tlie dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes
A''erse 1. God blessed Noah] Even the increase of families, which appears to depend on merely natural means, and sometimes fortuitous circumstances, is all of God. It is by his power and wisdom that the human being is formed, and it is hy his providence alone that man is supported and preserved.
Verse 2. The fear of you and the dread, (^-c] Prior to the fall, man ruled the inferior animals by love and kindness, for then gentleness and docility were their principal characteristics. After the fall, untractableness, with savage ferocity, prevailed among almost all orders of the brute creation; enmity to man seems particularly to prevail; and had not God in his mercy impressed their minds with the /ear and terror of man, so that some submit to his will while others _^ee from his residence, the human race would long ere this have been totally destroyed by the beasts of the field. Did the horse know his own strength, and the weakness of the miserable wretch who unmercifully rides, drives, vhips, goads, and oppresses him, would he not with one stroke of his hoof destroy his tyrant possessor? But while God hides these things from him he impresses his mind with the fear of his owner, so that either by cheerful or sullen submission he is trained up for, and employed in, the most useful and important purposes; and even willingly submits, when tortured foi the sport and amusement of his more bruitish oppressor. Tigers, wolves, lions, and hyasnas, the determinate foes of man, incapable of being tamed or domesticated, flee, through the principle of terror, from the dwelling of man, and thus he is providentially safe. Hence, by fear and by drend man rules every beast of the earth, every fowl of the air, and every fish of the sea. How wise and gracious is this order of the Divine providence! and with what thankfulness should it be considered by every human being!
Verse 3. Every moving thing — shall be meat] There is no positive evidence that animal food was ever used before the flood. Noah had the first grant of this kind, and it has been continued to all his posterity ever since. It is not likely that this grant would have been now made if some extraordinary alteration had not taken place in the vegetable world, so as to render its productions less nutritive than they were before; and probably such a change in the constitution of man as to render a grosser and higher diet necessary. We may therefore safely infer that the earth was less productive after the flood than it was before, and that the human constitution was greatly impaired by the alterations which had taken place through the whole economy of nature. Morbid debility, induced by an often unfriendly state of the atmosphere, with sore and longcontinued labour, would necessarily require a higher nutriment than vegetables could supply. That this was the case appears sufliciently clear from the grant of animal food, which, had it not been indispensably necessary, had not been made. That the constitution of man was then much altered appears in the greatly contr.acted lives of the postdiluvians; yet from the deluge to the days of Abraham the lives of several of the patriarchs amounted to some hundreds of years, but this was the eflect of a peculiar providence, that the new world might be the more speedily repeopled.
Verse 4. But flesh with the life thereof which is
of every beast will I require it, and '' at the hand of man; at the hand of every ' man's brother will I require the life of man
6 ''Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed; ' for in the image of God made he man.
7 And you, ™ be ye fruitful, and multiply: bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.
8 And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying.
as an atonement for sin. Hence the blood was ever held sacred, because it was the grand instrument of expiation, and because it was typical of that blood by which we enter into the holiest. 1. Before the deluge it was not eaten, because animal food was not in use. 2 After the deluge it was prohibited, as we find above; and, being one of the seven Noahic precepts, it was not eaten previously to the publication of the Mosaic law. 3. At the giving of the law, and at several times during the ministry of Moses, the prohibition was most solemnly, and with awful penalties renewed. Hence we may rest assured that no blood was eaten previously to the Christian era, nor indeed ever since by the Jewish people. 4. That the prohibition has been renewed under the Christian dispensation, can admit of little doubt by any man who dispassionately reads Acts xv. 20, 29; xxi. 25, where even the Gentile converts are charged to abstain from it on the authority, not only of the apostles, but of the Holi/ Ghost, who gave them there and then especial direction concerning this point; see Acts xv. 28; not for fear of stumhling the converted Jews, the gloss of theologians, but because it was one ruv c^avayaec: tovtuv, of those necessary points, from the hurden {jiapo;) of obedience to which they could not be excused. 5. This command is still scrupulously obeyed by the oriental Christians, and by the whole Greek Church; and why ] because the reasons still subsist. No blood was eaten under the law, because it pointed out tlie blood that was to be shed for the sin of the world; and under the Gospel it should not be eaten, because it should ever be considered as representing the h\ooil which has been shed for the remission of sins. If the eaters of blood in general knew that it affords a very crude, almost indigestible, and unwholesome aliment, they certainly would not on these physical reasons, leaving inoral considerations out of the question, be so much attached to the consumption of that from which they could expect no wholesome nutriment, and which, to render it even pleasing to the palate, requires all the skdl of the cook. See Lev. xvii. 2. Verse 5. Surely your Mood — will I require; at the hand of every beast] This is very obscure, but if taken literally it seems to be an awful warning against cruel!'/ to the brute creation; and from it we may conclude that horse-racers, hare-hunters, bull-baiters, and
1 0 P And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the
1 1 And 1 1 will establish my covenant with you: neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the-
cock-fghters slmW be obliged to give an account to God for every creature they have wantonly destroyed. Instead of rrn chaii/ah, " beast," the Samaritan reads nt^ chai, " living," any " living creature or person;" this makes a very good sense, and equally forbids cruelty either to men or brutes.
Verse 6. Whoso sheddeth man^s blood, by man shall his blood] Hence it appears that whoever kills a man, unless unwittingly, as the Scripture expresses it, shall forfeit his own life.
A man is accused of the crime of murder; of this crime he is guilty or he is not: if he be guilty of murder he should die; if not, let him be punished according to the demerit of his crime; but for no offence but murder should he lose his life. Taking away the life of another is the highest offence that can be committed against the individual, and against society; and the highest punishment that a man can suffer for such a crime is the loss of his own life. As punishment should be ever proportioned to crimes, so the highest punishment due to the highest crime should not be inflicted for a minor offence. The law of God and the eternal dictates of reason say, that if a man kill another, the loss of his own life is at once the highest penalty he can pny, and an equivalent for his offence as far as civil society is concerned. If the death of the murderer be the highest penalty he can pay for the murder he has committed, then the infliction of this punishment for any minor offence is injustice and cruelty; and serves only to confound the claims of justice, the different degrees of moral turpitude and vice, and to render the profligate desperate: hence the adage so frequent among ahnost every order of delinquents, " It is as good to be hanged for a sheep as a lamb;" which at once marks their desperation, and the injustice of those penal laws which inflict the highest punishment for almost every species of crime. When shall a wise and judicious legislature see the absurdity and injustice of inflicting the punishment of death for stealing a sheep or a horse, forging a twenty shillings'' note, and mlkdebing a man; when the latter, in its moral turpitude and ruinous consequences, infinitely exceeds the others 1*
* On this head the doctor\« pious wish has been realized since this paragraph v<-as wtitton. — PuBLisBBSe.
The rainbow is given as a sign
12 And God said, 'This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every Hving creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
13 I do set = my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
14 ' And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
15 And " I will remember my covenant which is between me and you and every living crea-
Verse 13. I do set my hoiv in the cloudy On the origin and nature of the rainbow there had been a great variety of conjectures, till Anthony de Dominis, bishop of Spalatro, in a treatise of his published by Bartholus in 1611, partly suggested the true cause of this phenomenon, which was afterwards fully explained and demonstrated by Sir Isaac Newton. To enter into this subject here in detail would be improper; and therefore the less informed reader must have recourse to treatises on Optics for its full e.vplanation. To readers in general it may be sufficient to say that the rainbow is a mere natural effect of a natural cause: 1. It is never seen but in showery weather. 2. Nor then unless the sun shines. 3. It never appears in any part of the heavens but in that opposite to the sun. 4. It never appears greater than a semicircle, but often much less. 5. It is always double, there being what is called the superior and inferior, or primary and secondary rd.inho\v. 6. These bows exhibit the seyen prismatic colours, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. 7. The whole of this phenomenon depends on the rays of the sun falling on spherical drops of water, and being in their passage through them, refracted and reflected.
The formation of the primary and secondary rainbow depends on the two following propositions; 1. When the sun shines on the drops of rain as they are falling, the rays that come from those drops to the eye of the spectator, after one reflection and two refractions,'prodncelhe primary rMnhow. 2. When the sun shines on the drops of rain as they are falling, the rays that come from those drops to the eye of the spectator, after two reflections and TW'o refractions, produce the secondary rainbow. The illustration of these propositions must be sought in treatises on Optics, assisted by plates.
From the well-known cause of this phenomenon it cannot be rationally supposed that there was no rainbow in the heavens before the time mentioned in the text, for as the rainbow is the natural effect of the sun's rays falling on drops of water, and of their being refracted and reflected by them, it must have appeared at different times from the creation of the sun and the atmosphere. Nor does the text intimate that the bow was now created for a sign to Noah and his posterity;
1 6 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember '^ the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the
17 And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the
but that what was formerly created, or rather that wliich was the necessary effect, in certain cases, of the creation of the sun and atmosphere, should noiv be considered by them as an unfailing token of their continual preservation from the waters of a deluge; therefore the text speaks of what had already been done, and not of what was noiv done, 'nnj "jliyp kashti nathatli, " My bow I have given, or put in the cloud;" as if he said: As surely as the rainbow is a necessary effect of sunshine in rain, and must continue such as long as the sun and atmosphere endure, so surely shall this earth be preserved from destruction by \iater; and its preservation shall be as necessary an effect of my promise as the rainbow is of the shining of the sun during a shower of rain.
Verse 17. This \s the token] niN oiA, The Divine sign or portent: The bow shall be in the cloud. For the reasons above specified it must be there, when the circumstances already mentioned occur; if therefore it cannot fail because of the reasons before assigned, no more shall my promise; and the bow shall be the proof of its perpetuity.
Both the Greeks and Latins, as well as the Hebrews, have ever considered the rainbow as a Divine token or portent; and both of these nations have even deified it, and made it a messenger of the gods.
Homer, II. xi., ver. 27, speaking of the figures on Agamemnon's breastplate, says there were three dragons, whose colours were
" like to the rainbow which the son of Saturn has placed in the cloud as a sign to mankind," or to men of various languages, for so the fisporruv av$pi.i-ov of the poet has been understood. Some have thought that the ancient Greek writers give this epithet to man from some tradition of the confusion and multiplication of tongues at Babel; hence in this place the words may be understood as implying mankind at large, the whole human race; God having given the rainbow for a sign to all the descendants of Noah, by whom the whole earth was peopled after the flood. Thus the celestial bow speaks a universal language, understood by all the sons and daughters of Adam. Virgil, from
and Ham, and Japlieth: " and Ham is the father of ' Canaan.
19 ''These are the three sons of Noah: ' and of them was the whole earth overspread.
20 And Noah began to be ^ a husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:
some disguised traditionary figure of the truth, considers the rainbow as a messenger of the gods..^n. v., ver. 606: —
"Juno, the daughter of Saturn, sent down the rainbow from heaven;" and again, JEn. ix., ver. 803: —
It is worthy of remark that both these poets understood the rainbow to be a sign, warning, or portent from heaven.
As I believe the rainbow to have been intended solely for the purpose mentioned in the text, I forbear to make spiritual uses and illustrations of it. Many have done this, and their observations may be very edifying, but they certainly have no foundation in the text.
Verse 20. Noah began to be a husbandman] tt"N iT^TSn ish haadamah, A man of the ground, a farmer; by his beginning to be a husbandman we are to understand his recommencing his agricultural operations, wliich undoubtedly he had carried on for six hundred years before, but this had been interrupted by the flood. And the transaction here mentioned might have occurred many years posterior to the deluge, even after Canaan was born and grown up, for the date of it is not fixed in the text.
The word husband first occurs here, and scarcely appears proper, because it is always applied to man in his married stale, as wife is to the woman. The etymology of the term will at once show its propriety when applied to the head of a family. Husband, hurbanb, is Anglo-Saxon, and simply signifies the bond of the house or fanuly; as by him the family is formed, united, and bound together, which, on his death, is disunited and scattered. It is on this etymology of the word tliat wo can account for the farmers and petty landholders being called so early as the twelfth century, husbandi, as appears in a statute of David II., king of Scotland: we may tliereforc safely derive the word from hur, a house, and bonS, from bln^en, to bind or tie; and this etymology appears plainer in the orthography which prevailed in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, in which I have often found the word WTitton house-bond; so it is in a MS. Bible before me, written in the fourteenth century. Junius disputes this etymology, but I think on no just ground.
21 And he drank of the wine, '• and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.
22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.
23 " And Shem and Japhcth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went
Verse 21. He drank of the wine, tSfC.] It is very probable that this was the first time the vine was cultivated; and it is as probable that the strength or intoxicating power of the expressed juice was never before known. Noah, therefore, might have drunk it at this time without the least blame, as he knew not till this trial the effects it would produce. I once knew a case which I believe to be perfectly parallel. A person who had scarcely ever heard of cider, and whose beverage through his whole life had been only mM or teater, coming wet and very much fatigued to a farmer's house in Somersetshire, begged for a little water or milk. The good woman of the house, seeing him very much exhausted, kindly said, " I will give you a little cider, which will do you more good." The honest man, understanding no more of cider than merely that it was the simple juice of apples, after some hesitation drank about a half a pint of it; the consequence was, that in less than half an hour he was perfect/y intoxicated, and could neither speak plain nor walk! This case I myself witnessed. A stranger to the circumstances, seeing this person, would pronounce him drunk; and perhaps at a third hand he might be represented as a drunkard, and thus his character be blasted; while of the crime of drunkenness he was as innocent as an infant. This I presume to have been precisely the case with Noah; and no person without an absolute breach of every rule of charity and candour, can attach any blame to the character of Noah on this ground, unless from a subsequent account they were well assured that, knowing the power and effects of the liquor, he had repeated the act. Some expositors seem to be glad to fix on a fact like this, which by their distortion becomes a crime; and then, in a strain of sympathetic tenderness, affect to deplore " the failings and imperfections of the best of men;" when, from the interpretation that should be given of the place, neither failing nor imperfection can possibly appear.
Verse 22-24..And Ham, the father of Canaan, <!^c.] There is no occasion to enter into any detail here; the sacred text is circumstantial enough. Ham, and very probably his son Canaan, had treated their father on this occasion with contempt or reprehensible levity. Had Noah not been innocent, as my exposition supposes him, God would not have endued him with the spirit of prophecy on this occasion, and testified such marked disapprobation of their conduct. The conduct ofSliem and Japhcth was such as became pious and affectionate children, who appear to have been in the habit of treating their father with decency, revea
faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.
24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and Knew what his younger son had done unto liim.
25 And he said, "^ Cursed he Canaan; •= a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
26 And he said, ' Blessed be the Lord God
rence, and obedient respect. On the one the spirit of prophecy (not the incensed father) pronounces a curse: on the others tlie same spirit (not parental tenderness) pronounces a blessing. These things had been just as they afterwards occurred had Noah never spoken. God had wise and powerful reasons to induce him to sentence the one to perpetual servitude, and to allot to the others prosperity and dominion. Besides, the curse pronounced on Canaan neither fell immediately upon himself nor on his worthless father, but upon the Canaanites; and from the history we have of this people, in Lev. xviii., xx.; and Deut. ix. 4; xii. 31, we may ask, Could the curse of God fall more deservedly on any people than on these ^ Their profligacy was great, but it loas not the effect of the curse; but, being foreseen by the Lord, the curse was the effect of their conduct. But even this curse does not exclude them from the possibdity of obtaining salvation; it extends not to the soul and to eternity, but merely to their bodies and to time; though, if they continued to abuse their liberty, resist the Holy Ghost, and refuse to be saved on God's terms, then the wrath of Divine justice must come upon them to the uttermost. How many, even of these, repented, we cannot tell.
Verse 25. Cursedhe CanaaTi] See on the preceding verses. Tn the 25th, 26th, and 27th verses, instead of Canaan simply, the Arabic version has Ham the father of Canaan; but this is acknowledged by none of the other versions, and seems to be merely a gloss.
Verse 29. The days of Noah u-ere nine hundred and fifty years] The oldest patriarch on record, Methusclali only excepted. This, according to the common reckoning, was A. 1\L 2006, but according to Dr. Hales, 3505.
" Ham," says Dr. Hales, " signifies burnt or blae^, and this name was peculiarly significant of the regions allotted to his family. To the Cushites, or children of his eldest son Ciish, were allotted the hot southern regions of Asia, along the coa.sts of the Persian Gulf, Susiana or Chusistan, Arabia, ^-c.; to the sons of Canaan, Palestine and Syria; to the sons of Misraim, Egypt and Libya, in Africa.
" The Ilamiles in general, like the Canaanites of old, were a seafaring race, and sooner arrived at civilization and the luxuries of life than their simpler pastoral and agricultural brethren of the other two families. 'ITie first great empires of Assyria and Egi/pt were founded by them, and the republics of Sidon, Tyre, and
servant. God shall
'' enlarge Japheth, ' and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and ■* Canaan shall be his servant.
28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.
29 And all the days of Noah 4Jf-,20W.
w6re nine hundred and fifty years:
and he died.
Carthage were early distinguished for their commerce, but they sooner also fell to decay; and Egypt, which was one of the first, became the last and basest of the kingdoms, Ezek. xxix. 15, and has been successively in subjection to the Shemites and Japhethites, as have also the settlements of the other branches of the Hamites.
" Shem signifies name or renown; and his indeed was great in a temporal and spiritual sense. The finest regions of Upper and Middle Asia were allotted to his family, Armenia, Mesopotamia, Assjrria, Media, Persia, &c., to the Indus and Ganges, and perhaps to China eastward.
" The chief renown of Shem was of a spiritual nature: he was destined to be the lineal ancestor of the blessed seed of the woman; and to this glorious privilege Noah, to whom it was probably revealed, might haA-e alluded in that devout ejaculation, Blessed be the LORD, the GOD of Shem! The pastoral life of the Shemites is strongly marked in the prophecy by the tents of Shem; and such it remains to the present day, throughout their midland settlements in Asia.
"Japheth signifies enlargement; and how wonderfully did Providence enlarge the boundaries of Japheth! His posterity diverged eastward and westward throughout the whole extent of Asia, north of the great range of Taurus, as far as the Eastern Ocean, whence they probably crossed over to America by Behring^s Straits from Kamtschatha, and in the opposite direction throughout Europe to the Mediter'ranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean; from whence also they might have crossed over to America by Neufoundland, where traces of early seltlemenis remain in parts now desert. Thus did they gradually enlarge themselves till they literally encompassed the earth, within the precincts of the northern temperate zone, to which their roving /n/Ji/crV life contributed not a little. Their progress northwards was checked by the much greater extent of the Black Sea in ancient times, and the increasing rigour of the climates; but their hardy race, and enterprising, warlike genius, made them frequently encroach southwards on the settlements of Shem, whose pastoral and agricultural occupations rendered them more inactive, peaceable, and unwarlike; and so they dwelt in the tents of Shem when the Scythians invaded Media, and subdued western Asia southwards as fiir as Egtjpt, in the days of Cyaxares; when the Greeks, and after
77ie generations oj
the sons of Noah
wards the Romans, overran and subdued the Assyrians, Medes, and Persians in the cast, and tlie Syrians and Jews in the south; as foretold by the Syrian prophet Balaam, Num. xxiv. 24: —
Ships shall come from ChitUm,
And shall afflict the Assyrians, and afflict the Hebrews;
But he (the invader) shall perish himself at last.
"And by Moses: And the Lord shall bring thee (the Jews) into Egypt (or bondage) again with ships, &c., Deut. xxviii. 68. And by Daniel: For the ships of Chiltim shall come against him, viz., Antiocluis, king of Syria, Dan. xi. 30. In these passages Chitlim denotes the southern coasts of Europe, bounding the Mediterranean, called the isles of the Gentiles or Na- /lons; see Gen. x. 5. And the isles of Chiltim are mentioned Jer. ii. 10. And in after times the Tartars in the east have repeatedly invaded and subdued *.he Hindoos and the Chinese; while the warlike and enterprising genius of the greatest of the isles of the
Gentiles, Great Britain and iRELArfi), have spread their colonies, their arms, their language, their arts, and in some measure their religion, from the rising to the setting sun." Sec Dr. Hales's Analysis of Chronology, vol. i., p. 352, &c.
Though wluit is left undone should not cause us to lose sight of what is done, yet we have reason to lament that the inhabitants of the British isles, who of all nations under heaven have the purest light of Di- Tine revelation, and the best means of diffusing it, have been much more intent on spreading their conquests and extending their commerce, than in propagating the Gospel of the.Son of God. But the nation, by getting the Bible translated into eveiy living language, and sending it to all parts of the liabitable globe, and, by its various missionary societies, sending men of God to explain and enforce the doctrines and precepts of this sacred book, is rapidly redeeming its character, and becoming great in goodness and benevolence ovei the whole earth!