Genesis 6:9

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

GOLDEN TEXT. -- Noah did according to all the Lord commanded him. -- Genesis 7:5. TIME. --Not certainly known; according to Usher B. C. 2447. PLACE. --Somewhere in Western Asia. HELPFUL READINGS. -- Genesis 5:28-32; Genesis 6:1-8; Genesis 7:1-24; Genesis 8:1-22; Genesis 9:1-19; Hebrews 11:1-7; 1 Peter 3:18-22. LESSON ANALYSIS. --1. A Righteous Family; 2. A Wicked World; 3. An Ark of Safety.

INTRODUCTION.

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

I.. RIGHTEOUS FAMILY.

9. These are the generations of Noah.

Genesis divides itself into sections, which give the accounts of various generations or families. It is. collection of Toledoth, or genealogical histories. We have first the "generation of the heavens and the earth," from chap. 2:4, to the end of chap. 4; next "the book of the generations of Adam," from chap. 5:1 to 6:8; "the generations of Noah," beginning with chap. 6:9, and extending to the close of chap. 9; "the generations of the sons of Noah," from chap. 10:1 to 11:9; "the generations of Shem," from chap. 11:10 to 26; "the generations of Terah," from chap. 11:27 to 25:11; "the generations of Ishmael," from chap. 25:12 to 25:18; "the generations of Isaac," from chap. 25:19 to the end of chap. 35; "the generations of Esau," from chap. 36:1 to 37:1; "the generations of Jacob," chap. 37:2 to the end of chap. 50. This verse opens one of these sections.

Noah.

The son of Lamech, the grandson of Methusaleh, the great grandson of Enoch, "who walked with God and was not, for God took him." He belonged to the righteous race of Seth, and preserved the hereditary piety of his kindred. He had now reached the age of about six hundred years, the prime of life in the antediluvian period of the world, and had lived such. life that "he found grace in the eyes of the Lord."

Noah was. just man.

He is the first person to whom this term is applied in the Scriptures. "The just shall live by faith," and in Hebrews 11:7, Noah is held up as one of the great examples of the power of faith. He was "perfect in his generations," or in his times, living. blameless life among his contemporaries in an age distinguished by wickedness, an eminent specimen of piety in. degenerate age. The term "perfect" is not to be used in its absolute sense, but implies that his life, as compared with his fellow men, was blameless.

Walked with God.

This is also stated of the great grandfather of Noah, Enoch, (Genesis 5:22), and implies walking in the fear of God, keeping his commandments, and in constant communion with Him.