Genesis 6:8-13
Posted on July 4, 2019 by Roger
8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
9 This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God.
10 And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.
13 And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
If Morris’s interpretation is correct—that generations means “records of the origins,” and that Moses edited Genesis from histories written by earlier men—than Noah’s history ends with verse 9.
Note the consistent Biblical order here. First, Noah “found grace.” Then Noah was “a just man” (that is, “justified” or “declared to be righteous”). Thus he was “perfect in his generations” (or “complete,” in so far as God’s records are concerned), and therefore he was able to “walk with God.” Salvation in any era is exactly in this way. by sovereign grace, received through faith, the believer is justified before God and declared to be complete in Him. Only as a result of, and on the basis of, this glorious gift of grace, can one then “walk” in fellowship with God …
It is noted that Noah was perfect “in his generations.” Among all his contemporaries, over the many generations of a long life, he was the only one, so far as the record goes, who had “walked with God” since Enoch. He was a “preacher of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5), though apparently no one responded to his preaching …
Noah was above all a man of great faith. Among the heroes of faith recorded in Hebrews 11, it is only Noah whose description both begins and ends with the phrase “by faith” (Hebrews 11:7).
The new section of Genesis that begins at 6:9b is attributed to “the sons of Noah” (10:1). the “generation of Noah” ends at 6:9a. It is noteworth that Noah ends with his own testimony that he had simply “found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” His sons, on the other hand, began their record with a testimony concerning their father, “Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations.” — Morris, pages 177-178
As it was in the day of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man (Luke 17:26). … Strictly speaking the statement of our Lord is full of comfort, for we know that the fullness of the violence will make place for another fullness, and that a fullness of glory (Numbers 14:21), where the same word, the verb maleh is used. Again in Isaiah 11:9 we have the same word: “The earth shall be full of the knowledge of His name.” “The earth is full of the goodness of God” (Psalm 33:5). “The earth is full of thy riches” (Psalm 104:24). The earth, O Lord, is full of thy mercy” (Psalm 119:64).
Christ in His coming shall make the earth full of His praise (Habakkuk 3:3) and then the earth shall also be filled with God’s glory (Habakkuk 2:14). However, before all this blessed fullness of knowledge, praise, and glory comes, the earth will be filled with the most terrible judgments. — Bultema, pages 33.
There is always a remnant of those who strive to remain faithful to the Lord—a principle that is here represented by Noah and his immediate family. It is thus through Noah that God seeks to give humanity their “second chance” at living the ideal—and indeed, the likelihood that man will succeed this time seems even more likely, seeing that Noah, unlike Adam, already had a proven record of living righteously (and thus overcoming temptation) during extended exposure (600 years!) to an extremely wicked world. No one, in fact, except for the Messiah Himself, is described in more glowingly positive terms in the Hebrew Bible than Noah, for any one of the three approbatory expressions applied to him in v.9 would suffice to identify him with that very select group of saints otherwise inclusive of Abraham, who like Noah is described as a righteous man (see Genesis 15:6), Job, who like Noah is described as blameless (see Job 1:1; 12:4), and Enoch, who like Noah walked with God (see Genesis 5:22). That depravity is not ultimately overcome through Noah, despite man’s “reset” environment, serves to make God’s essential point in this last “trial part”—to wit: that depravity, ever since Adam’s sin, is part of our very nature, and cannot be removed except through the sovereign act of God in washing and cleansing our hearts, not our environment (cf. Ezekiel 36:25-26; 1 Corinthians 6:11; Hebrews 10:22). — Wechsler, pages 137-138
It is, therefore, precisely to make the point that the problem of depravity and sin does not lie in our environment that the emphasis of the text is on the land—i.e., ha-ares (as in 1:10 to specifically designate not the planet, but the “dry ground” on which man lives)—which term is employed four times in the span of these two verses. In the same vein the term corrupt—various forms of which are employed three times in these two verses—should be specifically understood to denote “corruption” or “pollution” caused by sin … That the “corruption” of the land is the result of man’s wicked actions is further emphasized by the reference to the land being filled with violence—in which the word translated violence is employed throughout the Hebrew Bible to denote violence motivated by wicked intent, as opposed to violence which is intended as chastisement for sin or restraint/defense against wicked deeds … — Wechsler, page 138.
God informs Noah of His plan to destroy humanity in judgment for their sins, thus establishing the important paradigm of God informing those whom He “knows” (i.e., those who are justified by faith and regarded by God as His children) of His future plans—whether for the deliverance and/or chastisement of believers, or for the judgment of unbelievers. It is this same essential paradigm/principle that underlies the prophetic revelation of specific future events throughout all of Scripture, the knowledge of which is ultimately intended for the edification and encouragement of believers—i.e. those to whom “it has been granted” (Matthew 13:11)—not unbelievers, to whom the Word of God is “foolishness” and the knowledge of which “has not been granted” (1 Corinthians 1:18). — Wechsler, page 139.
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