Noah's Ark A Journey of Faith

Noah and the Flood

9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.

John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible

These are the generations of Noah—Or this is the account of his remnant, of the persons that were generated by him, that sprung from him, and peopled the earth after the flood, who are mentioned in the next verse, what follows being to be put in a parenthesis; as the genealogy of Adam is carried on from Adam to Noah (Gen 5), so the old world ending at the flood, the genealogy of the new world begins with Noah: though Aben Ezra and Ben Gersome interpret the word “events,” things which days bring forth (Pro 27:1), these are the events or the things which befell Noah, of which an account is given in this and some following chapters, whose character is next observed.

Noah was a righteous man—Not only before men, but in the sight of God; and not by his own works of righteousness, for no man is righteous by them before God, but by the righteousness of the promised seed, the Messiah; for he “became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith” (Heb 11:7), the righteousness which was to be brought in by the Son of God, and which was revealed to him from faith to faith; and which by faith he received and lived upon, as every just man does, and believed in as his justifying righteousness before God; though he also lived a holy and righteous conversation before men, which may rather be intended in the next part of his character.

Blameless in his generation—Not that he was perfectly holy, or free from sin, but was a partaker of the true grace of God; was sincere and upright in heart and life; lived an unblemished life and conversation, untainted with the gross corruptions of that age he lived in, which he escaped through the knowledge, grace, and fear of God; and therefore it is added, that he was holy, upright, and blameless “in his generation”: among the men of the several generations he lived in, as in the generation before the flood, which was very corrupt indeed, and which corruption was the cause of that; and in the generation after the flood: or “in his ages,” in the several stages of his life, in youth and in old age; he was throughout the whole course of his life a holy good man.

Noah walked with God—Walked according to his will, in the ways of truth and righteousness; walked in a manner well pleasing to him, and enjoyed much communion with him, as Enoch had done before him (Gen 5:22, 24).

Rashi

These are the generations of Noah—Noah was a righteous man—Since Scripture mentions him it sings his praise, as it is said (Pro 10:7), “The memory of the righteous is a blessing.” Another explanation for why the names of his children are not mentioned immediately following “These are the generations of Noah”: Scripture teaches you that the real progeny of righteous people are their good deeds (Bereshit Rabbah 30:6).

In his generation—Some of our Rabbis explain it (this word) favorably: How much more so if he had lived in a generation of righteous people, he would have been even more righteous. Others explain it derogatorily: in comparison with his generation he was righteous, but had he lived in Abraham’s generation, he would have been accounted as of no importance (cf. Sanhedrin 108a).

Noah walked with God—But concerning Abraham, Scripture says (below 24:40): “the Lord, before whom I have walked.” Noah required God’s support to uphold him in righteousness, but Abraham strengthened himself and walked in his righteousness by himself.

Walked—This word is in the past tense. The following is the usage of this verbal form: in the “heavy” conjugation one form is used both as future really the imperative and as past tense. For example, 13:17: “Arise, walk” is future (i.e. imperative); “Noah walked” is past; 1Sa 12:19 “Pray for your servants” is future (i.e. imperative) and 1Ki 8:42 “when he comes and prays toward this house” is past, only that the “vav” at the beginning changes the tense into the future.

10 And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence.

Rashi

Was corrupt—It means lewdness and idolatry. (Other editions add: lewdness, “for all flesh had corrupted their way," and idolatry), as Deu 4:16 “lest you deal corruptly.”

12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

Rashi

For all flesh had corrupted—Even cattle, beasts, and fowl would mate with those who were not of their own species.

13 And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible

And God said to Noah—This is a proof that he found favour in his eyes, since he spoke to him, and told him what he had observed, and what he was determined to do, and gave him directions to make an ark for the security of himself and family, when he should destroy the world.

“I have determined to make an end of all flesh”—That is, it was determined to put an end to the lives of all men, and of all cattle, and fowl and creeping things on the earth; all which are included in the phrase, “all flesh,” even every living substance on the earth.

For the earth is filled with violence through them—That is, through men, for they are principally intended in the preceding clause, though not only; and it was through them, and not through other creatures, that the earth was filled with violence, in the sense in which it is explained in (see Gill on Gen 6:11).

Behold, I will destroy them with the earth—Meaning, that he would destroy all men, together with the cattle and creeping things of the earth, the trees, and herbs, and plants in it, yea, that itself, for that is said to perish by the flood (2Pe 3:6). Some render it, “out of the earth”; that is, would destroy them from it, that they should be no more on it.

Rashi

An end of all flesh—Wherever you find promiscuity (and idolatry), a pestilence comes upon the world and kills both good and bad alike.

For the earth is filled with violence—Their verdict was sealed only because of violence.

With the earth means “together with the earth”—for even the three handbreadths of the depth of the furrow were blotted out and washed away.

14 Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch.

Rashi

Make yourself an ark—Many ways to bring relief and rescue are available to him; why, then, did he burden him with this construction? In order that the people of the generation of the flood should see him occupying himself with it for one hundred twenty years and ask him, “For what do you need this?” And he would say to them, “The Holy One, blessed be he, is destined to bring a flood upon the world.” Perhaps they would repent.

Gopher wood—That is its name. Now why from this species? Because of sulphur with which it was decreed upon them to be blotted out.

Rooms—Individual dwellings for each domestic animal and wild beast.

With pitch—In Moses’ ark i.e., the ark in which Moses was placed in the Nile, since the water was calm, it was enough to have mud on the inside and pitch on the outside. Another reason: so that this righteous man Moses should not smell the bad odor of pitch. But here, because of the force of the water, he caulked it with pitch inside and out.

15 This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits.

16 Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks.

Rashi

A roof—Lit. light. Some say that it was a window, and some say that it was a precious stone, which gave them light.

And finish it to a cubit above—Its covering slanted upwards until it narrowed at the top to one cubit, so that the rain should run down (the following does not appear in certain editions) (from both sides).

Set . . . in its side—So that the rains should not fall into it.

Lower, second, and third decks—Three stories, one above the other; the upper decks were for people, the middle ones for animal dwellings, and the bottom ones for waste matter.

17 For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die.

Rashi

For behold, I will bring—Behold, I am ready to agree with those angels who urged me long ago (Psa 8:5): “What is man that you are mindful of him?”

A flood—So called because it ruined everything; because it cast everything into confusion, and because it brought from root everything down from the heights to a lower level. This last explanation underlies the translation of Onkelos who translates it by a flood, because it caused everything to float and brought it (the ark) to Babylon which is low-lying. That is the reason why it (Babylon) is called, also, Shinar: because all those who died through the flood were shaken out into it.

18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you.

Rashi

But I will establish my covenant with you—A covenant was necessary for the fruits, so that they should not rot and become putrid, and so that the wicked of the generation should not kill him.

You, your sons, your wife—The men separately and the women separately. From here, we deduce that they were prohibited to engage in marital relations in the ark.

19 And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female.

Rashi

And of every living thing—Even demons.

Two of every sort—Of the least numerous of them, there were no less than two, one male and one female.

20 Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive.

Rashi

Of the birds according to their kinds—Those that mated with their kinds, and did not corrupt their way, and came by themselves, and all that the ark accepted, i.e., the ark repulsed the unfit animals and did not let them enter, he brought into it.

21 Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up. It shall serve as food for you and for them.”

John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible

Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten—By man and beast; of which see Gen 1:29-30.

And shall store it up—To lay up in the ark.

It shall serve as food for you and for them—During the flood, a quantity sufficient for them: and according to the calculation of learned men, well versed in mathematics, there was room enough in the ark, and to spare, to put food for them all during the time the flood was on the earth.

There is seed to store (Seedtime & Harvest: The Sustainable Breakthrough You Need Is in the Seed)

God specifically instructed Noah to store up on every sort of food that is eaten. Bringing this “seed” into the ark only meant that they had to bring it out when the time came. We know that God provides our needs at the moment, but he has also made provision for our needs in the future. There are portions of his provision that we are to store. How do you apply this principle in your life?

22 Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.

Rashi

Noah did—This refers to the building of the ark.