EXPOSITION. Ver. 9.-These are the generations of from i''W, to be straigl1 t, hen co to be just ; Noah. "Novi caEitis initium" = "hwc est historia Nonchi" (Rosenmtiller; cf. eh. v. 1). Piel to render just or righteous (Eccl. Lat., justificare), to decl1uc nuy one just or i.uno- Noah (vide eh. v. 29) was a just man. j:) 1'W: cent (Gcsenius); better "justifie,l" ordechr~d not of spotless innocence (Knobel) ; but up- righteous, being derived from the Piel form right, honest, virtuous, pious (·vii- p1·ob1ts); of the ve!'b (Furst). "Evidently the right- 108 THR BOOK OF GtmESlS. [crt. n. 9-22.
eousness here meant is that "·hich represents of the Elohistio pon, on tho hypothosia him as justifiod in view of the judgmont of different authors ; but the so-called " re- of the Flood, by reason of his faith, Heb, petition" is explained by remembering that xi. 7 " (Lange). "To be just is to bo right eh. vi. 6-8 forms the close of a section in point of law, and thereby entitled to all '' bringing down the history to tlte point llt the blcssin~ of the acquitted and justified, which the degeneracy of mrmkind co.uses When applied to the guilty this epithet God to resolve on the dostrnction of the implies pn.rdon of sin among other benefits world," while the new section, which other- of gra.c~ ·• (Murphy). And perfect. O•t.;i~: wise would bc~in too abruptly, introduces complete, whole (r"'-uo~, integer); i. e. per- the account ol the Deluge by a brief de. fect in the sense not of sinlessness, but of scription of its causo (cf. Quarry, p. 367). morn! integrity (Gescnins, Cn.hin). It de- The structure of the narrative hero is not scrihes "completeness of p~rts rather thn.n diffe.~ent from what it appears elsewhere (cf. of degrees in the renewed cliaracter" (Bnsh). eh. 11. 4 ; v. 1). '' The just is the right in law, the perfect is Ver. 11.-The earth-(1) its inhabitants the tested in holiness" (Murphy). , If, how- as in vcr. 11 (cf. Gen. xi. 1)-mankind bein; ever, the term is equivalent to the r,>.,iw,rr, denominated enrth because wholly earthly of the Christian system (1 Cor. ii 6 ; Heb. (Chrysostom); (2) the land, which had become vii. 11), it denotes that complete readjust- defiled through their wickedness (vers. 12, 13; ment of the being of a sinful man to the cf. Ps. cvii. 34)-also (literally, and the earth) law of God, both legally and morally, which was corrupt-in a moral sense, the causes and is effected by tho whole work of Christ for forms of which corruption have already been man and in man ; it is" the establishment of detailed in the preceding paragraph. The term complete, unclouded, and enduring commu- is elsewhere applied to idolatry, or the sin of nion ~i th God, and the full realisation of a perverting and depraving the worshi:i> of state of peace with him which, founded on God (Exod. xxxii 7; Deut. x:xxii. 6; Judges n true and ever -valid remission of sins, has ii. 19 ; 2 Chron. x:xvii 2) ; but the special for its consummation eternal glory" (Delitzsch sins of the antediluvians were rather licen- on . Heb. ni. 11). In his generations. tiousness and lawlessness-before God-i. e. 1'lJ77'.;!, from 7~"1, to go in a circle; hence a openly, publicly, fl.agro.ntly, and presump- circuit. of years; an ago or generation (gene- tously (cf. eh. x. 9) ; noting the intensity of ratio, seculum) of men. The clause marks their wickedness, or intimating the fact that not simply the sphere of Noah's virtue, God had seen their corruption, and so com- among his contemporaries, or only the dura- mending the Divine long-suffering. (Calvin), tion of his piety, throughout his lifetime, but -and the earth was filled with violence.. likewise the constancy of his religion, which, "The outward exhibition of inward car- when surrounded by the filth of iniquity on nality" (lliurphy) ; "injurious o.nd cruel every side, contracted no contagion (Colvin). dealing, the violating of duties towards men, "It is probable, moreover, that he was of 'rapines or robbe1ies (Chaldee) '" (Ains- pure descent, and in that respect also dis- worth). Of. eh. xlix. 5; Joel iii 19; Ob11d. x. tinguished from his contemporaries, who were Ver. 12.-And God looked upon the earth. the offspring of promiscuons marriages be- "God knows at nil times what is doing in tween the godly and the ungodly" (Murphy). our world, but his looking upon the earth And Noah walked with God. The special denotes a epecial observance of it, ae though form in which his jnst and perfect character he had instituted an inquiry into its real revealed itself amongst his sinful contem- condition" (Bush; cf. Pe. xiv. 2; xxxiii 13, J•Oraries. For the import of the phrase see 14 ; !iii 2, 3). And, behold, it was corrupt. on eh. v. 22. Noah was also a preacher of "Everything stood in sharpest contradiction righteousness (2 Pet. ii 5), and probably with that good state which God the Creator nunounced to the \\icked age in which he had established " (Delitzsch, q noted by lived the coming of the Flood (Heb. xi 7). Lange). The nature of this corru.etion is Ver. 10.-And Noah begat three ions, further indicated. For all flesh - i. e. the Shem, Ham, and Japheth (cf. eh. v. 32). human race, who nre so charncterised hero If ere (in the story of the Flood) if anywhere, not so much for their frailty (Isa. xL 6, observes Rosenmi.iller, can traces be detected 6) as for their moral and spiritual degen- of two distinct documents (duorum 11Wnu- eracy (Gen. vi. 3, q. v. )- had corrupted- mmitorum), in the alternate use of the names aha,chath (rcara,p0,ipw, LXX.) ; literally, had of the Deity, the frequent repetitions of the destroyed, wrecked, and ruined, wholly eub- same things, and the use of peculiar forms ve1ted and overthrown - his way - derec/~ of expression; and in vers. 9-13, compared (from darach, to tread with the feet), n ~oing; with eh. vi. 5-8, Bleek, Tuch, Colenso, hence a journey, a way ; e.(!. (1) of livmg or and others find the first instance of need- acting (Prov. xii. 16; 1 Sam. xviii. 44); (2) less repetition, on the supposition of the of worshipping God-ool'oi;, Ach xix. 9, 23 unity of the uarrative, but a sure inde:r ( Pa. cxxx1x. 24 ; Amos viii. 14). Here it sig. OB. VI. !l-22.] THE BOOK OF GENESIS. 109