only being excepted, "oilher (1) becauHc of all flesh, two of every sort (literally, by they did not live in the same element twos, i. e. in pairs) ahalt thou bring into wherein mnn Jived nnd einned ; or (2) -or cause to enter, i. e. receive them when bocnuso they wero not eo inetrumentn.l in they come (ver. 20)-the ark, to keep them mnn's sins ns the beasts might be; or (3) alive-literally, to cause to live; 'iva Tpi,p,,c pecauso man had n greater command over (LXX.); in orcler to preserve alive (sc. the tho beasts than over the fishes, and greater animals)-with thee; they shall be male service nnd benefit from them" (Poole). and female. Of fowls after their kind Ver. 18.-Dut with thee will I establish (literally, of thefowl after its kind), and my covenant. n1,:;i (o,a0~~1J, LXX. ; fa;- of cattle after their kind (literally, of the dus, Vulgate; testamentum, N. T.), from cattle after its kind), of every creeping thing ~".!~, to cut or carve; hence a covenant, from of the earth after its kind, two of every sort the custom of passing between the divided ahall come nnto thee. "Non hominis actu, pieces of the victims slain on the occasion sed Dei nutu" (Augustine). Perhaps through of making such solemn compacts (cf. eh. an instinctive presentiment of the impendin" xv. 9 ; Gescnius) ; from il":i;\1, to eat, hence calamity (Lange, 'Speaker's Commentary f an eating together, a banquet (cf. eh. xxxi. And take thon unto thee of all food that is 64 ; Lee). On the Bible idea of covenant see eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee eh. xv. 9. My covenant= the already well- (collecting sufficient for a twelvernonth's known covenant which I have made with sustenance) ; and it shall be for food for man. And thou shalt come into the ark, thee, and for them. thon, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy Ver. 22.-Thua did Noah; according to sons' wives with thee. This was the sub- all that God (Elohim; in eh. vii. 5 it is stance of the covenant agreement so far as Jehovah) commanded (with respect to the Noah was concerned. The next three verses building of the ark, the receiving of the describe the arrangements about the animals. animals, the collecting of provisions) 1:.im,' Vers. 19-21.-And of every living thing BO did he.
HOMILETICS.
Vers. 9-22.-The building of the ark. I. Tm~ MAN AND HIS cONTEMPOnARIBS. A common saying, and one possessed of a show of wisdom, that a person seldom rises far .above the average goodness, or sinks far below the average wickedness, of the age in which he lives. Yet it is precisely in proportion as individuals either excel or fall beneath their generation that they are able to affect it for good or evil. All epoch-making men are of this stamp. Noah, it is obvious, was not a man whose character was ·shaped by his contemporaries. In respect of three things, the contrast between him and them was as great and decided as could well be imagined. I. Legal standing. Noah was a just man, i. e. a sinner justified by his believing acceptance of the gospel promise of the woman's seed; while they were corrupt, or had declined into in.fidelity. 2. Spiritual characte/'. Noah was perfect in the sense that his heart was right with God, and his nature wns renewed by Divine grace ; they were wanting in all the essential characteristics of true being, " alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that was in them, because of the hard- ness of their hearts." 3. Outer walk. As a consequence the daily life of Noah was one of eminent piety....;,a walking with God 1 like that of Enoch; while theirs was one of impious defiance of the laws of God, anct ruthless oppression of the rights of men. Learn (1) that it is quite possible to be pious in the midst of evil times; and (2) that only a life of close communion with God will prevent one from being overborne by the wickedness of his age. II. THE EVENT AND ITS OCCASION. The event was-1. .Appalling in its forrn. The destruction of a world by n flood of waters. "In the beginning," at God'8 com- mand, the goodly fabric had risen from the waters (eh. i. 2; 2 Pet. iii. 5), radiant a in beauty, swimming in sea of light, rejoicing its Crentor's heart ( eh. i. 31) ; now it was about to return to tho dark and formless matrix whence it sprang. If the world's birth woke music among the morning stars (Job xx:xviii. 7), surely it« destruc- tion was enough to make the angels weep [ 2. Universal in its sweep. Without engaging at present in any controversy as to the actual extent of the Deluge, we mu.y notice that Elohim represents it as destructive of the entire human race (Noah and his family exceptACl). Considering the impres~ion made upon our he:nts hy the 112 THE BOOK OF GENESIS. [err. vr. 9-22,