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Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 6:13

I will destroy them with the earth - Not only the human race was to he destroyed, but all terrestrial animals, i.e. those which could not live in the waters. These must necessarily be destroyed when the whole surface of the earth was drowned. But destroying the earth may probably mean the alteration of its constitution. Dr. Woodward, in his natural history of the earth, has rendered it exceedingly probable that the whole terrestrial substance was amalgamated with the waters, after which the... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 6:14

Make thee an ark - תבת tebath , a word which is used only to express this vessel, and that in which Moses was preserved, Exodus 2:3 , Exodus 2:5 . It signifies no more than our word vessel in its common acceptation - a hollow place capable of containing persons, goods, etc., without any particular reference to shape or form. Gopher wood - Some think the cedar is meant; others, the cypress. Bochart renders this probable, 1. From the appellation, supposing the Greek word ... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 6:15

Thou shalt make - the length of the ark - three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits - Allowing the cubit, which is the length from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger, to be eighteen inches, the ark must have been four hundred and fifty feet in length, seventy-five in breadth, and forty-five in height. But that the ancient cubit was more than eighteen inches has been demonstrated by Mr. Greaves, who traveled in Greece, Palestine, and... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 6:16

A window shalt thou make - What this was cannot be absolutely ascertained. The original word צהר tsohar signifies clear or bright; the Septuagint translate it by επωυναγων , "collecting, thou shalt make the ark," which plainly shows they did not understand the word as signifying any kind of window or light. Symmacbus translates it διαφανες , a transparency; and Aquila, μεσημβρινον , the noon. Jonathan ben Uzziel supposes that it was a precious luminous stone which Noah, by Divine... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 6:17

I-do bring a flood - מבול ; mabbul ; a word used only to designate the general deluge, being never applied to signify any other kind of inundation; and does not the Holy Spirit intend to show by this that no other flood was ever like this, and that it should continue to be the sole one of the kind? There have been many partial inundations in various countries, but never more than One general deluge; and we have God's promise, Genesis 9:15 , that there shall never be another. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 6:18

With thee will I establish my covenant - The word ברית berith , from בר bar , to purify or cleanse, signifies properly a purification or purifier, (see on Genesis 15 (note)), because in all covenants made between God and man, sin and sinfulness were ever supposed to be on man's side, and that God could not enter into any covenant or engagement with him without a purifier; hence, in all covenants, a sacrifice was offered for the removal of offenses, and the reconciliation of God to... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 6:19

To keep them alive - God might have destroyed all the animal creation, and created others to occupy the new world, but he chose rather to preserve those already created. The Creator and Preserver of the universe does nothing but what is essentially necessary to be done. Nothing should be wantonly wasted; nor should power or skill be lavished where no necessity exists; and yet it required more means and economy to preserve the old than to have created new ones. Such respect has God to the... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 6:21

Of all food that is eaten - That is, of the food proper for every species of animals. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 6:13

Verse 13 13.And God said unto Noah. Here Moses begins to relate how Noah would be preserved. And first, he says, that the counsel of God respecting the destruction of the world was revealed to him. Secondly, that the command to build the ark was given. Thirdly, that safety was promised him, if, in obedience to God, he would take refuge in the ark. These chief points are to be distinctly noted; even as the Apostle, when he proclaims the faith of Noah, joins fear and obedience with confidence,... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 6:14

Verse 14 14.Make thee an ark of gopher wood. Here follows the command to build the ark, in which God wonderfully proved the faith and obedience of his servant. Concerning its structure, there is no reason why we should anxiously inquire, except so far as our own edification is concerned. First, the Jews are not agreed among themselves respecting the kind of wood of which it was made. Some explain the word gopher to be the cedar; others, the fir-tree; others, the pine. They differ also... read more

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