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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 6:1-2

Now here we have an account of two things which occasioned the wickedness of the old world:?1. The increase of mankind: Men began to multiply upon the face of the earth. This was the effect of the blessing (Gen. 1:28), and yet man's corruption so abused and perverted this blessing that it was turned into a curse. Thus sin takes occasion by the mercies of God to be the more exceedingly sinful. Prov. 29:16; When the wicked are multiplied, transgression increaseth. The more sinners the more sin;... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 6:3

This comes in here as a token of God's displeasure at those who married strange wives; he threatens to withdraw from them his Spirit, whom they had grieved by such marriages, contrary to their convictions: fleshly lusts are often punished with spiritual judgments, the sorest of all judgments. Or as another occasion of the great wickedness of the old world; the Spirit of the Lord, being provoked by their resistance of his motions, ceased to strive with them, and then all religion was soon lost... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 6:4-5

We have here a further account of the corruption of the old world. When the sons of God had matched with the daughters of men, though it was very displeasing to God, yet he did not immediately cut them off, but waited to see what would be the issue of these marriages, and which side the children would take after; and it proved (as usually it does), that they took after the worst side. Here is, I. The temptation they were under to oppress and do violence. They were giants, and they were men of... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 6:6-7

Here is, I. God's resentment of man's wickedness. He did not see it as an unconcerned spectator, but as one injured and affronted by it; he saw it as a tender father sees the folly and stubbornness of a rebellious and disobedient child, which not only angers him, but grieves him, and makes him wish he had been written childless. The expressions here used are very strange: It repented the Lord that he had made man upon the earth, that he had made a creature of such noble powers and faculties,... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 6:8-10

We have here Noah distinguished from the rest of the world, and a peculiar mark of honour put upon him. 1. When God was displeased with the rest of the world, he favoured Noah: But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, Gen. 6:8. This vindicates God's justice in his displeasure against the world, and shows that he had strictly examined the character of every person in it before he pronounced it universally corrupt; for, there being one good man, he found him out, and smiled upon him. It... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 6:11-12

The wickedness of that generation is here again spoken of, either as a foil to Noah's piety?he was just and perfect, when all the earth was corrupt; or as a further justification of God's resolution to destroy the world, which he was now about to communicate to his servant Noah. 1. All kinds of sin was found among them, for it is said (Gen. 6:11) that the earth was, (1.) Corrupt before God, that is, in the matters of God's worship; either they had other gods before him, or they worshipped him... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 6:13-21

Here it appears indeed that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. God's favour to him was plainly intimated in what he said of him, Gen. 6:8-10, where his name is mentioned five times in five lines, when once might have served to make the sense clear, as if the Holy Ghost took a pleasure in perpetuating his memory; but it appears much more in what he says to him in these verses?the informations and instructions here given him. I. God here makes Noah the man of his counsel, communicating to... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 6:22

Noah's care and diligence in building the ark may be considered, 1. As an effect of his faith in the word of God. God had told him he would shortly drown the world; he believed it, feared the threatened deluge, and, in that fear, prepared the ark. Note, We ought to mix faith with the revelation God has made of his wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men; the threatenings of the word are not false alarms. Much might have been objected against the credibility of this warning... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 6:1

And it came to pass, when men began to multiply upon the face of the earth ,.... Either mankind in general, or rather the posterity of Cain, who were mere natural men, such as they were when born into the world, and as brought up in it, destitute of the grace of God, and of the knowledge and fear of him; and who in proportion much more multiplied than the posterity of Seth, because of the practice of polygamy, which by the example of Lamech, one of that race, might prevail among them: and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 6:2

That the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair ,.... Or "good" F11 טבת καλαι , Sept, "bonae" Cocceius. , not in a moral but natural sense; goodly to look upon, of a beautiful aspect; and they looked upon, and only regarded their external beauty, and lusted after them: those "sons of God" were not angels either good or bad, as many have thought, since they are incorporeal beings, and cannot be affected with fleshly lusts, or marry and be given in marriage, or... read more

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