And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
6. And it repented the Lord grieved him at his heart ] This is a strong instance of what is called anthropomorphism, an expression descriptive of human emotion or action ascribed to Jehovah (e.g. Gen 3:8, Gen 7:16, Gen 8:21). Such expressions have often given rise to superficial criticisms, depreciatory of Holy Scripture, on the part both of those who are ignorant of Oriental literature, and of those who assume that the Books of Holy Scripture must be free from the literary characteristics of the writers’ age and nationality. In this verse Jehovah is represented as intensely grieved at the frustration of His purposes for the human race. The description is given in the childlike simplicity of the language of an early age: compare Gen 11:5-6; Gen 18:21.
In other passages, e.g. Num 23:19, 1Sa 15:29, it is asserted that Jehovah is not, like man, capable of repentance. There are two representations in Holy Scripture of the Divine Nature: one, which, as here, makes the Divine Purpose fluctuate, in reflexion, as it were, of man’s changing experiences; the other, which depicts the Divine Purpose as uniform, changeless, and unvarying, cf. Jas 1:17.
It was the dread of any expression being liable to the suspicion of irreverence towards the Almighty, which led to the strange renderings of this verse by the later Jews. Thus, LXX renders “repented” by = “considered,” and “grieved” by = “purposed,” while the Targum of Onkelos renders the second clause “and spake by his word to break their strength according to his will,” and Pseudo-Jonathan, “and disputed with his word concerning them.” The object of such paraphrases is to avoid anthropomorphism. The LXX also avoids the expression of repentance as applied to God in Exo 32:12.
The Latin rendering is quite free from any such shrinking, and is noteworthy: poenituit eum et tactus dolore cordis intrinsecus.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Properly God cannot repent, Num 23:19; 1Sa 15:11, 29, because he is unchangeable in his nature and counsels, Mal 3:6; Jam 1:17, and perfectly wise, and constantly happy, and therefore not liable to any grief or disappointment. But this is spoken of God after the manner of man, by a common figure called anthropopathia, whereby also eyes, ears, hands, nose, &c. are ascribed to God; and it signifies an alienation of God’s heart and affections from men for their wickedness, whereby God carries himself towards them like one that is truly penitent and grieved, destroying the work of his own hands.
It grieved him at his heart, or, at his very soul, i.e. exceedingly.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth,…. Because of the wickedness of man, the wickedness of his heart, and the wickedness of his life and conversation, which was so general, and increased to such a degree, that it was intolerable; wherefore God could have wished, as it were, that he had never made him, since he proved so bad; not that repentance, properly speaking, can fall upon God, for he never changes his mind or alters his purposes, though he sometimes changes the course and dispensations of his providence. This is speaking by an anthropopathy, after the manner of men, because God determined to do, and did something similar to men, when they repent of anything: as a potter, when he has formed a vessel that does not please him, and he repents that he has made it, he takes it and breaks it in pieces; and so God, because of man’s wickedness, and to show his aversion to it, and displicency at it, repented of his making him; that is, he resolved within himself to destroy him, as in the next verse, which explains this:
and it grieved him at his heart; this is to be understood by the same figure as before, for there can, no more be any uneasiness in his mind than a change in it; for God is a simple Being, uncompounded, and not subject to any passions and affections. This is said to observe his great hatred to sin, and abhorrence of it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Mankind Threatened with Destruction. | B. C. 2469. |
6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
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, and had put him on this earth, which he built and furnished on purpose to be a convenient, comfortable, habitation for him; and it grieved him at his heart. These are expressions after the manner of men, and must be understood so as not to reflect upon the honour of God’s immutability or felicity. 1. This language does not imply any passion or uneasiness in God (nothing can create disturbance to the Eternal Mind), but it expresses his just and holy displeasure against sin and sinners, against sin as odious to his holiness and against sinners as obnoxious to his justice. He is pressed by the sins of his creatures (Amos ii. 13), wearied (Isa. xliii. 24), broken (Ezek. vi. 9), grieved (Ps. cxv. 10), and here grieved to the heart, as men are when they are wronged and abused by those they have been very kind to, and therefore repent of their kindness, and wish they had never fostered that snake in their bosom which now hisses in their face and stings them to the heart. Does God thus hate sin? And shall we not hate it? Has our sin grieved him to the heart? And shall we not be grieved and pricked to the heart for it? O that this consideration may humble us and shame us, and that we may look on him whom we have thus grieved, and mourn! Zech. xii. 10. 2. It does not imply any change of God’s mind; for he is in one mind, and who can turn him? With him there is not variableness. But it expressed a change of his way. When God had made man upright, he rested and was refreshed (Exod. xxxi. 17), and his way towards him was such as showed he was pleased with the work of his own hands; but, now that man had apostatized, he could not do otherwise than show himself displeased; so that the change was in man, not in God. God repented that he had made man; but we never find him repenting that he redeemed man (though that was a work of much greater expense), because special and effectual grace is given to secure the great ends of redemption; so that those gifts and callings are without repentance, Rom. xi. 29.
II. God’s resolution to destroy man for his wickedness, v. 7. Observe, 1. When God repented that he had made man, he resolved to destroy man. Thus those that truly repent of sin will resolve, in the strength of God’s grace, to mortify sin and to destroy it, and so to undo what they have done amiss. We do but mock God in saying that we are sorry for our sin, and that it grieves us to the heart, if we continue to indulge it. In vain do we pretend a change of our mind if we do not evidence it by a change of our way. 2. He resolves to destroy man. The original word is very significant: I will wipe off man from the earth (so some), as dirt or filth is wiped off from a place which should be clean, and is thrown to the dunghill, the proper place for it. See 2 Kings xxi. 13. Those that are the spots of the places they live in are justly wiped away by the judgments of God. I will blot out man from the earth (so others), as those lines which displease the author are blotted out a book, or as the name of a citizen is blotted out of the rolls of the freemen, when he is dead or disfranchised. 3. He speaks of man as his own creature even when he resolves upon his ruin: Man whom I have created. “Though I have created him, this shall not excuse him,” Isa. xxvii. 11. He that made him will not save him; he that is our Creator, if he be not our ruler, will be our destroyer. Or, “Because I have created him, and he has been so undutiful and ungrateful to his Creator, therefore I will destroy him:” those forfeit their lives that do not answer the end of their living. 4. Even the brute-creatures were to be involved in this destruction–Beasts, and creeping things, and the fowls of the air. These were made for man, and therefore must be destroyed with man; for it follows: It repenteth me that I have made them; for the end of their creation also was frustrated. They were made that man might serve and honour God with them; and therefore were destroyed because he had served his lusts with them, and made them subject to vanity. 5. God took up this resolution concerning man after his Spirit had been long striving with him in vain. None are ruined by the justice of God but those that hate to be reformed by the grace of God.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
6. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth The repentance which is here ascribed to God does not properly belong to him, but has reference to our understanding of him. For since we cannot comprehend him as he is, it is necessary that, for our sakes he should, in a certain sense, transform himself. That repentance cannot take place in God, easily appears from this single considerations that nothing happens which is by him unexpected or unforeseen. The same reasoning, and remark, applies to what follows, that God was affected with grief. Certainly God is not sorrowful or sad; but remains forever like himself in his celestial and happy repose: yet, because it could not otherwise be known how great is God’s hatred and detestation of sin, therefore the Spirit accommodates himself to our capacity. Wherefore, there is no need for us to involve ourselves in thorny and difficult questions, when it is obvious to what end these words of repentance and grief are applied; namely, to teach us, that from the time when man was so greatly corrupted, God would not reckon him among his creatures; as if he would say, ‘This is not my workmanship; this is not that man who was formed in my image, and whom I had adorned with such excellent gifts: I do not deign now to acknowledge this degenerate and defiled creature as mine.’ Similar to this is what he says, in the second place, concerning grief; that God was so offended by the atrocious wickedness of men, as if they had wounded his heart with mortal grief: There is here, therefore, an unexpressed antithesis between that upright nature which had been created by God, and that corruption which sprung from sin. Meanwhile, unless we wish to provoke God, and to put him to grief, let us learn to abhor and to flee from sin. Moreover, this paternal goodness and tenderness ought, in no slight degree, to subdue in us the love of sin; since God, in order more effectually to pierce our hearts, clothes himself with our affections. This figure, which represents God as transferring to himself what is peculiar to human nature, is called ἀνθρωποπάθεια
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(6) And it repented the Lord.If we begin with the omniscience and omnipotence of God as our postulates, everything upon earth must be predestined and immutably fore-ordained. If we start with mans free will, everything will depend upon human choice and action. Both these sides must be true, though our mental powers are too limited to combine them. In Holy Scripture the latter view is kept more prominently in the foreground, because upon it depends human responsibility. Thus here, the overwhelming of mankind by a flood, and the subsequent abbreviation of life, is set before our eyes as painful to the Deity, and contrary to His goodwill towards men, but as necessitated by the extreme depravity of even the chosen Sethite race.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. It repented the Lord The pain of the divine love at man’s sin is thus tenderly and forcibly set forth; explained more fully by the following words:
It grieved him at his heart Or rather, He grieved himself to the heart . A beautiful picture of God’s tenderness, yearning over the sinful child who had so fearfully corrupted his way and befouled the earth (made “very good” for him) by abominable wickedness . God’s acts and purposes are here, as everywhere, necessarily described in human words, which can only in a figurative sense be applied to Him whose ways are not our ways, nor his thoughts our thoughts. Repentance appears no more at variance with immutability, when we look closely into the matter, than any divine act, purpose, or resolve that is revealed. As in man all such mental acts and states involve the idea of change, it is impossible for us to reconcile them with immutability. But all revelation is a condescension to human weakness, a clothing of divine thoughts in human draperies, for thus only could it be of any value to man. So God, the Infinite, imprisons himself in time and space that he may talk with the child who dwells there. It is the condescension of all instruction, wherein the teacher must come down to the plane of the pupil, and adapt himself to his thoughts and feelings in order to convey the lessons of wisdom. In fact, absolute truth in regard to supernatural things can be conveyed to man only in negations; that is, it can only be said that the supernatural facts are not like the natural. But absolute truths like these are pointless, soulless, and spiritually profitless, and, therefore, God gives us relative truths that are positive to meet the deep religious wants of the soul. But he gives us the negative absolute truths also, in order that we may see that the affirmative truths are only relative. Thus of the spirits of the just made perfect it is said “they neither marry nor are given in marriage,” and, “a spirit hath not flesh and bones,” while yet these saints hold harps, sing songs, wear robes and crowns, and dwell in a city made of precious metals and precious stones. God is described, in this relative language of imagery, as having a human form, yea, even human eyes, and hands, and feet, and, as in this passage, human voice and thoughts; yet the absolute truth is also revealed to correct and modify the relative. “Ye saw no manner of form;” “God is a spirit;” “the ETERNAL ONE of Israel is not a man that he should repent.” 1Sa 15:29. This is a paradox, but it is the paradox of revelation. He who understands its spirit can believe that they saw the God of Israel, (Exo 24:10,) while yet no man hath seen God at any time, and feel that there is no contradiction .
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And Yahweh regretted that he had made man on the earth (or “the men in the land”) and it grieved him to his heart.’
This anthropomorphism is a way of demonstrating God’s regret at the situation. It is because man has altered the situation that it arises. It is not that God is changing His mind because He thinks He has made a mistake. The change of mind comes because man has drastically changed, and He is grieved by it. He would have wished for anything but this. But having given man the freedom to sin the consequences have to be dealt with.
“It grieved him to his heart.” He was sad at what man had become. Thus unlike the gods of other nations he is concerned about man’s condition.
There is an interesting parallel between this verse and Gen 5:29. It was said of Noah ‘this one shall bring us relief (nchm) from our work (‘sh) and from the toil (‘tsb) of our hands’. Here we have ‘it grieved (nchm) him that he had made (‘sh) man and it pained (‘tsb) him to his heart’. How different was the immediate fruit from the promise. But it also reminds us that the world is divided into two. Those who are blessed by God because they are His and those who break His heart and face judgment.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Gen 6:6. It repented the Lordit grieved him at his heart “All things past, present, and future, lie open at once to the view of the Divine Mind,” says Dr. Clarke; and therefore that he is immutable in his counsels, and cannot repent, is one of the plainest dictates both of natural and revealed religion, Num 23:19. 1Sa 15:29. For he is not a man, that he should repent. So that the expressions of God’s repenting, grieving, and the like, are only figurative, and adapted to our apprehensions; signifying, not any change in God himself, but only a difference of event with regard to us. Thus good parents, without any change in themselves, encourage or discourage their respective children, according as they change their behaviour for the better or the worse. Thus laws themselves, which can have no affection, and consequently no change of affection towards one person or another, yet vary their effect, themselves remaining unvaried. So when it is here said, God repented, was grieved, &c. the meaning is, that he was resolved to alter his conduct; and, as men, when they repent of any thing, are sorry for it, and endeavour to undo it, so was the Almighty determined to destroy man whom he had created, and whose change from good to evil brought on these consequences from a God continuing ever the same. We must remember, that it is by way of analogy, or comparison only, that the nature and passions of men are ascribed to God.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 14
GODS DETERMINATION TO DESTROY MAN
Gen 6:6-7. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth.
THE evil of sin is visible wherever we turn our eyes. Not only has a manifest deterioration taken place in the intellectual and moral qualities of man, but the material world itself, together with all the brute creation, bears marks of Gods displeasure, and of the curse inflicted on account of sin. The spring with all its vivifying powers, or the autumn with all its profusion of matured fruits, does not more surpass the desolate appearances of winter, than the earth at its first formation did the state to which it is now reduced. It was the garden of the Lord, replete with beauty, and productive of nothing which did not minister to the comfort of its inhabitants: but it is become a waste howling wilderness, infected with plagues, agitated with storms, and fruitful in occasions of sorrow. Whether any additional curse was inflicted on it at the time of the deluge, we cannot say: but the shortening of mans life from eight or nine hundred years to less than one tenth of that period, seems to indicate, that both the frame of our bodies, and every thing that contributes to their support, have undergone a further change, and become subject to vanity in a yet greater degree, than they were before the deluge. However this may be, it is certain that, of all the judgments with which God has ever visited his rebellious creatures, the deluge was the most tremendous. All other expressions of Gods anger have been limited to a few individuals, or cities, or nations; but this extended over the face of the whole earth.
That we may view aright this awful dispensation, let us consider,
I.
The state of the antediluvian world
The degeneracy of mankind had been advancing with rapid strides from the time that Adam fell, to the time spoken of in our text. Their state was characterized by
1.
General supineness
[Our blessed Lord informs us, that in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, till the day that Noah entered into the ark [Note: Mat 24:37-39.]. By this he did not mean to condemn the use of those means which God himself had appointed for the maintenance of life and the preservation of our species, but to inform us, that the people were altogether addicted to carnal and sensual indulgences, without paying any regard to their spiritual and eternal interests. The great ends of life were quite forgotten by them; and their only study was, how to dissipate care, and spend their time in pleasure.]
2.
Awful depravity
[The expressions used in the preceding and following context clearly shew, that wickedness of every kind was practised without restraint [Note:, 11, 12, 13. The words themselves are strong; but the frequent repetition of them greatly increases their energy.]. The law of God being disregarded, and human laws not having been framed and executed as they are amongst us, the strong and violent oppressed the weak and peaceable; and whatsoever any mans interest or inclination prompted him to do, that he did without shame or remorse. We may form some idea perhaps of the state which then existed, from what still exists among uncivilized nations, and amongst us also, when the restraints of human laws are withdrawn [Note: How ready are men to embark their property and risk their lives in privateering expeditions, when they can obtain a licence to rob and plunder their unoffending neighbours! And how terrible are the atrocities committed by victorious armies!].]
3.
Obstinate impenitence
[For a hundred and twenty years did Noah continue to warn that wicked generation [Note: 1Pe 3:19-20.]. By his practice also as well as by his preaching, did he condemn them. Before their eyes he prepared (with vast expense and labour) an ark for the preservation of his household [Note: Heb 11:7.] ; giving them thereby a certain pledge that the threatened judgments should be inflicted on the impenitent and unbelieving: but they, no doubt, ridiculed his precautions as absurd and visionary; and the longer the judgment was delayed, the more bold was their confidence, and the more bitter their derision [Note: 2Pe 3:3-6.]. Amongst us, the Gospel, though generally, is not universally, despised: some are brought to listen to its benign overtures: but to such a degree did the contemporaries of Noah harden themselves against the gracious messages of Heaven, that in that whole space of time there was not (as far as we know) one single person awakened to a sense of his guilt and danger.]
Fearful indeed must have been their state, when we consider,
II.
The regret which it excited in the bosom of Jehovah
We must understand the language of the text, not in a literal, but figurative sense
[We are not to suppose that God did not foresee what would happen; for prescience is an essential perfection of His nature: take away his foreknowledge, and you deny him to be God. Nor must we suppose that his happiness was really interrupted by what he saw in his creatures; for he is as immutable in his happiness, as in his nature. The language of the text is accommodated to our feeble apprehensions: it is taken from what passes among men, when they are disappointed in their expectations and endeavours. As a potter, finding that a vessel which he has formed with the utmost care does not answer the desired purpose, regrets his labour, and casts out of his sight the worthless object with indignation and grief; so God represents himself as repenting that he had made man, and as grieved at his heart that he had bestowed upon him so much labour in vain.]
Nevertheless the figure conveys to us much plain and solid instruction
[The same figure occurs in various other parts of holy writ: sometimes it imports a change from anger to pity [Note: Jon 3:10.], and sometimes the reverse [Note: 1Sa 15:11. It is used in both senses, and in connexion with the foregoing illustration. Jer 18:3-10.]. In the text, it is intended to intimate, that God is not an unconcerned spectator of human actions that he expects men to answer the end of their creation, by seeking his glory and their own happiness and that he will manifest against sin his heavy displeasure, making all who practise it the objects of his fiery indignation ]
The feelings of our Creator on account of mans apostasy are more plainly shewn by,
III.
The resolution he adopted in consequence of it
To destroy all the human race was indeed a terrible resolve
[We can form little conception of the distress occasioned through the habitable globe, when once the flood began to rise above its accustomed limits. Every contrivance would be resorted to, and every eminence be made a refuge, in hopes that the waters would subside, and that a premature death might be avoided. When one place was covered, happy would they feel themselves who could flee to some lofty mountain, and carry with them provision for their support. But they would soon find that they indulged a vain hope: a suspense, more painful than death itself, would soon occupy their minds; and the waves, fast approaching, would at last terminate their lives, which fear and terror had already half destroyed. It is probable that many would seek admittance into the ark, and cling to it, when every other refuge had failed. Many too would, doubtless, betake themselves to prayer in the midst of their distress: but the time of judgment was come; and mercy, whether exercised or not in the eternal world, could not be extended to them [Note: Thus it was with Saul, 1Sa 15:25-26.]. Children in vain solicited their parents aid; in vain did the fond mother clasp them in her arms, or the affrighted husband strive to succour his beloved wife: all, in quick succession, were swept away; and neither man nor beast (those only in the ark excepted) were permitted to survive the wreck of nature.]
But, however terrible this judgment was, it was strictly just
[The punishments inflicted by human governors, of necessity, involve the innocent with the guilty: the children suffer through the misconduct of their parents; yet no one on that account exclaims against the laws as unjust. Why then should that be deemed unjust in the government of God which is approved as just in the governments of men? But God, who is the giver of life, and by whom alone it is maintained, has a right to take it away at any time, and in any manner that he sees fit. Does any one arraign his providence, if numbers both of men and children are carried off by a pestilence, or overwhelmed in a storm? By what authority then do we prescribe limits to God, and say unto him, Hitherto shalt thou go, and no further? We might as well condemn the Governor of the Universe for inflicting disease and death upon one single infant, as arraign his justice for destroying many. The lives of all are forfeited: and whether he take them away after a longer or shorter period, or cut them off singly or at once, he is still the same; a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he. The Judge of all the earth will do right: and who are we that we should reply against him? Whoso reproveth God, let him answer it.]
Infer,
1.
We are not at all the more safe for having many on our side
[No doubt, the antediluvians fortified themselves against the warnings of Noah, by the consideration that they acted only like those around them. They probably replied, as many at this time do, If I perish, what must become of all the world? And, Is God so unmerciful as to destroy the whole world? But the event shewed the folly of all such reasonings: and we should learn from it to expect safety in no other way than in turning from all iniquity, and seeking refuge in Christ Jesus.]
2.
There will certainly be a day of future retribution
[From the judgment executed at the deluge it is manifest, that God will punish sin: but from the indiscriminate manner in which that punishment was inflicted, we may be assured, that there shall be a day in which justice shall be more equitably dispensed [Note: 2Pe 2:4-5; 2Pe 2:9.], or, as it is called in Scripture, a day of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Then shall every one receive according to his deeds, whether they be good or evil: the wicked shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. May God prepare us all for that great and solemn day!]
3.
It becomes us all to grieve and mourn for our past sins
[Have the sins of men caused God himself to repent and be grieved at his heart that ever he formed man; and should not our sins awaken sorrow and contrition in our hearts? O that we could but view them aright! O that we could mourn over them, as it becomes us, and weep in dust and ashes! Surely if we go on impenitent in our sins, the day will come, when we shall repent that ever we were created; we shall wish that we had died in our mothers womb; we shall find that it would have been better for us if we had never been born.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
By this expression, cannot be meant any change in the mind of God, but only a change in the circumstances of his providence towards men, according to their conduct. See 1Sa 15:11-29 ; Mal 3:6 ; Num 23:19 ; Jas 1:17
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Gen 6:6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
Ver. 6. And it repented the Lord, &c., and it grieved him. ] These things are spoken of God , after the manner of men; but must be taken and understood , as it beseemeth God. When repentance is attributed to God, saith Mr Perkins, it noteth only the alteration of things and actions done by him, and no change of his purpose and secret decree, which is immutable. God’s repentance, saith another learned divine, a is not a change of his will, but of his work. Repentance with man is the changing of his will; repentance with God is the willing of a change. Mutatio rei, non Dei; effectus, non affectus; facti, non confilii .
a Mr Gataker.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
repented = the Figure of speech Anthropopatheia. App-6.
LORD = Jehovah, in His covenant relation with mankind.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
repented the LORD
(See Scofield “Zec 8:14”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
repented: Exo 32:14, Num 23:19, Deu 32:36, 1Sa 15:11, 1Sa 15:29, 2Sa 24:16, 1Ch 21:15, Psa 106:45, Psa 110:4, Jer 18:8-10, Jer 26:19, Hos 11:8, Jon 3:10, Mal 3:6, Rom 11:29, Heb 6:17, Heb 6:18, Jam 1:17
grieved: Deu 5:29, Deu 32:29, Psa 78:40, Psa 81:13, Psa 95:10, Psa 119:158, Isa 48:18, Isa 63:10, Eze 33:11, Luk 19:41, Luk 19:42, Eph 4:30, Heb 3:10, Heb 3:17
Reciprocal: Gen 7:21 – General Exo 32:12 – repent Jdg 2:18 – it repented Jdg 10:16 – his soul 1Sa 15:35 – repented Job 10:8 – yet thou Psa 53:1 – Corrupt Psa 90:3 – Thou Pro 21:8 – way Ecc 7:29 – they Isa 27:11 – therefore Jer 45:4 – that which Eze 28:15 – till iniquity Mar 3:5 – grieved Luk 11:13 – being Rom 3:12 – become Rom 5:13 – until
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
HUMAN SIN AND DIVINE JUDGMENT
And it repented the Lord that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart.
Gen 6:6
I. Human Sin.(a) Sin had grown. This thought should be amplified, and special emphasis should be laid upon the fact that evil always has a tendency to grow. Every wicked man was once an innocent babe; the child committed its first conscious act of wrong-doing, perhaps a very little fault, but a real one. Then came another, then another. So it is easier to go wrong afterwards. Illustrate by the rolling of a stone down a slope, or by the increasing size of a leak in a ship. The stone accumulates force as it goes; the water flowing through the tiny hole in the ships side makes it larger. So the men of the old world each grew more and more sinful.
(b) One helped to make another bad.
(c) Gods patience, instead of leading them to do better, was taken advantage of.
(d) God saw it all. Perhaps they forgot Him altogether, or else persuaded themselves that He was taking no notice. They said, How doth God know? Can He judge through the dark cloud? (Job 12:13; Psa 73:11). But nothing is hidden from His sight, and He not only saw what men did, and heard what they said, but He read their very thoughts (v. 5). Remark, that though sin had driven God out of mans heart, and there was no longer that happy fellowship between the two which existed in Eden, yet sin cannot drive God out of the world. Though unseen, He is yet everywhere present; seeing all, hearing all, knowing all.
II. Divine sorrow and anger.It is impossible for us to fully understand what God is and how He feels; therefore we are obliged to be contented with words that describe actions and feelings of men. Thus we may say God was disappointed with man. He made him upright; intended him to be happy; but all flesh had corrupted his way upon earth. All the Divine expectations and hopes were disappointed, and God was sorry He had made man. The sorrow was very deep; It grieved Him at His heart. Impress upon hearers the thought that sin grieves God. Illustrate by sorrow of father or mother when children do wrong. But our Lesson teaches us that God is not only grieved at sin; it sets forth
III. Divine Judgment.(a) God resolved on an appropriate punishment. The earth was filled with violence; He would fill it with a flood. Men were corrupt; they should all die. Everywhere there was violence (v. 13); they should all die a violent death.
(b) The punishment was to be very complete. God would destroy all men, and all that belonged to them; their houses, their cattle, their flocks, their fowls. Almost always sin uses Gods gifts against Him; hence He often punishes now by taking away what would, if rightly used, be a blessing.
Illustration
(1)Each age develops one or other of the many depraved tendencies of human nature in larger proportions than othersas Cain the self-righteousthe man that would be independent of the Maker of the world. Lamech, the sensual man, that overthrows Gods family order for mans wellbeing. Nimrodthe rise of ambition, and its struggles for empire. This cycle has been often repeated; men get wearied of certain vices, and exchange them for others, as the fruits become too bitter to be longer endured, or as retributive providences produce a reaction against them.
(2)We have no conception of the antediluvian age. Men then lived long enough to mature in sin, and we are told that everything that a man could imagine was carried out, and there was great violence in the land. But there is another class of people tell us, Well, you know God is so merciful that all will be saved. See how that will correspond with this: Man was so wicked and so corrupt and so violent that God could not let him live upon the earth, so He swept them all off, and left the only righteous man and his family. Yet some tell us that believers and unbelievers, thieves, murderers, sceptics, pantheists, deists, all alike, are going to heaven. It is a monstrous doctrine. He is coming to judge the world. God gave the world in Noahs time one hundred and twenty years to repent, but how long our own day of grace may continue it is impossible to say. We do know, however, that there is still hope, and therefore, while it is called to-day, harden not your hearts.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Gen 6:6. It repented the Lord, it grieved him at his heart Properly speaking, God cannot repent, Num 23:19, 1Sa 15:11-29; for he is perfectly wise and unchangeable in his nature and counsels, Mal 3:6, and Jas 1:17. Neither is he liable to grief or disappointment, being constantly happy. But this is spoken of God after the manner of men, by the same figure of speech whereby eyes, ears, hands, and feet are ascribed to God, and must be understood so as not to reflect on his immutability or felicity. It doth not imply any passion or uneasiness in God; for nothing can create disturbance to the eternal mind: but it signifies his just and holy displeasure against sin and sinners. Neither doth it speak any change of Gods mind, for with him is no variableness; but it signifies a change of his way. When God had made man upright, he rested and was refreshed, Exo 31:17, and his way toward him was such as showed him to be well pleased with the work of his own hands; but now that man was apostatized, he could not do otherwise than show himself displeased: so that the change was in man, and not in God.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
6:6 And it {g} repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
(g) God never repents, but he speaks in human terms, because he destroyed him, and in a way denied him as his creature.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
God was sorry that He had made humankind because people generally did not want a relationship with God. They insisted on living life independent of God and consequently destroying themselves in sin. He was sorry over what His special creation had become.
"God is no robot. We know him as a personal, living God, not a static principle, who while having transcendent purposes to be sure also engages intimately with his creation. Our God is incomparably affected by, even pained by, the sinner’s rebellion. Acknowledging the passibility (emotions) of God does not diminish the immutability of his promissory purposes. Rather, his feelings and actions toward men, such as judgment or forgiveness, are always inherently consistent with his essential person and just and gracious resolve (Jas 1:17)." [Note: Mathews, p. 344.]