And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
12. all flesh ] Used here for “all the human race.” The phrase, which is found 13 times in the Story of the Flood, is a characteristic of P.
had corrupted his way ] This expression seems to be used with the object of shewing that man was a free agent, and that his corruption was not the result of blind fate, or of any external malign influence.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
All men, as the word flesh is taken, Psa 78:39; Isa 40:5, and oft elsewhere,
had corrupted his way; either,
1. Gods way, his precepts concerning religion and righteousness; or,
2. Their own way or manner of living.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt,…. This is spoken as if he had never looked upon it before; whereas his eyes are always upon the earth, and the inhabitants of it, and upon all their ways and works: but this denotes the special notice he took, and the particular observation he made upon the condition and circumstances the earth, and its inhabitants, were in. And this is remarked, as well as the particle “behold” is used, to denote the certainty of this corruption; it must needs be true, that the earth was corrupted, since the omniscient God had declared it to be so, who sees and knows all things:
for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth: that is, all men, excepting Noah; who were flesh, carnal and unregenerate persons; these had corrupted the way of God, the true religion, with their idolatries: and they had corrupted their own way, their manners, their life and conversation with their uncleanness and wickedness of various sorts: the Arabic writers y say, that after Enoch was taken away, the children of Seth and of Cain worshipped idols, everyone as he pleased, and were immersed in wickedness, and gave their right hands to each other, and joined in fellowship in committing sin and vice; and that in the times of Noah, none were left in the holy mount but he and his wife, and his three sons and their wives; all went down below and mixed with the daughters of Cain, and were immersed in sins, and worshipped strange gods, and so the earth was corrupted and filled with lasciviousness. The Jewish writers also observe z, that the generations of Cain were guilty of uncleanness, men and women, like beasts, and defiled themselves with all kind of fornication and incest, everyone with his mother, and with his own sister, and with his brother’s wife, and that openly, and in the streets: and Sanchoniatho a, the Heathen historian, the writer of the history of Cain’s line, says of the fifth generation before the flood, that the women of those times, without shame, lay with any man they could meet with.
y Elmacinus & Patricides, apud Hottinger. Smegma Oriental. l. 1. c. 8. p. 242, 247. z Pirke Eliezer, c. 22. a Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 1. p. 34, 35.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(12) All flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.These material things were incapable alike of moral good or evil, but man had made them the instruments of working his carnal will, and because of the associations connected with them they must be effaced, or rubbed out. (See Note on Gen. 6:7.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Gen 6:12. God looked upon the earth, &c. God observing that his patience was to no effect, and that the hundred and twenty years, which we may now suppose near expiring, produced no fruits of repentance, resolved to destroy that incorrigible race. “The patience of God,” says Archbishop Tillotson, “did not expire till he saw that the wickedness of man was grown great, and that all flesh had corrupted his way; nor till it was necessary to drown the world to cleanse it, and to destroy mankind to reform it, by beginning a new world upon the only righteous family that was left of all the last generations of the old.” All flesh signifies “all the human race,” who had, and who only could, corrupt their way. His way means their principles and conduct, their faith and manners. With the earth, at the end of the next verse, may be read, as in the margin of our Bibles, from the earth; though the former may be understood to refer to all the natural and artificial products of the earth, as well as the animals; every thing that serves, upon earth, for the use and convenience of men.
God takes repeated notice of the wickedness of men. He will not only be, but be seen to be, just in his judgments. Violence and spoil disfigured the earth, and, like devouring beasts let loose, the fallen sons of men preyed one on another. It was surely high time to interpose. Sin is the cause of every mischief: if kingdoms fall, or houses are divided, to this it must be ascribed. We may here observe, that the people of God are usually looked upon as the burden and the troublers of the earth. How little do men know, that for their sakes only, judgment this hour lingereth!
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Gen 6:12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
Ver. 12. All flesh had corrupted his way. ] General defection precedes general destruction; as here all sorts and sexes were fallen from God. All kinds of sins were common among them. In the family, promiscuous lusts, unlawful marriages, &c. In the state, tyranny, violence, injustice. In the Church, contempt of God’s word; abuse of his patience to presumption; of his bounty to security in sin. For they ate, they drank, they married, they planted, they builded, &c. And all this they did constantly and pleasantly, passing from eating to drinking; from drinking to marrying (for, Venus in vinis , and gluttony, is the gallery that wantonness walks through); from marrying to planting, for the use of posterity, as St Luke sweetly sets forth by an elegant rhetorical figure a All this they did, and God was silent, Psa 22:2 therefore their hearts grew fat as brawn, and they knew nothing, saith our Saviour, nor would know, till the very day that the flood came. Into such a dead lethargy were they cast by their sins; which were therefore grown ripe, and ready for the sickle.
a , , , &c. – Luk 17:27
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
all flesh. Noah’s family the only exception. The Figure of speech Synecdoche (of the Part), App-6.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
God: Gen 6:8, Gen 18:21, Job 33:27, Psa 14:2, Psa 33:13, Psa 33:14, Psa 53:2, Psa 53:3, Pro 15:3
for all: Gen 6:4, Gen 6:5, Gen 7:1, Gen 7:21, Gen 9:12, Gen 9:16, Gen 9:17, Job 22:15-17, Luk 3:6, 1Pe 3:19, 1Pe 3:20, 2Pe 2:5
Reciprocal: Gen 6:13 – filled Exo 23:2 – follow Exo 32:7 – corrupted Deu 5:26 – all flesh Deu 9:12 – corrupted Deu 32:5 – They have corrupted themselves Psa 10:5 – His Psa 12:1 – godly Psa 14:1 – They are Pro 21:8 – way Ecc 7:10 – wisely Ecc 7:29 – they Jer 45:5 – I will bring Eze 18:7 – hath spoiled Zep 3:7 – corrupted Mat 7:13 – for Joh 3:6 – born of the flesh Act 2:17 – all Act 21:35 – for