And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that [were] under the whole heaven, were covered.
19. all the high mountains ] The account, given by P, describes the covering of the mountains of the whole earth by the waters of the Deluge. It is this hyperbolical description which has naturally seized upon the imagination of readers. It is not necessary to enlarge upon the physical impossibility of such an event. If the literal interpretation were adopted, the waters would have submerged not only the mountains of Western Asia and of Europe, but also the Andes and the Himalayas. Water at that height would have been ice: organic life would have been impossible. Geology has shewn that no such universal Deluge has ever occurred. The accumulation of the vast amount of water represented in such a scene and encompassing the whole globe is beyond the range of physical possibility.
Popular imagination working upon the tradition of a vast inundation in the Euphrates Valley lent itself to exaggeration.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Profane wits pretend this to be impossible, because of the vast height of divers mountains. But,
1. This cannot be thought impossible by any man that believeth a God; to whom it was as easy to bring forth a sufficiency of water, for this end, as to speak a word. And if we acknowledge a miracle of the Divine power and providence here, it is no more than even heathens have confessed in other cases.
2. Peradventure this flood might not be simply universal over the whole earth, but only over all the habitable world, where either men or beasts lived; which was as much as either the meritorious cause of the flood, mens sins, or the end of it, the destruction of all men and beasts, required. And the or that whole heaven may be understood of that which was over all the habitable parts of it. And whereas our modern heathens, that miscall themselves Christians, laugh at the history of this flood upon this and the like occasions, as if it were an idle romance; they may please to note, that their predecessors, the ancient and wiser heathens, have divers of them acknowledged the truth of it, though they also mixed it with their fables, which was neither strange nor unusual for them to do. Lactantius appeals to the heathens of his age concerning it. Nay, there is not only mention of the flood in general, but also of the dove sent out of the ark, in Plutarch, and Berosus, and Abydenus. And the memory of this general flood is preserved to this day among the poor ignorant Indians, who asked the Christians who invaded their land, whether they ever heard of such a thing, and whether another flood was to be expected? And the Chinese writers relate, that but one person, whom they call Puoncuus, with his family, were saved in the flood, and all the rest perished.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth,…. Yet more and more, so that the people without the ark were obliged to remove, not only from the lower to the higher rooms in their houses, and to the tops of them, but to the highest trees; and when these were bore down, to the highest hills and mountains; and to those it was in vain to fly, by what follows:
and all the high hills that were under the whole heaven were covered: whence it appears there were hills before the flood, and that these were not caused by it, and that the deluge was universal, since there was not a hill under the whole heaven but what was covered with it. In Deucalion’s flood all men are said to perish, except a few who fled to the high mountains n; which story seems to be hammered out of this account.
n Apollodorus, de Deor. Origin. l. 1. p. 19.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
19. High hills covered Waters rose above the summits of the high hills, or rather, they gradually settled beneath the inundating flood, until, to the observer in the floating ark, the world was a monotonous waste of waters, vast and mighty, (Hebrews, mighty exceedingly,) and as far as the eye could see, all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. On the usage of such universal terms, see above, note introductory to Gen 6:9.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Gen 7:19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that [were] under the whole heaven, were covered.
Ver. 19. And all the high hills. ] So high, some of them, that their tops are above the clouds and winds. And yet, as high as they were, they could not save those from the flood that fled to them. “Truly,” might they say, “in vain is salvation hoped for from the mountains”. Jer 3:23 Well for them, if, taught by their present distress and danger, they could go on, with the Church there, and say, “Surely in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.” Happy storm, that beats us into the harbour!
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
exceedingly. The Flood universal. Figure of speech Epizeuxis (greatly greatly).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
and all the high hills: At the present day every mountain where search has been made, conspire in one uniform, universal proof that they all had the sea spread over their highest summits; shells, skeletons of fish, etc., having been found there. Job 12:15, Psa 46:2, Psa 46:3, Psa 104:6-9, Jer 3:23, 2Pe 3:6
Reciprocal: Act 4:12 – under
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Gen 7:19-20. All the high hills, and the mountains were covered Therefore, there were hills and mountains before the flood. Deists, and other infidels, would persuade us that this was impossible, because of the vast height of divers hills and mountains. But, not to mention here that this fact has been established by the universal consent of all nations, that there was a general deluge which over-flowed the whole world, and that it has been demonstrated by different writers that there is in nature a sufficient quantity of water to deluge it, concerning both which see the Encyclopdia Britannica; it will be sufficient to observe here, that this cannot be thought impossible by any one who believes in the existence of such a being as Jehovah, a God of infinite power, to whom it surely was as easy to bring forth a sufficiency of water for this purpose, as it was to create all things by the word of his power, or to say, Let there be light, and there was light. It is evident Moses, the historian, makes no difficulty on this subject. So far from questioning whether the quantity of water in the earth and atmosphere was sufficient, he thought the sources from whence it came were not exhausted, since both of them required to be stopped by the same almighty hand that opened them, lest the flood should increase more than it actually did.