For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.
4. seven days ] Note the period of seven days, the same interval as occurs again, in the J narrative, in Gen 8:10; Gen 8:12.
forty days and forty nights ] The duration of the Flood is here announced. Cf. Gen 7:12 and Gen 8:6. In the Babylonian version the rain lasts for six days.
every living thing ] or rather, “every existing thing.” A peculiar word in the Heb. occurring only here and Deu 11:6. (LXX , Lat. substantiam.) It is, therefore, different from the expression “living thing,” which is used by P in Gen 6:19, Gen 8:1; Gen 8:17; Gen 8:21.
destroy ] Heb. blot out, so also Gen 7:23 (J): see note on Gen 6:7.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Gen 7:4
For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth.
The Divine threat of destruction
I. VERY SOON TO BE EXECUTED.
II. VERY MERCIFUL IN ITS COMMENCEMENT.
III. VERY TERRIBLE IN ITS DESTRUCTION. And every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.
1. The destruction was determined.
2. The destruction was universal.
3. The destruction was piteous.
IV. VERY SIGNIFICANT IN ITS INDICATION. The Fatherhood of God is not incompatible with the punishment of sinners. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
Divine threatenings
1. That they will surely be executed.
2. At the time announced.
3. In the manner predicted.
4. With the result indicated. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 4. For yet seven days] God spoke these words probably on the seventh or Sabbath day, and the days of the ensuing week were employed in entering the ark, in embarking the mighty troop, for whose reception ample provision had been already made.
Forty days] This period became afterwards sacred, and was considered a proper space for humiliation. Moses fasted forty days, De 9:9; De 9:11; so did Elijah, 1Kg 19:8; so did our Lord, Mt 4:2. Forty days’ respite were given to the Ninevites that they might repent, Jon 3:4; and thrice forty (one hundred and twenty) years were given to the old world for the same gracious purpose, Ge 6:3. The forty days of Lent, in commemoration of our Lord’s fasting, have a reference to the same thing; as each of these seems to be deduced from this primitive judgment.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Yet seven days, or, after seven days, the Hebrew Lamed being put for after, as it is Exo 16:1; Psa 19:3; Jer 41:4. Or, within seven days, which time God allowed to the world as a further space of repentance, whereof therefore it is probable Noah gave them notice; and it is not unlikely that many of them who slighted the threatening when it was at one hundred and twenty years distance, now hearing a second threatening, and considering the nearness of their danger, might be more affected and brought to true repentance; who though destroyed in their bodies by the flood for their former and long impenitency, which God would not so far pardon, yet might be saved in their spirits. See 1Pe 4:6. And as some preserved in the ark were damned, so others drowned in the deluge might be eternally saved.
And every living substance, all that hath in it the breath of life, as was said Gen 6:17.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. For yet seven daysA weekfor a world to repent! What a solemn pause! Did they laugh andridicule his folly still? He whose eyes saw and whose heart felt thefull amount of human iniquity and perverseness has told us of theirreckless disregard (Lu 17:27).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For yet seven days,…. Or one week more, after the above orders were given, which, the Jews say, were for the mourning at Methuselah’s death; others, that they were an additional space to the one hundred and twenty given to the old world for repentance; in which time some might truly repent, finding that the destruction of the world was very near, and who might be saved from everlasting damnation, though not from perishing in the flood: but it rather was a space of time proper for Noah to have, to settle himself and family, and all the creatures in the ark, and dispose of everything there, in the best manner, for their sustenance and safety:
and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights: this was not an ordinary but an extraordinary rain, in which the power and providence of God were eminently concerned, both with respect to the continuance of it, and the quantity of water that fell:
and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth: not every substance that has a vegetative life, as plants, herbs, and trees, which were not destroyed, see Ge 8:11 but every substance that has animal life, as fowls, cattle, creeping things, and men.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(4) Forty days.Henceforward forty became the sacred number of trial and patience, and, besides the obvious places in the Old Testament, it was the duration both of our Lords fast in the wilderness and of His sojourn on earth after the Resurrection.
Every living substance.The word living is found neither in the Hebrew nor in the ancient versions, and limits the sense unnecessarily. The word is rare, being found only thrice, namely, here, in Gen. 7:23, and in Deu. 11:6. It means whatever stands erect. Thus God destroysHeb., blots out (see on Gen. 6:7)not man and beast only, but the whole existent state of thingsfrom the face of the earthHeb., the admh, the cultivated and inhabited ground. This section is much more limited in the extent which it gives to the flood, not including reptiles, or rather, small animals, among those saved in the ark, and confining the overflow of the waters to the inhabited region.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. Yet seven days One full week yet remained for gathering all into the ark .
Seven forty forty We naturally note here the occurrence of these significant numbers . Comp . also Gen 8:4; Gen 8:10; Gen 8:12 (notes); and Moses forty days on the mount; Israel forty years in the desert; the spies forty days in searching Canaan . But in these historical narratives there is no reason to question the literal significance of the numbers. Their prominence in history made them specially significant in prophecy.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Gen 7:4. Yet seven days. This frequent reference to the period of seven days, shews that it was usual to calculate by weeks, a custom prevailing, as is reasonable to suppose, from the very beginning of the world. See ch. Gen 8:10; Gen 8:12. on which place Bishop Patrick observes, in agreement with Mr. Henry and Mr. Chais, that, by sending out the dove on the seventh day, Noah expected a blessing on that day rather than another, it being the day devoted from the beginning to religious services; which he having (it is likely) performed, thereupon sent out the dove that day, as he had done before, with hopes of good tidings.
REFLECTIONS.When the work was finished, and the one hundred and twenty years at an end, then God begins to fulfil his faithful word.
1. Noah is commanded to enter with his family, and all the creatures. “Come into the ark.” Sweet voice of mercy, thus inviting to a sure refuge from the impending storm. Such is the gracious call of Jesus to the sinful soul: “Come unto me, and I will give you rest.” And shall we be obdurate, as blind to our own interest as insensible to the Saviour’s love! Surely then we deserve to perish. His family were not all like their father; one, we are assured, was wicked enough, yet his father’s mercies descend upon him. Learn, (1.) There is no pure society under the sun: in the ark was a reprobate, and, among the twelve apostles, a traitor. (2.) A bad child fares often the better for his parents sake.
2. A comfortable testimony repeated of his integrity. It is a blessed thing to have God’s attestation to our simplicity before him: and it is the Lord’s delight to behold it; his care to reward it. He will preserve such from the plagues of the ungodly, and reserve them as monuments of his distinguished mercy.
3. The regulations concerning the beasts, their nature and number. Of clean and unclean both must come, for none must be lost; yet their number differs, not only because the clean are most serviceable for man, and therefore shall be most numerous, (behold the wise providence of God!) but also because of them he must offer unto the Lord. Note; man, in the provision which is made for his comfort, should never lose sight that the greater end still proposed in all God’s works is his own glory.
4. Another respite of seven days. A moment more, another call, and the last. They who will not regard the judgment at their door, must perish without remedy.
5. Noah was not disobedient to the heavenly admonition. (1.) He went in, and all his, and the creatures God had brought him. (2.) As soon as he was safely lodged, the flood came. Note; when God’s last saint is gathered in, and the number of the redeemed is accomplished, then a more terrible deluge of fire shall descend upon the ungodly.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Gen 7:4 For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.
Ver. 4. For yet seven days, &c. ] God could have destroyed them by water, or otherwise, in a far shorter space: But, of his free grace, he gives them yet seven days further, and then rains upon the earth forty days, as, not willing that any should “eternally perish, but that all should come to repentance”. 2Pe 3:9 The Hebrew doctors are very injurious to Noah, because we read not that he prayed for the old world, but only took care of himself, and his own family, censuring him therefore of self-love and hard-heartedness. So they judge very uncharitably of those that perished in the flood; sending them all to hell, and wresting some scriptures thereunto; as, that in this present verse, God saith, he will destroy them, or blot them out; that is, say they, a out of the land of the world to come, the land of the living. I deny not, but many of their “spirits are in prison”; so saith St Peter. 1Pe 3:19 But withal, in the next chapter, the same apostle tells us, that “for this cause the gospel was preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit”. 1Pe 4:6 Compare these words with those in 1Pe 3:18-20 , and it will appear, the apostle speaks of these antediluvians. All were not saved that were in the ark, nor all damned, we may well think, that were out of it. Could they see their “foundation overflown with a flood,” as the phrase is, Job 22:16 and “not lay for themselves a good foundation” by “laying hold on eternal life”? 1Ti 6:19 St Ambrose conceiveth, that Noah was seven days in the Ark, before the flood came; that as God was six days in creating the world, and rested the seventh; so these perishing persons, admonished by the number of the days of the creation, might “remember their creator,” Ecc 12:1 and make their peace. Nunquam sero, si serio .
a R. Menachem, in loc.
seven days. The number of spiritual perfection (App-10). All the Flood dates are Sabbaths except one (Gen 8:5).
forty. The number of probation (App-10).
destroy = wipe out, blot out.
earth. Hebrew. ‘adamah = ground.
For: Gen 7:10, Gen 2:5, Gen 6:3, Gen 8:10, Gen 8:12, Gen 29:27, Gen 29:28, Job 28:25, Job 36:27-32, Job 37:11, Job 37:12, Amo 4:7
forty days: Gen 7:12, Gen 7:17
and every: Gen 7:21-23, Gen 6:17
destroy: Heb. blot out, Gen 7:21, Gen 7:23, Gen 6:7, Gen 6:13, Gen 6:17, Exo 32:32, Exo 32:33, Job 22:16, Psa 69:28, Rev 3:5
Reciprocal: Gen 40:13 – within Deu 6:15 – destroy Job 24:1 – not see Jer 28:16 – I will Amo 9:8 – and I Luk 21:35 – dwell Act 28:14 – and were
Gen 7:4. Yet seven days Or after seven days, which time the long- suffering of God (1Pe 3:20) granted to the world, as a further space for repentance, of which, therefore, it is probable, Noah gave them notice. And it is not unlikely that many of them, who slighted the threatening when it was at the distance of one hundred and twenty years, now hearing another threatening, and considering the nearness of their danger, might be more affected, and brought to repentance. And although destroyed, as to their bodies, by the flood, for their former and long-continued impenitence, yet might be saved in their spirits, 1Pe 4:6. And as it is likely that some, who were preserved from the waters by the ark, nevertheless, at last, perished in hell; so some that were drowned in the deluge might be eternally saved into heaven. With respect, however, to the generality, this reprieve was certainly in vain: see Luk 17:26, and 2Pe 2:5. These seven days were trifled away after all the rest, and they continued secure until the day that the flood came. While Noah told them of the judgment at a distance, they were tempted to put off their repentance: but now he is ordered to tell them that it is at the door; that they have but one week more to turn them in, to see if that will now at last awaken them to consider the things that belong to their peace. But it is common for those that have been careless for their souls during the years of their health, when they have looked upon death at a distance, to be as careless during the days, the seven days of their sickness, when they see it approaching, their hearts being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Reader, art thou the man?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments