And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.
Gen 9:28-29
And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died
The years of Noah: their solemn lessons
Here is a brief record of a noble life.
There is little besides the simple numeration of years–merely a reference to the great event of Noahs history, and his falling at length under the common fate of all the race. This record, short as it is, teaches us some important lessons.
I. THE SLOW MOVEMENTS OF DIVINE JUSTICE. Before the flood the wickedness of man had grown so great that God threatened to cut short his appointed time upon the earth. His days were to be contracted to one hundred and twenty years–a terrible reduction of the energy of human life when man lived nearly one thousand years (Gen 6:3). But, from the instance of Noah, we find that this threat was not executed at once. Divine justice is stern and keen, but it is slow to punish.
II. THE ENERGY OF THE DIVINE BLESSING. God blessed man at the first, and endowed him with abundant measures of the spirit of life. Even when human iniquity required to be checked and punished by the curtailing of this sift, the energy of the old blessing suffered little abatement. God causes the power of that blessing still to linger among mankind. The hand of Divine goodness slackens but slowly in the bestowal of gifts to man. How often are the favours of Providence long continued to doomed nations and men! Underlying all Gods dealings with men there is the strong power of redemption, which is the life of every blessing. That power will yet overcome the worlds evil and subdue all things.
III. GODS PROVISION FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE RACE. When men depended entirely upon verbal instruction, and teachers were few, the long duration of human life contributed to the preservation and the extending of knowledge. But as the education of the world advanced, new sources of knowledge were opened and teachers multiplied, the necessity for long life in the instructors of mankind grew less. The provisions of God are wonderfully adjusted to human necessity.
IV. AN ENCOURAGEMENT TO PATIENT ENDURANCE. Here is one who bore the cross for the long space of nine hundred and fifty years. What a discipline in suffering as well as in doing the will of God! Time is the chief component among the forces that try patience, for patience is rather borne away by long trials than overwhelmed by the rolling wave. If tempted to murmur in affliction, or at our protracted contest with temptation and sin, let us think of those who have endured longer than we. (T. H. Leale.)
Noahs life and death
1. He lived accepted of God, promoted by Him, testifying against sin, preaching righteousness, giving laws from God to the generation wherein he was; and sometimes slipping into sin, and falling into bitter afflictions.
2. He died a death beseeming such a man; he died a saint, a believer, a glorious instrument in Christs Church, and so died in hope when by faith he had seen the promises. (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Review of the Chapter
I. GOD IS ALWAYS FAITHFUL to His promises, and mindful of those who trust in Him.
II. THE GOODNESS AND FAITHFULNESS OF GOD are further seen in His care for all His creatures, and in the steadfast order of nature. (Gen 8:1-22; Gen 9:9-10.)
III. NOAHS SIN is a most solemn warning. (1Co 10:12; Eph 5:18; 1Pe 5:8.) It is a sad finish to the history of so eminent a saint; an ominous beginning to the history of a new world. The first recorded sin after the Fall was a sin of violence; the first recorded sin after the flood was a sin of self-indulgence and sensuality. It is hard to say which of these two classes of sin has been, and is, the greatest curse to mankind. (The Congregational Pulpit.)
Lessons
1. Chronology is given by Gods Spirit. Special uses of it are in the Church.
2. Times and conditions of His Church God would have us know.
3. In the greatest desolations God hath raised some for His
Churchs good.
4. God extends the life of His saints as He bath use of them (Gen 9:28).
5. The longest life of saints wades through various conditions (Gen 9:29).
6. The longest living saint must die, yet like a saint, not fall as the wicked. (G. Hughes, B. D.)
.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Which reacheth to the fifty-eighth year of Abrahams age, as the Jews note. And so we have a manifest account of the propagation of religion, from the beginning of the world to this day. Noah received it from his parents, who had the account of it from their first father Adams own mouth, and transmitted it to Abraham; and its descent from him to the Jews, and by the Jews to others, is sufficiently known. Within this time also Noah saw the building of Babels tower, the horrid wickedness and idolatry of his children, and the bloody wars which even then arose between some of them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. So that he not only saw the old world, and the wickedness of that, and the destruction of it for it, but an increase of wickedness again, the building of the tower of Babel, the confusion of languages, the dispersion of his offspring, and the wars among them in the times of Nimrod, and others: however, it was a blessing to mankind that he lived so long after the flood in the new world, to transmit to posterity, by tradition, the affairs of the old world; and to give a particular account of the destruction of it, and to instruct them in the doctrines and duties of religion. By this it appears, that he lived within thirty two years of the birth of Abraham. The Jews conclude from hence, that he lived to the fifty eighth year of Abraham’s life: it may be remarked, that it is not added here as usual to the account of the years of the patriarchs, “and he begat sons and daughters”; from whence it may be concluded, that he had no more children than the three before mentioned, as well as from the silence of the Scriptures elsewhere, and from the old age of himself and his wife, and especially from what is said, [See comments on Ge 9:19].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. 29 And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.
Here see, 1. How God prolonged the life of Noah; he lived 950 years, twenty more than Adam and but nineteen less than Methuselah: this long life was a further reward of his signal piety, and a great blessing to the world, to which no doubt he continued a preacher of righteousness, with this advantage, that now all he preached to were his own children. 2. How God put a period to his life at last. Though he lived long, yet he died, having probably first seen many that descended from him dead before him. Noah lived to see two worlds, but, being an heir of the righteousness which is by faith, when he died he went to see a better than either.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Verses 28, 29:
The advanced years of Noah’s life indicate that he lived to see the building of the Tower of Babel and the subsequent dispersion of mankind. Also, it is possible that Abram was fifty-eight years of age at Noah’s death. This includes the possibility that Noah may have given Abram (Abraham) first-hand information regarding the flood!
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
28. And Noah lived. Although Moses briefly states the age of the holy man, and does not record his annals and the memorable events of his life, yet those things which are certain, and which Scripture elsewhere commemorates, ought to recur to our minds. Within one hundred and fifty years, the offspring of his three sons became so numerous, that he had sufficient and even abundant proof of the efficacy of the Divine benediction Increase and multiply. He sees, not one city only, filled with his grandchildren, nor his seed expanded barely to three hundred families; but many nations springing from one of his sons who should inhabit extensive regions. This astonishing increase, since it was a visible representation of the divine favor towards him, would doubtless fill him with unbounded joy. For Abraham was nearly fifty years old when his ancestor Noah died. (305) In the meantime, he was compelled to behold many things, which would afflict his holy breast with incredible grief. To omit other things; he saw in the family of Shem, the sanctuary of God, — into which the sons of Japheth were to be received, — destroyed, or, at least, dilapidated and rent. For whereas the father of Abraham himself, having deserted his proper station, had erected for himself a profane tabernacle; a very small portion indeed remained of those who worshipped God in the harmonious consent of a pure faith. With what tormenting pains this terrible confusion affected him cannot be sufficiently expressed in words. Hence we may know, that his eyes of faith must have been exceedingly penetrating, which did not fail to behold afar of, the grace of God, in preserving the Church, at that time overwhelmed by the wickedness of men.
(305) Lightfoot places the death of Noah two years before the birth of Abraham; Dr. A. Clarke two years after it. These chronological differences, however, do not materially affect the general conclusions drawn by Calvin. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Gen. 9:28-29
THE YEARS OF NOAH: THEIR SOLEMN LESSONS
Here is the brief record of a noble life. There is little besides the simple numeration of yearsmerely a reference to the great event of Noahs history, and his falling at length under the common fate of all the race. This record, short as it is, teaches us some important lessons.
I. The slow movements of Divine justice. Before the flood the wickedness of man had grown so great that God threatened to cut short his appointed time upon the earth. His days were to be contracted to 120 yearsa terrible reduction of the energy of human life when men lived nearly 1,000 years (Gen. 6:3). But, from the instance of Noah, we find that this threat was not executed at once. Divine justice is stern and keen, but it is slow to punish.
II. The energy of the Divine blessing. God blessed man at the first, and endowed him with abundant measures of the spirit of life. Even when human iniquity required to be checked and punished by the curtailing of this gift, the energy of the old blessing suffered little abatement. God causes the power of that blessing still to linger among mankind. The hand of Divine goodness slackens but slowly in the bestowal of gifts to man. How often are the favours of Providence long continued to doomed nations and men! Underlying all Gods dealings with men there is the strong power of redemption, which is the life of every blessing. That power will yet overcome the worlds evil and subdue all things.
III. Gods provision for the education of the race. When men depended entirely upon verbal instruction, and teachers were few, the long duration of human life contributed to the preservation and the extending of knowledge. But as the education of the world advanced, new sources of knowledge were opened and teachers multiplied, the necessity for long life in the instructors of mankind grew less. The provisions of God are wonderfully adjusted to human necessity.
IV. An encouragement to patient endurance. Here is one who bore the cross for the long space of 950 years. What a discipline in suffering as well as in doing the will of God! Time is the chief component among the forces that try patience, for patience is rather borne away by long trials than overwhelmed by the rolling wave. If tempted to murmur in affliction, or at our protracted contest with temptation and sin, let us think of those who have endured longer than we.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Gen. 9:28-29. He lived accepted of God, promoted by Him, testifying against sin, preaching righteousness, giving laws from God to the generation wherein he was; and sometimes slipping into sin, and falling into bitter afflictions. He died a death beseeming such a man; he died a saint, a believer, a glorious instrument in Christs Church, and so died in hope when by faith he had seen the promises.(Hughes.)
ILLUSTRATIONS
BY
REV. WM. ADAMSON
Noahs Death! Gen. 9:28-29. The Jews have a myth of Noah, that on his deathbed he ordered his children to bring him wine sparkling in a beautiful cup. Holding it in his hand, he spoke to them of the vine. Let the vine be an emblem to you of your dignity, for it is full of weakness.
(1) Yet, as it creeps in the dust until the elm tree offers its aid, and then rises and gains strength by twining itself around the branches, so man is weak until he twines himself round the outstretched arm of God.
(2) Again, as the firm tree offers its supporting branches to the humble vine, in order that its hundred tendrils may wreathe themselves upwards nearer heaven, so God graciously offers His mighty arm for mans soul to entwine his affections heavenward.
(3) Again, as the vine draws its nourishment of life from the earth, while on high it forms the coarser material into the leaf, and blossom, and refreshing grape, so should man. For as the vine needs light from above to pervade and invigorate, so mans heart requires Gods light to stablish it. Then Noah gave them each the cup of wine; then drank thereof himself, and died.
No further seek his merits to disclose,
Or draw his frailties from their dread abode;
There they abide in trembling hope repose,
The bosom of his Father and his God.Southey.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(4) Noahs Death (Gen. 9:28-29).
Noah, we are told here, lived after the Flood three hundred and fifty years, His life terminated, when he was nine hundred and fifty years old, on the same tragic note that characterizes the family of man: an he died (Heb. 9:27), It is interesting to note, in this connection, by way of comparison, that Abraham lived to be only one hundred and seventy-five years old (Gen. 25:7), and Moses only one hundred and twenty years old (Deu. 34:7). How shall we account for this constantly decreasing longevity?
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FOR MEDITATION AND SERMONIZING
The Bow in the Cloud
1. The rainbow in the cloud was a most meaningful emblem. It had the prime characteristic of universality. It is a phenomenon which occurs in all parts of the earth where there is the proper relation between sunshine and shower, The Rainbow Covenant was not for just one people, one nation, one race. Unlike the covenant of circumcision which was for the fleshly seed of Abraham only, the Rainbow Covenant was Gods promise to the entire family of man, in fact, to every living creature of all flesh (Gen. 9:15). Hence the sign of this covenant has to be one which is universal in scope, one that might be seen in every land. It was an attractive sign. Nothing is more beautiful, more attractive to the human eye, than the rainbow in the cloud. It stirs the finest of our emotions and the most fruitful of our meditations. In its selection, then, we detect another evidence of Divine grace. But, above all, it was a hopeful sign. It expresses the optimism of the entire book of Genesis. The darker the cloud, the more impressive is the bow in the cloud! And how forcefully this bow in the cloud reminds us of Calvary! There a cloud so dark descended upon the earth that even at midday there was intense darkness over the land (Mat. 27:45, Mar. 15:33, Luk. 23:44). But the eye of faith discerns in that, the heaviest cloud that ever gathered, the bright rainbow of eternal love suffering for a lost world! There is an aura of hope connected with the rainbow, even in Noahs experience, suggestive of the new world, the cleansed world, into which he had entered on withdrawing from the Ark, and of the Divine grace which had been extended to him all along the way. The Rainbow Covenant is rightly called the Covenant of Hope.
2. The Rainbow Covenant teaches us that the blessings of nature are no longer conditioned on mans moral conduct. All the blessings and benefits of what we call the regular course of nature are covenant blessings, flowing out of Gods post-diluvian covenant with Noah. This covenant was to the effect that while the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease (Gen. 8:22). Isaac Errett (EB, 80): Even though the imaginations of mens hearts should be evil from their youth, the sun will rise, the moon will wax and wane, the rains will descend, and the seedtime and harvest will come in their appointed seasons. Men in their wickedness may deprive themselves of the blessings God thus designs to bestow, but His promise is none the less fulfilled. He makes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends His rain on the just and the unjust; for this is His promise (Mat. 5:45). Thus, as Paul writes, God left not himself without witness in that he did good and gave you from heaven rains and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness (Act. 14:17). When we pause to reflect on what science unfolds to us of the ceaseless motions of innumerable worlds, and learn how the slightest variation from the established order might plunge system after system into confusion and disaster, we cannot but adore that everlasting truthfulness and unfailing goodness which hold all the mighty words and systems in harmony, and enable the astronomer to foretell for ages the suns rising and setting, the transits of the planets, the eclipses of the sun and moon, and even the motions of comets, Gods covenant of the day and night secures all this. God is forever true, God is absolute Truth, absolute Beauty, and absolute Goodness.
3. However, the Rainbow Covenant is evidence that the present world-order is not to last forever. The promise itself contains an intimation to the contrary: note well the words, while the earth remaineth. Is not this an intimation that our earth will not always remain, or at least not always remain what it is now? But the earth will never again be devastated by water: this was the Divine assurance. Cf. 2Pe. 3:5-7 : the earth was once purged with water; it will in the next instance be swept clean by fire, in the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men, Nevertheless, Gods saints look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness (2Pe. 3:13; cf. Isa. 65:17; Isa. 66:22; Psa. 102:25-27; Heb. 1:10-12; Heb. 12:26; Rev. 21:1-4).
The Design of Positive Institutions
A moral law commands a thing to be done because it is right, but a positive law makes a thing right because God commands it, In popular parlance Gods positive enactments are commonly designated ordinances. All such positive institutions, although always embodying the moral quality of obedience, are primarily for the purpose of proving (testing?) the faith of the worshiper.
The fact that Noah, on entering the new and cleansed world, worshiped God instead of paying homage to (blessing, burning incense to, pouring holy water on) the Ark, has a lesson of tremendous significance for all ages, In this act the very heart of the design of positive institutions revealed in Scripture is exemplified. The three following propositions will amplify this statement and serve to set forth the truly Divine purpose in all such institutions.
1. Superstition makes everything of a positive ordinance. Had Noah been a superstitious man he would have worshiped the Ark because it was the visible instrument of his deliverance. Mans corrupt nature makes it difficult for him to look beyond the visible and temporal to the invisible and eternal (2Co. 4:18). These facts account for the mass of ritual which has grown up under the aegis of the older denominations of Christendom: men have gotten so thoroughly imbued with traditions and superstitions, many of them borrowed from pagan sources, that they are willing to bow before lifeless images, put crucifixes on their walls, sprinkle holy water, wear sacred relics as amulets, etc. Their cathedrals reek with the light of candles and the odor of incense as all ancient pagan temples did. In all such cases the Christian faith itself becomes an empty shell, just sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. There are those in New Testament churches who worship baptism instead of the Christ who commanded it. No one can literally believe in baptism; rather, one believes in Christ who has ordained that believers should witness by this act of faith, to the facts of the Gospelthe death and burial and resurrection of Christ (1Co. 15:1-4, Rom. 6:17). There is no efficacy in the water as such, that is, there is no magic involved in the institution; the efficacy is in the faith that is exemplified in this positive act of the obedience of love for the redeeming Savior. If there is any efficacy in water, it might be right to practice infant sprinkling (infant baptism is infant immersion); if there be such a thing as water regeneration, it certainly would be implicit in the act of sprinkling or pouring water on a baby (the act which is generally and erroneously called infant baptism). The unknowing babe has no understanding of what is going on; it has no conscience entering into the transaction (cf. 1Pe. 3:21); hence the efficacy in such an act, if any, must lie in the water and in the water alone. But who believes such a thing? Is it not sheer magic, sheer superstition? Most certainly the Bible does not teach water regeneration, nor does it authorize the patting of a few drops of water on a babys head and calling that a baptism. Baptism is for the penitent believer: it is the expression to the world of his faith in Christ and of his love for Christ; it is his testimonial to the facts of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. The moment the sinner begins to worship the ordinance instead of the Christ who ordained it, his faithif it can be called thathas degenerated into mere superstition. Take an example from the Old Testament: As long as the Children of Israel looked on the brazen serpent in the wilderness, and looked through it to the God who ordained it and its specific purpose, and then took God at His Word by doing what He commanded them to do, they were healed (Num. 21:9, Joh. 3:14). However, there came a time when they drifted into the worship of the thing itself instead of worshiping the God who, in His benevolence, had ordained it for their good; it was then that Hezekiah the king ordered the brazen serpent broken into pieces, calling it Nehushtan, that is, a piece of brass (2Ki. 18:4).
2. Mysticism, infidelity, and profanity make nothing of a positive institution. The mystic prates about the mere word, as if it were something to be trifled with He forgets that this is the Word which created and which sustains our universe in all its aspects and processes (Psa. 33:6-9; Psa. 148:1-6; Joh. 1:1-3; Heb. 1:1-4; Col. 1:13-17; Rom. 10:4-17). The mystic depends on feeling as his spiritual barometer, talks a great deal about heartfelt religion, spiritual experiences, about being in tune with the Infinite, etc., but, insofar as his actions are the norm, seems to care very little about the Bible. (Such groups as the Quakers, the Christian Scientists, the Unity cults, etc., spiritualize both baptism and the Lords Supper out of concrete existence altogether.) The unbeliever scoffs at Divine institutions, and dubs them superstitions, hangover of folklore, etc. The profane person, while halfheartedly recognizing a positive ordinance as having something of divinity, still manifests no respect for it or for the God who ordained it. To all these classes we might issue the warning expressed in the old axiom, He who despises an ordinance of God, despises the God of the ordinance, and in the blunt words of the prophet Samuel to King Saul, Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams (1Sa. 15:22).
3. Faith regards and uses a positive institution as a Divine appointment, as God intended it to be used. Noah made use of the Ark as he was supposed to do, according to Gods leading, in obedience to Gods Word. Biblical positive ordinances are solemn trysts, Divine appointments, wherein Divine grace and human faith meet together. Christian baptism, for example, is the appointed institution wherein God meets the penitent believer to bestow on him remission of sins and the indwelling Holy Spirit (Act. 2:38; Rom. 5:5; 1Co. 3:16-17; 1Co. 6:19-20; Gal. 3:2). The Lords Supper is the appointed memorial institution wherein our Elder Brother meets, from Lords Day to Lords Day, with all whom He has bought with His own precious blood and incorporated into His Body, the Church (Mat. 26:26-29; 1Co. 10:16-17; 1Co. 11:23-30; Act. 20:28; Eph. 1:7; 1Pe. 1:18-20; Rev. 5:9). In like manner, the Ark was the Divinely appointed meeting-place wherein Noah met God and received deliverance from the Divine judgment which fell upon the ungodly antediluvian world. Noah was a man of faith, and faith takes God at His Word (Heb. 11:7, Rom. 10:17). Faith, which is the substance of things hoped for and a conviction with respect to things not seen (Heb. 11:1), appropriates the Divine positive ordinances as solemn appointments as God intends them to be used.
Noah: Gods Man for an Emergency
God always has His man for an emergency, and Noah certainly was no exception to the rule. Let us note the successive phases of Noahs life.
1. Noah in the world of the ungodly. Contemplation of faithful Noah living in the midst of a perverse generation, warning them of judgment not seen as yet, pleading with the people to repent and reform their lives, should remind the Christian of his constant duty in spite of every obstacle and discouragement; that he should go his way testifying of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment to come, regardless of the sneers of the worldly wise, the tauntings of the vicious, and the opposition of the hypocritical purveyors of false, assumed piety. A true Christian cannot expect to pitch his tabernacle on the mountain top, as Peter wanted to do on the Mount of Transfiguration ( Mat. 17:4); his work lies down in the valley where there is poverty, passion, toil, sorrow, pride, incestuousness, sin of every kind.
I said, Let me walk in the fields,
God said, No, walk in the town.
I said, There are no flowers there,
He said, No flowers, but a crown.
I said, But the sky is black,
And there is smoke and bustle and din;
He wept as He brought me back again,
And said, There is morethere is sin.
2. Noah passing through the Flood. His deliverance through the raging waters of the Deluge is a striking figure of Christian baptism (1Pe. 3:20-21). Water is the symbol of cleansing: hence in all ages God has maintained His water-line between the saved and the lost, between His people and the people of the world (cf. 1Co. 10:2; Exo. 29:4; Exo. 40:12; Lev. 8:6; Lev. 16:4; Lev. 16:24 with 1Pe. 2:9; Rev. 1:6; Mat. 3:5-7; Mat. 28:19, etc.). As the water separated those of faith, in the days of Noah, from the world of the ungodly, so in our Dispensation the same line of demarcation is fixed between the church and the unsaved world. The water which rolled over the eight persons in the Ark sanctified them, set them apart for Divine deliverance. As they passed from the wicked antediluvian world, through the water, into a new world where all was cleansed by this Divine judgment, so the penitent believer leaves the bondage of sin, comes to the water, passes through it, and arises to walk in newness of life (Joh. 3:5, Gal. 3:27, Rom. 6:1-11). As Noah and his family were completely buried from view so that they could neither see nor be seen by those about them, so the penitent believer must be buried in the water, completely hidden from view, before he can claim to be baptized Scripturally (Col. 2:12, Mat. 3:16, Act. 8:36-39). Baptism is a profound spiritual heart act of the obedience of love (Joh. 14:15, Rom. 6:17).
3. Noah in the Ark presents a different picture from the Noah in the ungodly world. In the antediluvian society there was no rest for his troubled soul, no peace of body or mind or spirit, but in the Ark was profound seclusion. No matter if the elements were raging without, he and his family must have felt, in the ark, that security and peace which obedient faith alone can give. In this respect the Ark becomes a figure of Christ. All of Gods waves and billows (Psa. 42:7, Jon. 2:3) rolled over the innocent Jesus when He hung on the Cross (Mat. 27:46), and, as a blessed consequence of His vicarious Sacrifice, none of these must pass over the saints, all of whom He has purchased with His own precious blood. At Calvary we see once again the fountains of the great deep broken up and the windows of heaven opened. At Calvary we see deep calling unto deep at the noise of thy waterfalls (Psa. 42:7). Jesus bore the burden of humanitys sin in His own body and paid humanitys debt (Joh. 1:29, 1Pe. 2:21-25). He put himself under the weight of His peoples liabilities and discharged them fully. The acceptance of this truth, through unqualified belief in Him, gives to the soul that peace which passeth all understanding. Christ is our Ark of safety; in Him only can we find that blessed security which only redeeming love can bestow. (Php. 4:7).
4. Noah coming out of the Ark and taking his place in the cleansed new world must have experienced mingled feelings of awe, gratitude, and sadness: awe, because of the strange and mighty works of God, gratitude for the deliverance of himself and his family, and sadness at the thought of his friends and neighbors having all perished in the Flood. Throughout all his experience, he had placed himself unreservedly in the hands of Jehovah and been guided by Him. The same God who said at first, Make thee an ark of gopher wood, and later, Come, thou and all thy house, into the ark, now remembered Noah and all that were with him in the ark, and made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged; the fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. The rays of the sun now poured down on a planet that had been baptized with a baptism of judgment. Judgment is one of Gods terrible acts: He takes no delight in it, though He is glorified by it. The same God now said to Noah, Go forth from the ark. And Noah went forth . . . and builded an altar unto Jehovah. All is simple faith and obedience. Noah, in all his varied experiences, never raised a question when God spoke! He did what God told him to do and in the way God told him to do it. What a different thing from the carping, caviling, evasive thing that men have today which they call faith! Faith never asks the why or wherefore, when God commands. (Heb. 11:7).
5. When God closed the door of the Ark behind Noah and his house, he shut out the unbelieving and impenitent world. Then the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windows of heaven were opened, and judgment was at hand. No matter that there were giants in the earth in those days, mighty men, men of renown; no matter that there were walled cities, and great herds and flocks on the outside; no matter that there were sounds of reveling by night, and wars and rumors of war by dayall had to be swept away! The sounds of the harp and the lyre were stilled, the forgers hammer lay unused, and the people cried for the rocks and the mountains, but it was too late! We may imagine that, if Noah could have given just one invitation from the door of the Ark, the people would have crowded in over each others dead bodies! The Lord Jesus Christ opened the door of His Church on Pentecost, through His Apostles guided into all the truth by the Spirit, and it has never been closed from that day to this. It still stands ajar, ready to receive all who will enter in on the terms of the Gospel Covenant. The time is bound to come, however, when the Lord Himself shall close the door of His Church, and gather her unto Himself as a bride adorned for her husband (Rev. 21:2; Rev. 21:9-10; Rev. 22:17). When that time comes all opportunity for repentance will have terminated. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye (1Co. 15:51), He will come with His mighty angels, in flaming fire, rendering vengeance to them that know not God and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ (2Th. 1:7-10). Multitudes will cry for the rocks and the mountains to fall upon them, but everlastingly too late. The hopeless answer will be, Jesus of Nazareth has passed by. Now is the accepted time, sinner friend: this should be the day of your salvation.
Noah was Gods man for an emergency, God always has His man in the time of crisis, and Noah was this man in the early moral history of the race, Dean (OBH, 16): Some names are forever associated with great epochs: Lincoln with Emancipation, Cromwell with the Commonwealth, Moses with the Exodus, so Noah with the Deluge. Read Gen. 6:9; Gen. 7:1; Eze. 14:14. Noah was Gods mana heroic figure in an apostate age. Altar after altar had crumbled, but the fires on Noahs altar did not go out till quenched by the Flood, It calls for courage to stand alone. But Noah dared to lead where few dared to follow. The absolute obedience and safety of Noah, the hopeless corruption and ruin of the racesuch as the impressive lessons. For one hundred and twenty years Noah faithfully preached and heroically lived. Only seven converts rewarded his labors: his wife, and his sons, Shem, Ham, and Jehpeth, and their wives. Yet Noah was successful: he did his duty, and he outrode the Flood.
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REVIEW QUESTIONS ON PART TWENTY-TWO
1.
How many days of Noahs life were spent in the Ark?
2.
List the successive phases of the days of prevailing of the waters upon the earth.
3.
List the successive phases of the days of assuaging.
4.
On what basis do we conclude that a month in Noahs life was a period of thirty days?
5.
Would you consider it reasonable to hold that the period of Noahs life spent in the Ark can be harmonized with the localized-Flood theory? Explain.
6.
Where did the Ark finally come to rest?
7.
Is there any definite conclusion to be drawn from the fact that the word erets may be translated either earth or land?
8.
What are the three pivotal events in the history of earth?
9.
How answer these questions: (1) Is there enough water on our planet to cover it entirely? (2) Whence came the waters which produced the Deluge? (3) Where did they go when the Flood subsided?
10.
What is meant by the statement that God remembered the occupants of the Ark when the time arrived for them to disembark?
11.
What is the significance of the statement that He remembered the animals that were with Noah in the Ark?
12.
Why was the raven probably sent out first?
13.
What was the significance of the sending out of the dove? How many times was the dove sent out?
14.
What was probably the symbolism of the freshly-plucked olive-leaf?
15.
What are the characteristics of a dove? What does the dove symbolize in the Scriptures?
16.
What is the connection between this symbolism and the manifestations which occurred after the baptism of Jesus?
17.
What probably is meant by the covering of the Ark?
18.
What interesting facts are revealed about the families in the Ark?
19.
Name the sons of Noah and state what each name means.
20.
What was Noahs first act on withdrawing from the Ark?
21.
What is the significance of the fact that Noah worshiped God and not the Ark?
22.
How do we know that Noah was not a superstitious man?
23.
What probably did the statement mean that Yahweh smelled the sweet savor of Noahs sacrifice?
24.
What seems to have been the deeper meaning of Gods soliloquy in Gen. 8:21-22?
25.
In what special way was mans dominion over the lower animals reaffirmed?
26.
What was the change in the feelings of the animals toward man after the Flood?
27.
What does Noahs altar teach us about the institution of Sacrifice?
28.
What was the Divine blessing bestowed on Noah and his sons?
29.
Is there any conclusive Scripture evidence that man was permitted only a vegetarian diet prior to the Flood?
30.
What part of living creatures was prohibited as food after the Flood?
31.
What law was ordained about the eating of blood? Why this prohibition?
32.
What law was ordained about murder? What is murder?
33.
What was the ordination with respect to a beast that killed a human being?
34.
What was the purpose of the practice of blood vengeance?
35.
How shall we regard the law against murder in relation to capital punishment?
36.
Were these fundamental laws universal or only Mosaic in their scope? Explain your answer.
37.
What is a covenant?
38.
What was Gods pre-diluvian covenant with Noah and his house?
39.
What was the essence of His post-diluvian covenant with Noah?
40.
What Divine promise did this covenant include about future floods?
41.
Was this covenant unilateral? If so, in what sense?
42.
What was the sign of this covenant?
43.
Does this necessarily mean that no rainbow had appeared before this time? Explain.
44.
Of what people was the earth overspread after the Flood?
45.
What sin did Noah commit after the Flood?
46.
What light does this throw on our statement that the Bible is the Book of Life?
47.
What various attitudes did Noahs sons take with regard to their fathers sin?
48.
What does the New Testament teach about drunkenness?
49.
What was wrong in Hams attitude? What fundamental moral law did he break?
50.
Explain the historical fulfillment of Noahs curse on the Line of Ham and Canaan.
51.
Explain the historical fulfillment of Noahs blessing on the Line of Shem.
52.
Explain the historical fulfillment of the blessings pronounced by Noah on the Line of Japheth.
53.
How old was Noah when he died? Compare this with Abrahams age when he died, and with the age of Moses when he died? How account for the descending longevity?
54.
What lessons are to be derived from the story of the Rainbow Covenant?
55.
What is the essential character of a Divine positive ordinance?
56.
How does a superstitious man treat a positive Divine ordinance?
57.
What lesson do we learn from the Old Testament story of the Brazen Serpent about the design of positive institutions mentioned in Scripture?
58.
What attitude does the mystic take toward Divine positive institutions?
59.
How does unbelief treat such an institution?
60.
How does a profane person treat Gods positive ordinances?
61.
What two kinds of worship does God require of His people? What is the essential character of external worship?
62.
What do we mean when we say that positive ordnances are Divine appointments?
63.
What does this teach us about the design of the Christian ordinances, baptism and the Lords Supper?
64.
What was wrong in Peters attitude on the Mount of Transfiguration?
65.
Summarize the successive phases of Noahs life.
66.
What does the writer of Hebrews say about Noahs faith? How did Noah show his great faith?
67.
Why did we say that Noah was Gods man for an emergency?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
28. Noah lived after the flood The narrative up to this verse may have been composed during the life of Noah, and in all probability the details of the deluge, the covenant, and these wondrous predictions, minute and graphic as they are, were written by Noah or by Shem, not in the present form, for the Hebrew did not then exist, but in a more primitive tongue, from which they were afterward translated by some one of their descendants, probably before the time of Moses .
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And after the flood Noah lived 350 years . All the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died.’
This directly connects back with Genesis 5 showing the unity of the whole section. The separate covenants have been deftly combined into one whole. It is possible that ‘three hundred years and fifty years’ was intended to depict a full life (three is the number of completeness) and a life of faithfulness to the covenant (five is the number of covenant). To the early readers and hearers numbers were full of significance.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Epilogue to the Genealogy of Noah Gen 9:28-29 gives us the closing epilogue of the genealogy of Noah (Gen 6:9 to Gen 9:29). It simply gives us the dates of his life after the Flood and the total life span that he lived. When the Scriptures tell us that a patriarch dies in a ripe old age in peace, it implies that he fulfilled the destiny that God had given him. I believe that we can see this in epilogues to the genealogies of the lives of Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and in the life of Joseph.
Gen 9:28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.
Gen 9:29
Gen 9:28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.
Ver. 28, 29. And Noah lived after the flood, &c. ] This man, if ever any that was born of a woman, had a long life, and full of misery. Job 14:1 He saw the tenth generation after him before his death. But, oh, how oft was he occasioned to get under the juniper-tree with Elias, and desire to die! Before the flood, what a deal of wickedness and disorder beheld he in family, Church, and commonwealth; and all this punished by the deluge, to his unspeakable heart-break! Soon after he was mocked by his own son, and despised by almost all the rest of his posterity; whose unheard-of hardiness in building the tower of Babel, he was nolens volens , forced to see and suffer; and then shortly after, the confusion of tongues as their just punishment. What should I speak of their so many and so great cruelties, insolences, tyrannical usurpations, effusions of innocent blood, wars, stirs, strifes, superstitions, and abominable idolatries, under Nimrod, Jupiter, Belus, Semiramis, Zoroaster (the magic master), and other Emims and Zamzummims of the earth! Of all which, and a great deal more, this good old patriarch was, to his sorrow, not only an ear but an eye-witness. All which considered, it must needs be granted, that living so long, never any martyr, or other out of hell, suffered more misery than Noah did. a And the like may be said of Athanasius, of whom Master Hooker witnesseth, that for the space of forty-six years, from the time of his consecration to succeed Alexander Archbishop of Alexandria, till the last hour of his life in this world, his enemies never suffered him to enjoy the comfort of a peaceable day. Was not he to be reckoned a martyr, though he died in his bed? Cur verear Chrysostomum appellare Martyrem ? saith Erasmus. b And why may not any man say as much of Luther? &c.
a Vix mihi persuadeo virum ex homine miseriorem natum fuisse quam Noah . – Funccii Chron., fol. 17.
b Erasm. in Vita Chrysost .
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Gen 9:28-29
28Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood. 29So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died.
Gen 9:29 Death still reigned (cf. Genesis 5)!
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.
These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought-provoking, not definitive.
1. How did the fall affect God’s covenant with Noah?
2. Is capital punishment a biblical precept (cf. Gen 9:6)?
3. Did Noah curse the black race?
4. To what does Gen 9:27 refer?
Gen 9:28. Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years Which period, as the Jews observe, reaches to the fifty-eighth year of Abrahams age. So that we need be under no difficulty in accounting for the transmission of the original revelation made to Adam, and of other branches of divine truth, from the beginning of the world to the time of Abraham. Noah received these from his parents, who had the account from Adams own mouth, and transmitted it to Abraham. And its communication and descent from him to the Jews, and from the Jews to us, is sufficiently known. Within this time also Noah saw the building of the tower of Babel, the horrid wickedness and idolatry of his children, and the bloody wars which even then began to arise between some of them.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments