Chapter 8:
| Calvin
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 Revelation Exodus
Genesis 8
Concise Complete
God remembers Noah, and dries up the waters. (1-3) The
ark rests on Ararat, Noah sends forth a raven and a dove. (4-12) Noah being
commanded, goes out of the ark. (13-19) Noah offers sacrifice, God promises to
curse the earth no more. (20-22)
Verses 1-3 The
whole race of mankind, except Noah and his family, were now dead, so that God's
remembering Noah, was the return of his mercy to mankind, of whom he would not
make a full end. The demands of Divine justice had been answered by the ruin of
sinners. God sent his wind to dry the earth, and seal up his waters. The same
hand that brings the desolation, must bring the deliverance; to that hand,
therefore, we must ever look. When afflictions have done the work for which they
are sent, whether killing work or curing work, they will be taken away. As the
earth was not drowned in a day, so it was not dried in a day. God usually works
deliverance for his people gradually, that the day of small things may not be
despised, nor the day of great things despaired of.
Verses 4-12 The
ark rested upon a mountain, whither it was directed by the wise and gracious
providence of God, that might rest the sooner. God has times and places of rest
for his people after their tossing; and many times he provides for their
seasonable and comfortable settlement, without their own contrivance, and quite
beyond their own foresight. God had told Noah when the flood would come, yet he
did not give him an account by revelation, at what times and by what steps it
should go away. The knowledge of the former was necessary to his preparing the
ark; but the knowledge of the latter would serve only to gratify curiosity; and
concealing it from him would exercise his faith and patience. Noah sent forth a
raven from the ark, which went flying about, and feeding on the carcasses that
floated. Noah then sent forth a dove, which returned the first time without good
news; but the second time, she brought an olive leaf in her bill, plucked off,
plainly showing that trees, fruit trees, began to appear above water. Noah sent
forth the dove the second time, seven days after the first, and the third time
was after seven days also; probably on the sabbath day. Having kept the sabbath
with his little church, he expected especial blessings from Heaven, and inquired
concerning them. The dove is an emblem of a gracious soul, that, finding no
solid peace of satisfaction in this deluged, defiling world, returns to Christ
as to its ark, as to its Noah, its rest. The defiling world, returns to Christ
as to its ark, as to its Noah, its rest. The carnal heart, like the raven, takes
up with the world, and feeds on the carrion it finds there; but return thou to
my rest, O my soul; to thy Noah, so the word is,
psalms 116:7. And as
Noah put forth his hand, and took the dove, and pulled her to him, into the ark,
so Christ will save, and help, and welcome those that flee to him for rest.
Verses 13-19 God
consults our benefit, rather than our desires; he knows what is good for us
better than we do for ourselves, and how long it is fit our restraints should
continue, and desired mercies should be delayed. We would go out of the ark
before the ground is dried; and perhaps, if the door, is shut, are ready to
thrust off the covering, and to climb up some other way; but God's time of
showing mercy is the best time. As Noah had a command to go into the ark, so,
how tedious soever his confinement there was, he would wait for a command to go
out of it again. We must in all our ways acknowledge God, and set him before us
in all our removals. Those only go under God's protection, who follow God's
direction, and submit to him.
Verses 20-22
Noah was now gone out into a desolate world, where, one might have thought, his
first care would have been to build a house for himself, but he begins with an
alter for God. He begins well, that begins with God. Though Noah's stock of
cattle was small, and that saved at great care and pains, yet he did not grudge
to serve God out of it. Serving God with our little is the way to make it more;
we must never think that is wasted with which God is honoured. The first thing
done in the new world was an act of worship. We are now to express our
thankfulness, not by burnt-offerings, but by praise, and pious devotions and
conversation. God was well pleased with what was done. But the burning flesh
could no more please God, than the blood of bulls and goats, except as typical
of the sacrifice of Christ, and expressing Noah's humble faith and devotedness
to God. The flood washed away the race of wicked men, but it did not remove sin
from man's nature, who being conceived and born in sin, thinks, devises, and
loves wickedness, even from his youth, and that as much since the flood as
before. But God graciously declared he never would drown the world again. While
the earth remains, and man upon it, there shall be summer and winter. It is
plain that this earth is not to remain always. It, and all the works in it, must
shortly be burned up; and we look for new heavens and a new earth, when all
these things shall be dissolved. But as long as it does remain, God's providence
will cause the course of times and seasons to go on, and makes each to know its
place. And on this word we depend, that thus it shall be. We see God's promises
to the creatures made good, and may infer that his promises to all believers
shall be so.
Chapter 8:
| Calvin
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 Revelation Exodus
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther
Job
Psalm
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Solomon
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Ezekiel
Daniel
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
Matthew
Mark
Luke
John
Acts
Romans
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians
1 Timothy
2 Timothy
Titus
Philemon
Hebrews
James
1 Peter
2 Peter
1 John
2 John
3 John
Jude
Revelation
