Commentary on Genesis Part 28

* The greatest violence can obtain under the appearance of holiness, as among the Papists and Turks 219-221.

* Moses beautifully traces the course G.o.d takes in his judgments 222.

* Who can pa.s.s the right judgment upon the pope that he is Antichrist 223.

* How Antichrist strengthens the courage of the G.o.dly, and whether they can check him 223.

5. Noah laments this corruption 224.

* G.o.dlessness cannot be remedied when it adorns itself with the appearance of holiness 225.

6. How G.o.d views this corruption 226.

* Luther laments the wickedness of the enemies of the Gospel 227.

* How we should view G.o.d's delay in punishing the wickedness of his enemies 228.

* G.o.d's delay is very hard for believers 229.

7. The first world, although corrupt, was much better than the present world 230.

V. HOW NOAH ALONE WAS FOUND RIGHTEOUS, AND HOW THE WHOLE WORLD WAS DESTROYED.

A. Noah Alone Was found Righteous.

V. 8. _But Noah found grace in the eyes of Jehovah._

193. These are the words through which Noah was lifted up and quickened again. For such wrath of the divine majesty would have killed him, had not G.o.d added the promise of saving him. It is likely, however, that his faith had a struggle and was weak. We cannot imagine how such contemplation of G.o.d's wrath weakens courage.

194. This novel expression of the Holy Spirit the heavenly messenger Gabriel also uses when speaking to the Blessed Virgin Lk 1, 30, "Thou hast found favor (grace) with G.o.d." The expression most palpably excludes merit and commends faith, through which alone we are justified before G.o.d, made acceptable and well pleasing in his sight.

V. 9. _These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, and perfect in his generations; Noah walked with G.o.d._

195. With this pa.s.sage the Jews commence not only a new chapter, but also a new lesson. This is a very brief history, but it greatly extols our patriarch Noah; he alone remained just and upright while the other sons of G.o.d degenerated.

196. Let us remember many most excellent men were among the sons of G.o.d, of whom some lived with Noah well nigh five hundred years. Man in that age before the flood was very long-lived; not only the sons of G.o.d, but also the sons of men. A very wide and rich experience had been gathered by these people during so many years. Much they learned from their progenitors and much they saw and experienced.

197. Amid the corruption of all these stands Noah, a truly marvelous man. He swerves neither to the left nor to the right. He retains the true worship of G.o.d. He retains the pure doctrine, and lives in the fear of G.o.d. There is no doubt that a depraved generation hated him inordinately, tantalized him in various ways and thus insulted him: "Art thou alone wise? Dost thou alone please G.o.d? Are the rest of us all in error? Shall we all be d.a.m.ned? Thou alone dost not err. Thou alone shalt not be condemned." And thus the just and holy man must have concluded in his mind that all others were in error and about to be condemned, while he and his offspring alone were to be saved.

Although his conviction was right in the matter, his lot was a hard one. The holy man was in various ways troubled by such reflections.

198. The wretched Papists press us today with this one argument: Do you believe that all the fathers have been in error? It seems hard so to believe, especially of the worthier ones, such as Augustine, Ambrose, Bernard and that whole throng of the best men who have governed Churches with the Word and have been adorned with the august name of the Church. The labors of such we both laud and admire.

199. But surely no less a difficulty confronted Noah himself, who alone is called just and upright, at a time when the very sons of men paraded the name of the Church. When the sons of the fathers allied themselves with these they, forsooth, believed that Noah with his people raved, because he followed another doctrine and another worship.

200. Today our life is very brief, still to what lengths human nature will go is sufficiently in evidence. What may we imagine the condition to have been in such a long existence, in which the bitterness and vehemence of human nature were even stronger? Today we are naturally much more dull and stupid, and yet men singularly gifted rush into wickedness. It is afterward said that all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth, only Noah was just and upright.

201. From these two words we may gather the thought that Noah is held to be "just" as he honored the first table and "upright" as he honored the second. "Just" he is called, because of his faith in G.o.d, because he first believed the general promise with respect to the seed of woman and then also the particular one respecting the destruction of the world through the flood and the salvation of his own offspring. On the other hand he is called "upright" because he walked in the fear of G.o.d and conscientiously avoided murder and other sins with which the wicked polluted themselves in defiance of conscience. Nor did he permit himself to be moved by the frequent offenses of men most ill.u.s.trious, wise and apparently holy.

202. Great was his courage. Today it appears to us impossible that one man should oppose himself to all mankind, condemning them as evil, while they vaunt the Church and G.o.d's Word and worship, and to maintain that he alone is a son of G.o.d and acceptable before him.

Noah, accordingly, is a marvelous man, and Moses commends this same greatness of mind when he plainly adds "in his generation," or "in his age," as if he desired to say that his age was indeed the most wicked and corrupt.

203. Above, in the history of Enoch, we explained what it means to walk with G.o.d, namely, to advocate the cause of G.o.d in public. To be just and upright bespeaks private virtue, but to walk with G.o.d is something public--to advocate the cause of G.o.d before the world, to wield his Word, to teach his worship. Noah was not simply just and holy for himself but he was also a confessor; he taught others the promises and threats of G.o.d, and performed and suffered all that behooves a public personage in an age so exceedingly wicked and corrupt.

204. If it were I who had seen that so great men in the generation of the unG.o.dly were opposed to me, I surely in desperation should have cast aside my ministry. For one cannot conceive how difficult it is for one man to oppose himself alone to the unanimity of all churches; to impugn the judgment of the best and most amicable of men; to condemn them; to teach, to live, and to do everything, in opposition to them. This is what Noah did. He was inspired with admirable constancy of purpose, inasmuch as he, innocent before men, not only regarded the cause of G.o.d, but most earnestly pressed it among the most nefarious men, until he was told: "My spirit shall not further strive with man." And the word "strive" finely portrays the spirit with which the unG.o.dly heard Noah instruct them.

205. Peter also beautifully sets forth what it means to walk with G.o.d when he calls Noah a preacher, not of the righteousness of man, but of G.o.d; that is, that of faith in the promised seed. But what reward Noah received from the unG.o.dly for his message Moses does not indicate. The statement is sufficient, that he preached righteousness, that he taught the true worship of G.o.d while the whole earth opposed him. That means the best, most religious and wisest of men were against him.

More than one miracle, in consequence, was necessary to prevent his being waylaid and killed by the unG.o.dly. We see today how much wrath, hate, and envy one sermon to the people may create. What shall we believe Noah may have suffered who taught not a hundred, not two hundred, but even more years, down to the last century, when G.o.d did not desire the wicked to receive instruction any longer lest they become still fiercer and more depraved.

206. Therefore we may conjecture from the condition and nature of the world itself, and of the devil, from the experience of the apostles and the prophets, and likewise from our own, what a n.o.ble example of patience and other virtues Noah has been, who was just and irreproachable in that unG.o.dly generation and walked with G.o.d--that is, governed the churches with the Word--and who, when the one hundred and twenty years were determined upon, after the lapse of which the world was to be destroyed by a flood, in face of such a terrible threat, entered into matrimony and begot children.

207. It is very probable that he traveled up and down the earth; that he taught everywhere; that everywhere he exhorted to worship G.o.d in truth; that he, hindered by many labors, refrained from matrimony on account of abundance of tribulations and in the expectation of the advent of a better and more religious age. But when he recognized this hope as unfounded and by a voice divine was warned that a time had been set for the world's destruction, then and not before, prompted by the Spirit, did he make up his mind to marry, in order to transmit to the new age seed out of himself. And thus the holy man preserved the human race, not only spiritually, in the true Word and worship, but also bodily, by begetting children.

208. As in paradise a new Church had its beginning, before the flood, through Adam and Eve's faith in the promise, so also here a new world and a new Church arise from the marriage of Noah--a nursery of that world which shall endure to the end.

209. I stated above (--88) that this marriage was an occasion of great offense to the unG.o.dly and that they made the most extraordinary sport of it. How inconsistent that the world is to perish so soon, when Noah, five hundred years old, becomes a father! They deemed his act the surest evidence that the world was not to perish by a flood.

Hence, they began to live even more licentiously, and in the greatest security to despise all threats. Christ says in Matthew 24, 38, that in the days of Noah they ate, they drank, etc. The world does not understand the plans of G.o.d.

210. Concerning the order of the sons of Noah, I said above that j.a.pheth was first, that Shem was born two years afterward when Noah commenced to build the ark, and Ham two years later. This has not been clearly explained by Moses, but still it has been carefully noted.

B. Destruction of the Whole World.

V. 11. _And the earth was corrupt before G.o.d, and the earth was filled with violence._

211. Lyra, perhaps under the influence of rabbinic interpretation, contends here that even the birds and other animals forsook their nature and mixed with those of another species. But I do not believe it, for the creation or nature of animals remains as it was fashioned.

They have not fallen through sin, like man, but are, on the contrary, fashioned for this bodily life alone. In consequence they neither hear the Word, nor does the Word concern them. They are absolutely without the Law of the first and the second tables. Accordingly, this pa.s.sage refers only to man.

212. But that the beasts bore the penalty of sin and perished at the same time with man through the flood was the result of G.o.d's purpose to destroy man altogether; not alone in body and soul, but with the possessions and dominion which were his at creation. Instances of similar retribution occur in the Old Testament. In the sixth chapter of Daniel we see the enemies of Daniel cast into the lions' den, together with their wives, children and whole families. In the sixteenth chapter of Numbers a like incident is narrated in connection with the destruction of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Similar is also an instance spoken of by Christ when the king commands to sell the servant together with wife, children and all his substance.

213. In this manner, evidently, not only men but all their goods were destroyed, so that punishment might be full and complete. Beasts, fields and the birds of heaven were created for man. They are man's property and chattels. Therefore, the animals perished, not because they had sinned, but because G.o.d wanted man to perish amid all his earthly possessions.

214. In this pa.s.sage Moses' specific statement that "the earth was corrupt before G.o.d," is made to show that Noah was treated and esteemed in the eyes of his age as a stupid and good for nothing character. The world, on the contrary, appeared in its own eyes perfectly holy and righteous, believing it had just cause for the persecution of Noah, especially in regard to the first table of the Law and the worship of G.o.d. The second table is not without its disguise of hypocrisy, but in this respect it bears no comparison to the former. The adulterer, the thief, the murderer can remain hidden for a while, though not forever. But the sins of the first table generally remain hidden under the cloak of sanct.i.ty until G.o.d brings them to light. G.o.dlessness never wishes to be G.o.dlessness, but chases after a reputation for piety and religion; and trims its cult so finely that in comparison with it the true cult and the true religion appear coa.r.s.e.

215. The verb _shiheth_ is very frequent and conspicuous in Holy Scripture. Moses uses it in the thirty-first chapter of Deuteronomy, verse 29: "For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you."

And David says, "They are all gone aside; they are together become filthy," Ps 14, 3. Both pa.s.sages speak particularly of the sins against the first table; that is, they accuse the apparently devoutest saints of false worship and false doctrine, for it is impossible for a righteous life to follow teaching that is false.

216. When Moses says the earth was corrupt before G.o.d, he clearly points out the contrast--the hypocrites and oppressors judged Noah's teaching and practise as wholly wrong, and their own as altogether holy. The reverse, Moses says, was true. Mankind was a.s.suredly corrupt measured by the first table. They lacked the true Word and the true worship. This distinction between the first and the second tables commends itself strongly to my judgment and was doubtless suggested by the Holy Spirit.

217. The additional statement--"and the earth was filled with violence"--points to this unfailing sequence. With the Word lost, with faith extinct, with traditions and will-worship--to use St. Paul's phraseology (Col 2, 8)--having replaced the true cult, there results violence and shameful living.

218. The correct significance of the word _hamas_ is violence force, wrong, with the suspension of all law and equity, a condition where pleasure is law and everything is done not by right, but by might. But if such was their life, you may say, how could they maintain the appearance and reputation of holiness and righteousness? As if we did not really have similar instances before our eyes today. Has the world ever seen anything more cruel than the Turks? And they adorn all their fierceness with the name of G.o.d and religion.

219. The popes have not only seized for themselves the riches of the earth, but have filled the Church itself with stupendous errors and blasphemous doctrines. They live in shocking licentiousness. They alienate at pleasure the hearts of kings. Much is done by them to bring on bloodshed and war. And yet, with all such blasphemies and outrages, they arrogate to themselves the name and t.i.tle of the greatest saints and boast of being vicars of Christ and successors of Peter.

220. Thus the greatest wrong is allied to the names of Church and true religion. Should any one offer objection, immediately is he put under the ban and condemned as a heretic and an enemy of G.o.d and man.

Barring the Romans and their accomplices, there is no people which plumes itself more upon religion and righteousness than the Turks. The Christians they despise as idolaters; themselves they esteem as most holy and wise. Notwithstanding, what is their life and religion but incessant murder, robbery, rapine and other horrible outrages?

221. The present times, therefore, ill.u.s.trate how those two incompatible things may be found in union--the greatest religiousness with abominations, the greatest wrong with a show of right. And this is the very cause for men becoming hardened and secure without apprehending the punishment they merit by their sins.