Commentary on Genesis Part 37

3. How he suffered in two ways 5.

* Whether G.o.d can forget his saints 6.

* Severest temptations are when man thinks he is forsaken by G.o.d 7.

4. Noah's condition became more miserable because of his family's distress 8-10.

5. Noah and family with difficulty overcame their temptation 11.

* Christians need steadfastness 12.

* Why G.o.d for a time conceals himself from his faithful ones 13.

* Temptations severe when saints imagine G.o.d has forsaken them 14.

B. THE WATERS ABATE.

1. The time the waters abated 15.

2. How the wind blew upon the earth and dried it. 16-17.

3. The abating of the waters was a sign by which G.o.d comforted Noah 18.

* Noah's Ark.

a. When it began to float, how long it floated and when it rested 19.

b. On what mountain did it rest 20.

c. What to think of Josephus' testimony 21.

4. When the mountain tops first seen 22.

5. How Noah learned the deluge had ceased.

a. Why Noah sent forth the raven, and how the error arose the raven never returned 23-24.

* The Jews' unclean thoughts of the raven 24.

b. Noah sent forth a dove, and if at the same time with the raven 25.

c. Noah sent out a second dove, which a.s.sured him that the flood had ceased 26.

(1) Dove returned with an olive leaf 26.

(2) Whether it did this of its own impulse, and what G.o.d thereby wished to indicate 27-28.

(3) The Jews' ideas on where the dove got the olive leaf 27.

(4) Why an olive leaf 28.

6. How long Noah and family were in the ark 29.

I. NOAH IN ARK--FLOOD ABATES.

A. NOAH'S CONDITION IN THE ARK.

V. 1a. _And G.o.d remembered Noah, and all the beasts, and all the cattle that were with him in the ark._

1. When that horrible wrath had exhausted itself, and all flesh with the earth had been destroyed, the promise made by G.o.d to Noah and his sons, that they were to be the seed of the human race, began to be realized. No doubt this promise was to them an object of eager expectation. No life is so hedged about with difficulties as that of faith. This was the life lived by Noah and his sons, whom we see absolutely depending upon the heavens for support. The earth was covered with water. Bottom on which to stand there was none. It was the word of promise that upheld them, as they drifted in this welter of waters.

2. When the flesh is free from danger, it holds faith in contempt, as the claims of the Papists show. It loves showy and toilsome tasks; in these it sweats. But behold Noah, on all sides surrounded by waters, yet not overwhelmed! Surely it is not works that sustain him but faith in G.o.d's mercy extended through the word of promise.

3. The difficulty besetting Noah is hinted at in the words: "G.o.d remembered." Moses thus intimates that Noah had been tossed on the water so long that G.o.d seemed to have forgotten him altogether. They who pa.s.s through such a mental strain, when the rays of divine grace are gone and they sit in darkness or are forgotten by G.o.d, find by experience that it is far more difficult to live in the Word or by faith alone than to be a hermit or a Carthusian monk.

4. Hence, it is not a meaningless expression when the Holy Spirit says that "G.o.d remembered Noah." He means that from the day Noah entered the ark, no word was spoken, nothing was revealed to him; that he saw no ray of divine grace shining, but merely clung to the promise which he had accepted, while in the meantime the waters and waves raged as if G.o.d had certainly forgotten. The same danger beset his children and also the cattle and all the other animals throughout the one hundred and fifty days they were in the ark. And though the holy seed by the aid of the conquering Spirit overcame those difficulties, the victory was not won without vexation of the flesh, tears and stupendous fear, felt, in my opinion, even by the brutes.

5. Thus a twofold danger beset them. The universal flood which swallowed up all mankind could not vanish without stupendous grief to the righteous, particularly as they saw themselves reduced to so small a number. Further, it was a serious matter to be buffeted by the waters for almost half a year without any consolation from G.o.d.

6. The expression used by Moses, "G.o.d remembered Noah," must not be short of its meaning by calling it a rhetorical figure, signifying that G.o.d acted after the manner of one who had forgotten Noah, whereas G.o.d cannot in truth forget his saints. A mere master of rhetoric, indeed, does not know what it means to live in such a state as to feel that G.o.d has forgotten him. Only the most perfect saints understand that, and can in faith bear, so to speak, a G.o.d who forgets. Therefore the Psalms and all the Scriptures are filled with complaints of this nature, in which G.o.d is called upon to arise, to open his eyes, to hear, to awaken.

7. Monks possessed of a higher degree of experience, at times underwent this temptation and called it a suspension of grace. The latter may be experienced also in temptations of a slighter nature.

The flame of l.u.s.t found in young people is altogether unbearable unless it is held in check by the Word of G.o.d and the Holy Spirit.

Similarly, at a more mature age, impatience and the desire for revenge can nowise be overcome unless G.o.d tears them from the soul. How much more liable is the soul to fall into the darkness of despair, or into ensnaring predestinarian tenets, when more severe temptations beset us and the suspension of grace is felt.

8. Hence this expression is not to be pa.s.sed by as a mere rhetorical ornament, according to the interpretation of the rabbis. It is intended rather to portray the state of soul which feels despair coming on amid unutterable groanings of heart, with just a spark of faith left to wrest victory from the flesh. In the same way that Paul suffered from Satan's messenger, we may believe that Noah felt himself stabbed in the heart, and that he often argued thus within himself: Dost thou believe that thou alone art so beloved of G.o.d? Dost thou believe that thou will be kept safe to the end, when waters are boundless, and those immense clouds seem to be inexhaustible?

9. When, then, such broodings found their way also into the weak souls of the women, what cries, wails and tears may we surmise to have been the result? Almost overcome by sadness and grief, he was forced to lift up and comfort those with the cheer his own heart did not feel.

10. It was, therefore, no jest or frolic for them to live so long locked up within the ark, to see the endless downpour of rain and to be carried to and fro floating upon the waves. This was the experience of having been forgotten by G.o.d which Moses implies when he says that G.o.d at last remembered Noah and his sons.

11. Though the occupants of the ark overcame this feeling by faith, they did not do so without great vexation of the flesh; just as a young man who leads a chaste life overcomes l.u.s.t, but surely not without the greatest vexation and trouble. In this instance, where the trial was greater, where all evidence was at variance with the fact that G.o.d was gracious and mindful of them, they indeed triumphed, but not without fearful tribulation. For the flesh, weak in itself, can bear nothing less patiently than the thought of a G.o.d who has forgotten. Human nature is p.r.o.ne to be puffed up and haughty when G.o.d remembers it, when he vouchsafes success and favor. Is it a wonder, then, that we become broken in spirit and desperate when G.o.d seems to have cast us away and everything goes against us?

12. Let us remember that this story sets before us an example of faith, of endurance, and of patience, to the end that, having the divine promise, we should not only learn to believe it, but should also consider that we are in need of endurance. Endurance is not maintained without a great struggle, and Christ calls upon us, in the New Testament, to acquire it when he says: "He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved," Mt 24, 13.

13. This is the reason why G.o.d hides for a time, as it were, seeming to have forgotten us, suspending his grace, as they say in the schools. As in this temptation not only the spirit but also the flesh is afflicted, so afterward, when he again begins to remember us, the perception of grace which during the trial was evident only to the spirit and most faintly at that, is extended to the flesh also.

14. Hence, the word "remembered" indicates that great sadness beset both man and beast during the entire time of the flood. It must have been by dint of great patience and extraordinary courage that Noah and the others bore this lapse from G.o.d's memory, which is simply unbearable to the flesh without the spirit even in slight trials.

True, G.o.d always remembers his own, even when he seems to have forsaken them; but Moses indicates that he remembered his people here in a visible way, by a sign, and by openly fulfilling what he had previously promised through the Word and the Spirit. This is the most important pa.s.sage in this chapter.

B. Waters Abate.

Vs. 1b-3. _And G.o.d made a wind to pa.s.s over the earth, and the waters a.s.suaged; the fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained; and the waters returned from off the earth continually; and after the end of a hundred and fifty days the waters decreased._

15. Moses said above (ch 7, 11-12) that the deluge raged in three different ways; for not only were the fountains of the great deep broken up and the windows of heaven opened, but also the rain descended. When these forces ceased on the one hundred and fiftieth day, quiet was once more in evidence and the fact that G.o.d remembered, and Noah with his sons and their wives, as also the animals, was refreshed after terror so great and continuous. If a storm of two days duration causes seafarers to despair, how much more distressing was that tossing about for half a year!

16. The question here arises, how the wind was made to pa.s.s over the earth, which as yet was entirely covered with water. It is nothing new that winds have the power to dry, especially those from the east, called by our countrymen "hohle winde," and by Virgil "parching winds," from the drouth which they bring upon the earth. These are mentioned also by Hosea 13, 15. The explanation, accordingly, is simple. Moses says that the wind was made to pa.s.s over the earth, that is, over the surface of the waters, for such a length of time that at last, the waters being dried up, the earth again appeared. So, in Exodus, a burning wind is said to have dried up the Red Sea. Now, G.o.d might have accomplished this without any wind, yet he habitually employs a natural means to attain his purposes.