2 Peter 2:5
Read 2 Peter 2:5 Using Other Translations
What does 2 Peter 2:5 mean?
And spared not the old world
In distinction from the present world, that now is; which was, as
it were, formed anew out of that which was destroyed by the
deluge. The Vulgate Latin version renders it, "the original
world"; and the Ethiopic version, "the first world"; it designs
the ancient inhabitants of the world, as it was from the
beginning, before the flood; who, being wicked, were not spared
by God, but had just punishment inflicted on them:
but saved Noah the eighth person;
not the eighth from Adam, as Enoch is said to be the seventh from
him, ( Jude 1:14
) for he was the tenth; nor is it to be read with the following
clause, "the eighth preacher of righteousness"; but he was the
eighth person, or one of the eight persons, saved from the flood;
see ( 1 Peter
3:20 ) hence the Ethiopic version, rather as a paraphrase
than a version, renders it, "but caused to remain seven souls
with Noah; whom he saved"; Hottinger
F16 and Dr. Hammond F17 observe, from the Arabic writers, that the mountain on which the ark rested, and a town near it, were called Themenim; that is, "the eight", from the number of persons then and there saved:
a preacher
of righteousness;
of the righteousness of God, in all his ways and works, and in
case he should destroy the world by a flood, as he had
threatened; and of civil and moral righteousness among men, both
by words, during the building of the ark, and by works, by his
own example, in his righteous life and conversation; and of the
righteousness of faith, or of Christ, by which he was justified
and of which he was an heir, ( Hebrews 11:7
) , the Jews F18 say that Noah was a prophet; and
they represent him also, as a preacher, and even tell us the very
words he used in his exhortations to the old world F19,
saying,
``be ye turned from your evil ways and works, lest the waters of the flood come upon you, and cut off all the seed of the children of men:''but though Noah, a preacher of righteousness, was saved, false teachers cannot expect to escape divine vengeance; who only are transformed as ministers of righteousness, but in truth are ministers of unrighteousness; opposers of the righteousness of Christ, and live unrighteous lives and conversations, and so their end will be according to their works:
bringing in
the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
or "the ungodly of the world", as (aera yevr) "the ungodly of the earth" F20; see (
Psalms 75:8 )
though here it indeed means a whole world of wicked men, all but
a very few, which were destroyed by the flood. This expresses
both the wickedness of the men of that generation, the
imagination of the thoughts of whose heart were evil continually;
and whose lives were filled up with uncleanness, violence,
rapine, oppression, injustice, and corruption, of all sorts; and
likewise the large numbers of them, there was a whole world of
them; and yet this did not secure them from the wrath of God, but
served to stir it up the more; wherefore false teachers and their
followers must not build upon their numbers, or hope to be
screened from just punishment on that account; since a world of
ungodly men were, for their wickedness, at once swept away, with
a flood of God's bringing upon them; causing that very useful and
serviceable element of water to be the means of their
destruction; for this was not a casual thing, which came of
itself, or by chance, but was of God himself, who broke up the
fountains of the great deep, and opened the windows of heaven,
and destroyed at once all mankind, men, women, and children, and
every living creature, excepting what were with Noah in the ark:
and since they were persons of such a character as here
described, it is not to be thought their punishment is ended
here; it is the general notion of the Jews F21,
that
``the generation of the flood shall have no part in the world to come, nor shall they stand in judgment.''
F16 Smegma Orientale, p. 251, 252.
F17 In loc.
F18 Aben Ezra in Gen. viii. 21.
F19 Pirke Eliezer, c. 22.
F20 Targum in Psal. xlvi. 8.
F21 Misna Sanhedrin, c. 11. sect. 3. Vajikra Rabba, sect. 4. fol. 149. 1. Yalkut Simeoni, par. 2. fol. 89. 2.
