By faith Noah, being warned of God
In the Greek text, Noah is called "Noe", and so the Septuagint
interpreters of the Old Testament call him; but Josephus calls
him "Noeos": or "having received an oracle from God"; in which he
was admonished, how to make an ark, as Moses was, in like manner,
how to make a tabernacle, ( Hebrews 8:5 ) . This
oracle or warning is extant, in ( Genesis
6:13-22 ) and it was
of things not seen as yet;
as the universal deluge; the building of an ark or ship, which
was the first that ever was in the world; the entrance of all
creatures into it; their preservation in it, and the destruction
of all without it: and this divine warning, or oracle, concerning
things of such a nature, delivered to Noah, and received by him,
shows that he was a favourite of God; that his faith rested in
the word of God; and that it agreed with the apostle's definition
of faith, ( Hebrews 11:1
) ,
moved with fear;
not with a fear of his own damnation; nor with a distrust of the
salvation of himself and his family in the ark; but with an awful
sense of the judgments of God upon the wicked; and with reverence
of God, from whom he received the oracle; and with a religious
fear, with which he worshipped God, and which he discovered by a
regard to his word and ordinances; and which fear does not arise
from nature, but from grace; and is increased by the discoveries
of divine love; and is consistent with faith, goes along with it,
and is a fruit of it: hence he
prepared an ark for the saving of his house.
Immediately, and without delay, he set about the building of the
ark, and made it exactly according to the pattern which was given
him; and his end in it was to secure his family, himself and his
wife, his three sons and their wives, from the flood, which he
believed would shortly come upon the world, according to the word
of God; and in this his faith was seen: and from hence it may be
observed, that, though God can save without means, yet, generally
speaking, it is his will to save by them; and that as God saved
Noah and his family in the waters, so he can, and does, save his
people in afflictions; and also, that true faith is attended with
obedience:
by the which he condemned the world:
the inhabitants of the world, the world of the ungodly: as a
preacher, he declared they would be condemned, in case of
impenitence and unbelief; and his words heard, and his actions
seen by them, were aggravations of their condemnation; for by his
works, as well as by his words, he reproved, and condemned them;
by building the ark, as he declared his own faith, so he
condemned their unbelief; (See Gill on Matthew
12:41)
and became heir of the righteousness which is by
faith:
not of the law, but of the righteousness of Christ, and of
eternal life through that; for he was not only heir of this
world, as Abraham, but of that which is to come; and not through
works of righteousness done by him, but through the righteousness
of Christ received by faith, or through faith in Christ, the
antitype of the ark.