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[If to someone the space of the ark still appears much too constricted for
receiving so many animals to be saved and fed, let him consider what things
follow here out of Bochart.] Question: With what food did Noah sustain the
carnivorous beasts in the ark? Response: Not with flesh. For, 1. whence
would so much flesh be available to suffice, since a certain number of animals
was admitted onto the ark, and most by twos only? 2. It is not probable that
Noah was given over for so long a time to such an assiduous and loathsome
service. Accordingly, I would prefer to say that, by whatever miracle it was
accomplished that lions, panthers, tigers, etc., with their fierceness resigned,
grew tame and subjected themselves to man, by the same it was accomplished
that, with flesh ignored for the time, they fed upon hay and produce, content,
namely, with food at hand and easily obtainable (Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue
of Animals 1:1:2:9). From the aforementioned, it is clear that the cubit,
spoken of here, was the common cubit, which was comprised of a foot and a
half. However, it was the foot of that age, which was much larger than today’s
(just as the men were) (Lyra). hm@f)a does not so much signify a cubit as an
important standard of measurement, from which other daughters, so to speak,
are born; from M)', which signifies both a mother, from whom are many sons,
and a way, from which are many paths. See Ezekiel 21:261 (Oleaster).

This is the fashion, or, this is the measure, or the manner according to
which thou shalt make it; and it was a just and regular proportion, the length
being six times more than the breadth, and ten times more than the height.
There is no need to understand this of geometrical cubits, which are said to
have contained nine ordinary cubits; nor of sacred cubits, which were a hand’s
breadth longer than the ordinary, Ezekiel 43:13; nor to suppose the stature of
men at that time to have been generally larger, and consequently their cubit
much longer. For the ordinary cubit consisting of a common foot and a half, is
sufficient for the containing of all the kinds of living creatures and their
provisions, which was to be put into the ark, as hath been at large
demonstrated by learned men. Nor is there any considerable difficulty in the
point, but what is made by the ignorance of infidels, and aggravated by their
malice against the Holy Scriptures; especially if these things be considered: 1.
That the differing kinds of beasts and birds, which unlearned men fancy to be
innumerable, are observed by the learned, who have particularly searched into
them, and written of them, to be little above three hundred, whereof the far
greatest part are but small; and many of these which now are thought to differ
in kind, in their first original were but of one sort, though now they be so
greatly altered in their shape and qualities, which might easily arise from the

1 Ezekiel 21:21a: “For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the
head (M)'/mother) of the two ways, to use divination.”

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diversity of their climate and food, and other circumstances, and from the
promiscuous conjunctions of those lawless creatures. 2. That the brute
creatures, when they were enclosed in the ark, where they were idle, and
constantly under a kind of horror and amazement, would be contented with far
less provisions, and those of another sort than they were accustomed to, and
such as might lie in less room, as hay, and the fruits of the earth. God also,
who altered their natures, and made the savage creatures mild and gentle,
might by the same powerful providence moderate their appetites, or, if he
pleased, have increased their provision whilst they did eat it, as afterwards
Christ did by the loaves. So vain and idle are the cavils of wanton wits
concerning the incapacity of the ark for the food of so many beasts. 3. That
supposing the ravenous creatures did feed upon flesh, here is also space enough
and to spare for a sufficient number of sheep, for their food for a whole year, as
upon computation will easily appear; there being not two thousand sheep
necessary for them, and the ark containing no less than four hundred and fifty
thousand cubits in it. But of this matter more may be seen in the Synopsis
portion.

[The height thirty cubits] Either with the roof, or, as others, without
the roof (Lyra). The length was ten times the measure of the height
(Menochius). The proportions of the ark are the same as those of a man lying
flat on his back, as a certain Italian related to me (Drusius). And also with
respect to proportion and form, it was quite similar to an ark or to a funeral
coffin, six times longer than wide, ten times longer than deep. This was
adapted to navigation, both firm against the winds, and suitable for signifying
the death and burial of Christ (and ours with him). See 1 Peter 3:20; Romans
6:3, 4, 6 (Ainsworth).

Verse 16: A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt
thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof;
with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.

[A window (thus the Chaldean, Samaritan Text, Montanus, Munster,
Pagnine, Tigurinus, Oleaster, Ainsworth, Malvenda), rhca ]o Others translate
it, a light clear (Junius and Tremellius, Ainsworth), diafane\j/translucent
(Symmachus in Nobilius), mesh/mbrinon, of midday (Aquila and Jerome in
Nobilius) (from rhaco is MyrI hA c/ f/midday [Piscator]); lookouts (Syriac); lights
(Arabic); a lamp (Oleaster) [but the Septuagint has e0pisuna&gwn poih/seij,
Narrowing, thou shalt make the ark]; or a brightness, that is, windows, or
rather, a window. It is a metonym of designed effect1 (Piscator). Or it was a
precious gem illuminating the ark with light (Hebrews in Buteo). This

1 The intended effect, brightness, is mentioned in the place of the subject, the window.

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falsehood is betrayed by what follows, and Noah opened the window1 (Buteo).
Either it was made of crystal (Lyra, Menochius, Buteo), so that it might take
light in and keep water out (Lyra); or from a transparent stone (Menochius,
Buteo), or from glass (Menochius). Some maintain that there were multiple
windows (since one would not sufficiently illumine the whole edifice), but one
was greater (Lyra); which does not prevent that there might be other, smaller
windows (Menochius). This does not satisfy. With great ignorance of matters
and rashness, they imagine a multiplicity of windows, contrary to the precept
of the Lord. They could equally well say that many little arks were built, but
one was mentioned by name as the greatest. Besides, light was necessary only
in that part in which men were living. For wild beasts, creeping things, and
birds do not avoid darkness (Buteo).

A window, or a light; or lights, or windows; the singular number being
put for the plural, which is most frequent: or it might be one great light or
lantern, by which light might be derived and distributed into several rooms.

[Shalt thou finish its top, hnlF@ @ke at@]; Thou shalt finish it, that is, the
window (Vatablus, Oleaster), the length of which he describes here, not the
width, which it was fitting that it be very small (Vatablus). Others refer this to
the ark: thus Buteo and others informed by him (Drusius, Castalio, Lapide,
Bonfrerius, Piscator, Ainsworth). That is to say, let the roof be nearly flat, so
that it might, of course, rise gradually and slowly (from the extremities
towards the middle) unto the height of a cubit (Lapide, Menochius): Thus the
roof would be, so that water might flow down from every part (Piscator).
They approve this: 1. from hnl@F ek@ at@;, since it has a feminine object suffix, it
does not agree with rhca /o window, which is masculine. 2. The verb, thou
shalt finish, communicates that he speaks concerning something already begun,
but not completed, which the ark certainly was. 3. It necessarily had a roof
because of so much rain. Which also appears from this, opening the roof of the
ark.2 Hence also in the ark is added,3 lest anyone should think that a window
was set in the roof, as some imagine, and as it now is in the tiled roofs of
houses. Therefore, that cubit, contrary to all the others, I understand of the
height of the peak along the entire length for the flowing of water (Buteo).
However, Lyra preceded Buteo. With respect to the upper recesses of the ark
(says he), the roof proceeded by tying itself together in such a way that the sides
did not differ from the apex, except by a cubit; and this was so that the rain
might flow down (Lyra). Or the sense is, Have the measure of a cubit always at
hand, and consult it, until you have finished the ark, evaluating all things by the

1 Genesis 8:6.
2 Genesis 8:13.
3 Genesis 6:16a: “A window shalt thou make to the ark (hbtf 'l@ ,a in the ark) . . .”

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prescribed unit and measure of prescribed cubits (Menochius).
Shalt thou finish it above, i.e. either, 1. The window, which was to be

a cubit square. Or rather, 2. The ark; as appears, 1. From the gender of the
Hebrew affix, which is feminine, and therefore agrees with the ark, which in
the Hebrew is of the feminine gender, not with the window, which is
masculine. 2. From the nature of the thing, the ark requiring a roof, and that
sloping, that the rain might slide off from it, and not sink into it; for which end
the roof in the middle was to be higher than the ark by a cubit. And as the
other parts of the ark were made with exquisite contrivance, so doubtless this
was not defective therein.

[Parts underneath, the upper story, and the third story, MyI%n#I ;$ MyI%tix@ ;t@a
My#il$ #i ;w$ ]@ The lower, the second, and the third (Montanus, Pagnine, Oleaster,
Ainsworth). The lower, the second story, and the third story (Septuagint,
Samaritan Text). The lower, the middle, the upper (Arabic). With lower,
middle, and tertiary partitions (Munster, Tigurinus). Others understand
dwellings (Chaldean, Syriac, Junius and Tremellius).

[Underneath] This is to be bound to the following (not with the
preceding,1 as some mistakenly construe it) (Lyra). They render it, the lower
(Chaldean, Syriac, Montanus, Vatablus, Grotius), or of the lowest, supply
dwellings, thou shalt make it (Piscator, Ainsworth). The lowest story, which
was for bilgewater and manure (Lyra, Menochius, Tirinus), whence the filth
was afterwards being expelled through the upper window, brought back into
the high place by pumps or baskets or rigging (Tirinus). Symmachus translates
it, kata_ [unless perhaps it is to be read as ka&tw, which signifies underneath]
di/stega kai\ tri/stega, in accordance with two and three stories, or in
accordance with double and triple floors (Drusius).

[The upper story] This is the genus name. Here an interpreter posited
this for the floor under the deck of the ship (Grotius); that is, the middle deck
(Lyra, Menochius, Tirinus).

[The third story] The third or highest floor (Lyra, Menochius,
Tirinus). On the other hand, Grotius takes it for the lowest: For he begins
from the highest. But in Acts 20:9, the third floor is reckoned from the lowest
(Grotius). They translate these things confusedly and without any sense,
adjectives without substantives, second and third. Translate, of two floors and
of three floors (Buteo). On the lowest floor was the place of ballast for
balancing the ark, and bilgewater. On the second was the place of the animals.
On the third were the provisions and the casks of sweet water for drinking and

1 Thus Genesis 6:16 would be rendered: “A window shalt thou make to the ark, and
in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side
thereof underneath (MyIt% @ixt; @a); second, and third stories shalt thou make it.”

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bathing. On the fourth was the place of men and birds. On each floor were
central walkways, and in these ladders. In the floors were holes and tubes, by
which food and filth were let down. In the side of the ark, from the middle
almost up to the top, were here and there openings and apertures for
respiration, for light, for carrying out filth (Tirinus).

The highest story was for men and birds; the second for provision for
the brute creatures; the lowest for the beasts, under which was the sink of the
ark, which most probably was made sloping at the bottom, as all ships and boats
are, where serpents and such like creatures might be put, with their proper
provisions.

Verse 17: And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the
earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and
every thing that is in the earth shall die (Gen. 6:13; 7:4, 21-23; 2 Pet. 2:5).

[I] Hebrew: I, behold, I:1 That is to say, as for me, I will bring it
(Vatablus, Piscator).

[Flood, lwb@ m@ a@] This is a name peculiar to this flood, in which all things
wither and die (Ainsworth).

I, even I, which is thus emphatically repeated, to signify that this flood
did not proceed from natural causes, but from the immediate hand and
judgment of God, do bring, i.e. will assuredly and speedily bring, all flesh, i.e.
all men, birds, and beasts.

Every thing that is in the earth. This limitation is added to show, that
the fishes are not included in the threatened destruction, either because they
did not live in the same element wherein men lived and sinned; or because they
were not so instrumental in men’s sins as the beasts might be; or because man
had a greater command over the beasts than over the fishes, and greater service
and benefit from them; and therefore the destruction of the former was a
greater and more proper punishment to man than the latter.

Verse 18: But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt
come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with
thee (Gen. 7:1, 7, 13; 1 Pet. 3:20; 2 Pet. 2:5).

[I will set] Or, I will establish my covenant (Vatablus), the rainbow
evidently (Menochius): or, that is to say, I will covenant with thee concerning
the safety of thee and thine (Menochius, Piscator, Ainsworth); and from thee in
return I require thee to build the ark, and enter it, and to trust in me (Piscator,
Ainsworth). I shall save thee from those who were at that time saying that if
they should see that him desiring to enter the ark, they would kill him. For it

1 Hebrew: ynnI h: i ynI)wj A.

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follows, And thou shalt enter, that is, safely (Lyra). Thou shalt not be killed by
the waters of the flood (a learned Hebrew). It is not, however, reported by
Moses that God promised this. But not all things are reported. Because the
construction of the ark was most difficult, and exposed to obstacles, God
reassures His servant (Vatablus). Or, it signifies that the covenant of the
promised seed is confirmed with Noah, so that he might know with certainty
that Christ was to be born from him, and that God, even in such great anger,
was going to leave a seminary of the Church (Munster).

Either, 1. My promise to preserve thee and thine, both till the flood
and in it, notwithstanding all the scoffs and threats of the wicked world against
thee all the time of thy preaching and building of the ark. The word covenant
being here understood, not of a mutual compact or agreement, but of a single
and gracious promise, as it is also used Numbers 18:19; 25:12, and in other
places. Which promise, though only here mentioned, was doubtless made
before, as may easily be gathered, both from these words and some foregoing
passages, and from the need which Noah had of such a support and
encouragement during all the time of his ministry. Or, 2. My covenant
concerning the sending of the promised Seed, and the redemption of mankind
by the Messias, who shall come out of thy loins, and therefore thou shalt be
preserved.

Verse 19: And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt
thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and
female (Gen. 7:8, 9, 15, 16).

[Of every living thing] Namely, terrestrial animals (Lapide, Piscator):
not fish, nor amphibious creatures, unless they were not able to do without the
land for long periods of time (Lapide). There were fewer species of animals
than might appear. Zoographers enumerate hardly thirty species of reptiles,
one hundred and thirty species of terrestrial animals or quadrupeds, one
hundred and fifty species of birds. See Gesner1 and Aldrovandi2 (Bonfrerius).
Of the terrestrial animals, only six are larger than a horse, few equal, many
smaller even than sheep. Pererius equates all the terrestrial animals with two
hundred and fifty oxen. Few birds are larger than the swan, the majority are
smaller. Therefore, the ark was able easily to hold all these (Lapide, nearly
thus Bonfrerius).

[Two] Namely, of the unclean; for the clean are taken by sevens
(Munster). Otherwise: by twos, that is, joined together, that is, male and
female. This does not pertain to the number of animals (Piscator, Bonfrerius).

1 Conrad Gesner (1516-1565) was a Swiss philosopher and naturalist. He was a
professor of Philosophy at Zurich.
2 Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522-1605) was an Italian naturalist.

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Of all flesh two; i.e. either, 1. By couples, or male and female; but
this is mentioned as a distinct thing in the close of the verse. Or rather, 2.
Two at least of every sort, even of the unclean; but of the clean more, as is
noted Genesis 7:2.

[So that they might live with thee] Hebrew: to cause to live1
(Ainsworth, Malvenda); that is, that thou mayest keep them alive (Ainsworth,
Piscator). Infinitive verbs often imply person.2 Thus, Ecclesiastes 5:1: they
are ignorant to do evil;3 that is, they know not that they do evil. Thus,
Zechariah 12:10: to be in bitterness,4 in the place of, they will be in bitterness.
Thus, 1 Chronicles 17:4: to dwell in,5 is in 2 Samuel 7:5, for me to dwell in6
(Ainsworth).

Verse 20: Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of
every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come
unto thee, to keep them alive (Gen. 7:9, 15; see Gen. 2:19).

[They shall enter with thee] Hebrew: They shall come unto thee7 of
their own will and by the decree of God (Munster, Tirinus), or by the urging of
Angels (Tirinus, Targum Jerusalem), as formerly unto Adam, Genesis 2:19
(Menochius, Tirinus); that is to say, There will be no need of hunting or
fowling (Piscator, Ainsworth).

After their kind, i.e. according to their several kinds. They shall come
unto thee of their own accord, by my impulse, or by the conduct of angels, as
Genesis 2:19.

Verse 21: And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou
shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.

[Thou shalt bring into thy care] Thou shalt gather or thou shalt take in

1 Hebrew: twOyxjhal,; in the Hiphil conjugation.
2 The person of an infinitive verb can frequently be supplied from the governing finite
verb. Here: “Two of every sort shalt thou bring ()ybit@f, second person singular
subject) into the ark, to keep them (tyxO jhla ,; so that thou mayst keep them, infinitive
with the second person subject supplied from the preceding verb) alive with thee.”
3 Hebrew: (rA tw#O o(lj a My(idw: Oy MnyF )'-yk.i@
4 Zechariah 12:10b: “And they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only
son, and shall be in bitterness (rmh' fw:, Hiphil infinite absolute of rrAm)f for him, as one
that is in bitterness (rmh' fk@;, Hiphil infinite absolute of rrmA )f for his firstborn.”
5 1 Chronicles 17:4b: “Thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not build me an house to dwell
in (tb#e $lf ,f infinitive).”
6 2 Samuel 7:5b: “Thus saith the Lord, Shalt thou build me an house for me to dwell
in (yt@bi ;#li$ ;, infinitive with a first person singular suffix)?”
7 Hebrew: K1yle)' w)@ byo F.

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unto thee in the ark. Thus Ps)a f1 is taken in Numbers 11:302 and Judges
19:153 (Drusius).

[Of all food] Therefore, also flesh for the carnivorous beasts
(Menochius). But Bonfrerius denies this; in that case, not only by twos or by
sevens, but there would be far more to be brought in (Bonfrerius). In a time of
necessity, men and animals live well on food which otherwise they would not
eat (Lyra).

See Genesis 1:29, 30.

Verse 22: Thus did Noah (Heb. 11:7; see Ex. 40:16); according to all
that God commanded him, so did he (Gen. 7:5, 9, 16).

[And he did] Question: When did the ark begin to be constructed?
Response 1: One hundred years before the flood. This is the position of the
Fathers. Objection: It is said in verse 18, Though shalt enter, with thy sons,
and wives, etc. But there were not yet sons to Noah, nor wives to them.
Response 1: 1. Perhaps he had others, whom he does not name because they
perished. 2. It is not necessary to ascribe to the same time all the things which
are in this place prescribed to Noah by God (Bonfrerius). Response 2: Others
maintain that Noah expended one hundred and twenty years in constructing the
ark (Mercerus, Willet). They approve this, 1. because this space of time was
granted to that ancient world for repentence, Genesis 6:3. 2. From 1 Peter
3:20, where the time in which the longsuffering of God was waiting, and the
time in which the ark was being constructed, are held to be the same (Willet).

Both for the matter and the manner of it, although the work of building
the ark was laborious, costly, tedious, dangerous, and seemingly foolish and
ridiculous; especially when all things continued in the same posture and safety
for so many scores of years together; whereby Noah, without doubt, was all
that while the song of the drunkards, and the sport of the wits of that age. So

1 Genesis 6:21a: “And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt
gather (tf@ps; )a wf ): it to thee.”
2 Numbers 11:30: “And Moses gat him (Ps')fy%w" A, was gathered) into the camp, he and
the elders of Israel.”
3 Judges 19:15b: “For there was no man that took (Ps)@' ma ;, gathered) them into his
house to lodging.”

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that it is not strange that this is mentioned as an heroic act of faith in Noah,
Hebrews 11:7, whereby he surmounted all these difficulties.



Chapter 7

God commands Noah to enter into the ark; the reason of it, 1. Directs
him as to the manner and time, 2-4. Noah’s obedience in all things, 5. His
age, 6. His entrance with his family, etc. into the ark, 7-9. The day in which
the flood began, 10, 11. Its continuance, 12. Noah and his family, etc. in the
ark, 13-16. The flood increases and destroys all living substance, 17-24.

[2349 BC] Verse 1: And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and
all thy house into the ark (Gen. 7:13; Matt. 24:38; Luke 17:26, 27; Heb. 11:7;
1 Pet. 3:20; 2 Pet. 2:5); for thee have I seen righteous before me in this
generation (Gen. 6:9; Ps. 33:18, 19; Prov. 10:9; 2 Pet. 2:9).

[Enter] That is, prepare thyself for entry, which was to be after seven
days1 (Lyra).

[Into the ark] Thus it is called on account of its form; not ship, because
it was without oars (Munster).

[Righteous] Retaining of true worship and living in the fear of God.
He was just, by faith believing the word of God concerning the destroying of
the world and the saving of his own posterity, and concerning the seed of the
woman (Munster).

[Before me] That is, just without mixture (Piscator, Ainsworth),
extending both to external actions and the disposition of the soul (Piscator).

When the ark was finished and furnished, and the time of God’s
patience expired, Genesis 6:3, he said unto Noah, Come, i.e. prepare to enter,
thou and all thy family; which consisted only of eight persons, 1 Peter 3:20, to
wit, Noah and his three sons, and their four wives, Genesis 6:18. Whereby it
appears that each had but one wife, and consequently it is more than probable
that polygamy, as it began in the posterity of wicked Cain, Genesis 4:19, so it
was confined to them, and had not as yet got footing amongst the sons of God.
For if ever polygamy had been allowable, it must have been now, for the re-
peopling of the perishing world. For thee have I seen righteous, with the
righteousness of faith, as it is explained, Hebrews 11:7, evidenced by all the
fruits of righteousness and true holiness, not only before men, and seemingly,
but really, and to my all-seeing eye, in this generation; of which expression, see
on Genesis 6:9.

Verse 2: Of every clean beast (Gen. 7:8; Lev. 11) thou shalt take to
thee by sevens (Heb. seven seven), the male and his female: and of beasts that

1 Genesis 7:4.

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are not clean (Lev. 10:10; Ezek. 44:23) by two, the male and his female.
[Of animals, hmfh'b@h; a] Even from here it is evident that it is spoken of

all terrestrial quadrupeds, either wild or tame. With respect to the word
animal or beast, the singular is put for the plural1 (Piscator).

[Clean and unclean] Some maintain that these things were thus spoken
by way of anticipation and materially, concerning those things which afterwards
in the Law were considered clean and unclean (Estius, Lyra). But Noah would
not have been able to distinguish, unless at that time the distinction of these was
already made (Estius). It is rightly said that before the Law, Leviticus 11, this
distinction was made (Hebrews in Lyra, Estius, Tirinus); certainly with respect
to sacrifice and offering (Lyra, Estius, Tirinus, Piscator, Ainsworth, Oleaster,
Lapide) (not with respect to food, because it is likely that the pious did not eat
flesh before the flood [Tirinus]): For, in chapter 8, it is said that Noah offered
of the clean.2 And some legal things were observed before the Law; like the
Sabbath, Genesis 2:1-3; abstinence from blood, Genesis 9:4; circumcision,
Genesis 17:10-14 (Lyra, Oleaster). It appears that this distinction was in the
law of nature. Adam (it is likely) received it from God, and handed it down to
posterity (Tirinus). They learned this from God before the flood (Oleaster,
Piscator, Ainsworth). Either it was by a divine instinct, or by a positive
ordinance of God (Estius). With respect to the sacrifices of the clean, there
were only three species among the quadrupeds, that is, oxen, sheep, and goats,
Leviticus 1:2; 22:19; and only two species of birds, turtledoves and young
pigeons, Leviticus 1:14, besides the small bird, Leviticus 14:50, etc. (Piscator).
He calls those things unclean, not from the Law of Moses, which was not yet
given, but from those which had begun to be fed by flesh. Animals thus defiled
Tacitus calls profane, in Histories3 4 (Grotius).

Objection. The distinction of clean and unclean beasts was not before
the law. Answer. Some legal things were prescribed and used before the law,
as abstinence from the eating of blood, Genesis 9:4, and, among other things,
sacrifices, as learned men have sufficiently proved; and consequently the
distinction of beasts to be sacrificed was then, in some measure, understood,
which afterwards was expressed, Leviticus 1, etc. Nor is this a good argument,
This was not written before, therefore it was not commanded and practised
before, especially concerning a time when no commands of God were written,
but only delivered by tradition.

[Seven and seven] Six were for the purpose of multiplication, and the
seventh for offering (Lyra). One pair was for the preservation of the species,
the second pair for sacrifice, the third pair for food after the flood; finally, the

1 hmhf 'bh@; a is singular.
2 Genesis 8:20.
3 Historiæ.

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seventh was a male to be offered for a sacrifice immediately after the flood,
Genesis 8:20 (Menochius out of Lapide). But, says Andreas, a seventh for
offering was not needed, for Noah knew that the animals and birds would
remain in the ark for so long a time that they would be able to proliferate there,
and thus he could sacrifice from their young. Response: There was no
intercourse in the ark, neither of men, nor of beasts, because of the universal
tribulation of the world (Lyra out of the Hebrews). Others maintain that there
were fourteen clean animals: thus Origen, Justin,1 Dionysius (Lapide,
Oleaster). For he was instructed to take seven pairs on board; the text says,
the male and his female: but the number seven is odd. Also it says, seven and
seven (Oleaster). Others think that there were only seven (Piscator, Lapide,
Bonfrerius, Ainsworth, Tostatus, Cajetan, Josephus’ Antiquities 1:2, Augustine
and Jerome in Bonfrerius). Otherwise, the ark would have been occupied
overmuch on account of so many animals and their food. They were not kept,
except for multiplication and offering: For that, six were sufficient, while
eight, only with respect to men, were saved (Lyra). The unfriendliness of the
animals was restrained in the ark (Lightfoot).

By sevens; either, 1. Seven single, as most think. Or rather, 2. Seven
couples, as may be gathered, 1. From the duplication of the word in Hebrew.
If it be said seven seven signifies only seven of every kind, then it would have
been said concerning the unclean beasts two two, i.e. two of each sort:
whereas now there is an apparent difference; there it is said only by two, but
here, by sevens, or seven seven, which difference of the phrase suggest a
difference in the things. 2. By the following words, the male and his female,
which being indifferently applied to the clean and unclean, plainly shows that
none of them entered into the ark single, and therefore there was no odd
seventh among them, but all went in by couples, which was most convenient in
all for the propagation of their kind, and in the clean for other uses also; as for
sacrifices to God, if not for the sustentation of men in the ark, and after they
came out of it. Which gives us the reason why God would have more of the
clean than of the unclean put into the ark, because they were more serviceable
both to God and men.

Verse 3: Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to
keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.

[Of the fowls by sevens] Is there no distinction between the clean and
the unclean here? Thus some believe; others believe more soundly that there
is; thus the Septuagint maintains that in fact Moses made use of a shorthand,
and left this to be learned out of the preceding verse (Bonfrerius).

1 Justin, also known as the Martyr, was one of the great Greek apologists of the
second century.

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Of clean fowls, which he leaves to be understood out of the foregoing
verse, by sevens; and of the unclean, by two; as before of the beasts, to keep
seed alive, i.e. the issue or breed of them.

Verse 4: For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth
forty days and forty nights (Gen. 7:12, 17); and every living substance that I
have made will I destroy (Heb. blot out) from off the face of the earth.

[After seven days, h(fb#; $i dw(O Mymyi lF ;] Variously they render it.
Before yet seven days (Junius and Tremellius), namely, closing, or finished
(Piscator); that is, unto days (or within days [Septuagint, Malvenda]) yet seven
(Malvenda, Ainsworth, Montanus, Septuagint, Chaldean, Samaritan Text), that
is, on the seventh day after this, as in verse 10. Thus, yet three days, in 2
Chronicles 10:5,1 is on the third day, in verse 12.2 Thus Genesis 40:13.3 The
Hebrew l is often taken for after; as it is in Exodus 16:1;4 Numbers 33:38;5
Ezra 3:8;6 Psalm 19:2;7 Jeremiah 41:48 (Ainsworth). Following, that is, after
yet seven days, namely, finished and completed; on the seventh day after this
day (Piscator). After seven days (Arabic). Hence unto seven days (Syriac).
These days are added, either for the mourning of Methuselah now dead (whom
God wished to honor), as the Hebrews maintain (Lyra); or so that men might
repent (Menochius); or so that during these days he might lead the animals into
the ark (Bonfrerius).

[I will rain down] That is to say, Not by the power of tempests, nor by
natural causes, but by my absolute power and will (Menochius). Hebrew: I am
causing to rain,9 as if He were already at that time causing it, because of the

1 2 Chronicles 10:5b: “Come again unto me after (dwO(/yet) three days.”
2 2 Chronicles 10:12a: “So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the
third day (y#i$l#i h%;$ a MwOy%b)@a . . .”
3 Genesis 40:13a: “Yet within three days (Mymyi F t#$le #;$ dw(O b@;) shall Pharaoh lift up
thine head . . .”
4 Exodus 16:1b: “. . . on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing
(Mt)f c'l); out of the land of Egypt.”
5 Numbers 33:38b: “. . . in the fortieth year after the children of Israel were come out
(t)c'l;) of the land of Egypt . . .”
6 Ezra 3:8a: “Now in the second year after their coming (M)wf bO l); unto the house of
God at Jerusalem . . .”
7 Psalm 19:2: “Day after day (MwyO l;) uttereth speech, and night after night (hlyf l: al);
sheweth knowledge.”
8 Jeremiah 41:4: “And it came to pass the second day after he had slain (tymhi fl);
Gedaliah, and no man knew it . . .”
9 Genesis 7:4a: “For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain (ry+mi m; a, present
participle, am causing to rain) . . .”

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certainty of it. Thus, thou art heaping, in Proverbs 25:22, is translated, thou
shalt heap, in Romans 12:201 (Ainsworth).

Yet seven days, or, after seven days, the Hebrew Lamed being put for
after, as it is Exodus 16:1; Psalm 19:2; Jeremiah 41:4. Or, within seven days,
which time God allowed to the world as a further space of repentance, whereof
therefore it is probable Noah gave them notice; and it is not unlikely that many
of them who slighted the threatening when it was at one hundred and twenty
years distance, now hearing a second threatening, and considering the nearness
of their danger, might be more affected and brought to true repentance; who
though destroyed in their bodies by the flood for their former and long
impenitency, which God would not so far pardon, yet might be saved in their
spirits. See 1 Peter 4:6. And as some preserved in the ark were damned, so
others drowned in the deluge might be eternally saved.

[I will blot out] From the land of the living, or of the future age
(Hebrews in Ainsworth).

[I will blot out all substance (most interpreters)] Mw@qy: signifies
anything living (Ibn Ezra and Kimchi in Grotius); namely, upon the earth
(Munster out of Kimchi). Whatever moves itself. The Greek translators
render it an) a&sthma/offspring, in another place up9 os/ tasin/substance
(Grotius). Whatever lives and is able to be raised onto its feet2 (Bonfrerius).
Living body (Junius and Tremellius), which by the power of the soul places
itself here and there (Piscator)

And every living substance, all that hath in it the breath of life, as was
said Genesis 6:17.

Verse 5: And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded
him (Gen. 6:22).

Which was said Genesis 6:22, and is here repeated, because this was an
eminent instance of his faith and obedience.

[2349 BC] Verse 6: And Noah was six hundred years old when the
flood of waters was upon the earth.

[He was six hundred years old] He had begun, not completed, that
year (Lyra, Ainsworth). Hence it is clear that the construction of the ark lasted
for almost one hundred years, to display the patience of God, etc. (Lyra).

[Floods of water overflowed upon the earth, CrE)fh-f l(a MymI a hyhF f]

1 Proverbs 25:22: “For thou shalt heap (htxe o, present participle, art heaping,
translated by Paul in the future tense, swreus/ eij, in Romans 12:20) coals of fire
upon his head, and the Lord shall reward thee.”
2 Mw@qy: is here derived from the verbal root Mwq@ , to arise.

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And the flood was; waters were upon the earth (Montanus, Ainsworth). And
the flood of water (or waters [Samaritan Text]) was upon the earth (most
interpreters). Others have it otherwise: When the flood occurred, that is,
waters were upon the earth (Syriac). When that flood was, with waters
overflowing upon the earth (Junius and Tremellius).

Verse 7: And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’
wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood (Gen. 7:1).

[And he entered, )boy%wF ]A He approached, therefore, that is, he drew
near to the ark, when he saw that the flood would shortly come; for on that
day, he did not enter (Vatablus).

Because of, or, for fear of; for fear is ascribed to and commended in
Noah, Hebrews 11:7. Or, from the face of.

Verse 8: Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls,
and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth . . .

Verse 9: There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male
and the female, as God had commanded Noah.

[They entered] Hebrew: They came1 voluntarily. See verse 15
(Vatablus) [and what things are noted concerning Genesis 6:20]. Question:
How could those animals come to the ark, some of which dwell in a fixed tract
of area, which could not well live in another place; others had been on islands
and in most remote places, and in the new world (Bonfrerius)? Response: 1.
Thence they were able to come either by foot, through the northern seas,
which were completely frozen; or by swimming; or even by the ministry of
Angels (Bonfrerius). [The atheist should not laugh, since no other disadvantage
can strike at this opinion than that we must take refuge in miracles; the most
hostile enemies of the Christian religion and of Sacred Scripture have admitted
that many such things were certainly accomplished in former ages, so that he
who would completely deny these things is clearly shameless or senseless.] 2.
It is not necessary to conclude that the flood was universal with respect to the
entire earth, but only with respect to the human race: Now, it is in no way
probable that the entire earth, in the space of the one thousand, six hundred
and fifty-six years before the flood, was inhabited by men, since, in a much
longer space from the flood, it has not be occupied. If, therefore, we suppose
that the animals were increased in the earth in greater numbers and more
diffusedly than men (which seems most probable to me, since the production of
animals happens by the same method as the production of fish, by the

1 Hebrew: w@)[email protected]

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productive or prolific virtue both of the land and of the water granted by God,
Genesis 1:20, 21, 24), it can be said that not all living things were blotted out,
but those only which were inhabiting the same parts of the earth as men.
Objection: But all animals are said to be destroyed. Response: This is
certainly true to the extent the flood was spreading itself: However, it was not
at all necessary that the destruction of them should extend beyond the
boundaries of that part of the earth which men were inhabiting. For, since the
occasion of this flood was the sin of men, who were punished in the animals,
which were destroyed only for their sakes, it was unnecessary to extend it
further. A further question: But to what end was God directing with such
great care all of the animals to be introduced into the ark, unless all things
would perish in the flood? Response: Let us posit that the flood overtook all
Asia, or even the whole world, formerly known and habitable (but not
America): could it not be that this was a sufficient reason why the beasts would
be preserved in the ark, namely, for the use of the men then living, to whom
the animals, scattered at so great a distance and already made savage, would in
no way be serviceable (Stillingfleet’s Origines Sacræ1 3:4).

[Two and two] That is, by pairs, or by twos (Menochius). Others
maintain that there were four (thus Oleaster).

[Into the ark] Although the entrance of the animals will be narrated
later, as in verses 13 and 14, nevertheless it is probable that those animals
entered earlier, in the space of the six days between the mandate of God and
the entrance of Noah (Piscator).

They went by the secret impulse of their great Creator and Governor,
(see Genesis 2:19; 6:20) two and two; of which see above, Gen 6:20.

Verse 10: And it came to pass after seven days (or, on the seventh
day), that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.

Verse 11: In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second
month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains
of the great deep broken up, and the windows (or, floodgates) of heaven were
opened (Gen. 1:7; 8:2; Ps. 78:23; Prov. 8:28; Ezek. 26:19).

[In the six hundredth year] Either complete (Pererius in Lapide), or
current (Bonfrerius), or begun (Lapide). Otherwise, if the six hundred and
first year already hastened on, he would have lived after the flood, not just
three hundred and fifty years (as Genesis 9:29 has it), but three hundred and
fifty-one (Bonfrerius, Lapide).

In the six hundredth year; either complete, or rather current or begun;

1 Origines Sacræ; or, a Rational Account of the Grounds of Natural and Revealed
Religion.

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otherwise he had lived three hundred and fifty one years after the flood, not
three hundred and fifty only, as it is written, Genesis 9:29.

[In the second month] Namely, of the year (Vatablus, Lyra,
Ainsworth). The Hebrews draw up a twofold beginning of the year. With
respect to the profane, they begin in Tishri, with respect to the sacred, they
begin in Nisan (Munster). Among the Hebrews there are two opinions. Rabbi
Eliezer and his followers say that the second month is Marcheshvan, or
October; inasmuch as the first month is Tishri, or September, in which the
world was created. Rabbi Joshua and his followers say that the second month is
Iard (which Munster calls Iyar), that is, April; because March is called the first
month, Exodus 12:2, It shall be the first month, etc. But the first opinion is
more probable. And March, in Exodus 12, is called first, on account of their
departure out of Egypt; that is to say, although it was not first in the past, it will
be from now on (Lyra). [The second month in this place is to some April or
May (thus Piscator, Lapide, Vatablus, Munster, Bonfrerius on Gen. 1:11).]
The sacred year is shown to be understood here because a sacred matter is here
narrated, namely, the miracle of the preservation of the Church. Thus the
miracle of the passing through Jordan is referred to the sacred year. See Joshua
4:11, 19; 5:9 (Piscator). It began at that time, 1. so that God might reveal that
the cause of the flood was not natural, was not of stormy showers, etc., 2. so
that He might destroy the impious in a most pleasant season (Lapide). [To
others, this month is October (thus Oleaster, Lyra, Lightfoot, Ainsworth,
Targum Jerusalem, Drusius out of Gerundensis).] Thus Joseph Scaliger on
Fragments, etc.1 (Gataker). Whoever begins the year of the flood from March,
he also contrives another, new miracle without Scripture or reason, namely,
that waters arose in the red hot summer, and decreased in the frigid winter.
Therefore, others more soundly begin in September, and thus the heat of
summer was serviceable for drying up the waters. Thus, with Tishri being the
first month, Noah diligently gathered the fruits of the earth and stored them in
the ark. Likewise, he went out in winter, and he had his nourishment from the
ark, not from the earth (Lightfoot).

In the second month; either, 1. Of that year of Noah’s life; or, 2. Of
the year. Now as the year among the Hebrews was twofold; the one sacred,
for the celebration of feasts, beginning in March, of which see Exodus 12:2; the
other civil, for the better ordering of men’s political or civil affairs, which
began in September. Accordingly this second month is thought, by some, to be
part of April and part of May, the most pleasant part of the year, when the
flood was least expected or feared; by others, part of October and part of

1 Opus de Emendatione Temporum: Hac Postrema Editione, ex Auctoris Ipsius
Manuscripto, Emendatius, Manaque Accessione Auctius. Addita Veterum Græcorum
Fragmenta Selecta.

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November, a little after Noah had gathered the fruits of the earth, and laid
them up in the ark. So the flood came in with the winter, and was by degrees
dried up by the heat of the following summer. And this opinion seems the
more probable, because the most ancient and first beginning of the year was in
September; and the other beginning of the year in March was but a later
institution among the Jews, with respect to their feasts and sacred affairs only,
which are not at all concerned here.

[The fountains of the great deep] Understand this either of the sea
(thus Estius, Ainsworth), which is called the deep in Job 38:16, 30; 41:31;
Psalm 106:9 (Ainsworth); or of that immense and deep abundance of waters,
which is under the earth (Vatablus, Oleaster, Piscator, Lapide, Bonfrerius,
Ainsworth, Tirinus). Under the earth there are many abysses or chasms of
waters (but they are called one abyss, because those waters intermix through at
least a few fissures) (Menochius). Fountains, etc., are all the doorways of that
deepest subterranean chasm, which is full of waters, concealed in it by God in
the beginning of the world, whence also certain seas and all rivers and fountains
gush forth (Tirinus). That the great force of the waters is kept in subterranean
places, and that there the rivers are of vast size, Seneca affirms in Natural
Questions1 3:19 (Malvenda). The Providence of God placed these waters in
these treasuries, Deuteronomy 8:7; Job 28:4, 10; Psalm 33:7 (Ainsworth).

The fountains of the great deep, i.e. of the sea, called the deep, Job
38:16, 30; 41:31; Psalm 106:9; and also of that great abyss, or sea of waters,
which is contained in the bowels of the earth. For that there are vast quantities
of waters there, is implied both here and in other scriptures, as Psalm 33:7; 2
Peter 3:5; and is affirmed by Plato in his Phœdrus, and by Seneca in his Natural
Questions, 3:19, and is evident from springs and rivers which have their rise
from thence; and some of them have no other place into which they issue
themselves, as appears from the Caspian Sea, into which divers rivers do empty
themselves, and especially that great river Volga, in such abundance, that it
would certainly drown all those parts of the earth, if there were not a vent for
them under ground; for other vent above ground out of that great lake or sea
they have none. Out of this deep therefore, and out of the sea together, it was
very easy for God to bring such a quantity of waters, as might overwhelm the
earth without any production of new waters, which yet he with one word could
have created. So vain are the cavils of atheistical antiscripturists in this.

[They were broken up] By the force of the water (Menochius). This
expression reveals that the cause of the flood was supernatural (Lyra). The
Hebrew is w@(q;bn; i. The translate it, they split themselves (Junius and
Tremellius), the Niphal having a reflexive sense, as it often does (Piscator).
Or, they are split, shattered (Piscator, Lapide, Malvenda), namely, by God

1 Naturalium Quæstionum Libri Septem.

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(Piscator). The fountains were broken up, that is, the obstacles of the
fountains, or the narrower openings of the fountains, were broken up, and
were thus enlarged (Piscator).

The fountains are said to be broken up here, also Psalm 74:15, by a
metonymy, because the earth and other obstructions were broken up, and so a
passage opened for the fountains; as bread is said to be bruised, Isaiah 28:28,
and meal to be ground, Isaiah 47:2, because the corn, of which the meal and
bread were made, was bruised and ground.

[The sluices of heaven (thus the Septuagint, Samaritan Text, Syriac,
Arabic, Montanus, Junius and Tremellius), tb@ro U)wj ]A Windows (Chaldean,
Aquila and Symmachus in Nobilius, Munster, Pagnine, Tigurinus, Oleaster,
Piscator, Ainsworth), or openings (Malvenda, Piscator), or the outlets or
sluices of heaven, that is, of the atmosphere, as in Genesis 1:7 and Isaiah 24:18
(Ainsworth), that is, dense and abundant clouds (Vatablus, Lyra, Estius,
Lapide, Bonfrerius, Piscator, Ainsworth). Heaven is said to be opened when it
rains; to be closed when it denies rain, Luke 4:25 (Tirinus). Not through
pores, as previously, but as if through windows. God converted the vapors and
atmosphere into water, or He produced something anew (Tirinus). [Others
take this of the celestial heaven, as if waters fell from that place onto the earth.
Thus Gregorie of Oxford appears to take it. See what things are written on
Genesis 1.] Waters are over us and over the heavens, which, if they should
descend according to their nature, they would extinguish all things in a
moment. But they are restrained by the word of God (Munster). Concerning
these things, Oleaster and Eugubius in Lapide take it: There is no room here
for metaphors. They are to be valued, who desire, rather than to subject the
Sacred Scripture to the standards of philosophy, that, as it is more proper,
philosophy, as a handmaid, serve Scripture (Oleaster). Because of the flood,
they judge that the waters were stored there (Lapide). diato/pwsij, the
opening-place, is not dissimilar, in Seneca’s Natural Questions 3:27: But the
place warns me, etc. (Grotius).

The windows of heaven were opened; which some understand of the
waters, which, from Genesis 1:7, they suppose were placed by God above the
visible heavens, and reserved and kept, as it were, in prison for this very
purpose; and now the prison-doors were opened, and they let loose and sent
down for the destruction of the world. But others more fitly understand it of
the clouds, which are called the windows of heaven, Malachi 3:10; so 2 Kings
7:2, 19; Psalm 78:23; Isaiah 24:18, which then grew thicker and bigger with
waters; nor is there any inconvenience in it, if we say that God created a great
quantity of waters for this end, which afterwards he annihilated.

Verse 12: And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights

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(Gen. 7:4, 17).
[Rain was, M#$eg@hE ]a A rainstorm or violent rain (Malvenda, Piscator,

Ainsworth).
[Forty days] During which they observed a solemn fast, by eating only

once during the day. Thus I find among the eastern traditions, says Gregorie of
Oxford, who also from here fetches the origin of the Lenten fast (Notes and
Observations 6).

God by this gradual proceeding both awakened to repentance, and gave
them space for it.

Verse 13: In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and
Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons
with them, into the ark (Gen. 6:18; 7:1, 7; Heb. 11:7; 1 Pet. 3:20; 2 Pet. 2:5)
...

[In the joint1 of the day] That is, in the beginning or dawn. Thus the
Hebrew phrase is taken in Exodus 12:412 (Bonfrerius).

[MwyO ha Mc(e be ;]@ In the selfsame day (Vatablus and most interpreters);
or in the substance of the day (Vatablus, Piscator), that is, on this very day
(Vatablus). He caused him to enter on a clear day to show that He was able to
defend him from evil men (Lyra). In the body of the day (Montanus,
Ainsworth, Piscator), that is, in the bone of the day (Malvenda, Piscator,
Lapide), that is, in the subsistance (for the bones give firm subsistence to the
body) of the day, that is, on that day (Lapide). In the strength of the day
(Oleaster, Ainsworth), that is, close to noon, when the light is stronger
(Oleaster): in the essence of the day (Arabic).

In the selfsame day on which the flood began by that terrible shower.
Heb. In the body, or essence, or strength of the day, as Genesis 17:26;3
Leviticus 23:14;4 Joshua 10:27:5 q.d. Not in the dark or twilight, like one
ashamed of his action, or afraid of the people, but when it was clear day, or
about noontide, in the public view of the world.

[He entered] Finally and completely (Menochius).

1 Mce(e can be translated as bone or substance.
2 Exodus 12:41: “And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years,
even the selfsame (Mc(e eb,;@ or at the beginning of the) day it came to pass, that all the
hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.”
3 Genesis 17:26: “In the selfsame (Mce(be @;) day was Abraham circumcised, and
Ishmael his son.”
4 Leviticus 23:14a: “And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears,
until the selfsame (Mc(e e) day that ye have brought an offering unto your God.”
5 Joshua 10:27b: “And they laid great stones in the cave’s mouth, which remain until
this very (Mce(e) day.”

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Verse 14: They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after
their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind,
and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort (Heb. wing; Gen. 7:2, 3,
8, 9).

[Every animal] Every beast, that is, beasts of every kind. hyFxa1 in
Scripture is generally used to signify wild beasts, as in Genesis 37:33;2 Psalm
50:10;3 Isaiah 40:164 (Piscator).

[Fowls and flying creatures]5 Fowls are those which have feathers;
flying creatures are those which have wings constructed without feathers, or
formed from membranes, like a bat (Lapide, Menochius). Or Pw(O signifies
larger birds, and rwOp%ci smaller birds, as in Genesis 15:9, 10;6 Leviticus 14:4;7
Psalm 104:178 (Piscator).

[PnFk@f-lk@f] This is added in Hebrew, which they translate every
creature furnished with wings (Samaritan Text, Syriac, Montanus, Oleaster), or
winged creature (Munster, Tigurinus); every wing (Malvenda), of whatever
wing (Ainsworth, Piscator, Junius and Tremellius), in whatever way they might
be furnished with wings, with membranes or with feathers (Junius, thus
Ainsworth). So it is in Ezekiel 17:239 (Piscator).

Every bird. The first word signifies the greater, the second the less

1 Genesis 7:14a: “They, and every beast (hyFx% ha a) after his kind, and all the cattle after
their kind . . .”
2 Genesis 37:33b: “An evil beast (hy%Fxa) hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt
rent in pieces.”
3 Psalm 50:10: “For every beast (wtO y:x)a of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a
thousand hills.”
4 Isaiah 40:16: “And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts (wOtyxF% wa ): thereof
sufficient for a burnt offering.”
5 Genesis 7:14b: “. . . and every fowl (PwO(hf) after his kind, every bird (rwOpc% )i of
every sort (PnFkf-@ lk)@f .”
6 Genesis 15:9, 10: “And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and
a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a
young pigeon. And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and
laid each piece one against another: but the birds (rpco% hi@ )a divided he not.”
7 Leviticus 14:4: “Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be
cleansed two birds (MyrIp/c% )i alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and
hyssop.”
8 Psalm 104:17: “Where the birds (MyrpI c/% i) make their nests: as for the stork, the fir
trees are her house.”
9 Ezekiel 17:23b: “And under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing (PnkF -f@ lkf@); in the
shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell.”

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sort of birds, as appears from Genesis 15:9, 10; Leviticus 14:4; Psalm 104:17.
Of every sort; Heb. Of every kind of wing, whether feathered, as it is in most
birds, or skinny and gristly, as in bats.

Verse 15: And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all
flesh, wherein is the breath of life (Gen. 6:20).

[Therefore they went] By their own free will, with God thus willing,
and, as it were, extending from His hand unto the hand of Noah (Vatablus).

[In which is the breath of life] See Genesis 6:17 (Vatablus). Vital spirit
(Piscator).

See on Genesis 7:9. i.e. All living creatures forementioned, Genesis
7:14.

Verse 16: And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh,
as God had commanded him (Gen. 7:2, 3): and the LORD shut him in.

[And He shut him in, wOd(jb@a rgsO@ ;y%wI A] They render this in a variety of
ways. He shut him in (Ainsworth), closed (or closed up, namely, the door)
after him (Vatablus, Piscator, Malvenda, Tigurinus), that is, with him having
entered (Vatablus), that is to say, with Noah having only just entered, and with
the doorway of the ark yet compromising the outer surface (Piscator). Others:
upon him (Ainsworth, Malvenda, Oleaster, Arabic, Montanus), as in Joel 2:81
and Jeremiah 11:142 (Oleaster). Others: for him (Lyra, Menochius, Tirinus,
Malvenda). Understand, not instead of him, which would be wOt@x;t@,a but for
his advantage, as in Genesis 20:7, he shall pray for thee, Kd1 (: ab,@a and in
Leviticus 16:173 (Piscator). Others: around him (certain interpreters in
Fagius’ Comparison of the Principal Translations, Oleaster, Munster). Others:
over against him (Malvenda). Others: in all the way up to him (Oleaster,
Malvenda), that is, after him: see 2 Kings 4:4, 5, 22,4 closing the door wOd(bj a@

1 Joel 2:8b: “And when they fall upon (d(abw; )@ the sword, they shall not be wounded.”
2 Jeremiah 11:14a: “Therefore pray not thou for (d(ba @,; for the sake of) this people,
neither lift up a cry or prayer for them (MdF(bj ,a over them): for I will not hear them in
the time that they cry unto me for (d(ba ;@) their trouble.”
3 Leviticus 16:17b: “. . . until he come out, and have made an atonement for himself
(wdO (bj )a@ , and for (d(ba w; )@ his household, and for (d(ab;w@) all the congregation of
Israel.”
4 2 Kings 4:4, 5, 33: “And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door after thee
(K7d(" jb@)a and after thy sons (Ky7 InbA @;-d(abw; @), and shalt pour out into all those vessels,
and thou shalt set aside that which is full. So she went from him, and shut the door
after her (h@dF(bj a@) and after her sons (hfynEb@f d(abw; )@ , who brought the vessels to her;
and she poured out. . . . He went in therefore, and shut the door upon them twain

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(Oleaster). Others: opposite him (certain interpreters in Malvenda). God
closed the door, either immediately (Piscator), or rather by the power of an
Angel (Piscator, Lapide, Tirinus).

Or, shut the door after him, or upon him, or for him, i.e. his good and
safety, against the fury either of the waters or of the people. This God did in
some extraordinary manner.

Verse 17: And the flood was forty days upon the earth (Gen. 7:4, 12);
and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the
earth.

[The flood, lwb@ m@ ah@ ]a This flood, that is, this rain, concerning which
see verse 12. Otherwise, the fury of the waters continued for one hundred and
fifty days (Piscator).

[Forty days] That is, while the flood continued for forty days, the ark
was lifted over the earth (Ibn Ezra in Munster).

The flood; or, that flood of waters which was poured down in that
shower mentioned verse 12; otherwise the flood was one hundred and fifty
days upon the earth, verse 24. The waters increased, by the accession of more
waters from above and beneath.

[From the earth, Cr)E fhf l(am]' Above the earth, that is, up from the
place which is above the earth, or which is contiguous with the earth (Piscator).
Or, from the earth (Septuagint in Ainsworth), l(ma ' being taken for from, as in
Exodus 10:281 and 2 Kings 21:82 compared with 2 Chronicles 33:8.3 See also
Genesis 13:94 (Ainsworth).

Verse 18: And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon
the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters (Ps. 104:26).

[They overflowed very much, wr@ b;@g;ywI A] They prevailed (Vatablus,
Oleaster); they strengthened themselves (Oleaster). They prevailed,
overthrowing trees, buildings, etc. (Gerundensis in Munster, Malvenda,
Lapide).

The waters were increased greatly upon the earth; overthrowing men,

(Mheyn"#$; d(ba ;)@ , and prayed unto the Lord.”
1 Exodus 10:28a: “And Pharaoh said unto him, Get thee from me (yl(f mf )' .”
2 2 Kings 21:8a: “Neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more from (Nm)i the
land . . .”
3 2 Chronicles 33:8a: “Neither will I any more remove the foot of Israel from (l(ma )'
the land . . .”
4 Genesis 13:9a: “Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee,
from me (ylf(fm').”

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and houses, and trees, where possibly they did or thought to secure themselves.

Verse 19: And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and
all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered (Ps. 104:6;
Jer. 3:23).

[All mountains] Question: Whence came such an abundance of
waters? [Here the atheists triumph, and they insult confidence in the Scriptures
and deprecate the uppermost height of the mountains.] If you say that these
vapors were called from the sea, the same amount that you will have
diminished water from the sea, so much you add to the clouds (Bonfrerius).
The flood was far greater than the entire sea, which with respect to the earth is
small, and it advances no more than into ditches and trenches, etc. (Lapide). If
you think that the air was condensed into water, the entire region of the
atmosphere would hardly suffice, since the material of the air was to be taken
up to tenfold (for water) (Lapide, Bonfrerius). What is to be said here?
Response: The mountains, whatever one thinks, subside a long way below the
height which is asserted by some. The most famous Olympus was only only
one and a half miles tall perpendicularly, as Xenocrates,1 in Plutarch’s
“Æmilius”,2 discovered by measuring. Neither is Pelion3 taller, as Dicæarchus4
testifies in Pliny’s Natural History 2:65, nor Athos,5 with Isaac Vossius as judge
on Pomponius Mela. The Caucasus is only two miles tall, says Isaac Vossius, or
four miles says Gassendi.6 That mountain of Tenarife is called Pica de
Terraria,7 than which he thinks there is none higher in the world, is only four
miles tall, says Varenius.8 For, inasmuch as Pliny says that the Alps are fifty
miles tall, this is to be understood with respect to an oblique ascent
(Stillingfleet’s Origines Sacræ 3:4). [Now let us see whence such masses of
water, which were covering such tall mountains.] 1. Some seek the waters
from super-celestial places, where they had been stored by God for this
purpose. From that place, they were easily able to descend, with God
accelerating their motion, especially since many think that the heavens are not
solid, but liquid and easily split (certain interpreters in Lapide). 2. From the

1 Xenocrates (396-314 BC) was a pupil of Plato and the eventual head of the
Academy.
2 Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans.
3 Pelion is located in central Greece.
4 Dicæarchus (c. 350-c. 285 BC) was a philosopher, geographer, and mathematician.
5 Athos is located in northern Greece.
6 Peter Gassendi (1592-1655) was a French metaphysician, natural philosopher, and
free-thinker.
7 Pica de Terraria is a volcanic mountain peak on the island of Tenerife, which is part
of the Canary Islands. It is the tallest mountain on any Atlantic island.
8 Bernhardus Varenius (1622-1650) was a German geographer.

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sea were lifted copious vapors, which, converted into rainy and sweet water,
filled up the greater place, for it is lighter and finer than salt water (Bonfrerius).
Also from the earth, with which the sea is mingled, were copious exhalations
(Bonfrerius, Lapide). Also the air was converted into water (Bonfrerius). And
God was able to rarefy and extend the rains (Lapide). 3. That deepest abyss of
the subterranean waters (concerning which see Genesis 1:9) was easily able to
supply these waters, which abyss Plato thus describes out of Homer in
Phædrus: eij0 tout~ o to_ Xa&tma surre/ousi/ te pa&ntej oi9 potamoi,\ kai\
ek0 tou/tou pa&lin pan& tej ek0 re/ousi, that is, into this cavity all the waters
run together, and from there they flow out again. That such an abyss was made
is proven, 1. from the origin of fountains and rivers, which are of such size,
that one Volga is thought to yield yearly so great an abundance of waters into
the Caspian sea, as would be able easily to cover the whole earth. Whence it is
clearly apparent such subterranean courses are made in the sea (in which the sea
transmits its own waters), otherwise the immense abundance of waters which
flow from rivers into the sea, would overflow and ruin the world entirely.
Neither the rain water, nor the condensed air, is sufficient for so great a mass of
waters in the caverns of the earth; to which two causes other philosophers
ascribe the origins of the fountains, which is with better justification assigned to
this abyss. Moreover, a reason is able to be rendered from this, how out of the
salt water of the sea the sweet water of fountains escapes. For, the percolation
is able to remove the fixed salt, and the certain evaporation the transitory; as it
is evident from this, that sweet waters flow forth from clouds lifted from
vapors of the sea. In addition, these vapors, mixed with other sweet vapors of
rain or from elsewhere, lose their pungency. However, those salty fountains
(of which there are many) are able to spring from the salt waters of the sea,
which by a certain continuous circulation pass out of the ocean into these
subterranean caverns, and from there unto mountains, whence they finally
return into the sea, which, therefore, never swells with water on account of the
streams flowing in (Stillingfleet’s Origines Sacræ 3:4). 4. It is not to be
supposed that the entire globe of the earth was covered with waters. What was
the need that those lands should be immersed where there were no men? It is
foolish to think that before the flood men were thus multiplied, so that they
might pervade every corner of the earth, when they had perhaps not even
exceeded the boundaries of Syria and Mesopotamia. Now, it is absurd to say
that, where there were no dwellings of men, there also the effect of the
penalty, imposed upon men alone, gained strength. Therefore, although we
might believe that the hundredth part of the world was indeed covered with
waters, the flood was nevertheless universal, for the disaster overwhelmed the
entire inhabited world. If we thus judge, now those silly and worthless
questions will cease, which some have moved concerning the flood, and at the

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same time every occasion of doubting of the truth of the Sacred Books by
wicked men will be taken away (Vossius’ Concerning the Age of the World).

Profane wits pretend this to be impossible, because of the vast height of
divers mountains. But, 1. This cannot be thought impossible by any man that
believeth a God; to whom it was as easy to bring forth a sufficiency of water,
for this end, as to speak a word. And if we acknowledge a miracle of the
Divine power and providence here, it is no more than even heathens have
confessed in other cases. 2. Peradventure this flood might not be simply
universal over the whole earth, but only over all the habitable world, where
either men or beasts lived; which was as much as either the meritorious cause
of the flood, men’s sins, or the end of it, the destruction of all men and beasts,
required. And the or that whole heaven may be understood of that which was
over all the habitable parts of it. And whereas our modern heathens, that
miscall themselves Christians, laugh at the history of this flood upon this and
the like occasions, as if it were an idle romance; they may please to note, that
their predecessors, the ancient and wiser heathens, have divers of them
acknowledged the truth of it, though they also mixed it with their fables, which
was neither strange nor unusual for them to do. Lactantius appeals to the
heathens of his age concerning it.1 Nay, there is not only mention of the flood
in general, but also of the dove sent out of the ark, in Plutarch, and Berosus,
and Abydenus.2 And the memory of this general flood is preserved to this day
among the poor ignorant Indians, who asked the Christians who invaded their
land, whether they ever heard of such a thing, and whether another flood was
to be expected?3 And the Chinese writers relate, that but one person, whom
they call Puoncuus, with his family, were saved in the flood, and all the rest
perished.

Verse 20: Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the
mountains were covered.

[Fifteen cubits] A sufficient measure, so that neither giants, nor any
animal on the peak of mountains, would be able to survive (Menochius, Lapide,
Bonfrerius); and so that the vast bulk of the ark might float in the waters free
from hindrances (Menochius). [Concerning the flood, there are clear
testimonies from the heathen.] It is known among all that a flood was brought
about, says Lactantius, Divine Institutions 2:13, setting forth those things from
heathen authors. It is also read in the History of India 6:5 that a certain
Nicaraguan King was asking of Christians whether they might have some

1 See the Synopsis portion of Genesis 7:20.
2 Abydenus was a Greek historian. Around 200 BC, he wrote a History of the
Chaldeans and Assyrians, which survives only in fragments.
3 See the Synopsis portion of Genesis 7:20.

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acquaintance with a flood, by which the whole world was inundated, and the
men and beasts drowned; and whether another was yet to be expected (Estius).
Concerning the flood, there is much mention among Sinitic authors, says
Martinius,1 Chinese Histories2 1. The Chinese relate that only Puoncuus, with
his family, escaped out of the flood, says Isaac Vossius in a letter to Colvius.3
Among the Indians in New France and Peru, etc., the tradition concerning the
flood is consistent, says Joannes de Laet4 out of Lescharbatus, in Concerning
the Origins of the American Races. See the many things in Grotius’s
Concerning the Truth of the Christian Religion 1, in his Annotations, in
Vossius’5 An Introduction to Sacred Chronology6 4:2, 3, in Augustine’s City of
God 18:12, in Louis Vives7 on that place in Augustine, in Eusebius’ Chronicle,
in Scaliger (Stillingfleet’s Origines Sacræ). [More things also occur in the
following verses.]

Fifteen cubits were sufficient for the destruction of the highest men, or
other creatures, though placed upon the highest mountains.

Verse 21: And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl,
and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the
earth, and every man (Gen. 6:13, 17; 7:4; Job 22:16; 2 Esd. 3:9, 10;8 Wisd.
10:4;9 Matt. 24:39; Luke 17:27; 2 Pet. 3:6) . . .

[Of fowls, of animals, hmfhb' @;baw@ PwO(bf@] In the case of the flying
creature and in the case of the beast of burden (Montanus, Munster,
Malvenda), from the flying creature to the beast of burden (Arabic), as much
the flying creature, as the beast of burden (Oleaster, Pagnine).10

All flesh that moved, i.e. lived; for motion is a sign of life.

1 Martino Martini (1614-1661) was a Jesuit missionary, historian, and cartographer.
2 Historiæ Sinicæ.
3 Andreas Colvius (1594-1671) was a Dutch Reformed minister, poet, and scientist.
4 Joannes de Laet (1581-1649) was a Flemish geographer and director of the Dutch
West India Company.
5 Gerard John Vossius (1577-1649) was the father of Issac Vossius. He was a Dutch
scholar of great distinction, particularly in the field of history.
6 Chronologiæ Sacræ Isagoge.
7 John Louis Vives (1492-1540) was a Spanish classicist. He wrote a commentary on
Augustine’s City of God.
8 2 Esdras 3:9, 10: “And again in process of time thou broughtest the flood upon
those that dwelt in the world, and destroyedst them. And it came to pass in every of
them, that as death was to Adam, so was the flood to these.”
9 Wisdom of Solomon 10:4: “For whose cause the earth being drowned with the
flood, wisdom again preserved it, and directed the course of the righteous in a piece
of wood of small value.”
10 Here the interpreters give different ways of rendering the b of specification. The b
marks those parts of which the whole consists.

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Verse 22: All in whose nostrils was the breath of life (Heb. the breath
of the spirit of life; Gen. 2:7), of all that was in the dry land, died.

Whether men or beasts, etc., all that breathed the same air with man,
all that lived in the same element which man by his sins had infected; whereby
the fishes are excepted, as living in another element. See note on Genesis 2:7.

[On the earth] Hebrew: on the dry land. Thus he excepts the fish, for
they live in the water (Piscator). Foolishly the rabbis imagine that the fish died,
and that accordingly the waters were seething (Piscator, Munster).

Verse 23: And every living substance was destroyed which was upon
the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the
fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only
remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark (Wisd. 10:4; 1 Pet.
3:20; 2 Pet. 2:5; 3:6).

[He wiped out every substance, Mwq@ y:h-a lkf@-t)e xm@ayIw]A 1 The
interpreters vary. And was wiped out (Junius and Tremellius, Oleaster,
Ainsworth, Tigurinus, Syriac, Munster) every body that was living (Junius and
Tremellius), that was standing (Oleaster), that was subsisting (Tigurinus,
Syriac, Munster). Thus xma@yI is in the place of hxme yf@ I.2 This is a pleonastic
ellipsis, proper to the Hebrews. The words, And it was wiped out, every
substance, are in the place of, And every substance was wiped out by Him who
wiped it out, with God obviously acting as the implied agent (Piscator).
Others: And He wiped out (Malvenda, Arabic, Septuagint), supply God, xma@ywI A
standing in the place of hxem;yI in the Qal (Piscator).

This is so often repeated, that it may be more deeply ingrafted into the
dull minds and hard hearts of men, to teach men that they ought again and again
to consider this dreadful instance of God’s justice against sin and incorrigible
sinners.

Verse 24: And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and
fifty days (Gen. 8:3; and Gen. 8:4 compared with Gen. 7:11).

[An hundred and fifty days] That is, by reckoning either after the forty
days, from the end of the descent of the rains (thus Rabbi Salomon in Lyra,
Josephus and Tostatus and Cajetan in Lapide); or from the beginning of the

1 Poole’s text differs from the Massoretic text. The Massoretic text reads xmaywI% ,A a Qal
imperfect, which would yield an active sense, He wiped out. However, Poole’s text
reads xm@aywI ,A an abbreviated form of a Niphal imperfect, which would yield a passive
sense, It was wiped out.
2 xm@aywI A is an abbreviated for of hxemay@ IwA.

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flood (Lyra, Lapide, Piscator, Bonfrerius), by including those forty days: as it is
evident, for the waters began on the seventeenth day of the second month, and
they were diminished on the seventeenth day of the seventh month, Genesis
8:3, 4, between which there are precisely five months, or one hundred and fifty
days (Piscator, Lapide, Bonfrerius).

The waters prevailed, i.e. either grew higher and higher, or rather
continued to prevail, and did not decrease. An hundred and fifty days in all,
whereof one part was the forty days mentioned Genesis 7:17, as appears from
Genesis 8:4.

Chapter 8

The waters abate, 1-3. The ark rests on Mount Ararat, 4. The day on
which the tops of the mountains were seen, noted, 5. Noah opens the window
of the ark, 6; sends forth a raven, 7; after that a dove, 8, which returned, 9.
He sends the dove out a second time, 10, which returns with an olive leaf, 11.
He sends her out again, and she returns not, 12. The earth dry, 13, 14. God
commands Noah and his family to come out, 15-17, which they do, 18, 19.
Noah builds an altar, and sacrifices, 20. God accepts it, and promises not to
drown the world again, 21, but to continue the seasons of the year, 22.

Verse 1: And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all
the cattle that was with him in the ark (Gen. 19:29; Ex. 2:24; 1 Sam. 1:19):
and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged (Ex.
14:21).

[He remembered] There was a certain forgetfulness, for He suffered
him to be grieved for all this time (Vatablus). Whoever does not set his friend
free from present (evils) when he is able appears to forget (Lyra): and he
remembers, when he sets him free from evils (Vatablus). He remembered
Noah, that is, the promise given to him, Genesis 6:18, etc. (Piscator).

[And every living thing] God watches over the beasts also, on account
of the righteous man (Vatablus).

God remembered Noah, i.e. he showed by his actions that he minded
and cared for him, or pitied and succoured him. God is said to remember his
people, when after some delays or suspensions of his favour he returns and
shows kindness to them, as Genesis 19:29; 30:22; Exodus 32:13; Job 14:13;
Psalm 132:1. As God punished the beasts for man’s sin, so now he favours
them for man’s sake.

[And He brought to, rb'(yj A%w]A He brought in (Vatablus); He caused to
pass over (Pagnine, Piscator, Ainsworth).

[A spirit] That is, a wind, powerful, drying, and burning, as in Exodus
14:21 (Menochius, Tirinus, Lyra, Bonfrerius). This wind dried the waters, not
so much by a natural, as by a divine, power (Lapide, Tirinus).

God made a wind to pass; a drying or burning wind, like that of
Exodus 14:21, which had a natural power to dry up the waters; but that was
heightened by the assistance of a higher and miraculous operation of God.

Verse 2: The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven
were stopped (Gen. 7:11), and the rain from heaven was restrained (Job

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38:37).
[The fountains were stopped] Those that had been opened for

vengeance, not those that had been opened for drinking, etc. (Menochius).
[The rains from heaven] The rain out of heaven, that is, heavenly, like

bread out of heaven, that is, out of the air; or out of heaven, that is, from
heaven, or from God. Thus they say, He comes so that he might cleanse
himself; they help him from heaven. Thus a fear from the Lord, Ecclesiasticus
19:18,1 and Lucretius, a flash from gold, that is, of gold (Drusius). Question:
When did this removal of the waters begin? Response: 1. After one hundred
and fifty days, as in the next verse (Oleaster, Lapide), for during those days
neither did the rain nor the eruption of fountains cease. Objection: It is said in
Genesis 7:12 that the flood was for forty days. Response: It signifies only that
the inundation was so great that after forty days the ark lifted up; for afterwards
it follows that the waters increased2 (Oleaster). 2. Rather after forty days
(Bonfrerius, Piscator); and that expression, they were stopped, is to be
translated, they had been stopped. Already previously, after those forty days, it
had ceased to rain; but also in what follows God restrained the rains, so that
during the entire eleven months no rain fell (Bonfrerius). With the flood
abating after one hundred and fifty days, God restrained all rains, even ordinary
rains (Lapide).

[M#$egEh@ a )l'kfy@ %Iw]A It is to be translated, And that rain was restrained,
concerning which, Genesis 7:12 (Piscator).

Verse 3: And the waters returned from off the earth continually (Heb.
in going and returning): and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the
waters were abated (Gen. 7:24).

[Going and returning (Chaldean, Ainsworth, Syriac), bwO#w$ F Kw7 Olhf]
By going and returning (Montanus, Oleaster). With waters ceaselessly
receding (Junius and Tremellius). The more it was flowing, the more it was
receding (Arabic), that is, they began to abate (Vatablus); they were noticeably
diminished, dispersing into the subterranean abyss (Menochius), or into the sea,
as in Ecclesiastes 1:7 (Estius). That is to say, They were receding continuously
(Ainsworth). Flowing and flowing back, stirred here and there by the wind
(Bonfrerius).

[After one hundred and fifty days] The Holy Spirit numbers so many
days, from the seventeenth day of the second month unto the seventeenth day
of the seventh month, attributing thirty days to each month. Thus Liveley’s3

1 Ecclesiasticus 19:18: “The fear of the Lord is the first step to be accepted of him,
and wisdom obtaineth his love.”
2 Genesis 7:17, 18.
3 Edward Liveley (d. 1605) was Regius Professor of Hebrew at Cambridge, and one

381

Chronologie.1 The year of the ancient Hebrews was the Chaldean, or
Egyptian, year containing three hundred and sixty-five days. They called it a
year of days, that is, o(malo_n/uniform; for it was fixed out of the uniform
distribution of days, without scruples: similarly a uniform month, even
triakonqh/meron, a month of days, which was fixed perpetually and
constantly at thirty days. Thus Scaliger’s Concerning the Emendation of the
Times 3, Genesis 29:14;2 Daniel 10:23 (Gataker).

Verse 4: And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth
day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.

[In the seventh month] From the time that the rain was restrained
(Munster): not from the beginning of the flood, but of the year, as it is clear
from verses 13 and 14 of this chapter (Menochius).

[On the twenty-seventh day (Septuagint in Bonfrerius, all the Fathers,
Lapide)] But the Hebrew manuscripts consistently have the seventeenth day.
Here, there is a mighty dispute between those contesting for our side, with
others pressing against. We shall abstain. We shall only note that the Hebrew
manuscripts agree with Genesis 7:11, 24 (Malvenda).

[Upon mountains of Ararat] That is, Upon a particular one of the
mountains of Ararat (upon one of the mountains, etc. [Piscator]). Thus, He
was buried in the cities of Gilead,4 that is, in one certain city: Thus, a foal of
asses,5 that is, of one ass (Drusius). Nearly all interpret it as Armenian Ararat
(Vatablus, thus Oleaster, Piscator, Lapide, Bonfrerius, Ainsworth, Bochart’s
Sacred Geography “Phœnicia” 1:3); the tradition was always thus consistent;
and thus the Septuagint translates Isaiah 37:386 (Fuller’s Sacred Miscellany
1:4). Thus Berosus and Nicolaus Damascenus,7 whom Josephus cites
(Drusius). In Abydenus, Xisuthrus, that is, Noah, so that he might escape the
flood, sailed from Assyria to Armenia (Eusebius’ Preparation for the Gospel

of the divines appointed to work on the Authorized Version.
1 A True Chronologie of the Times of the Persian Monarchie, and after to the
Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romanes.
2 Genesis 29:14b: “And he abode with him the space of a month (Mymyi F #$dxE o, a
month of days).”
3 Daniel 10:2: “In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks (My(bi #u $f h#lf$ #$;
MymiyF, three weeks of days).”
4 Judges 12:7.
5 Zechariah 9:9b: “. . . lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an
ass (twnO to)/j asses).”
6 Isaiah 37:38b: “And they escaped into the land of Ararat (Hebrew: +rrF )F /j Ararat;
Septuagint: A0 rmeni/an/Armenia).”
7 Nicolaus Damascenus was a first century historian. He wrote a history, spanning the
time from the Assyrian Empire to his own day.

382

10). And Molon, an ancient author, who wrote against the Jews,1 relates that
after the flood a man came forth from Armenia, who had escaped with his sons.
And name of Ararat was most famous in Armenia Minor2 (Bochart’s Sacred
Geography “Phœnicia” 1:3). Among the Armenians and Carduchians,3 the ark
of Noah settled, says Epiphanius, on a certain mountain called Louba&r/Lubar
(Drusius). These mountains were called Gordiæi, of which Strabo, Curtius,
and Pliny make mention: see Concerning the Truth of the Christian Religion
(Grotius). The mountains of Cardu (Chaldean in Munster), with w@dr:qa\Cardu
in the place of xwd@ r:q/a Carduch (from which the name Carduchians arises),
with the x cut off by apocope, as is commonly done (Fuller’s Sacred Miscellany
1:4). Cordu (Menochius). Gordochi to Stephanus; Garduchi to Xenophon
(Drusius). Philostorgius4 says that the very name Ararat endured to his own
time among the Armenians (Grotius). This is consonant with Scripture. For
the sons of Sennacherib fled into Ararat, 2 Kings 19:37,5 where he had been
received as both exceedingly well provided for and most safe, for the
mountains were exceedingly tall, and where warlike people and a team of
slaves were never suffered. Geographers describe the location as seventy-nine
degrees longitude and forty-one degrees latitude, near the town of Chiagri.6 It
is sufficiently plain that the mountain upon which the ark settled was called
Baris, or Imbarus, or Loubarus (or Cubarus, as a learned man in Drusius adds).
In nearly the same location, Strabo remembers the Temple of the Baris.
Perhaps the mountain is named from the temple, the temple from the boat. A
ba&rij is a ship to Hesychius,7 and so it was called for a long time by the
Egyptians, as Herodotus testifies in “Euterpe” (Fuller’s Sacred Miscellany 1:4).
This huge mountain Baris is above Minyas, says Nicolaus Damascenus. Either I
am mistaken or there is a Minyas, the yn@Im,i Mini or Minni, of the Hebrews, a
region which Jeremiah conjoins with Ararat, 51:27. For ynm@I ,i the Chaldean has

1 Apollonius Molon was a Greek author and rhetorician, living around 70 BC, who
wrote against the Jews.
2 Armenia Minor, or Lesser Armenia, was a part of the historic Kingdom of Armenia
lying west of Euphrates.
3 Corduene was a mountainous province located immediately south of Greater
Armenia.
4 Philostorgius (368-439) was an Arian who wrote history of the Arian controversy
called History of the Church.
5 2 Kings 19:37b: “. . . Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the
sword: and they escaped into the land of Ararat (+rFr)F )j .”
6 Chiagri was a habitation near to Ararat.
7 Hesychius of Alexandria (fifth century AD) composed a Greek lexicon of almost
fifty-one thousand entries, filled with explanations of rare and obscure words and
phrases.

383

ynIym'r:ha, Armenia, not incorrectly. For it appears that the word Armenia is a
conflation from ynmI@ -i rh,a that is, Mountain of Mini, or Mountain of Minyas
(Bochart’s Sacred Geography “Phœnicia” 1:3). These mountains, according to
the opinion of some, are part of the Taurus mountain (Menochius).
Elmacinus,1 in his Saracen History2 (1:1 [Bochart’s Sacred Geography
“Phœnicia” 1:3]), describing the accomplishment of Heraclius,3 while
Mohammed was living, says that it was turned into a district, to which the
name Themanim was given, which Noah would have inhabited when he had
come forth from the ark (the district was undoubtedly named from the eight
members [Fuller, Bochart’s Sacred Geography “Phœnicia”]; for it is hynmt to
the Arabs [or N)mt (Bochart’s Sacred Geography “Phœnicia”)], )ynmt to the
Syrians, eight, from the Hebrew hnm#), and that the Emperor went up into
the mountain Gordium, and saw the place of the ark. To these things, those
things that Benjamin has in his Itinerary might be added. In the midst of the
river of the Tigris is the island of the son of Omar at the foot of the mountains
of Ararat, whence the journey is four miles unto the place where the ark of
Noah rested: But Omar, son of al-Khatab, took it from the top of two
mountains, and thence he built a synagogue of the Mohammedans. You see
that Ararat is not far from Tigris, where also Ptolemy placed the Gorduchian
mountains (de Dieu). See more things in Josephus’ Antiquities 1:4 (Drusius).
The Arab Geographer, in Geographia Nubiensis 4:6, describing these places,
says that there is Mount Jemanin (read Thsemanin), the same as Godi (Gordi)
in which that ship, the ship of Noah, would have rested, to whom let there be
peace (Bochart’s Sacred Geography “Phœnicia”). But the Sibyl relates that this
mountain is in Phrygia (Castalio), near Celænæ. The source of the error is that
the city Apamea (to which the inhabitants of Celænæ migrated) is called
kibwto_j/ark by Strabo and Ptolemy (Bochart’s Sacred Geography
“Phœnicia”) [where more things concerning this a man might see, who has the
time].

In the seventh month, from the beginning, not of the flood, but of the
year, as appears by comparing Genesis 7:11, and 8:13, 14, the ark rested upon
one of the mountains of Ararat; by a frequent enallage of the number, as Judges
12:7; Matthew 21:5. And by Ararat is here commonly and rightly understood
Armenia, as appears both by comparing Isaiah 37:38 and Jeremiah 51:27, and
by the testimony of ancient writers, produced by Josephus and others to this
purpose; and by the great height of those mountains, and by its nearness to the
place where the first men lived; this great vessel not being fitted for sailing to

1 George Elmancinus was a thirteenth century Egyptian Christian.
2 Historia Saracenica.
3 Heraclius (c. 575-641) was the Byzantine Emperor from 610 to 641.

384

remote places, but only for the receipt and preservation of men and other
creatures in it.

Verse 5: And the waters decreased continually (Heb. were in going
and decreasing) until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of
the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.

[Until the tenth month] Not from the beginning of the flood, but from
the beginning of the six hundredth year of the life of Noah (as it is clear from
verses 13 and 14 and from Genesis 7:11 [Lapide, Menochius]); or rather from
the beginning of the year, according to the manner of calculating from the first
beginning of the world [concern which see Genesis 1:11] (Bonfrerius).

[They were going and decreasing, rwsO xfw: Kw7 lO hf] In going and
subsiding, that is, were going and subsiding. They were continuing to subside.
The infinitive is often put in the place of the participle (Glassius’ “Grammar”
664).

[The tops of the mountains] You will say, The ark rested before.
Response: The bulk of the ark penetrated the waters (Lapide); the peak of that
mountain (much greater than those of the lower mountains) was under the
waters (Bonfrerius).

Verse 6: And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah
opened the window of the ark which he had made (Gen. 6:16).

[Window, NwOl@x]a In some of the Greeks, it is translated qu/ran/door,
but in the older Greeks, it is translated quri/da/window, which is undoubtedly
right; for thus the Septuagint translates Genesis 26:81 (Drusius).

Verse 7: And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro (Heb.
in going forth and returning), until the waters were dried up from off the earth.

[He sent forth a raven] For the tame raven does not easily forget his
residence, but is wont to return to it (Piscator, Malvenda). Also, they would
have been feeding on corpses, if any had appeared, Proverbs 30:17
(Ainsworth). He knew that the raven was able be attracted by the odor of
corpses, so that he would fly a very great distance, if the earth had already
become accessible to animals (Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue of Animals).

He sent forth a raven; a fit messenger for that purpose, because it
smells dead carcasses at a great distance, and flies far, and then returneth to its
former habitation with something in its bill.

1 Genesis 26:8b: “. . . Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window
(NwOlx@ ha a; Septuagint, qurid/ oj), and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with
Rebekah his wife.”

385

[Which was going forth and not returning (thus the Septuagint, Syriac,
Drusius, Castalio), but the Hebrew words are bw#O $wF )wcO yF] Going forth and
returning (Vatablus), flying to and fro (Fagius, Piscator, Ainsworth,
Bonfrerius), by going forth and returning (Montanus, Oleaster, Samaritan
Text). Thus the Arabic; Josephus’ Antiquities 1:4; Bereshith Rabba and
Haggadah,1 which are the most ancient books of the Hebrews; and Jerome was
reading it in this way in his Book of Hebrew Questions in Genesis (in which
today it is incorrectly rendered, not returning) as it is evident from the sense
(Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue of Animals). Here they struggle over whether
the Hebrew or Latin codices are to be preferred. [Concerning this, see
Brugensis’ Notations on the Varying Passages of Sacred Scripture.] The Latin
exemplars vary. In some, the negation is absent (Drusius), as Brugensis shows.
We do not yet know whether the negation was added by translators or by
scribes. By the latter, I am inclined to believe (Drusius). They are easily
reconciled. The raven was returning unto the ark, not into the ark (Drusius,
Ainsworth, Lapide, Bonfrerius, Malvenda). This was once satisfying, but now
it displeases: For if it was not in the ark, who was feeding it (Drusius)? This
solution is vain; the Hebrews and the Greeks are not thus reconciled, since
neither reading says that the raven returned into the ark or upon the ark; but
one says that the raven returned, the other denies it. Moreover, in the Hebrew
text, the raven is plainly understood to return into the ark; It went forth by
going forth and returning, until, etc., that is, it often went forth from the ark,
and it often returned. Again, inasmuch as it was going forth, it was necessary
for it often to return into the same (Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue of Animals).
It returned from corpses unto the roof of the ark, but not unto Noah: or, it
was returning to the places in which it had previously been accustomed to
spend its time, now free, flying back wherever it pleased (Menochius). The
raven sometimes flew a greater distance from the ark, sometimes a shorter
distance; yet in such a way that it entered not into the ark (Grotius). In the
mountains, it was finding corpses. Some interpreters verbatim from the
Hebrew, It went forth by going forth and withdrawing, that is, it withdrew
always further and further, that is, (like our interpreter) it was not returning,
that is, receding ever further it was proceeding (Menochius). bw#@ $ often
signifies to withdraw, as in Genesis 8:3;2 Ruth 1:16;3 Ezekiel 18:261 (Lapide).

1 Haggadah is non-legalistic, historical anecdotes and moral exhortations found in the
Mishnah and Talmud. The aggadic material in these works has been brought together
in various collections.
2 Genesis 8:3a: “And the waters returned (w@b#y$u F%wA) from off (l(ma )' the earth
continually (bwO#$wF K7wOlh)f .”
3 Ruth 1:16a: “And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return (bw#@ l$ )f from
following after thee (K7yrI xF j)ma ').”

386

But he is ignorant of the force of the Hebraism (Malvenda), for bw@#$, in this
sense, is followed by m/from (Malvenda, Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue of
Animals). Secondly, it is not coherent, that it withdrew until the waters were
dried, that is, in fifty days. Could it be that, in that entire space of time, the
raven always withdrew from the ark (Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue of
Animals)? However much I might be in the habit of thus honoring the Hebrew
reading, so that I might never depart from it except as intensely reluctant;
nevertheless I prefer the Greek reading in this place, which is incorrectly
ascribed to the error of the scribes; since, if the negation should be removed,
the words would be without any sense, Having gone forth, he returned until
the waters dried up, etc. However, I conclude that the Greeks read, instead of
bw#w )wcy, going and returning, bw#y )wlw, and it will not be returning,
that is, it did not return, the future in the place of the past, as in Psalm 107
twenty times. y and w, l and c, are certainly easily exchanged, since the
letters are so similar, especially in the rabbis and ancient manuscripts. The
heathen story concerning the raven favors the reading of the Greeks, which,
sent by Apollo to fetch water, did not return, except the fig trees had matured.
Concerning which, see Ovid’s Festivals, Hyginus’2 Concerning Astronomy 2,
in “Hydra,” Ælian’s3 History of Animals4 1:47. How is it that it is not easy to
loose one’s self from the Hebrew reading? For, 1. the, It went out by going
out, is a E9 braik+ w&taton, a Hebraism. 2. It went out by returning appears
to be an opposite in apposition. 3. To what end would he send forth the
raven, which ever returned, so many times, through the fifty days, with no
success, especially after he learned from the dove what he was so anxious to
know? Objection: But if the raven did not return, what was become of it?
Response 1: Perhaps it died in the waters (Augustine, Cyril). A follow-up
objection: Thus the species of ravens would have perished. Answer: It was
possible that the male inseminated the female before he was sent forth.
Response 2: The raven was able hitherto to live, and to settle upon ruined
cities or the peaks of mountains. A follow-up objection: Then why was the
dove, having been sent forth, not able to set foot upon them for two week
afterwards? Answer: 1. Without justification is it said that the dove was sent
out after two weeks. The Hebrew words do not say that the dove was sent

1 Ezekiel 18:26a: “When a righteous man turneth away (bw@#$b)@; from his
righteousness (wtO qdf c: @mi i), and committeth iniquity . . .”
2 Gaius Julius Hyginus (c. 64 BC-17 AD) served Augustus as the curator of the
Palatine library.
3 Claudius Ælianus (c. 175-c. 235) was a Roman rhetorician and teacher.
4 De Natura Animalium.

387

forth after it, but from him;1 and, if the dove was sent forth after the raven, it
could have been sent forth the following day. 2. The raven delights in water,
says Theon2 on Aratus, Appearances3 963, etc., inasmuch as it is of a most dry
constitution. But the dove does not willingly set its foot in swamps (Bochart’s
A Sacred Catalogue of Animals).

[Until they were dried, t#e$by: d(]a All the way up to the dryness of
the waters, or until to be dried.4 It has the form both of the infinitve and of the
noun, as in Numbers 14:16, tlke ow: is either to be able or ability5 (Malvenda).
But it did not return afterwards. It is a phrase like unto that in Matthew 1:25,
until she gave birth (Menochius, Lyra, Lapide).

To and fro; Heb. going and returning; i.e. went forth hither and
thither; now forward, then backward; sometimes going from the ark, and
sometimes returning to the ark, though never entering into it again. Not as if
she returned afterwards; the phrase implies that she never returned. And so
the word until is often used, as 2 Samuel 6:23, Michal had no child until the
day of her death, i.e. never had a child. See also Psalm 110:1; Matthew 1:25.

Verse 8: Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were
abated from off the face of the ground.

[A dove] On the seventh day from the sending forth of the raven, as it
is clear from verse 10 (Ainsworth, Malvenda). He chose a dove because it does
not lightly disappoint the trust of its mate, but it returns quickly and eagerly to
their nest and common home (Piscator, Malvenda); and because it is a trainable
bird, and a friend to man, and which flies for a great time and great distance,
Psalm 55:6, and is gladly fed of the earth, and has this quality innately by
nature, so that he might return to the nest even from the most remote locations
(Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue of Animals). Traces of this history are in
Abydenus’ History of the Chaldeans in Eusebius’ Preparation for the Gospel 9,
and in Cyril’s Against Julian.6 On the third day after it ceased to rain,
Xisuthrus (thus he called Noah) sent forth certain birds, attempting to see if the
land was emerging from the waters. Which indeed, with the immense open sea
always rebuffing them, returned again to him; and others after those.

1 Genesis 8:8a: “Also he sent forth a dove from him (wOt)@ im)' . . .”
2 Theon (c. 335-c. 405) was a scholar and the curator of the Library of Alexandria.
He wrote several commentaries on the works of Hellenistic authors, including one on
the Greek poet, Aratus (c. 310-c. 240 BC).
3 Phænomena.
4 This is a wooden literal rendering.
5 Numbers 14:16a: “Because the Lord was not able (tlke ow:, it was not the ability of
the Lord) to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them.”
6 Contra Julianum Apostatam.

388

However, inasmuch as, with a third group sent forth, it was successful for him
(for they had returned with muddy feet), the gods sustained him out of the
midst of men (Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue of Animals). Alexander Polyhistor
has nearly the same out of Berosus: Genome/nou de\ kataklusmou~, kai\
euq0 e/wj lh/cantoj, etc., that is, With the flood accomplished, and
immediately receding, Xisuthrus sent forth birds: but these bird, finding
neither food, nor place of rest, were returning to the boat: and after a few days
again passed, they returned with muddy feet (which Eutychius,1 Josephus, and
Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue of Animals, say of the dove): however, sent
forth on the third day, they never returned (Gataker). And Plutarch in his
book Concerning the Resourcefulness of Animals:2 Oi9 men\ Muqolo/goi,
etc., The mythologists say that the dove sent forth from the ark signified a
storm to Deucalion when it returned inside, and fair weather, when it flew
away (Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue of Animals).

The dove flies lower and longer than the raven, and is more sociable
and familiar with man, and more constant to its accustomed dwelling, and
more loving and faithful to its mate, and therefore more likely to return with
some discovery.

[If the waters had ceased (Septuagint), w@lq@ ahj] Whether they were
abating, were settled, were diminished (Vatablus, thus the Syriac, Tigurinus);
whether the waters were lightened, or lifted (thus almost all the interpreters);
or, whether the waters were dealing leniently with the earth (Oleaster),
whether the earth was released from the waters (Castalio).

Verse 9: But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she
returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole
earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her (Heb. caused
her to come) in unto him into the ark.

[It had not found, etc.] You will say, the peaks of the mountains had
already appeared (Lyra). Response: Nevertheless, all things were yet covered
with mud (Menochius), in which the dove does not willingly rest (Lyra).

[Where it might rest, xwa Onm]f Firm place (Syriac), rest (Oleaster,
Ainsworth), place of peace (Arabic, Junius and Tremellius).

The dove found no rest for the sole of her foot; because the tops of the
hills which then appeared were either muddy and dirty, or unobserved by the
dove, as not soaring so high; whence the doves are emphatically called the
doves of the valleys, Ezekiel 7:16.

1 Eutychius (b. 876) was a physician, who became the Patriarch of Alexandria. His
Annals begin with the creation of the world and end with the year 900.
2 De Solertia Animalium.

389

[Upon the whole earth, CrE)hf f-lkf] Of that whole region, namely,
contiguous (Junius and Tremellius), for doves are not wont to fly a great
distance (Oleaster). But it is rather to be translated, of the whole earth
(Piscator, Ainsworth).

He took her, and pulled her in; her former acquaintance with Noah,
and her present necessity, making her more tractable.

Verse 10: And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth
the dove out of the ark.

Verse 11: And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her
mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated
from off the earth.

[Bringing a branch of the olive tree with green leaves, -hl'(j
PrF+f tyzI ]A A pluckt olive frond, a Hebraism, that is, which it had plucked
(Vatablus), a broken leaf of an olive tree (Fagius’ Comparison of the Principal
Translations out of the Chaldean), or a pluckt leaf (Drusius’ A Miscellany of
Sacred Expressions), or a leaf snatched away (Oleaster, Montanus, Bochart’s A
Sacred Catalogue of Animals, Samaritan Text, Arabic, Junius and Tremellius).
It can also be translated thus, a leaf of a leafy olive tree. The more I consider it,
the more I approve. Others maintain that it is spoken ek0 parallh/lou/
pleonastically (inasmuch as Sacred Scripture is accustomed to declare one thing
by two names), as the earth of dust, mud of the mire, etc., as if you might say
ramus olivæ termes, an olive branch of an olive tree, a branch torn. Now,
termes, an olive branch, is a branch torn from a tree. PrF+f is taken
substantively, Ezekiel 17:91 (Drusius’ A Miscellany of Sacred Expressions
1:13). It can be translated, branch, as in Nehemiah 8:152 (Ainsworth),
namely, a most delicate shoot, which the dove was able to break off with its
beak (Menochius). But others translate it, leaf (Ainsworth, Piscator, Malvenda,
Bonfrerius, Septuagint). Question: Whence came this branch with living
leaves, since all the trees were rooted out by the flood (Munster)? Response:
1. Although the flood would have razed all the trees situated in the plain,
certain trees among the rocks of the mountains, which rocks were weakening
the force of the waters, were able to be preserved (Lapide). 2. Olive trees,
and other sorts, live and thrive under the waters. In the Red Sea (it is a
marvel), trees live, the laurel especially and the olive bearing fruit, says Pliny,
in his Natural History 13:50 out of Theophrastus’ History of Plants 4:8. In a

1 Ezekiel 17:9b: “It shall wither in all the leaves (yp'r% +: a) of her spring . . .”
2 Nehemiah 8:15b: “Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches (tyIzA-yl(' j),
and pine branches . . .”

390

nearby sea (namely, of Gedrosia,1 etc.) some of the largest plants spring forth,
and from the depths they sprout . . . olive and laurel, says Plutarch in his
Concerning the Face in the Orb of the Moon,2 which I believe that he had from
Agatharcides3 Affairs in Asia 5:53. Why should not, then, the olive tree retain
its own leaves, or at least a few lone leaves of them, through a few months
under water, the leaves of which never fall? . . . a branch of the ever-leafy olive
tree. Especially when, that the leaves of the olive tree withstand waters and
showers for a long time, it is gathered from this, that from these the
Ichthyophagi4 covered their cottages, as testify Strabo in his Geography 16:4,
Agatharcides in his Affairs in Asia 5:17, and Diodorus Siculus in his Historical
Library 3:109, who is to be corrected out of Strabo and Agatharcides, even in
this, that in the place of e0la&tai/fir (the leaves of which are narrower than
would be able able to create an unbroken cover) el0 ai=ai/olive is to be read
(Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue of Animals). The olive tree also preserves the
freshness of vegetables in the winter. 3. What if, as I said, it was also summer,
and leaves were already newly sprouting, since already for some time the peaks
of the mountains were uncovered? Otherwise, how would a dove have been
able to break off a twig, unless it was tender and fresh (Bonfrerius)? 4. The
Hebrew words do not add that it was living, etc., but only a pluckt leaf of an
olive tree. From this leaf of an olive tree, Noah gathers, 1. that not only are
the mountains raised from the waters, but also flat places, at least hills, in
which olive trees especially thrive, as testify Columella in his Concerning Rural
Business5 6:6, and Palladius6 in his Work of Agriculture 3:18. 2. That the
earth was not so ravaged that no fruit-bearing trees were left upon which they
might feed. The mystical sense that pertains: The dove bearing a branch of an
olive tree appears to refer to the Holy Spirit which would descend in the form
of a dove, etc., Matthew 3:16, who rests only in the ark, that is, in the Church.
The leaf of the olive tree is a symbol of the peace, reconciliation, and covenant
of God with Noah. Hence barbarians were bearing the branches of olive trees
in their hands and extending them in a sign of peace (Polybius’7 The Histories

1 Gedrosia was a province in what in what is modern-day Pakistan.
2 De Facie in Orbe Lunæ.
3 Agatharcides (2nd century BC) was a Greek historian. Only fragments of his works
in history and geography survive.
4 Several coastal-dwelling people groups were given the name Ichthyophagi/fish-
eaters. These appear to be the Ichthyophagi that lived in modern-day Pakistan, on the
coast of the Arabian Sea.
5 De Re Rustica.
6 Rutilius Taurus Æmilianus Palladius (4th century AD) was a Roman author, who is
remembered for his fourteen-part Opus Agriculturæ (or De Re Rustica) on farming.
7 Polybius (c. 203-120 BC) was a Greek historian, remembered for his The Rise of the
Roman Empire, or The Histories.

391

3), to Hannibal, who was crossing the Alps, even the Locrenses and the Greeks
in Livy’s History of Rome 29, and the Americans to Columbus, who sails
(Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue of Animals 103).

[Of an olive tree] The olive tree loves a dry and low land (Grotius on
verse 7). The Hebrews speak nonsense, that it carried this frond from
Paradise; or from a mountain of olive trees: and they imagine that the flood
had not touched the land of Israel. If this be true, how, with this information,
was he recognizing the dry land (Munster)?

[Towards the evening] With the entire day spent, it returns unto its
mate, into its familiar lodging, either to avoid the nocturnal chill (Menochius,
Lapide); or on account of the lack of food; or from a desire for its mate and
young; or because the peace in the branches of the trees did not appear suitable
enough (Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue of Animals).

The dove came in to him in the evening, as the manner of doves is,
partly for better accommodation, both for food and lodging, than yet she could
meet with abroad; and partly from her love to her mate. In her mouth was an
olive leaf. Question. Whence was this leaf, when trees had been so generally
overthrown and rooted up by the deluge? Answer 1. Many trees might be
preserved by an advantageous situation, between the rocks or hills which broke
the force of the waters. 2. It is probable that God, by his powerful
providence, preserved the plants and trees for future ages; and therefore there
is no mention of any of their roots or seeds preserved in the ark. 3. The olive-
tree especially will not only stand, but live and flourish under the waters, as
Pliny, Natural History 13:50 and 16:33, and Theophrastus, History of Plants
4:8, observe. Add, that the word here rendered leaf signifies also a tender
branch.

Verse 12: And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove;
which returned not again unto him any more.

[He waited, lxeyyF w:% F] It denotes expectation and anxiety; that is to say,
he was barely enduring the delay. Either it is a Niphal future1 (Malvenda), or a
Hithpael, which has greater force (certain Hebrews in Malvenda).

Finding convenient food and resting place upon the earth, and
preferring her freedom before her mate: possibly she might lose the sight of
the ark, and forget or mistake the way to it.

[2348 BC] Verse 13: And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first
year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up

1 The Piel form, lxye yF w%: ,F is given by Poole. The Massoretic text gives the Niphal form,
lxye yF% w%I .A Between the two, there is little difference in meaning.

392

from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked,
and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.

[In the six hundredth and first year] That is, of the life of Noah
(Tirinus, thus Piscator, Ainsworth, the Septuagint in Ainsworth). The flood
began in the second month, on the seventeenth day;1 it ends in the second
month, on the twenty-seventh day2 [or the seventeeth day; see what things
were discussed previously3]. Thus it lasted an entire solar year; indeed, an
entire lunar year and ten days (Tirinus). Thus he went forth on the very same
day upon which he entered. For the Jews understand a lunar year (which the
solar year exceeds by eleven days): for the Jews make months by the new
moons (Lyra).

[In the first month, Nw#O $)rbI f]@ In the first (Malvenda, Ainsworth), with
month understood. The Hebrews, aiming at brevity, often omit such things:
thus, the first of the feast, Matthew 26:17, is the first day of the feast, Mark
14:12 (Ainsworth).

The words month and day are ofttimes, for brevity sake, omitted by
the Hebrews, as being easily understood. Thus the first of the feast, Matthew
26:17, is the first day of the feast, Mark 14:12.

[The cover] Not the whole cover, but a part, with so many planks
removed that through the roof he would be able to survey widely all things
(Menochius, Piscator); which he was not able to do through the window
(Lapide). Perhaps there was some covering of pelts on the roof of the ark, etc.,
which was covering the window of the ark, and defending against the rains.
For I do not think that the entire roof, which was exceedingly long and heavy,
and strongly compacted, could have been pulled back. Unless we should say
that the entire roof was not opened except by a single cubit, out of Genesis
6:16 (Malvenda).

[Dried up] Not completely, as in the next month; but to the extent
that shoots could be seen (Grotius). Now free from waters, but yet miry, it
was not passable on foot (Tirinus). The Greeks render it thus: e0ce/lipe to_
u3dwr, the waters subsided (Grotius).

Verse 14: And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of
the month, was the earth dried.

[On the twenty-seventh day of the month, it was dried] Completely,
for the egress of the animals (Lyra). Greeks: e0chra&nqh, it was dried up
(Grotius).

Not only from water, as it was Genesis 8:13, but from mud and dirt

1 Genesis 7:11.
2 Genesis 8:14.
3 See what things were written on Genesis 8:4.

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also. So the flood continued ten days more than a year, by comparing this with
Genesis 7:11.

Verse 15: And God spake unto Noah, saying . . .
[He spoke] As he entered by the commandment of God, so also he
exited (Lyra).

Verse 16: Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and
thy sons’ wives with thee (Gen. 7:13).

[Thou and thy wife] Concerning their entrance, He said, thou and thy
sons,1 to separate the men from their wives, so that he might show that
intercourse was at that time prohibited (for it was a time of mourning and
repentance) (Lapide); in their egress, He conjoins the wife with her husband
(Lyra, Cajetan in Lapide).

As Noah expected the command of God for his going into the ark,
Genesis 7:1, 2, so for his coming forth of it.

Verse 17: Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of
all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth
upon the earth (Gen. 7:14); that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and
be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth (Gen. 1:22).

[Of creeping things which creep, #om'rohf #mo re Eh-f lkbf w; @] And of
every creeping thing creeping (Montanus, Vatablus), or, every treading
creature treading (Malvenda, Oleaster).

[Increase, w@rpwf @] And they shall be fruitful (Malvenda, Oleaster,
Ainsworth), let them bring forth young (Junius and Tremellius). Question:
After the flood, how would the wolves, foxes, lions, tigers, etc., have been
able to reach from Asia, where Noah exited the ark, to islands and to America?
Response: 1. By swimming. For experience teaches that wild animals swim
and escape by swimming, when necessity presses, for entire days and nights.
The evidence is that in islands separated from the continent by journey of four
days (such as Cuba, Hispanica,2 etc.) they would not at all be found, as in
America José de Acosta3 diligently observed, Concerning the New World4
1:21, just as before the arrival of the Spanish in those same islands, there were
no oxen, horses, dogs, etc. However, America is either contiguous with our

1 Genesis 6:18.
2 Hispanica appears to be the island of Hispanolia, lying between modern-day Cuba
and Puerto Rico, divided by Haiti and the Domincan Republic.
3 José de Acosta (1540-1600) was a Spanish Jesuit, who worked as a missionary in
Latin America.
4 De Natura Novi Orbis.

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world, or not widely separated from it, unto which it would have been possible
to be transferred by skiffs or small ships; since those Indians had neither the use
of great ships, nor the practical knowledge of the loadstone, astrolab, and
quadrant compass. 2. Certain wild animals (especially in a yet tender age)
were exported there for the sake of profit, or rarity, or hunting, or
magnificence, etc., as they are delivered here in viewing cages; certain of
which, having escaped out of the cages, fled to the mountains and forests, and
there multiplied through procreation. 3. If these things should not satisfy
someone, let him return to the providence of God, and say that, just as all the
animals were led by Angels onto the ark, so also after the flood they were
dispersed by the operation of the same throughout various lands and islands.
Thus Torniellus, Annals Sacred and Profane, on the year of the world 1931,
note 49 (Lapide).

Question. How could these creatures which came out of the ark in
Asia get thence to America, or to the islands remote from the continent?
Answer 1. As for America, it is thought by divers learned men, that it is either
joined to this continent, or separated from it only by a narrow sea, which
divers living creatures could easily swim over. 2. Many living creatures are,
and always were, transported by men in their vessels, either for their supply, or
profit, or diversion, or other ends, and thence might easily be propagated
there. 3. The same God who made all these creatures, and caused them to
come first to Adam, and afterwards to Noah, could afterwards both incline and
empower them to go whither he pleased, without the advice of these vain men,
who will believe nothing of God which themselves either do not see or cannot
do.

Verse 18: And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his
sons’ wives with him.

Verse 19: Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and
whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds (Heb. families), went
forth out of the ark.

[After their kind, Mheytx' op#%; m$; il;] Verbatim, after their families, that
is, their kinds (Vatablus), that is, their species (Menochius, Munster). Here he
ascribes families, as previous, a man and his wife,1 to the brutes (Ainsworth).
Family here signifies a male and a female (Ainsworth, Oleaster), with their
young. Perhaps the animals were multiplied in the ark.

1 Genesis 7:2: “Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and
his female (wOt@#)$; iw: #$y)i, a man and his wife): and of beasts that are not clean by
two, the male and his female (wOt@#;)$ wi : #$y)i, a man and his wife).”

395

Verse 20: And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of
every clean beast, and of every clean fowl (Lev. 11), and offered burnt
offerings on the altar.

[Altar] This is the first which is found in the Scripture: but it is not to
be doubted that others existed previously, like that of Abel, Genesis 4:4
(Menochius).

This is the first altar we read of, but not the first which was built; for
the sacrifices which were offered before, Genesis 4:3, 4, presuppose an altar.
Therefore it is no sufficient evidence that such things were not done because
they are not said to be done in Scripture; which will be a useful consideration
for the understanding of many passages in Scripture hereafter.

The first thing Noah doth, is to pay his debt of justice and gratitude to
that God which had so miraculously preserved him, and restored him to his
ancient and proper habitation. God expects to be served in the first place.
What beasts were clean and what unclean, see Genesis 7:2; Leviticus 11:2, etc.

Verse 21: And the LORD smelled a sweet savour (Heb. a savour of
rest; Lev. 1:9; Ezek. 20:41; 2 Cor. 2:15; Eph. 5:2); and the LORD said in his
heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake (Gen. 3:17;
6:17); for the imagination (Heb. thought) of man’s heart is evil from his youth
(Gen. 6:5; Job 14:4; 15:14; Ps. 51:5; Jer. 17:9; Matt. 15:19; Rom. 1:21;
3:23); neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done
(Gen. 9:11, 15).

[An odor of sweetness1] Either, quietis, of rest (Oleaster, Ainsworth,
Montanus), that is, quiescere, to quiet, the anger of God which does these
things (Vatablus, Munster). He received the oblation with favor (Chaldean in
Vatablus, Munster). It satisfied God. It is spoken after the manner of men,
who take pleasure in the savour of roasted flesh (Menochius). Previously
offended with the stench of impiety, now He is refreshed with the gratitude of
Noah, even his worship and the outward proofs of it (Munster). Or, an odor of
sweetness, that is, a sweet odor (Vatablus, Ainsworth). Recanati explains it, an
odor of descent (for txanF is to descend): that is to say, God descended to the
odor, etc. But here the t does not have a place in the root, but
xaxyo n/I sweetness is from xwA @n, to rest (Munster).

[And He said, wOb@l-i l)e rme)y$ w% A] [It is variously explained.] Onkelos
and Jonathan, in His own Word. Which some explain in this way, through
Christ. I prefer to explain it, within Himself. Thus they take it elsewhere: as

1 Hebrew: xaxoynh@I a xayr"-t).e

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in Genesis 9:12, between me (my word [Jonathan]) and you; Numbers 15,1 He
said in His own Word, that is, within Himself. So it is in Ecclesiastes 1:16 and
2:1. As the Word of God is now and then called God, so also the word of man
is now and then called the man (Drusius). Theodotion translates it, unto His
own heart (thus also Montanus, Malvenda, Tigurinus); in His own heart
(Syriac, Munster, Pagnine, Oleaster, Ainsworth); with His own soul (Junius
and Tremellius). He determined within Himself (Vatablus, Oleaster,
Bonfrerius), unto His own audience (Samaritan Version). At that time He
disclosed His purpose to no one (Maimonides in Grotius). He said, considering
(Septuagint). He spoke to His own heart, that is, to Noah, whom He loved as
His own heart. In this way, some take Song of Solomon 5:2, My heart remains
awake (Menochius). [The Arabic supports this, He said to His prophet,
namely, to that one most dear to Himself.] Or thus, He spoke to his heart, that
is, He consoled Noah. Thus, to speak to the heart is taken (Menochius,
Lapide). Or thus, He said in His own heart (Ainsworth, Lapide), or, out of His
heart; that is to say, earnestly and out of the most intimate place of the heart
(Lapide), He is determining this. l)e often signifies in, as in Genesis 6:62 and 1
Samuel 27:13 (Ainsworth), or out of (Lapide).

The Lord smelled a sweet savour, i.e. graciously accepted the person
and faith and praise offering of Noah, and was as well pleased therewith as men
use to be with a sweet smell; and the Lord said in his heart, i.e. determined
within himself, and expressed so much to Noah. The Hebrew preposition el
sometimes signifies in, as Genesis 6:6; 1 Samuel 27:1. Others, said to his
heart, i.e. spoke to the heart of Noah, who is mentioned, Genesis 8:20. To
speak to the heart, in Scripture use, signifies to comfort.

[I will by no means curse further] That is, I will not do evil to the earth
by flood (Menochius); namely, with such great vengeance, which would
destroy the world (Vatablus). Hebrew: I will not add ll'q@ la ,; that is, to
express contempt for (Oleaster), to despise, to curse, or rather to slight, the
earth, namely, for the sake of men and beasts (Oleaster).

[For the sake of men] That is, because of the sins of men (Chaldean,
Vatablus, Lyra, Menochius).

[For the thought and imagination, etc. ~wgw rcye " yk]@i They translate
yk@i, for (Septuagint, Cajetan, Montanus, Chaldean, Arabic, Vatablus, Oleaster,
Malvenda, Ainsworth, Bonfrerius, Menochius). That is to say, Since man is
weak and inclined to evil, if I should send floods as often as men shall sin, there

1 This reference appears to be an error, and there is no obvious correction.
2 Genesis 6:6b: “And it grieved him in (l)e) his heart.”
3 1 Samuel 27:1a: “And David said in (l)e) his heart, I shall now perish one day by
the hand of Saul.”

397

would never be an end of floods (Bonfrerius). See Genesis 6:5, where from the
demerits of men the contrary is concluded (Ainsworth). Therefore, I will show
pity for human weakness (Lapide, Menochius). Others thus: I will not, on
account of the corruption of men, hereafter punish all of them together, but
only the more wicked. The Hebrew construction bears this sense well
(Grotius). Each of those sinning I will punish with his own proper
punishments; for I desire to preserve and propagate the race of men (Lapide).
Others translate yk,@i although (Piscator, Ainsworth). Although the invention is
evil: that is to say, Even if I, on account of sin, might be able, etc.,
nevertheless, I will not do it. The causal yk@i is often put for the adversative
(Glassius’ Sacred Philology 3:7:13). Or, if you translate it, for, these words
can be e0chghtika_/exegetical of for man’s sake: that is to say, I will not
further curse the earth on account of man, namely, because the invention of his
heart is evil, etc.; not, I say, because of this will I curse, etc. (Glassius’ Sacred
Philology 3:7:13:607). Furthermore, the Hebrews explain this invention with
respect to concupiscence, whether it be good or evil. This place describes
original sin in all men; no one is excepted. Philosophy does not know whence
these urges to sin in children, etc., come, and it calls them affections or
passions, not the corruption of nature (Munster). Furthermore, they translate
rcye ", invention (Oleaster, Piscator, Lapide), formation (Malvenda, Cajetan),
that is, thoughts, as it is explained in Genesis 6:5 (Piscator), imagination
(Ainsworth). Rather, invention is here the workshop of the human heart
(namely, concupiscence, or, as the Septuagint has it, dia&noia, that is, the
mind thinking of evils), which is prone to evil, so that it forms and fashions evil,
like a potter, etc. (Lapide).

[From his youth (thus the Samaritan Text, Tigurinus, Munster,
Ainsworth), wyr(F unm;@ ]i From childhood (the Greeks in Drusius, Arabic, Syriac,
Montanus, Piscator, Oleaster, Junius and Tremellius), in which infancy is also
comprehended, as in Judges 13:5, The child1 shall be a Nazarite of the Lord
from the womb. MyrwI (@ n: is that age of children from the time in which they
first stir in the womb, which is r(an,A to stir (Drusius’ A Miscellany of Sacred
Expressions 2:67). Onkelos: hyr(zm, from smallness. Rabbi Salomon:
from the time he is received from the viscera of his mother (Grotius). In
Bereshith Rabba, to anyone asking when this evil invention is infused into a
man, a Rabbi responds, from the hour of his formation (Ainsworth).
Wickedness is exercised and exposed by its operation; it does not begin by its
operation: Seneca, Concerning Benefits 5:14. Ou0x a#ma gi/gnetai kai\
fai/netai twn~ ponhrw~n e3kastoj, etc., An impious man is not made and

1 Hebrew: r([email protected]

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revealed at the same time: he has malice from the beginning; however, he
reveals it, having obtained the opportunity and power. For that is the sting is
not implanted by scorpions as soon as they strike, nor venom by vipers as soon
as they bite, they rightly think, etc.: Plutarch, Concerning the Late Vengeance
of God.1 See Genesis 4:23 and 1 John 3:15 (Gataker). To others it is
hyperbole; of which sort is Psalm 58:2; 71:5; Job 31:18; Isaiah 48:8 (Grotius).

Will not again curse the ground, i.e. the whole earth, with this kind of
curse, with another deluge. Otherwise God doth not hereby tie his hands, that
he may not either destroy a particular land by a deluge, which hath been done
since, or destroy the world by fire when he sees fit, as he hath declared he will
do. For the imagination of man’s heart is evil. The reason contained in these
words is this: Since all men’s hearts are naturally corrupt, and from that filthy
spring wicked actions will be continually flowing forth into the world; and
consequently, if I should be severe to punish men according to their sins, I
should do nothing but send one deluge after another. Or these words may be
joined with the former, and the sense may be this: I will not again destroy the
earth with a deluge for man’s sake, or for man’s sin, or because of the
imagination, etc., i.e. because his heart is corrupt, and his actions are agreeable
to it, which was the cause of the last deluge. Or the particle chi may be
rendered although, as it is frequently taken, as Exodus 5:11;2 13:17;3 34:9;4
Joshua 17:13;5 Psalm 25:11;6 41:5;7 and so the sense is plain, I will not again
destroy the earth, although the imagination, etc., i.e. although I have just cause
to do so. Or, from his very childhood and infancy, as the Chaldee and Greek
interpreters translate it. Neither will I again smite, i.e. kill or destroy, as the
word smiting is taken, Exodus 21:18; Numbers 14:12; 35:16; Deuteronomy
28:22, 27; Amos 4:9.

1 De Sera Numinis Vindicta.
2 Exodus 5:11: “Go ye, get you straw where ye can find it: although (yk)@i not ought
of your work shall be diminished.”
3 Exodus 13:17a: “And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God
led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although (yk@)i that was
near.”
4 Exodus 34:9a: “And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my
Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for (yk@,i although) it is a stiffnecked people . . .”
5 Joshua 17:13: “Yet it came to pass, when (yki@, although) the children of Israel were
waxen strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute; but did not utterly drive them
out.”
6 Psalm 25:11: “For thy name’s sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity; for (yk,i@
although) it is great.”
7 Psalm 41:4: “I said, Lord, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for (yk@,i although) I
have sinned against thee.”