Noah

Parashash Noach

Genesis 6:9 – 11:32

Please pray

 This prayer

Before reading

In the name of Yahushua

Our Messiyah,

I pray for the Spirit of Understanding

The Spirit of Knowledge and

The Spirit of Wisdom

As I read through this Parasha

That the Truth of Torah may

Come forth. Amen

This Torah portion is called Noah, meaning “he rested,” it was ten generations from Adam to Noah; they had not produced the success the Mighty Ones had desired.  Mankind had become or had gone away or lost the original plan of Creation, which is still to produce mature sons for the Kingdom.  Noah and his family out of, may I say millions, only eight got saved; and eight represents a new beginning.   Does this sound familiar?   Remember the exodus from Egypt over two millions left Egypt and only two made it to Canaan.

In this Parasha we learn that a wise believer should never disparage any good deed as being insignificant, just as he does not fail to love his child who lacks understanding.  A wise person should work hard as Noah did to perfect his deeds, just as we should spare no effort to help his children.  Noah was righteous even in his corrupt generation; it is always a choice we make to follow or not to follow Torah.  How much more righteous would he have been had he lived in a truly righteous society!  The righteous of every generation are judged accordingly to the revelation that they were given to them.  Adam had only one command to keep, only one Word to bring to revelation: do not eat of the Tree of Good and Evil. Today we have two main category of commandment, the love for our Creator and Love for our fellow man, ten sub categories, and over 613 specific commandments.

Mankind has chosen his path, the difficult path to righteousness, which incur obedience to the 613 commandments, which was never a part of the original plan to perfection. If Adam Reshon the first man had obey the first Divine requirements, the path to perfection would not be so difficult. Adam Reshon was told that by the sweat he shall labor all his day, meaning that the path to perfection was now made very difficult.

The Torah in its wisdom gave us example of great men who negated on behalf of the people in their generation. Noah was the righteous man, as Abraham and Moses were in their generation. Noah did not do his utmost to protect the people from the wrath of the CREATOR. When the Creator told Abraham that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were doing terrible things, and was about to be destroyed, Abraham immediately begged the Creator to spare them.

He asked the CREATOR, if there are but forty righteous people in these cities, will YOU avert their destruction? Abraham continued to beg that the cities be spared until he had negotiated the number of righteous people required down to only ten; at that point, Abraham said to CREATOR, then save the towns for the ten.

It seems that Abraham stop at ten righteous people because he was confident that there were ten people in Sodom and Gomorrah that he assumed his plea had been successful.

After the Yisraelites sinned at Sinai, the CREATOR said to Moses, “Let me destroyed them,” Moses immediately began to pray. Like Abraham before him, he was unrelenting in defense of his people. Torah tells us that Moses pleaded with the Creator, “Take my life here in this world.” Blot me out of Your Book.  Leave me with nothing, but save them. The Yisraelites would have been destroyed, had Moses a type of the Messiyah not chosen to stand in defense of the people. The CREATOR chosen to divert judgment of the people.

In these three example: Moses who begged to save the Yisraelites and was successful, Abraham who negotiated forcefully to save Sodom and Gomorrah until he believe that he would be successful, and Noah, who did not pray or even negotiated, or even beg for the people, he just build an Ark to save himself.

Why did Noah not pray? We know that he was the righteous man in his generation, the one who was chosen to build his own Ark to be saved from the flood. Was Noah somewhat indifference to the fate of others? Or did he believe that his virtue placed him above the rest? To help explore these question lets us now study this Torah portion.

The error in Noah’s judgment has provided us with a unique understanding. Every year when we read this Torah Portion, we are reminded that we can change the consciousness of compliance in our lives. When we understand that nothing is ever final until we die. If ABBA YAHWEH sends you a prophet who says that we are going to die, we should not accept it. Nothing in life is final! We have the power in us to tip the scale in our favor.

Gen 6:9 This is the genealogy of Noaḥ. Noaḥ was a righteous man, perfect in his generations. Noaḥ walked with Elohim. – In every generation there are a few like Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jeremiah, Daniel, Obadiah, Nahum, Haggai, Matthew, Paul, Titus, Peter, Jude and John, have manage to navigate this most treacherous path to perfection . Will you be named among this auspicious group of believer? Faith in Yahushua and obedience to Torah plus faithfulness will produce such a character in us.

In this verse we have Noah been distinguished from the rest of the world, and a peculiar mark of honor place upon him. When EL YAHWEH was displeased with the rest of the world, HE favored Noah: But Noah found grace in the eyes of YAHWEH. This vindicates YAH’s justice in HIS displeasure against the world, and shows that he had strictly examined the character of every person in it before he pronounced it universally corrupt; for, if there being one good man, he would find him out, and smiled upon him.

It also magnifies HIS grace towards Noah that he was made a vessel of YAH’s mercy when all mankind besides Noah had become the generation of HIS wrath: distinguishing favors bring under peculiarly strong obligations. Probably Noah did not find favor in the eyes of men; they hated and persecuted him, because both by his life and preaching he condemned the world. But he found grace in the eyes of YAHWEH, and this was honor and comforts enough. YAHWEH gave more account of Noah than of all the world besides, and this made him greater and more truly honorable than all the giants that were in those days, who became mighty men and men of renown. Let this be the summit of our ambition, to find grace in the eyes of YAHWEH; herein let us labor, that, present or absent, we may be accepted of HIM, 2 Co. 5:9. Those are highly favored whom EL YAHWEH favors.

When the rest of the world was corrupt and wicked, Noah kept his integrity: These are the generations of Noah (this is the account we have to give of him), Noah was a just man. This character of Noah comes in: As the reason of YAH’s favor to him; his singular piety qualified him for singular tokens of YAH’s loving-kindness. Those that would find grace in the eyes of the YAHWEH must be as Noah was and do as Noah did; YAHWEH loves those that love HIM: was Noah perfect? Far from it! When someone finds grace it alludes to the fact that he made mistake, but he was given a second chance.

As the effect of YAH’s favor to him. It was YAH’s good-will to him that produced this good work in him. He was a very good man, but he was no better than the grace of YAHWEH made him, 1 Co. 15:10. Now observe his character.

He was a just man that is, justified before EL YAHWEH by faith in the promised seed; for he was an heir of the righteousness which is by faith, Heb. 11:7. He was sanctified, and had right principles and dispositions implanted in him; and he was righteous in his conversation, one that made conscience of rendering to all their due, to YAHWEH his due and to men theirs. None but a downright honest man can find favor with YAHWEH. That conversation which will be pleasing to YAHWEH must be governed by simplicity and godly sincerity, not by fleshly wisdom, 2 Co. 1:12. YAHWEH has sometimes chosen the foolish things of the world, but he never chose the knavish things of it.

Noah was perfect, not with a sinless perfection, but a perfection of sincerity; and it is well for us that by virtue of the covenant of grace, upon the score of Messiyah’s righteousness, sincerity is accepted as our gospel perfection.

He walked with YAHWEH, as Enoch had done before him. He was not only honest, but devout; he walked, that is, he acted with YAHWEH, as one always under his eye. He lived a life of communion with YAHWEH; it was his constant care to conform himself to the will of YAHWEH, to please HIM, and to approve himself to HIM. YAHWEH looks down upon those with an eye of favor who sincerely look up to him with an eye of faith.

That which crowns his character is what he was, and what he did, in his generation, in that corrupt degenerate age in which his lot was cast. It is easy to be religious when religion is in fashion; but it is an evidence of strong faith and resolution to swim against a strong stream of public opinion, and to appear for YAHWEH when no one else appears for him: so Noah did, and it is upon record, to his immortal honor.

Gen 6:10 And Noaḥ brought forth three sons: Shĕm, Ḥam, and Yepheth. – The three sons of Noah were not named in the order of their birth. Yepheth was the eldest, but Shem is mentioned first because Scripture enumerates them according to their spiritual maturity, not by their physical age. Shem represent those in the Holy of Holies, Ham represent those in the holy Place, while Yepheth represent those in the outer court. Shem those who get to sit on the Throne, Ham these who get to stand around the Throne and Yepheth those who get to sand before the Throne.

Gen 6:11 And the earth was corrupt before Elohim, and the earth was filled with violence. – Sin has a progressive nature about it. Seven days of creation, as there are seven stages to Heavens, there are seven stages to hell. At first the world became corrupt, being guilty of immorality and idolatry, later their sins begins to corrupt the earth, because the sons of men were inhabited the world, like the first destruction of the earth.

What begins in private, when people still have a sense of right and wrong? But once a people developed the habit of sinning, they gradually lose their shame, and immoral behavior becomes the accepted norm.

In Noah’s time, the immoral sexual conduct of the people extended to animals, as well, until they too cohabited with other species. The behavior of the people in Noah’s generation continued to deteriorate.  At first they were corrupt, meaning being guilty of immorality and idolatry.  Then they began to sin openly before EL YAHWEH.  There is always a pattern to sin, it will always leads to farther depths of depravity. 

This means, that what is done in private will sooner or later manifested in public.  In this case it leads the people into robbery and may I say violence.  Violence and robbery goes hand in hand.  Finally, the earth became corrupted, and man who was created to be the very essence of the Word, through his corruption the whole world was now infected.  Light and darkness once again existed together, but EL YAHWEH is about to make another distinction between them. Another 1^st day of creation.

Gen 6:12 And Elohim looked upon the earth and saw that it was corrupt – for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth – Which one of these commandments do we violate?  Which one do we think is not relevant today?  Yahushua says if you break one, you have broken them all!  The righteous of each generation will be judged in terms of their own time and revelation. 

It is true that Noah was not nearly as great as Abraham, but it is fair to say that he would have been far greater had he not been surrounded by corrupt and immoral people.  Yet, Noah stood out as a beacon for all to see their way back to the Creator.  It is fair to say that Noah feared only EL YAHWEH, and he was not enticed by dishonesty and surely not by idolatry.  He walked in the path EL YAHWEH had chosen, for Him as a Prophet.  Noah instilled in his family as the high priest, the same values, and I am quite certain that he preached the same message to those around him.

Wickedness, as it is the shame of human nature, so it is the ruin of human society. Take away conscience and the fear of YAHWEH, and men become beasts and devils to one another, like the fishes of the sea, where the greater devour the less. Sin fills the earth with violence, and so turns the world into a wilderness, into an arena of wickedness.

The proof and evidence of it were undeniable; for EL YAHWEH looked upon the earth, and was himself an eye-witness of the corruption that was in it, of which was before HIM. The righteous Judge in all HIS judgments proceeds upon the infallible certainty of HIS own omniscience, Ps. 33:13.

That which most aggravated the matter was the universal manifestation of the contagion: All flesh had corrupted his way. It was not some particular nations or cities that were wicked, but the whole world of mankind was so; there was none that did good, no, not one besides Noah.

When wickedness has become general and universal ruin is not far off; while there is a remnant of praying people in a nation, to empty the measure as it fills, judgments may be kept off a great while; but when all hands are at work to pull down the fences by sin, and none stand in the gap to make up the breach, what can be expected but an inundation of wrath?

This Parasha teaches us that they stole from one another in petty ways, which were not subject to the authority of the court.  Though this is not the gravest kind of sin, it is morally damaging in the extreme, because thievery within the letter of the law weakens the conscience and corrupts the social fabric of the society.  Another example is when the courts are used to steal money from another person, because the wealthy has a better lawyer, much like what goes on today.  Our society today is not far off from the same kind of depravity that plagues Noah’s generation.

It is like sending a group of officers to West Point to learn military strategy, yet while they were there, they lost their focus and instead played video war games-all-the-time. This was the state of the generation of Noah’s time, therefore, The Creator EL YAHWEH resolved to wipe away the filth and start anew.  Noah was a righteous man, and righteous men produce righteous offspring.  He runs his household according to the revelation given to him. Righteous men love good deeds, the way they love their children and they perform righteousness out of love, not out of duty.

Gen 6:13 and Elohim said to Noaḥ, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them. And see, I am going to destroy them from the earth. - EL YAHWEH decreed that a generation that behaved so immorally had forfeited its right to exist, but even then, He extended mercy to them.  EL YAHWEH commanded Noah to construct an Ark, for one hundred and twenty years, the curious would see Noah laboring at his task, they would ask him what are you doing, and he would answer EL YAHWEH is going to destroy the world because of sin.  EL YAHWEH is about to destroy the world with a flood, they might be inspired to repent.  But instead of seizing the opportunity, Noah’s contemporaries scoffed at him.

Is it possible that as Noah builds his spiritual Ark, by preaching the Gospel to the unsaved the Ark was been supernatural been built for Him? For what we see in the natural have a spiritual root.

EL YAHWEH made Noah a monument of sparing mercy, by putting him in a way to secure himself in the approaching deluge that he might not perish with the rest of the world: I will destroy them, says YAHWEH TSEBAOTE, with the earth. "But make thee an ark; I will take care to preserve thee alive.’’  Singular piety shall be recompensed with distinguishing salvations, which are in a special manner obliging. This will add much to the honor and happiness of glorified saints that they shall be saved when the greatest part of the world is left to perish.

I believe that Noah felt he was skating on thin ice when YAHWEH TSEBAOTE told him that all flesh had come before ABBA YAHWEH, He would be saved but the world would be destroyed. Maybe Noah didn’t want to draw too much attention to himself by begging on behalf of others, for a fear of the CREATOR, that HE might have second thoughts about about spearing he and his family.

Noah at this point might have asked the CREATOR for mercy for the whole world. In the book of Judges, we learn ABBA YAHWEH chose Gideon, a young man from an otherwise unremarkable clan of the tribe of Manasseh, to free the people of Yisrael and to condemn their worship of idols. Gideon was not especially righteous, nor was his family noble, so why was he chosen?  It was not because of his connection to the Light of the CREATOR, nor because of his strength or great wisdom. It was because he spoke well of Yisrael, because he asked for good things for the Yisraelites that the CREATOR said to him “you will have all the power, all the Light you will need to save them.”

Noah fails to understand that even if we have no light, no special claim like Gideon, as long as we have a desire to help another person, that desire will connect us to the CREATOR. The CREATOR will give us everything we need to provide that help. Too often when most of us have an impulse to make a difference, we question our ability to do so, and with good reason.

The fact is that most of us do not have the Spirit of Wisdom to give us the confidence. We learn from Gideon that we need no special ability, just an ability to help.

Gen 6:14 “Make yourself an ark of gopherwood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with tar. - Noah was commanded to build an Ark himself.  Much as we are commanded to build our bodies in an Ark of righteousness: where The Torah, the Holy Spirit reside.  He was to build the Ark to symbolize his own behavior; Noah remained aloof from his compatriots instead of chastising them and trying to save them by improving their conduct.  Now, Noah must isolate himself in an Ark. When we become the Ark of the Covenant, we insolate ourselves from the world spiritually. This is the purpose of Creation to see who will be qualified.

Gen 6:15 “And this is how you are to make it: The length of the ark is three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. – Even according to the smallest estimate of 18 inches per cubit, the dimension of the Ark were 300 x 50 x 30 = 450,000 cubits.

Gen 6:16 “Make a window for the ark, and complete it to a cubit from above. And set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks. – Some say it was a skylight, according to most Hebrew commentators, it was the window Noah opened after the flood, and some say it was a precious stone that refracted the outside light to illuminate the interior. Notice that the door of the Ark was in its side as the Spare that Pearce the side of Messiyah Yahushua was made in His Side also. It is through this door in the side of Messiyah which is similar to the door that that was made when the Red Sea parted to let the Children of Yisrael escape Egypt.

The roof of the Ark sloped upward to a cubit, so that the rain would run off. The Ark comprised of thee deck. One for the unclean animal, the second for the clean animals, and the third for the Humans.

As the Tabernacle have three compartments: the Outer court, the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. This depicts three level of maturity. As each arm of the menorah have three fruits, depicting the same spiritual meaning.

Gen 6:17 “And see, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life from under the heavens – all that is on the earth is to die. - YAHWEH told Noah, that HE would destroy the world by a flood of waters: And behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth. YAHWEH could have destroyed all mankind by the sword of an angel, a flaming sword turning every way, as HE destroyed all the first-born of the Egyptians and the camp of the Assyrians; and then there needed no more than to set a mark upon Noah and his family for their preservation.

But YAHWEH TSEBAOTE chose to do it by a flood of waters, which should drown the world. The reasons, we may be sure, were wise and just, to us unknown HE has many arrows in HIS quiver, and HE may use whichever HE please: as HE chooses the rod with which HE will correct HIS children, so HE chooses the sword with which he will cut off HIS enemies. Observe the manner of expression: "I, even I, do bring a flood; I that am infinite in power, and therefore can do it, infinite in justice, and therefore will do it.’’   It intimates the certainty of the judgment: I, even I, will do it. That cannot but be done effectually which YAHWEH HIMSELF undertakes the doing of. See Job 11:10.

It intimates the tendency of it to YAH’s glory and the honor of HIS justice. Therefore HE will be magnified and exalted in the earth, and the entire world shall be made to know that HE is the ELOHIM to whom vengeance belongs; I think the expression here is somewhat like that, Isa. 1:24, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries.

Gen 6:18 “And I shall establish My covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. – EL YAHWEH here makes Noah the man of HIS covenant, another Hebrew periphrasis of a friend: But with thee will I establish my covenant.

The covenant of providence, that the course of nature shall be continued to the end of time, notwithstanding the interruption which the flood would give to it. This promise was immediately made to Noah and his sons, ch. 9:8, etc. They were as trustees for all this part of the creation, and a great honor was thereby put upon him and his.

The covenant of grace, that EL YAHWEH would be to him a Mighty One and that out of his seed YAHWEH would take to himself a people. When EL YAHWEH makes a covenant, HE establishes it, HE makes it sure, HE makes it good; his are everlasting covenants.

The covenant of grace has in it the recompense of singular services, and the fountain and foundation of all distinguishing favors; we need desire no more, either to make up our losses for YAHWEH or to make up happiness for us in YAHWEH, than to have his covenant established with us.

Gen 6:19 “And of all the living creatures of all flesh, two of each, you are to bring into the ark, to keep them alive with you – a male and a female. – EL YAHWEH made Noah a savior to the inferior creatures, to keep the several kinds of them from perishing and being lost in the deluge. This was a great honor put upon Noah, that not only in him the race of mankind should be kept up, and that from him should proceed a restoration, the soul of the world, and Messiyah, the head of that church, but that he should be instrumental to preserve the inferior creatures, and so mankind should in him acquire a new title to them and their service. He was to provide shelter for them, that they might not be drowned.

Gen 6:20 “Of the birds after their kind, and of the cattle after their kind, and of all creeping creatures of the earth after their kind, two of each are to come to you, to keep them alive. - Two of every sort, male and female, Noah must take with him into the ark; and lest he should make any difficulty of gathering them together, and getting them in, YAHWEH promises that they shall of their own accord come to him. He that makes the ox to know his owner and his crib then made him know his preserver and his ark.

Noah was also a forerunner of the Messiyah, whoever was in Messiyah would be saved from the destruction of the world.

Gen 6:21 “As for you, take of all food that is eaten and gather it to yourself. And it shall be food for you and for them.” - He was to provide sustenance for them, that they might not starve. He must prepare his ship resources according to the number of his crew, that great family which he was in-charge of, and according to the time appointed for his confinement. He was a type of Messiyah, to whom it owes that the world stands, by whom all things consist, and who preserves mankind from being totally cut off and ruined by sin; in him the holy seed is saved alive, and the creation rescued from the corruption under which it groans. Noah saved those whom he was to rule, so does Messiyah, Heb. 5:9.

Gen 6:22 And Noaḥ did according to all that Elohim commanded him, so he did. - Noah’s care and diligence in building the ark may be considered, as an effect of his faith in the Word of YAHWEH. YAHWEH had told him HE would shortly drown the world; Noah believed it, feared the threatened deluge, and, in that fear, prepared the ark. We ought to mix faith with the revelation YAHWEH has made of his wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men; the threatening of the word are not false alarms. Much might have been objected against the credibility of this warning given to Noah.

Who could believe that the wise Elohim, who made the world, should so soon unmake it again, that he who had drawn the waters off the dry land (ch. 1:9, 10) should cause them to cover it again? How would this be reconciled with the mercy of YAHWEH, which is over all his works especially that the innocent creatures should die for man’s sin? Whence could water be sufficient to deluge the world? And, if it must be so, why should notice be given of it to Noah only?’’ But Noah’s faith triumphed over all these corrupt reasoning.

As an act of obedience to the command of YAHWEH so was Messiyah. Had he consulted with flesh and blood, many objections would have been raised against it. To build a building, such a one as he never saw, so large, and of such exact dimensions, would put him upon a great deal of care, and labor, and expense. It would be a work of time; the vision was for a great while to come. His neighbors would ridicule him for his credulity, and he would be the song of the drunkards; his building would be called Noah’s folly, so was Messiyah.

If the worst came to the worst, as we say, each would fare as well as his neighbors. But these, and a Thousand such objections, Noah by faith got over. His obedience was ready and resolute: So did Noah, willingness and cheerfully, without murmuring and disputing. EL YAHWEH says, do this, and he does it, so did Messiyah. It was also punctual and persevering: he did all exactly according to the instructions given him, and, having begun to build, did not leave off till he had finished it; so did he, and so must we do.

As an instance of wisdom for himself, to provide for his own safety, he feared the deluge, and therefore prepared the ark.  When YAHWEH gives warning of approaching judgments, it is our wisdom and duty to provide accordingly. See Ex. 9:20, 21; Eze. 3:18. We must prepare to meet YAHWEH in his judgments on earth, flee to his name as a strong tower (Prov. 18:10), enter into our chambers (Isa. 26:20, 21), especially prepare to meet him at death and in the judgment of the great day, build upon Messiyah the Rock (Mt. 7:24), go into Messiyah the Ark.

As intended for warning to a careless world; and it was fair warning of the deluge coming. Every blow of his axes and hammers was a call to repentance, a call to them to prepare arks too. But, since by it he could not convince the world, by it he condemned the world, Heb. 11:7.

Chapter 7

In this chapter we have the performance of what was foretold in the foregoing chapter, both concerning the destruction of the old world and the salvation of Noah; for we may be sure that no word of EL YAHWEH shall fall to the ground. There we left Noah busy building his ark, and full of care to get it finished in time, while the rest of his neighbors were laughing at him for his pains.

Now here we see what was the end thereof, the end of his care and of their carelessness. And this famous period of the old world gives us some idea of the state of things when the world that now is shall be destroyed by fire, as that was by water. (See 2 Pt. 3:6, 7.) We have, in this chapter, 

I.             YAH’s gracious call to Noah to come into the ark verse 1, and to bring the creatures that were to be preserved alive along with him verse 2, 3), in consideration of the deluge at hand verse 4. 

II.          Noah’s obedience to this heavenly vision verse 5. When he was six hundred years old, he came with his family into the ark verse 6, 7, and brought the creatures along with him verse 8, 9, an account of which is repeated verse 13–16, to which is added YAH’S tender care to shut him in. 

III.       The coming of the threatened deluge verse 10; the causes of it verse 11, 12; the prevalence of it verse 17–20. 

IV.        The dreadful desolations that were made by it in the death of every living creature upon earth, except those that were in the ark verse 21–23.

V.           The continuance of it in full sea, before it began to ebb, one hundred and fifty days verse 24.

Gen 7:1  And  יהוה said to Noaḥ, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation. - Here is an example of Messiyah and His people.  A gracious invitation of “Messiyah” Noah and his family into a place of safety, now that the “fire” flood of waters was coming.

The call itself is very kind, like that of a tender father to his children, to come in doors, when he sees night or a storm coming: Come You, and thy entire house, that small family that You hast, into the ark.

Noah did not enter into the ark till Father YAHWEH ask him; he knew it was designed for his place of refuge, yet he waited for a renewed command, and had it. It is very comfortable to follow the calls of Providence, and to see YAHWEH going before us in every step we take.

YAHWEH does not ask Noah to go into the ark, but come into it, implying that YAHWEH was already there, would lead him into it, accompany him in it, and in due time bring him safely out of it. Wherever we are, it is very desirable to have the presence of EL YAHWEH with us, for this is all in all to the comfort of every condition. It was this that made Noah’s ark, which was a prison, to be to him not only a refuge, but a palace.

Noah had taken a great deal of pains to build the ark, as Yahushua take the time to build our mansion, and now he was himself preserved alive in it. What we do in obedience to the command of The Kingdom, and in faith, we ourselves shall certainly have the comfort of, first or last.

Not “Messiyah” Noah only, but his house also, his wife and children, are called with him into the ark. It is good to belong to the family of a godly man; it is safe and comfortable to dwell under such a shadow. One of Noah’s sons was Ham, who proved afterwards a bad man, yet he was saved in the ark, which intimates, that wicked children often fare the better for the sake of their godly parents.  That there is a mixture of bad with good in the best societies in earth, and we are not to think it strange. In Noah’s family there was a Ham, and in Messiyah’s family there was a Judas. There is no perfect purity on this side heaven.

This call to Noah was a type of the call which the gospel gives to poor sinners. Yahushua Messiyah is an ark already prepared, in whom alone we can be safe when death and judgment come. Now the burden of the song is, "Come, come;’’ the word says, "Come;’’ ministers say, "Come;’’ the Spirit says, "Come, come into the ark.’’

The reason for this invitation is a very honorable testimony to Noah’s integrity: For thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. Those are righteous indeed that are righteous before EL YAHWEH, that have not only the form of godliness by which they appear righteous before men, who may easily be imposed upon, but the power of it by which they approve themselves to YAHWEH, who searches the heart, and cannot be deceived in men’s characters.

EL YAHWEH takes notice of and is pleased with those that are righteous before HIM: Thee have I seen. In a world of wicked people, YAHWEH could see one righteous Noah or Messiyah; that single grain of wheat could not be lost, no, not in so great a heap of chaff. YAHWEH knows those that are his.

EL YAHWEH, that is a witness to, will shortly be a witness for, his people’s integrity; he that sees it will proclaim it before angels and men, to their immortal honor. Those that obtain mercy to be righteous shall obtain witness that they are righteous.

EL YAHWEH is, in a special manner, pleased with those that are good in bad times and places. Noah was therefore illustriously righteous, because he was so in that wicked and adulterous generation.

Those that keep themselves pure in times of common iniquity EL YAHWEH will keep safe in times of common calamity; those that partake not with others in their sins shall not partake with them in their plagues; those that are better than others are, even in this life, safer than others, and it is better with them.

Gen 7:2 “Of all the clean beasts take with you seven pairs, a male and his female; and of the beasts that are unclean two, a male and his female; - Because the clean were most for the service of man; and therefore, in favor to him, more of them were preserved and are still propagated. Thanks be to EL YAHWEH, there are not herds of lions as there are of oxen, nor flocks of tigers as there are of sheep. Because the clean were for sacrifice to YAHWEH; and therefore, in honor to HIM, more of them were preserved, three couple for breed, and the odd seventh for sacrifice, ch. 8:20.

Gen 7:3 and of birds of the heavens seven pairs, male and female, to keep offspring alive on the face of all the earth. – YAHWEH gives us six for one in earthly things, as in the distribution of the days of the week, that in spiritual things we should be all for him. What is devoted to YAH’s honor, and used in HIS service, is particularly blessed and increased.

Gen 7:4 “For after seven more days I am sending rain on the earth, forty days and forty nights, and shall wipe from the face of the earth all that stand that I created.” – After the original period that EL YAHWEH gave for the repentance, HIS mercy decreed that HE gave them seven more days.

He is given notice of the imminent approach of the flood: Yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain. "It shall be seven days yet, before I do it.’’ After the hundred and twenty years had expired, YAHWEH grants them a reprieve of seven more days, both to show how slow he is to anger and that all HIS judgment is tempered with mercy, and also to give them some further space for repentance: but all in vain; these seven days were trifled away, after all the rest; they continued secure and sensual until the day that the flood came.

 "It shall be but seven days.’’ While Noah told them of the judgment at a distance, they were tempted to put off their repentance, because the vision was for a great while to come; but now he is ordered to tell them that it is at the door, that they have but one week more to turn them in, but one Sabbath more to improve, to see if that will now, at last, awaken them to consider the things that belong to their peace, which otherwise will soon be hidden from their eyes.

But it is common for those that have been careless of their souls during the years of their health, when they have looked upon death at a distance, to be as careless during the days, the seven days, of their sickness, when they see it approaching, their hearts being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Gen 7:5 And Noaḥ did according to all that יהוה commanded him. – Noah like Yahushua Messiyah did all that was ask of him. A true symbol of a faithful son.

Gen 7:6 Now Noaḥ was six hundred years old when the flood-waters were on the earth. – As Noah was six hundred year then the flood came. Earth will be six Thousand years then the judgment will take place.

Gen 7:7 And Noaḥ and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives went into the ark because of the waters of the flood. – Yahushua and His people will be in the Ark called New Yerushalayim.  The implication is that Noah and His family entered the Ark only when the rising water forced them to seek refuge. Even to the last minute, believers should always seek to minister to those who will be lost in the judgment.

Gen 7:8 Of the clean beasts and of the beasts that are unclean, and of birds, and of all that creep on the earth, - The brute creatures readily went in with him. The same hand that at first brought them to Adam to be named now brought them to Noah to be preserved. The ox now knew his owner, and the ass his protector’s crib, even the wildest man may come to Messiyah; but man had become more brutish than the brutes themselves, and did not know, nor did not consider, Isa. 1:3.

When Lucifer rebelled he took a third of the ruling Angels, but also the messenger and servants in Heavens. These staff has to be restored, as the earth had to be repopulated after the flood.

Gen 7:9 two by two they went into the ark to Noaḥ, male and female, as Elohim had commanded Noaḥ. – There were at least two from every species, as there will be at least two from every Tribe who will be taken up by Messiyah. This versa in the Hebrew seems to imply that the clean animals did not come to Noah he had to take them. The unclean animals were in the Ark only to preserve their species, but the clean animals had the additional purpose of being offering after the Flood was over.

The verse sums up verse 5-9 by praising Noah, who had scrupulously followed every directive of EL YAHWEH in bringing his family and the multitude of animals into the Ark.

Gen 7:10 And it came to be after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth. – In Messiyanic times, it came to be that after six Thousand years that the judgment came. Again this verse is an illustration of the end of day, when everything will be restored.

Gen 7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noaḥ’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of the heavens were opened. –  The date of this great event; this is carefully recorded, for the greater certainty of the story.

It was in the 600th year of Noah’s life, which, by computation, appears to be 1656 years from the creation. The years of the old world are reckoned, not by the reigns of the giants, but the lives of the patriarchs; saints are of more account with YAHWEH than princes.

The righteous shall have in everlasting remembrance. Noah was now a very old man, even as men’s years went then. The longer we live in this world the more we see of the miseries and calamities of it; it is therefore spoken of as the privilege of those that die young that their eyes shall not see the evil which is coming, 2 Ki. 22:20. 

Sometimes EL YAHWEH exercises HIS old servants with extraordinary trials of obedience patience. The oldest of Messiyah’s soldiers must not promise themselves a discharge from their warfare till death discharges them. Still they must gird on their harness, and not boast as Though they had put it off. As the year of the deluge is recorded.

 We are told that it was in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, which is reckoned to be about the beginning of April; so that Noah had had a harvest just before, from which to supply his ark. This is similar to the final harvest of Messiyah’s people.

 The second causes that concurred to this event.  In the self-same day that Noah was fixed in the ark, the inundation began. Desolating judgments come not till EL YAHWEH has provided for the security of Messiyah’s people; see ch. 19:22, I can do nothing till you come here: and we find (Rev. 7:3) that the winds are held till the servants of YAHWEH are sealed. When good men are removed judgments are not far off; for they are taken away from the evil to come, Isa. 57:1. When they are called into the chambers, hidden in the grave, hidden in heaven, then EL YAHWEH is coming out of his place to punish, Isa. 26:20, 21.

 See what was done on that day, that fatal day to the world of the ungodly.  The fountains of the great deep were broken up. Perhaps there needed no new creation of waters; what were already made to be, in the common course of providence, blessings to the earth, were now, by an extraordinary act of divine power, made the ruin of it.

YAHWEH has laid up the deep in storehouses (Ps. 33:7), and now he broke up those stores. As our bodies have in themselves those humors which, when YAHWEH pleases, become the seeds and springs of mortal diseases, so the earth had in it bowels those waters which, at YAH’s command, sprang up and flooded it. YAHWEH had, in the creation, set bars and doors to the waters of the sea, that they might not return to cover the earth (Ps. 104:9; Job 38:9–11); and now he only removed those ancient land-marks, mounds, and fences, and the waters of the sea returned to cover the earth, as they had done at first, ch. 1:9. All the creatures are ready to fight against sinful man, and any of them is able to be the instrument of his ruin, if YAHWEH do but take off the restraints by which they are held in during the day of YAH’s patience.

 The windows of heaven were opened, and the waters which were above the firmament were poured out upon the world; those treasures which YAHWEH has reserved against the time of trouble, the day of battle and war, Job 38:22, 33. The rain, which ordinarily descends in drops, then came down in streams, or spouts, as they call them in the Indies, where clouds have been often known to burst, as they express it there, when the rain descends in a much more violent torrent than we have ever seen in the greatest shower.

We read (Job 26:8) that YAHWEH binds up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not rent under them; but now the bond was loosed, the cloud was rent, and such rains descended as were never known before nor since, in such abundance and of such continuance: the thick cloud was not, as ordinarily it is, wearied with watering (Job 37:11), that is, soon spent and exhausted; but still the clouds returned after the rain, and the divine power brought in fresh recruits.

Gen 7:12 And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights. – It rained, without intermission or abatement, forty days and forty nights , and that upon the whole earth at once, not, as sometimes, upon one city and not upon another. EL YAHWEH made the world in six days, but he was forty days in destroying it; for he is slow to anger: but, though the purification came slowly and gradually, yet it came effectually.

Now learn from this, that all the creatures are at YAHWEH’s disposal, and that HE makes use of them that pleases HIM, whether for correction, or for his land, or for mercy, as Elihu speaks of the rain, Job 37:12, 12.

That EL YAHWEH often makes that which should be for our welfare to become a trap, Ps. 69:22. That which usually is a comfort and benefit to us becomes, when YAHWEH pleases, a scourge and a plague to us. Nothing is more needful nor clean like water, both the springs of the earth and the showers of heaven; and yet nothing was more hurtful, nothing more destructive: every creature is to us what YAHWEH makes it.

That it is impossible to escape the righteous judgments of YAHWEH when they come against sinners with commission; for YAHWEH can arm both heaven and earth against them; see Job 20:27. YAHWEH can surround men with the messengers of HIS wrath, so that, if they look upwards, it is with horror and amazement, if they look to the earth, behold, trouble and darkness, Isa. 8:21, 11. Who then is able to stand before YAHWEH TSEBAOTE, when HE is angry?

In this destruction of the old world by water YAHWEH gave a specimen of the final destruction of the world that now is by fire. We find the apostle setting one of these over against the other, 2 Pt. 3:6, 7. As there are waters under the earth, so Aetna, Vesuvius, and other volcanoes, proclaim to the world that there are subterraneous fires too; and fire often falls from heaven, many desolations are made by lightning; so that, when the time predetermined comes, between these two fires the earth and all the works therein shall be burnt up, as the flood was brought upon the old world out of the fountains of the great deep and through the windows of heaven.

Gen 7:13 On that same day Noaḥ and Shĕm and Ḥam and Yepheth, the sons of Noaḥ, and Noaḥ’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, went into the ark, - Here is repeated what was related before of Noah’s entrance into the ark, with his family and creatures that were marked for preservation. It is thus repeated for the honor of Noah, whose faith and obedience herein shone so brightly, by which he obtained a good report, and who herein appeared so great a favorite of Heaven and so great a blessing to this earth.

Gen 7:14 they and every living creature after its kind, and every beast after its kind, and every creeping creature that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. - Notice is here taken of the beasts going in each after his kind, according to the phrase used in the history of the creation (ch. 1:21–25), to intimate that just as many kinds as were created at first were saved now, and no more; and that this preservation was as a new creation: a life remarkably protected is, as it were, a new life.

Gen 7:15 And they went into the ark to Noaḥ, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life. – Though all enmities and hostilities between the creatures ceased for the present, and ravenous creatures were not only so mild and manageable as that the wolf and the lamb lay down together, but so strangely altered as that the lion did eat straw like an ox (Isa. 11:6, 7), yet, when this occasion was over, the restraint was taken off, and they were still of the same kind as ever; for the ark did not alter their constitution. Hypocrites in the church, that externally conform to the laws of that ark, may yet be unchanged, and then it will appear, one time or other, what kind they are after. Was there any mention of any serpent been brought into the Ark?

Gen 7:16 And those going in, male and female of all flesh, went in as Elohim had commanded him, and יהוה shut him in. – Those that come into the ark themselves should bring as many as they can in with them, by good instructions, by persuasions, and by a good example. What knows You, O man, but You may save your wife (1 Co. 7:16), as Noah did his? There is room enough in Yahushua Messiyah for all comers. Those that by faith come into Messiyah, the ark, shall by the power of YAHWEH be shut in, and kept as in a strong-hold by the power of YAHWEH, 1 Pt. 1:5. YAHWEH put Adam into paradise, but he did not shut him in, and so he threw himself out; but when HE put Noah into the ark HE shut him in, and so when he brings a soul to Yahushua He ensures its salvation: it is not in our own keeping, but in the Mediator’s hand. The door of mercy will shortly be shut against those that now make light of it. Now, knock and it shall be opened; but the time will come when it shall not, Lu. 13:25.

As they were created, man first then woman, it was the same way they were taken into the Ark. This verse also elucidate that a complete man is one who enter spiritual maturity, the Ark with a wife. As the two were separated in the Garden of Eden, they must be reunited in the Ark spiritually.

Gen 7:17 And the rain was on the earth forty days, and the waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. – How long the flood was increasing, forty days. The profane world, who believed not that it would come, probably when it did came flattered themselves with hopes that it would soon abate and never come to extremity; but still it increased, it prevailed.

When YAHWEH judges HE will overcome. If HE begins, HE will make an end; HIS way is perfect, both in judgment and mercy. The gradual approaches and advances of YAH’s judgments, which are designed to bring sinners to repentance, are often abused to the hardening of their heart in their presumption. While the wicked perish here on earth, the righteous raised high above the earth.

Gen 7:18 And the waters were mighty and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters. – The restriction that was place on the water at Creation was now lifted, except that it had to keep the Ark safe. All other restriction was removed, the water could do whatever it wish, go wherever it wish but it could not destroy the Ark. This might not have been written here, but every drop of rain, every wave that was produce was at the command of EL YAHWEH. On the second and third day of Creation a boundary was set for the water. The water above the earth became one with the water under the firmament. The water under the firmament was now given the authority to move over the land. When we see a Tsunami, we see a temporary release of the boundary set by Father YAHWEH, making it possible for the Tsunami to over whelm the land even for a few minutes.

Gen 7:19 And the waters were exceedingly mighty on the earth, and all the high mountains under all the heavens were covered. – What we need to understand it that, even the water has a angel that govern it. That angel is at the command of EL YAHWEH. The water was given the ability to overcome even the highest mountain.

Now the mountains departed, and the hills were removed, and nothing stood not even a man, for the covenant of peace, Isa. 54:10 was removed. There is no place on earth so high as to set men out of the reach of YAH’s judgments, Jer. 49:16; Obad. 3:4. YAH’s hand will find out all his enemies, Ps. 21:8. Observe how exactly they are fathomed (fifteen cubits), not by Noah’s plummet, but by his knowledge who weighs the waters by measure, Job 28:25.

What was supposed to be the substance that sustains life had become the source of its termination. Torah was given as a instrument of sustenance to man, however it will become the tool that cause man to be condemned. The difference between the law inside the Ark and the Water outside the Ark. The law inside the Ark blesses us while the law outside the Ark curses us.

Gen 7:20 The waters became mighty, fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. – Even those who climbed to the highest mountain to escape the water found nowhere else to flee and drown. When they had a chance to move up spiritually towards the Heavens, they did not find it necessary, now when they see destruction they are climbing every mountain to move nearer to Messiyah, they were climbing every rock they could find. The Rock today as it was in the days of Noah was Yahushua, it will be too late for them.

Gen 7:21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth – birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping creature that creeps on the earth, and all mankind. – All those who live by the flesh will die when the earth is been purged. From a positive aspect, in-order to overcome the flesh, we require the sweet water of the Torah to bring spiritual death to the influence of the flesh. All flesh that indulges mainly in the natural will die, while the flesh which seeks after the higher world will find refuge in the Ark.

Gen 7:22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died. - This verse only mention land creature that perish in the flood. This is indicative of those who dwell in the flesh will be judge, and those who dwell in Torah the Living Water will be spared.

Gen 7:23 So He wiped off all that stand, which were on the face of the ground – both man and beast, creeping creature and bird of the heavens. And they were wiped off from the earth. And only Noaḥ was left, and those with him in the ark. – At this part in the history of the world, the influence of the Flesh, all animalist behavior, those who live solely by the desire of the flesh, and ever evil spirit which the birds represent will be judge by the Torah the Living Water.

Gen 7:24 And the waters were mighty on the earth, one hundred and fifty days. – In the restoration of all things, Torah will again become mighty on the earth as it should, when Adam was place here. The Torah is the substance by which the heavens and the earth were created.

Chapter 8

This chapter recounts the onset of YAH’S mercy, as the Water began to recede and the earth slowly reached the stage where Noah could begin to restore the earth and resume normal life.

In the close of the foregoing chapter we left the world in ruins and the church in straits; but in this chapter we have the repair of the one and the enlargement of the other. Now the scene alters, and another face of things begins to be presented to us, and the brighter side of that cloud which there appeared so black and dark; for, Though YAHWEH contend long, HE will not contend for ever, nor be always wrath.

We have here, 

I.                     The restoration of the earth, by the recess of the waters, and the appearing of the dry land, now a second time, and both gradual. 

1.     The increase of the waters is stayed verse 1, 2. 

2.     They begin sensibly to abate verse 3. 

3.     After sixteen days’ the ark rests verse 4. 

4.     After sixty days’ the tops of the mountains appeared above water verse 5. 

5.     After forty days’ and twenty days before the mountains appeared, Noah began to send out his spies; a raven and a dove, to gain intelligence verse 6–12. 

6.     Two months after the appearing of the tops of the mountains, the waters had gone, and the face of the earth was dry verse 13, though not dried so as to be fit for man till almost two months after verse 14. 

II.                  Man placed anew upon the earth, in which, 

1.     Noah’s discharge and departure out of the ark verse 15–19. 

2.     His sacrifice of praise, which he offered to YAHWEH upon his enlargement verse 20. 

3.     YAH’s acceptance of his sacrifice, and the promise he made thereupon not to drown the world again verse 21, 22. And thus, at length, mercy rejoices against judgment.

Gen 8:1 And Elohim remembered Noaḥ, and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark. And Elohim made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. – EL YAHWEH remembers why HE created the earth, to produce perfect sons for the Kingdom. Father YAHWEH remembered, it was not that HE forgets. To say that He YAHWEH remembers implies that forgetfulness is possible with HIM, which is clearly an absurdity.

The Torah used the term, like many others, to make it easier for us to understand the course of events. YAH’S Wisdom gad decreed that up to this point HE should ignore the plight of HIS Creatures, as if HE had forgotten them. This was because the chain of events in HIS previous instruction was not yet completed. It is like giving instruction to a Angel to perforce a certain action, after he had finished his task he returns for more instructions.

Now HE was ready to send the merciful angel into action, first it was the destructive angel, now the merciful angel. Remember what Yahushua said, “It is imperative that I go, or else the Holy Spirit will not come.” Yahushua had to finish His job before the Holy Spirit can start His.

The angel that was at work was a mighty wind that causes the water to subsided, in comparison the angel who causes the water to rage.

Gen 8:2 And the fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were stopped, and the rain from the heavens was withheld. – The restriction that was place on the water on the second and third day of Creation was restored. Bring an end to the flood, or the judgment.

Gen 8:3 And the waters receded steadily from the earth, and at the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters diminished. – The water had to recede slowly and steadily like an army returning to its base, in-order that it would not cause any further damage to the earth. Its mission was over; it was time for it to once again be subjugated to the Will of the Creator.

Gen 8:4 And in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat. – In the 17 of Tishrei the seventh Hebrew month the Ark came to a rest. Every date in Torah has a meaning, things has to happen according to a specific time and date.

Gen 8:5 And the waters decreased steadily until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains became visible. - The tops of the mountains were seen, like little islands, appearing above the water. We must suppose that they were seen by Noah and his sons; for there were none besides to see them. It is probable that they had looked through the window of the ark every day, like the longing mariners, after a tedious voyage, to see if they could discover land, or as the prophet’s servant (1 Ki. 18:43, 44), and at length they spy ground, and enter the day of the discovery in their journal.

Gen 8:6 And it came to be, at the end of forty days that Noaḥ opened the window of the ark which he had made, - It was not until the tenth month from the beginning of the rain that the mountain tops became visible. Forty days after that, Noah opened the skylight of the Ark to learn when it would be possible to leave the Ark and begin to restore normal life on earth.

Gen 8:7 and he sent out a raven, which kept going out and turning back until the waters had dried up from the earth. - Noah sent forth a raven through the window of the ark, which went forth, as the Hebrew phrase is, going forth and returning, that is, flying about, and feeding on the carcasses that floated, but returning to the ark for rest; probably not in it, but upon it.

Noah wanted to test whether the air was still too moist for the raven to tolerate.  It was for the raven kept circling back and forth. The raven return with nothing in its mouth, indicating that vegetation had not yet begun grows.

Gen 8:8 Then he sent out a dove from him, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground. - He sent forth a dove, which returned the first time with no good news, but probably wet and dirty; but, the second time, she brought an olive-leaf in her bill, which appeared to be first plucked off, a plain indication that now the trees, the fruit-trees, began to appear above water.

Gen 8:9 But the dove found no resting place for its feet and returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of all the earth. So he put out his hand and took it, and pulled it into the ark to himself. – The Set Apart Spirit when it come to earth if it does not find any place in the heart of man, it will always return to its source. This a prophetic message given to Noah in this verse.

Gen 8:10 And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark. -  That Noah sent forth the dove the second time seven days after the first time, and the third time was after seven days too; and probably the first sending of her out was seven days after the sending forth of the raven. This intimates that it was done on the Sabbath day, which, it should seem, Noah religiously observed in the ark. Having kept the Sabbath in a solemn assembly of his little church, he then expected special blessings from heaven, and enquired concerning them. Having directed his prayer, he looked up, Ps. 5:3. The dove is an emblem of a gracious soul, which finding no rest for its foot, no solid peace or satisfaction in this world, this deluged defiling world, returns to Messiyah as to its ark, as to its Noah.

Gen 8:11 And the dove came to him in the evening, and see, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in its mouth. And Noaḥ knew that the waters had receded from the earth. – The olive-branch, which was an emblem of peace, was brought, not by the raven, a bird of prey, nor by a gay and proud peacock, but by a mild, patient, humble dove. It is a dove-like disposition that brings into the world earnests of rest and joy.  Some make these things an allegory. The law was first sent forth like the raven, but did not accomplish what it was destine for; therefore, in the fullness of time, EL YAHWEH sent forth HIS Son, as the dove, in the likeness of which the Holy Spirit descended, and this presents us with an olive-branch and brings in a better hope.

Gen 8:12 And he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return to him again. – Seven day after sending the raven, Noah set the dove free; if it would find a resting place it would not return to him.  Although the mountain top were visible, the birds would not consider them a resting place because they were bare of trees, so that the dove could not build a nest, or because the land was still saturated from the flood.

Gen 8:13 And it came to be in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth. And Noaḥ removed the covering of the ark and looked, and saw the surface of the ground was dry. – On the first day of Abib 14 day before Passover, which was the first day of Spring, the water was totally dried up. The ground dry, that is, all the water was in its original place, which, upon the first day of the first month (a joyful new-year’s-day it was), Noah was himself an eye-witness of.

He removed the covering of the ark, not the whole covering, but so much as would suffice to give him a prospect of the earth about it; and a most comfortable prospect he had. For behold, behold and wonder, the face of the ground was dry.

It is a great mercy to see around about us. Noah was more sensible of it than we are; for mercies restored are much more affecting than mercies continued.

The divine power which now renewed the face of the earth for it was spring can renew the face of an afflicted troubled soul and of a distressed persecuted church. He can make dry ground to appear even where it seemed to have been lost and forgotten, Ps. 18:16. 2.

Gen 8:14 And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. The flood began on the 17 day of the second month that was the 17 Iyar in the six hundred of Noah life “7:11”. On the six hundred and first year of Noah life on the 1^st day Abib “8:13” Noah remove the covering of the Ark. How long was Noah in the Ark over 13 Month.

Gen 8:15 And Elohim spoke to Noaḥ, saying, - Like Moses it says here that EL YAHWEH spoke to Noah.

Gen 8:16 “Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. - Though EL YAHWEH detained Noah for over 13 month, yet at last YAHWEH KHASED gave Noah his discharge; for the vision is for an appointed time, and at the end it shall speak, it shall speak truth (Hab. 2:3), it shall not lie.

 YAHWEH KHASED had said, Come into the ark which he says, Come forth, but, Go forth, which intimates that YAHWEH, who went in with him, stayed with him all the while, till HE sent him out safely; for HE has said, I will not leave thee.

 Some observe that, when they were ordered into the ark, the men and the women were mentioned separately (ch. 6:18): You, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives; hence they infer that, during the time of mourning, they were apart, and their wives apart, Zec. 12:12.

But now YAHWEH did as it were new, sending out Noah and his wife together, and his sons and their wives together, that they might be fruitful and multiply. Noah was ordered to bring the creatures out with him, that having taken the care of feeding them so long, and been at so much pains about them; he might have the honor of leading them forth by their armies, and receiving their homage.

Gen 8:17 “Bring out with you every living creature of all flesh that is with you: of birds, of cattle and all creeping creatures that creep on the earth. And let them teem on the earth, and bear and increase on the earth.” – Once again our Creator set before Noah and his sons, the challenges they must overcome in-order to achieve maturity. HE place the evil spirit in the birds, the animal nature the cattle, the every doctrine that propagate humanity, and gave them the ability to multiply or prosper.

Gen 8:18 So Noaḥ went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him, - Noah’s departure when he had his demission. As he would not go out without permission, so he would not, out of fear EL YAHWEH, stay in when he had leave, but was in all points observant of the heavenly vision. Though he had been now a full year and ten days a passenger in the ark, yet when he found himself preserved there, not only for a new life, but for a new world, he saw no reason to complain of his long journey.

Gen 8:19 every beast, every creeping creature, and every bird, whatever creeps on the earth, according to their kinds, went out of the ark. – Noah brought out all the creatures that went in with him, except the raven and the dove, which, probably, were ready to meet their mates at their coming out. Noah was able to give a very good account of his charge; for of all that were given to him he had lost none, but was faithful to him that appointed him, on this occasion, high steward of his household.

Gen 8:20 And Noaḥ built an altar to יהוה, and took of every clean beast and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. – Noah’s thankful acknowledgment of YAH’s favor to him, in completing the mercy of his deliverance.

He built an altar. Hitherto he had done nothing without particular instructions and commands from EL YAHWEH. He had a particular call into the ark, and another out of it; but, altars and sacrifices being already of divine institution for religious worship, he did not wait for a particular command thus to express his thankfulness. Those that have received mercy from EL YAHWEH should be forward in returning thanks, and do it not of constraint, but willingly.

YAHWEH is pleased with free-will offerings, and praises that wait for YAHWEH. Noah was now turned out into a cold and desolate world, where, one would have thought, his first care would have been to build a house for himself; but, behold, he begins with an altar for YAHWEH: EL YAHWEH, that is the first, must be first served; and he begins well that begins with YAHWEH EL-ELYON.

He offered a sacrifice upon his altar, of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, one, the odd seventh that we read of, ch. 7:2, 3. He offered only those that were clean; for it is not enough that we sacrifice, but we must sacrifice that which YAHWEH NISSI appoints, according to the law of sacrifice, and not a corrupt thing.

Though his stock of cattle was so small, and that rescued from ruin at so great an expense of care and pains, yet he did not give YAHWEH his dues out of it. He might have said, "Have I but seven sheep to begin the world with, and must one of these seven is killed and burnt for sacrifice? Was it not better to defer it till we have greater plenty?’’ No, to prove the sincerity of his love and gratitude, he cheerfully gives the seventh to his EL, as an acknowledgment that all was his, and owing to him. Serving EL YAHWEH with our little is the way to make it more; and we must never think that wasted with which YAHWEH EL-ELYON is honored.

See here the antiquity of religion: the first thing we find done in the new world was an act of worship, Jer. 6:16. We are now to express our thankfulness, not by burnt-offerings, but by the sacrifices of praise and the sacrifices of righteousness, by pious devotions and a pious conversation.

Gen 8:21 And יהוה smelled a soothing fragrance, and יהוה said in His heart, “Never again shall I curse the ground because of man, although the inclination of man’s heart is evil from his youth, and never again smite all living creatures, as I have done, - Since EL YAHWEH protected Noah, His family and the Animals in this Ark of safety for over one year. It was only fitting for Noah to offer an elevation offering. It was no coincident that there were 7 pairs of kosher animals. Some time EL YAHWEH gives us a blessing to see if we would remember Him first. Noah understood that the reason EL YAHWEH had him take seven pairs of clean animals was so that they would be available, should he wish to bring an elevation offering.

EL YAHWEH was well pleased with the performance. YAHWEH smelt a sweet savor, or, as it is in the Hebrew, a savor of rest, from it.

As, when he had made the world at first on the seventh day, he rested and was refreshed, so, now that he had new-made it, in the sacrifice of the seventh he rested. YAHWEH was well pleased with Noah’s pious zeal, and these hopeful beginnings of the new world, as men are with fragrant and agreeable smells; though his offering was small it was according to his ability, and YAHWEH accepted it. Having caused HIS anger to rest upon the world of sinners, HE here caused his love to rest upon this little remnant of believers.

The purpose of a sacrificial offering is to bring about a personal closeness and dedication to righteousness. And the EL YAHWEH smelled a sweet savor; and He said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more everything living, as I have done. When scripture used the term “in His heart” it meant that YAHWEH kept the resolution private and did not reveal it even to the reigning prophet of the time, Noah.

When EL YAHWEH directed Moses to write the Torah, He reveled that the offering of Noah was accepted and that as a result, He was not going to destroy the world again by a flood. Even Though man receive his evil inclination from birth, before he receive the Spirit of wisdom, knowledge and understanding to combat the desire of the flesh.

Man must trough the indwelling of the Holy Spirit developed in time, into a mature individual. While individual are responsible for their sins, mankind as a whole should not be wipe out because of sin. He may choose to wipe out an individual or even a family, or a certain belief system, such as the Nazi. But never the human race, else we would all be extinct.

Gen 8:22 as long as the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.” – Hereupon, he took up a resolution never to drown the world again. Here YAHWEH had an eye, not so much to Noah’s sacrifice as to Messiyah’s sacrifice of himself, which was typified and represented by it, and which was indeed an offering of a sweet-smelling savor, Eph. 5:2. Good security is here given, and that which may be relied upon, that this judgment should never be repeated.

Noah might think, "To what purpose should the world be repaired, when, in all probability, for the wickedness of it, it will quickly be in like manner ruined again?’’ "No,’’ says EL YAHWEH, "it never shall.’’ It was said (ch. 6:6), It repented YAHWEH that he had made man; now here he speaks as if it repented HIM that HE had destroyed man: neither means a change of HIS mind from His main goal to create perfect sons, but both a change of HIS way. It repented HIM concerning HIS servants, Deu. 32:36.

Two ways this resolve is expressed: I will not again curse the ground, Heb. I will not add to curse the ground any more. YAHWEH had cursed the ground upon the first entrance of sin (ch. 3:17), when HE drowned it HE added to that curse; but now HE determines not to add to it any more.

Neither will I again smite any more every living thing; that is, it was determined that whatever ruin EL YAHWEH might bring upon particular persons, or families, or countries, he would never again destroy the whole world till the day shall come when time shall be no more.

But the reason of this resolve is very surprising, for it seems the same in effect with the reason given for the destruction of the world: Because the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth, ch. 6:5. But there is this difference, there it is said, The imagination of man’s heart is evil continually, that is, "his actual transgressions continually cry against him;’’ here it is said, It is evil from his youth or childhood. It is bred in the bone; he brought it into the world with him; he was sharpening and conceived in it.

Now, one would think it should follow, "Therefore that guilty race shall be wholly extinguished, and I will make a full end.’’ No, "Therefore I will no more take this severe method; for,’’ First, "He is rather to be pitied, for it is all the effect of sin dwelling in him; and it is but what might be expected from such a degenerate race: he is called a transgressor from the womb, and therefore it is not strange that he deals so very treacherously,’’ Isa. 48:8.

Therefore YAHWEH remembers that he is flesh, corrupt and sinful, Ps. 78:39. Secondly, "He will be utterly ruined; for, if he be dealt with according to his deserts, one flood must succeed another till all is destroyed.’’ See here, that outward judgments, though they may terrify and restrain men, yet cannot of themselves sanctify and renew them; the grace of YAHWEH must work with those judgments. Man’s nature was as sinful after the deluge as it had been before.

That YAH’s goodness takes occasion from man’s sinfulness to magnify itself the more; his reasons of mercy are all drawn from himself, not from anything in us.

That the course of nature should never be discontinued: "While the earth remained, and man upon it, there shall be summer and winter (not all winter as had been this last year), day and night,’’ not all night, as probably it was while the rain was descending.

Here, it is plainly intimated that this earth is not to remain always; it, and all the works in it, must shortly be burnt up; and we look for new heavens and a new earth, when all these things must be dissolved.

As long as it does remain YAH’s providence will carefully preserve the regular succession of times and seasons, and cause each to know its place. To this we owe it that the world stands, and the wheel of nature keeps it track. See here how changeable the times are and yet how unchangeable.

First, The course of nature always changes. As it is with the times, so it is with the events of time, they are subject to vicissitudes, day and night, summer and winter, counterchanged. In heavens and hell it is not so, but on earth YAHWEH hath set the one over against the other.

Secondly, Yet never changed. It is constant in this inconstancy. These seasons have never ceased, nor shall cease, while the sun continued such a steady measurer of time and the moon such a faithful witness in heaven. This is YAH’s covenant of the day and of the night, the stability of which is mentioned for the confirming of our faith in the covenant of grace, which is no less inviolable, Jer. 33:20, 21. We see YAH’s promises to the creatures made good, and thence may infer that his promises to all believers shall be so.

Gen 9:1 And Elohim blessed Noaḥ and his sons, and said to them, “Bear fruit and increase, and fill the earth. – The Hebrew word “be fruitful and multiply and fill” is the same in both Genesis 1:28; 9:7. Some translation used the term repopulate for fill.

The power to do so was placed in the DNA of every human, every animal, and every plant. We do not have to ask any man or animal or even a plant, do you want to reproduce. In the DNA of every man, animal or even plants the desire to reproduce is instilled. This is a Sovereign Will of the Creator. Only Man has the capability to annul this command.

In the process of repopulating the earth, man was given the ability to rule over all the Animals and beast of the earth, it we would follow His Command. Noah and his family Feared EL YAHWEH, as this Fear continues, all other created animals or birds would render the same dread of man who was created in EL YAHWEH image.

Gen 9:2 “And the fear of you and the dread of you is on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the heavens, on all that creeps on the ground, and on all the fish of the sea – into your hand they have been given. – EL YAHWEH grants Noah the power over the inferior creatures. He grants, a title to them: Into your hands they are delivered, for your use and benefit. It is a dominion over them, without which the title would avail little: The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast.

This revives a former grant (ch. 1:28), only with this difference, that man in innocence ruled by love, fallen man rules by fear. Now this grant remains in force, even today, and so far we have still the benefit of it.

That those creatures which are any way useful to us are reclaimed, and we use them either for service or food, or both, as they are needed and capable. The horse and ox patiently submit to the bridle and yoke, and the sheep is dumb both before the shearer and before the butcher; for the fear and dread of man are upon them.

Those creatures that are in any way hurtful to us are restrained, so that, Though now and then man may be hurt by some of them, they do not combine together to rise up in rebellion against man, else YAHWEH could by these destroy the world as effectually as he did by the flood; it is one of YAH’s sore judgments, Eze. 14:21. What is it that keeps wolves out of our towns, and lions out of our streets, and confines them to the wilderness, but this fear and dread? Nay, some have been tamed, Jas. 3:7.

The image of EL YAHWEH in which we are created would be sufficient to frighten any animals, which are an infinitely lower order of life. But after the generation of the Flood degraded themselves and sank to the level of the animals, they forfeited this characteristic trait.

Now, The Mighty One restored that blessing. This concept means that as long as man grows in the Image of The Mighty One, he need not fear the beast; this is both physically and spiritually. However, if he descends from his true calling, after the fashion of the generation before the flood, he must indeed fear the beast of the wild.

Gen 9:3 “Every moving creature that lives is food for you. I have given you all, as I gave the green plants. – After the flood Noah and his descendants was given the right to eat meat, just as EL YAHWEH had given Adam the right to eat vegetation. However, this right came with a stipulation. You shall not eat meat with the blood in it. The spiritual meaning of this verse, is that man must learn to consume, devour or control the nature of the flesh. In the Garden of Eden Adam was only given right to eat vegetable, which mean doctrine. The only false doctrine there was the doctrine of Liberation which Lucifer preaches, which he use to get the one thirds of the angels in the Heavens to follow him. Now, man have another obstitle to overcome his flesh.

Gen 9:4 “But do not eat flesh with its life, its blood. – Man must not prejudice his own life by eating that food which is unwholesome and prejudicial to his health: "Flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof (that is, raw flesh), shall you not eat, as the beasts of prey do.’’

It was necessary to add this limitation to the grant of liberty to eat flesh, lest, instead of nourishing their bodies by it, they should destroy them. YAHWEH would show: That Though they were lords of the creatures, yet they were subjects to the Creator, and under the restraints of HIS law. That they must not be greedy and hasty in taking their food, but stay the preparing of it; not like Saul’s soldiers (1 Sa. 14:32), nor riotous eaters of flesh, Prov. 23:20.

That they must not be barbarous and cruel to the inferior creatures. They must be lords, but not tyrants; they might kill them for their profit, but not torment them for their pleasure, nor tear away the member of a creature while it was yet alive, and eat that.

That during the continuance of the law of sacrifices, in which the blood made atonement for the soul (Lev. 17:11), signifying that the life of the sacrifice was accepted for the life of the sinner, blood must not be looked upon as a common thing, but must be poured out before YAHWEH (2 Sa. 23:16), either upon HIS altar or upon HIS earth. But, now that the great and true sacrifice has been offered, the obligation of the law ceases with the reason of it.

Gen 9:5 “But only your blood for your lives I require, from the hand of every beast I require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I require the life of man. - Man must not take away his own life: Your blood of your lives will I require. Our lives are not our own as that we may quit them at our own pleasure, but they are YAH’s and we must resign them at HIS pleasure; if we in any way hasten our own deaths, we are accountable to YAHWEH for it.

The beasts must not be allow to hurt the life of man: At the hand of every beast will I require it. To show how tender YAHWEH was of the life of man, Though HE had lately made such destruction of lives, HE will have the beast put to death that kills a man. This was confirmed by the law given to Moses by EL YAHWEH (Ex. 21:28), and I think it would not be unsafe to observe it still. Therefore YAHWEH showed HIS hatred of the sin of murder, that men might hate it the more, and not only punish, but prevent it. And see Job 5:23.

Willful murderers must be put to death. This is the sin which is here designed to be restrained by the terror of punishment. Man was made in the image of Elohim, if an animal the flesh kill a man the spirit, that animal instinct must be destroyed.  YAHWEH will punish murderers: At the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man, that is, "I will avenge the blood of the murdered upon the murderer.’’ 2 Chr. 24:22. When YAHWEH requires the life of a man at the hand of him that took it away unjustly, the murderer cannot render that, and therefore must render his own in lieu of it, which is the only way left of making restitution.

Gen 9:6 “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood is shed, for in the image of Elohim has He made man. -  The Torah place another limitation on man’s right to take a life. Since man was created in EL YAHWEH image, killing another man is similar to slaying one of EL YAHWEH children. We are created to bring to maturity in this life time our soul. Shorting of that life is to determine that the life has reached our intended goal. The life cycle of a man is determined by the Creator. He alone knows if that soul reaches, will reach, or will never reach maturity. His goal is that none should perish. Matthew 18:¹⁴Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in Heavens, that one of these little ones should perish. II Peter 3:⁹ YAHWEH is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

YAHWEH TSIDKENU the righteous Elohim will certainly make inquisition for blood, Though men cannot or do not. One time or other, in this world or in the next, HE will both discover concealed murders, which are hidden from man’s eye, and punish avowed and justified murders, which are too great for man’s hand.

The magistrate must punish murderers: Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, whether upon a sudden provocation or having premeditated it (for rash anger is heart-murder as well as malice pretense, Mt. 5:21, 22), by man shall his blood be shed, that is, by the magistrate, or whoever is appointed or allowed to be the avenger of blood.

There are those who are ministers of YAHWEH for this purpose, to be a protection to the innocent, by being a terror to the malicious and evildoers, and they must not bear the sword in vain, Rom. 13:4. Before the flood, as it should seem by the story of Cain, YAHWEH took the punishment of murder into his own hands; but now HE committed this judgment to men, to masters of families at first, and afterwards to the heads of countries, who ought to be faithful to the trust reposed in them.

Willful murder ought always to be punished with death. It is a sin which YAHWEH would not pardon in a prince (2 Ki. 24:3, 4), and which therefore a prince should not pardon in a subject. To this law there is a reason annexed: For in the image of Elohim made the man at first. Man is a creature dear to his Creator, and therefore ought to be so to us. YAHWEH put honor upon him, let not us then put contempt upon him. Such remains of YAH’s image are still even upon fallen man as that he who unjustly kills a man defaces the image of YAHWEH and does dishonor to him. When ABBA YAHWEH allowed men to kill their beasts, yet he forbade them to kill their slaves; for these is of a much more noble and excellent nature, not only YAH’s creatures, but HIS image, Jam. 3:9.

Gen 9:7 “As for you, bear fruit and increase, bring forth teemingly in the earth and increase in it.” – All men have something of the image of Elohim upon them; but magistrates have, besides, the image of HIS power, and the saints the image of HIS holiness, and therefore those who shed the blood of princes or saints incur a double guilt. Man should not only multiply in a physical sense, by having holy children, but he too must strive for perfection exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit.

Gen 9:8 And Elohim spoke to Noaḥ and to his sons with him, saying, - In this verse we know that ABBA YAHWEH also spoke to Noah and his sons.

Gen 9:9 “And I, see, I establish My covenant with you and with your seed after you, - In this verse we see the general establishment of YAH’s covenant with this new world, and the extent of that covenant.

That YAHWEH is graciously pleased to deal with man in the way of a covenant, wherein YAHWEH greatly magnifies HIS condescending favor, and greatly encourages man’s duty and obedience, as a reasonable and gainful service.

That all of YAH’s covenants with man are of HIS own making: I, behold, I. It is thus expressed both to raise our admiration, "Behold, and wonder, that Though YAHWEH be high yet HE has this respect to man,’’ and to confirm our assurances of the validity of the covenant; "Behold and see, I make it; I that am faithful and able to make it good.’’ That YAH’s covenants are established more firmly than the pillars of heaven or the foundations of the earth, and cannot be disannulled.

That YAH’S covenants are made with the covenanters and with their seed; the promise is to them and their children. That those may be taken into covenant with YAHWEH, and entertain the benefits of it, who yet are not capable of getting, or giving their own consent. For this covenant is made with every living creature, every beast of the earth.

Gen 9:10 and with every living creature that is with you: of the birds, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth. – That YAH’s covenants are established more firmly than the pillars of heaven or the foundations of the earth, and cannot be disannulled. That YAH’s covenants are made with the covenanters and with their seed; the promise is to them and their children. That those may be taken into covenant with YAHWEH, and receive the benefits of it, which are not capable of re-stipulating, or giving their own consent. For this covenant is made with every living creature, every beast of the earth. Never again will YAHWEH destroy any living creature with a flood. There might be flood on a local scale, but never again on a universal scale.

Gen 9:11 “And I shall establish My covenant with you, and never again is all flesh cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again is there a flood to destroy the earth.” - The particular intention of this covenant. It was designed to secure the world from another deluge: There shall not anymore be a flood. YAHWEH had drowned the world once, and still it was as filthy and provoking as ever, and YAHWEH foresaw the wickedness of it, and yet promised HE would never drown it anymore; for HE deals not with us according to our sins. It is owing to YAH’S goodness and faithfulness, not to any reformation of the world, that it has not often been deluged and that it is not deluged now. As the old world was ruined to be a monument of justice, so this world remains to this day, a monument of mercy, according to the oath of YAHWEH, that the waters of Noah should no more return to cover the earth, Isa. 54:9.

Gen 9:12 And Elohim said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for all generations to come: - The Mighty Ones established a covenant with Noah and all his descendants, and all living beings, until the end of time. This covenant would be signified forever by the rainbow. After a rainstorm, the appearance of the rainbow will be a reminder of EL YAHWEH pledge never again to wash away all of mankind by a flood.

          EL YAHWEH uses the natural phenomena of His Creation to remind us of His covenant, for the very laws of nature should be a sign to thinking people, that there is a Elohim. One who sees a rainbow should recites the blessing: Blessed are You, EL YAHWEH, our Elohim, King of the Universe who remembers His Covenant, is trustworthy in His covenant, and fulfills His Word.

    

Gen 9:13 “I shall set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. – This is the sign of the Covenant, so that when you see it, it should remind all believers of the flood, and we should encourage yourselves to rouse people to repent. The seal of this covenant of nature was natural enough; it was the rainbow, which, it is likely, was seen in the clouds before, when second causes concurred, but was never a seal of the covenant till now that it was made so by a divine institution.

Gen 9:14 “And it shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud, - I do set my bow in the cloud; it shall be seen in the cloud, that the eye may affect the heart and confirm the faith; and it shall be the token of the covenant.

Gen 9:15 and I shall remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and never again let the waters become a flood to destroy all flesh. – And I will remember my covenant, that the waters shall no more become a flood. Nay, as if the Eternal Mind needed a memorandum.

Gen 9:16 “And the rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I shall see it, to remember the everlasting covenant between Elohim and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” - I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant. Therefore here is line upon line, that we might have sure and strong comfort who have laid hold of this hope.

The rainbow appears when the clouds are most disposed to wet, and returns after the rain; when we have most reason to fear the rain prevailing, then YAHWEH shows this seal of the promise that it shall not prevail. Therefore YAHWEH calms our fears with such encouragements as are both suitable and seasonable.

The thicker the cloud the brighter the bow in the cloud. Therefore, as threatening afflictions abound, encouraging consolations much more abound, 2 Co. 1:5. The rainbow appears when one part of the sky is clear, which intimates mercy remembered in the midst of wrath; and the clouds are hemmed as it were with the rainbow, that they may not overspread the heavens, for the bow is colored rain or the edges of a cloud gilded. The rainbow is the reflection of the beams of the sun, which intimates that all the glory and significance of the seals of the covenant are derived from Messiyah the Sun of righteousness, who is also described with a rainbow about His throne (Rev. 4:3), and a rainbow upon His head (Rev. 10:1), which intimates, not only His majesty, but His mediator-ship.

Gen 9:17 And Elohim said to Noaḥ, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.” – The rainbow has fiery colors in it, to signify that Though YAHWEH will not again drown the world, yet, when the mystery of YAHWEH shall be finished, the world shall be consumed by fire. A bow bespeaks terror, but this bow has neither string nor arrow, as the bow ordained against the persecutors has (Ps. 7:12, 13), and a bow alone will do little execution. It is a bow, but it is directed upwards, not towards the earth; for the seals of the covenant were intended to comfort, not to terrify.  As YAHWEH looks upon the bow, that he may remember the covenant, so should we, that we also may be ever mindful of the covenant, with faith and thankfulness.

Gen 9:18 And the sons of Noaḥ who went out of the ark were Shĕm and Ḥam and Yepheth. And Ḥam was the father of Kenaʽan. - The names of his sons are again mentioned as those from whom the whole earth was overspread, by which it appears that Noah, after the flood, had no more children: all the world came from these three. YAHWEH, when HE pleases, can make a little one to become a Thousand, and greatly increase the latter end of those whose beginning was small. Such are the power and efficacy of a divine blessing.

Gen 9:19 These three were the sons of Noaḥ, and all the earth was overspread from them.

Gen 9:20 And Noaḥ, a man of the soil, began and planted a vineyard. - The business Noah applied himself to be that of a husbandman, Heb. a man of the earth, that is, a man dealing in the earth that kept ground in his hand, and occupied it. We are all naturally men of the earth, made of it, living on it, and hastening to it: many are sinfully so, addicted to earthly things. Noah was by his calling led to trade in the fruits of the earth.

He began to be a husbandman, that is, sometime after his departure out of the ark, he returned to his old employment, from which he had been diverted by the building of the ark first and probably afterwards by the building of a house on dry land for himself and family. For this good while he had been a carpenter, but now he began again to be a husbandman.

Observe, Though Noah was a great man and a good man, an old man and a rich man, a man greatly favored by heaven and honored on earth, yet he would not live an idle life, nor think the husbandman’s calling below him. Though YAHWEH by his providence may take us off from our callings for a time, yet when the occasion is over we ought with humility and industry to apply ourselves to them again, and, in the calling wherein we are called, faithfully to abide with YAHWEH, 1 Co. 7:24.

Gen 9:21 And he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent. - Noah’s shame: He planted a vineyard; and, when he had gathered his vintage, probably he appointed a day of mirth and feasting in his family, and had his sons and their children with him, to rejoice with him in the increase of his house as well as in the increase of his vineyard; and we may suppose he prefaced his feast with a sacrifice to the honor of YAHWEH. If this was omitted, it was just with YAHWEH to leave him to himself, that he who did not begin with YAHWEH might end with the beasts; but we charitably hope that it was not: and perhaps he appointed this feast with a design, at the close of it, to bless his sons, as Isaac, ch. 27:3, 4, That I may eat, and that my soul may bless thee. At this feast he drank of the wine; for who planted a vineyard and eat not of the fruit of it?

But it seems that he drank too liberally, more than he should at this age would bear, for he was drunk. We have reason to think he was never drunk before nor after; observe how he came to be overtaken in this fault in his own private space, where was his wife, did she had her own tent, separate from Him, this verse seems to imply this arrangement.

Gen 9:22 And Ḥam, the father of Kenaʽan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. – Ham’s impudence and impiety: He saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren. To see it accidentally and involuntarily would not have been a crime; but,

He pleased himself with the sight, as the Edomites looked upon the day of their brother (Obad. 12), pleased, and insulting. Perhaps Ham had sometimes been himself drunk, and reproved for it by his good father, whom he was therefore pleased to see in this condition. It is common for those who walk in false ways themselves to rejoice at the false steps which they sometimes see others make. But charity rejoices not in iniquity, nor can true penitents that are sorry for their own sins rejoice in the sins of others.

He told his two brethren without (in the street, as the word is), in a scornful degrading manner, that his father might seem vile unto them. It is very wrong, to make a jest of sin (Prov. 14:9), and to be puffed up with that for which we should rather mourn, 1 Co. 5:2.  To publish the faults of any, especially of parents, whom it is our duty to honor. Noah was not only a good man, but had been a good father to him; and this was a most base disingenuous requital to him for his tenderness. Ham is here called the father of Canaan, which intimates that he who was himself a father should have been more respectful to him that was his father.

Gen 9:23 So Shĕm and Yepheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father, but their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. - The pious care of Shem and Japheth to cover their father’s shame in a time of crisis. They not only would not see it themselves, but provided that no one else might see it, setting us an example of charity with reference to other men’s sin and shame.

We must not only not say, A confederacy, with those that proclaim it, but we must be careful to conceal it, or at least to make the best of it, be doing as we would be done by. 1. There is a mantle of love to be thrown over the faults of all, 1 Pt. 4:8. 2. Besides this, there is a robe of reverence to be thrown over the faults of parents and other in leadership.

Gen 9:24 And Noaḥ awoke from his wine, and he knew what his younger son had done to him, - Noah comes to himself: He awoke from his wine. Sleep cured him, and, we may suppose, so cured that he never relapsed into that sin afterwards. Those that sleep as Noah did should awake as he did, and not as that drunkard (Prov. 23:35) who says when he awakes; I will seek it yet again.

Gen 9:25 and he said, “Cursed is Kenaʽan, let him become a servant of servants to his brothers.” - The spirit of prophecy comes upon him, and, like dying Jacob, he tells his sons what shall befall them, ch. 49:1. Noah did not curse Ham since he had already been bless, for one cannot curse a bless person. His son was given the curse instead. He pronounces a curse on Canaan the son of Ham, in whom Ham is himself cursed, either because this son of his was now more guilty than the rest, or because the posterity of this son was afterwards to be rooted out of their land, to make room for Israel. Moses here records it for the animating of Yisrael in the wars of Canaan; though the Canaanites were a formidable people, yet they were of old an accursed people, and doomed to ruin.

The particular curse is, A servant of servants (that is, the meanest and most despicable servant) shall he be, even to his brethren. Those who by birth were his equals shall by conquest be his lords. This certainly points at the victories obtained by Israel over the Canaanites, by which they were all either put to the sword or put under tribute (Jos. 9:23; Jdg. 1:28, 30, 33, 35), which happened not till about 800 years after this.

 YAHWEH often visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, especially when the children inherit the fathers’ wicked dispositions, and imitate the fathers’ wicked practices, and do nothing to cut off the entail of the curse.

Disgrace is justly put upon those that put disgrace upon others, especially that dishonor and grieve their own parents. An undutiful child that mocks at his parents is no more worthy to be called a son, but deserves to be made as a hired servant, nay, as a servant of servants, among his brethren.

 Though divine curses operate slowly, yet, first or last, they will take effect. The Canaanites were under a curse of slavery, and yet, for a great while, had the dominion; for a family, a people, a person, may lie under the curse of Torah, and yet may long prosper in the world, till the measure of their iniquity, like that of the Canaanites, be full. Many are marked for ruin that is not yet ripe for ruin. Therefore, let not thy heart envy sinners.

Gen 9:26 And he said, “Blessed be יהוה, the Elohim of Shĕm, and let Kenaʽan become his servant. - He blesses Shem, or rather blesses YAHWEH for him, yet so that it entitles him to the greatest honor and happiness imaginable. Observe,

He calls YAHWEH the Elohim of Shem; and happy, thrice happy, is that people whose Elohim is the YAHWEH, Ps. 144:15. All blessings are included in this. This was the blessing conferred on Abraham and his seed; the Elohim of heavens was not ashamed to be called their Mighty One, Heb. 11:16. Shem is sufficiently recompensed for his respect to his father by this, that YAHWEH himself puts this honor upon him, to be his Mighty One, which is a sufficient recompense for all our services and all our sufferings for his name.

He gives to YAHWEH the glory of that good work which Shem had done, and, instead of blessing and praising him that was the instrument, he blesses and praises YAHWEH that was the author. The glory of all that is at any time well done, by ourselves or others, must be humbly and thankfully transmitted to YAHWEH, who works all our good works in us and for us. When we see men’s good works we should glorify, not them, but our Father, Mt. 5:16. Thus David, in effect, blessed Abigail, when he blessed YAHWEH that sent her (1 Sa. 25:32, 33), for it is an honor and a favor to be employed for YAHWEH and used by him in doing good.

He foresees and foretells that YAH’s gracious dealings with Shem and his family would be such as would evidence to all the world that he was the EL of Shem, on which behalf thanksgivings would by many be rendered to him: Blessed be YAHWEH EL of Shem.

It is intimated that the church should be built up and continued in the posterity of Shem; for of him came the Jews, who were, for a great while, the only professing people YAHWEH had in the world.

Some think it also reference to Yahushua HaMashiach , who in his human nature, should descend from the loins of Shem; for of him, as concerning the flesh, Messiyah came.

Canaan is particularly enslaved to him: He shall be his servant. Those that have the YAHWEH for their Mighty One shall have as much of the honor and power of this world as he sees good for them.

Gen 9:27 “Let Elohim enlarge Yepheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shĕm. And let Kenaʽan become his servant.” - Noah blesses Japheth, and, in him, the isles of the Gentiles, which were peopled by his seed: YAHWEH shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem.

Some make this to belong wholly to Japheth, and to denote either, First, His outward prosperity, that his seed should be so numerous and so victorious that they should be masters of the tents of Shem, which was fulfilled when the people of the Jews, the most eminent of Shem’s race, were tributaries to the Grecians first and afterwards to the Romans, both of Japheth’s seed.

Outward prosperity is no infallible mark of the true church: the tents of Shem are not always the tents of the conqueror. Or, Secondly, It denotes the conversion of the Gentiles, and the bringing of them into the church; and then we should read it, YAHWEH shall persuade Japheth (for so the word signifies), and then, being so persuaded, he shall dwell in the tents of Shem, that is, Jews and Gentiles shall be united together in the gospel fold.

After many of the Gentiles shall have been proselyte to the Hebrew religion, both shall be one in Messiyah (Eph. 2:14, 15), and mostly made up of the Gentiles, shall succeed the Jews in the privileges of church-membership; the latter having first cast themselves out by their unbelief, the Gentiles shall dwell in their tents, Rom. 11:11, etc.

It is YAHWEH only that can bring those again into the church who have separated themselves from it. It is the power of YAHWEH that makes the gospel of Messiyah effectual to salvation, Rom. 1:16. And again, Souls are brought into the church, not by force, but by persuasion, Ps. 110:3.

Gen 9:28 And Noaḥ lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. –

Gen 9:29 So all the days of Noaḥ were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died. – Noah lives 0.950 of a day in YAHWEH time. How YAHWEH prolonged the life of Noah; he lived 950 years, twenty more than Adam and but nineteen less than Methuselah: this long life was a further reward of his signal piety, and a great blessing to the world, to which no doubt he continued a preacher of righteousness, with this advantage, that now all he preached to were his own children.

Observe how EL YAHWEH put a period to his life at last. Though he lived long, yet he died, having probably first seen many that descended from him dead before him. Noah lived to see two worlds, but, being an heir of the righteousness which is by faith, when he died he went to see a better than either.

Noah was born in the year 1056 from Creation, the flood occurred in 1656, and he died in 2006, then years after the Dispersion in chapter 11. Abraham was born in 1948; thus he knew Noah and was 58 years old when Noah died.

It is fascinating that from Adam to Abraham, there was a word-of –mouth tradition spanning only four people: Adam, Lemech, Noah, and Abraham. Similar, Moses through whom the Torah was given, saw Kehath who saw Jacob, who saw Abraham. Accordingly, there were not more than seven people who carried the tradition firsthand from Adam to the generation that received the Torah.

Chapter 10

This chapter shows more particularly what was said in general (ch. 9:19), concerning the three sons of Noah, that "of them was the whole earth overspread;’’ and the fruit of that blessing (ch. 9:1, 7), "replenish the earth.’’ It is the only certain account extant of the origin of nations; and yet perhaps there is no nation but that of the Hebrews that can be confident from which of these seventy fountains (for so many there are here) it derives its streams.

Through the want of early records, the mixtures of people, the revolutions of nations, and distance of time, the knowledge of the lineal descent of the present inhabitants of the earth is lost; nor were any genealogies preserved but those of the Hebrews, for the sake of the Messiyah, only in this chapter we have a brief account, 

I.                   Of the posterity of Japheth verse 2-5. 

II.                The posterity of Ham verse 6–20, and in this particular notice is taken of Nimrod verse 8–10. 

III. The posterity of Shem verse 21, etc.

Gen 10:1  And this is the genealogy of the sons of Noaḥ: Shĕm, Ḥam, and Yepheth. And sons were born to them after the flood. –

Gen 10:2 The sons of Yepheth: Gomer, and Maḡoḡ, and Maḏai, and Yawan, and Tuḇal, and Mesheḵ, and Tiras. - Moses begins the discourse with Japheth’s family, either because he was the eldest, or because his family lay remotest from Israel and had least concern with them at the time when Moses wrote, and therefore he mentions that race very briefly, hastening to give an account of the posterity of Ham, who were Israel’s enemies and of Shem, who were Yisrael’s ancestors.

For it is the church that the scripture is designed to be the history of, and of the nations of the world only as they were some way related to Yisrael and interested in the affairs of Yisrael.

          Notice is taken that the sons of Noah had sons born to them after the flood, to repair and restore the world of mankind which the flood had ruined. He that had killed now makes alive.

Gen 10:3 And the sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Toḡarmah. –

Gen 10:4 And the sons of Yawan: Elishah and Tarshish, Kittim and Doḏanim. - 

Gen 10:5 From these the coastland peoples of the nations were separated into their lands, everyone according to his language, according to their clans, into their nations. - The posterity of Japheth were allotted to the isles of the Gentiles, which were solemnly, by lot, after a survey, divided among them, and probably this island of ours among the rest; all places beyond the sea from Judea are called isles (Jer. 25:22), and this directs us to understand that promise (Isa. 42:4), the isles shall wait for his law, of the conversion of the Gentiles to the faith of Messiyah.

Gen 10:6 And the sons of Ḥam: Kush, and Mitsrayim, and Put, and Kenaʽan. –

Gen 10:7 And the sons of Kush: Seḇa, and Ḥawilah, and Saḇtah, and Raʽmah, and Saḇteḵa. And the sons of Raʽmah: Sheḇa and Deḏan. –

Gen 10:8 And Kush brought forth Nimroḏ, he began to be a mighty one on the earth. –

Gen 10:9 He was a mighty hunter before יהוה, therefore it is said, “Like Nimroḏ the mighty hunter before יהוה.” - That which is observable and improvable in these verses is the account here given of Nimrod. He is here represented as a great man in his day: He began to be a mighty one in the earth, that is, whereas those that went before him were content to stand upon the same level with their neighbours, and though every man bore rule in his own house yet no man ventured any further.

 Nimrod’s aspiring mind could not rest here; he was resolved to tower above his neighbors, not only to be eminent among them, but to lord it over them. The same spirit that actuated the giants before the flood (who became mighty men, and men of renowned, ch. 6:4), now revived in him, so soon was that tremendous judgment which the pride and tyranny of those mighty men brought upon the world forgotten.

There are some in whom ambition and affectation of dominion seem to be bred in the bone; such there have been and will be, notwithstanding the wrath of YAHWEH often revealed from heaven against them. Nothing on this side hell will humble and break the proud spirits of some men, in this like Lucifer, Isa. 14:14, 15. Now,

Gen 10:10 And the beginning of his reign was Baḇel, and Ereḵ, and Akkaḏ, and Kalnĕh, in the land of Shinʽar. - Nimrod was a great ruler: The beginning of his kingdom was Babel. Some way or other, by arts or arms, he got into power, either being chosen to it or forcing his way to it; and so laid the foundations of a monarchy, which was afterwards a head of gold, and the terror of the mighty, and lay claim to be universal.

It does not appear that he had any right to rule by birth; but either his fitness for government recommended him, as some think, to an election, or by power and policy he advanced gradually, and perhaps insensibly, into the throne.

See the antiquity of civil government, and particularly that form of it which lodges the sovereignty in a single person. If Nimrod and his neighbors began, other nations soon learned to incorporate under one head for their common safety and welfare, which, however it began, proved so great a blessing to the world that things were reckoned to go ill indeed when there was no king in Yisrael.

Gen 10:11 From that land he went to Ashshur and built Ninewĕh, and Reḥoḇoth Ir, and Kelaḥ, - Nimrod was a ambitious person and a great builder. Probably he was architect in the building of Babel, and there he began his kingdom; but, when his project to rule all the sons of Noah was baffled by the confusion of tongues, out of that land he went forth into Assyria and built Nineveh, etc., that, having built these cities, he might command them and rule over them.

Observe, in Nimrod, the nature of ambition. It is boundless. Much would have more, and still cries, Give, give. It is restless. Nimrod, when he had four cities under his command, could not be content till he had four more.  It is expensive. Nimrod will rather be at the charge of rearing cities than not have the honor of ruling them. The spirit of building is the common effect of a spirit of pride.

It is daring, and will stick at nothing. Nimrod’s name signifies rebellion, which (if indeed he did abuse his power to the oppression of his neighbors) teaches us that tyrants to men are rebels to YAHWEH, and their rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.

Gen 10:12 and Resen between Ninewĕh and Kelaḥ, the great city. –

Gen 10:13 And Mitsrayim brought forth Luḏim, and Anamim, and Lehaḇim, and Naphtuḥim, -

Gen 10:14 and Pathrusim, and Kasluḥim, from whom came the Philistines and Kaphtorim. –

Gen 10:15 And Kenaʽan brought forth Tsiḏon his first-born, and Ḥĕth, -

Gen 10:16 and the Yeḇusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgashite, -

Gen 10:17 and the Ḥiwwite, and the Arqite, and the Sinite, -

Gen 10:18 and the Arwaḏite, and the Tsemarite, and the Ḥamathite. And afterward the clans of the Kenaʽanites were spread abroad. –

Gen 10:19 And the border of the Kenaʽanites was from Tsiḏon as you go toward Gerar, as far as Azzah, as you go toward Seḏom, and Amorah, and Aḏmah, and Tseḇoyim, as far as Lasha. –

Gen 10:20 These were the sons of Ḥam, according to their clans, according to their languages, in their lands, in their nations. -

Verses 15-20 elucidate:

The account of the posterity of Canaan, of the families and nations that descended from him, and of the land they possessed. Is more particular than of any other in this chapter, because these were the nations that were to be subdued before Israel, and their land was in process of time to become the holy land.

Immanuel’s land; and this YAHWEH had an eye to when, in the mean time, he cast the lot of that accursed devoted race in that spot of ground which he had selected for his own people; this Moses takes notice of, Deu. 32:8, When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Yisrael.

 By this account it appears that the posterity of Canaan was numerous, and rich and very pleasantly situated; and yet Canaan was under a curse, a divine curse, and not a curse causeless. Those that are under the curse of YAHWEH may yet perhaps thrive and prosper greatly in this world; for we cannot know love or hatred, the blessing or the curse, by what is before us, but by what is within us, Eccl. 9:1.

The curse of YAHWEH always works really and always terribly: but perhaps it is a secret curse, a curse to the soul, and does not work visibly, or a slow curse, and does not work immediately; but sinners are by it reserved for, and bound over to, a day of wrath. Canaan here has a better land than either Shem or Japheth, and yet they have a better lot, for they inherit the blessing.

Gen 10:21 And also to Shĕm, the father of all the children of Ěḇer, the brother of Yepheth the elder, children were born. –

Gen 10:22 The sons of Shĕm: Ěylam, and Asshur, and Arpaḵshaḏ, and Luḏ, and Aram. –

Gen 10:23 And the sons of Aram: Uts, and Ḥul, and Gether, and Mash. –

Gen 10:24 And Arpaḵshaḏ brought forth Shelaḥ, and Shelaḥ brought forth Ěḇer. –

Gen 10:25 And to Ěḇer were born two sons, the name of one was Peleḡ, for in his days the earth was divided, and his brother’s name was Yoqtan. –

Gen 10:26 And Yoqtan brought forth Almoḏaḏ, and Sheleph, and Ḥatsarmaweth, and Yeraḥ, -

Gen 10:27 and Haḏoram, and Uzal, and Diqlah, -

Gen 10:28 and Oḇal, and Aḇima’ĕl, and Sheḇa, -

Gen 10:29 and Ophir, and Ḥawilah, and Yoḇaḇ. All these were sons of Yoqtan. –

Gen 10:30 And their dwelling place was from Mĕysha as you go toward Sephar, a mountain of the east. –

Gen 10:31 These were the sons of Shĕm, according to their clans, according to their languages, in their lands, according to their nations. –

Gen 10:32 These were the clans of the sons of Noaḥ, according to their generations, in their nations. And from these the nations were divided on the earth after the flood. -

Verses 21-32 illustrate two things especially are observable in this account of the posterity of Shem:

The description of Shem, verve 21. We have not only his name given, Shem, which signifies a name, but two titles to distinguish him by:

He was the father of all the children of Eber. Eber was his great grandson; but why should he be called the father of all his children, rather than of all Arphaxad’s, or Salah’s, etc.? Probably because Abraham and his seed, YAH’s covenant-people, not only descended from Heber, but from him were called Hebrews; ch. 14:13, Abram the Hebrew. Paul looked upon it as his privilege that he was a Hebrew of the Hebrews, Phil. 3:5.

Eber himself, we may suppose, was a man eminent for religion in a time of general apostasy, and a great example of piety to his family; and, the holy tongue being commonly called from him the Hebrew, it is probable that he retained it in his family, in the confusion of Babel, as a special token of YAH’s favor to him; and from him the professors of religion were called the children of Eber.

Now, when the inspired penman would give Shem an honorable title, he calls him the father of the Hebrews. Though when Moses wrote this, they were a poor despised people, bond-slaves in Egypt, yet, being YAH’s people, it was an honor to a man to be akin to them.

As Ham, Though he had many sons, is disowned by being called the father of Canaan, on whose seed the curse was entailed (ch. 9:22), so Shem, Though he had many sons, is dignified with the title of the father of Eber, on whose seed the blessing was entailed.

A family of saints is more truly honorable than a family of nobles, Shem’s holy seed than Ham’s royal seed, Jacob’s twelve patriarchs than Ishmael’s twelve princes, ch. 17:20. Goodness is true greatness.

He was the brother of Japheth the elder, by which it appears that, Though Shem is commonly put first, he was not Noah’s first-born, but Japheth was older. But why should this also be put as part of Shem’s title and description, that he was the brother of Japheth, since it had been, in effect, said often before? And was he not as much brother to Ham? Probably this was intended to signify the union of the Gentiles with the Jews in the church. The sacred historian had mentioned it as Shem’s honor that he was the father of the Hebrews; but, lest Japheth’s seed should therefore be looked upon as for ever shut out from the church, he here reminds us that he was the brother of Japheth, not in birth only, but in blessing; for Japheth was to dwell in the tents of Shem.

a.               Those are brethren in the best manner that are so by grace, and that meet in the covenant of God and in the communion of saints.

b.              YAHWEH, in dispensing his grace, does not go by seniority, but the younger sometimes gets the start of the elder in coming into the church; so the last shall be first and the first last.

The reason of the name of Peleg: Because in his days (that is, about the time of his birth, when his name was given him), was the earth divided among the children of men that were to inhabit it; either when Noah divided it by an orderly distribution of it, as Joshua divided the land of Canaan by lot, or when, upon their refusal to comply with that division, YAHWEH, in justice, divided them by the confusion of tongues: which-so-ever of these was the occasion, pious Heber saw cause to perpetuate the remembrance of it in the name of his son; and justly may our sons be called by the same name, for in our days, in another sense, is the earth, the church, most wretchedly divided.

Chapter 11

The old distinction between the sons of YAH and the sons of men (professors and profane) survived the flood, and now appeared again, when men began to multiply: according to this distinction we have, in this chapter, 

I.                   The dispersion of the sons of men at Babel verse 1-9, where we have,

1.     Their presumptuous provoking design, which was to build a city and a tower verse 1-4. 

2.     The righteous judgment of YAHWEH upon them in disappointing their design, by confounding their language, and so scattering them verse 5-9. 

II. The lineage of the sons of YAHWEH down to Abraham verse 10–26, with a general account of his family, and removal out of his native country verse 27, etc.

Verses 1-4  describe the close of the foregoing chapter, it tells us that by the sons of Noah, or among the sons of Noah, the nations were establish in the earth after the flood, that is, were dispersed into several tribes or colonies.

The places where they lived became too small for them, it was either appointed by Yahweh, nd agreed upon by Noah and his sons, which way each sever tribe or colony should migrate, beginning with the countries that were develop by them. They were destined to proceed further and further, and to move to a greater distance from each other, as the increase of their population should require. So was the matter well settled, one hundred years after the flood, about the time of Peleg’s birth; but the sons of men, it should seem, were destined to disperse into distant lands. They thought the more the merrier and the safer, and therefore they contrived to stick together, and were slow to go to possess the land which the YAHWEH Elohim of their fathers had given them (Jos. 18:3), thinking themselves wiser than either YAHWEH or Noah.

Gen 11:1  And all the earth had one language and one speech.  - The reason which cause them to stick together; were thier language. If there were any different languages before the flood, we do not know only Noah, which it is likely was the same with Adam’s, was preserved through the flood, and continued after it. Now, while they all understood one another, they would be the more likely to love one another, and the more capable of helping one another, and the less inclinable to separate one from another.

Gen 11:2 And it came to be, as they set out from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinʽar¹, and they dwelt there. Footnote: ¹Earlier name for Baḇel. - They found a very convenient commodious place to settle in, a plain in the land of Shinar, a spacious plain, able to contain them all, and a fruitful plain, able, according as their present numbers were. It was able to support them all, Though perhaps they had not considered what room there would be for them when their numbers should be increased.

The desire for accommodations, for the present, too often prove too strong temptations to the neglect of both duty and interest, as it respects futurity.

Gen 11:3 And they said to each other, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. – How they excited and encouraged one another to set about this work. They said, Go to, let us make brick, and again, verse 4, Go to, let us build ourselves a city; by mutual excitements they made one another more daring and resolute.

Great things may be brought to pass when the undertakers are numerous and unanimous, and stir up one another. Let us learn to provoke one another to love and to good works, as sinners stir up and encourage one another to wicked works. See Ps. 122:1; Isa. 2:3, 5; Jer. 50:5.

Gen 11:4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens, and make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered over all the face of the earth.” - For what ends they built. Some think they intended to secure themselves against the waters of another flood. YAHWEH had told them indeed that he would not again drown the world; but they would trust to a tower of their own making, rather than to a promise of YAH’s making or an ark of his appointing. If, however, they had had this in their eye, they would have chosen to build their tower upon a mountain rather than upon a plain, but three things, it seems, they aimed at in building this tower:

It seems their designed was an affront to YAHWEH himself; for they would build a tower whose top might reach to heaven, which bespeaks a defiance of YAHWEH, or at least a rival-ship with him. They would be like the Most High, or would come as near him as they could, not in holiness, but in height. They forgot their place, and, scorning to creep on the earth, resolved to climb to heaven, not by the door or ladder, but some other way.

They hoped hereby to make themselves a name; they would do something to be talked of now, and to give posterity to know that there had been such men as they in the world. Rather than die and leave no memorandum behind them, they would leave this monument of their pride, and ambition, and folly.

 Affectation of honor and a name among men commonly inspires with a strange ardor for great and difficult undertakings, and often betrays to that which is evil and offensive to YAHWEH.

 It is just with YAHWEH to bury those names in the dust which are raised by sin. These Babel-builders put themselves to a great deal of foolish expense to make themselves a name; but they could not gain even this point, for we do not find in any history the name of so much as one of these Babel-builders. Philo Judaeus says, They engraved every one his name upon a brick, as a perpetual memorial; yet neither did this serve their purpose.

They did it to prevent their dispersion: Lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the earth. "It was done’’ (says Josephus) "in disobedience to that command (ch. 9:1), Replenish the earth.’’ YAHWEH orders them to disperse.

"No,’’ say they, "we will not, we will live and die together.’’ In order hereunto, they engage themselves and one another in this vast undertaking. That they might unite in one glorious empire, they resolve to build this city and tower, to be the metropolis of their kingdom and the centre of their unity.

It is probable that the band of ambitious Nimrod was in all this. He could not content himself with the command of a particular colony, but aimed at universal monarchy, in order to which, under pretence of uniting for their common safety, he contrives to keep them in one body, that, having them all under his eye, he might not fail to have them under his power.

Observe the daring presumption of these sinners. Here is, a bold opposition to YAHWEH: "You shall be scattered,’’ says YAHWEH. "But we will not,’’ say they. Woe unto him that thus strives with his maker. A bold competition with ABBA YAHWEH. It is YAH’S prerogative to be universal monarch, Master of all, and King of kings; the man that aims at it offers to step into the throne of ABBA YAHWEH, who will not give HIS glory to another.

Gen 11:5 Then יהוה came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. – This is an obvious anthropomorphism “the figurative assignment of human characteristics to YAHWEH”. When YAHWEH wishes to examine the deeds of lowly man, Scripture calls it descent. From YAH’S “descent” to observe conditions among the sinners of Babel, the story derive that a judge must not condemn the accused until he has investigated the matter carefully.

It may be that the actual construction of the city and tower were not sins, but that they would have led to sins that the Torah does not discribe.

Indeed, the actual sins that may have been committed were seondary. The primary importance of the incident was that it result in the dispersion of the families and the formation of a multitude of languages. This is why the Torah recorded this event.

Gen 11:6 And יהוה said, “Look, they are one people and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do! And now, they are not going to be withheld from doing whatever they plan to do. – The righteousness of YAHWEH, which appears in the considerations upon which he proceeded in this resolution. Two things he considered:

Their oneness, as a reason why they must be scattered: "Behold, the people are one, and they have all one language. If they continue as one, much of the earth will be left uninhabited; the power of their prince will soon be exorbitant.

Wickedness and profaneness will be insufferably rampant, for they will strengthen one another’s hands in it; and, which is worst of all, there will be an overbalance to the church. These children of men, if they incorporated, will swallow up the little remnant of YAH’S children.’’

Therefore it is decreed that they must not be one. Unity is a policy but it is not the infallible mark of a true Assembly; yet, while the builders of Babel, Though of different families, dispositions, and interests, were therefore unanimous in opposing YAHWEH. What a pity is it, and what a shame, that the builders of Sion, Though united in one common head and Spirit, should be divided, as they are, in serving YAHWEH! But marvel not at the matter. Messiyah came not to send peace.

Their obstinacy: Now nothing will be restrained from them; and this is a reason why they must be crossed and thwarted in their design. YAHWEH had tried, by HIS commands and admonitions, to bring them off from this project, but in vain; therefore HE must take another course with them. First, The sinfulness of sin, and the willfulness of sinners; ever since Adam would not be restrained from the forbidden tree, his unsanctified seed have been impatient of restraint and ready to rebel against it. Secondly, See the necessity of YAH’s judgments upon earth, to keep the world in some order and to tie the hands of those that will not be checked by law.

Gen 11:7 “Come, let Us go there and confuse their language, so that they do not understand one another’s speech.” – The plural indicates that Elohim “the Gods” deliberated in the Celestial Court. YAHWEH does not need the Advice of the Angels, of course, but He consulted His inner cabinet, as it were, to set an example that people should show courtesy to others by involving them in discussions, and that it is unwise for people to take decisions upon themselves without consulting others.

Gen 11:8 And יהוה scattered them from there, over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. – The execution of these counsels of YAHWEH, to the blasting and defeating of the counsels of men. EL YAHWEH made them know whose word should stand, HIS or theirs, as the expression is, Jer. 44:28.

Notwithstanding their oneness and obstinacy, YAHWEH was too hard for them, and wherein they dealt proudly HE was above them; for who ever hardened his heart against HIM and prospered? Three things were done:

Their language was confounded. YAHWEH, who, when HE made man, taught him to speak, and put words into his mouth fit to express the conceptions of his mind by, now caused these builders to forget their former language, and to speak and understand a new one, which yet was common to those of the same tribe or family, but not to others: those of one colony could converse together, but not with those of another.

Now, This was a great miracle, and a proof of the power which ABBA YAHWEH has upon the minds and tongues of men, which he turns as the rivers of water.

This was a great judgment upon these builders; for, being thus deprived of the knowledge of the ancient and holy tongue, they had become incapable of communicating with the true church, in which it was retained, and probably it contributed much to their loss of the knowledge of the true Elohim.

We all suffer by it, to this day. In all the inconveniences we sustain by the diversity of languages, and all the pains and trouble we are at to learn the languages we have occasion for, we smart for the rebellion of our ancestors at Babel. Nay, and those unhappy controversies which are strives of words, and arise from our misunderstanding one another’s language, for aught I know are owing to this confusion of tongues.

The project of some to frame a universal character, in order to a universal language, how desirable so-ever it may seem, is yet, I think, but a vain thing to attempt; for it is to strive against a divine sentence, by which the languages of the nations will be divided while the world stands.

We may here lament the loss of the universal use of the Hebrew tongue, which from this time was the vulgar language of the Hebrews only, and continued so till the captivity in Babylon, where, even among them, it was exchanged for the Syriac.

As the confounding of tongues divided the children of men and scattered them abroad, so the gift of tongues, bestowed upon the apostles (Acts 2), contributed greatly to the gathering together of the children of YAHWEH, who were scattered abroad, and the uniting of them in Messiyah, that with one mind and one mouth they might glorify YAHWEH, Rom. 15:6.

Their building was stopped: They left off to build the city. This was the effect of the confusion of their tongues; for it not only incapacitated them for helping one another, but probably struck such a damp upon their spirits that they could not proceed, since they saw, in this, the hand of YAHWEH gone out against them.

 It is wisdom to leave off that which we see EL YAHWEH fights against.

YAHWEH is able to blast and bring to nought all the devices and designs of Babel-builders. He sits in heaven, and laughs at the counsels of the kings of the earth against him and his anointed; and will force them to confess that there is no wisdom nor counsel against YAHWEH, Prov. 21:30; Isa. 8:9, 10.

Gen 11:9 That is why its name was called Baḇel¹, because there יהוה confused the language of all the earth, and from there יהוה scattered them over the face of all the earth. Footnote: ¹Baḇel is derived from a verb which means “to confuse". - The evil builders were scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. They departed in companies, after their families, and after their tongues (ch. 10:5, 30, 31), to the several countries and places allotted to them in the division that had been made, which they knew before, but would not go to take possession of till now that they were forced to it.

Observe the following: The very thing which they feared came upon them. That dispersion which sought to evade by an act of rebellion they by this act brought upon themselves; for we are most likely to fall into that trouble which we seek to evade by indirect and sinful methods.

It was YAH’s work: YAHWEH scattered them. YAH’s hand is to be acknowledged in all scattering providences; if the family be scattered, relations scattered, churches scattered, it is YAHWEH’s doing.

Though they were as firmly in league with one another as could be, yet YAHWEH scattered them; for no man can keep together what YAHWEH will put asunder.

 Therefore YAHWEH justly took vengeance on them for their oneness in that presumptuous attempt to build their tower. Shameful dispersions are the just punishment of sinful unions. Simeon and Levi, who had been brethren in iniquity, were divided in Jacob, ch. 49:5,7; Ps. 83:3–13.

They left behind them a perpetual memorandum of their reproach, in the name given to the place. It was called Babel, confusion. Those that aim at a great name commonly come off with a bad name.

The children of men were now finally scattered, and never did, nor ever will, come all together again, till the great day, when the Son of man shall sit upon the throne of his glory, and all nations shall be gathered before him, Mt. 25:31, 32.

Gen 11:10 This is the genealogy of Shĕm: Shĕm was a hundred years old and brought forth Arpaḵshaḏ, two years after the flood. –

Gen 11:11 And after he brought forth Arpaḵshaḏ, Shĕm lived five hundred years, and brought forth sons and daughters. –

Gen 11:12 And Arpaḵshaḏ lived thirty-five years, and brought forth Shelaḥ. –

Gen 11:13 And after he brought forth Shelaḥ, Arpaḵshaḏ lived four hundred and three years, and brought forth sons and daughters. –

Gen 11:14 And Shelaḥ lived thirty years, and brought forth Ěḇer. –

Gen 11:15 And after he brought forth Ěḇer, Shelaḥ lived four hundred and three years, and brought forth sons and daughters. –

Gen 11:16 And Ěḇer lived thirty-four years, and brought forth Peleḡ. –

Gen 11:17 And after he brought forth Peleḡ, Ěḇer lived four hundred and thirty years, and brought forth sons and daughters. –

Gen 11:18 And Peleḡ lived thirty years, and brought forth Reʽu. –

Gen 11:19 And after he brought forth Reʽu, Peleḡ lived two hundred and nine years, and brought forth sons and daughters. –

Gen 11:20 And Reʽu lived thirty-two years, and brought forth Seruḡ. –

Gen 11:21 And after he brought forth Seruḡ, Reʽu lived two hundred and seven years, and brought forth sons and daughters. –

Gen 11:22 And Seruḡ lived thirty years, and brought forth Naḥor. –

Gen 11:23 And after he brought forth Naḥor, Seruḡ lived two hundred years, and brought forth sons and daughters. –

Gen 11:24 And Naḥor lived twenty-nine years, and brought forth Teraḥ. -

Gen 11:25 And after he brought forth Teraḥ, Naḥor lived one hundred and nineteen years, and brought forth sons and daughters. – In verses 10-26, We have a genealogy, not an endless genealogy, for here it ends in Abram, the friend of YAHWEH, and leads further to Messiyah, the promised seed, who was the son of Abram, and from Abram the genealogy of Yahushua the Messiyah is reckoned (Mt. 1:1, etc.); so that put ch. 5, ch. 11, and Mt. 1, together, and you have such an entire genealogy of Yahushua our Messiyah as cannot be produced, for aught I know, concerning any person in the world, out of his line, and at such a distance from the fountain-head.

Laying these three genealogies together, we shall find that twice ten, and thrice fourteen, generations or descents, passed between the first and second Adam, making it clear concerning the Messiyah that He was not only the Son of Abraham, but the Son of man, and the seed of woman.

Observe here, Nothing is left upon record concerning those of this line but their names and ages, the Set Apart Spirit seeming to hasten through them to the story of Abram. How little do we know of those that have gone before us in this world, even those that lived in the same places where we live, as we likewise know little of those that are our contemporaries in distant places!

We have enough to do to mind the work of our own day, and let YAHWEH alone to require that which is past, Eccl. 3:15.

There was an observable gradual decrease in the years of their lives. Shem reached to 600 years, which yet fell short of the age of the patriarchs before the flood; the next three came short of 500; the next three did not reach to 300; after them we read not of any that attained to 200, except Terah; and, not many ages after this, Moses reckoned seventy, or eighty, to be the utmost men ordinarily arrive at. When the earth began to be replenished, men’s lives began to shorten; so that the decrease is to be imputed to the wise disposal of Providence, rather than to any decay of nature. For the elect’s sake, men’s days are shortened; and, being evil, it is well they are few, and attain not to the years of the lives of our fathers, ch. 47:9.

Eber, from whom the Hebrews were denominated, was the longest-lived of any that was born after the flood, which perhaps was the reward of his singular piety and strict adherence to the ways of YAHWEH.

Gen 11:26 And Teraḥ lived seventy years, and brought forth Aḇram, Naḥor, and Haran. – Once again the real purpose of Creation begins anew, for it was Abraham who would bear the burden of holiness in the world.

His name signified this. At first he was known as Abram, a contraction of father or teacher of Aram, for he began as a leader of only his own nation, but ultimately he became a father to a very special people.

Gen 11:27 And this is the genealogy of Teraḥ: Teraḥ brought forth Abram, Naḥor, and Haran. And Haran brought forth Lot. – In Torah when a person name is repeated twice he has a place in the world tocome. Terah was also know as an idolater! This indicates that he ultimately repented and earned a share in the World to Come!

Gen 11:28 And Haran died before his father Teraḥ in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans. -  Haran died in the life time of Terah his father. When a father is an idolater it is quite possible for them to burry there children.

Haran, the father of Lot, of whom it is here said that he died before his father Terah. Children cannot be sure that they shall survive their parents; for death does not go by seniority, taking the eldest first. The shadow of death is without any order, Job 10:22. It is likewise said that he died in Ur of the Chaldees, before the happy removal of the family out of that idolatrous country.

It concerns us to hasten out of our natural state, lest death surprise us in it. His wife was Sarai, who some think, was the same with Iscah, the daughter of Haran. Abram himself says of her that she was the daughter of his father, but not the daughter of his mother, ch. 20:12. She was ten years younger than Abram.

Gen 11:29 And Abram and Naḥor took wives: the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Naḥor’s wife, Milkah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milkah and the father of Yiskah. – When scripture says that a man took a wife, it means that they choose a virgin and had sex with her. For when a man choose to have sex with a woman, it means that he desire her for a wife. Casual sex was not a possibility at that time.

Gen 11:30 And Sarai was barren, she had no child. – This means that she was not on the pill, and that men only had sex with women during her fertile period of her monthly cycle, and she was not getting pregnant. Men in those day would not have had sex with their wife if she was on her period. It was the duty of the wife to produce offspring for the husband.

Gen 11:31 And Teraḥ took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Kenaan. And they came to Ḥaran and dwelt there. - His departure out of Ur of the Chaldees, with his father Terah, his nephew Lot, and the rest of his family, in obedience to the call of YAHWEH, of which we shall read more, ch. 12:1, etc. This chapter leaves them in Haran, or Charran, a place about mid-way between Ur and Canaan, where they dwelt till Terah’s head was laid to rest, probably because the old man was unable, through the infirmities of age, to proceed in his journey. Many set out to Charran, and yet fall short of Canaan; they are not far from the kingdom of YAHWEH, and yet never finish the journey.

Gen 11:32 And the days of Teraḥ came to be two hundred and five years, and Teraḥ died in Ḥaran. -  Terah died in the year 2083; Isaac was thirty five years old at the time. It is a principle of Torah to record a fathers death before proceeding with the narrative of the son.

In order to inaugurate a new sort of spiritual existence on earth, Abraham had ceased to be part of his biological family, for the mantle of choosiness had been place upon him.

In this sense, Abram was willing to give up his previous family and homeland for a promise. This is the tremendous faith that he was known for. In a time when tribal instinct was very prevalent in that part of the world as it is today, such a sacrifice was not widely seen or heard off.

HafTorah

Yeshayahu “Isaiah”  54:1 – 55:5

Isa 54:1  “Sing, O barren one, you who did not bear! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the deserted one are more than the children of the married woman,” said יהוה. – Sing you gentile nations, who did not produce the Messiyah, break forth in rejoicing, and cry aloud, even Though you have not bear the labor pain as Yisrael did. For the children of the gentile shall shall surpast the true physical children of Yisrael.

The low and languishing state of religion in the world for a long time before Messiyah was brought in. It was like one barren, that did not bear, or travail with child, was like one desolate, that had lost husband and children; the church lay in a little compass, and brought forth little fruit. The Yisraelites were indeed by profession married to YAHWEH at Mt Sinai when they were given the Torah, the marriage contract, but few proselytes were added to them, the rising generations were unpromising, and serious godliness manifestly lost ground among them.

The Gentiles had less religion among them than the Yisraelite; their proselytes were in a dispersion; and the children of YAHWEH, like the children of a broken, reduced family, were scattered abroad (Jn. 11:52), did not appear nor make any figure.

Isa 54:2 “Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, spare not. Lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes. – The bounds of the church were extended much further than ever before.

It is suggested here that the present state of the Yisrael is a tabernacle state; it dwells in tents, like the heirs of promise of old (Heb. 11:9); its dwelling is mean and movable, and of no strength against a storm. The city, the continuing city, is reserved for hereafter. A tent is soon taken down and shifted, so the Menorah of church privileges is soon removed out of its place (Rev. 2:5), and, when YAHWEH pleases, it is as soon fixed elsewhere.

Though Yisrael is a tabernacle state, it is sometimes very remarkably a growing state; and, if this family increase, no matter Though it be in a tent. Therefore it was in the first preaching of the gospel; it was the business of the apostles to disciple all nations, to stretch forth the curtains of the Yisrael’s habitation, to preach the gospel where Yahushua had not yet been named (Rom. 15:20), to leaven with the gospel those towns and countries that had hitherto been strangers to it, and so to lengthen the cords of this Yisrael, that more might be enclosed, which would make it necessary to strengthen the stakes proportionably, that they might bear the weight of the enlarged curtains. The more numerous the Yisrael grows the more cautious she must be to fortify herself against errors and corruptions, and to support her seven pillars, Prov. 9:1.

Isa 54:3 “For you shall break forth to the right and to the left, and your seed inherit the nations, and make the deserted cities inhabited. - It was a proof of divine power going along with the gospel that in all places it grew and prevailed mightily, Acts 19:20. It broke forth, as the breaking forth of waters, on the right hand and on the left, that is, on all hands. The gospel spread itself into all parts of the world; there were eastern and western Yisrael. The Yisrael’s seed inherited the Gentiles, and the cities that had been desolate (that is, destitute of the knowledge and worship of the true Elohim) came to be inhabited, that is, to have religion set up in them and the name of Yahushua HaMashiach professed.

Isa 54:4 “Do not fear, for you shall not be put to shame, nor hurt, you shall not be humiliated. For the shame of your youth you shall forget, and not remember the reproach of your widowhood any more. - This was the guarantee comfort and honor of the church: "Fear not, for You shall not be ashamed, as formerly, of the straightness of thy borders, and the fewness of thy children, which thy enemies upbraided thee with, but halt forget the reproach of thy youth, because there shall be no more ground for that reproach.’’ It was the reproach of the Messiyah religion, in its youth, that none of the rulers or princes of this world embraced it and that it was entertained and professed by a despicable handful of men; but, after awhile, nations were discipled, the empire became Missiyahnic, and then this reproach of its youth was forgotten.

Isa 54:5 “For your Maker is your husband, יהוה of hosts is His Name, and the Set-apart One of Yisra’ĕl is your Redeemer. He is called the Elohim of all the earth. - This was owing to the relation in which YAHWEH stood to HIS Yisrael, as her husband: Thy maker is thy husband. Believers are said to be joined to YAHWEH, that they may bring forth fruit unto ABBA YAHWEH (Rom. 7:4); so the Yisrael is joined to HIM, that she may bear and bring up a holy seed to YAHWEH, that shall be accounted to him for a generation. Yahushua the Messiyah is the Yisrael Savior, by whom she is formed into a people for her Creator, by whom she is brought out of captivity, the bondage of sin, the worst of slaveries.

This is he that espoused her to himself; and, He is YAHWEH of hosts, who has an irresistible power, an absolute sovereignty, and a universal dominion! Kings who are lords of some hosts, find there are others who are lords of other hosts, as many and mighty as theirs; but YAHWEH is YAHWEH of all hosts. He is the Holy One of Yisrael, the same that presided in the affairs of Torah Yisrael and was the Mediator of the covenant made with it. The promises made to the Renewed Covenant Yisrael are as rich and sure as those made to Torah Yisrael; for he that is our Redeemer is the Set Apart One of Yisrael.

HE is and shall be called the EL of the whole earth, as YAHWEH and as Creator, for He is the heir of all things; but then He shall be called so, when the ends of the earth shall be made to see HIS salvation, when all the earth shall call him their ELOHIM and have an interest in him. Long he had been called, in a peculiar manner, the Elohim of Yisrael; but now, the partition wall between Yisrael and Gentile being taken down, HE shall be called the Elohim of the whole earth even where HE has been, as at Athens itself, an unknown EL YAHWEH.

  Isa 54:6 “For יהוה has called you like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when you were refused,” declares your Elohim. – The seasonable succour and relief which YAHWEH " יהוה sent to HIS captives in Babylon, when they had a discharge from their bondage there, are here foretold, as a type and figure of all those consolations of יהוה which are treasured up for the Yisrael in general and all believers in particular, in the covenant of grace.

Looking back to former troubles, and in comparison with them YAH’s favors to HIS people appear very comfortable. Observe, how sorrowful the Yisrael’s condition had been. She had been as a woman forsaken, whose husband was dead, or had fallen out with her, Though she was a wife of youth, upon which account she is grieved in spirit, takes it very ill, frets, and grows melancholy upon it; or she had been as one refused and rejected, and therefore full of discontent. Even those that are espoused to YAHWEH may yet seem to be refused and forsaken, and may be grieved in spirit under the apprehensions of being so.

Isa 54:7 “For a little while I have forsaken you, but with great compassion I shall gather you. - This supposes the turning away of HIS anger and the admitting of them again into HIS favor. YAH’S gathering HIS people takes rise from HIS mercy, not any merit of others; and it is with great mercies, with everlasting kindness.

Isa 54:8 “In an overflow of wrath I hid My face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I shall have compassion on you,” said יהוה, your Redeemer. - The wrath is little, but the mercies are great; the wrath is for a moment, but the kindness everlasting. See how one is set over against the other, that we may neither despond under our afflictions nor despair of relief.

Isa 54:9 “For this is the waters of Noaḥ to Me, in that I have sworn that the waters of Noaḥ would never again cover the earth, so have I sworn not to be wroth with you, nor to rebuke you. - Looking forward to future dangers, and in defiance of them YAH’s favors to HIS people appear very constant, and HIS kindness everlasting; for it is formed into a covenant, here called a covenant of peace, because it is founded in reconciliation and is inclusive of all good.

This is as firm as the covenant of providence. It is as the waters of Noah, that is, as that promise which was made concerning the Flood that there should never be the like again to disturb the course of summer and winter, seed-time and harvest. YAHWEH then contended with the world in great wrath, and for a full year, and yet at length returned in mercy, everlasting mercy; for HE gave HIS Word, which was as inviolable as HIS Oath, that Noah’s flood should never return, that HE would never drown the world again; see Gen. 8:21, 22; 9:11.

YAHWEH has ever since kept HIS Word, Though the world has been very provoking; and HE will keep it to the end; for the world that now is, is reserved unto fire. And thus inviolable is the covenant of grace: I have sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, as I have been, and rebuke thee, as I have done. HE will not be so angry with them as to cast them off and break his covenant with them (Ps. 89:34), nor rebuke them as he has rebuked the heathen, to destroy them, and put out their name for ever and ever, Ps. 9:5.

Isa 54:10 “For Though the mountains be removed and the hills be shaken, My kindness is not removed from you, nor is My covenant of peace shaken,” said יהוה, who has compassion on you. – The Covenant is more firm than the strongest parts of the visible creation: The mountains shall depart, which are called everlasting mountains, and the hills be removed, Though they are called perpetual hills, Hab. 3:6.

It is much easer for the mountain to be removed than YAH’s covenant with his people be broken. Mountains have sometimes been shaken by earthquakes, and removed; but the promises of EL YAHWEH were never broken by the shock of any event.

The day will come when all the mountains shall depart and all the hills be removed, not only the tops of them covered, as they were by the waters of Noah, but the roots of them torn up; for the earth and all the works that are therein shall be burned up; but then the covenant of peace between YAHWEH and believers shall continue in the everlasting bliss of all those who are the children of that covenant. Mountains and hills signify great men, men of bulk and figure.

Do these mountains seem to support the skies (as Atlas) and bear them up? They shall depart and be removed. Creature-confidences shall fail us. In vain is salvation hoped for from those hills and mountains. But the firmament is firm, and answers to the Name of YAHWEH, when those who seem to prop it are gone. When our friends fail us our YAHWEH does not, nor does HIS kindness depart?

Do these mountains threaten, and seem to top the skies, and bid defiance to them, as Pelion and Ossa? Do the kings of the earth, and the rulers, set themselves against YAHWEH? They shall depart and be removed. Great mountains, that stand in the way of the salvation of Yisrael, shall be made plain (Zec. 4:7); but YAH’s kindness shall never depart from HIS people Yisrael.

For whom YAHWEH loves, HE loves to the end; nor shall the covenant of HIS peace ever be removed, for HE is YAHWEH that has mercy on HIS people Yisrael. Therefore the covenant is immovable and inviolable, because it is built not on our merit, which is a mutable uncertain thing, but on YAH’s mercy, which is from everlasting to everlasting.

Isa 54:11 “O you afflicted one, tossed with storm, and not comforted, see, I am setting your stones in antimony, and shall lay your foundations with sapphires, - Very precious promises are here made to Yisrael in her low condition, that YAHWEH would not only continue HIS love to HIS people Yisrael under their troubles as before, but that he would restore them to their former prosperity. That HE would raise them to greater prosperity than any they had yet enjoyed.

In the foregoing chapter we had the humiliation and exaltation of Messiyah; here we have the humiliation and exaltation of the Yisrael; for, if we suffer with him, we shall reign with him.

The distressed state Yisrael is reduced to by the providence of YAHWEH: "O You afflicted, poor, and indigent society, that art tossed with tempests, like a ship driven from her anchors by a storm and hurried into the ocean, where she is ready to be swallowed up by the waves, and in this condition not comforted by any compassionate friend that will sympathize with thee, or suggest to thee any encouraging considerations (Eccl. 4:1).

Not comforted by any allay to thy trouble, or prospect of deliverance out of it.’’ This was the condition of the Jews in Babylon, and afterwards, for a time, under Antiochus. It is often the condition of YAHWEH Yisrael and of particular believers; without are fightings, within are fears; they are like the disciples in a storm, ready to perish; and where is their faith?

The glorious state Yisrael is here advanced to by the promise of YAHWEH. YAHWEH takes notice of the afflicted distressed state of HIS Yisrael, and comforts her, when she is most disconsolate and has no other comforter. Let the people of Yisrael, when they are afflicted and tossed, think they hear YAHWEH speaking comfortably to them by these words. Taking notice of their griefs and fears, what afflictions they are under, what distresses they are in, and what comforts their case calls for.

When they bemoan themselves, YAHWEH bemoans them, and speaks to them with pity: O You afflicted, tossed with tempests, and not comforted; for in all their afflictions he is afflicted. But this is not all; he engages to raise her up out of her affliction, and encourages her with the assurance of the great things HE would do for her, both for her prosperity and for the securing of that prosperity to her.

Isa 54:12 and shall make your battlements of rubies, your gates of crystal, and all your walls of precious stones, - This is here promised by a similitude taken from a city, and it is an apt similitude, for the Yerushalayim is the city of the living Elohim, the heavenly Yerushalayim is to come.

Whereas now Yerushalayim lay in ruins, a heap of rubbish, it shall be not only rebuilt, but beautified, and appear more splendid than ever; the stones shall be laid not only firm, but fine, laid with fair colors; they shall be glistering stones, 1 Chr. 29:2. The foundations shall be laid or garnished with sapphires, the most precious of the precious stones here mentioned; for Messiyah (the Yisrael’s foundation), and the foundation of the apostles and prophets, are precious above any thing else.

The windows of this house, city, or temple, shall be made of agates, the gates of carbuncles, and all the borders (the walls that enclose the courts, or the boundaries by which her limits are marked, the mere-stones) shall be of pleasant stones. Never was this literally true; but it intimates, that, YAHWEH having graciously undertaken to build his Yisrael, we may expect that to be done for it, that to be wrought in it, which is very great and uncommon.

That the glory of the Messiyah “renewed Covanant” Yisrael shall far exceed that of the Old Covenant Yisrael, not in external pomp and splendour, but in those gifts and graces of the Spirit which are infinitely more valuable, that wisdom which is more precious than rubies (Prov. 3:15), than the precious onyx and the sapphire, and which the topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal, Job 28:16, 19.

That the wealth of this world, and those things of it that are accounted most precious, shall be despised by all the true living members of Yisrael, as having no value, no glory, in comparison with that which far excels. That which the children of this world lay up among their treasures, and too often in their hearts, the children of YAHWEH make pavements of, and put under their feet, the fittest place of it.

Isa 54:13 and all your children taught by יהוה, and the peace of your children great. – It is promised in the particular instances of those things that shall be the beauty and honor of Yisrael, which are wisdom, knowledge, and understanding in Truth, the very image of YAHWEH, in which man was created, renewed, and restored.

These are the sapphires and carbuncles, the precious and pleasant stones, with which the gospel temple shall be enriched and beautified, and these wrought by the power and efficacy of those doctrines which the apostle compares to gold or silver, and precious stones, that are to be built upon the foundation, 1 Co. 3:12.

Then Yisrael is all glorious, When it is full of the knowledge of YAHWEH, and that is promised here: All thy children shall be taught of YAHWEH. Yisrael’s children, being born of Messiyah, shall be taught of YAHWEH; being HIS children by adoption, HE will take care of their education. It was promised that Yisrael’s children should be many; but lest we should think that being many, as sometimes it happens in numerous families.

They will be neglected, and not have instruction given them so carefully as if they were but few, Yahushua here takes that work into his own hand: They shall all be taught of YAHWEH; and none teaches like him.

First, It is a promise of the means of instruction and those means authorized by a divine institution: They shall all be taught of YAHWEH, that is, they shall be taught by those whom YAHWEH shall appoint and whose labours shall be under HIS direction and blessing. HE will ordain the methods of instruction, and by HIS Word and ordinances will diffuse a much greater light than the Old-Testament Yisrael had.

Care shall be taken for the teaching of the Yisrael’s children, that knowledge may be transmitted from generation to generation, and that all may be enriched with it, from the least even to the greatest.

Secondly, It is a promise of the Spirit of illumination. Our Savior quotes it with application to gospel grace, and makes it to have its accomplishment in all those that were brought to believe in him (Jn. 6:45): It is written in the prophets, They shall be all taught of YAHWEH, whence HE infers that those, and those only, come to him by faith that have heard and learned of the Father, that are taught by him as the truth is in Messiyah, Eph. 4:21.

There shall be a plentiful effusion of the Spirit of Understanding upon Messiyah’s people, to teach them all things, Jn. 14:26. When the members of it live in the Spirit of Wisdom, Knowledge and Understand of the Spirit of Truth, there will be unity among themselves: Great shall be the peace of thy children. Peace may be taken here for all good.

As where no Spirit knowledge of YAHWEH is no good can be expected, so those that are taught of YAHWEH to know HIM are in a fair way to prosper for both worlds.

Great peace have those that know and love YAH’s law, Ps. 119:165. But it is often put for love and unity; and so we may take it. All that are taught of YAHWEH are taught to love one another (1 Th. 4:9) and that will keep peace among Yisrael’s children and prevent their falling out by the way.

When Truth reigns; for that above any thing is the beauty of Yisrael: In righteousness shall You be established. The reformation of manners, the restoration of purity, the due administration of public justice, and the prevailing of honesty and fair dealing among Yisrael, are the strength and stability of any country or state. The kingdom of Yisrael, set up by the gospel of Messiyah, is not meat and drink, but this righteousness and peace, holiness and love.

Isa 54:14 “In righteousness you shall be established – far from oppression, for you shall not fear, and far from ruin, for it does not come near you. – In truth shall Yisrael be establish! Whereas now she lay in danger, YAHWEH promises that righteousness “the application of truth” would be her protection and security.

YAHWEH engages here that Though, in the day of her distress, without were fighting and within were fears, now she shall be safe from both. There shall be no fears within: "You shall be far from oppression. Those that have oppressed thee shall be removed, those that would oppress thee shall be restrained, and therefore You shall not fear, but mayest look upon it as a thing at a great distance, that You art now in no danger of.

You shall be far from terror, not only from evil, but from the fear of evil, for it shall not come near thee so as to do thee any hurt or to put thee in any fright.’’  Those that live in truth or righteousness are far from terror that are far from oppression; for it is as great a terror as can fall on a people to have the rod of government turned into the serpent of oppression, because against this there is no fence, nor is there any flight from it.

Isa 54:15 “See, they shall indeed assemble, but not because of Me. Whoever shall assemble against you falls for your sake! – There shall be no fightings without. Though attempts should be made upon them to insult them, to invade Yisrael, or besiege their towns, they should all be in vain, and none of them succeed.

It is granted, "They shall surely gather together against thee; You must expect it.’’ The confederate force of hell and earth will be renewing their assaults. As long as there is a devil in hell, and a persecutor out of it, YAH’s people must expect frequent alarms; but,

First, YAHWEH will not own them, will not give them either commission or countenance. They gather together, hand joins in hand, but it is not by me. YAHWEH gave them no such order as he did to Sennacherib, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, ch. 10:6.

Secondly, Their attempt will end in their own ruin: "Whosoever shall gather together against thee, be they ever so many and ever so mighty, they shall not only be baffled, but they shall fall for thy sake, or they shall fall before thee, which shall be the just punishment of their enmity to thee.’’ YAHWEH will make them to fall for the sake of the love he bears to his church and the care he has of it, in answer to the prayers made by his people, and in pursuance of the promises made to them. "They shall fall, that You mayest stand,’’ Ps. 27:2.

Isa 54:16 “See, I Myself have created the blacksmith who blows the coals in the fire, who brings forth an instrument for his work. And I have created the waster to destroy. - That we may with the greatest assurance depend upon YAHWEH for the safety of HIS People Yisrael, we have here,

The power of YAHWEH over Yisrael’s enemies asserted. The truth is they have no power but what is given them from above, and HE that gave them their power can limit and restrain them. Hitherto they shall go, and no further.

First, they cannot carry on their design without arms and weapons of war; and the smith that makes those weapons is YAH’s creature, and HE gave him HIS skill to work in iron and brass (Ex. 31:3, 4) and particularly to make proper instruments for warlike purposes.

It is melancholy to think, as if men did not die fast enough of themselves, how ingenious and industrious they are to make instruments of death and to find out ways and means to kill one another. The smith blows the coals in the fire, to make his iron malleable, to soften it first, that it may be hardened into steel, and so he may bring forth an instrument proper for the work of those that seek to destroy. It is the iron age that is the age of war.

But YAHWEH has created the smith, and therefore can tie their hands, so that the project of the enemy shall miscarry (as many a project has done) for want of arms and ammunition. Or the smith that forges the weapons is perhaps put here for the council of war that forms the design, blows the coals of contention, and brings forth the plan of the war; these can do no more than ABBA YAHWEH will let them.

Secondly, they cannot carry it on without men, they must have soldiers, and it is YAHWEH that created the waster to destroy. Military men value themselves upon their great offices and splendid titles, and even the common soldiers call themselves gentlemen; but YAHWEH calls them wasters made to destroy, for wasting and destruction are their business.

They think their own ingenuity, labour, and experience, made them soldiers; but it was YAHWEH that created them, and gave them strength and spirit for that hazardous employment; and therefore he not only can restrain them, but will serve his own purposes and designs by them.

Isa 54:17 “No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall prove wrong. This is the inheritance of the servants of יהוה, and their righteousness from Me,” declares יהוה. – The promise of EL YAHWEH concerning Yisrael’s safety solemnly laid down, as the heritage of the servants of YAHWEH, as that which they may depend upon and be confident of, that YAHWEH will protect them from their adversaries both in camps and courts.

First, from their field-adversaries, that think to destroy them by force and violence, and dint of sword: "No weapon that is formed against thee (Though ever so artfully formed by the smith that blows the coals, Though ever so skillfully managed by the waster that seeks to destroy) shall prosper.

It shall not prove strong enough to do any harm to the people of Yisrael; it shall miss its mark, shall fall out of the hand or perhaps recoil in the face of him that uses it against thee.’’ It is the happiness of Yisrael that no weapons formed against it shall prosper long, and therefore the folly of its enemies will at length be made manifest to all, for they are but preparing instruments of ruin for themselves.

Secondly, From their law-adversaries, that think to run them down under colour of right and justice. When the weapons of war do not prosper there are tongues that rise in judgment.

Both are included in the gates of hell, that seek to destroy Yisrael; for they had their courts of justice, as well as their magazines and military stores, in their gates. The tongues that rise in judgment against the Yisrael are as such as either demand a dominion over it, as if YAH’s children were their lawful captives.

Pretending an authority to oppress their consciences, or they are such as misrepresent them, and falsely accuse them, and by slanders and calumnies endeavor to make them odious to the people and obnoxious to the government. This the enemies of Yisrael, to incense the kings of Persia against them, Ezra 4:12; Esth. 3:8. "But these insulting threatening tongues You shall condemn; You shall have wherewith to answer their insolent demands, and to put to silence their malicious reflections.

You shall do it by well-doing (1 Pt. 2:15), by doing that which will make thee manifest in the consciences even of thy adversaries, that You art not what You art represented to be. You shall condemn them, that is, YAHWEH shall condemn them for thee. He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, Ps. 37:6. You shall condemn them as Noah condemned the old world that reproached him, by building the ark, and so saving his house, in contempt of their contempts.’’ The day is coming when YAHWEH will reckon with the wicked men for all their hard speeches which they have spoken against him, Jude 15.

The last words refer not only to this promise, but to all that go before: This is the heritage of the servants of YAHWEH. YAH’s servants are HIS sons, for HE has provided an inheritance for them, rich, sure, and indefeasible. YAH’s promises are their heritage for ever (Ps. 119:111); and their righteousness is of ME, saith YAHWEH. EL YAHWEH will clear up the righteousness of their cause before men. It is with him, for HE knows it; it is with HIM, for HE will plead it. Or their reward for their righteousness, and for all that which they have suffered unrighteously, is of YAHWEH, that YAHWEH who judges in the earth, and with whom verily there is a reward for the righteous. Or their righteousness itself, all that in them which is good and right, is of YAHWEH, who works it in them; it is of Messiyah who is made righteousness to them. In those for whom YAHWEH designs a heritage hereafter he will work righteousness now.

Isa 55:1  “Oh everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. And you who have no silver, come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without silver and without price. - We are all invited to come and take the benefit of that provision which the grace of YAHWEH has made for poor souls in the new covenant, of that which is the heritage of the servants of YAHWEH (ch. 54:17), and not only their heritage hereafter, but their cup now.

Who are invited: Ho, every one. Not the Hebrew people only, to whom first the word of salvation was sent, but the Gentiles, the poor and the maimed, the halt and the blind, are called to this marriage supper, whoever can be picked up out of the highways and the hedges.

It intimates that in Messiyah there is enough for all and enough for each, that ministers are to make a general offer of life and salvation to all. That in Messiyanic times the invitation should be more largely made than it had been and should be sent to the Gentiles. That the Messiyanic covenant excludes none that do not exclude themselves. The invitation is published with an Oyez-Ho, take notice of it. He that has ears to hear let him hear, Rev 2; 3.

What is the qualification required in those that shall be welcome; they must thirst. All shall be welcome to Messiyah’s grace upon those terms only that gospel grace be welcome to them. Those that are satisfied with the world and its enjoyments for a portion, and seek not for a happiness in the favor of YAHWEH, those that depend upon the merit of their own works for a righteousness, and see no need they have of Messiyah and his righteousness, these do not thirst.

They have no sense of their need, are in no pain or uneasiness about their souls, and therefore will not condescend so far as to be beholden to Messiyah. But those that thirst are invited to the waters, as those that labor, and are heavy-laden, are invited to Yahushua HaMashiach for rest.

Where YAHWEH gives grace HE first gives a thirsting after it; and, where HE has given a thirsting after it, HE will give it, Ps. 81:10.

Whither they are invited: Come you to the waters. Come to the water-side, to the ports, and quays, and wharfs, on the navigable rivers, into which goods are imported; thither come and buy, for that is the market-place of foreign commodities. To us they would have been for ever foreign if Messiyah had not brought in an everlasting righteousness. Come to Yahushua HaMashiach; for He is the fountain opened, He is the rock smitten.

Come to holy ordinances, to those streams that make glad the city of our YAHWEH; come to them, and Though they may seem to you plain and common things, like waters, yet to those who believe in Messiyah the things signified will be as wine and mile, abundantly refreshing. Come to the healing waters; come to the living waters. Whoever will, let him come, and partake of the waters of life, Rev. 22:17. Our Savior referred to it, Jn. 7:37. If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink.

What they are invited to do. Come, and buy. Never did any tradesman court customers that he hoped to get by as Messiyah courts us to that which we only are to be gainers by. "Come and buy, and we can assure you you shall have a good bargain, which you will never repent of nor lose by.

Come and buy; make it your own by an application of the grace of the gospel to yourselves; make it your own upon Messiyah’s terms, nay, your own upon any terms, nor deliberating whether you shall agree to them.’’

"Come, and eat; make it still more your own, as that which we eat is more our own than that which we only buy.’’ We must buy the truth, not that we may lay it by to be looked at, but that we may feed and feast upon it, and that the spiritual life may be nourished and strengthened by it.

We must buy necessary provisions for our souls, be willing to part with any thing, Though ever so dear to us, so that we may but have Messiyah and His Graces and comforts. We must part with sin, because it is an opposition to Messiyah, part with all opinion of our own righteousness, as standing in competition with Messiyah. Part with life itself, and its most necessary supports, rather than quit our interest in Messiyah. When we have bought what we need, let us not deny ourselves the comfortable use of it, but enjoy it, and eat the labor of our hands: Buy, and eat.

What is the provision they are invited to: "Come, and buy wine and milk, which will not only quench the thirst’’ (fair water would do that), "but nourish the body, and revive the spirits.’’ The world comes short of our expectations.

We promise ourselves, at least, water in it, but we are disappointed of that, as the troops of Tema, Job 6:19. But Messiyah out do our expectations. We come to the waters, and would be glad of them, but we find there wine and milk, which were the staple commodities of the tribe of Judah, and which the Shiloh of that tribe is furnished with to entertain the gathering of the people to him, Gen. 49:10, 12.

His eyes shall be red with wine and his teeth white with milk. We must come to Messiyah, to have milk for babes, to nourish and cherish those that are but lately born again; and with him strong men shall find that which will be a cordial to them: they shall have wine to make glad their hearts. We must part with our puddle-water, nay, with our poison of religion, that we may procure this wine and milk.

The free communication of this provision: Buy it without money, and without price. A strange way of buying, not only without ready money (that is common enough), but without any money, or the promise of any. Yet it seems not so strange to those who have observed Messiyah’s counsel to Laodicea, that was wretchedly poor, to come and buy, Rev. 3:17, 18. Our buying without money intimates, that the gifts offered us are invaluable and such as no price can be set upon. Wisdom and Understand is that which cannot be gotten for gold, but the Blood of Yahushua.

That he who offers them has no need of us, nor of any returns we can make him. He makes us these proposals, not because he has occasion to sell, but because he has a disposition to give.

That the things offered are already bought and paid for. Yahushua purchased them at the full value, with price, not with money, but with his own blood, 1 Pt. 1:19. That we shall be welcome to the benefits of the promise, Though we are utterly unworthy of them, and cannot make a tender of any thing that looks like a valuable consideration. We ourselves are not of any value, nor is any thing we have or can do, and we must own it, that, if Yahushua and heaven be ours, we may see ourselves for ever indebted to free grace.

Isa 55:2 “Why do you weigh out silver for what is not bread, and your labour for what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to Me, and eat what is good, and let your being delight itself in fatness. – We are earnestly pressed and persuaded (and O that we would be prevailed with!) to accept this invitation, and make this good bargain for ourselves.

That which we are persuaded to is to hearken to YAHWEH and to HIS proposals: "Hearken diligently unto me. Not only give me the hearing, but approve of what I say, and apply it to yourselves: Incline your ear, as you do to that which you find yourselves concerned in and pleased with; bow the ear, and let the proud heart stoop to the humbling methods of the Messiyanic Covenant; bend the ear this way, that you may hear with attention and remark; hear, and come unto me; not only come and treat with me, but comply with me, come up to my terms;’’ accept YAH’s offers as very advantageous; answer his demands as very fit and reasonable.

Isa 55:3 “Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, so that your being lives. And let Me make an everlasting covenant with you, the trustworthy kindnesses of Dawiḏ. –  The arguments used to persuade us to this are taken, from the unspeakable wrong we do to ourselves if we neglect and refuse this invitation: "Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread, which will not yield you, no, not beggar’s food, dry bread, when with me you may have wine and milk without money? Wherefore do you spend your labor and toil for that which will not be so much as dry bread to you, for it satisfies not?’’

The vanity of the things of this world. They are not bread of life, not proper food for a soul; they afford no suitable nourishment or refreshment. Bread is the staff of the natural life, but it affords no support at all to the spiritual life. All the wealth and pleasure in the world will not make one meal’s meat for a soul.

Eternal truth of Torah and the Seven Spirit of Isaiah 11:2 are the only food for a rational and immortal soul, the life of which consists in reconciliation and conformity to YAHWEH, and in union and communion with him, which the things of the world will not at all befriend. They satisfy not; they yield not any solid comfort and content to the soul, nor enable it to say, "Now I have what I would have.’’ Nay, they do not satisfy even the appetites of the body. The more men have the more they would have, Eccl. 1:8.

Haman was unsatisfied in the midst of his abundance. They flatter, but they do not fill; they please for a while, like the dream of a hungry man, who awakes and his soul is empty. They soon surfeit, but they never satisfy; they cloy a man, but do not content him, or make him truly easy. It is all vanity and vexation.

The folly of the children of this world. They spend their money and labor for these uncertain unsatisfying things. Rich people live by their money, poor people by their labor; but both mistake their truest interest, while the one is trading, the other toiling, for the world, both promising themselves satisfaction and happiness in it, but both miserably disappointed.

YAHWEH vouch safes compassionately to reason with them: "Wherefore do you thus act against your own interest? Why do you suffer yourselves to be thus imposed upon?’’ Let us reason with ourselves, and let the result of these reasoning’s be a holy resolution not to labor for the meat that perishes, but for that which endures to everlasting life, Jn. 6:27.

Let all the disappointments we meet with in the world help to drive us to Christ, and lead us to seek for satisfaction in him only. This is the way to make sure which will be made sure. From the unspeakable kindness we do to ourselves if we accept this invitation and comply with it. we secure to ourselves present pleasure and satisfaction: "If you hearken to Messiyah, you eat that which is good, which is both wholesome and pleasant, good in itself and good for you.’’ YAH’s good word and promise, a good conscience, and the comforts of YAH’s good Spirit, are a continual feast to those that hearken diligently and obediently to Messiyah.

Their souls shall delight themselves in fatness, that is, in the riches and most grateful delight of Torah. Here the invitation is not, "Come, and buy,’’ lest that should discourage, but, "Come, and eat; come and entertain yourselves with that which will be abundantly pleasing; eat, O friends!’’ It is sad to think that men should need to be courted thus to their own bliss.

Hereby we secure to ourselves lasting happiness: "Hear, and your soul shall live; you shall not only be saved from perishing eternally, but you shall be eternally blessed:’’ for less than that cannot be the life of an immortal soul. The words of Yahushua HaMashiach are spirit and life, life to spirits (Jn. 6:33, 63), the words of this life, Acts 5:20. On what easy terms is happiness offered to us! It is but "Hear, and you shall live.’’

The great Elohim graciously secures all this to us: "Come to me, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, will put myself into covenant-relations and under covenant-engagements to you, and thereby settle upon you the sure mercies of David.’’

Note, First, If we come to E; YAHWEH to serve HIM, HE will covenant with us to do us good and make us happy; such are HIS condescension to us and concern for us.

Secondly, YAH’S covenant with us is an everlasting covenant, its contrivance from everlasting, its continuance to everlasting.

Thirdly, The benefits of this covenant are mercies suited to our case, who, being miserable, are the proper objects of mercy. They come from YAH’s mercy, and are ordered every way in kindness to us.

Fourthly, They are the mercies of David, such mercies as YAHWEH promised to David (Ps. 89:28, 29, etc.), which are called the mercies of David his servant, and are appealed to by Solomon, 2 Chr. 6:42. It shall be a covenant as sure as that with David, Jer. 33:25, 26. The covenant of royalty was a figure of the covenant of grace, 2 Sa. 23:5. Or, rather, by David here we are to understand the Messiyah.

Covenant-mercies are all HIS mercies; they are purchased by him; they are promised in him; they are treasured up in his hand, and out of his hand they are dispensed to us. He is the Mediator and trustee of the covenant; to him this is applied, Acts 13:34. They are the ta hosia (the word used there, and by the Septuagint here)—the holy things of David, for they are confirmed by the holiness of YAHWEH (Ps. 89:35) and are intended to advance holiness among men.

Fifthly, they are sure mercies. The covenant, being well-ordered in all things, is sure. It is sure in the general proposal of it; YAHWEH is real and sincere, serious and in earnest, in the offer of these mercies. It is sure in the particular application of it to believers; YAH’s gifts and callings are without repentance. They are the mercies of David, and therefore sure, for in Yahushua HaMashiach the promises are all yea and amen.

Isa 55:4 “See, I have given Him as a witness to the people, a Leader and a Commander for the people. – In Yahushua HaMashiach is the promise for the making of all the other promises which we are invited to accept of. He is that David whose sure mercies all the blessings and benefits of the covenant are.

"And ABBA YAHWEH has given him in HIS purpose and promise, has constituted and appointed him, and in the fullness of time will as surely send him as if he had already come, to be all that to us which is necessary to our having the benefit of these preparations.’’

HE has given Him freely; for what more free than a gift? There was nothing in us to merit such a favor, but Yahushua HaMashiach is the gift of YAHWEH. We want one,

To attest the truth of the promises which we are invited to take the benefit of; and Yahushua HaMashiach is given for a witness that YAHWEH is willing to receive us into HIS favor upon Messiyah’s terms, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers, that we may venture our souls upon those promises with entire satisfaction.

Messiyah is a faithful witness, we may take his word, a competent witness, for He lay in the bosom of the Father from eternity, and was perfectly apprised of the whole matter. Messiyah, as a prophet, testifies the will of YAHWEH to the world; and to believe is to receive his testimony.

To assist us in closing with the invitation, and coming up to the terms of it. We know not how to find the way to the waters where we are to be supplied, but Yahushua HaMashiach is given to be a leader. We know not what to do that we may be qualified or it, and become sharers in it, but he is given for a commander, to show us what to do and enable us to do it.

Much difficulty and opposition lie in our way to Messiyah; we have spiritual enemies to grapple with, but, to animate us for the conflict, we have a good captain, like Joshua, a leader and commander to tread our enemies under our feet and to put us in possession of the land of promise. Messiyah is a commander by his precept and a leader by his example; our business is to obey him and follow him.

Isa 55:5 “See, a nation you do not know you shall call, and a nation who does not know you run to you, because of  יהוה your Elohim, and the Set-apart One of Yisra’ĕl, for He has adorned you.” - The Master of the feast being fixed, it is next to be furnished with guests, for the provision shall not be lost, nor made in vain.

The Gentiles will be given an invitation to this feast, shall be invited from the highways and the hedges: "You shall call a nation that You knowest not, that is, that was not formerly called and owned as thy nation, that You didst not send prophets to as to Israel, the people whom YAHWEH knew above all the families of the earth.’’ The Gentiles shall now be favored as they never were before; their knowing YAHWEH is said to be rather their being known of God, Gal. 4:9.

They shall come at the call: Nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee; those that had long been afar off from Messiyah shall be brought close; those that had been running from Him shall run to him, with the greatest speed and alacrity imaginable.

There shall be a concourse of believing Gentiles to Yahushua HaMashiach, who, being lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to him. Now see the reason,

 Why the Gentiles will flock to Messiyah? It is because YAHWEH is EL, because Yahushua is the first born Son of YAHWEH, and is declared to be so with power, because they now see ABBA YAHWEH as one with whom they have to do, and there is no coming to ABBA YAHWEH without going through HIS Son.

Those who are acquainted with Torah, and understand how the knowledge of the Law relates to the relations lies between them and ABBA YAHWEH, cannot but run to Yahushua Messiyah, who is the only Mediator between YAHWEH and Man, and there is no coming to YAHWEH, but by Messiyah Yahushua.

Why YAHWEH will bring them to Him; it is because HE is the Holy One of Yisrael, true to HIS promises, and ABBA YAHWEH has promised to glorify Messiyah Yahushua by giving Him the heathen for His inheritance. When the Greeks began to enquire after Messiyah He said, The hour has come that the Son of man should be glorified, Jn. 12:22, 23. And His being glorified in His resurrection and ascension was the great argument by which multitudes were wrought upon to run to Him.

Brit Chadasha

Matthew 24:36 - 44

Mat 26:36 Then יהושע came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the taught ones, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” – In this verse we see the preparation for Yahushua’s sufferings. In these verses we have the story of His agony in the garden. This was the beginning of sorrows to our Yahushua HaMashiach.

Now the cup of Messiyah’s as our Lamb was about to be fulfilled. We can now look back when He said, some days before, Now is My soul troubled, Jn. 12:27. But now the storm began in good earnest. He put himself into this agony, before His enemies gave Him any trouble, to show that He was a Freewill offering; that His life was not forced from Him, but He laid it down of himself. Jn. 10:18.

The place where He underwent this mighty agony; it was in a place called Gethsemane. The name signifies, an olive-mill, a press for olives, like a wine-press, where they press the olives, Mic. 6:15, that it might produce oil.

This was the proper place for such a thing, at the foot of the mount of Olives. There our Yahushua HaMashiach began His passion; there it pleased YAHWEH to bruise Him, and crush Him, that fresh oil might flow to all believers from Him, that we might partake of the root and fatness of that good Olive. There He was pressured by the wine-press of His Father’s wrath, and trod it alone.

The company He had with him, when he was in this agony. He took all the twelve disciples with Him to the garden, except Judas, who was at this time otherwise employed. Though it was late in the night, near bed-time, yet they kept with Him, and took this walk by Full-moon light with him, as Elisha, who, when he was told that his master should shortly be taken from his head, declared that he would not leave him, Though he led him about; so these follow the Lamb, where-ever he goes.

He took only Peter, and James, and John, with him into that corner of the garden where prayed in his agony. He left the rest at some distance, perhaps at the garden door, with this charge, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder; like that of Abraham to his young men (Gen. 22:5), Abide ye here, and I will go yonder and worship.

It was not the fear of dying that agonize Messiyah Yahushua, it was the taught of been separated from His ABBA. On the Day He died, scripture tells us that darkness fell from 12.00 noon until 3 pm. That was the time when ABBA YAHWEH close HIS eyes for the first time to Messiyah Yahushua.

Yahushua went to pray alone, Though he had lately prayed with his disciples, Jn. 17:1. Our prayers with our families must not excuse us from our secret devotions.

He ordered them to sit here. We must take heed of giving any disturbance or interruption to those who retire for secret communion with ABBA YAHWEH He took these three with him, because they had been the witnesses of His glory in His transfiguration (ch. 17:1, 2), and that would prepare them to be the witnesses of His agony. Those are best prepared to suffer with Yahushua, that have by faith beheld His glory, and have conversed with the glorified saints upon the holy mount. If we suffer with Yahushua, we shall reign with Him; and if we hope to reign with him, why should we not expect to suffer with him?

The agony itself that He was in; He began to be sorrowful, and very heavy. It is called an agony (Lu. 22:44), a conflict. It was not any bodily pain or torment that he was in, nothing occurred to hurt him; It was the up coming separation from ABBA YAHWEH that troubled Him, Jn. 11:33.

The words used here are very emphatically; he began to be sorrowful, and in a consternation. The latter word signifies such a sorrow as makes a man neither fit for company nor desirous of it.

He had like a weight of lead upon His spirits. Physicians use a word near akin to it, to signify the disorder a man is in a fit of an ague, or beginning of a fever. Now was fulfilled, Ps. 22:14, I am poured out like water, my heart is like wax, it is melted; and all those passages in the Psalms where David complains of the sorrows of his soul, Ps. 18:4, 5; 42:7; 55:4, 5; 69:1-3; 88:3; 116:3, and Jonah’s complaint, ch. 2:4, 5.

But what was the cause of all this? What was it that put him into his agony? Why art You cast down, blessed Messiyah, and why disquieted? Certainly, it was nothing of despair or distrust of His Father, much less any conflict or struggle with Him. As the Father loved Him because He laid down His life for the sheep, so He was entirely subject to His Father’s will in it. But, what cause Him to be so anguish. It was the Thought that He would be out of His Father Presence for three hour, when darkness, fell at noon to 3 pm on that most Wonderful of Passover. I am looking forward to the day when I too would be so resentful of been out side of our ABBA sight that we would hate the very taught of association with anything that would separate us from HIM.

Mat 26:37 And He took with Him Kĕpha and the two sons of Zaḇdai, and He began to be grieved and deeply distressed. – The love that Yahushua had for His ABBA, was of such an high level, that He was caught between Obedient and been separated from HIM even if it was just for three hours. It was to Messiyah Yahushua a life time. On the Stake He cried out My God, My God why do YOU turn your FACE away from Me.

Mat 26:38 Then He said to them, “My being is exceedingly grieved, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.” – My Soul, the god part of Messiyah even Though it was perfect was grief. This was the ultimate sacrifice that anyone can make; giving up even for a moment the highest possible relationship for a bunch of rebellious people. However, he did it because he was ask to do so by ABBA YAHWEH.

Mat 26:39 And going forward a little, He fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I desire, but as You desire.” – Messiyah’s sufferings were of another nature from theirs. The Disciples were to be persecuted for Him, Messiyah took on the Curse of all sin from the foundation of the world; but to be offered a sacrifice, to make atonement for sin, is quite a different case. On the saints’ cross there is a blessing pronounced, which enables them to rejoice under it (ch. 5:10, 12); but to Messiyah’s stake there was a curse annexed, which made Him sorrowful and very heavy under it. And His sorrow under the stake was the foundation of their joy under it.

Mat 26:40 And He came to the taught ones and found them asleep, and said to Kĕpha, “So, were you not able to watch with Me one hour? - The fault they were guilty of; that when Yahushua was in His agony, sorrowful and heavy, sweating and wrestling and praying, they were so little concerned, that they could not keep awake; he comes, and finds them asleep.

 The strangeness of the thing should have roused their spirits to turn aside now, and see this great sight, the bush burning, and yet not consumed; much more should their love to their Master, and their care concerning him, have obliged them to a more close and vigilant attendance on him; yet they were so dull, that they could not keep their eyes open. What had become of us, if Messiyah had been now as sleepy as His disciples were?

It is well for us that our salvation is in the hand of one who neither slumbers nor sleeps. Yahushua HaMashiach engaged them to watch with Him, as if He expected some succor from them, and yet they slept; surely it was the unkindest thing that could be. When David wept at this mount of Olives, all his followers wept with him (2 Sa. 15:30); but when the Son of David was here in tears, His followers were asleep. His enemies, who watched for Him, were wakeful enough (Mk. 14:43); but His disciples, who should have watched with him, were asleep. YAHWEH, what is man! What are the best of men, when YAHWEH leaves them to themselves! 

Carelessness and carnal security, especially when Yahushua is in His agony, are great faults in any, but especially in those who profess to be nearest in relation to him. The Yisrael of Messiyah, which is His Body, is often in an agony, fighting without and fears within; and shall we be asleep then, like Gallio, that cared for none of these things; or those (Amos 6:6) that lay at ease, and were not grieved for the affliction of Joseph?