6:9-12 "The same explanation for Enoch's rescue from death (he walked with God') is made the basis for Noah's rescue from death in the Flood: he walked with God' (6:9). Thus in the story of Noah and the Flood, the author is able to repeat the lesson of Enoch: life comes through walking with God.'"294
"Noah is depicted as Adam redivivus(revived). He is the sole survivor and successor to Adam; both walk' with God; both are the recipients of the promissory blessing; both are caretakers of the lower creatures; both father three sons; both are workers of the soil; both sin through the fruit of a tree; and both father a wicked son who is under a curse."295
"The two words, corrupt' and violence,' give us respectively the character and expression of the sin, the cause and the effect [v. 11]. The corruption has led to violence, for badness always leads to cruelty in one form or another. A life that is wrong with God necessarily becomes wrong with its fellows."296
"Whereas God has blessed the human family with the power of procreation to fill the earth (1:28; 9:1), these culprits have filled the earth' by procreating violence' (cf. v. 13; Ezek 8:17; 28:16)."297
6:13-16 Notice that the earth and nature suffer because of human sin (cf. 3:17-19; Rom. 8:20-21).
Noah received detailed instructions that he was to follow in building the ark. Later Moses received detailed instructions that he was to follow in building the tabernacle. Both men followed their respective instructions and received praise (v. 22; Exod. 39:42-43; Lev. 8:36; Num. 27:22; Deut. 34:9). Both men inaugurated a new epoch. In this respect Moses was another Noah.
"God must be obeyed in all his instructions if his people expect to enjoy the fruit of life and blessing (e.g., Deut 26:16-19; 28:1-14)."298
The ark was about 450 feet long (1 1/2 American football fields), 75 feet wide (7 parking spaces), and 45 feet high (a four-story building). It had three decks and over 100,000 square feet of deck space. There were over 1 million cubic feet of space in it. This is the capacity of approximately 800 railroad boxcars. It had a capacity of almost 14,000 gross tons.
The ark probably looked more like a rectangular box than a ship. This design uses space very efficiently. The ark would have been very stable in the water. Modern ocean-going tankers and aircraft carriers have a similar scale of dimensions. The wood out of which Noah made it is unknown. The Hebrew word occurs only here in the Old Testament.
6:17-21 This is the first occurrence of the word "covenant"(Heb. berith) in the Old Testament (v. 18). There were two basic kinds of covenants in the ancient Near East.299
1. The parity covenantwas one that equals made. Examples: Abraham and Abimelech (21:22-32), Isaac and Abimelech (26:26-33), and Jacob and Laban (31:44-54).
2. The suzerainty covenantwas one that a superior (king) made with an inferior (vassal). Examples: the Noahic Covenant (Gen. 6:16), the Abrahamic Covenant (Gen. 15:18), the Mosaic Covenant (Exod. 19--Num. 10), et al.
"The Noahic covenant is closer to the royal grant known from the ancient Near East where a deity bestows a benefit or gift upon a king. It has its closest parallels to the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants (Gen 15; 17; 2 Sam 7), which are promissory charters made by God with the individuals and their offspring, characteristically forever. Unlike the Mosaic covenant, in the royal grant form of covenant God alone is under compulsion by oath to uphold his promise to the favored party."300
6:22 We can see Noah's faith (Heb. 11:7) in his complete obedience to God even though he faced many obstacles.
"The author's purpose in drawing out the list of specifications for the ark in chapter 6, as with the details of the building of the tabernacle, is not that readers might be able to see what the ark or the tabernacle looked like, but rather that readers might appreciate the meticulous care with which these godly and exemplary individuals went about their tasks of obedience to God's will. They obeyed God with all their hearts.'"301
"What a splendid figure this man makes, a picture of solitary goodness! He was the one saint of that day. It ispossible, therefore, to be good even though we have to stand alone. It is possible to be right with God even amidst surrounding iniquity. God is the same today as He was to Noah, and if only we are willing to fulfill the conditions we too shall walk with God and please Him."302
7:1-10 "It is not that Noah's works of righteousness gains [sic] him salvation, for none is cited. Rather, his upright character is noted to condemn his generation, which merits death."303
"Sinful men do not deserveto live on God's earth. This is the basic message of the Genesis Flood."304
God did not reveal the basis for His distinction between clean and unclean animals here (v. 2). Israel's pagan neighbors also observed clean and unclean distinctions between animals though they varied from country to country. In the Mosaic Law, God further distinguished between foods. Jesus Christ and the Apostle Paul taught that now these distinctions no longer need affect people as far as our relationship to God goes (Mark 7:15, 19; cf. Acts 10:15; 11:9; Rom. 14:14).
