Genesis 6:5

Genesis 6:5 . God saw that the wickedness of man, &c. — Abundance of sin was committed in all places, by all sorts of people; and those sins in their own nature most gross, and heinous, and provoking; and committed daringly, and in defiance of heaven. And that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually — A sad sight, and very offensive to God’s holy eye! This was the bitter root, the corrupt spring: all the violence and oppression, all the luxury and wantonness that was in the world, proceeded from the corruption of nature; lust conceived them, James 1:15 , see Matthew 15:19 . The heart was evil, deceitful, and desperately wicked; the principles were corrupt, and the habits and dispositions evil. The thoughts of the heart were so. Thought is sometimes taken for the settled judgment, and that was biased and misled; sometimes for the workings of the fancy, and those were always either vain or evil. The imagination of the thoughts of the heart was so; that is, their designs and devices were wicked. They did not do evil only through carelessness, but deliberately and designedly contrived how to do mischief. It was bad indeed, for it was only evil, continually evil, and every imagination was so. There was no good to be found among them, no, not at any time: the stream of sin was full, and strong, and constant; and God saw it. Here is God’s resentment of man’s wickedness.

(5) And God saw. —Really, And Jehovah saw. Imagination.—More exactly, form, shape. Thus every idea or embodied thought, which presented itself to the mind through the working of the heart—that is, the whole inner nature of man—“was only evil continually”—Heb., all the day, from morning to night, without reproof of conscience or fear of the Divine justice. A more forcible picture of complete depravity could scarcely be drawn; and this corruption of man’s inner nature is ascribed to the overthrow of moral and social restraints.

5 . of man ] Literally, “the man,” ha-adam , used generically, as in Genesis 6:1 . “The unity of the race is a consistent doctrine of the O.T. It was האדם , man , when created as a single individual. It spread over the earth, and was still האדם , man . It was כלבשר , ‘alt flesh,’ that had corrupted its way before the Flood. Mankind is, as a whole, corrupt; and, corresponding to this, each individual is unclean.… Probably the O.T. does not go the length of offering any rationale of the fact that each individual is sinful, beyond connecting him with a sinful whole.” (Davidson, Theology of the O.T. pp. 218, 219.) every imagination of the thoughts of his heart ] An elaborate description. The word rendered “imagination” means “form,” “formation,” or “shape,” and, as applied to the region of thought, denotes “an idea,” or “the concept of thought,” cogitatio , cf. Genesis 8:21 . continually ] Literally, “all the day.” Man’s sinfulness is thus described as universal and unintermittent. The beginnings of “sin” are seen in the picture of the Fall, chap. 3, its propagation in the murderous act of Cain, chap. 4; we have reached in this passage its complete and unrestrained expansion. The LXX translating the word for “imagination” as a verb, gives καὶ πᾶς τις διανοεῖται ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτοῦ ἐπιμελῶς ἐπὶ τὰ πονηρὰ πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας , Lat. quod … cuncta cogitatio cordis intenta esset ad malum omni tempore . 5–8 .

Introduction to the story of the Flood from J: Jehovah sees the sinfulness of man and resolves to annihilate the race. Genesis 6:5 to Genesis 9:17 . The Flood. (J and P.) Here follows the Hebrew narrative of the Flood. The Flood is the one great event in the history of the world, which in the Hebrew narrative emerges out of the obscurity between the creation of man and the period of the patriarchs. It marks the close of the first era of the human race. According to the story in Genesis, it was a judgement for the depravity of mankind. It marks also the beginning of a new era in the history of mankind. This has its origin in the mercy of God, who, in recognition of the righteousness of Noah, preserves him and his family in the general overthrow. This is a symbol of salvation. The new age opens with the renewal of promises to man, and with a covenant entailing new obligations on man’s part, in return for the assurance of Divine protection. On the relation of the Genesis narrative to the Babylonian and other accounts of the Flood, see Special Note on the chapter comments for Genesis 8. The present narrative is woven together out of the two distinct Israelite traditions, J and P: see Introduction. This compositeness of structure in the Flood narrative is quite unmistakable1[12]. It accounts for the ( a ) repetitions, ( b ) discrepancies, ( c ) intermittent use of special words and phrases, inexplicable on the assumption of a continuous homogeneous narrative.

To the heart the Scripture commonly ascribes all men’s actual wickedness, as Psalm 41:6 Proverbs 4:23, Proverbs 6:14, Proverbs 6:18, Jeremiah 17:9, Matthew 15:19 Romans 3:10 , &c.; thereby leading us from acts of sin to the original corruption of nature, as the cause and source of them. Evil continually, i.e. that man was perpetually either doing or contriving wickedness; that not only his actions were vile, but his principles also; his very soul, yea, the noblest part of it, which might seem most free from the contagion; his mind and thoughts were corrupt and abominable, and so there was no hope of amendment.

5, 6. God saw it … repented … grieved—God cannot change (Mal 3:6; Jas 1:17); but, by language suited to our nature and experience, He is described as about to alter His visible procedure towards mankind—from being merciful and long-suffering, He was about to show Himself a God of judgment; and, as that impious race had filled up the measure of their iniquities, He was about to introduce a terrible display of His justice (Ec 8:11).

Verse 5. - And God (Jehovah, which should have been rendered 'the Lord') saw - indicative of the long-continued patience (Calvin) of the Deity, under whose immediate cognizance the great experiment of the primeval age of the world was wrought out - that the wickedness ( ra'ath ; from the root raa , to make a loud noise, to rage, hence to be wicked) of man (literally, of the Adam : this was the first aggravation of the wickedness which God beheld; it was the tumultuous rebellion of the being whom he had created in his own image) was great (it was no slight iniquity, but a wide-spread, firmly-rooted, and deeply-staining corruption, the second aggravation) in the earth . This was the third aggravation; it was in the world which he had made, and not only in it, but pervading it so "that integrity possessed no longer a single corner" (Calvin). And that every imagination - yetzer , a device, like pottery ware, from yatza , to fashion as a potter ( Genesis 2:7 ; Genesis 8:19 ). Cf. yotzer, a potter, used of God ( Psalm 94:9, 20 ). Hence the fashioned purpose ( ἐνθύμησις ) as distinguished from the thought out of which it springs - "a distinction not generally or constantly recognized by the mental philosopher, though of essential importance in the theory of the mind" (Murphy) - of the thoughts - mahshevoth ; from hashal , to think, to meditate = ἔννοια ; cf. Hebrews 9:12 (T. Lewis) - of his heart - or, the heart, the seat of the affections and emotions of the mind. Cf.

Judges 16:15 (love); Proverbs 31:11 (confidence); Proverbs 5:12 (contempt); Psalm 104:15 (joy). Here "the feeling, or deep mother heart, the state of soul, lying below all, and giving moral character to all (Lewis). Cf. the psychological division of Hebrews 4:12 was only evil continually . Literally, every day . "If this is not total depravity, how can language express it?" Though the phrase does not mean "from infancy," yet "the general doctrine" (of man's total and universal depravity) "is properly and consistently elicited hence" (Calvin). Genesis 6:5