It was not uncommon for people to live incredibly long lives before the Great Flood. The oldest recorded life was of a man named Methuselah; who lived to 969 years old.
Genesis 5:27 And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died.
Methuselah was the son of righteous Enoch, the prophet who did not see death, but was taken by God, “translated.” He was also the grandfather of Noah. According to 1Rashi God delayed the Flood specifically because of the seven days of mourning in honor of the righteous Methuselah. Methuselah was the son of Enoch and the grandfather of Noah.
NOAH AND THE GREAT FLOOD
With Methuselah; the era ended when people lived such long lives. God ended this, because man was getting out of control.
Genesis 6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
There were giants that roamed the earth before the flood. The Bible says that they were the result of the sons of God (according to Dr. Scofield; were believed to be fallen angels) and the daughters of men.
Genesis 6:4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
A recent archeological find, in Greece, has unearthed the skeletons of men who are believed to be the giants of the Bible. Men, whose stature reached as much as 20 feet in height.
The world had become a wicked and perilous place. God was so displeased that He repented that He had even created man. God then decided to utterly destroy man and wipe him off of the face of the earth.
Genesis 6:5-7 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (6) And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. (7) And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
NOAH FINDS FAVOR WITH GOD
Noah came from a righteous lineage; he was “perfect in his generations.” He kept himself pure from the evil that was going on throughout the world.”
Genesis 6:8-10 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. (9) These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. (10) And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
God commanded Noah to build ark, a large ship to carry Noah, his family and pairs of every living thing through the destruction of a worldwide flood. All flesh would be destroyed.
Genesis 6:13-14 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. (14) Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.
Genesis 6:19 And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.
Noah had three sons who were born to him at the age of 500 years old; when God first gave him the instructions to build the ark.
Genesis 5:32 And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
For the next 100 years, Noah and his family were a witness to the world of physical salvation; a warning to repent or die in a flood. Noah was 600 years old when the flood came.
Genesis 7:11-12 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. (12) And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
Though it rained only forty days and forty nights, the flood lasted 375 days from entering the ark; until they came out on dry land.
Genesis 8:15-17 And God spake unto Noah, saying, (16) Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee. (17) Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.
The earth was completely cleansed of the evil that had corrupted man. Only Noah and his three sons and their wives, were spared. We can’t imagine the trauma that Noah and his family experienced for those 375 days. They had great faith. God surely saw them through this massive ordeal and blessed them. Noah’s first act after coming out of the ark was to worship God and give Him thanks. God accepted his offering and made a covenant with Noah and all generations to come. That covenant was that God would never flood the earth and kill all flesh that way again.
Genesis 8:20-22 And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. (21) And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD 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; (22) While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
THE RAINBOW IS GOD’S SIGNED COVENENT WITH MAN
Genesis 9:11-14 And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. (12) And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: (13) I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. (14) And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
Prayer: Thank you Lord God Almighty, my Heavenly Father, you are faithful in your WORD and you have given promises to man. Help me to walk in your righteousness, even though the world around me is evil. I look forward to your return Lord Jesus and in your name, I pray, Amen.
1Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki; Rashi is an acronym of his title and name; medieval French Rabbi and famed author of the first comprehensive commentary on the Talmud and Tanakh – Hebrew Bible He was also considered the “father" of all commentaries that followed on the Talmud: February 22, 1040 – July 13, 1105.
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