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.
Ver. 7. I will destroy man.] See here the venemous and mischievous nature of sin. It causeth God to make a world, and again to unmake it: it sets him against man his masterpiece, and makes him, though he be φιλανθρωπος, not only to devise, but to delight in the destruction of his own creature, to "mock at," and make merry in his "calamity," Pro 1:26 to deliver "the beloved of his soul into the hands of the destroyer". Jer 12:7 Time was, when Christ, being by at the creation, "rejoiced in this habitable part of God's earth, and his delights were with the sons of men". Pro 8:31 But since the fall, it is far otherwise; for he is "of more pure eyes than to behold sin" Hab 1:13 with patience. He hates it worse than he hates the devil: for he hates the devil for sin's sake, and not sin for the devil's sake. Now the natural and next effect of hatred is revenge. Hence he resolves, "I will destroy man."
Both man and beast, the creeping thing, &c.] Why, "what have those poor sheep done?" 2Sa 24:17 They are all undone by man's sin, and are, for his punishment, to perish with him, as they were created for him. This is a piece of that bondage they are still subject to; and grievously groan under, waiting deliverance. Rom 8:21-22