And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
Ver. 1. For thee have I seen righteous before me.] Not only before men, as Pharisees, Luk 16:15 and civil justiciaries, Rom 2:29 but before me who see the inside, and love "truth in the hidden man of the heart". Psalms 51:6 1Pe 3:5 And here Noah's sincerity prevailed with God for his safety, as did likewise Lot's, whom God hid in Zoar; and Abram's, to whom God was a shield to save him from the deadly thrusts of destruction, when he pursued the four kings and foiled them, because he "walked before him, and was upright." Genesis 15:1 ; Gen 14:15 So true is that of Solomon, "He that walketh uprightly, walketh safely," Pro 10:9 as if he were in a tower of brass, or town of war. And again, "In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence, and his children have a place of refuge". Pro 14:26 The old Rock is still ready to relieve them. Isa 26:3
In this generation.] Called by St Peter, "a world of ungodly ones," 2Pe 2:5 far worse, no doubt, than those in Enoch's days. The greater praise was it to Noah, that, by a holy antiperistasis, he kindled from their coldness, and became nothing the worse, but much the better (as it is the nature of true goodness) by their oppositions. It was an invincible faith, whereby he both conquered the world and "condemned" it. What else could have carried him over so many difficulties, as he must needs encounter? Well might the apostle say, "By faith he prepared an ark". Heb 12:7 For if he had been led by sense, he would have fled as far as Jonah did, ere ever he had gone about it.