And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,
When men began to multiply. This is a general statement relative to the increase of the human family, without any intimation of the precise period to which it refers. Some writers have maintained that in the times immediately preceding the flood, the world was as densely populated as it is in the present day. But all calculations of the numbers of mankind founded on modern statistics, and applied to estimate the probable amount of the antediluvian population, are utterly fallacious. So far from its having been so great as has been surmised, the awfully corrupt and disordered state of society which widely prevailed must have been unfavourable to population, or have rapidly diminished it; and, accordingly, there are Scriptural data to warrant the belief that it was comparatively small. Noah, in the 600th year of his life, reckoned his whole family as consisting of eight persons; so that, if this was an average number from one man, the race could not have multiplied very fast, and we may see why the merciful Creator determined that it should not, in order that the judgment inflicted by the deluge should not be so severe as it would have been if the whole earth had been inhabited. Further, the Scriptures represent the existing race of mankind as having been all within the reach of Noah's warning voice and actions (cf. Hebrews 11:7, with 1 Peter 3:19-20; 2 Peter 2:5); and the most rational supposition is, that the area occupied by mankind was bounded by a circumference not very distant from the central abode of the first parent.
And daughters were born unto them. They are particularly mentioned because the seductive influence of their beauty and manners was one principal cause of the antediluvian apostasy and debasement.