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.
And the Lord said. There is nothing said either of the time when or the parties to whom this communication was made. But it is supposed that the words which follow are a traditional fragment of Enoch's prophecies (Jude 1:14-15).
My Spirit shall not always strive with man. The Hebrew х yaadown (H1777)], 'my Spirit shall not be made low in man; i:e., the higher and divine nature shall not forever be humiliated in the lower, shall not ever descend from heaven and dwell in flesh forever (Gesenius). Others, as De Wette, Maurer, Knobel, and Delitzsch, render it, 'My spirit (the divine breath which was breathed into him at creation) shall not judge or rule in man forever;' i:e., they shall not live so long as their ancestors. But "my Spirit" seems rather to refer here to the Holy Spirit; and in that view there are two interpretations given to this clause. The Septuagint, the Syriac, the Chaldaic, and the Vulgate [reading yaadowr] render it 'my Spirit shall not always dwell or remain with man,' as threatening to forewarn them that the Shechinah, or divine presence, which had hitherto continued at the gate of Eden, and among the Sethites, would be withdrawn from the world. The other interpretation is that given in the King James Version, and it seems most in accordance with the context: "shall not strive," namely, by bringing a charge of guilt against them judicially by the external ministry of His servants, until at length the trial of the world is brought to a close by Noah condemning it through his faith (Hebrews 11:7). Christ, as God, had, by His Spirit inspiring Enoch, Noah, and perhaps other prophets (1 Peter 3:9; 2 Peter 2:5; Jude 1:14), preached repentance to the antediluvians; but, as they had continued incorrigible, He would withdraw the services of His prophetic messengers, who had been sent to admonish and warn them, and would come to employ any further efforts for reclaiming a people who resisted the most powerful means of conviction, giving them over to a reprobate mind (Hosea 4:17; Romans 1:28), and letting merited vengeance take its course (cf. Isaiah 63:10; Acts 5:9; Acts 7:51; Ephesians 4:30; 1 Thessalonians 5:19).
For that he also is flesh. 'The objection,' says Keil, 'to this explanation is that the gam (H1571), rendered also, introduces an incongruous emphasis into the clause. I therefore prefer to regard it as a plural suffix with the infinitive of shaagah (H7686), 'in their erring (that of men) he (man as a genus) is flesh;' i:e., men have proved themselves, by their erring and straying, to be flesh, given up to sensuality, incapable of being ruled by the Spirit of God, and led back to the divine goal of their life. The term "flesh" is used in the sense which it commonly bears in the New Testament-the nature of man as corrupted and dreaded by the predominance of debasing lusts and unbridled passions (John 3:6; Romans 8:5-7; Romans 13:14).
Yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. Josephus, and most of the old commentators, with Tuch, Baumgarten, Hupfeld, Knobel, Ewald among the modern, consider these words as intimating that the life of man, instead of being, as hitherto, continued to a patriarchal longevity, was to be reduced to a comparatively brief period; that the withdrawal of the vivifying Spirit of God, in consequence of human transgression, would render man a frail, short-lived creature on earth, and hence, the duration of his mortal existence would be limited to 120 years. This explanation, however, is objectionable, on the ground that it is not consistent with the facts of the sacred history; because the age of many of the post-diluvian patriarchs exceeded that specified time-namely, Noah and his sons lived much longer after the flood-Arphaxad, 530 years (Genesis 11:13); Salah, 403 (Genesis 11:15); Eber, 430 (Genesis 11:17); Abraham, 175 (Genesis 15:7); Isaac, 180 (Genesis 35:28); Jacob, 147 (Genesis 47:28); and after the time of Moses the life of man was gradually shortened, and reduced further and further, until it was fixed at the normal standard of threescore years and ten.
Therefore, the 120 years cannot refer to any alteration in the length of human life, but to a respite wanted to mankind from an awful judgment, and to the limitation of the season of grace to that number of years. This is the opinion of Onkelos, Luther, Calvin, Ranke, Keil, Kurtz, and Hengstenberg. It accords with the tenor of Scripture, which describes the period allotted for repentance and reformation as "the long-suffering of God in the days of Noah" (1 Peter 3:19-20); and well might it be designated a period of "long-suffering," for, as has been well observed, the probationary term afforded to the antediluvians was three times greater than the time of trial to the Jews in the wilderness, and to the same people after the crucifixion until the destruction of Jerusalem. It may be inferred from data in this history, that the announcement of the predicted doom of the antediluvian race was made to Noah in the 480th year of his age, after which he became "a preacher of righteousness."