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.
And the Lord said. Here the Lord (Yahweh) is identified with God ( 'Elohiym (H430)), who created man; and numerous instances occur in the subsequent narrative of the flood, of the interchange of the divine names, as if for the purpose of directing attention to the fact that the same Almighty agent presided over both the creative acts and the diluvian dispensation.
I will destroy man whom I have created. Conformably to a theory already noticed, this verse has been translated-`I will destroy the Adamites whom I have created from the face of the land (region); from Adamite to beast, to creeping things, and to the fowls of heaven.' This version is inadmissible, for reasons already stated (see the note at Genesis 6:2). The denunciation was made in reference, not to a portion of mankind, but to the whole human race; because the universal violation of the order which was established for man's happiness and advancement, together with the continued contempt and abuse of the season of grace allotted to him, had rendered imperatively necessary a vindication of the divine character and government; and although the precise manner in which man was to be destroyed was not specified in this first announcement, it was distinctly stated that it would be done so as to make the awful dispensation unmistakably manifest to be a judicial infliction. This destruction involved the professors of the true religion as well as profane and wicked people. Even "the sons of God" were under the dominion of carnality, and addicted to every wickedness. The merited vengeance was to overtake them in common with others. In the usual course of Providence the lower animals are frequently involved in the calamities that befall man, such as pestilence, fire, or flood; and in order to demonstrate the intensity of the divine wrath, it was distinctly pre-intimated that, having been created for man's sake, they would share in his sweeping punishment at this time.