March 16, 2022 – Wednesday
Genesis 6:5-8 21KJV
5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagining of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6 And the Lord repented that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him in His heart.
7 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 I repent that I have made them.”
8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Genesis 6:5-8 NIV
5 The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6 The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. 7 So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
Comment.
If you look at the 21KJV, you will read in verse six, And the Lord repented that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him in His heart and then in verse 7 at the end, for I repent that I have made them. But in the NIV we do not find the word repent, instead we find regretted and regret. I ran across this looking for repent or repentance in both the Old and New Testaments.
So, what is going on here? First of all this is the story of Noah, the one righteous man in a world consumed with sin as verse five tells The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The level of wickedness was so great, God is greatly saddened and regrets what He has created. What a change from Genesis 1:31 when, God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Instead of destroying the entire human race, God decides to give it a new beginning through Noah and his offspring. A few sources noted that in Hebrew, the name Noah read backwards is grace creating a wordplay between Noah’s name and God’s grace.
Verse eight tells us in spite of God’s regret, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord (21KJV) or Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord (NIV). The KJ Study Bible says, This is the first occurrence of the word grace in Scripture. Its root meaning is “to bend or stoop,” implying the condescending or unmerited favor of a superior person to an inferior one. Mankind, the beasts of the field, and the fowl of the air would be destroyed; but God would call out a remnant for Himself. All on Noah’s boat. The KJ Study Bible also states, where God repented (KJV) does not imply that God made a mistake in His dealings with men, but rather indicates a change in divine direction resulting from the actions of man. It is “an anthropopathism” (a human emotion applied to God), describing the pain that is caused God by the destructiveness of His creatures. Humans caused His regret by their actions.
Human actions throughout time were so sinful He began over again with Noah, then again with His Son Jesus. Through Jesus He seeks to save more than a single family as He did with Noah for John 3:17-18 tells us, For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. God made a covenant with Noah and his sons and their descendants (including us) in Genesis 9:11, 13, Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth and I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, We can easily look around the world today and see how You could want to destroy us once again. Instead, you sent Jesus. We are so very thankful for Your love and mercy. – In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
RileyD, nwJ
Riley D. Driver – Pastor
Calvary Chapel of Dayton
in Beavercreek