177. The additional statement of the text, "It repented Jehovah that he had made man on the earth," I believe to be meant to bring out the antithesis, that God has in mind not the earthly man, who is subject to sin and death, but the heavenly man, who is lord over them. He expresses his love for the latter, while he hates the former and plans his destruction.
| B. | THE GRIEF OF GOD. | |
| 1. | This is not to be understood of the divine nature, but of the hearts of the patriarchs [178-179]. | |
| 2. | Abraham, Samuel and Christ grieved in like manner [180]. | |
| 3. | By whom such grief is awakened in the heart [181]. | |
| 4. | The cause of this grief [182]. | |
| * | The character of the children of God and of the world in the face of the approaching calamity [183-184]. | |
| * | How the patriarchs and the Church were walls of defense [185]. | |
| 5. | What made the grief of the holy patriarchs greater [185]. | |
| 6. | Moses describes this grief very carefully [186]. | |
| * | How we see the grief of God in his saints [187]. | |
| * | How all is ruined on account of sin [187]. | |
| * | Why Noah did not dare to reveal the great wrath of God to the world [188]. | |
| * | What prevents the world from believing God's threatenings [188-189]. | |
| * | To whom God's promises do and do not apply [190]. | |
| * | Why the old world did not believe the threat of the deluge [191]. | |
| * | The fate of true doctrine in our day is the same as it was in Noah's [192]. | |
B. THE GRIEF OF GOD.
V. 6b. And it grieved him at his heart.
178. Such was the regret of God that he was pained in his heart. The word here is azab, which was used before when he said (Gen 3, 16), "In pain shalt thou bring forth children"; also in Psalm 127, 2, "the bread of toil." This expression must be understood according to the usage of Scripture. We must not think that God has a heart or that he can suffer pain, but when the spirit of Noah, Lamech or Methuselah is grieved, God himself is said to be grieved. We may understand such grief not of his divine nature, but of his conduct. Noah, with his father and grandfather, feels in his heart, through a revelation of the Holy Spirit, that God hates the world because of sin and desires its destruction; therefore they are grieved by this impenitence.
179. This is the simple and true meaning. If you refer these words to the will of the divine essence and hold that God has resolved this from eternity, a perilous argument is employed to which are equal only men who are spiritual and tested by trial, like Paul, for instance, who has ventured to argue concerning predestination. Let us take our stand on an humbler plane, one less open to danger, and hold that Noah and the other fathers were most grievously pained when the Spirit disclosed to them such wrath. These inexpressible groanings of the best of men are accordingly attributed to God himself, because they emanate from his Spirit.
180. An example of such groanings we see later in the case of Abraham, who interposed himself like a wall in behalf of the safety of the Sodomites and did not abandon the cause until they came down to five righteous ones. Without a doubt the Holy Spirit filled the breast of Abraham with infinite and frequent groanings in his attempts to effect the salvation of the wretched. Likewise Samuel—what does he not do for Saul? He cries and implores with such vehemence that God is compelled to restrain him: "How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from being king over Israel?" 1 Sam 16, 1. So Christ, foreseeing the destruction of Jerusalem within a few years by reason of its sins, is most violently moved and pained in his soul.