righteous ((
Hebrew characters)) and faultless ((Hebrew characters)): on the construction
v.i. There is perhaps a correspondence between these two
epithets and the description of the state of the world which
follows; (Hebrew characters) being opposed to the 'violence,' and (Hebrew characters) to
the 'corruption' of v.11f.. (Hebrew characters), a forensic term, denotes
one whose conduct is unimpeachable before a judge; (Hebrew characters)
is sacerdotal in its associations (Ex. 125, Lv. 13 etc.),
meaning 'free from defect,' integer (cf. 171).—in his generations
(v.i.)] i.e. alone among his contemporaries (cf. 71).
That Noah's righteousness was only relative to the standard
of his age is not implied.[1]—walked with God] see on 522.
The expression receives a fuller significance from the Babylonian
legend, where Ut-napištim, like the Biblical Enoch,
is translated to the society of the gods (p. 177 below).—11 f. (Hebrew characters)] is the intentional antithesis to the (Hebrew characters)
of 131 (De.).—All flesh had corrupted its way] had
violated the divinely-appointed order of creation. The
result is violence ((Hebrew characters), G (Greek characters))—ruthless outrage perpetrated
by the strong on the weak. A "nature red in
tooth and claw with ravin" is the picture which rises before
the mind of the writer; although, as has been already
remarked (p. 129), the narrative of P contains no explanation
of the change which had thus passed over the face of
the world.
The fundamental idea of v.11f. is the disappearance of the Golden
Age, or the rupture of the concord of the animal world established by
the decree of 129f.. The lower animals contribute their share to the
general 'corruption' by transgressing the regulation of 130, and commencing
to prey upon each other and to attack man (see 95): so Ra.
To restrict (Hebrew characters) to mankind (TO, Tu. Str. Dri. Ben. al.) is therefore
- —(
Hebrew characters)] G (Greek characters). The f. pl. is highly characteristic of P
(Ho. Einl. 341); but apparently always as a real pl. (series of generations):
ct. the solitary use of sg. in P, Ex. 16. Here, accordingly, it
seems fair to understand it, not of the individual contemporaries of
Noah (Tu. We. Ho. al.), but of the successive generations covered by
his lifetime. The resemblance to (Hebrew characters) (71) is adduced by We.
(Prol.6 390) as a proof of P's dependence on J.—11. (Hebrew characters)] One of
the few instances of P's use of the art. with (Hebrew characters)—12. (Hebrew characters)] G (Greek characters).
- ↑ So Jerome: "ut ostenderet non juxta justitiam consummatam, sed juxta generationis suæ eum justum fuisse justitiam."
