John Wesley

And God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness.

“God has thus divided between light and darkness, because he would daily mind us that this is a world of mixtures and changes.”

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

“It appears by Matt. xix, 4, 5, that it was God himself who said here, a man must leave all his relations to cleave to his wife; but whether he spake it by Moses or by Adam who spake, ver.”

And the LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and He clothed them.

“The beasts whose skins they were, must be slain; slain before their eyes to shew them what death is. And probably 'tis supposed they were slain for sacrifice, to typify the great sacrifice which in the latter end of the world should be offered once…”

Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil.

“Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil - See what he has got, what advantages, by eating forbidden fruit!”

So He drove out the man and stationed cherubim on the east side of the Garden of Eden, along with a whirling sword of flame to guard the way to…

“He might justly have chased him out of the world, Job xviii, 18, but he only chased him out of the garden: he might justly have cast him down to hell, as the angels that sinned were, when they were shut out from the heavenly…”

while Abel brought the best portions of the firstborn of his flock. And the LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering,

“Abel's was a more excellent sacrifice than Cain's; Cain's was only a sacrifice of acknowledgment offered to the Creator; the meat- offerings of the fruit of the ground were no more: but Abel brought a sacrifice of atonement, the blood whereof was shed in order…”

And Cain had relations with his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch. Then Cain built a city and named it after his son Enoch.

“And here is an account of his posterity, at least the heirs of his family, for seven generations. His son was Enoch, of the same name, but not of the same character with that holy man that walked with God.”

And his brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play the harp and flute.

“Jubal was a famous musician, and particularly an organist, and the first that gave rules for that noble art or science of music. When Jabal had set them in a way to be rich, Jubal put them in a way to be merry.”

Then Lamech said to his wives: “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; wives of Lamech, listen to my speech.

“This passage is extremely obscure. We know not whom he slew, or on what occasion: neither what ground he had to be so confident of the Divine protection.”

And to Seth also a son was born, and he called him Enosh. At that time men began to call upon the name of the LORD.

“The worshippers of God began to stir up themselves to do more in religion than they had done; perhaps not more than had been done at first, but more than had been done since the defection of Cain.”

Enoch walked with God, and then he was no more, because God had taken him away.

“He was changed, as those saints shall be that will be found alive at Christ's second coming. Methuselah signifies, He dies, there is a sending forth, viz. of the deluge, which came the very year that Methuselah died.”

But I will establish My covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.

“But with thee will I establish my covenant - (1.) The covenant of Providence, that the course of nature shall be continued to the end of time, not withstanding the interruption which the flood would give to it: this promise was immediately made to Noah…”

Then the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.

“For thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation - Those are righteous indeed that are righteous before God; that have not only the form of godliness by which they appear righteous before men, who may easily be imposed upon; but the power…”

For seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living…

“While Noah told them of the judgment at a distance, they were tempted to put off their repentance: but now he is ordered to tell them that it is at the door; that they have but one week more to turn them in, to see…”

In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the…

“The rain, which ordinarily descends in drops, then came down in streams. That God binds up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not rent under them; but now the bond was loosed, the cloud was rent, and such rains descended as…”

The waters receded steadily from the earth, and after 150 days the waters had gone down.

“The waters returned from off the earth continually - Hebrew. they were going and returning; a gradual departure. The heat of the sun exhaled much, and perhaps the subterraneous caverns soaked in more.”

and sent out a raven. It kept flying back and forth until the waters had dried up from the earth.

“Noah sent forth a raven through the window of the ark, which went forth, as the Hebrew phrase is, going forth and returning, that is, flying about, but returning to the ark for rest; probably not in it, but upon it.”

In Noah’s six hundred and first year, on the first day of the first month, the waters had dried up from the earth.

“Noah removed the covering of the ark - Not the whole covering, but so much as would suffice to give him a prospect of the earth about it: and behold the face of the ground was dry.”

Then Noah built an altar to the LORD. And taking from every kind of clean animal and clean bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar.

“And Noah builded an altar - Hitherto he had done nothing without particular instructions and commands from God but altars and sacrifices being already of Divine institution, he did not stay for a particular command thus to express his thankfulness.”

But you must not eat meat with its lifeblood still in it.

“Man must not prejudice his own life by eating that food which is unwholsome, and prejudicial to his health. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat - Blood made atonement for the soul, Lev. xvii, 11.”

Cush was the father of Nimrod, who began to be a mighty one on the earth.

“The same spirit that the giants before the flood were acted by, chap. vi, 4, now revived in him; so soon was that tremendous judgment, which the pride and tyranny of those mighty men brought upon the world, forgotten.”

His kingdom began in Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

“The beginning of his kingdom was Babel - Some way or other, he got into power: and so laid the foundations of a monarchy which was afterwards a head of gold.”

And Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites,

“The account of the posterity of Canaan, and the land they possessed is more particular than of any other in this chapter, because these were the nations that were to be subdued before Israel, and their land was to become Immanuel's land.”

And sons were also born to Shem, the older brother of Japheth; Shem was the forefather of all the sons of Eber.

“He was the brother of Japheth the elder; by which it appears, that though Shem be commonly put first, yet he was not Noah's first-born, but Japheth was elder.”

Now the whole world had one language and a common form of speech.

“And the whole earth was of one language - Now while they all understood one another, they would be the more capable of helping one another, and the less inclinable to separate.”