This phrase has been interpreted as a reference to: (a) royalty or rulers possessed by fallen angels, (b) the descendants of Seth who called upon the Lord (see 4:26), or (c) fallen angels (cf
Job 1:6).
This may refer to the time given man to repent before the flood, or to the normative human life span after the flood.
The expressions of regret and grief seen here do not mean that God acknowledged the creation of man as a mistake on His part. God is omniscient, knowing all things (
Ps 139:16) and He knew that mankind would come into sin and wickedness. God grieved over the sin of man because it was appropriate for Him to do so.
Enoch (the descendant of Seth, not Cain) had warned these people (
Jude 14, 15); Noah had preached righteousness to them (
2 Pet 2:5); and God’s Spirit had been struggling with them (
Gen 6:3). Yet they had rejected God.
The word “ark” comes from a Latin word (arca) for a box or chest. The design of the ark matched its purpose, which was not to travel through the water efficiently, but to be stable and have the greatest possible capacity for cargo. Also, such a vessel could be constructed relatively quickly, because there would be no need to form the wood used for the hull into efficient curves to maximize speed.
The type of wood is unknown. The name of the wood is a transliteration--not a translation--of the Hebrew, with no connection to the English word “gopher.”
This prevented water from seeping into the ark through the seams between the wooden planks, and may also have served to protect the wood from becoming saturated with water. Coating the ark with pitch on the outside as well as the inside was very practical. One of the worst jobs on the old wooden ships was to re-coat the inside bottom of the hull when water had seeped in, because the crewman had to quickly pave hot pitch on the hull under the water, which cooled the pitch as he worked and made the job all the more difficult--thus the nautical saying, “the devil (referring to the seam in the hull planking) to pay (i.e. pave with pitch).” The problem was eliminated or minimized on the ark, but Noah, due to his complete inexperience with sea-going vessels, would not even have known about the potential problem himself. It was imperative for him to have absolute faith in God, and to follow God’s directions word for word.
Or roof.
