06.17. "The Eighth Person"

"The Eighth Person" In dealing with the "Elders," "the great cloud of witnesses" named in Heb 11:1-40 and in Heb 12:1, we are not writing their Lives or Biographies from the Old Testament standpoint, but we are confining ourselves to this chapter (Heb 11:1-40) and other Divine Comments made by the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. These comments help us to understand better the nature of, and reasons for, "the good report" which they obtained and the witness thus borne to them by God.

Moreover, these comments, being Divine, point us to the special aspect of their faith on which we are to dwell, to the exclusion of other events recorded in the Old Testament history.

Noah is the last of the first group of three; for all the Elders named are arranged in perfect order, symmetry and beauty. This order we shall set out in connection with Abraham’s faith, and exhibit it to the eye of our readers that they may admire the Divine workmanship of the Holy Spirit, and marvel at the perfection of His work.

Noah follows Enoch, not merely Historically and Chronologically, but because the special aspect of his faith follows, Experimentally, the aspects of faith exhibited by Abel and Enoch.

We have seen in the former two that there can be no walk with God (as with Enoch), until there is peace with God (as with Abel); and Noah’s faith goes on to tell us that there can be no witness for God, until there is a walk with God. In other words Agreement with God must precede a walk with God (Amo 3:3); and our walk with God must precede our witness for God. This is the Experimental order of this first group; and it is Divine.

It cannot be altered without courting disaster in our service. The many failures, which we witness all around us, may be generally traced up to an attempt to reverse this Divine order.

Noah had Abel’s faith, and he had Enoch’s also. But, he had something more. He was called to believe God in matters of which God had never before spoken; and of which they had never heard anything from God.

They also had their own special aspects, but all were alike in that they each believed what God said to them.

Noah was not murdered, as Abel was; nor was he translated, as Enoch was; but he was called to occupy a special position and to believe God in matters of which they knew nothing; though he offered Abel’s sacrifice, and enjoyed Enoch’s walk. The expression in 2Pe 2:5, "The Eighth Person," points us to the character of his days; and therefore to the nature of his faith, and the need of his witness.

"The days of Noah" became a significant expression on the lips of our Lord, and was used to convey a solemn and important lesson.

Noah was "the eighth person" not in the same sense as Enoch was "the seventh from Adam." Enoch was the "seventh" in genealogical descent from Adam; Noah was the eighth, in numerical reckoning, of eight persons saved and brought through the flood. This expression points us to the fact that, out of all the vast multitudes destroyed by the Flood, only eight persons were saved. This fact is emphasized in 1Pe 3:20, and 2Pe 2:5). This is what we also are called to emphasize in our consideration of Noah’s faith.

There are certain facts which we must take as being settled; for we have given the evidence more than once:[39] viz., that, some time before "the days of Noah" certain angels fell from their high estate. They are called "sons of God" (Gen 6:2; Gen 6:4; Job 1:6; Job 2:1; Job 38:7; Psa 29:1; Psa 89:6—sons of El—Dan 3:25.) They are called "spirits" (1Pe 3:19). They are called "angels" (2Pe 2:4; Jude 1:6).

[39] See our Pamphlets: The Spirits in Prison, and The Sons of God, also Things to Come, Vol. xi. 110-112, 137-140; xii. 61-63; How to enjoy the Bible, pp. 144, 188-195, and 216-219. At some time in the history of the world these angels fell. They were "disobedient" (1Pe 3:20). They "sinned" (2Pe 2:4). They "kept not their first estate," or principality (Jude 1:6, margin). But they "left their own habitation," their οἰκητήριον (oikētērion) their spiritual body.[40] Whatever this was, these angels "left" it.[41] Whatever this may mean or imply, we do not know, nor can any one tell us. We do not always understand God, but happy are we if we "believe God," as we most certainly do here. We will not allow our reason to cause us to disbelieve His Word.

[40] This word is used only in 2Co 5:2, and Jude 1:6; both times in this sense: one of the resurrection body of men, and the other of the spirit body of angels.

[41] The word rendered "left" is peculiar. It is not merely the usual word λείπο (leipō) to leave but it isἀπολείπω (apoleipo) and means to desert, to forsake, to leave behind. Compare 2Ti 4:13; 2Ti 4:20. The nature of their sin is described with sufficient detail in Gen 6:2; Gen 6:4 and Jude 1:7, where the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are stated to have sinned "in like manner" as these angels, in "going after strange flesh." The word for "strange," here, is ἕτερος (heteros) and means different in kind (marg. other).

These angels are "reserved" in everlasting chains, "unto the judgment of the great day" (Jude 1:6, 2Pe 2:4), and are now, therefore, said to be "in prison" (1Pe 3:19). Their progeny are not reserved for any future judgment of any kind. They had to be utterly destroyed. They were abnormal, super-human, uncanny: and were the reality, of which the later Greek mythology only retained a vague tradition. That mythology was not an invention or fabrication of the human brain; but it was a remnant of primitive truth the true origin of which the Greeks did not and could not know, apart from the Divine revelation in the Scriptures of truth.

They were called nephīlīm or fallen ones (from their origin). They were doubtless "giants" in form, as in wickedness. The word the Holy Spirit uses of them is ἀσεβής (asebēs) ungodly, i.e., without God (2Pe 2:5, Jude 1:15).

We can, within narrow limits, tell when this Fall took place.

We find Enoch prophesying of the judgment which God was going to execute on these "ungodly" (Jude 1:14). But we do not read of its having been executed in his day. He was "translated" before it came. We find Noah again proclaiming the imminence of that coming judgment. For he proclaimed a righteousness: not a Divine righteousness revealed in grace (Rom 1:16-17), but a Divine righteousness revealed in "wrath" from heaven. For the next verse (Rom 1:18) goes on to reveal this additional fact concerning Divine righteousness.

If the Flood was the execution of the judgment, which Enoch had prophesied, then the fall of the angels must have taken place before the days of Enoch. Adam was contemporary with Enoch until within fifty-six years of Enoch’s translation;[42] and, before his death in930, it was revealed to him that he should live 120 years longer. That is what God said to Adam in Gen 6:3. There can be no doubt about this, for it is "Ha-Adām" the man Adam,[43] otherwise the words "he ALSO is flesh" are without sense. Adam had become like the rest.

[42] Adam died aged 930 years, and Enoch was translated in 986 A.M., aged 365 years.

[43] See, How to enjoy the Bible, pp. 374-6. In this case Adam must have been 810 years of age, when that revelation was made in Gen 6:3, and the corruption must have begun some time before, for it to have become so wide-spread in the days of Enoch. Adam "also" had become like the rest, and when God made known His intention to destroy, and "take them all away," Noah’s family was the only family which had kept itself pure, and "without blemish:"[44] for such is the meaning of the word rendered "perfect" in Gen 6:9.

[44] The word ‏תָּמם‎ (tāmīm) is continually rendered without blemish, and is used of the perfection of the animals for sacrifice.

"All flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth" (Heb 11:12). No judgment would do but that of a flood to sweep them all away from off the face of the earth.[45]

[45] We learn from Gen 6:4 that there was another irruption of fallen angels after "those days;" not only one in the days of Enoch and Noah, but another "ALSO, AFTER THAT." The consequences were the same and the progeny were called by the same name Nephilim (Num 13:33). They were also known as Emim (Deu 2:10); but as Anakim, from one of great renown (Deu 2:10). Horim (Deu 2:11), and Zamzummim (Deu 2:20). They were indeed the seven nations of Canaan—so that the results were more limited, and localized; and the sword of Israel was sufficient to cut them all off. Israel we know was not wholly obedient in this matter (Jos 13:13). If any escaped, it would account for several races of beings which today can scarcely be called human, and are the perplexity of all Anthropologists. It is true that in 2Sa 21:16-22 and 1Ch 20:4-8, we are told that David slew the Rephaim and it is implied that these were the last. But even so, these were in the Land of the Philistines; and there was ample time between the days of Joshua and David for others to be alive and migrate. Moreover we know that Israel did not destroy them all. See Jos 13:13; Jos 15:63; Jos 16:10; Jos 17:12-18; Jdg 1:19; Jdg 1:21; Jdg 1:28-36; Jdg 2:1-5; Jdg 3:1-7; 2Sa 5:6; 1Ki 9:16. The angels themselves were "reserved unto the judgment of the great day:" but, their progeny had to be destroyed utterly, if only in "mercy" to the human race (see Psa 136:17-22, Num 21:1-35). For them, there can be neither resurrection nor judgment.

It is a great pity that in Isa 26:1-21 their later name, Rephaim, should be translated, instead of transferred. In Isa 26:14 it is rendered deceased, and it is said "they shall not rise," and in Isa 26:19, it is rendered "dead," the earth shall cast out her dead.[46]

[46] There is another word "dead" in both verses, but it is ‏מוּת‎ (mūth) which is the ordinary word, and is quite different. The R.V. renders Isa 26:14; Isa 26:19 the same as in the A.V. but puts in the margin "or the shades. Heb. Rephaim." This gives us some little insight into the character of "the days of Noah," and explains why only "eight souls were saved," and why Noah was "the eighth person." The word rendered "saved" here (1Pe 3:20), is peculiar. It is διασώζω (diasōzō) and means to bring safely through (with emphasis on the word through).[47] [47] See its only occurrences, Mat 14:36; Luk 7:3; Acts 23:24, Acts 27:43-44, Acts 28:1, Acts 28:4. The Lord in Mat 24:37-39, Luk 17:26-30, refers to these days, and connects them with "the days of Lot," which were similar in character. They are connected again in 2Pe 2:6; 2Pe 2:9, and still more closely in Jude 1:7. So that the second irruption of these evil angels could not have been long before it took place. The cities of the plain were destroyed in Gen 19:1-38 some 240 years after the flood. Abram’s Call, therefore could have been only a very few years before, and this synchronizes his call, with God’s purpose to use his seed as His sword to destroy the nations of Canaan. From the Call of Abraham, Satan’s enmity, and effort to destroy the human race, as such, would be, henceforth to destroy Abraham’s seed, so that the promise in Gen 3:15, should be frustrated, and his doom averted. This is why Abraham received the first assault immediately after his Call (Gen 12:10-20); and, why Israel became the great object of Satan’s enmity. When Abraham enters Canaan Gen 12:13 : "The Canaanite was then (i.e. already) in the Land." The great enemy, as soon as Abraham was called to possess the Land, directed his assault against him; and took steps to occupy, in advance, the territory which had been assigned to Israel when God divided the earth among the nations (Deu 32:8-9). But this we must leave, until we come to consider the faith of Abraham. In approaching the faith of Noah, connected as it is with his witness for God, it is necessary that we should have a clear insight into the facts which the expression "the eighth person" introduces us; and into the character of "the days of Noah," which explains to us the nature, and necessity, for the witness which he was called to give; and the matters in respect of which he was called to believe God.

For, as Enoch, who, as God’s prophet, prophesied the coming judgment; so Noah, as God’s herald, proclaimed its near approach.

Enoch walked with God in the midst of the growing corruption; and Noah witnessed for God when that corruption was reaching its height. This shows us that it is possible for those who believe God to walk with Him, and witness for Him in the darkest days.

Oh that we might all so believe God as to what He has revealed for our faith, and be translated before the coming judgment is executed; and thus escape, not merely the judgment itself, but even the need of being "saved through" it, as Noah was, and as Israel will yet be.