My Notes
What Does Genesis 6:22 Mean?
"Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he." The simplest and most complete summary of obedience in the Old Testament: Noah did everything God commanded. Not most of what God commanded. All. The structure is emphatic: thus did Noah + according to ALL + that God commanded + so did he. Four ways of saying the same thing — complete compliance, no exception, no modification, no editorial adjustment. The man who built the ark in the absence of rain followed instructions without deviation.
The verse appears after God gives Noah detailed construction specifications (v. 14-21). The instructions are specific: gopher wood, rooms, pitch inside and out, 300 x 50 x 30 cubits, one window, one door, three stories. Noah follows every specification. The obedience is as detailed as the command.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What does 'according to ALL that God commanded' challenge about your selective obedience?
- 2.How do you maintain detailed obedience over years when the instructions seem absurd?
- 3.What 'ark' are you building that nobody around you believes is necessary?
- 4.What would your one-sentence obedience summary say — 'so did she/he' or something less complete?
Devotional
So did he. Three words that summarize a lifetime of obedience. God gave detailed instructions. Noah followed every one. No shortcuts. No modifications. No 'I have a better idea.' So did he.
According to all that God commanded him. All. The word is comprehensive and deliberate. Not: according to the reasonable parts. Not: according to the parts Noah understood. All. The gopher wood — used it. The specific dimensions — followed them. The pitch inside and out — applied it. The one door — built it. The three stories — constructed them. Every detail God specified, Noah executed.
The obedience is remarkable because the instructions made no sense. Build a massive boat. In a world that may have never seen rain (2:5-6 suggests a different water system before the flood). For a flood nobody believed was coming. The instructions were absurd by every earthly standard. And Noah did them. All of them.
Thus did Noah. The 'thus' connects the doing to the commanding: the way God said it, that's the way Noah did it. The command was the blueprint. The obedience was the construction. And the construction matched the blueprint — not approximately but precisely. Thus.
The verse becomes the model for every subsequent act of faith-obedience in the Bible. Abraham offering Isaac: he obeyed. Moses building the tabernacle: according to the pattern showed thee in the mount (Exodus 25:40). Joshua at Jericho: as the LORD commanded. The pattern is consistent: God commands in detail. The faithful obey in detail. And the obedience is summarized with the simplest possible sentence: so did he.
The simplicity of the summary masks the complexity of the execution. Building an ark takes years. The obedience that's summarized in one verse was lived over decades. The 'so did he' covers thousands of hours of cutting wood, applying pitch, constructing rooms, enduring ridicule, and persisting without visible evidence that the project would ever matter. So did he — day after day, year after year, plank after plank.
The most impressive things you'll ever do for God will be summarized in simple sentences. The decades of faithful labor, the years of obedient construction, the lifetime of detailed compliance — it all reduces to: so did he. And the sentence is enough.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Thus did Noah - He prepared the ark; and during one hundred and twenty years preached righteousness to that sinful…
Noah's care and diligence in building the ark may be considered, 1. As an effect of his faith in the word of God. God…
Thus did Noah Lit. "and Noah did (it)." The words of this verse are characteristic of the style of P. We find the same…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture