2:5 eighth person, a preacher. Following the sin of the angels, the Lord had also to judge the corrupt world of ungodly men and women, so hopelessly committed to wickedness that no hope of repentance remained. The patriarchal line from Adam had consisted of seven men who were the primary “preachers of righteousness” in their respective generations. These were, in order: Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, and Methuselah. Enoch is not included since he was translated into heaven while Jared was still serving in this capacity. Similarly, Lamech is not included, because he died before his father Methuselah. This left Noah to serve as the “eighth preacher of righteousness,” but none but his own family heeded his warnings of coming judgment, and the “world of the ungodly” died in the Flood.

2:5 the flood. “Flood” here is kataklusmos in the Greek. Occurring only four times, it is not the word used for any ordinary flood, but always in reference to the great Flood in the days of Noah (Genesis 6–9). The latter was unique, being worldwide and globally destructive, inundating the entire world (Greek kosmos) in its purging waters, and sparing only the four men and their wives in the ark. Lesser floods invariably are mentioned by a different Greek word.

2:6 overthrow. The “overthrow” of the unspeakably wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, with their “filthy conversation” (II Peter 2:7) and their rampant “sodomy” was not worldwide but regional, evidently involving a great earthquake and volcanic eruptions (Genesis 19). The Greek for “overthrow” is katastrophe, rather than kataklusmos, for the one was local, the other global. From these words, we obviously derive our words “catastrophe” and “catastrophism” on the one hand, and “cataclysm” on the other. There has been only one cataclysm so far in world history, but many catastrophes. See also notes on II Peter 3:3-10.