598. He found favor in Jehovah's eyes means that the Lord foresaw that this was the way the human race could be saved. The Lord's mercy concerns the salvation of the whole human race and looks toward this. His favor or grace does too, which is why the human race's salvation is symbolized here.

Noah symbolizes not only a new church but also the faith of that church — the faith that came of charity. So the Lord foresaw that the human race could be saved by the faith that comes of charity. This faith will be described below. ¹

[2] The Word maintains a distinction between mercy and favor, however, and that distinction depends on differences between the kinds of people who receive them. Mercy is appropriate to the heavenly, and favor, to the spiritual. The heavenly acknowledge nothing but mercy while the spiritual acknowledge hardly anything but favor, or grace. The heavenly have no idea what favor is; the spiritual scarcely know what mercy is and consider it one and the same with favor.

These differences result from attitudes of humility in each, which are equally different. Those who are humble at heart beg the Lord for mercy, while those who are humble in their thinking seek his favor. If the latter pray for mercy, they do so in times of trouble, or else they do so with their lips rather than in their hearts.

Since the new church called Noah was not heavenly but spiritual, it is said to have found not mercy but favor in Jehovah's eyes.

[3] The distinction that the Word maintains between mercy and favor, or grace, can be seen in many places where Jehovah is called merciful and favorable, such as Psalms 103:8; 111:4; 112:4; and Joel 2:13. The same distinction is preserved in other places too, such as Jeremiah:

This is what Jehovah said — "The population of those left by the sword has found favor in the wilderness" — as he went to give rest to Israel. From far off Jehovah appeared to me, [saying,] "And with eternal love I have loved you; therefore I drew you to me in mercy." (Jeremiah 31:2-3)

Favor describes a spiritual quality and mercy a heavenly one. In Isaiah:

Therefore Jehovah will wait, in order to show favor to you, and therefore he will lift himself up to have mercy on you. (Isaiah 30:18)

Favor again looks to a spiritual quality and mercy to a heavenly one. In a later part of Genesis, where Lot is talking to the angels:

Look, please; your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have enlarged the mercy that you have shown me, keeping my soul alive. (Genesis 19:19)

The fact that favor focuses on spiritual aims, which have to do with faith or the intellect, can be seen here too, where it says [as in Genesis 6:8] that someone "found favor in your eyes." Mercy, however, focuses on heavenly aims, which have to do with love or the will, as can be seen from the statement that the angels had shown mercy and given life to his soul.