The time has now come for Noah and his family to enter the ark and take the animals on board, and once again, we are reminded of the righteousness of Noah, Genesis 7:1 / Genesis 6:9 / Philippians 3:6.
As we mentioned in the previous chapter, some Christians claim that from Genesis 6:22 to Genesis 7:1, it took one hundred and twenty years to complete the ark, which means the people had one hundred and twenty years to repent and turn to God, 2 Peter 3:5-6. However, the Bible doesn’t tell us how long it took Noah to build the ark.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Noah had already been obeying God for a full 120 years while the ark was in preparation, his obedience consisting of his construction of the ark according to the pattern that God gave him, and his continual preaching to the wicked generation who were his contemporaries.’
Imagine preaching a message about something that’s going to happen to the world and will never be repeated. I’m sure that some people would have listened to him but did nothing about it; all they did was listen, Matthew 24:37-39.
I’m sure people would have mocked him like they do today when Christians speak about the final coming of Christ, and I’m sure there would have been those who wanted to wait until the last minute but weren’t prepared, Matthew 25:10.
This is the first mention of ‘clean’ and ‘unclean’ animals, Genesis 7:2 / Genesis 8:20. The first mention of a distinction between the animals tells us that God was preparing His future people for worship.
The ‘clean’ animals were to come in by sevens, Genesis 7:2-3. These animals were to be on board for reproductive reasons; these were the animals which were later, after they had reproduced, to be used in animal sacrifices.
Please note that during the time of Noah, there were no food laws; God was preparing for the future law, which He would enforce upon His people. The ‘unclean’ animals were to come in only in pairs and were for reproductive reasons only. Sadly, throughout the Scriptures, we see them being used for animal sacrifices to the pagan gods and worshipped as gods.
God states that cud-chewing animals with split hooves can be eaten, Leviticus 11:3 / Deuteronomy 14:6. These specifically include the cattle, sheep, goat, deer, and gazelle families, Deuteronomy 14:4-5. He also lists such animals as camels, rabbits, and pigs as being unclean, or unfit to eat, Leviticus 11:4-8.
He later lists such ‘creeping things’ as moles, mice, and lizards as unfit to eat, Leviticus 11:29-31, as well as four-footed animals with paws, cats, dogs, bears, lions, tigers, etc., as unclean, Leviticus 11:27.
He tells us that salt and freshwater fish with fins and scales may be eaten, Leviticus 11:9-12, but water creatures without those characteristics, catfish, lobsters, crabs, shrimp, mussels, clams, oysters, squid, octopi, etc. should not be eaten.
God also lists birds and other flying creatures that are unclean for consumption, Leviticus 11:13-19. He identifies carrion eaters and birds of prey as unclean, plus ostriches, storks, herons, and bats. Birds such as chickens, turkeys and pheasants are not on the unclean list and therefore can be eaten. Insects, with the exception of locusts, crickets, and grasshoppers, are listed as unclean, Leviticus 11:20-23.
Why does God identify some animals as suitable for human consumption and others as unsuitable? God didn’t give laws to randomly assert control over people. He gave His laws, including those of which meats are clean or unclean, ‘that it might be well’ with those who seek to obey Him, Deuteronomy 5:29.
Although God didn’t reveal the specific reasons some animals may be eaten, and others must be avoided, we can make generalised conclusions based on the animals included in the two categories.
In listing the animals that should not be eaten, God forbids the consumption of scavengers and carrion eaters, which devour other animals for their food. Animals such as pigs, bears, vultures, and raptors can eat and thrive on decaying flesh. Predatory animals such as wolves, lions, leopards, and cheetahs most often prey on the weakest, and at times the diseased in animal herds.
When it comes to sea creatures, bottom dwellers such as lobsters and crabs scavenge for dead animals on the seafloor. Shellfish such as oysters, clams and mussels similarly consume decaying organic matter that sinks to the seafloor, including sewage.
A common denominator of many of the animals God designates as unclean is that they routinely eat flesh that would sicken or kill human beings. When we eat such animals, we partake of a food chain that includes things harmful to people.
Noah had seven days to bring all these animals into the ark, Genesis 7:4, which he achieved. The number forty, Genesis 7:4 / Genesis 7:17, signifies testing and purification, especially before something significant is about to happen, Exodus 24:18 / Deuteronomy 9:25 / Numbers 13:25 / Numbers 14:33 / Numbers 32:13 / 1 Kings 19:8 / Mark 1:13. Noah once again done everything that was asked of him, Genesis 7:5 / Genesis 6:22 / Hebrews 11:7 / 1 Peter 3:19.
At the end of the seven days, Genesis 7:5, when Noah was now six hundred years old, the floodwaters came on the earth, Genesis 7:6. The exact beginning of the flood is identified more definitely in Genesis 7:11. He and his family entered the ark, and he brought in all the animals which God required, Genesis 7:8-9.
With God’s help, notice that the animals came to Noah, Genesis 7:9 / Genesis 6:20. God has obviously commanded these animals to go to Noah, Genesis 7:15 / Genesis 2:19. I find it incredible that even the animals will obey God, but people won’t!
After the seven days, the rain begins to fall, Genesis 7:10, which is something which hasn’t happened before. Imagine seeing rain for the first time. I have a good friend from Zimbabwe who came to the UK one time, and when he saw snow for the first time, he was dancing in the street, amazed at such a sight.
What a sight this must have been, seeing rain for the first time. Sadly, for the whole population of the earth, with the exception of Noah and his family, this was to be the first and the last time people would have seen the rain.
On the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month, the flood came, Genesis 7:11 / Genesis 7:20 / Genesis 8:2. The flood has now come, and it’s of Biblical proportions.
All of the earth was to be destroyed, all of mankind, the animals, etc, Genesis 7:11. It rained for forty days and nights, Genesis 7:12. This was a global flood that the world had never witnessed before at this point in history.
We need to ask where did the water came from? Some of the waters for the flood came from inside the Earth, adding to the waters already covering the Earth from the beginning on day one of creation, Genesis 1:2.
On day three, God gathered the waters into one place and called them seas, Genesis 1:9-10. The water, which was in the sky, Genesis 1:6-8, also poured down upon the earth. The world at this time was overthrown by water, 2 Peter 3:5-6.
The point of these verses being repeated is to emphasise the preservation of Noah, his family, and the animal life. Those inside the ark would live, and those outside the ark would perish, Genesis 7:13-16 / Genesis 7:7.
But notice that Moses adds further emphasis by adding the words, ‘the Lord shut him in’, Genesis 3:16, meaning that those inside would be preserved by the Lord and those outside the ark would perish. God closed the door.
He was the one who would protect His people, and today, if we’re not ‘in Christ’, we too will find ourselves outside the protection of Christ come Judgement Day, Matthew 24:37-39 / Matthew 25:10 / Revelation 3:7.
There is no arguing that this was a local flood. This flood was catastrophic as it covered the whole earth, Genesis 7:17. It was so great that the ark began to float, Genesis 7:18. Remember, the ark would have weighed around 13,960 tons, which meant there had to have been a lot of water.
The water levels rose to more than fifteen cubits, which are roughly twenty-three feet above the highest mountain, Genesis 17:19-20 / Genesis 7:11 / Genesis 7:20 / Genesis 8:2 / Psalm 104:5-9 / 2 Peter 3:5-6.
This is a sad read considering that mankind had their chance to repent and turn to God, considering they had one hundred and twenty years to repent through Noah’s preaching.
Every animal and every man of all the earth was destroyed by the global waters, Genesis 7:21-23 / 2 Peter 3:5-7. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark. The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days,’ Genesis 7:23-24.
This flood lasted for one hundred and fifty days, and when we look at our world today, we see the end product of the devastation it caused. We can look at a world map like a jigsaw puzzle and see how it once belonged together but is now separated.
We live in a completely different world today in comparison to the world which existed before the flood. The environment, the weather, especially rain, the landscape, everything has changed and not for the better.
Spurgeon, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Noah underwent burial to all the old things that he might come out into a new world, and even so we die in Christ that we may live with him.’
Peter says in 1 Peter 3:20-22, the waters of the flood are the type, and the waters of baptism are the anti-type. Peter speaks about Noah and the ark, and speaks of Noah and his family being ‘in’ the ark, and because they were ‘in’ the ark, they were saved, but then Peter speaks about how baptism also saves in the same way.
In other words, we must be ‘in Christ’ to be saved, and the way to get ‘in Christ’ is through being baptised ‘into Christ,’ Romans 6:3-5.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The meaning here is, that baptism corresponded to, or had a resemblance to, the water by which Noah was saved; or that there was a use of water in the one case which corresponded in some respects to the water that was used in the other; to wit, in effecting salvation.’
Those who insist that baptism is irrelevant or unnecessary for salvation are sadly mistaken, Matthew 28:19-20 / Mark 16:15-15 / Acts 2:38 / 1 Peter 3:21.