Introduction
SUMMARY OF EVENTS SO FAR
We’ve seen back in Genesis 6:13-14, and Genesis 7:6, God commanded Noah to build an ark whilst Noah was 600 years old. In Genesis 7:7-10, we see that Noah was given only seven days to get all the animals which God brought to him and a few days later the rains began to fall, Genesis 7:10-11, and after 40 days the rains stopped, Genesis 7:12 / Genesis 7:17.
OUTLINE
The landing of the ark. Genesis 8:1-5
The testing of the ground. Genesis 8:6-12
The animals were given a command to multiply. Genesis 8:13-19
Noah comes out of the ark. Genesis 8:20-22
THE LANDING OF THE ARK
‘But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded. Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had been closed, and the rain had stopped falling from the sky. The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down, and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible.’ Genesis 8:1-5
When the text says, ‘But God remembered Noah,’ Genesis 8:1, it doesn’t mean that God forgot about him, it simply means that God was turning his attention to him, thought about him, but not only to him but to all who were on the ark, including the animals, Genesis 8:1.
Before someone dies, they usually tell you that they will remember you in their will, this doesn’t mean that after their death, that changes, we know they didn’t forget, as you could hear when the will is read out and your name is mentioned. God sent the wind, Genesis 8:1 / Jonah 1:4, over the earth to make the water disperse, Genesis 8:1-3.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Such a phenomenon would have had a dual effect of (1) evaporation, and of (2) substantially aiding the movement of vast quantities of water back into the depression created by subsidence of the land level under the seas.’
The ark rested on mount Ararat, Genesis 8:4.
Boice, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Modern Mt. Ararat lies on the border between Turkey and Armenia near the centre of the ancient world. From this general region Noah’s descendants spread out over the earth.’
This whole event took approximately 183 days from the time the rain stopped, and the mountains appear, Genesis 8:4-5.
The earth as we know it today has been formed with new oceans and seas being formed, and great canyons and valleys have been formed. We’ve all seen the news where videos are sent to us of a tsunami where we are left in awe of the devastation it causes but imagine how much worse this would have been and the devastation they could see, as the whole earth was destroyed with water!
‘After forty days Noah opened a window, he had made in the ark and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. But the dove could find nowhere to perch because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so, it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth. He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him. By the first day of the first month of Noah’s six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry. Then God said to Noah, ‘Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it.’ So, Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds—everything that moves on land—came out of the ark, one kind after another.’ Genesis 8:6-19
In an effort to determine how the land was and to see if the water had receded, Noah, through an opened window, Genesis 8:6 / Genesis 6:16, sent out a raven and two doves. The raven went back and forth from the ark until the day that the waters had dried, Genesis 8:7.
Keil and Delitzsch, in their commentary, says the following.
‘The raven in seeking food settles upon every carcass it sees, whereas the dove will only settle on what is dry and clean.’
Noah then sent out a dove to find out if there were any dry ground, Genesis 8:8. The dove couldn’t anywhere to land, so it returned to Noah, and Noah took it back into the ark, Genesis 8:9. After waiting seven more days, Genesis 7:11-12, he once again sends out the dove, Genesis 8:10.
When the dove returned, it had in its beak, a freshly plucked olive leaf! Genesis 8:11. Those who know best tell us that the olive tree will put out leaves even under water. When it retuned with the olive leaf Noah knew the waters were receded from the earth, Genesis 8:11. He waited seven more days, sent the dove out again, but this time it didn’t return, Genesis 8:12.
Noah entered the ark on the seventeenth day of the second month of the six hundredth year of his life, Genesis 7:11-13. This is almost a full year later, and in the second month of his six hundred and first year, Noah left the ark, Genesis 8:13-14. When we calculate these dates we find that everyone was in the ark for just over a year.
There’s an interesting change in the Hebrew language which shouldn’t go unmissed here, in Genesis 8:13, it’s the word ‘harevu’ which means dry, but in Genesis 8:14, the word used is ‘yavesah’ which also means dry but emphasises more on the earth being completely dry. Where did the flood water go? Genesis 8:13-14 / Job 38:8-11 / Psalm 104:6-9.
We also see that God commands Noah to come out of the ark with his family, Genesis 8:15-16, along with the animals, Genesis 8:17, and when the animals come out, God commands them to breed and therefore multiply, filling the earth, Genesis 8:17. Noah and his family come out of the ark at the command of God, along with all the animals, Genesis 8:18-19.
Sailhamer, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Both Noah and Abraham represent new beginnings in the course of events recorded in Genesis, Genesis 8:15 / Genesis 12:1 / Genesis 8:16 / Genesis 12:1 / Genesis 8:18 / Genesis 12:4 / Genesis 8:20 / Genesis 12:7 / Genesis 9:1 / Genesis 12:2 / Genesis 9:9 / Genesis 12:7. Both are marked by God’s promise of blessing and his gift of the covenant.’
FIRST STOP! GOD
‘Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: ‘Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. ‘As long as the earth endures, seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.’ Genesis 8:20-22
It’s important to note that the first thing Noah did when he got out of the ark was to worship God. This is the first mention of an altar being built, Genesis 8:20. It seems that some of the clean animals which were earlier taken into the ark, Genesis 7:2-9, were sacrificed as burnt offerings, Genesis 8:20. God ‘smelled the pleasing aroma’, Genesis 8:20, and received Noah’s worship as being from his heart, 2 Corinthians 2:15 / Ephesians 5:2 / Philippians 4:18.
Josephus, in his writings, says the following.
‘But as for Noah, he was afraid, since God had determined to destroy mankind, lest he should drown the earth every year. So, he offered God burnt offerings and besought God that nature might hereafter go its further orderly course. He also prayed God to accept his sacrifice, and to grant that the earth might never again undergo the like effects of his wrath.’
God promises that He would never curse the ground again because of humans, despite their sinful hearts, Genesis 8:21. We must remember that God doesn’t create evil or evil men, but He can use evil and evil men to His benefit, it’s here we see that God puts His plan into action, He’s going to use good and bad people in the future, Romans 9:17 / Isaiah 45:3-7.
God isn’t saying that mankind won’t have the choice of free will, He’s saying that people will have a choice, but God will use and can use anyone He sees fit for purpose, people whose hearts are already hard and won’t listen to God or turn to Him.
Whitelaw, in his commentary, says the following.
‘This is not a revocation of the curse of Genesis 3:17-19, nor pledge that such curse would not be duplicated. The language refers solely to the Deluge and promises not that God may not sometimes visit particular localities with a flood, but that another such world-wide catastrophe should never overtake the human race.’
God also promises that He won’t destroy any living creature in this way again, Genesis 8:22. Yes, God promises not to destroy the earth with water again, but that doesn’t mean the earth won’t be destroyed in the future, this time with fire, 2 Peter 3:7-13. He promises blessings for the earth, and He promises that while the earth remains, and mankind lives on it, there shall be summer and winter, Genesis 8:22.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘After these negative assurances come the positive blessings to be permanently enjoyed while the present constitution of the earth continues. These are summed up in the following terms: Heat: Sowing, beginning in October. Reaping, ending in June. Cold: Early fruit, in July. Fruit harvest, ending in September.’
SUMMARY
From Genesis 7:24, and Genesis 8:3, we saw that the flood was on the earth for 150 days. After another 150 days from the start of the rain falling, the ark rested on Mount Ararat, Genesis 8:4. It was a further 73 days passed before the water receded, and the mountaintops appeared.
Noah waited a further 40 more days, before sending out the raven, Genesis 8:7, and then Noah sent out a dive, Genesis 8:8-9. Another seven days pass before a second dove was sent out and came back with a leaf, Genesis 8:10-11, and after seven more days, another dove was realised, never to rerun, Genesis 8:12, and so, Noah waited a further 36 days. After another 57 days, the earth was completely dry, and Noah left the ark when he was almost 601 years of age, Genesis 8:14.
The reason for working out these days is because this tells us that from the time it started to rain until Noah left the ark was around one year and ten days. Imagine the smell from being in the ark all this time, I’m sure just as God was pleased with the sacrificial aroma, Noah and his family would have been too.