The following is continuation of the Flood narrative (Noah’s Flood 6 and Noah’s Flood 7) based on the research I have been doing for the Torah commentary I am writing. If you have ever wanted to know more than was available with a simple reading of the Scripture, this will help.
- Genesis 6 – The Purpose of the Flood
- Genesis 7 – The Deluge
- Genesis 8 – The Flood Abates
Dennis Prager has a good commentary (Rational Bible: Genesis), but he doesn’t dig deep into the Flood story. His analysis is more notable in other areas of the Word.
1 And Elohim remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and Elohim made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged; 2 The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;
Genesis 8:1-2
The narrative picks up again at the forty day mark when he stopped the rain.
“Elohim remembered Noah” – this expression is used numerous times and means that Yahweh took action. He doesn’t forget the only eight people He has saved.
“wind” – ruwach / roo’-akh [H7307] wind; by resemblance breath, i.e. a sensible (or even violent) exhalation.
“asswaged” – shakak / shaw-kak’ [H7918] a primitive root; to weave (i.e. lay) a trap; figuratively, (through the idea of secreting) to allay (passions; physically, abate a flood):–appease, assuage, make to cease, pacify, set.
Elohim’s ‘breath’ blew upon the face of the flood and the waters were calmed. The first forty days were very tumultuous – the humans and the animals would have been traumatized by it.
And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.
Genesis 8:3
The land began to break through the flood waters. Part of this may have been the upheaval of the tectonic plates and the new formation of mountains. Noah and his family are only halfway through their ordeal.
And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.
Genesis 8:4
Like any large ship, much of the hull is underwater. It would have eventually become shallow enough to run aground, even though it may have still been completely surrounded by water.
5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen. 6 And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:
Genesis 8:5-6
Forty days after the mountain tops appear, not the initial forty days of rain.
7 And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth. 8 Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;
Genesis 8:7-8
Noah releases a raven and a dove. The raven does not return, but we can surmise that it survived the 45 days between its release and Noah opening the ark because ravens are unclean (carnivores and scavengers are unclean) and there were only two. We still have them today. As a scavenger, it would have found ample ‘food’ floating on the waters.
But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.
Genesis 8:9
The dove came back to the window because it could find no place to land. The raven may have landed on some flotsam or even on another part of the ark away from the window.
10 And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark; 11 And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.
Genesis 8:10-11
The ‘window’ may not have given Noah a view of the area surrounding the ark, this is why he had to rely on the olive twig in the dove’s mouth to know the waters were abated.
12 And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more. 13 And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry. 14 And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried. 15 And Elohim spake unto Noah, saying, 16 Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons’ wives with thee.
Genesis 8:12-16
Noah removes the side door and the ground is no longer covered in water, but it is probably still a soggy mess. This is why Elohim waits an additional 55 days before telling Noah to go forth from the ark.
Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.
Genesis 8:17
Just like at the beginning, in the Garden, All life is to go into the land and be fruitful and multiply.
18 And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him: 19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark. 20 And Noah builded an altar unto Yahweh; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
Genesis 8:18-20
Noah sacrifices to Yahweh of all the clean beasts. Despite the ordeal they have been through, they are still alive and Noah shows his appreciation and seeks a propitiation of their sins through the sacrifice.
And Yahweh smelled a sweet savour; and Yahweh said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.
Genesis 8:21
Yahweh has a sense of smell? This is a figure of speech (personification) where Yahweh is said to smell to emphasize His appreciation of Noah’s sacrifice.
Yahweh’s heart (personification, again), which is always good, is contrasted with the heart of mankind, which is always evil (Jeremiah 17:9). Remember this when someone is violating the Torah, but exclaims, “God knows my heart.” Yes, he does, and He is not impressed. (see also, Matthew 15:18-19 and Mark 7:20-23)
Yahweh vows to never again destroy the Earth, but that does not leave out the possibility that man may destroy it, or at least a large portion of existing life forms [RB].
While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
Genesis 8:22
“While the earth remaineth” – this implies that the Earth may cease to exist – we know that the earth in its current form will cease to exist when it is purged by fire on the Day of the Lord (2Peter 3:10-13). Man’s ability to destroy all is near impossible. Launching all nuclear weapons would substantially reduce the populations of the higher life forms, but some life would still remain.
The seasons are first mentioned here, meaning that they may be more pronounced after the Flood. The climate was probably more temperate before the destruction of the ice canopy.
This was intended to be a three part series but the story of Ham, his indiscretion, and the seemingly explainable cursing of Ham’s son, Canaan, is important in showing that man is habitually evil and needs a savior.
There was a television documentary entitled, “Scared Straight” (1978) that put juvenile delinquents into jail with hardened criminals who lectured them on the brutality of prison. This was supposed to change the lives of the young ne’er-do-wells by showing them the grievous fate they faced if they did not change their lives. The lethality of the Flood failed to change the nature of man.
Look for “Noah’s Flood – a Timeline (9)” . . . or maybe I’ll go with a more descriptive title since the story continues, but the Flood timeline is completed in this blog.
