A Commentary on the Book of Genesis

Chapter Eight

The Flood is Over

8:1 But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided. 2 The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, 

The word ‘yiz·kōr’^[1] (translated here as ‘remembered’), refers to what we might call a “mental action,” such as to remember, pay attention to or to think about something. Since nothing escapes God’s omniscience, this reference essentially means God was now ready to act on Noah’s behalf. He begins with a wind to blow over the earth as the water level started to go down. He also shut down the water flow from the subterranean fountains and stopped the rain.

The word that is translated as ‘wind’ here is the Hebrew word ‘rǔ·ḥǎ’, which depending on context, can also be translated as ‘spirit’.^[2] It is interesting to note that when God first created the earth that, “the Spirit of God,” (same word) hovered over the earth (see Genesis 1:2) and now a wind passes over (Hebrew word that is translated here as ‘blow’ is not the normal Hebrew word for ‘blow’, this word means to “pass over” or to cause something to move) the newly-purged world. Interesting, yes, however the context of the verse appears to support an actual wind. 

8:3 and the waters receded from the earth continually. At the end of 150 days the waters had abated, 4 and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 

As the result of the fountains of the deep being closed and the rain stopped after 150 days, the water started to go back down (Hebrew word ‘yā·šǔ’·ḇû’,^[3] means “to go back,” used often in the Bible to describe the process of repentance). We are then given another “time stamp,” in this case, the date when the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat, the seventeenth day of the seventh month.

8:5 And the waters continued to abate until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen. 6 At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made 7 and sent forth a raven. It went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. 8 Then he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground. 9 But the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him. 10 He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. 11 And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. 

Even though the ark was now back on ‘terra firma’, Noah still needed to wait a little while longer, at least until the water level was low enough to allow for all of them to disembark. After two and a half months they could see the tops of neighboring mountains. Forty days later, Noah opened a window and released a raven which never returned. After seven days he released a dove (the text does not directly state a seven-day period, however, the period of time is implied from verse ten, “he waited another seven days”), which came back to him, as there was no place for the dove to perch. Noah tried again in seven days, and behold, this time the dove came back that night with a freshly plucked sprig (the Hebrew word ‘ǎlē(h)’^[4] refers to greenery, leaves, branch, or foliage from a tree) from an olive tree in its mouth. This confirmed for Noah that the water had gone down enough for plants to begin growing again.

8:12 Then he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove, and she did not return to him anymore. 13 In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry. 14 In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth had dried out. 

Noah waited another seven days and released the dove again; this time the dove did not return. Things were now dry enough that the dove no longer needed the ark for shelter. Then 29 days later (see chart below for calendar math), Noah removed the covering (Hebrew word ‘miḵ·sě(h)’,^[5] an object that covers, no further description) and looked around for himself and behold he could see the ground was dry. Then on the 27th day the second month (56 days later), God was ready for Noah to leave the ark.

Considerations

Ararat

Many believe that the modern Mount Ararat, located at the extreme east side of Turkey, is the Ararat that the Bible speaks about where the ark came to rest. The mountain peak at its highest is 16,852 feet in elevation. It is highly regarded and often considered sacred by Armenians, with the country of Armenia to its east. Some geologists note that the regions around the mountain are rich in “pillow lava,” something that forms around erupting volcanoes under great depths of water. 

But not all scholars and explorers believe that Mount Ararat in Turkey is the Ararat Mountain range mentioned in Genesis. Using the language from Genesis 11, referring to the families of Noah’s sons, the text states that they migrated to Shinar (also known as the region around Babylon) from the east (see Genesis 10:32-11:2), which would not be this case if they were in Turkey. Using that as a clue, the mountains of Ararat would then be east of Shinar. Then using references found in 2 Kings 19:37, Jeremiah 51:27, and various Assyrian history sources, some believe that the ark landed on modern-day Mount Suleiman (also known as Takht-i-Suleiman, which in Persian means “Solomon’s Throne”) located in northern Iran.^[6]

Hebrew Calendar 

There are two calendar systems that the Hebrew people use, one is often referred to as the religious (or spiritual) year and the other is known as the civil year system.^[7] The seventh month in the “civil year” became the first month of the “religious year,” by God just before the Israelites left Egypt (see Exodus 12:1-2). In that same chapter of Exodus, the instructions for the first Passover are given to the Israelites, with the day of Passover set on the 14th day of the first month (known in Genesis as the seventh month). It is significant that the ark rested on the seventeenth day of the seventh month, as that was the same day Jesus, the Passover Lamb of God (see John 1:29; 1 Corinthians 5:7) arose from the dead. Something God ordained as a festival day (Feast of Firstfruits) long before it was ever referred to as Easter (see Leviticus 23:9-14). 

The New World

8:15 Then God said to Noah, 16 “Go out from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. 17 Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth—that they may swarm on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” 18 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. 19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by families from the ark. 

It was time for Noah and his family to leave the ark, along with all the animals. The world was left void of all life and now from those that leave this vessel, life was to start over and multiply (or as the KJV renders verse 17, “breed abundantly in the earth”, which echoes Genesis 1:22 and 28). 

Considerations

Newness

What was it like? It’s hard to imagine what they saw or felt when they left the ark. Was there debris everywhere? Was there an overwhelming stench? Or was the sight of this newly washed world breathtakingly spectacular? Many atmospheric scientists believe the weather would have been strikingly different, from a relatively warm and stable climate to what we see today, ranging from calm to powerful storms. Perhaps the first thing on Noah’s mind was put more clothes on. We can only speculate about the differences between our world today and the antediluvian world. Here are some ideas of potential physical changes from Dr. Henry M. Morris, a leading creation scientist:^[8]

(1) The oceans were much more extensive, since they now contained all the waters which once were “above the firmament” and in the subterranean reservoirs of the “great deep.”

(2) The land areas were much less extensive than before the Flood, with a much greater portion of its surface uninhabitable for this reason.

(3) The thermal vapor blanket had been dissipated, so that strong temperature differentials were inaugurated, leading to a gradual buildup of snow and ice in the polar latitudes, rendering much of the extreme northern and southern land surfaces also essentially uninhabitable.

(4) Mountain ranges uplifted after the Flood emphasized the more rugged topography of the postdiluvian continents, with many of these regions also becoming unfit for human habitation.

(5) Winds and storms, rains, and snows, were possible now, thus rendering the total environment less congenial to man and animals than had once been the case.

(6) The environment was also more hostile because of harmful radiation from space, no longer filtered out by the vapor canopy, resulting (along with other contributing environmental factors) in gradual reduction in human longevity after the Flood.

(7) Tremendous glaciers, rivers, and lakes existed for a time, with the world only gradually approaching its present state of semiaridity.

(8) Because of the tremendous physiographic and isostatic movements generated by the collapse of the subterranean caverns and the post-Flood uplifts, the crust of the earth was in a state of general instability, reflected in recurrent volcanic and seismic activity all over the world for many centuries and continuing in some degree even to the present.

(9) The lands were barren of vegetation, until such time as plant life could be reestablished through the sprouting of seeds and cuttings buried beneath the surface.

(10) There is even a possibility that the earth’s rotation speeded up by about 1.5 percent if the year was really 360 days long.

God’s Covenant with Noah

8:20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 

Have you ever had an encounter with God, leaving you with an overwhelming feeling of great joy and humility? Noah was undoubtedly overwhelmed; his first thought was not about taking in the sights and sounds of a new world (nor was it about finding more clothes). His heart and mind were on God; think about this moment. True, Noah had years to prepare and ponder the awesome responsibility that God placed on him, but now here he is, the progenitor of all human life in the future! So, he immediately began construction of an altar. Undoubtedly using some of the additional clean animals originally loaded on board,^[9] Noah, upon completion of the altar, offered sacrifices of every clean land animal (Hebrew word ‘behē·mā(h)’,^[10] meaning ranges from wild animals to domestic animals, all land animals) and every clean bird (see Genesis 7:2-3). This is the first appearance of the Hebrew word ‘miz·bēaḥ’^[11] (‘altar’), meaning “slaughter site,” a place for sacrificing animals to God. This is also the first time we encounter the Hebrew word, ‘ō·lōṯ’,^[12] translated here as “burnt offerings,” meaning “that which ascends.” This is another hint that Noah and the other patriarchs had some knowledge about God’s law before it was codified and given to Moses. There were several types of sacrifices; the book of Leviticus opens with the description of a burnt offering (see Leviticus 1:1-7). 

8:21 And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. 

God was pleased with Noah’s burnt offering and, as a result, He promised never to curse the ground again, nor destroy every living creature again. This did not negate the curse given in the garden of Eden (see Genesis 3:17), His promise was to not offer another curse and destroy life again due to mankind’s evil heart. 

8:22 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” 

God’s promise to Noah would remain in effect as long as the earth remains. Using a series of words that appear for the first time in the Bible (remains, seedtime, harvest, cold, heat, summer, and winter) God reminds us that He set all things in motion, including the earth’s rotation, solar orbit, and climate cycles, which He promises will continue until the time He stops it (see 2 Peter 3:10).

Considerations

But Sin Continues

Noah and his family were all descendants of Adam and Eve; therefore they would have been sinners, that never changed. Even after being purged of all the wickedness of the time, the new world started again with sin. Mankind was, and still is, incapable of saving themselves. So what was the point of all that destruction? We need to remember that even though mankind may be helpless, we are not hopeless, God is the only One that is capable of saving the human race. The flood is a model of the coming judgment on the whole earth and the ark is the model of salvation through Jesus. His salvation is received only through faith.

Timeline of Flood Scenario^[13]

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[1] Strong’s Hebrew 2142.

[2] See commentary under Genesis 1:2.

[3] Strong’s Hebrew 7725.

[4] Strong’s Hebrew 5929.

[5] Strong’s Hebrew 4372.

[6] Evidence for Noah's Ark. (n.d.). Retrieved January 01, 2018, from http://www.baseinstitute.org/pages/noahs-ark/

[7] See Considerations under Exodus 12:28 regarding the “Two Calendar Systems.”

[8] Morris, H. M. (1976). The Genesis record: a scientific and devotional commentary on the book of beginnings (pp. 211–212). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.

[9] See commentary under Genesis 7:2-3.

[10] Strong’s Hebrew 929.

[11] Strong’s Hebrew 4196.

[12] Strong’s Hebrew 5930.

[13] Hodge, B. (2010, August 23). Biblical Overview of the Flood Timeline. Retrieved January 02, 2018, from https://answersingenesis.org/bible-timeline/biblical-overview-of-the-flood-timeline/