Genesis
7, Rain, Rain and more Rain
The Command to Enter the Ark
7:
1-5
| Then the LORD said to Noah, "Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this time. 2"You shall take with you of every clean animal by sevens, a male and his female; and of the animals that are not clean two, a male and his female; 3also of the birds of the sky, by sevens, male and female, to keep offspring alive on the face of all the earth. 4"For after seven more days, I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will blot out from the face of the land every living thing that I have made." 5Noah did according to all that the LORD had commanded him. |
A. And the Rains came tumbling down!
I. Once again, Noah is mentioned as being righteous. The Hebrew word for time is literally "generations."
II. Of Every Clean animal take you seven pairs . While many seem to think that this requirement is related to food for eating, it could be related to sacrificial use. It should also be noticed that the flood waters lasted for 40 days and nights and the wilderness wanderings were 40 years.
III. Verse 3, we find the word "seed." Hebrew word for semen and also for offspring. Read verse 3 for the literal idea of "preserving" a seed line.
IV. Verse 5 I will make it rain. In Hebrew this use is with a participle, meaning it was starting to rain then.
V. Verse 7, not because of but "in the face of." Water was rising on them as they were entering the Ark.
B. The Flood is a type of baptism. See 1st Peter 3:21. In this case it is a anti-type or backwards type. Noah and his family were saved by floating on top of the water, likewise we are saved by going under the water (1st Peter 3:21).
THE FLOODS 7: 6-24
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6Now Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of water came upon the earth. 7Then Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him entered the ark because of the water of the flood. 8Of clean animals and animals that are not clean and birds and everything that creeps on the ground, 9there went into the ark to Noah by twos, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. 10It came about after the seven days, that the water of the flood came upon the earth. 11In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened. 12The rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights. 13On the very same day Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark, 14they and every beast after its kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, all sorts of birds. 15So they went into the ark to Noah, by twos of all flesh in which was the breath of life. 16Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and the LORD closed it behind him. 17Then the flood came upon the earth for forty days, and the water increased and lifted up the ark, so that it rose above the earth. 18The water prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. 19The water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered. 20The water prevailed fifteen cubits higher, and the mountains were covered. 21All flesh that moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind; 22of all that was on the dry land, all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died. 23Thus He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark. 24The water prevailed upon the earth one hundred and fifty days. |
I. V. 11- The Exact date and time as to when the flood began.
A. The text goes to great detail to tell us everything. How old Noah was, how the animals passed by, and other minute details.
B. But the writer wants us to see "Noah's salvation." Noah is a type of Christ who will deliver his people from a sinful world.
C. Those who did not seek refuge with Noah died (vs.21-23). The reason, only those in the Ark survived v.23.
D. It is repeated 4 times that those "who survived the flood did as God commanded them" 7:9, 16:, cf. v.5; 6:22. Thus, obedience and salvation cannot be separated. A far cry from today's gnostic groups who do not obey, they have a good feeling in their heart.
E. Verse 17---and the waters were multiplied.
F. Verse 22---the quickening breath of life. nishmat ruah, hayim---the breath of the breath of life. Is this the "faintest breath of life”? This is meant to intensify. That is, those in the flood stopped breathing.
THE FLOOD WATERS ABATE
8: 1-14
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But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided. 2Also the fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained; 3and the water receded steadily from the earth, and at the end of one hundred and fifty days the water decreased. 4In the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat. 5The water decreased steadily until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains became visible. 6Then it came about at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made; 7and he sent out a raven, and it flew here and there until the water was dried up from the earth. 8Then he sent out a dove from him, to see if the water was abated from the face of the land; 9but the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, so she returned to him into the ark, for the water was on the surface of all the earth. Then he put out his hand and took her, and brought her into the ark to himself. 10So he waited yet another seven days; and again he sent out the dove from the ark. 11The dove came to him toward evening, and behold, in her beak was a freshly picked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the water was abated from the earth. 12Then he waited yet another seven days, and sent out the dove; but she did not return to him again. 13Now it came about in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the water was dried up from the earth. Then Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the surface of the ground was dried up. 14In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. |
I. The floods abate 8: 1-14
A. (Verse2)The wellsprings of the deep---,and the casements of the heavens, the rain. A note on style. The flood story ends in the terms used in the beginning and in the same order. 7:11 is immediately followed by "rain" in 7:12.
B. There are echo's of God's salvation in this story that prefigure the future. It must be noticed that 1st Peter 3:20 says that "eight souls were saved Dia (through) the water.” Just as later Israel was to be slaves in Egypt for 400 years and finally be rescued by God by crossing "through the waters" (the Reed Sea), Noah and his family are saved by passing "through" the waters. God's past work then prefigures His future work. Christians are also saved by passing though the water.
C. The total time was 150 days. That amounts to 40 days after the rain stopped and 110 days waiting inside the ark before departing.
D. In Verse 6---"at the end of forty days" not the forty days of the flood but forty days on the mountain top.
E. In verse 7, a raven is sent out, and in verses 8-12, a dove and no dry land. In verses 13-14, we are reminded that Noah waited a full year. Notice, "In the six hundred and first year."
F. Verse 14---completely dry---Completely is not in the text but only implied.
G. As God saved Noah and his family from a wicked generation by water, so will he save modern man. The past prefigures the future.
The Command to Exit the Ark 8:15-19
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15Then God spoke to Noah, saying, 16"Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons' wives with you. 17"Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth." 18So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him. 19Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by their families from the ark. |
[A general note about 15-19. The sentence structure of 7:7-9 and well as 8:8-19 is known as Epic repetition. In this sense, if we analyze the language, we are returning to a "creation"story. In the beginning (out of the Ark, be fruitful and multiply) Now we have a new creation]
Compare
Genesis 8: 15-20 Genesis 12:1-7
a. Then God said to Noah (8:15) The Lord said to Abraham (12:1)
b. Come out of the Ark (8:16) Leave your country (12:1)
c. So Noah came out (8:18) So Abram left (12:4)
d. Then Noah built an altar to the Lord (8:20) So [Abram] built an altar there to the Lord (12:7)
e. Then God blessed Noah (9:1) "And I (God) will bless you" (12:2)
f. "Be fruitful and increase" (9:1) "And I will make you into a great nation"(12:2)
g. I will establish my covenant with you and with your descendants (9:9) "To your offspring, I will give this land (12:7).
THE ALTAR AND THE COVENANT
8:20 THROUGH 9:17
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20Then
Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every )clean animal
and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
21The LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said to
Himself, "I will never again curse the ground on account of
man, for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth;and I
will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.
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I. The building of an Altar
A. An offering of worship
B. For thanksgiving and prayers
II. The Response, "never again to curse the ground because of or for man's sake" (8:21).
III. While the earth remains (Question for you, does this tell us that the earth will not remain one day?), seed- time and harvest and cold and heat and summer and winter and day and night shall not cease" (8:22).
by
Lane Rogers