Please read Genesis 8:1-14: The flood waters subside
8:1But God had Noah in mind, and all the wild animals and all the cattle that were with him in the ark. God sent a wind across the earth and the waters began to subside. 2The springs of the deep and the sluices of heaven were stopped up and the heavy rain from heaven was held back. 3Little by little, the waters ebbed from the earth. After a hundred and fifty days the waters fell, 4and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 5The waters gradually fell until the tenth month when, on the first day of the tenth month, the mountain tops appeared. 6At the end of forty days Noah opened the window he had made in the ark 7and released a raven, which flew back and forth as it waited for the waters to dry up on earth. 8He then released a dove, to see whether the waters were receding from the surface of the earth. 9But the dove, finding nowhere to perch, returned to him in the ark, for there was water over the whole surface of the earth; putting out his hand he took hold of it and brought it back into the ark with him. 10After waiting seven more days, he again released the dove from the ark. 11In the evening the dove came back to him and there in its beak was a freshly-picked olive leaf! So Noah realized that the waters were receding from the earth. 12After waiting seven more days, he released the dove, and now it returned to him no more. 13It was in the six hundred and first year of Noah's life, in the first month and on the first of the month, that the waters began drying out on earth. Noah lifted back the hatch of the ark and looked out. The surface of the ground was dry! 14In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.
8:1But God had Noah in mind, and all the wild animals and all the cattle that were with him in the ark. God sent a wind across the earth and the waters began to subside. 2The springs of the deep and the sluices of heaven were stopped up and the heavy rain from heaven was held back. 3Little by little, the waters ebbed from the earth. After a hundred and fifty days the waters fell, 4and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 5The waters gradually fell until the tenth month when, on the first day of the tenth month, the mountain tops appeared. 6At the end of forty days Noah opened the window he had made in the ark 7and released a raven, which flew back and forth as it waited for the waters to dry up on earth. 8He then released a dove, to see whether the waters were receding from the surface of the earth. 9But the dove, finding nowhere to perch, returned to him in the ark, for there was water over the whole surface of the earth; putting out his hand he took hold of it and brought it back into the ark with him. 10After waiting seven more days, he again released the dove from the ark. 11In the evening the dove came back to him and there in its beak was a freshly-picked olive leaf! So Noah realized that the waters were receding from the earth. 12After waiting seven more days, he released the dove, and now it returned to him no more. 13It was in the six hundred and first year of Noah's life, in the first month and on the first of the month, that the waters began drying out on earth. Noah lifted back the hatch of the ark and looked out. The surface of the ground was dry! 14In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.
But God had Noah in mind... The Hebrew text uses the word zakar, which means "to remember." In English to "remember" means to mentally recall an incident or action, but in the Bible, and especially in reference to God, "to remember" signifies the commitment to act upon a previous covenant obligation (Gen 9:15, 16; Lev 26:42, 45; Dt 9:26; Ez 16:60; etc). In the seven "remembrance feasts" or holy days of obligation of the Sinai Covenant, the Israelites re-lived the Exodus experience and acted out their covenant obligations. For example in the Passover sacrifice and the Feast of Unleavened Bread they "remembered" the slaying of the lambs and kids that saved the firstborn of Israel from death the night of the first Passover and the eating of the sacrifice that night. But they didn't just remember; they re-lived and experienced the same acts of redemption and salvation - killing the Passover victims and eating its flesh in a sacred meal. Now God acts upon what He first promised Noah in Genesis 6:18 when the word "covenant" was use for the first time in Scripture. Noah has done his part and now God will fulfill His part of the covenant with Noah.
Question: Where does the Ark come to rest?
Answer: Somewhere among the mountains of a region known as Ararat.
Answer: Somewhere among the mountains of a region known as Ararat.
Traditionally this region has been identified as ancient Armenia. Its mountains are located on the borders of modern Turkey, Iran, and Russia. It is an assumption that the Ark landed on the slope of what is today designated Mt. Ararat. The mountain has two peaks: Little Ararat is 12,841 ft. high and Great Ararat, at 16,946 feet above sea level, is the highest mountain peak in the Near East and the second highest peak in Europe. Mt. Ararat is about 200 miles north of the ancient city of Nineveh (the seals depicting the fall of man in Eden and the expulsion from Eden were discovered near Nineveh). At the foot of the mountain is a town named Naxuana (also called Nakhichevan) which claims to be the site of Noah's tomb. The name Nakhichevan means "Noah settled here." Ararat is also mentioned in Jeremiah 51:27 and 2 Kings 19:37 (Halley's Bible Handbook, page 74).
Question: What numbers have been repeated most often in the flood narrative? What do these numbers symbolize? Give some examples. See the document: "The Significance of Numbers in Scripture."
Answer: Seven and forty are the most often repeated numbers. Seven symbolizes completion and perfection, especially spiritual perfection:
Answer: Seven and forty are the most often repeated numbers. Seven symbolizes completion and perfection, especially spiritual perfection:
- 7 is the number of God the Holy Spirit and the number symbolizing covenant
- the 7 days of Creation (Gen chapter 1)
- Jacob worked 7 years for Leah and another 7 for Rachel (Gen 29:18-30)
- Joseph's visions of 7 animals and 7 ears of corn representing 7 years of prosperity and famine (Gen 41:2-47)
- the repetition of 7s in the building of the desert Tabernacle (Ex chapters 25-37)
- the 7 churches of Revelation symbolize the condition of the Church as a whole (Rev 2-3), the multiple 7s in the Book of Revelation, etc.
Forty is a number which symbolizes both a time of testing and consecration. It is also a number which indicates a designated period of time in God plan of salvation:
- Moses was 40 days on Mt. Sinai (twice)
- 40 years of Israel wandering in the wilderness (Num 14:33)
- Israel's 40 years of eating manna (Ex 16:45)
- Israel's men spied out the land of Canaan for 40 days (Num 13:25)
- Elijah's 40 day journey to Mt. Sinai/ Horeb (1 Kg 19:8)
- Jesus' forty days in the desert and His temptation (Mt 4:2; Mk 1:13; Lk 4:2)
- Jesus' Ascension 40 days after His Resurrection (Acts 1:3), etc.
Question: How many times is the word "seven" repeated in the Flood narrative?
Answer: Genesis 7:2, 4, 10; 8:4, 10, 12, 14 = seven times.
Answer: Genesis 7:2, 4, 10; 8:4, 10, 12, 14 = seven times.
Question: Can you find a repetitive pattern in the number of days mentioned in the flood account? Write out the different references to days and see if you can find a chiastic pattern in the repeated numbers of days from Genesis 7:4-8:12 (do not include the information about Noah's age or the months and days of the month). A chiastic pattern is a pattern that repeats itself in reverse order.
Answer: There is a chiastic pattern in the cycle of days in the epic of the flood:
Answer: There is a chiastic pattern in the cycle of days in the epic of the flood:
A. 7 days warning before the 40 days of rain, Noah and family enter the Ark (7:4-7)
B. 7 days after entering the Ark, the rain began (7:10)
D. 150 days the water maintained its level (7:24)
D. 150 days after the rain stopped the water began to subside (8:3)
C. end of 40 days Noah opened a window to release birds (8:6)
B. 7 days waited to release the dove a second time and it returned (8:10)
A. 7 days waited to release the dove a third time (8:12)
(Note: the twice mentioned 150 days are the same length of time; the number is only repeated in 8:3 to maintain the pattern).
Genesis 8:8-11: 8He then released a dove, to see whether the waters were receding from the surface of the earth. 9But the dove, finding nowhere to perch, returned to him in the ark, for there was water over the whole surface of the earth; putting out his hand he took hold of it and brought it back into the ark with him. 10After waiting seven more days, he again released the dove from the ark. 11In the evening the dove came back to him and there in its beak was a freshly-picked olive leaf! So Noah realized that the waters were receding from the earth.
Question: What does the symbol of a dove mean to the Church?
Answer: For the Fathers of the Church, the dove hovering above the flood waters of chaos, just as God's Spirit had hovered above the waters of chaos in the first Creation (Gen 1:2), coupled with the vision of the Spirit of God descending like a dove above Jesus' baptismal waters (Mt 3:16; Jn 1:32), established the dove as a symbol of the activity of God the Holy Spirit among humanity.
Genesis 8:11: In the evening the dove came back to him and there in its beak was a freshly-picked olive leaf! "Evening" is our afternoon; the next day will begin at sunset. The afternoon may have been the liturgical hour of fellowship between God and man in Eden (Gen 3:8). It will be the hour of daily confession and sacrifice for the covenant community in the Sinai Covenant (Ex 29:41-42). The second lamb of the daily communal sacrifice was led to the altar at noon and sacrificed at the ninth hour, our 3PM (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 14.4.3 [65]), and it will be the time of day that the Redeemer-Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, will give up His life on the altar of the Cross, to renew Creation and to lead all men to salvation (Mt 27:46-50; Mk 15:34; Lk 23:44-46).
The raven, a bird that eats carrion, did not return after it was first released from the Ark. The olive leaf the dove brought back to Noah on its second flight was green and freshly picked. The Hebrew word taraph means "plucked off" or "fresh" (Brown-Driver-Briggs, page 383). According to the Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder, olive trees can endure floods, even emersion in salt water (Natural History, XIII, 50). The leaves of the olive tree are green year round and grow lower down the slopes of the mountains of Armenia in the valleys on the south side of the mountains (The Genesis Flood, page 104). Noah would have known that the waters had receded and the tops of the trees were visible.
Question: From the information provided in Scripture, how long did Noah, his family, and the animals remain in the Ark from the first rains until the land was dry and God told Noah to exit the Ark? Hint: look at the references to Noah's age.
Answer: Noah was 600 years old when the flood came. The flood began on the 17th day of the 2nd month (Gen 7:6). Noah was 601 when the flood ended on the 1st day of the 1st month (Gen 8:13). The land was dry on the 27th day of the 2nd month when God told Noah and his family to disembark the ark (Gen 8:14-15). Noah and his family were in the Ark enduring the crisis of the Flood for 1 year and 11 days as the ancients counted. The ancients at this time would have used a 354 day lunar calendar which is 11 days short of a solar year. All ancient peoples used the lunar calendar before the discovery of the more accurate solar calendar. The lunar calendar is the same calendar that will be used to mark the cycle of the months in a year for observance of the holy days of the Sinai Covenant. Since Noah and his family were in the Ark 11 days beyond the lunar calendar, they were in the Ark an entire solar year. At that time man may not have known the more accurate solar calendar, but God did.
Answer: Noah was 600 years old when the flood came. The flood began on the 17th day of the 2nd month (Gen 7:6). Noah was 601 when the flood ended on the 1st day of the 1st month (Gen 8:13). The land was dry on the 27th day of the 2nd month when God told Noah and his family to disembark the ark (Gen 8:14-15). Noah and his family were in the Ark enduring the crisis of the Flood for 1 year and 11 days as the ancients counted. The ancients at this time would have used a 354 day lunar calendar which is 11 days short of a solar year. All ancient peoples used the lunar calendar before the discovery of the more accurate solar calendar. The lunar calendar is the same calendar that will be used to mark the cycle of the months in a year for observance of the holy days of the Sinai Covenant. Since Noah and his family were in the Ark 11 days beyond the lunar calendar, they were in the Ark an entire solar year. At that time man may not have known the more accurate solar calendar, but God did.
