The Water Goes Down
May 15, 2024
Commentary
The first 8 words are very special (v. 1). “And God remembered Noah, and every living thing.” “Every living thing” was on the ark in a sea of nothingness. God sent a “wind” over the earth and that the waters then receded (v. 1). After 40 days it stopped raining (v. 2), then for 150 days (about 5 months) the ark floated on top of the water while the water was going down. After 7 months of being in the ark, the ark stopped floating and settled on top of a very high mountain called Mount Ararat (vv. 3-4). After a time, they saw the tops of the mountains (v. 5).
In some minds the Ark seems small. Yet, until the 1800’s the Ark was the largest boat ever built. The ark had 100,000 feet of floor space. If you can picture in your mind a railway box car, imagine 522 of them fitting into the Ark – that’s a lot of box cars but only about 146, or 28% would be needed to hold the animals. This left 70% of the Ark free to store food, etc. Noah is working to determine the hospitality of the world (vv. 6-12).
One day Noah opened the window of the ark and sent out a raven which didn’t come back but flew back and forth until the waters dried up (vv. 6-7). Then he sent out a dove, but it soon came flying to Noah and the safety of the ark (vv. 8-9). A week later Noah sent the dove out again and this time she came flying back with an olive branch in her mouth, welcome proof that the valleys were beginning to clear (vv. 10-11). A week later he sent the dove again but this time she didn’t return (v. 12).
The ark rested in the mountains of Ararat 150 days after the rains began. Assyrian records may identify such a name in Armenia of eastern Turkey, but the precise location remains unknown. After it was clear that the earth was suitable for habitation, the eight people and all the animals left the ark. The world was clean and at rest.
Application
God knew all about Noah and He knows all about me. “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered” (Matt. 10:30). He even remembers the number of hairs on my head, and He loves me (Rom. 5:8). He loved me while I was a sinner and loved me so much that Christ died for me.
Genesis 8:1– 12 (NET)
1 But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and domestic animals that were with him in the ark. God caused a wind to blow over the earth and the waters receded. 2 The fountains of the deep and the floodgates of heaven were closed, and the rain stopped falling from the sky. 3 The waters kept receding steadily from the earth, so that they had gone down by the end of the 150 days. 4 On the seventeenth day of the seventh month, the ark came to rest on one of the mountains of Ararat. 5 The waters kept on receding until the tenth month. On the first day of the tenth month, the tops of the mountains became visible.
6 At the end of forty days, Noah opened the window he had made in the ark 7 and sent out a raven; it kept flying back and forth until the waters had dried up on the earth.
8 Then Noah sent out a dove to see if the waters had receded from the surface of the ground. 9 The dove could not find a resting place for its feet because water still covered the surface of the entire earth, and so it returned to Noah in the ark. He stretched out his hand, took the dove, and brought it back into the ark. 10 He waited seven more days and then sent out the dove again from the ark. 11 When the dove returned to him in the evening, there was a freshly plucked olive leaf in its beak! Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. 12 He waited another seven days and sent the dove out again, but it did not return to him this time.
Illustration: The quotRebooting” of The New Creation
At various times as I have been working at my computer the message will come on the screen saying “the operating system has experienced a serious error.” After rebooting – the system will return to normal and I will be able to continue what I am doing. In a sense, this earth, before the flood experienced a “serious error” that caused God to “reboot” and recover with the flood. This account begins this “rebooting” of the new creation. (Lou Nicholes – Missionary/Author).