17/03/19 Genesis 8:1-22 “A fresh new start for planet
earth”
Genesis
8:1
– And God remembered
Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that [was] with him in
the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged;
asswaged – or assuaged:
subside; abate; decrease. Could mean to grow calmer, be pacified, be appeased.
It is used 5 times in the OT, twice in Esther where it is translated “appeased”
(Esther 2:1) and “pacified” (Esther 7:10).
God never forgets, so how may He “remember”
(or “recall”) things? This is sometimes termed “anthropomorphism”, the
attributing of human characteristics to a non-human being. In this way we talk as
if dogs could think like us, or even inanimate objects may be given certain
human characteristics. Thus God acted as if He recalled that which He had
promised Noah: that they would be kept safe during the flood. (Note the
covenant of Genesis 6:17-20)
God therefore acts to ensure that the flood
merely destroys those who had been judged worthy of such, with those who had
been adjudged righteous being kept from that destruction. Once the flood has
achieved its planned purpose, then what reason is there to continue it
indefinitely. Thus God “remembered” those whom He planned to keep from
destruction: Noah (and his family), living beasts on the ark (and assuming
birds are included here). Consequently, God begins to remove the flood by
initially causing a wind to blow over the waters, thus speeding up evaporation
of the waters which were then assuaged (abated, or even perhaps calmed down re
the turbulence).
Genesis
8:2
– The fountains also of
the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was
restrained;
restrained – to restrict;
restrain; withhold; shut up; keep back; refrain.
Genesis 7:12 says that it rained for 40 days
and 40 nights, so it may be safely assumed that this remembering of God
occurred after that period of rain had completed. At that time the fountains of
deep wells and the pouring of rain from the skies ceased. However, it would be
another 110 days before the flood waters could be considered abated (next Vs)
when the ark is grounded.
Genesis
8:3-4 – 3And the waters returned from off the
earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters
were abated. 4And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the
seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.
And over the 110 days since the rains ceased,
the waters of the flood continued to return back to the deep subterranean
wells, and back to its storage in the atmosphere, as it had been before, such
that by 5 months since the flood commenced, the ark came to rest again. The
mountains of Ararat may actually represent Mt Ararat itself, the tallest of all
this cluster of mountains. Also, whether this was actually the Mt Ararat that
we know today is not certain, but tradition supports it. On the other hand, the
tower of Babel in the plain of Shinar is actually south of Mt Ararat, yet
Noah’s descendants travelled east to get there.
Genesis 11:2 – And it came to pass, as they
journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and
they dwelt there.
There is still water all around the ark; it
will be a long time yet before other mountains begin to appear. The ark has
grounded but with a probable 15 cubit draft (draught), it will still be some
time before they see the ground upon which they have settled.
Genesis
8:5
– 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.
By the 10th month (224 days after
the rains commenced and 74 days after the ark grounded) the water level has
decreased until the tops of other mountains around the ark can be seen. It is
possible that the mountain upon which the ark settled takes some time to appear
as well.
Genesis
8:6
– And it came to pass at
the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had
made:
When Noah saw the tops of the other
mountains, he waited a further 40 days (264 days after the rains started and
114 days after the ark grounded). Noah opened the window of the ark. We don’t
know what this entailed, but it may have been an opening of a lattice, or
covers, and it may have been all or just part of the window of the ark (see
Genesis 6:16). Obviously Noah wanted to see what was outside.
Genesis
8:7
– And he sent forth a
raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the
earth.
So Noah sends out a raven to see what it
would do. He probably reasoned that if there were land around, the raven would
find it. But the raven just went to and fro (apparently around the ark) until
the waters were dried up which could have been 314 days after the flood
commenced, as noted in Vs 13 below. Clearly the raven wasn’t going to be much
good to Noah in finding out the state of the flood at that time. And, if only
one were set free, then it couldn’t really go anywhere far away because its
mate would have still been on the ark. Being an unclean bird – Deuteronomy
14:14 – there were probably only 2 ravens. Yet, there is no clear requirement
that the Levitical list of unclean and clean animals actually applies here.
Also note that while Genesis 7:3 appears to
say that there were 7 of each bird, male and female, it is not clear if this
means single birds or perhaps there were 7 pairs of each bird. And because the
raven may later be considered to be an unclean bird (Deuteronomy 14:14), then
the LXX version of Genesis 7:3 (clean birds in 7s and unclean birds in pairs) could
be considered logical.
Genesis
8:8
– Also he sent forth a
dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the
ground;
So, seemingly because the raven didn’t
appear to be as helpful as Noah had thought, he also sent out a dove. A dove is
a more timid bird, and more easily domesticated, and not as likely to keep
trying desperately for independence if it can continue to be fed etc by Noah in
the ark. If there’s no real option for survival elsewhere, then it’ll come back
to safe ground.
Genesis
8:9
– 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.
And the dove did come back: Noah put her
back into the ark. Note that while “raven” is a male noun, “dove” is a female
noun. It is still probably around 264 days since the flood commenced.
The waters were all over the earth still;
there was still “Water, water everywhere, Nor any drop to drink” (as the
Ancient Mariner would proclaim). The fruitless return of the dove signifies the
extent to which the waters still cover the earth.
Genesis
8:10 – And he stayed
yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;
Now it is probably around 271 days since the
rains commenced? After waiting 7 more days, the dove is sent out again to see
what it can find.
Genesis
8:11 – 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.
If the dove were sent out earlier in the day
and returned at evening time, then it must have been away from the ark perhaps
many hours. Doves are capable of flying long distances without a break, so this
is not unusual. However, it must have been out of Noah’s sight at some time
because it came back with an olive leaf (or twig) in its beak, freshly plucked
from an olive tree. We assume that Noah couldn’t actually see any clear
evidence of any olive tree near the ark, so the dove must have gone to probably
the horizon or further. It is said that olive trees may grow in water for short
periods, and put forth leaves when in flooded land. Either this, or there was
actually dry land somewhere out of Noah’s sight where an olive tree had begun
to regrow its foliage.
Genesis
8:12 – And he stayed
yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto
him any more.
Now it is probably around 278 days since the
rains commenced. The dove is sent out again but doesn’t return. It has found
sufficient dry footing to survive away from the ark.
Genesis
8:13 – 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.
This is 314 days after the flood commenced,
164 days after the ark grounded, and over a month after the dove is sent out
without returning. However, it is apparently still too wet underfoot to live
comfortably on land, so they are to stay on the ark for a further 56 days,
almost 2 more months. Noah removes the covering on the ark. This could have
been animal skins, yet the top decking of the ark was most likely wooden for
strength and structural integrity. It was probably removed in order to better
air the interior which would have been getting a bit smelly and deoxygenated, It’s
a bit like opening up all the windows on a fine spring day after a wet, cold
and dark winter.
The surface of the ground was dry, but
probably still quite soggy, rubber-boot conditions, still not good enough to
walk around without possibly getting stuck in the mud. The surface is dry but
the top soil is still full of water.
Genesis
8:14 – And in the
second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.
370 days after flood commenced, the ground
is firm enough to walk on. The ground would still be a bit moist, but there wouldn’t
have been water squishing out with every step. This was probably similar to the
state of the ground before the flood.
Genesis
8:15-16 – 15 And God spake
unto Noah, saying, 16 Go
forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons’ wives with
thee.
And because the ground was ideally suited to
living on it (instead of the ark), God tells Noah that it’s time to move out of
the ark and get on with life again: growing food and toiling for their living
as per Genesis 3:17b-19 – cursed
[is] the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat [of] it
all the days of thy life; 18Thorns
also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of
the field; 19In the
sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for
out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou [art], and unto dust shalt thou
return.
That which was necessary to keep you safe
has now fulfilled its purpose. Now the real life commences, the long haul
toward the end. But what end? In time a Saviour would be born of this line of
Noah; thus there would be a line of descent from Noah to Christ. But the end
goes further than this; note Daniel 9:24b – to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins,
and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting
righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most
Holy.
Because God is eternal, he sees the whole
panorama of time spread out before Him, including the end of transgressions,
and the bringing in of everlasting righteousness. Noah and his family were just
the beginning of a brand-new chapter in the life of man.
Genesis
8:17 – 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.
Because the earth was now once again
sufficiently fertile for the propagation of the species, all animals and birds
on the ark are removed from the ark onto the dry land. Some, of course, would
be kept for sacrifices (Vs 20-21 below) and some would have been earmarked for
domestic purposes, such as cattle and sheep. But all were given the mandate: to
breed abundantly in the earth, to be fruitful, and to multiply upon the earth.
Genesis
8:18 – And Noah went
forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him:
And, as commanded, Noah and his family left
the ark to dwell on the dry land.
Genesis
8:19 – Every beast,
every creeping thing, and every fowl, [and] whatsoever creepeth upon the
earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.
And every beast and bird and creeping
creature also went forth from the ark. It is clear that the ark is no longer required.
We may assume that it became a relic of the past, for if there will never be
another flood like this again (Genesis 9:15), then a huge boat high upon a
mountain is going to be quite useless. They could never shift it, nor float it.
Perhaps they could burn it, and possibly it was indeed used for the fire on the
altar of sacrifice in the next verse.
Genesis
8:20 – And Noah builded
an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl,
and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
burnt offering – burnt offering;
burnt sacrifice; ascent; stairway; a going up.
It is possible that the only real supply of
dry wood was the ark itself, and it served no purpose to keep the ark whole,
other than perhaps a place to live in while they built their housing on the
land.
Clearly some of the clean animals and birds
were intended for this purpose, but not necessarily all clean animals were
sacrificed here. Some would have been kept for food requirements, and domestic
animals to be farmed for their produce. All we know from this is that Noah took
at least one of every clean animal and bird and offered them on the altar of
sacrifice.
Genesis
8:21 – And the Lord
smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord 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.
sweet – soothing;
quieting; tranquillising; calming
savour – scent;
fragrance; aroma; odour; savour
in his heart – or according to
his understanding
Does God smell a sweet savour or is this
simply a way of explaining it in our terms. The term would therefore represent
God’s pleasure with Noah’s sacrifice. Is it the smell or what the sacrifice
represents? Probably the latter, for it is man’s obedience that God desires
above sacrifice.
Psalm 51:16-17 – 16For
thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give [it]: thou delightest not
in burnt offering. 17The
sacrifices of God [are] a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart,
O God, thou wilt not despise.
1 Samuel 15:21-22 – 21But
the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which
should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in
Gilgal. 22And Samuel
said, Hath the Lord [as great] delight in burnt offerings and
sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey [is] better
than sacrifice, [and] to hearken than the fat of rams.
And God does ask for our obedience above
sacrifice, or, in actual fact, He asks for our obedience through ourselves as
living sacrifices.
Romans 12:1 – I beseech you therefore, brethren, by
the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable unto God, [which is] your reasonable service.
We are either the savour of death or the
savour of life, to those around us.
2 Corinthians 2:14-16 – 14Now
thanks [be] unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and
maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. 15For we are unto God a sweet
savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: 16To the one [we are] the
savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And
who [is] sufficient for these things?
Also note the significance of the incense
with the saints’ prayers in heaven.
Revelation 8:3-4 – 3And
another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there
was given unto him much incense, that he should offer [it] with the
prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. 4And the smoke of the incense, [which
came] with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the
angel’s hand.
Genesis
8:22 – While the earth
remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and
day and night shall not cease.
While the earth remains (that is, until
replaced by the new heavens and new earth) ..
Revelation 21:1 – And I saw a new heaven and a new
earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was
no more sea.
…. the seasons will continue to exist and
the day-night cycle will not cease. Climate change is a reality, but it will
never remove our seasons, nor change our 24 hour daily cycle, nor will the
waters of earth overflow the land masses such as occurred in the flood.
Because God is eternal, He can see the end
at the same time as the beginning. God is the “I AM”, as also is Jesus; Before
Abraham was, I AM. (John 8:58). God doesn’t
just know what is going to happen in the future; He is already in the
future, and the past, and the present, all simultaneously. In
fact, in the same way that God exists at all places in the universe at all
times simultaneously, God exists at all points along the timeline from the
beginning of time to the end of time, all simultaneously. This is the definition
of eternalness: that one who is eternal must not be bound nor limited by time
in any way or at any time. Even when Jesus came to earth and people therefore
say He existed at a particular point in time, He also made it clear that this
was not so, that He in fact existed before Abraham was born simultaneously
with His time on earth as a man. Thus, “before Abraham was, I AM”.
Therefore God can make promises that will
come to pass because he can see them come to pass at the same time that He
promises them. Think about this carefully! So if anyone makes a claim about God
that limits His action or its consequences to a particular point in time, then
the god that person serves is not the eternal God of the Bible. A number of
calvinists, in a desperate effort to mock those who quite correctly claim that
God uses His foreknowledge to determine future decisions to be saved, picture
God as peering (looking) through the corridors of time (history).
There are those who define God’s “foreknowledge” as His knowledge of what men will do in the future, and specifically (so far as this discussion goes) His knowledge of whether or not we will choose to believe in Him. Those who would minimize God’s sovereignty and emphasize man’s responsibility would say, “God looked down through the corridors of time, saw those who would trust in Him, and then chose them for salvation. …. (But) if God looked down through the corridors of time to see who would believe in Him (apart from His prior choice of choosing, illuminating, calling), He would see no one. (https://bible.org/question/are-all-or-only-some-people-“drawn”-holy-spirit)
Or Many people who have a doctrine of election or predestination look at it this way. They believe that in eternity past God looked down through the corridors of time and He knew in advance who would say yes to the offer of the gospel and who would say no. On the basis of this prior knowledge of those who will meet the condition for salvation—that is, expressing faith or belief in Christ—He elects to save them. (https://www.ligonier.org/blog/tulip-and-reformed-theology-unconditional-election/)
But, this is at the very least making mockery of the God of the Bible, for they make it impossible for Him to know the future except by peering through the corridors of time. Such a God is not eternal but temporal; that is, bound by time. Even Calvin gets into this mess by teaching that God knows the future merely because he has decreed it all from the beginning. That is, foreknowledge is irrelevant or even unnecessary!
If God merely foresaw human events, and did
not also arrange and dispose of them at his pleasure, there might be room for
agitating the question, how far his foreknowledge amounts to necessity; but
since he foresees the things which are to happen, simply because he has decreed
that they are so to happen, it is vain to debate about prescience (= foreknowledge), while it is clear that all
events take place by his sovereign appointment. (Institutes, Book III
Chapter 23 Section 6)
Thus calvinists perceive their god to be bound by time, and thus
non-eternal.
Boettner says Common sense
tells us that no event can be foreknown unless by some means, either physical
or mental, it has been predetermined. (The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination P 30) Clearly his god isn’t eternal, either! It seems that calvinists deny
foreknowledge because their god is unable to foreknow things!
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