Genesis - Week Eleven

Introduction

This study should address...

What does the Bible say?

What does the Bible Mean?

How can we apply that to our lives

Legend

Important

Questions

References

Personal Thoughts

Chapter 6

Verses 14-16

Genesis 6:14–16 ESV

Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks.

Thoughts and Questions?

6:14-16

The word used for ark is “tevah” which refers to a vessel of any size, it is used in Exodus 2:3 to refer to Moses basket

Faithlife Study Bible Chapter 6

6:15 the length of the ark A cubit was roughly 18 inches, so the ark would have been 450 feet by 75 feet by 45 feet.

Noah was being protected, but through an active working faith and not an idle faith

Gopher wood is only mentioned here and is sometimes translated to other woods, unknown what it is

There have been many disagreements about the true size of the ark and what would realistically contain all the animals, but it really is not important in my opinion

Verses 17-22

Genesis 6:17–22 ESV

For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive. Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up. It shall serve as food for you and for them.” Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.

Thoughts or Questions?

6:17

Again this could be referring to a global flood or a flood of the entire known world

Acts 2:5 “Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.”

The reference to the “breath of life” is also very interesting

This is the ruach or spirit that we have seen previously

Shows to me that we are discussing humans primarily

6:18

This covenant is established in Genesis 8:20–9:17

I believe that this is the second covenant between God and man

God provides Noah salvation in the way Jesus provides us all with salvation

Noah was assured his efforts would not be in vain for he would be protected

Noah is given dominion over these animals to care for them and save them, in the way humans were designed to and likely the way the abandoned

6:19-22

Here Noah is told to take two of every sort, in Genesis 7:2 “Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate,” he is told seven pairs of each clean animal

These are the same kinds from the initial creation

Noah is faithful and does as he is commanded

Even through decades of work and assumed distress he remained faithful

Chapter 7

Verses 1-10

Genesis 7:1–10 ESV

Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.” And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him. Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth. And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood. Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah. And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth.

Thoughts or Questions?

7:1-3

These instructions differ slightly from the last chapter

The mention of clean and unclean animals may be an anachronism

This distinction in the law would not be around until long after Noah

However, there may be additional clean animals taken since they will needed for Noah’s sacrifice after the flood

7:4

Seven days is the time given for the animals to board

It is also a unit of time used later in the story

7:5

Noah is once again faithful and obedient

7:6

Unclear how long it took for Noah to build the ark but less than 100 years

8 people, 4 married couples are saved from the flood

7:9

There are so many questions that could be asked about this story

How did the animals comply?

Why did they not fight each other?

But many of them could just be answered with miracles or weird scientific theories like hibernation

Verses 11-24

Genesis 7:11–24 ESV

In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark, they and every beast, according to its kind, and all the livestock according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, according to its kind, and every bird, according to its kind, every winged creature. They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the Lord shut him in. The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.

Thoughts or Questions

Lots of repetition in these verses which shows the type of literature

Elevated, narrative prose

Very myth like yet specific which shows its truth

7:11

This date is very specific and there isn’t a clear indication why other than the importance of this as a real event in Noah’s life

This verse also reflects a ANE cosmology about where water is located in the earth, the waters above and below the earth burst forth

Intense imagery nonetheless

7:12

40 days and nights is an important number

40 days in the desert and so forth

7:16

The Lord shut them in and protects them, they are sealed

Yahweh is used here to show the personal touch

7:17

earth here again can mean ground

See table in ESV Study Bible from chronology

7:19-20

This verse is likely the strongest evidence for a global flood, but I don’t find it to be conclusive

Deuteronomy 2:25 “This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you on the peoples who are under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of you and shall tremble and be in anguish because of you.’”

7:21

Faithlife Study Bible Chapter 7

every living thing that moved on the earth perished In Biblical usage, phrases that appear on the surface to be universal do not always speak of exhaustive, universal participation—particularly with respect to peoples and lands on the other side of the globe from the ancient Near East (e.g., 8:6–7; 41:57;

Chapter 8

Verses 1-5

Genesis 8:1–5 ESV

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. The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, and the waters receded from the earth continually. At the end of 150 days the waters had abated, and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 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.

Anything to note here?

8:1

Or God turned his thoughts back to Noah

The turning point of the narrative when everything begins to be resolved

The ESV Study Bible Chapter 8

This marks the turning point in the flood story. When the Bible says that God “remembers” someone or his covenant with someone, it indicates that he is about to take action for that person’s welfare (cf. 9:15; 19:29; 30:22;

The ESV Study Bible Chapter 8

God made a wind blow over the earth. The Hebrew word for wind, ruakh, is also sometimes translated “Spirit” (e.g., 1:2; 6:3). While the context normally enables the reader to distinguish ruakh meaning “wind” from ruakh meaning “Spirit,” the present verse intentionally echoes 1:2.

8:2

Call back to the opening of the windows in 7:11-12 and that ANE cosmology

8:3-4

There is difficulty in knowing the exact chronology of the flood because two systems are used. There is a measuring of days from one event to another and then the use of a calendar to state specific dates.

Some may point to this as evidence of multiple authors or sources for Genesis

The mountains of Ararat are in modern day Turkey

8:5

The tops of the mountains are seen showing that the “whole earth is no longer covered by the waters

Verses 6-12

Genesis 8:6–12 ESV

At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made and sent forth a raven. It went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. Then he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground. 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. He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. 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. Then he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove, and she did not return to him anymore.

Questions or Comments on these verses?

8:6-7

The 40 days here parallel the 40 days of rain, 40 is also a biblical number

40 years in the desert, 40 days of fasting

The raven is used to check for signs of land, to and fro indicating that it came back to the ark and went out again

That ark contained both kinds; and if the ark was a figure of the church, you see indeed that in the present deluge of the world, the church must of necessity contain both kinds, as well the raven as the dove. Who are the ravens? They who seek their own. Who are the doves? They who seek the things that are Christ’s. (Augustine, Homilies on the Gospel of John) Crossway, ESV Church History Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2023), 15.

8:8

Noah then uses a dove which is a common animal in the OT

A clean animal used in a number of sacrifices

8:9

Same Hebrew language used in Genesis 41:57 “Moreover, all the earth came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, because the famine was severe over all the earth.”

This is clearly not a global reference

1 Kings 10:24 “And the whole earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind.”

Also notice how verse 5 says that the tops of the mountains were uncovered, yet this verse states that the whole earth was still covered

This demonstrates the non-universality of these statements

These statements are phenomenological language and not meant to be exact or scientific

8:10-12

The olive leaf indicates that land has appeared again

Interesting, that this shows that land had been clear for a while since the plant needed time to grow

Verses 13-19

Genesis 8:13–19 ESV

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. In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth had dried out. Then God said to Noah, “Go out from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. 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.” So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by families from the ark.

Questions or Comments?

8:13-14

The earth emerges from the waters in a way similar to Genesis 1

8:15-19

God’s command from Genesis 1 to be fruitful and multiply is repeated first to the animals here and later to Noah and his family

Noah continues to be obedient to God’s every command, only leaving when he is told by God to do so

8:19 The Hebrew term used here, mishpachah, usually denotes human family groups. The word occurs elsewhere with the generic sense of “class” or “type” (Jer 15:3; Job 31:34). John D. Barry, Douglas Mangum, et al., Faithlife Study Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016), Ge 8:19.

Verses 20-22

Genesis 8:20–22 ESV

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

Questions or Comments?

8:20

The first reference to a proper altar in the Bible

Noah obeys and then worships God upon his deliverance through his obedience

8:21-22

The offering was acceptable to God

Thus he will never again cause such a catastrophe upon mankind or the earth

That is while the earth remains, therefore all bets are off in the endtimes

The curse used here is different from the word used during the Curse, this word is closer to dishonor

God also acknowledges that mankind will still remain evil, but He provide a way to be reconciled

General References and Sources

Study Bibles

ESV Study Bible

ESV Church History Study Bible

ESV Literary Study Bible

Spurgeon Study Bible

Faithlife Study Bible

Commentaries

Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary

Matthew Poole’s Commentary

Dennis Prager’s Rational Bible on Genesis

David Atkinson, The Message of Genesis 1-11

John Davis, Paradise to Prison

Church History

Augustine, City of God

Augustine, Confessions

Aquinas, Summa Theologica