Genesis 7

Noah is depicted as Adam redivivus (revived). He is the sole survivor and successor to Adam; both “walk” with God; both are the recipients of the promissory blessing; both are caretakers of the lower creatures; both father three sons; both are workers of the soil; both sin through the fruit of a tree; and both father a wicked son who is under a curse. Also there is a wordplay between Adam in the garden and the “rest” motif recurring in the Noah story (see 5:29; 8:21). The Lord “put” (nûaḥ) Adam in Eden as the divine ideal for man (2:15), but because of sin the soil is man’s new opponent (3:17). Lamech’s prayer is that “Noah” (nōaḥ) alleviate the toil and achieve “comfort” (nḥm; 5:29), but it comes about in an unexpected way when Noah preserves the human family by the “resting” ark (8:4) and the “resting-inducing odor” (8:21) of sacrifice, which appeases God and leads the way for a new promise. We can only view Noah through the template of Adam, both the promise and the garden sin.

Matthew 24:37–38 (CSB)

As the days of Noah were, so the coming of the Son of Man will be. For in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah boarded the ark.

Hebrews 11:7 (CSB)

By faith Noah, after he was warned about what was not yet seen and motivated by godly fear, built an ark to deliver his family. By faith he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

What do you see?

Too often, we modern folk ask Genesis to answer modern questions, like how old is this water-covered ball that spins at 1000 mph in space while orbiting a nuclear-powered fireball?

But Genesis wasn’t written to us. It was written for us, but not to us. It was written to people asking ancient questions. What are those ancient questions?

How long did the flood last?

A. 40 days and nights

B. 150 days

C. 190 days

D. All of the above

Who entered the Ark?

A. Animal Couples, 2 by 2, on Valentine’s Day

B. 7 pairs of clean animals, 7 pairs of birds, and 2 pairs of creeping things

C. Everything except unicorns

D. A and B

Why was there a flood?

A. Angels had sex with women

B. The line of Seth mixed with the line of Cain

C. Kings stole brides on their wedding night

D. Violent Animals

Where did it flood?

A. The whole world including South America

B. The whole world except Nepal

C. Only Mesopotamia

D. Stop it Jake

What do you see?

The phrase “These are the generations of...” as an introduction is used 11 times in Genesis.

Before the Patriarchs: The need for a family of God

2:4 Heaven and earth

5:1 Adam’s line

6:9 Noah

10:1 Shem, Ham, and Japheth

11:10 Shem

The Patriarchs in the Promised Land: Establishing the family of God

11:27 Terah

25:12 Ishmael

25:19 Isaac

36:1 Esau

36:9 Esau

The Patriarchs in Egypt: Incubation for the Covenant People

37:2 Jacob

As we look, let’s ask ourselves . . . is this how we would tell this story?

Chapter 1: God arranges the furniture

Chapter 2: God puts the man in the garden and creates woman—man was incomplete without her

Chapter 3: Woman is “deceived”, both are disobedient. They experience adolescence. The serpent and the ground are cursed, but the man and the woman are not. God is merciful. God provides for his children as they leave the garden. The man names his wife “Eve”.

Chapter 4: God disapproves of Cain’s offering. Cain is emotional and has bad attitude. Cain kills Abel. Abel’s “blood cries out to me from the ground”. Cain is cursed and cannot work the land. Cain descendents develop culture, murder, and polygamy.

Chapter 5: The descendents of Seth (image of Adam) live a long time and died, except Enoch. Lamech thinks Noah will save him from the curse on the ground.

Chapter 6: Mankind multiplies and becomes corrupt (violent). God decrees a wet judgement. God warns Noah (“Rest”) and instructions on how to build and Ark.

Remember that we are still answering ancient questions. “Why am I like this?”

Why am I a “Hebrew” since I don’t live in Hebron? Why is it promised?

Do you have any relatives who have lived a very long time?

Would you be the good twin or the evil twin?

Do you ever feel like a background character in someone else’s story?

Is it hard to get out of your parents’ shadow?

Does God make mistakes?

Do you have a flood story?

How do you deal with unusual requests?

What if I told you it really was aliens in Genesis 6?

Have you ever had to live in a small space?

Would you ever go on Fear Factor?

When did you completely lose your patience?

When does God’s judgement feel real?

Genesis 7:1–5 CSB

Then the Lord said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you alone are righteous before me in this generation. You are to take with you seven pairs, a male and its female, of all the clean animals, and two of the animals that are not clean, a male and its female, and seven pairs, male and female, of the birds of the sky—in order to keep offspring alive throughout the earth. Seven days from now I will make it rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing I have made I will wipe off the face of the earth.” And Noah did everything that the Lord commanded him.

God commands. Noah’s righteousness condemned the generation.

Genesis 7:6–10 CSB

Noah was six hundred years old when the flood came and water covered the earth. So Noah, his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives entered the ark because of the floodwaters. From the animals that are clean, and from the animals that are not clean, and from the birds and every creature that crawls on the ground, two of each, male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, just as God had commanded him. Seven days later the floodwaters came on the earth.

Noah obeys. Adam named the creatures, Noah preserved them. “came’ because of God’s command. It like like when God brought the animals to Adam in Gn. 2 Seven days is God’s timing. It will happen just as he says.

Genesis 7:11–16 CSB

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 sources of the vast watery depths burst open, the floodgates of the sky were opened, and the rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights. On that same day Noah along with his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, entered the ark, along with Noah’s wife and his three sons’ wives. They entered it with all the wildlife according to their kinds, all livestock according to their kinds, all the creatures that crawl on the earth according to their kinds, every flying creature—all the birds and every winged creature—according to their kinds. Two of every creature that has the breath of life in it came to Noah and entered the ark. Those that entered, male and female of every creature, entered just as God had commanded him. Then the Lord shut him in.

Every every every - 6 times. v23 is the 7th time and it when everything perishes.

THe date is mentioned to indicate the significance. It is listed like the bible lists dates according to kings later. It was in the 2nd month, right at seedtime (8:22) and right as the rains begin.

What was the day like for the people of Noah’s generation? It was like any new morning—no alarm and no thought for their doom. Jesus makes this point in portraying his own sudden coming. That generation will be like Noah’s, “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage” (Matt 24:37–39). They are carrying on with the normal affairs of their lives, indifferent to the gathering clouds above. In Peter’s day the detractors had not yet learned the lesson of Noah’s waters (2 Pet 3:5–7), and likewise today many regard it as no more than a children’s tale.

Genesis 7:17–24 CSB

The flood continued for forty days on the earth; the water increased and lifted up the ark so that it rose above the earth. The water surged and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. Then the water surged even higher on the earth, and all the high mountains under the whole sky were covered. The mountains were covered as the water surged above them more than twenty feet. Every creature perished—those that crawl on the earth, birds, livestock, wildlife, and those that swarm on the earth, as well as all mankind. Everything with the breath of the spirit of life in its nostrils—everything on dry land died. He wiped out every living thing that was on the face of the earth, from mankind to livestock, to creatures that crawl, to the birds of the sky, and they were wiped off the earth. Only Noah was left, and those that were with him in the ark. And the water surged on the earth 150 days.

Genesis 1–11 (Application Overview)

In the entire flood narrative, Noah never speaks. Rather, God speaks, and Noah responds. Noah does all that God commands him four times in the account (Gen 7:5, 9, 16; compare Gen 6:22). His faithful obedience to God’s directives illustrates what Gen 6:9 told us: Noah was a righteous man who walked with God. He stood apart in a violently wicked generation, and God protected him. Noah’s example challenges us to live righteously in a culture of increasing wickedness. God will be faithful to us.The tragic story of the flood showcases God’s judgment, but it also highlights His gracious salvation. God refuses to abandon His creation because it is worth saving. Instead, He re-creates it and starts afresh with righteous Noah. The turning point of the narrative is Gen 8:1, when God “remembers” Noah and the rest of His creation in the ark. Then, in language that echoes Gen 1:2 (“the Spirit [literally, “wind”] of God was hovering over the surface of the waters”), God makes a wind blow over the purged earth to make it inhabitable again. God has committed Himself to His creation, and for this reason, He ultimately sends Jesus to save it once for all.

Genesis 7

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