Genesis 7:1-24

Background

Last week we saw that the world had degenerated into corruption and evil. God was sorry that He had made mankind, and He is going to use Noah to start over. He gave Noah instructions on how to build an ark, and it was done according to what God had commanded.

Gen. 7:1-10

Noah was 500 years old at the time that he began to build the ark (as seen at the end of ch. 5). According to this record, it could have taken Noah approximately 100 years to finish building the ark according to the specifications God gave him.

CHRONOLOGY CHART

His help and his tools would have been very limited, considering the state of technology.

Once it was finished, God gave instructions to enter the ark, along with his household (8 persons total) and animals. They had 7 days to get loaded up.

As we saw last week, Noah alone was considered righteous by God in his generation (Heb. 11:7). There was no one else who sought God.

Noah’s family was spared because of Noah (2 Pet. 2:5).

Noah had been commanded to take 2 of every kind of animal (Gen. 6:20), but here we see that instead of 1 male and 1 female, Noah is commanded to take 7 males and 7 females of each kind of “clean” animal.

The concept of “clean” isn’t introduced to readers of the Bible until the Mosaic Law is given, but it is inferred that these animals are meant for sacrifice, thus the greater number.

How would Noah be able to fit all the many animals on the ark? The answer is in the word “kinds.” Not every species of animal was necessary to preserve the animal “kinds” through the Flood, as many are slightly varied based on environment or breeding. Also remember that it is limited to every land-dwelling animal and bird kind, which brings the number down further.

According to recent scholarly studies, the total number of animals on board would not be more than 16,000, though some estimates bring it down to around 7,000.

Remember also the size of the Ark - it was massive. At the measurements given in the slide, it would contain more than 2.25 million cubic feet!

ARK SLIDE

It was estimated that about 1.4 million cubic feet would be necessary to house about 125,000 sheep-sized animals. Only about 15% of the animals would be bigger than sheep. Thus, there would be plenty of space aboard the ark for everything.

If you want to do more research into this, I recommend going to icr.org.

The ark that Noah built would have been more than big enough to allow the biblical record to take place.

Side note: all of this information assumes limited intervention from God. Miraculous works could have taken place, but were not necessary.

At the end of the seven days, God was going to send rain for 40 days and nights. Noah was 600 years old.

Gen. 7:11-16

God broke open all reservoirs of water on the earth.

This was not something that anyone other than Noah expected (Matt. 24:37-39).

Reminder from Gen. 2:5-6: it is entirely possible that there had been no rain up to this point. There was a mist that covered the earth (Heb: fog) and watered the plant-life on the earth

Furthermore, it says the fountains of the great deep opened. This would refer to all of the underground water (Pro. 8:28-29). It is quite likely that this cataclysm reshaped the layout of the world.

Many of the fossils we have today were distributed by the flood, as well as geological structures (e.g., Grand Canyon).

If there was a global flood, wouldn’t everyone know about it?

There are many, if not hundreds, of flood traditions all around the world, preserved in ancient and not-so-ancient cultures. 2 Babylonian epics, the Gilgamesh and Atrahasis, share a surprising number of similarities to the biblical account.

Almost all of them describe a global cataclysm, the vast majority have a family that survives, about 2/3 of them say the flood was due to human wickedness, and a boat is mentioned by about 70% of them.

Does this mean the biblical account is a myth? No, more likely this goes to show that something of this order of magnitude must have happened affecting the entire world.

Also, the peoples of the world descend from Noah, so it would make sense that they would carry on the story (embellish, pagan, etc.).

Gen. 7:17-24

God brought about judgment upon the evil and corrupt world swiftly, and in a matter of 40 days, the entire earth was covered by water.

Even the tallest mountains were covered with water. This means that if Mount Everest existed in its current state, water would cover the earth over 29,000 feet above sea level.

This doesn’t take into account that the world may have had a different formation at the time of the flood, and the cataclysm could have caused mountains like Everest to form, or change.

Everything that moved on the earth and breathed, including birds, died.

God’s judgment often seems harsh to us, but it is necessary in the economy of justice.

God has set the ethics of morality in place within us, and as fallen men we naturally rebel against this. To rebel against our Creator is folly.

However, remember that this is God’s story with humanity. God’s plan all along was to accomplish the redemption of man through the sending His Son, Jesus Christ. The saving of Noah and his family are a foreshadowing of true salvation.

1 Pet. 3:18-20.

The flood lasted 150 days, almost half a year.

APPLICATION

God judges rebellion and sin. We need to take this seriously.

God is also merciful, and makes a way for us to have salvation.

Next week, we will continue the story of Noah and the Flood.