And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bore up the ark, and it was lifted up above the earth.
The prevalence of the waters. The forty days are now completed. And at the end of this period the ark had been afloat for a long time. It was drifted on the waters in the direction in which they were flowing, and toward what was formerly the higher ground.
Gen 7:19
Upon the land. – The land is to be understood of the portion of the earths surface known to man. This, with an unknown margin beyond it, was covered with the waters. But this is all that Scripture warrants us to assert. Concerning the distant parts of Europe, the continents of Africa, America, or Australia, we can say nothing. All the high hills were covered. Not a hill was above water within the horizon of the spectator or of man. There were ten generations from Adam to Noah inclusive. We cannot tell what the rate of increase was. But, supposing each couple to have ten children, and therefore the common ratio to be five, the whole number of births would be about five million, and the population in the time of Noah less than four million. It is probable that they did not scatter further than the necessities and conveniences of life demanded. In a fertile region, an area equal to that of the British Isles would be amply sufficient for four million men, women, and children.
Let us suppose, then, a circle of five hundred miles in diameter inhabited by man. Let this occupy the central region of a concentric circle of eight hundred miles in diameter. With a center a little southwest of Mosul, this larger circle would reach fifty miles into the Mediterranean, the Euxine, and the Caspian, and would probably have touched the Persian Gulf at the time of the deluge. If this region were covered with water, it is obvious that no land or mountain would be visible to a spectator within the inner circle of five hundred miles in diameter. Fifteen cubits upward. This was half the depth of the ark. It may have taken this draught of water to float it. If so, its grounding on a hill under water would indicate the depth of water on its summit. The gradual rise of the waters was accomplished by the depression of the land, aided, possibly, by a simultaneous elevation of the bed of the ocean. The water, by the mere necessity of finding its level, overflowed the former dry land. The extent of this oscillation of the solid crust of the earth is paralleled by the changes of level which geology indicates, the last of which took place at the time of the six days creation. It is possible that most of the land that was then raised was now again temporarily submerged in the returning waters; while distant continents may have all along existed, which never came within the ken of antediluvian man. The sobriety and historical veracity of the narrative are strikingly exhibited in the moderate height to which the waters are said to have risen above the ancient hills.
Gen 7:21-23
There expired all flesh. – The resulting death of all by drowning is here recounted. All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of live died. This statement refers solely to man, whose higher life is exclusively expressed by the phrase nshmat chayym, breath of life Gen 2:7. It affirms the death of the whole of mankind. The sum total of animal and vegetable life, with the exception of those in the ark, is here declared to be extinguished.
Gen 7:24
Fifty and a hundred days. – These, and the forty days of rain, make one hundred and ninety days: about six lunar months and thirteen days. If to this we add the month and seventeen days before the commencement of the rain, we have eight months completed, and are therefore brought to the first day of the ninth month. The waters may be said to prevail as long as the ark had its full draught of water. It is probable they were still rising during the first half of the hundred and fifty days, and then gradually sinking during the other half.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Gen 7:17
And the waters increased
Increased affliction
I.
THAT AFFLICTION IS PROGRESSIVE IN ITS DEVELOPMENT AND SEVERITY.
II. THAT INCREASED AFFLICTION IS THE CONTINUED AND EFFECTIVE DISCIPLINE AND PUNISHMENT OF GOD. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
The judgment on an ungodly world
I. JUDGMENT THREATENED.
II. JUDGMENT DELAYED. Gods forbearance and long suffering. Every day brings judgment nearer.
III. JUDGMENT EXECUTED. God did as He said. This judgment was–
1. Terrible.
2. Unavoidable.
3. Universal.
LESSONS:–
1. Listen to Gods warnings.
2. Abuse not Gods long suffering.
3. Flee from the wrath to come. (W. S. Smith, B. D.)
The destruction of the wicked.
1. Numbers, learning, wealth, combination, could not save. Though wickedness join hand in hand, it shall not go unpunished.
2. Their destruction complete and universal. None escaped.
3. They were not without an offer of mercy. In 120 years longer, after the warning was given, they were striven with. This was their day of grace. By word and life, Noah preached to them.
4. At length the flood came and took them all away. Consternation, when they saw the ark drifting away, and the water still rising. Despair. A too late repentance. (J. C. Gray.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
The flood; or, that flood of waters which was poured down in that shower mentioned Gen 7:12; otherwise the flood was one hundred and fifty days upon the earth, Gen 7:24.
The waters increased, by the accession of more waters from above and beneath.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17. the waters increased, and bareup the arkIt seems to have been raised so gradually as to bescarcely perceptible to its occupants.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the flood was forty days upon the earth,…. This is said with respect to what follows, and the meaning is, that when and after the flood had been upon the earth so long, then
the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth; after this they were so many and so strong that they lifted up the ark from the place where it stood, and bore it up, that it touched not the earth; and Aben Ezra from hence infers, that the ark did not remove from its place after the flood began, until forty days.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Gen 7:17-24 contain a description of the flood: how the water increased more and more, till it was 15 cubits above all the lofty mountains of the earth, and how, on the one hand, it raised the ark above the earth and above the mountains, and, on the other, destroyed every living being upon the dry land, from man to cattle, creeping things, and birds. “The description is simple and majestic; the almighty judgment of God, and the love manifest in the midst of the wrath, hold the historian fast. The tautologies depict the fearful monotony of the immeasurable expanse of water: omnia pontus erant et deerant litera ponto .” The words of Gen 7:17, “ and the flood was (came) upon the earth for forty days,” relate to the 40 days’ rain combined with the bursting forth of the foundations beneath the earth. By these the water was eventually raised to the height given, at which it remained 150 days (Gen 7:24). But if the water covered “ all the high hills under the whole heaven,” this clearly indicates the universality of the flood. The statement, indeed, that it rose 15 cubits above the mountains, is probably founded upon the fact, that the ark drew 15 feet of water, and that when the waters subsided, it rested upon the top of Ararat, from which the conclusion would very naturally be drawn as to the greatest height attained. Now as Ararat, according to the measurement of Perrot, is only 16,254 feet high, whereas the loftiest peaks of the Himalaya and Cordilleras are as much as 26,843, the submersion of these mountains has been thought impossible, and the statement in Gen 7:19 has been regarded as a rhetorical expression, like Deu 2:25 and Deu 4:19, which is not of universal application. But even if those peaks, which are higher than Ararat, were not covered by water, we cannot therefore pronounce the flood merely partial in its extent, but must regard it as universal, as extending over every part of the world, since the few peaks uncovered would not only sink into vanishing points in comparison with the surface covered, but would form an exception not worth mentioning, for the simple reason that no living beings could exist upon these mountains, covered with perpetual snow and ice; so that everything that lived upon the dry land, in whose nostrils there was a breath of life, would inevitably die, and, with the exception of those shut up in the ark, neither man nor beast would be able to rescue itself, and escape destruction. A flood which rose 15 cubits above the top of Ararat could not remain partial, if it only continued a few days, to say nothing of the fact that the water was rising for 40 days, and remained at the highest elevation for 150 days. To speak of such a flood as partial is absurd, even if it broke out at only one spot, it would spread over the earth from one end to the other, and reach everywhere to the same elevation. However impossible, therefore, scientific men may declare it to be for them to conceive of a universal flood of such a height and duration in accordance with the known laws of nature, this inability on their part does not justify any one in questioning the possibility of such an event being produced by the omnipotence of God. It has been justly remarked, too, that the proportion of such a quantity of water to the entire mass of the earth, in relation to which the mountains are but like the scratches of a needle on a globe, is no greater than that of a profuse perspiration to the body of a man. And to this must be added, that, apart from the legend of a flood, which is found in nearly every nation, the earth presents unquestionable traces of submersion in the fossil remains of animals and plants, which are found upon the Cordilleras and Himalaya even beyond the limit of perpetual snow.
(Note: The geological facts which testify to the submersion of the entire globe are collected in Buckland’s reliquiae diluv., Schubert’s Gesch. der Natur, and C. v. Raumer’s Geography, and are of such importance that even Cuvier acknowledged “ Je pense donc, avec MM. Deluc et Dolomieu, que s’il y a quelque chose de constat en gologie; c’est que la surface de notre globe a t victime d’une grande et subite rvolution, dont la date ne peut remonter beaucoup au del de cinq ou six mille ans ” (Discours sur les rvol. de la surface du globe, p. 190, ed. 6). The latest phase of geology, however, denies that these facts furnish any testimony to the historical character of the flood, and substitutes the hypothesis of a submersion of the entire globe before the creation of man: 1. because the animals found are very different from those at present in existence; and 2. because no certain traces have hitherto been found of fossil human bones. We have already shown that there is no force in these arguments. Vid., Keerl, pp. 489ff.)
In Gen 7:23, instead of ( imperf. Niphal) read ( imperf. Kal): “ and He ( Jehovah) destroyed every existing thing, ” as He had said in Gen 7:4.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
17 And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth. 18 And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. 19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. 20 Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
We are here told,
I. How long the flood was increasing–forty days, v. 17. The profane world, who believed not that it would come, probably when it came flattered themselves with hopes that it would soon abate and never come to extremity; but still it increased, it prevailed. Note, 1. When God judges he will overcome. If he begin, he will make an end; his way is perfect, both in judgment and mercy. 2. The gradual approaches and advances of God’s judgments, which are designed to bring sinners to repentance, are often abused to the hardening of them in their presumption.
II. To what degree they increased: they rose so high that not only the low flat countries were deluged, but to make sure work, and that none might escape, the tops of the highest mountains were overflowed–fifteen cubits, that is, seven yards and a half; so that in vain was salvation hoped for from hills or mountains, Jer. iii. 23. None of God’s creatures are so high but his power can overtop them; and he will make them know that wherein they deal proudly he is above them. Perhaps the tops of the mountains were washed down by the strength of the waters, which helped much towards the prevailing of the waters above them; for it is said (Job xii. 15), He sends out the waters, and they not only overflow, but overturn, the earth. Thus the refuge of lies was swept away, and the waters overflowed the hiding-place of those sinners (Isa. xxviii. 17), and in vain they fly to them for safety, Rev. vi. 16. Now the mountains departed, and the hills were removed, and nothing stood a man in stead but the covenant of peace, Isa. liv. 10. There is no place on earth so high as to set men out of the reach of God’s judgments, Jer 49:16; Oba 1:3; Oba 1:4. God’s hand will find out all his enemies, Ps. xxi. 8. Observe how exactly they are fathomed (fifteen cubits), not by Noah’s plummet, but by his knowledge who weighs the waters by measure, Job xxviii. 25.
III. What became of Noah’s ark when the waters thus increased: It was lifted up above the earth (v. 17), and went upon the face of the waters, v. 18. When all other buildings were demolished by the waters, and buried under them, the ark alone subsisted. Observe, 1. The waters which broke down every thing else bore up the ark. That which to unbelievers is a savour of death unto death is to the faithful a savour of life unto life. 2. The more the waters increased the higher the ark was lifted up towards heaven. Thus sanctified afflictions are spiritual promotions; and as troubles abound consolations much more abound.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
17. And the flood was forty days, etc. Moses copiously insists upon this fact, in order to show that the whole world was immersed in the waters. Moreover, it is to be regarded as the special design of this narrations that we should not ascribe to fortune, the flood by which the world perished; how ever customary it may be for men to cast some veil over the works of God, which may obscure either his goodness or his judgments manifested in them. But seeing it is plainly declared, that whatever was flourishing on the earth was destroyed, we hence infer, that it was an indisputable and signal judgment of God; especially since Noah alone remained secure, because he had embraced, by faith, the word in which salvation was contained. He then recalls to memory what we before have said; namely how desperate had been the impiety, and how enormous the crimes of men, by which God was induced to destroy the whole world; whereas, on account of his great clemency, he would have spared his own workmanship, had he seen that any milder remedy could have been effectually applied. These two things, directly opposed to each other, he connects together; that the whole human race was destroyed, but that Noah and his family safely escaped. Hence we learn how profitable it was for Noah, disregarding the world, to obey God alone: which Moses states not so much for the sake of praising the man, as for that of inviting us to imitate his example. Moreover, lest the multitude of sinners should draw us away from God; we must patiently bear that the ungodly should hold us up to ridicule, and should triumph over us, until the Lord shall show by the final issue, that our obedience has been approved by him. In this sense, Peter teaches that Noah’s deliverance from the universal deluge was a figure of baptism, (1Pe 3:21😉 as if he had said, the method of the salvation, which we receive through baptism, degrees with this deliverance of Noah. Since at this time also the world is full of unbelievers as it was then; therefore it is necessary for us to separate ourselves from the greater multitude, that the Lord may snatch us from destruction. In the same manner, the Church is fitly, and justly, compared to the ark. But we must keep in mind the similitude by which they mutually correspond with each other; for that is derived from the word of God alone; because as Noah believing the promise of God, gathered himself his wife and his children together, in order that under a certain appearance of death, he might emerge out of death; so it is fitting that we should renounce the world and die, in order that the Lord may quicken us by his word. For nowhere else is there any security of salvation. The Papists, however, act ridiculously who fabricate for us an ark without the word.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(17-19) The waters increased . . . The swelling of the flood is told with great power in these verses but every stage and detail has reference to the ark, as if the author of the narrative was one of those on board. First, the waters increased, and raised up the ark till it floated. Next, they became strong and increased exceedinglythe word rendered prevailed really signifying the setting in of mighty currents (see on Gen. 8:1), as the waters sought the lower groundand at this stage the ark began to move. Finally, they became strong exceedingly, exceedingly, rushing along with ever-increasing force, and carrying the ark high above every hill in its course. Of these it is said
All the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.Interpreting this by the English Version, many regard it as a proof of the deluge having been universal. But omitting the well-known fact that in the Bible the word all means much less than with us, we must also remember that the Hebrew language has a very small vocabulary, and the whole heaven means simply the whole shy. We with our composite language borrow a word for it from the Greek, and say the whole horizon, that is, the whole heaven, bounded by the line of the spectators vision. So then here. Far and wide, in every direction, to the utmost reach of the beholders gaze, no mountain was in sight. All was a surging waste of flood. But there is no idea here of the mountains of Auvergne, with the ashes of old-world volcanoes still reposing upon their craters, extinct from a time probably long anterior to the creation even of man. The mountains were those of the Noachian world, as limited as the Roman world of Luk. 2:1, or even more so.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
17, 18. Forty days That is, as we understand it, for forty days the rain burst from the “lattices of heaven,” and the waters rushed from the great deep upon the subsiding land . At last they lifted up the ark from off the earth, so that it went upon the face of the waters. Repetitions like those in Gen 7:17-19 (comp . also Gen 7:12, and Gen 7:20-23) favour the theory that the narrative is a compilation from different documents; but the compiler may as well have been Moses or one of his contemporaries as any writer living a thousand years later.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Description of the Flood at Its Height ( Gen 7:17 )
Gen 7:17
‘And the cataclysmic flood was forty days on the earth (land).’
We notice that it does not just say rain as in verse 10. While there was torrential rain there were also the huge tidal waves sweeping over the land.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Destruction Caused by the Flood
v. 17. And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lifted up above the earth. v. 18. And the waters prevailed and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. v. 19. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills that were under the whole heaven were covered. v. 20. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered. v. 21. And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl and of cattle and of beast and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man; v. 22. all in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. v. 23. And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man and cattle and the creeping things and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth. v. 4. v. 24. And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Gen 7:17 And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth.
Ver. 17. It was lift up above the waters. ] Afterwards it went upon the face of the waters, till, at last, the highest hills were covered with waters; the ark floating upon the surface of them, and not swallowed up by them. In reference whereunto David prays, “Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up”. Psa 69:15 The true Christian may be tossed on the waters of affliction, yea, douced over head and ears; and, as a drowning man, sink twice to the bottom; yet shall up again, if out of the deep he call upon God, as Jonah did: “Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight” (there you may take him up for dead), “yet I will look again toward thy holy temple” (there he revives and recovers comfort), Jon 2:4 Yea, though hell had swallowed up a servant of God into her bowels, yet it must, in despite of it, render him up, as the whale did Jonah: which, if he had lighted upon the mariners, would have devoured and digested twenty of them in less space.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Gen 7:17-24
17Then the flood came upon the earth for forty days, and the water increased and lifted up the ark, so that it rose above the earth. 18The water prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. 19The water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered. 20The water prevailed fifteen cubits higher, and the mountains were covered. 21All flesh that moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind; 22of all that was on the dry land, all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died. 23Thus He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark. 24The water prevailed upon the earth one hundred and fifty days.
Gen 7:19 The language of this verse certainly implies a world-wide flood (cf. Gen 8:21; 2Pe 3:6). But does it? The term earth (eres, BDB 75, see SPECIAL TOPIC: Land, Country, Earth ) can mean land (cf. Gen 41:57). It may be an idiom similar to Luk 2:1 and Col 1:23 (cf. Hard Sayings of the Bible, IVP pp. 112-114). As for the theology of the flood, its extent is irrelevant. There is not a consistent flood deposit even in Mesopotamia much less the whole world! Floods were common in Mesopotamia because of the two large river systems that combine at their mouths. For a good discussion see Bernard Ramm, The Christian’s View of Science and Scripture.
Gen 7:22 the breath of the spirit of life (cf. note at Gen 1:30). The aquatic life was spared.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.
These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought-provoking, not definitive.
1. What is your understanding of the phrase the sons of God and why?
2. Why do you think that angels would want to take human women?
3. Who were the Nephilim?
4. How could God repent?
5. What does it mean to walk with God?
6. Why weren’t the fish judged along with the land animals?
7. What is a clean and unclean animal in Noah’s setting?
8. Was the flood local or universal? Why?
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Gen 7:4, Gen 7:12
Reciprocal: Gen 6:17 – bring Gen 7:10 – waters Gen 8:4 – the ark Job 22:16 – whose foundation was overflown with a flood Job 36:31 – by Psa 32:6 – in the floods Psa 69:2 – the floods 1Pe 3:20 – by
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
The flood waters, which brought destruction upon the world of the ungodly, had the effect of lifting the ark “up above the earth.” This may serve to remind us that the salvation of God has an elevating effect at all times. Today, very specially, we are called to set our mind “on things above, not on things on the earth” (Col 3:2). When “the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth,” no flesh was visible, and nothing but death was to be seen. God’s word as to “the end of all flesh” coming before Him, was fulfilled, for now all were either covered in the waters of judgment, or in the ark, as it rode between the waters surging from beneath and descending from above. Noah and his family were out of sight in the ark a figure of the new place which is ours “in Christ Jesus,” involving the non-recognition of our old status in the flesh.
How thankful we should be that judgment fell, not upon us but upon our gracious Saviour, just as the death-waters fell, not upon Noah but upon the ark. The whole episode is likened to baptism in 1Pe 3:21, or rather, baptism is likened to it. The first mention of Christian baptism being administered is in Act 2:1-47, where it is connected with the word, “Save yourselves from this untoward generation.” The passing through death in a figure, and thus cutting all links with old associations is, we believe, the main thought in baptism. All Noah’s links with the old world were cut by the baptism of the flood. Peter wrote to converted Jews, who had been severed by baptism from the mass of their nation, and thus saved from the governmental judgments about to fall on it. For us Gentiles baptism has the same significance, severing us – if we understand it and are practically true to it – from the world which is rushing on to judgment. Are we true to what baptism means?
As to the flood itself, the account given (Gen 7:11 – Gen 8:14) is quite explicit, both as to its duration and its dimensions. The tremendous rain lasted for 40 days and 40 nights. The waters prevailed from the 17th day of the 2nd month to the 17th day of the 7th month, when the ark grounded on the mountains of Ararat. On the 1st day of the 10th month the tops of the mountains were seen. On the 1st day of the 1st month of a new year the waters had vanished from the face of the earth. On the 27th day of the 2nd month the earth was sufficiently dry for the occupants of the ark to go forth from it – one year and 10 days having elapsed from the onset.
Its dimensions were such that “all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven were covered.” This seems to indicate that it was universal, and it is certain that nothing of a local nature could possibly have lasted for so long. Moreover the breaking up of “the fountains of the great deep” very possibly involved great changes on the surface of the earth: in other words, the configuration of continents, mountains, seas, etc., may have been very different in the antediluvian age from their present form.
God remembered Noah and all that were alive with him in the ark, and He stopped the waters and sent the wind, which commenced the process of drying up the waters. The window of the ark being in the roof and not in the side of it, Noah must have had an imperfect knowledge of what was transpiring without, hence his action recorded in Gen 8:6-12. A raven and a dove are birds of a different nature as to habits and food. The one feeding on carrion and other unclean things, the other a clean feeder. When first released there was plenty to attract the raven, but as yet nothing for the dove.
In the New Testament the dove becomes the emblem of the Spirit of God, and the expression used on the first occasion is worthy of note – “no rest for the sole of her foot.” As yet the whole scene was a waste of death and corruption. On the second occasion the dove returned with, “an olive leaf pluckt off.” Here was the first evidence of life appearing above the waters of death, for it was not a leaf that had been drifting among the debris but plucked off a living tree. Death entered by sin, and “so death passed upon all men” (Rom 5:12), as much after the flood as before it. The first evidence of real life rising up beyond the scene of death was when Christ. rose from the dead. Though the Spirit came at Pentecost as wind and fire, He came as a Witness to Christ risen and glorified.
When the dove was sent forth for the third time she returned no more, but it is not added that she did find rest for the sole of her foot. That she found somewhere to perch is obvious, but the statement is omitted, we believe, because there is a typical or allegorical significance, which comes to light when we reach Mat 3:16. When the Lord Jesus came forth there was at last found One, on whom the Spirit of God could permanently rest, and not before.
So what is related here is intended to cast our minds on to the Gospels, which begin with the Lord Jesus entering a scene of death as the only One on whom the Spirit of God could rest, and they end with His coming forth in risen life – a life on the other side of death and beyond its reach – the necessary preparation to the coming of the Spirit When we read of the Apostles that, “they were all filled with the Holy Ghost… and with great power gave the Apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus” (Act 4:31-33), we see what is indicated – though faintly perhaps – by the olive leaf in the mouth of the dove.
Let us remember also that fallen human nature feeds on what is unclean, as does the raven. Only that which is born of the Spirit is spirit, and therefore like the dove feeds on what is clean. If we recognize this we shall be very careful as to that on which we feed our minds. It has been well said that for spiritual growth we must “starve the raven and feed the dove.”
Noah did not go forth from the ark until God told him to do so. He went out as he came in, under direct instruction from God. And now we discover why the clean animals were taken into the ark in sevens and the unclean only in twos. True, it is an unclean world still, alas! and hence unclean animals easily thrive, and one pair would suffice for such, as against three pairs of the clean. But why the odd one in the seven? Because they were to be offered in sacrifice as a burnt offering at the very start of the renewed earth. The Lord knew that the flood had effected no change in human nature. Even in Noah and his family it was the same after the flood as before it. Verse Gen 7:21 emphasizes this; and hence from the outset the new world could only continue on the basis of sacrifice.
In Noah’s sacrifice we have the third type of the death of Christ. The first type, in Gen 3:1-24, set it forth as providing a covering for the guilty sinner. The second, Abel’s offering in Gen 4:1-26, as the basis of approach to God. Now we have it as presenting a “sweet savour,” or, “a savour of rest,” to God – that in which He finds His rest and delight, in the excellence of which the offerer finds the ground of his acceptance. The term, burnt offering, occurs here for the first time, the particular significance of which we discover when we come to the book of Leviticus.
It is not difficult to discern an orderly progression in these three types. When awakened to our sinful state, the first thing we were conscious of needing was a covering – the root meaning of atonement – before the eye of a holy God. That was good, but we could not endure to be permanently at a distance. We must have a basis of approach to God. And even more than this; we must be in full acceptance to be thoroughly at rest there. If God finds a savour of rest in the death of Christ, we find there our rest too.
The promise, which closes Gen 8:1-22, was based upon the sacrifice, as also was the blessing which opens Gen 9:1-29. God knew what man would again prove himself to be, but He guaranteed that there should be no further judgment of the sort just executed. The flood had been of such magnitude that for just over a year seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and even day and night, had been obliterated. This was never to occur again. Indeed Gen 9:8-17 show that God established a definite covenant to this effect, the token of which is the rainbow.
This covenant made with Noah and all creation was unconditional. It was a covenant of promise, not depending on any faithfulness of the creature. It was something new. The words, “I do set My bow in the cloud,” clearly infer that the phenomenon of a rainbow had never before been seen by mankind. This would appear strongly to support the thought we mentioned when considering Gen 2:5, Gen 2:6 that until the time of the flood no rain had fallen on the earth but it had been watered by mist.
Noah and his sons were blessed and made specially fruitful, so that mankind should multiply rapidly on the renewed earth, and their dominion over the beasts of the earth was emphasized. Moreover man was now given animal food for his sustenance as well as vegetable. And yet further, in the new regime established the sanctity of human life was clearly stated in connection with a primitive form of government. Murder had filled the earth before the flood, and from the time of Cain any human vengeance had been forbidden. But now God would require the blood of man’s life at the hand of the slayer, and He would authorize mankind – Noah in particular, no doubt – to be the executor of His judgment. The penalty of death for murder was thus instituted by God Himself, and that from the very start of the post-diluvian age, and not merely as enacted in the law of Moses centuries later. It is of universal validity. Efforts recently made to overturn the Divine enactment are significant, especially if taken in connection with efforts to overturn other basic enactments as to marriage, parental responsibility, etc. The end of the age is marching upon us. It will arrive not with a flood of waters, but in the revelation of the King of kings and Lord of lords, when “He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.”
Verses Gen 7:18-19 again emphasize the fact that the only males now left alive were Noah and his three sons. From the three sons all mankind on the earth have sprung Nations have become a good deal intermingled but the three strains – Semitic, Japhetic and Hamitic – can still be discerned.
We may say then, that after the flood mankind was given under Noah a fresh start; But, as under Adam so again, failure and sin rapidly supervened. We have had abundant testimony to the fact that Noah was a godly man who found grace in the sight of the Lord, and he lived for no less than 350 years after the flood, as we are told at the end of our chapter, yet the one and only thing on record concerning him in all those years is that he planted a vineyard made wine, was trapped into self-indulgence, and became unconscious in drunkenness. The man most responsible now to control others lost control of himself. The age of patriarchal government broke down at the outset, even in the hands of a godly man.
This sad episode became the occasion of revealing the character of Ham, and apparently also of Canaan the son of Ham. Shem and Japheth acted with due respect to Noah, both as their father and as the ruler in the new conditions, whereas it was absent with Ham. Disrespect of authority, whether parental or governmental, since both were originally instituted of God, is a very grave sin. It leads ultimately to the setting aside of the authority of God, who instituted it. It is only as we give these considerations due weight in our minds, that we see how justified was the solemn curse pronounced by Noah, when he knew what had happened.
In verse Gen 7:22 Ham is mentioned, and Canaan only appears as his son. When we come, in verses 25-27, to the curse that came from Noah’s lips, we find it fell upon Canaan without any mention of Ham. This, we think, indicates two things. First, that Noah’s sad lapse occurred some time after the flood; sufficient years having elapsed for Canaan to have been born and come into activity. Second, that he was associated with his father in the matter, and on him rather than his father the weight of the curse fell.
We must also bear in mind that in uttering it Noah spoke as a prophet, and the subsequent history of Canaan and his descendants fully justified his solemn words The next chapter gives us the sons of Canaan, and from them came the nations that inhabited lands to the east of the Mediterranean and just north of Egypt, so that it became known as the land of Canaan. Centuries later these nations had become so abominable in their gross sinfulness that God issued an edict of extermination against them, and sent Israel in to inhabit their land. Only Israel’s failure saved them from being completely wiped out.
But Noah’s prophetic utterance contained a blessing as well as a curse. The blessing was to be specially the portion of Shem, and in a secondary way to come upon Japheth. The blessing, as ever, is connected with the name of the Lord, who was to be known as the God of Shem. Japheth was to be enlarged and “dwell in the tents of Shem.” This, we gather, would signify that by reason of close identification with Shem, Japheth would also come into the knowledge of God. If the prophecy of Enoch was concerned with the coming of the Lord in His glory to judgment, that of Noah summarized in most concise fashion the future of the human family in its three branches until the Lord comes.
We can now see how it has been fulfilled. Out of Shem sprang Israel and Moses, and then in due time the Christ, “who is over all, God blessed for ever.” Out of Japheth have come the nations who have been enlarged and assumed leadership in the earth, and amongst whom the light of the Gospel has mostly shone. Ham, whose name means “Black,” or “Swarthy,” produced the races that most have been degraded and reduced to servitude.
But on the other hand, as is so often the way, the Hamitic peoples on whom the curse rested, at first seemed to be the ones to prosper and assume leadership. Chapter 10 supplies us with evidence of this, filled as it is with lists of names and peoples who sprang from the three sons of Noah, lists which are important in connection with the early history of mankind. There is just one point where a short parenthesis occurs by reason of the great prominence of a grandson of Ham.
The forceful Nimrod, as a mighty hunter, acquired ascendancy and founded a “kingdom,” the beginning of which was Babel This happened, we judge, before Noah’s long life ended; and if any kingdom existed, it should have been his. The power that should have been vested in Noah was taken by Nimrod, and prostituted to the ends of serving himself and his own renown. With this there began the founding of cities to serve as centres of human influence Babel, Erech, Accad and Calneh are amongst the first of which there is any record.
Nimrod’s action, in short, represented the setting aside of the primitive patriarchal government instituted of God, by brute-like, human force in self-aggrandisement. The results of this abide in the earth to this day.