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Genesis Chapter Eight
Preface
In estimating any time-events within Genesis, it should be remembered that the Hebrew month was exactly 30 days in length. Although a chronology of the flood was covered in the previous chapter, the following one from The New Scofield Reference Bible, Oxford University Press, Inc., 1967, page 13, may be of further assistance to the Bible student.
The flood began in the 600th year, 2nd month, 17th day of Noah’s life (7:11). It rained 40 days and nights (7:12); the waters continued to increase (7:18), reaching their highest point on the 150th day (7:24), which figure includes the 40 days of 7:12. The ark rested somewhere in the mountain range known as Ararat (i.e. Armenia, 8:4) on the 7th month, 17th day (i.e. 74 more days). There followed 40 days before Noah sent out the raven (8:6-7), and three periods of 7 days related to the three releasings of the dove (8:8-12, cp. V. 10 “yet other seven days”). Thus far there were 285 days. The period between the removal of the covering of the ark (601st year, 1st month, 1st day, v. 13) and the third sending forth of the dove is 29 days (deduced by comparing 8:13 with the date of entering the ark, 7:11).
Finally, a comparison of 8:13 with vv. 14-16 indicates a further 57 days’ wait before Noah and his family went forth to the dry earth, or 371 days in all, which figure agrees when 7:11 is deducted from 8:14—12 months of 30 days plus 11 days. (The Jews count both the beginning and ending day of a sequence.) But the actual elapsed time was exactly a solar year. This is established by multiplying the 12 months, of 7:11 and 8:14, by the 29½ days which comprise a lunar month. The total is 354 days. Add 11 days (17th to 27th of 2nd month, 7:11 and 8:14)—a total of 365 days, one solar year.
In this chapter the Third (Postdiluvian) Dispensation of Human Government begins when Noah and his family depart the ark. Under this dispensation (contractual agreement between God and man) God instituted a corporate relationship of man-to-man in the form of human government. Heretofore man was precluded from the right to take another man’s life (Genesis 4:10-24); but in this “new dispensation” and although man’s direct moral responsibility to God continued, God delegated to man certain areas of His authority in which he was to obey God by submitting to his fellow man. These two responsibilities were in force and mentioned by Christ in the New Testament (Matthew 22:21).
Whereas in the prior dispensation restraint upon man was applied solely, both externally and internally, by the Holy Spirit (Genesis 6:3); now a new external restraint was added, i.e. the power of civil government.
Man failed to rule righteously. That both Jew and Gentile have governed for self, not for God, is sadly apparent. This failure was seen racially in the confusion of Babel (Gen. 11:9); in the failure of Israel in the period of the theocracy, which closed with captivity in Babylon (2 Chr. 36:15-21); and in the failure of the nations in the “times of the Gentiles” (Dan. 2:31-45). Man’s rule will finally be superseded by the glorious reign of our Lord Jesus Christ, whose right to reign is incontestable (Isa. 9:6-7; Jer. 23:5-6; 33:17; Ezek. 21:27; Lk. 1:30-33; Rev. 11:15-18; 19:16; 20:4-6).
The dispensation of Human Government was followed as a specific test of obedience by that of Promise, when God called Abram as His instrument of blessing to mankind. However, man’s responsibility for government did not cease but will continue until Christ sets up His kingdom. (The New Scofield Reference Bible, page 14) Genesis 8:1-6 Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen. So it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. God did not forget, as the word is normally understood in English, Noah and the occupants of the ark while they were encased in it. The word in the Hebrew is zakhar, which in this case means to recollect or think about with loving concern. In fact, taking into the consideration the nature of God—His attributes—it is incredible and unthinkable that God can forget anything.
When the appropriate time came, God stopped the rain and the upsurge from the fountains of the deep and this, along with His initiation of a steady wind upon the water surface, eventually brought the ark to rest somewhere (see comments in Chapter 7) in the “mountains (plural) of Ararat,” which is:
A high plateau on the far E border of modern Turkey, N of biblical Haran and SE of the Black Sea. The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers are formed by the confluence of streams which spring up in this region. Gen 8:4 records that Noah’s ark rested “upon the mountains of Ararat” after the Flood. This does not necessarily mean that the ark stood upon one of the two peaks which rise from the plateau. These peaks, Great Ararat, which rises some 17,000 feet above sea level, and Little Ararat, which is nearly 13,000 feet high, have been given the name of the region of which they are a part . . . . In 2 Kgs 19:37 and Isa 37:38 the “land of Ararat” is translated “land of Armenia” in the KJV. In Jer 51:27, the “kingdom of Ararat” . . . . is one of the kingdoms summoned to destroy Babylon. (Wycliffe Bible Dictionary, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., George A. Anderson, Th.M., Professor of Bible, King College, Bristol, Tennessee) Genesis 8:7-12 Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground. But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself. And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark. Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore. It is generally supposed that the raven flew off, and was seen no more, but the Hebrew text (awuy auyw bwvw vaiyetse yatso vashob) will not support this meaning. The words translated “to and fro” actually mean “going forth and returning.” The raven apparently kept making trips from and back to the ark; although, it is evident that upon its returns it was not taken into the ark. It made frequent excursions, and continued on the wing as long as it could, having picked up such nourishment as it found floating on the waters; and then, to rest herself, regained the ark, where she might perch, though she was not admitted.
Since the raven was an unclean bird, as opposed to the dove, a clean bird, it was able to land upon and eat any garbage and carrion (dead and putrefying flesh) floating out on the waters. The unclean raven and the clean dove are illustrations of the believer’s old and new natures. The old nature loves to feed on the slime of this world; whereas the new nature cannot find satisfaction or rest in a scene of death and judgment. It will find no rest except within the Ark of Christ.
I have said before that all great truths of the Bible are germane in Genesis. The Bible teaches that the believer has two natures, an old and a new nature: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (2 Cor. 5:17).
The clean and the unclean are together. You and I as believers have these two natures. Our Lord said: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6). And Paul writes: “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwells no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not” (Rom 7:18). (Thru the Bible commentary by J. Vernon McGee)
The Bible clearing details for the believer that he is a composite human being, not only is he composed of body, soul and spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:23); but he has both the new (born from above) and the old (sin) natures within him (Romans 7:18, 25; 8:5-7; Galatians 5:17). It is therefore exceedingly important that the believer understand the concept of victorious living, which can only be experienced when he employ God’s principle of faith, enabling him to live under the direction and guidance of his new, rather than his old, nature (Colossians 2:6). As the believer received Christ as Savior, which was by faith and which had nothing to do with works; so he must understand that to “walk in Christ” (be filled or controlled by the Holy Spirit) can only be apart from self-effort (works) and can only be achieved by the principle of faith (Galatians 5:18-25).
It is unfortunate that many believers after freely receiving their salvation by “grace through faith,” will then resort back to “the law” and “works” for their living of the Christian life. A study of the books of Romans, Galatians and Hebrews will forcefully combat this tendency.
And finally, when the judgment waters had sufficiently receded, both the raven and the dove returned no more. Genesis 8:13-19 And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry. And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried. Then God spoke to Noah, saying, "Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives with you. "Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound 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 animal, every creeping thing, every bird, and whatever creeps on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark. This brings us to 261 days, so that the total time of the Flood was 371 days, extending over a year. That also conforms to the statement of Scripture that the Flood was universal; it was not just the filling of a swimming pool—it certainly was more than that.
There have been other discoveries that have revealed something concerning the Flood, and I would like to pass on to you the words of Dr. J.E. Shelley who takes the position that the Flood was universal, that it covered the entire earth: “The most striking example of this is found in the case of the mammoths. These elephants are found buried in the frozen silt of the Tundra, Siberia, all over the lengthy of the Continent of Asia, and in the North of Alaska and Canada. They are found in herds on the higher ground not bogged in marshes, hundreds of thousands in number.”
He goes on to say that these elephants have been examined and found to have drowned. If they had just gotten bogged down, they would have died of starvation. “The farther north one goes, the more there are, till the soil of the islands of the White Sea inside the arctic circle consists largely of their bones mingled with those of the saber-tooth tiger, giant elk, cave bear, musk ox, and with the trunks of trees rooted in the soil. There are now no trees in those regions, the nearest being hundreds almost thousands of miles away. The mammoth could not eat the stunted vegetation which now grows in this region but for three months in the year, a hundred square miles of which would not keep one of them alive for a month. The food in their stomachs is pine, hawthorn branches, etc. These mammoths were buried alive in the silt when that silt was soft. They and the silt were then suddenly frozen and have never been unfrozen. For they show no signs of decomposition. Mammoth ivory has been sold on the London docks for more than a thousand years. The Natural History Museum purchased a mammoth’s head and tusks from the ivory store of the London Docks. This head was absolutely fresh and was covered with its original fur.” (Thru the Bible commentary by J. Vernon McGee)
Here in this passage God reiterates one of His previous commands to the pre-flood occupants of earth. He commands them to “be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” Genesis 8:20-22 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the LORD smelled a soothing aroma. Then the LORD said in His heart, "I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. "While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease." The very first thing that Noah did once he hit dry land was to build an altar and he offered burnt offerings to God, such blood-sacrifices which foreshadowed and were typical of the blood-sacrifice of Jesus Christ that He was to accomplish on the cross thousands of years in the future for the sin of all mankind. This offering of praise and recognition of God’s grace in Noah’s salvation from God’s judgment is a principle that applies to the Christian today. Those who have been saved from the wrath to come should likewise bring to God their heartfelt worship.
Such genuine worship of praise and thanksgiving affects God today, as it did in Noah’s day, providing Him much pleasure (the meaning of “smelled a soothing aroma”). At this God declared in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. "While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.”
This declaration of God is part of the Noahic Covenant, which incorporates the Dispensation of Human Government. This covenant and its corresponding dispensation will be covered in much greater detail in chapter 9. |