Genesis 7:1-24 • The flood

Genesis 7, a record of the beginning of the flood event, is a sobering experience. With the exception of Noah, his sons, and all of their wives, a total of 8 people, and all of the animals represented on the ark, all living things on the earth "in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died." (Gen 7:22)

• We will see several of the steps involved reiterated in this passage.

Gen 7:1-24 → 1Then the LORD said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this time.

• While the commendation of Noah's character is outstanding, the condemnation of the balance of mankind is frightening. What's to become of our world today when so many reject God?

2You shall take with you of every clean animal by sevens, a male and his female; and of the animals that are not clean two, a male and his female; 3also of the birds of the sky, by sevens, male and female, to keep offspring alive on the face of all the earth.

• Some additional details are now given about the animals... of the "clean" animals, there are to be 7 pairs of each ("a male and his female") , rather than only 1 pair, and of the birds also.

• What we don't know at this time is what are the "clean" animals. I'm sure that God gave Noah some more instructions, but since God had told him in Gen 6:20 "two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive", I'm assuming that Noah would be able to figure which animals were "clean" when 7 pairs showed up instead of 1 pair. It will be around another 1,200 years before the "clean" animals are specified in the Scriptures.

4For after seven more days, I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will blot out from the face of the land every living thing that I have made.” 5Noah did according to all that the LORD had commanded him.

• I'm assuming the 7 days were given to actually load the ark.

• "Rain", which we assume is a new thing, since from the beginning the earth was watered by a "mist" (Gen 2:5-6). So it might have been very disturbing when water started falling from the sky.

• "forty days and forty nights" - that's a lot of rain, feels like Oklahoma right now! This is just the time frame for the rain. Water will actually cover the entire earth for 150 days, and it will actually be 1 year and 10 days that they are on the ark. Compare Gen 7:11 with Gen 8:14-15.

6Now Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of water came upon the earth. 7Then Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him entered the ark because of the water of the flood. 8Of clean animals and animals that are not clean and birds and everything that creeps on the ground, 9there went into the ark to Noah by twos, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. 10It came about after the seven days, that the water of the flood came upon the earth.

• This is all review. Confirmation that what they were told to do was done.

• "Noah was six hundred years old" - doing the math from Genesis 5, we see that this is the year 1656 (starting from Adam at year 0)

11In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened. 12The rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.

• A specific day is identified. 600th year of Noah's life - 2nd month of that year - 17th day of that month. The day of the beginning of the end for life as it has been known on the earth since creation.

13On the very same day Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark, 14they and every beast after its kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, all sorts of birds. 15So they went into the ark to Noah, by twos of all flesh in which was the breath of life. 16Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and the LORD closed it behind him.

• Repeated once more, the process of entering the ark.

• Interesting to me that the animals entered the ark in male and female pairs, like groups of married couples all walking down (or up in this case) the aisle, one couple after another. Not just a mad dash of mass hysteria, but an orderly precession.

• I'm assuming that Noah and the other humans were the last to enter. Scanning his checklist, making sure all the boxes are ticked.

• The last thing that needed to be done was to close the door, but Noah didn't need to worry about that because "the LORD closed it behind him." It would have been a little hard for Noah to seal the door himself, while on the inside!

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.

• 40 days on non-stop rain. The ark begins to float. All "the high mountains...were covered." And just to make sure, an extra "15 cubits", roughly 22.5ft of water on top of that.

• Not sure if Mt. Everest was at it's current elevation at that time in history or not, but even so, it's underwater now.

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.

• All life, that is, all "in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life" are now dead.

24The water prevailed upon the earth one hundred and fifty days.

• And once everything was completely covered, it stayed that way for 150 days.

• We'll see in the next chapter the slow process of the waters receding, and eventually the ark coming to rest on the land. It will still need to wait for a bit for the land to dry out enough to sustain everything on the ark. It will be one year and 10 days that they will all be on the ark.

• If nothing else, we should always remember how serious God is about sin. It is NOT to be tolerated. It's not up to us to judge and condemn others, but it is up to each of us to judge ourselves. And as we can't do anything to right the wrongs in our lives, we must turn to the very same God who judged those on the earth at that time, and plead with Him to cover, that is to wash away, our sins, through the work done by His Son Jesus on the cross. God placed on Jesus, while on the cross, the punishment for our sins, so that we, by faith in Jesus, would receive forgiveness and eternal life.

Photo • 7/9/2015 - Rain on Weir Lake, near Bishop, CA

“Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995

by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org”