Genesis 8:1-22 • Back on dry land

Genesis 8 is the description of the the last half or so of the flood event. The rain had stopped about 3 months or so before this passage, as it had only rained for 40 days. We will find out in this passage that there were more forces at work during the flood than just the rain.

Gen 8:1-22 → 1But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark;

• When the text says that "God remembered Noah", it's not implying that somehow God had become distracted and had forgotten about him. The way the word "remembered" is used of God in Hebrew, it's more of the idea that God is now placing His full attention to the main character of this particular event.

and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided. 2Also the fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained; 3and the water receded steadily from the earth, and at the end of one hundred and fifty days the water decreased.

• The "one hundred and fifty days"- two schools of thought...

► 1 → These are the same days referred to in Genesis 7:24. This is the time period where the waters "prevailed upon the earth". The waters had reached the fullness of their inundation at that point. From this point on it is starting to recede.

► 2 → These are actually a second set of 150 days. 1st - 150 days that water is covering the earth; 2nd - 150 days of water receding.

• "and God caused a wind to pass over the earth", with the canopy now gone, this wind would have the effect of causing the evaporation of some of the water into clouds, causing the water covering the earth to "subside".

• "floodgates of the deep" - this is where we learn that not only was it raining, but potentially water was also being pushed out from sources below. Not sure what this would be from, maybe some form of geothermal venting of subterranean water onto the surface, but whatever it's source, it is now turned off, and possibly refilling thus helping the water levels to lower.

• "floodgates of the sky" and "rain from the sky" seem to be different. If the "floodgates" refer to the now defunct canopy, that would make sense, since that is now gone, yet rain will continue.

4In the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat.

• This would be 5 months after they entered the ark. Not sure which calendar they are following, most likely (my opinion) Moses would have been using the Hebrew calendar, which I used to think was purely lunar, but it's not. It's more convoluted than the Gregorian calendar used by most of the world today. So whether this is the 150 days referred to above (option 2), or some other number of days, it's at least in that range. I think it's the 150 days, because that works with the text.

• "the ark rested" - not necessarily on Mt. Ararat itself, but at least the range where it resides. It's "beached" itself, but the ground is not visible yet.

5The water decreased steadily until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains became visible.

• Approximately another 2-1/2 months and now land is visible.

6Then it came about at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made; 7and he sent out a raven, and it flew here and there until the water was dried up from the earth. 8Then he sent out a dove from him, to see if the water was abated from the face of the land; 9but the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, so she returned to him into the ark, for the water was on the surface of all the earth. Then he put out his hand and took her, and brought her into the ark to himself.

• After 40 more days of drying out (flip-flop from 40 days of rain) and Noah sends out a raven and a dove. We're not told if the raven ever came back. Ravens live on carrion (dead stuff) and if it could find anything to eat, it may have not come back. A dove though is more selective in it's food choices and since it couldn't find a spot it wanted to stay, came back to the ark.

10So he waited yet another seven days; and again he sent out the dove from the ark. 11The dove came to him toward evening, and behold, in her beak was a freshly picked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the water was abated from the earth. 12Then he waited yet another seven days, and sent out the dove; but she did not return to him again.

• 7 more days and Noah sends out the dove again. It came back, but with a "freshly picked olive leaf", meaning that plants somehow have survived and are growing. Noah waited 7 more days, sent out the dove again, and it didn't come back.

13Now it came about in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the water was dried up from the earth. Then Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the surface of the ground was dried up.

• This is about 11 months into the voyage.

• Noah removed "the covering of the ark". We are not told specifically what this is, whether it is some kind of tarp system, like you see on semi-trucks all the time, or simply a covering over the window mentioned in Genesis 6:16. I always pictured in my mind a single window, like what you'd have in your house, but upon re-reading the verse, and comparing various commentaries, it's possible this "window" was actually an 18" ventilation port that ran the full length of the ark on both sides. If that is true, Noah may have made some kind of removeable coverings to keep out the rain.

14In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. 15Then God spoke to Noah, saying, 16“Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. 17Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”

• One year and 10 days later (compare Genesis 7:10-11 with Genesis 8:14-19)

► Entered the ark - year 600 (of Noah's life), 2nd month, 17th day

► Exited the ark - year 601, 2nd month, 27th day

18So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. 19Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by their families from the ark.

• So everyone and everything leaves the ark.

20Then 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. 21The LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.

22“While the earth remains,

Seedtime and harvest,

And cold and heat,

And summer and winter,

And day and night

Shall not cease.”

• Noah's first response, after surviving this ordeal, is to built and altar, and upon it make a burnt offering to the LORD. Which was pleasing to Him. I hope this isn't disrespectful, but I've always thought that God really likes a good barbeque!

• God commits to NOT destroying the earth, and all of it's inhabitants, again, and commits to keeping the cycles (seasons, weather, days, etc.) going forever.

• I'm not sure what this new world would have looked like. During the cataclysmic event of the flood were the continents divided? Were seas and desert areas and mountain ranges formed? How much debris, dead plants, dead animals, dead people, were laying around all over the place? In my mind, I expect to see an area that looks like the result of a tsunami. But we are not told. But Noah, the man of God that he is, upon his exit from the boat, doesn't worry about where to build the new house, or where to plug in the refrigerator, but his first thought is to thank God for sparing them, and to ask Him for the help to move forward. Now the text doesn't tell us any of the specifics of what Noah had to say to God, so I was interjecting my own thoughts in that regard.

• We will never face anything to the degree with which Noah had to contend, but throughout history since that time there has been plenty of earth-shattering events, some natural, many man-made, that have rocked our world. Natural disasters such as the eruption of Mt. St. Helens, or various tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes, and tsunamis that have rocked our planet. Man made events, most of which seem to be wars, have littered our world throughout history with dead. We keep finding bigger, and better, and more efficient, ways to kill each other. BUT, God is ever-present through all of that. From the flood to the cross, God has been pointing us to the coming Messiah, Jesus, whose very name in Hebrew means "God saves". And ever since that time, God is pointing us back to that historic moment when God Himself, the Divine Creator, took our punishment upon Himself, so that we could walk in newness of life with Him. And He's also pointing us forward to a time when there will be one final war, and after that - peace - forever. Let us all strive to see God in all of our moments, and thank Him for sparing us, and ask Him to help us move forward with Him.

Photo • 4/20/2025 - Flooding at the Schott home - Claremore, OK

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