Genesis 8:1-19--The Flood Subsides

​Genesis 8:1-19 English Standard Version (ESV)
Listen:  https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/esv/Gen.8.1-Gen.8.19

The Flood Subsides
8 But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided. 2 The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, 3 and the waters receded from the earth continually. At the end of 150 days the waters had abated, 4 and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 5 And the waters continued to abate until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.

6 At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made 7 and sent forth a raven. It went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. 8 Then he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground. 9 But the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him. 10 He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. 11 And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. 12 Then he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove, and she did not return to him anymore.
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13 In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry. 14 In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth had dried out. 15 Then God said to Noah, 16 “Go out from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives with you. 17 Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth—that they may swarm on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” 18 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him. 19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by families from the ark.

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"But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark."  God did not get so caught up in His wrath that He forgot about those that He was trying to save and protect.  God made the Flood severe enough that it would accomplish His purposes in starting fresh, but not so suvere that Noah and the animals in the ark would not be able to survive.  God was just ask active in the ceasation of the storm as He was in starting it and God brought a wind (the same word is used for His Spirit, and the two thoughts are interconnected in Hebrew because God breathed both His breath and His Spirit into man to bring him to life) in order to dry up the water.

We then get a very detailed timeline on the exact events that took place, when they started and how long it took for the events to occur.  Please note that we're talking about a 360-day lunar calendar where each month is 30 days.  You should be able to do the math and see that it all works out.  First the rain came for 40 days and 40 nights, then there were 110 days of the wind blowing over the waters to dry them up before the ark came to rest on Mt. Ararat, then another then another 74 days until the tops of the mountains could be seen, then 40 days until Noah sent out birds to see if the tops of the trees were cleared (the raven would land and nest in them) and then if the ground was clear and if there was vegetation growing from the ground.  We still use the olive leaf/branch and doves as symbols of peace to this day because of this.  I'll also take a moment to say that the science does back this up.  It may not be the "science" that you get when you visit the national parks or attend public (and some private) educational institutions, but truth is not determined by consensus but is an immutable characteristic that is most clearly describes as that which is consistent with God's nature, God's Word, and God's order and design.  It is true that pure water normally freezes at 0 degrees Celsius at sea level because that's the way that God designed it.  Biology, Geology, Chemistry and Physics (and all other academic disciplines for that matter) are tools that we use to examine and explain the order and design that God placed on Creation.  The problem occurs when we doubt God's Word like the serpent tempted Eve (and Adam) to do in the Garden and to make our own "truth" with the goal of eliminating God from His story and to steal the glory that only He deserves.  Proverbs tells us that, "the fool says in his heart that there is no God and we also know that "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom," and that "anyone who lacks wisdom, let him ask God for it."  God is not trying to hide truth from us but all truth starts and ends with God and what God says about our situation.  I'm not saying that anyone should be a science denier, but science must always be interpreted through the lens of a worldview and the Christian is most consistent and does the best science when he admits that He believes that God created this universe and His purpose in studying science is to understand more about God by understanding more about His creation and the order He has put in place in this universe.

That was a long aside to say that we can count these Scriptures as literal historical events, just like Jesus and the apostles and other authors of the New Testament did and we can speak about these things in our creeds and confessions and be sure that we are speaking of something God actually did in history and something that He will do again, though in a different way in the future.  Without God, nothing could have happened.  God let Noah participate in God's plan of salvation and if Noah wouldn't have been faithful, God would have found someone else--He would not fail to keep a promise that He had made, and the entire Biblical narrative from Genesis 3 onward is story of anticipation for the promise of the "seed of the woman" that was made in Genesis 3 that would crush the head of the serpent.  We long for restoration, and yet sin makes us also long to do things our own way and to try to be our own gods and to take glory for ourselves.

God gave Noah the plans to make the ark, God told Noah the flood was coming and gave him the message of repentance to speak to the people, God chose Noah and His family to be saved and made sure they were inside the ark, God chose the animals that were to be saved and brought them to Noah, and God closed Noah, his family and the animals in the ark, and God caused the Flood and caused the waters to recede and told Noah and his family when it was safe to come out--even with all the experiments that Noah was performing, he still waited for the voice of the Lord to give him instruction on when the door should be opened.  God made things grow again upon the earth and we'll see that God makes all of the animals return to the habitats that best suit them.  Noah is "supporting cast" in this story as this entire story about what God provided what God has done and what God will continue to do in order to be faithful and to keep His Word and to bring glory to His great Name.  Both His wrath and His salvation accomplish this purpose--there is no one like our God able to speak the universe into existence out of nothing and able to cause a global Flood and yet still able to provide salvation for His elect and to bring life from death as the world had essentially died during this time but God brought forth vegetation and caused it to grow in order to nourish man and animal alike.  God provided everything that was needed at just the right time so as to preserve both His people and His covenant with them.  We'll talk more about His covenant with Noah next time.