A Promise Kept

A picture of a full size ark built by Answers In Genesis.

Good morning, well we are still dry here in the Panhandle, over 107 days without moister. But as we will see this was not a problem in Noah's time. It was about to come a big rain, of course up until that time it had never rained. The earth was watered by a heavy dew or mist every morning.

Gen 7:1-16

7:1 The LORD then said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. 2 Take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, 3 and also seven of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. 4 Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made."

5 And Noah did all that the LORD commanded him.

6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. 7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. 8 Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, 9 male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.

11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, on the seventeenth day of the second month--on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. 12 And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.

13 On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. 14 They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. 15 Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. 16 The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in.

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS CHAPTER 7

In this chapter we have the flood that God told Noah about in chapter 6. God was true to His word both concerning the destruction of the old world and the salvation of Noah. We may be sure that God always keeps His word.

Noah was busy with the ark, while the rest of his neighbors were laughing at him for his pains. Now here we see the end, the end of his care and of their carelessness.

Genesis 7 Outline:

God informs Noah that within seven days He shall send a rain upon the earth that shall continue for forty days and nights, and therefore commands him to take his family, with the different clean and unclean animals, and enter the ark, v. 1-4.

This command punctually obeyed, v. 5-9.

In the seventeenth day of the second month, in the 600 th year of Noah's life, the waters, from the opened windows of heaven, and the broken up fountains of the great deep, were poured out upon the earth, v. 10-12.

The different quadrupeds, fowls, and reptiles come unto Noah, and the Lord shuts him and them in, v. 13-16.

The waters increase, and the ark floats, v. 17.

The whole earth is covered with water fifteen cubits above the highest mountains, v. 18-20.

All terrestrial animals die, v. 21-23.

And the waters prevail for one hundred and fifty days, v. 24.

(from Adam Clarke's Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1996 by Biblesoft)

1. NOAH AGAIN FOUND RIGHTEOUS IN GOD’S EYE (v.1)

The universal wickedness of early man is here implied, in opposition to the goodness of Noah, which was fervent as well as habitual. The disciplinary character of God is distinctly shown in the contrasted between those who did evil, at the same time, of rewarded justice to Noah and his family. Not that he was entitled to exemption from the general destruction by any inherent merits of his own. Instead it is because he "found grace in the eyes of the Lord," only as trusting to "a better righteousness," in which he placed confidence; and in that view his salvation may be regarded as a reward. The marvelous preservation of this patriarch and his family showed in the clearest manner that the destruction of all the world besides was not the effect of blind chance, or the work of a supreme agent who made no distinction between the righteous and the wicked, but the reward of the Judge of all the earth, who did what was right. - (From Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1997 by Biblesoft)

When the ark was built, and the period of grace (Gen 6:3) had passed, Noah received instructions from Jehovah to enter the ark with his family, and with the animals, viz., seven of every kind of clean animals, and two of the unclean; and was told that within seven days God would cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights.


The fact that in the command to enter the ark a distinction is now made between clean and unclean animals, seven of the former being ordered to be taken-i.e. three pair and a single one, probably a male for sacrifice-is no more a proof of different authorship, or of the fusion of two accounts, than the interchange of the names Jehovah and Elohim. For the distinction between clean and unclean animals did not originate with Moses, but was confirmed by him as a long established custom, in harmony with the law.


In this expression "they came" it is clearly intimated, that the animals collected about Noah and were taken into the ark, without his having to exert himself to collect them, and that they did so in out of an instinct produced by God, like that which frequently leads animals to scent and try to flee from dangers, of which man has no presentiment.

2. THE DELUGE BEGINS (vv.11-16)

By the opening of the windows of heaven is probably meant the precipitating all the aqueous vapors which were suspended in the whole atmosphere in kind of a protective barrier. These waters in the atmosphere, are what Moses wrote about in Genesis 1:7, the waters that were above the firmament were again united to the waters which were below the firmament, from which on the second day of creation they had been separated.

"And the Lord shut him in." This is a fitting close to the scene. The whole work was the Lord's doing, from first to last. The personal name of God is appropriately introduced here. For the Everlasting now shows Himself to be the causer or effecter of the covenant blessing promised to Noah.

The fountains of the great deep (were) broken up. Enormous reservoirs of water were stored under the earth. This mighty collection of waters was called (tehom), "the great deep" (cf. Gen 1:2). These subterranean waters, confined by creative power on the second day of creation, were unleashed to pour forth in volume and in violence defying description. It was not an ordinary flood, but a giant tidal wave that broke suddenly upon a startled populace. Baqa` indicates a terrestrial convulsion that split apart every restraining barrier that had existed. It was a tumultuous breaking loose of indescribable destruction. Man cannot imagine the fury and the destructive might of the eruption, or the awfulness of the display of God's power to destroy sinful beings. The complete corruption of men was far worse than any of us can imagine. The destruction was necessary. But now because Christ Jesus has come to save all who will call on His name there is no need for anyone to perish. 16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:16-17