Verses 1-2 And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged; 2 The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;
The Hebrew word translated at “asswaged” is “shakak”, pronounced shaw kak. It means to subside, abate or decrease. So the wind that God sent over the Earth was evaporating the water. Since the Spirit of God is as a wind, more than likely the Holy Spirit was moving with power and purpose and causing the waters to decrease.
Application: This chapter starts with the statement, “God remembered Noah.” This does not mean that once Noah entered the ark and the flood started that God forgot about him, about the animals, and about the flood situation for a while and then suddenly remembered it all. It means that during the whole time Noah and the ark passengers were thought of by God and not forgotten. Take comfort in knowing that no matter what is happening in your life, God knows, God cares, and God does not forget you. You are just as important to the LORD right now as Noah was back in the day.
Verses 3-4 And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated. 4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.
So it flooded for 150 days and then it took another 150 days for the flood to decrease enough so that the ark could settle on land. So Noah and company were on the ark for at least 12 months. Remember that the number 5 is the number of death in the scriptures. So while everything on the Earth died, Noah and his family and the animals were lifted off the Earth by the flood waters and saved. When the 5 and the 1 in the number 150 are added together, it is the number 6 which is the number representing mankind. It was man who polluted the Earth so badly that the only way anything could be saved was to cleanse it with water. And when added together, the two sixes become the number 12 which is representative of Godly government. Also, 150 plus 150 equals 300 or 3 which is the number of perfection. Can you see how important numbers are in the Bible? Let’s translate this. Everything died because of man’s sin and as a result God took charge and governed with judgement in the form of a flood and the results were perfect.
“Ararat” means “the curse reversed.” It is a mountainous area in eastern Armenia. Although the ark was now stationary, the waters were still covering much of the Earth and so the passengers on the ark could not leave their vessel yet.
Verses 5-7 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen. 6 And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made: 7 And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.
Noah only had a little window from which to see what the land was like after the flood. By sending out a raven, one of the smartest birds, he could judge what was happening with the flood waters based on whether the raven returned and based on what things the raven may bring back with him as he flew back and forth to and from the ark. Ravens are known for their ability to steal and collect things, especially shiny things. This raven scouted the terrain until the waters were gone completely.
Verses 8-9 Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground; 9 But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.
Doves like to walk on the ground as opposed to other birds that prefer to land in trees and shrubs. So by the dove returning, Noah knew that the ground was still wet.
Verses 10-12 And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark; 11 And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. 12 And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.
Noah was going week by week in his assessment of the environment outside of the ark. He needed to be sure that it was safe and prudent to let all the animals out into a world that must have been very different from the one he had experienced for over 600 years. It is significant that the dove returned with an olive leaf in her mouth. Olive oil has long been associated with healing practices. It is a wonderful moisturizer for the skin, and in some places and cultures it was used in place of water to cleanse the body. The olive branch is representative of “peace,” and the olive tree in the New Testament is representative of the Christian Church. God was giving Noah a sign that the Earth had been healed and was cleansed of polluting sin, that God was at peace with man through the righteousness of Noah and his family, and that there would be a new covenant or agreement with man that would eventually result in the creation of the Church.
Verse 13 And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.
The reader may have heard of the patience of Job that is recorded in the book of the same name. Job experienced terrible suffering, and through it all he remained faithful to the LORD. However, think about the patience of Noah and his family. Think about living on a ship for over a year, being confined and never seeing the sun, the whole time caring for a multitude of critters and never knowing when the adventure would be over and what the days ahead might hold for everyone. Just cleaning animal stalls each and every day must have been tiresome along with feeding and watering all of the critters on board the ark. The sameness of the routine must have been very difficult to tolerate. Yet Noah and his family were obedient and faithful to the LORD.
Application: Sometimes God allows the believer to be in what might be described as a holding pattern: the repetitive flight pattern that an airplane follows until it is safe to land at an airport. The believer is just repeating the same tasks each and everyday with no relief in sight. Life might be described in these times as boring and nonproductive. But just like Noah who was living life in a holding pattern on the ark, God always has a reason. Noah and his living cargo needed to stay on the ark until it was safe and the environmental conditions were appropriate for their welfare and their survival. Believers are often left in a holding pattern where they feel like they are just circling and going nowhere, but God knows that it is to their advantage to remain as such until conditions are right for moving out of the pattern they are in. Be patient.
Verses 14-17 And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried. 15 And God spake unto Noah, saying, 16 Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons’ wives with thee. 17 Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.
Finally, God gives Noah marching orders to disembark from the ark and to go out into the new world, taking his family and all the critters with him. It started to rain according to Genesis 7:11 in the six hundredth year, in the second month and the seventeenth day of Noah’s life, and now in the six hundredth and first year, the twenty seventh day of the second month of Noah’s life, all could leave the ark. Use your imagination to think about how this freedom would feel to both man and animals after being confined for so long, bobbing about on the water and living in artificial light. It must have been an amazing time!
Application: Noah’s release from the confinement of the ark can be pointing to what the believer will experience when released at the time of death from the confinement of the body of flesh that he/she has been dwelling in here on Earth. The ark had a divine purpose in the old world and a divine destination in the new world and it landed where God wanted it to land and when He wanted it to land. Like the ark, the believer has a divine purpose in this world and a divine destination which is Heaven, and arrival at that destination will be when God wants to call the believer home. And just as the ark had to be abandoned by its inhabitants in order for them to experience the new world, so the human body has to be abandoned by its inhabitant before the believer can experience Heaven. The believer does not really know what Heaven looks like or feels like, just as the ark passengers did not really know what the new world would look like or feel like when they arrived at their destination. Just as God promised Noah safe passage through the flood waters, God’s Word promises the believer safe passage through the “flood waters” of this sin-filled, wicked world. It all comes down to obedience to the LORD and to faith in His Word.
Verses 18-19 And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him: 19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.
All the inhabitants of the ark left this place of familiarity and security to enter the new, unfamiliar world and it appears that they did so without fear. They trusted the LORD.
Application: Leaving this world for the next should be like going forth out of the ark. Like Noah and his family, the believer should have no fear when death is near and when it is time to leave this earthly body.
Verses 20-21 And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.
Noah’s first action after leaving the ark was to build an altar to the LORD and to worship Him by offering flesh and blood sacrifices of all the clean beasts. This is the first record of burnt offerings being given to the LORD. And this would verify what has been said before that seven clean beasts were put on the ark instead of just two so that one of them could be given as a burnt sacrifice to the LORD and three pairs would remain for repopulating the Earth. This action was pleasing to God and He made the promise to never again destroy every living thing as He had done with the flood.
Application: Today, Christians do not engage in burnt offerings as Jesus Christ was the perfect sacrificial Lamb, and His death, burial and resurrection satisfied the need once and for all time for a blood atonement for the sins of man. Any attempt to reinstate the Temple sacrifices that came about in Moses’ time is a mockery of what Jesus Christ did for His people when He willingly suffered and died on the cross and should not be anything with which the Christian today should be involved with. That being said (and shown when in the New Testament books), Christians today do offer sacrifices unto the LORD. Romans 12:1 states, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” In order to do that, the believer must sacrifice or give up the opportunity of getting involved in the things that the world offers so that he/she remains holy or set apart and acceptable to a Holy God. There are many things in this world that are evil and not good for the body and ultimately for the soul (the mind, will and emotions). What is put in the body, put on the body, and allowed into the mind of the body can all be harmful. Be discerning and obedient to the commandments of the LORD and remain clean like the animals Noah gave as a burnt offering to God.
Verse 22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
This verse is one of this writer’s favorite verses of promise in the whole Bible. Why? Because it is a simple answer to all the doomsday climate change/global warming fanatics I encounter. Nothing is going to happen to this Earth until the last day when the LORD pours out His judgement upon the wickedness of sinful man and then sets up His kingdom with a new Heaven and a new Earth. There will always be planting and harvesting. There will always be heat and cold. There will always be summer and winter. And there will always be day and night. It has always been since creation and it will continue because God said it would, I believe Him, and that ends the argument. Amen!
Verses for your study on this topic: Isaiah 65:17 and 66:22 / 2 Peter 3:13 / Revelation 21:1