Growing up I really enjoyed going to Six Flags Fiesta Texas—an
amusement park filled with roller coasters and other attractions. Inevitably, we
had to wait in lines in order to enjoy the thrills the rides promised and on at
least one occasion, this proved exceedingly aggravating. Having already waited
for the better part of an hour in a long line, I was devastated when I entered
a building that I thought was the end of line and beheld an additional
labyrinth of bars and chains guiding dozens of people to the ride's real entrance.
It is always difficult to come to what you believe to be the
end of an experience, trial, or difficult season, only to discover that it isn’t
over yet. Such sentiments were not lost on Noah and his family in Genesis 8.
The end of the rainy forecast was only the beginning of this incredible ordeal
and the actions taken in Genesis 8:1-19 tell a story that we could all stand to
learn from as we continue to wait on the Lord in this life in general or in any
situation in particular.
God Turns off the
Rain-8:1-5\
Three powerful words mark the transition from death and
judgment (see chapter 7) to life and promise (chapter 8)—“But God remembered…”
(8:1). As the Lord promised in 6:18 and reiterated in 7:1, the flood waters
begin to drain and Noah, his family, and all of the animals on board the ark
are spared—“Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in
the ark; and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided…”
(8:1). The expression “remembered” is far more than simple recollection.
Instead, the term is used here of covenant fidelity. In other words, God is acting
in accordance with His promise to Noah.
Gen. 6:18-“But I will establish my covenant with you;
and you shall enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife, and your sons’
wives with you;…”
This theme of remembrance is carried throughout the rest of
the Old Testament It describes the Lord’s response to the requests of His
people when He delivers Lot from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah on
account of Abraham’s mediation (19:29) and when He hearkens to barren Rachel,
who gives birth to Joseph (30:22). Remembrance was the appeal of Moses’
intervention on behalf of backslidden Israel (Ex. 32:13). God consistently
calls Israel to “remember” Him, promising that He would “remember” them.
Therefore, Noah serves as a great example for the people of Israel to follow.
He remembered the Lord by obeying His instructions and God remembers him and
his family.
The way in which God shows His remembrance of Noah is by
turning off the water. Just as God had caused the floods to rise, God is the
agent behind its reversal. First, God calls the winds to pass over the
earth, and the water subsided…” (8:1). There is an interesting parallel that
takes place between Gen. 8 (the emergence of the world out of the watery depths)
and Gen 1 (the creation of the world). Here, “wind” (ruah), “earth,” “waters,”
and “deep” echo Gen. 1:2—“…and darkness was over the surface of the
deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.”
Moses continues to describe the recession of the flood in
verse 2 when he says, “Also, the foundations of the deep and the floodgates of
the sky were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained” (8:2). Here,
there is a distinct juxtaposition witnessed between the “deep”/“floodgates”
(waters) and the “sky” (repeated twice). This is not unlike the juxtaposition
witnessed in Gen. 1:7 when Moses says “God made the expanse (sky), and
separated the waters which were below and the expanse from the waters which
were above the expanse…”
In Gen. 8:2, God turns off both the fountains (water coming
up out of the earth) and the floodgates (water raining down from above).
This, no doubt, allowed the “water” to recede “steadily from
the earth, and at the end of one hundred and fifty days the water decreased”
(8:3). Draining into the deepest recesses of the ocean and eventually finding
its way back into the earth’s crust the ark eventually finds a resting place on a mountaintop.
The Kola
Superdeep Borehole is the result of a scientific
drilling project of the Soviet Union. The project (which began in May
1970) attempted to drill as deep as possible into the Earth's crust.
Though a number of boreholes, the deepest, SG-3, reached 12,262
meters (40,230 ft or over 12km or over 7.5 miles!) in 1989 and still is
the deepest artificial point on Earth. To scientists, one of the more
fascinating findings to emerge from this well is that the rock at that depth
had been thoroughly fractured and was saturated with water. This water, unlike
surface water, must have come from deep-crust minerals and had been unable to
reach the surface because of a layer of impermeable rock. No doubt,
when the God broke open the fountains of the deep, all of this water was able
to break through and reach the surface.
“In the seventh
month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested upon the mountain of
Ararat” (8:4). These indications of time are significant in Genesis 8, for,
they do not just chart when things took place, but they allude to the religious
calendar. The seventh month in the Hebrew calendar was Tishri, the most
important month of the sacred celebrations, it included the Day of Atonement,
the Feast of Trumpets, Tabernacles, and Sacred Assembly (Lev. 23:23-36). This
leaves commentators like Matthews convinced that there is a connection between
when the Ark “rested” and the cultic month that celebrates atonement and God’s
provision. Though Noah was not privy to these celebrations (as they began after
his time), no doubt Moses’ original audience was familiar and could therefore make these
connections. More interesting still is that the word “rested” (nuah) is
very near the name “Noah.”
The ark’s resting place was on “mount Ararat.” Sitting some
seventeen thousand feet above sea level and situated in modern day Turkey, this
mountaintop was the first sight of land and would prove to be to be the only
sight of land for three months!
The account continues by saying “The 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…” (8:5). Some seventy-two or
seventy-three days after the vessel landed, the waters had regressed far enough
to reveal the peaks of various surrounding mountains. “Land Ahoy!” Noah must
have shouted, excited to finally perceive something other than water around
him. However, it would be five more months until God would give the
all clear to depart the ark!
As the land is seen coming up out of the waters in verses
3-5, one cannot help but remember that in Gen. 1:9 “God said, ‘Let the waters
below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”…”
Both passages contain the verb “appear,” and the appearance of “dry land.” This helps reiterate the connection between creation and recreation. God
created an inhabitable world in Gen. 1 and was in the process of doing the same
in Gen. 8.
Noah Sends the Birds
-8:6-12
Having made patience his new friend, Noah waited for more
instructions. Imagine, coming all this way only to (for a time) sit and wait
(with all of those animals!). Perhaps Noah’s curiosity or boredom got the best
of him for “…at the end of forty days,…Noah opened the window of the ark which
he had made; and he sent out a raven, and it flew here and there until the
water was dried up from the earth…”(8:6-7). Many who are aware of Noah’s story
know about the dove; however, how many forget about the raven? The
raven was probably sent out for the same reason as the dove; however, perhaps the raven
was sent out first because of his strength and ability to fly longer distances
without returning for food. “According to rabbinic tradition, the raven was
released first as expendable since it was neither good for food nor sacrifice…its
departure from the ark signified that the impurities of the past had been
removed and the creation of the new world had a fresh start” (Matthews, 387).
Whether or not Noah understood this is unclear. However, progressive revelation
is able to help us understand what may have been involved in this decision.
Seven days later, the second animal to leave the
ark is a dove—“Then he sent out a dove from him, to see if the water was abated
from the face of the land” (8:8). Remember, if we take the specifications of
the ark literally, the only way for Noah to see outside of the ark is through
the lone window on top. Therefore, he is made to rely on these winged shipmates
of his to scope out the surroundings to see if there is any dry land that they
can inhabit.
Unfortunately,”… 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 himself,…” (8:9).
The difference between the dove and the crow is striking.
The dove is beautiful and a symbol of peace and purity. The crow is anything
but these things.
Noah patiently waits another seven days “and again he sent
out the dove from the ark…” (8:10). This time “the 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” (8:11). Eureka! This fresh leaf confirmed that the earth
was dry enough to yield foliage and perhaps even vegetation. Such a
discovery must have reassured Noah (the new Adam) that God had made good on His
promise.
“Then he waited yet
another seven days, and sent out the dove; but she did not return to him again”
(8:12). It is obvious that this time the bird left, she found something better
than what she already knew was on the ark (freedom in a sustaining environment).
“By not returning it proclaims this freedom to those who are still shut up in
the ark” (Westermann, 449).
Noah’s birds reveal that the earth was drying up and able to
sustain life. However, these birds also parallel the birds that were created on
the fifth day of creation—“…and let birds fly above the earth, in the open
expanse of the heavens” (Gen. 1:20). As these birds were some of the first
visible organisms on the earth, so too are they the first seen outside the ark
and the first to witness signs of life following the flood.
The Passengers De-Ark-8:13-19
“Now 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,…” (8:13a). An entire year had passed
since the rain began to fall (see 7:6). However, by now the earth was dry
again.
I imagine with great alacrity, “Noah removed the covering of
the ark, and looked, and behold, the surface of the ground was dried
up…”(8:13b). For the first time, Noah could see what his birds had seen.
There, in the midst of that profoundly tender and quiet
moment as Noah perceived the barren landscape—no people, no animals as far as
the eye could see—God breaks the silence and speaks for the first time since He
gave Noah his final instructions—“then God spoke to Noah saying…” (8:15).
“…go out of the ark,
you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives with you…’” (8:16). These
are the words that Noah and his family had longed to hear. They had heard the
words of God’s judgment on the earth, the instructions they were given, and the
promise God had made; however, now they heard the unmistakable sound of hope
realized. They were alive following the most cataclysmic ordeal the world had
ever seen and could now start their lives in a new world.
After calling them out of the ark, God issues two commands.
The first of these is in the first part of verse 17—“ Bring 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,…”. This new world not only belonged to mankind, it belonged to the
creatures on the ark. However, just as humans were over and above the animal
kingdom in Genesis 1:28b, so too is man given authority here in this new
situation as mankind leads the animals off of the ark and sees to it that they
breed accordingly to fill the earth with their presence.
The second command God gives to Noah’s family is to get busy —“be fruitful and multiply on the earth” (8:17b). As the
fountainheads of the human race, it was Noah’s family’s job to help repopulate
the planet—just as Adam and Eve were commissioned to do in Genesis 1:28a. What
a responsibility!
Having heard this newest list of instructions, Noah, as he has proved to do time and time again, obeys without hesitation—“So Noah went out,
and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him” (8:18). Though their
eyes needed some adjusting as they emerged from the darkness of the ark, I believe this family was eager to get some fresh air. When they
stepped out of the ark, they were stepping out of a world that God had
destroyed and into a new world teaming with possibilities and potential—a world
preserved just for them because of the overwhelming grace of God.
Following mankind’s lead, “Every beast, every creeping
thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by their
families from the ark,…” (8:19). The implication here is that Noah's family and the animals with them began to do
just as God had commanded—reproduce and fill the earth.
So What?
The actions taken in Genesis 8 reveal the faithfulness of God and the
values of patience and obedience. When God turns off the rain, He makes good on
the covenant that He cut with Noah. When Noah sends the birds while waiting for
final instructions, he demonstrates incredible patience. When the passengers
finally leave the ark, they do so in obedience to the Lord’s command.
Though we may be far removed from Noah’s situation and the global
flood, the principles of this passage continue to speak loud and clear. God has
cut a covenant with you and with me—a covenant of grace. Our hope in Jesus
Christ and the heaven that is coming is the destiny we will one day reach after
our journey through the storm of this world. However, for the time being, patience
is required as the Lord tarries and time continues its march. At times, I imagine that
many of us feel like Noah in his ark. Like him, we see only a small section of
what is going on and are made to wonder what is out there and what is coming.
We throw out our birds to get a read on the world around us, hoping that relief
is around the corner. In the meantime, what is required of us is obedience.
Like Noah, our responsibility in this journey is simply to do what God instructs
when He instructs it and how He instructs it. Who knows how things may have
turned out if Noah had not done as he was told when he was told to do it! Just imagine
what would have happened if Noah wasn’t patient to wait and took matters into
his own hands!
Our patience to wait on the Lord
and obedience to answer His call is essential to accomplish the mission that
God has given us.
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