1. Exposition of Genesis 1-11
The Flood
Part V
Gen 8:1-22

2. The Overall Structure of Genesis
Key Word: tdol.AT, “The generations of...”
the Heavens and the Earth (2:4 – 4:26)
Adam (5:1 – 6:8)
Noah (6:9 – 9:27)
Sons of Noah (10:1 – 11:10)
Shem (11:10-26)
Terah (11:27 – 25:11)
Ishmael (25:12-18)
Isaac (25:19 – 35:29)
Esau (36:1 – 37:1)
Jacob (37:2 – 50:14)
The toledoth of Noah starts in 6:9, and it will run all the way through chapter 9; we will be in it the next several weeks.

3. The Chiasm of the Flood Account
a Genealogical note: Noah & his three sons 6:9-10
b God sees that all the earth is ruined 6:11-12
c God’s instructions to Noah 6:13-22
d They enter the ark 7:1-9
e Flood begins, ark is closed 7:10-16
f Waters rise 7:17-20
CLIMAX: All life on land dies; God remembers Noah and those with him 7:21-8:1a
f’ Waters recede 8:1b-5
e’ Flood ends, ark’s window is opened 8:6-14
d’ They exit the ark 8:15-22
c’ God’s instructions to Noah 9:1-7
b’ God promises to never again ruin the earth 9:8-17
a’ Genealogical note: Noah & his three sons 9:18-19
Twofold purpose of the flood: 1) Obliterate all terrestrial life in the first 150 days; 2) Restore the earth to a livable condition in the last 221 days.

4. The Flood Waters Begin to Recede Gen 8:1-5
8:1 is a turning point in the narrative and deals with a new topic: the deliverance of the survivors.
“God remembered Noah and all the beasts...” means He took special care to deliver them through this catastrophic judgment.
God used a wind to blow over the waters, stopped up the windows of heaven and the fountains of the great deep, and the waters began to gradually recede.
On the 151st day since they boarded the ark, the ark grounded on the mountains of Ararat, a region north of Assyria.
Some 74 days later, the waters had receded enough that the tops of the mountains became visible.
“returning” is the verb that’s used for the receding waters going back to their proper places.

5. The Flood Ends Gen 8:6-14
After 40 more days had passed, Noah sends out birds to see if their was dry land near.
This is in keeping with a standard practice of ancient seamen. The birds must be able to fly long distances, like the raven (wild and unclean) and the dove (capable of being tamed and clean).
The raven is sent out first. It evidently makes multiple trips from and to the ark, until the 27th day of the second month, when the earth was dry (8:7, 14).
The dove is sent out next. When the dove found no resting place, Noah waited 7 days and sent it out again. This time it returned with an olive branch containing several leaves.
This indicated that some of the lower hills, more suitable for growing olives, were now free from water.
After 7 more days, Noah sent the dove out again. This time it did not return, for it had found a place to nest.
Two very different kinds of birds, but sent on the same mission: to determine if there was dry land near.

6. The Flood Ends Gen 8:6-14
Vv correspond to 7:11 which describes the commencement to the flood and provide a formal conclusion to the narrative.
Consider the necessity of dating the flood by the life of Noah. He is the “senior man” of the remnant who remained.
Up till now, Noah evidently looked out a narrow opening. Now the cover (roof?) on the ark was removed and he could get the full lay of the land.
In the second month, on the 27th day of the month, the land was dry enough walk on.
“covering” is a different word than what was used for “window” or “roof” in 6:16.

7. Passage Date Duration Stage Flood Days
7:11
600/02/17
Rising waters
Torrential rain & spewing fountains
1st
7:12, 17
40 days
Ark floats
40th
7:24 (cf. 8:3)
150 days
Continual rising of waters
150th
8:4
600/07/17
Receding waters
Waters begin to subside; ark grounds
151st
8:5
600/10/01
74 days since ark grounded
Mountaintops appear
225th
8:6
Ark’s hatch opened
265th
8:7
Raven released
266th
8:8
7 days?
Dove released
273rd
8:10
7 days
Dove released, returns w olive branch
280th
8:12
Dove released, does not return
287th
8:13
601/01/01
90 days since mountaintops appeared
Ground free of excess water
315th
8:14
601/02/27
221 days since waters stopped
Land dry enough to disembark
371st
371 days is exactly 53 weeks

8. The Command to Leave the Ark Gen 8:15-17
This is the first direct communication from the Lord since Noah was commanded to board the ark (7:1-4).
Now Noah is commanded to exit the ark, along with his family members and all the creatures.
All of these are commanded to “breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”
No reason to see any significance in the change of order of listing of Noah’s family.

9. Passengers Exit the Ark Gen 8:18-22
Noah and the creatures obey the command to exit the ark.
Noah built an altar and offered some of every kind of clean animal and bird as sacrifices.
These are best understood not as making atonement, but as whole burnt offerings of worship and thanksgiving for deliverance through the judgment.
Noah had taken extra pairs of clean animals for this purpose.

10. Passengers Exit the Ark Gen 8:18-22
The sacrifices were a “soothing aroma” because they were offered from a heart of gratitude...another demonstration of Noah’s righteousness.
The Lord’s response was to determine within Himself never to:
curse again the ground, i.e. not add to the curse that He originally brought upon the ground because of man’s sin and continuance in evil (3:17-19; 6:5).
destroy the whole earth by flood as He had just done.
Cf. 2 Peter 3:3-7 to see a coming judgment by fire. This passage also deals with the issue of uniformitarianism, the idea that all things continue in the same way as they have since the beginning of the World. (May show video clip here).

11. Passengers Exit the Ark Gen 8:18-22
The Lord promises that as long as the earth remains (implying it will end one day), there will be a regular cycle of:
seedtime and harvest
cold and heat
summer and winter
day and night
These stand in clear contrast to what Noah and his family had just experienced for a little over a year during the flood.
We now have almost 4,500 years of
history that affirms the Lord’s
faithfulness to this promise.
Day and night continued to exist during the flood, but it would have been harder to distinguish between them because of the continual clouds and rain. The Lord’s faithfulness to this promise is the best answer to scare of global warming.

12. The Flood Part VI
Gen 9:1-17