Genesis 7. The Flood

Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. 

• Some translations say “Come” instead of “Go” as if God was in the ark.

² Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, ³ and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. 

• Not just 2 of every animal – here we see 7 pairs of clean animals and birds!
• Also, the distinction between clean and unclean animals comes long before Leviticus!

⁴ For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.” ⁵ And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him.

• 40 days of raining: the number 40 often symbolizes a period of testing or preparation, like Moses spending 40 days on Mount Sinai, Israel wandering 40 years in the wilderness, orJesus fasting 40 days in the desert and appearing to His disciples for 40 days after His resurrection.
• Genesis 2:5 says God had not allowed it to rain yet

⁶ Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth. ⁷ And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood. ⁸ Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, ⁹ two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah. ¹⁰ And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth.

¹¹ In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. 

• The Flood comes from below (תְּהוֹם, tehom) and above (שָׁמַיִם, shamayim).
• This can be seen as the undoing of Genesis 1, where God separated the waters above from the waters below.
• However רָקִיעַ (raqia) is not used here (see Genesis 2). Instead, uses windows of the heavens (shamayim) opening while the great deep (tehom) bursts forth.

¹² And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. ¹³ On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark, ¹⁴ they and every beast, according to its kind, and all the livestock according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, according to its kind, and every bird, according to its kind, every winged creature.

• Was Noah allowed to invite others on the ark if they repented or did God give a hard decision on just his family? Verse 1 says his family was invited in.

 ¹⁵ They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. ¹⁶ And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the Lord shut him in.

• Since the text specifies creatures with “the breath of life,” does this imply that fish and other aquatic animals were left outside?
  • Genesis 2:7- God breathed life into Adam. God who gives life also has authority to take it away.
• What did it look like when “The Lord shut him in” the ark? Shows that Noah’s safety depends on God not the ark itself.

¹⁷ The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. ¹⁸ The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters. ¹⁹ And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. ²⁰ The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. 

• There are arguments whether this was a true global flood vs a localized one (only flooded a specific part of the earth/Mesopotamia)
  • People supporting local say that universal language can be regional
    • Examples: Genesis 41:57 “All the earth came to Egypt…”. Obviously not every person on earth traveled to Egypt. Luke 2:1 “All the world should be registered.” Refers to the Roman Empire, not every nation.
  • See these verses to help with your answer Psalm 104:5-9, 2 Peter 3:5-6

²¹ And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. ²² Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. ²³ He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. ²⁴ And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.

• I never realized how LONG Noah was in the ark ….so many questions about food resources….annoyance of animals…smells….I included a table from https://creation.com/en-au/articles/how-long-was-noah-on-the-ark below.