The Pulpit Commentaries
Genesis 8:1-14
EXPOSITION
And God. Elohim, i.e. God in his most universal relation to his creatures. The supposition of two different accounts or histories being intermingled in the narrative of the Flood (Bleek, Eichhorn, Hupfeld, Kalisch, Alford, Coleuso) is not required for a sufficient explanation of the varying use of the Divine names. Remembered. From a root signifying to prick, pierce, or print, e.g; upon the memory; hence to remember. "Not that there is oblivion or forgetfulness with God, but then God is said to remember when he showeth by the effects that he hath taken care of man" (Willet). He remembers man's sins when he punishes them (Psalms 25:7; cf. 1 Kings 17:20), and his people's needs when he supplies them (cf. Nehemiah 5:19). The expression is an anthropopathism designed to indicate the Divine compassion as well as grace. Calvin thinks the remembrance of which Moses speaks "ought to be referred not only to the external aspect of things (i.e. the coming deliverance), but also to the inward feeling of the holy man," who, through grace, was privileged to enjoy "some sensible experience of the Divine presence" while immured in the ark. Noah,—cf. the Divine remembrance of Abraham and Lot (Genesis 19:29), the request of the Hebrew psalmist (Psalms 132:1)—and every living thing,—chayyah, or wild beast (vide Genesis 1:25; Genesis 7:14)—and all the cattle that was with him in the ark. A touching indication of the tenderness of God towards his creatures. As a proof that God remembered the lonely inmates of the ark, he at once takes steps to accomplish their deliverance, which steps are next enumerated. And God made a wind—ruach. Not the Holy Ghost, as in Genesis 1:2 (Theodoret, Ambrose, LXX.—πνεῦμα), nor the heat of the sun (Rupertus); but a current of air (ἀìνεμος), which "would promote evaporation and aid the retreat of the waters" (Murphy):—the ordinary method of driving away rain and drying the ground (vide Proverbs 25:23); the special instrumentality employed to divide the waters of the Red Sea (Exodus 14:21)—to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged, or began to grow calm, after a period of commotion (cf. Esther 2:1; Esther 7:10)—the first stage in the returning of the waters. ΚαιÌ εκοìπασε τοÌ ὑìδωρ, and the water grew tried (LXX.). Cf. ἐκοìπασεν ὁ ἀìνεμος, Matthew 14:32; Mark 4:39; Mark 6:51.
The fountains also of the deep, and the windows of heaven were stopped. וַיִּסָּכְרוּ, from סָכַר=סָגַר, to surround, to enclose; literally, were shut up; ἐπεκαλυìφθησαν (LXX.). Their opening was described in Genesis 7:11. And the rain from heaven was restrained. וַיִּכָּלֵא, literally, was shut up, from כָּלָא, to close. Cf. κλειìω, κωλυìω, κολουìω, celo, occulo (Gesenius, Furst), συνεσχεìθη (LXX). At the end of the forty days; at the end of the 150 days (Aben Ezra, Murphy).
And the waters returned from off the earth continually. Literally, going and returning. "More and more" (Gesenius). The first verb expresses the continuance and self-increasing state of the action involved in the second; cf. Genesis 26:13; 1 Samuel 6:12; 2 Kings 2:11 (Furst). Gradually (Murphy, Ewald). The expression "denotes the turning-point after the waters had become calm" (T. Lewis). May it not be an attempt to represent the undulatory motion of the waves in an ebbing tide, in which the water seems first to advance, but only to retire with greater vehemence, reversing the movement of a flowing tide, in which it first retires and then advances—in the one case returning to go, in the other going to return? The LXX; as usual, indicates the visible effect rather than the actual phenomenon: καιÌ ἐνεδιìδου τοÌ ὑìδωρ πορευìομενον ἀποÌ τῆς γῆς. And after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated. Literally, were cut off, hence diminished; imminsutae sunt (Vulgate); ἠλαττονοῦτο τοÌ ὑìδωρ (LXX.). The first stage was the quieting of the waters; the second was the commencement of an ebbing or backward motion; the third was a perceptible diminution of the waters.
And the ark rested. Not stopped sailing or floating, got becalmed, and remained suspended over (Kitto's 'Cyclop.,' art. Ararat), but actually grounded and settled on (Tayler Lewis) the place indicated by עַל (cf. Genesis 8:9; also Exodus 10:14; Numbers 10:36; Numbers 11:25, Numbers 11:26; Isaiah 11:2). In the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month. I.e. exactly 150 days from the commencement of the forty days' rain, reckoning thirty days to a month, which seems to confirm the opinion expressed (Genesis 7:24) that the forty days were included in the 150. Supposing the Flood to have begun in Marchesvan, the second month of the civil year, "we have then the remarkable coincidences that on the 17th day of Abib the ark rested on Mount Ararat, the Israelites passed over the Red Sea, and our Lord rose again from the dead" ('Speaker's Commentary'). Upon the mountains. I.e. one of the mountains. "Pluralis numerus pro singulari ponitur". Of Ararat.
1. It is agreed by all that the term Ararat describes a region.
2. This region has been supposed to be the island of Ceylon (Samaritan), Aryavarta, the sacred land to the north of India (Van Bohlen, arguing from Genesis 11:2); but "it is evident that these and such like theories have been framed in forgetfulness of what the Bible has recorded respecting the locality" (Kitto's 'Cyclopedia,' art. Ararat).
3. The locality which appears to have the countenance of Scripture is the region of Armenia (of. 2 Kings 19:37; Isaiah 37:38; Jeremiah 51:27; Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, Vulgate).
4. In Armenia three different mountains have been selected as the site on which the ark grounded.
(1) The modern Ararat, which rises in Northern Armenia, about twelve miles south of Erivan, in the form of two majestic cones, the one 16,254, and the ether 12,284 feet (Parisian) in height above the level of the sea (Hierony. mus, Furst, Kalisch, Keil, Delitzsch, and Lange). All but universal tradition has decided that the loftiest of these two peaks (called Macis in Armenian; Aghri-Dagh, i.e. the difficult or steep mountain, by the Turks; Kuchi Nuch, i.e. the mountain of Noah, by the Persians) was the spot where the sacred vessel first felt the solid land. Travelers describe the appearance of this amazing elevation as of incomparable and overpowering splendor. "It appeared as if the highest mountains in the world had been piled upon each other to form this one sublime immensity of earth and rocks and snow. The icy peaks of its double head rose majestically into the clear and cloudless heavens; the sun blazed bright upon them, and the reflection sent forth a radiance equal to other suns" (Ker Porters 'Travels, 1.132; 2.636). "Nothing can be more beautiful than its shape, more awful than its height. All the surrounding mountains sink into insignificance when compared to it. It is perfect in all its parts; no hard, rugged feature, no unnatural prominences; everything is in harmony, and all combines to render it one of the sublimest objects in nature". The ascent of the Kara Dagh, or Greater Ararat, which the Armenians believe to be guarded by angels from the profane foot of man, after two unsuccessful attempts, was accomplished in 1829 by Professor Parrot, a German, and five years later, in 1834, by the Russian traveler Automonoff. In 1856 five English travelers, Majors Stewart and Frazer, Roy. Walter Thursby, Messrs. Theobald and Evans, performed the herculean task. The latest successful attempt was that of Prof. Bryce of Oxford in 1876.
(2) An unknown mountain in Central Armenia between the Araxes and lakes Van and Urumiah (Vulgate, super mantes Armeniae; Gesenius, Murphy, Wordsworth, Bush, 'Speaker's Commentary').
(3) A peak in the Gordyaean mountains, or Carduchian range, separating Armenia on the south from Kurdistan (Chaldea Paraphrase, Onkelos, Syriac, Calvin), near which is a town called Naxuana, the city of Noah (Ptolemy), Idshenan (Moses Chorenensis), and Nachid-shenan, the first place of descent (the Armenians), which Josephus translates by ἀπορατηìριον, or the place of descent. Against the first is the inaccessible height of the mountain; in favor of the third is the proximity of the region to the starting-place of the ark.
And the waters decreased continually—literally, were going and decreasing—until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month,—chodesh, a lunar month, beginning at the new moon, from chadash, to be new; νεομηνιìα, LXX. (of. Exodus 13:5). Chodesh yamim, the period of a month (cf. Genesis 29:14; Numbers 11:20, Numbers 11:21)—were the tops of the mountains seen. "Became distinctly visible". Apparuerunt cacumina montium (Vulgate). The waters had now been subsiding ten weeks, and as the height of the water above the highest hills was probably determined by the draught of the ark, we may naturally reason that the subsidence which had taken place since the seventeenth day of the seventh month was not less than three hundred and fifteen inches, at twenty-one inches to the cubit, or about four and one-third inches a day.
And it came to pass, literally, it was—at the end of forty days. Delaying through combined fear and sorrow on account of the Divine judgment (Calvin); to allow sufficient space to undo the effect of the forty days' rain (Murphy); probably just to be assured that the Deluge would not return. That Noah opened the window—chalon, a window, "so called from being perforated, from chalal, to bore or pierce" (Gesenius); used of the window of Rahab's house (Joshua 2:18); not the window (tsohar) of Genesis 6:16, q.v.—of the ark which ha had made: and he sent forth a raven. Literally, the orev, so called from its black color' (Gesenius; cf. Song of Solomon 5:11), Latin, corvus, a raven or crow; the article being used either
(1) because the species of bird is intended to be indicated (Kalisch), or
(2) because there was only one male raven in the ark, the raven being among the unclean birds (Le Genesis 11:15; Deuteronomy 14:14; Lunge); but against this is "the dove" (per. 8); or
(3) because it had come to be well known from this particular circumstance (Keil).
Its peculiar fitness for the mission imposed on it lay in its being a bird of prey, and therefore able to sustain itself by feeding on carrion (Proverbs 30:17). To the incident here recorded is doubtless to be traced the prophetic character which in the ancient heathen world, and among the Arabians in particular, was supposed to attach to this ominous bird. Which went to and fro. Literally, and it went forth going and returning, i.e. flying backwards and forwards, from the ark and to the ark, perhaps resting on it, but not entering into it (Calvin, Willet, Ainsworth, Keil, Kalisch, Lunge, Bush, 'Speaker's Commentary'); though some have conceived that it no more returned to the ark, but kept flying to and fro throughout the earth (LXX; "καιÌ ἐξελθωÌν οὐκ ἀνεìστρεψεν;" Vulgate, "qui egrediebatur et non revertebatur;" Alford, "it is hardly probable that it returned;" Murphy, "it did not need to return"). Until the waters were dried up from off the earth. When of course its return was unnecessary. Cf. for a similar form of expression 2 Samuel 6:23. Whether it entirely disappeared at the first, or continued hovering round the ark, Noah was unable from its movements to arrive at any certain conclusion as to the condition of the earth, and accordingly required to adopt another expedient, which he did in the mission of the dove.
Also he sent forth—per. 10 seems to Warrant the inference that this was after an interval of seven days (Baumgarten, Knobel, Keil, Lange)—a dove. Literally, the dove. The Scriptural references to the dove are very numerous: cf. Psalms 68:14 (its beautiful plumage); Le Psalms 5:7; Psalms 12:6 (its sacrificial use); Isaiah 38:14; Isaiah 59:11 (its plaintive notes); Psalms 55:6 (its power of flight); Matthew 10:16 (its gentleness); vide also the metaphorical usage of the term in So Matthew 1:15; Matthew 5:12 (beautiful eyes); So Matthew 5:2; Matthew 6:9 (a term of endearment). From him. I.e. from himself, from the ark; not ὀπιìχω αὐτοῦ (LXX.), post eum (Vulgate); i.e. after the raven. Lange thinks the expression indicates that the gentle creature had to be driven from its shelter out upon the wide waste of water. To see if the waters were abated—literally, lightened, i.e. decreased (per. 11)—from off the face of the ground; but the dove found no rest for the solo of her foot. The earth being not yet dry, but wet and muddy, and doves delighting to settle only on such places as are dry and clean; or the mountain tops, though visible, being either too distant or too high, and doves delighting in valleys and level plains, whence they are called doves of the valleys (Ezekiel 7:16). And she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were upon (literally, waters upon; a much more graphic statement than appears in the A.V.) the face of the whole earth: then (literally, and) he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in (literally, caused her to come in) unto him into the ark.
And he stayed. וַיָחֶל, fut. apoc; Hif. of חוּל, to turn, to twist, to be afraid, to tremble, to wait (Furst); fut. apoc. Kal (Gesenius). Yet other seven days. עוֹד, prop. the inf. absol, of the verb עוּט, to go over again, to repeat; hence, as an adverb, conveying the idea of doing over again the action expressed in the verb (cf. Genesis 46:29; Psalms 84:5). And again he sent forth—literally, he added to send (cf. Genesis 8:12, Genesis 8:21)—the dove out of the ark.
And the dove came in unto him. Literally, to him. As the manner of doves is, partly for better accommodation both for food and lodging than yet he could meet with abroad, and partly from love to his mate (Poole). In the evening (of the seventh day). And, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off. Not as if "Deo jubente, uno die germinavit terra" (Ambrose), but because the olive leaves kept green under water (Chrysostom). Rosenmüller, Lange, and Kalisch quote Pliny (13. 50) and Theophrastus ('Hist. Plant; 4.8) to this effect. That the olive tree grows in Armenia is proved by the testimony of Strabo, Horace (Od. I. 7. 7), Virgil (Georg. 2.3), Diodorus Siculus (1. 17), c. On this point vide Kalisch. The leaf which the dove carried towards the ark was "taraf," freshly plucked; hence rightly translated by "viride (Michaelis, Rosenmüller) rather than by "decerptum" (Chaldee, Arabic) or "raptum" (Calvin). Καìρφος (LXX.) is just the opposite of "fresh," viz; withered. So Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.
And he stayed. וַיִּיָּחֶל; Niph. fut. of יָחַל (Gesenius); cf. וַיָּחֶל. (Genesis 8:10), Hiph. fut. of חוּל (Furst, Delitzsch). Tayler Lewis, following Jewish authorities, would derive both from יָחַל; with Aben Ezra making the first a regular Niphal, and with Rashi the second a contracted Piel. Yet other seven days. The frequent repetition of the number seven clearly points to the hebdomadal division of the week, and the institution of Sabbatic rest (vide Genesis 2:1, Expos.). And sent forth the dove. "The more we examine these acts of Noah, the more it will strike us that they must have been of a religious nature. He did not take such observations, and so send out the birds, as mere arbitrary acts, prompted simply by his curiosity or his impatience; but as a man of faith and prayer he inquired of the Lord. What more likely then that such inquiry should have its basis in solemn religious exercises, not arbitrarily entered into, but on days held sacred for prayer and religious rest?" (T. Lewis). Which returned not again (literally, and it added not to return) unto him any more.
And it came to pass (literally, it was) in the six hundredth and first year (of Noah's life; so LXX.), in the first month,—τοῦ πρωìτου μηνοÌς, (LXX.); the word for month (expressed in Genesis 8:4, Genesis 8:14) being omitted in the Hebrew text for brevity,—the first day of the month, the waters were dried up—the root signifies to burn up or become dry in consequence of heat (Furst); "it merely denotes the absence of water" (Gesenius)—from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark—mikseh, from kasah, to cover; used of the covering of the ark (Exodus 26:14) and of the holy vessels (Numbers 4:8, Numbers 4:12), and hence supposed to be made of skins (Knobel, Bush); but "the deck of an ark on which the rain-storms spent their force must surely have been of as great stability as the ark itself (Lange)—and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.
And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried. יָבְשָׁה The three Hebrew verbs employed to depict the gradual cessation of the floods express a regular gradation; קָלַל (Genesis 8:11), to be lightened, signifying their abatement or diminution (κεκοìπακε τοÌ ὑìδωρ, LXX.); חָרַב (Genesis 8:13), to be dried up, indicating the disappearance of the water (ἐξεìλιπε τοì ὑìδωρ, LXX.); יָבֵשׁ (Genesis 8:14), to be dry, denoting the desiccation of the ground (ἐξηραìνθη ἡ γῆ, (LXX.). Cf. Isaiah 19:5, where there is a similar gradation: וְנָהָר יֶחֱרַב וְיָבְשׁ, and the river shall be wasted and dried up.
Chronology of the Flood
(Reckoning from the first day of the year.)
Mos.
Days
Days
I. Beginning of the flood
1
17 =
47
Continuance of Rain
=
40
Prevalence of Waters
=
110
II. The Ark touches Ararat
6
17 =
197
III. The Mountains seen
9
=
270
Raven sent after 40 days
=
310
Dove sent " 7 "
=
317
Dove sent " 7 "
=
324
Dove sent " 7 "
=
331
IV. The Waters dried up
12
27 =
360
V. The earth dry
13
27 =
417
The data are insufficient to enable us to determine whether the Noachic year was solar or lunar. It has been conjectured that the year consisted of twelve months of thirty days, with five intercalated days at the end to make up the solar year of three hundred and sixty-five days (Ewald); of seven months of thirty days and five of thirty-one (Bohlen); of five of thirty and seven of twenty-nine (Knobel); but the circumstance that the period from the commencement of the Deluge to the touching of Ararat extended over five months exactly, and that the waters are said to have previously prevailed for one hundred and fifty days, naturally leads to the conclusion that the months of Noah's year were equal periods of thirty days.
HOMILETICS
Mount Ararat, or the landing of the ark.
That disembarkment on the mountain heights of Ararat was an emblem of another landing which shall yet take place, when the great gospel ship of the Christian Church shall plant its living freight of redeemed souls upon the hills of heaven. Everything that Mount Ararat witnessed on that eventful day will yet be more conspicuously displayed in the sight of God's believing people who shall be counted worthy of eternal life.
I. SIN PUNISHED. Mount Ararat was a solemn witness to the severity of Goad's judgments upon a guilty world. Never had the world looked on such a vindication of the insulted holiness and offended justice of Almighty God, and never will it look upon another till the hour strikes when "the heavens, being on fire, shall dissolve" (2 Peter 3:10), and "the Lord himself shall be revealed in flaming fire" (2 Thessalonians 1:7).
II. GRACE REVEALED. Mount Ararat saw Divine grace displayed to sinful mere. Pre-eminently Noah and his family were debtors to Divine grace that day when they stepped forth from the ark; add who can doubt that a sense of the richness of Divine grace in saving them will be one of the first feelings to take possession of the souls of the ransomed on reaching heaven?
III. SALVATION ENJOYED. Mount Ararat beheld salvation enjoyed by believing sinners. The deliverance of Noah and his family was a type of the salvation of the saints, which, however, is immeasurably grander than that of Noah.
1. In kind, as being a spiritual, and not merely a temporal, deliverance.
2. In degree, as being complete; whereas Noah's was at the best an imperfect deliverance—a deliverance from the Flood, but not from that which caused the Flood—sin.
3. In duration. Noah's deliverance was only for a time—in the end he descended to the grave; the deliverance of the saints is for ever (Luke 20:36).
IV. GRATITUDE EXPRESSED. Mount Ararat heard the adorations and thanksgivings of a redeemed family. In Noah's sacrifice was a wonderful commingling of ideas and emotions,—
(1) faith,
(2) penitence,
(3) thanksgiving,
(4) consecration,
all of which will have a place within the bosoms of the ransomed host who yet shall sit upon the sea of glass. If not the offering up of sacrificial victims, as the expression of the soul's faith, there will be
(1) in the midst of the throne a Lamb as it had been slain;
(2) the continual offering up of broken and of contrite hearts;
(3) the chanting of perpetual hosannas and hallelujahs; and
(4) the eternal consecration of our redeemed hearts to God.
V. SAFETY CONFIRMED. Mount Ararat listened to the voice of God confirming the salvation of his people. In two ways was it confirmed.
(1) By a voice, and
(2) by a sign—the rainbow.
And so is the eternal happiness of God's believing people secured
(1) by the sure word of promise (Revelation 21:3) and
(2) by the covenant of grace (Revelation 4:3).
Hoping and waiting.
I. The PATIENCE Of Noah's hope.
1. Patience a characteristic of all true hope (Romans 8:25).
2. Faith in the Divine covenant is the secret of hope's patience (Hebrews 11:1).
3. The patience of hope is always proportioned to the brightness of faith's vision.
II. The EAGERNESS of Noah's hope.
1. While waiting God's time he kept a steady outlook for the coming of the promise.
2. He employed different methods to discover its approach—the raven and the dove.
3. He sanctified the means he used by devotion.
III. The REWARD Of Noah's hope. In due time the dove returned with an olive leaf, which was—
1. A timely answer.
2. An intelligible answer.
3. A joyous answer; and—
4. A sufficient answer.
The returning of the waters, or the recall of Divine judgments.
I. GOD'S JUDGMENTS HAVE THEIR SPECIFIC PURPOSES.
1. Separation—the elimination of the righteous from the wicked. Under the present condition of the world there is a strange intermingling of the good and the evil. The tares and the wheat, the draw-net with good and bad fish (Matthew 13:1.) are suggestive emblems of this mixed state of society. The grand object contemplated by Christianity is the elimination of the saintly element from that which is corrupt. For this end it lays a special injunction on the former to withdraw themselves from the company and contagion of the latter (2 Corinthians 6:17; 2 Thessalonians 3:6; 1 Timothy 6:5). Only it forbids men, under cover of real or pretended zeal for righteousness, to attempt any forcible separation of the commingled elements (Matthew 13:30). Yet what the hand of man cannot do the hand of God can—winnow the chaff from the wheat. He did so by the Flood. He did so by the incarnation (Matthew 3:12). He will do so at the second advent (Matthew 13:30; Matthew 25:32).
2. Condemnation—the infliction of retribution on the finally impenitent. Undisguised was this the design of the full catastrophe which overtook "the world of the ungodly" in the time of Noah. It was sent for the specific purpose of punishing their evil deeds. And so have all Divine judgments of a like kind, what we misname accidents,—catastrophes, floods, famines, pestilences, c.,—a terrible on look of wrath and judicial retribution to them who forget to humble themselves -beneath the mighty hand of God. So certainly will the last great judgment, of which Noah's flood was a prophetic symbol and warning, have as its specific purpose the complete destruction of the finally impenitent (Genesis 2:5; 2 Thessalonians 1:7; Hebrews 10:27; 2 Peter 3:7).
3. Preservation—the salvation of the faithful. This may be said to be the aim of all those minor troubles and afflictions that befall God's people on the earth (Romans 8:28; 2 Corinthians 4:17). It is specially so when on a larger scale he interposes to inflict his judgments on the world (Isaiah 26:9). When he overthrows the wicked (whether nation or individual) suddenly as in a moment, it is with an eye to the deliverance of his people. Examples—Pharaoh, Goliath, Haman, Herod, Belshazzar. It was so with Noah. The destruction of the antediluvian sinners was necessary, if the remnant of the primitive Church was to be saved. So may it be said that the future overthrow of the wicked is indispensable, if the eternal happiness of the redeemed is to be secured.
II. GOD'S JUDGMENTS HAVE THEIR APPOINTED TIMES.
1. Their times of coming. The hour of the commencement of the Flood was both fixed and announced 120 years before the event. Though not revealed, as in the can of the Noachic Deluge, the date of every event is as truly predetermined (cf. Genesis 18:14; Exodus 9:5; Job 7:1; Ecclesiastes 3:1; Jeremiah 8:7; Acts 17:26). And God's judgments always keep their set times of coming, as the Flood came in the predicted hour for its arrival.
2. Their times of continuance. The flood of waters lingered on the earth for a season, but not forever. From the moment when the first raindrop fell from the leaden sky, after the Lord had shut the patriarch with his family and living creatures into the ark, till it could be said the earth was dry, one year and ten days passed away. So have all God's judgments, at least here, their limits. Upon sinful men his wrath is not poured out without measure.
3. Their times of recall. In the future world we do not read that there will be any recall of the Divine judgments; everlasting punishment (Matthew 25:46), fire that never shall be quenched (Mark 9:43), everlasting destruction (2 Thessalonians 1:9) are some of the expressions employed to depict the fire-deluge of eternity. But here on earth God's judgments, being only for a set time, are subject to recall; and as they cannot anticipate the hour appointed for their coming, so neither can they linger beyond the moment assigned for their departure. Their recall too is, as in the case of Noah's flood—
(1) An act of grace (Genesis 8:1). "God remembered Noah." "It is of the Lord's mercies we are not consumed".
(2) An act of power (Genesis 8:2, Genesis 8:3). As in order to roll back the tide of waters he sent forth a wind and stopped up the flood-gates of the deep and the windows of heaven, so is he able to lay his hand upon all the powers and forces of the material universe, and make them cease their working as easily as he set them in operation.
III. GOD'S JUDGMENTS HAVE THEIR APPROPRIATE SIGNS.
1. Signs of their approach, which are commonly—
(1) The growing wickedness of man, as in the days of Noah (Genesis 6:11, Genesis 6:12). When an individual or a nation is becoming mature in sin, then that individual or that nation is becoming ripe for judgment. So it was with Pharaoh, and afterwards with Israel, with Babylon, Nineveh, Greece, Rome. So will it be in the end of the world (cf. Revelation 14:15).
(2) Prelusive chastisements from God, again as in the days of Noah (Genesis 7:10). The Deluge began with a rain-shower, which gradually became more violent as the days passed, and with the bursting forth of subterranean floods, which swelled the rivers, lakes, and oceans; all which must have been ominous indications that the long-threatened judgment was at last approaching. So the full outpouring of God's wrath is commonly heralded by anticipatory inflictions.
2. Signs of their departure, which are usually—
(1) The accomplishment of their mission. Immediately it could be said, "All in whose nostrils was the breath of life died" (Genesis 7:22), it was added, "And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged" (Genesis 8:1).
(2) The mitigation of their violence. The quieting of the waters (Genesis 8:1) was the first symptom of the passing of the storm to Noah; and so, when God's retributive judgments are about to be withdrawn, their severity begins to relax.
(3) The removal of their causes. The second sign to Noah was the cessation of the rain and the retirement of the floods (Genesis 8:2). So, when God's judgments are about to disappear, the agencies that brought them are visibly recalled.
(4) The arrival of little foretastes of deliverance. Such was the grounding of the ark to Noah and his imprisoned family (Genesis 8:4).
(5) The perceptible return of the previous condition of affairs. This was symbolized by the reappearance of the mountain-tops (Genesis 8:5).
IV. GOD'S JUDGMENTS HAVE THEIR INTERESTED OBSERVERS. Possibly the wicked are indifferent to the Divine judgments when they happen to be abroad upon the earth; but not so the righteous, to whom everything connected with them is of the utmost importance. Observers of God's judgments should be like Noah—
1. Hopeful—expecting them to pass. Had Noah not anticipated the complete removal of the waters, he had not made a single experiment to discover how that removal was progressing. Let the saints learn from Noah to cherish hope in God.
2. Prayerful. There is good reason for believing that Noah sent forth the raven and the dove on the day of weekly rest, and after solemn religious exercises (vide Expos.). The saint's inquiries into God's judgments should always be conducted in a spirit of devotion.
3. Intelligent—i.e. capable of reading the signs of the times. When the dove came home to Noah with the fresh-gathered olive leaf, "he knew that the waters were abated from off the earth" (Genesis 8:11). So God ever vouchsafes to devout souls, who seek them by faith, appropriate and adequate signs of his movements, which it becomes them to study and interpret.
4. Patient—seeking neither to outrun God's leading nor to anticipate God's directing, but, like Noah, calmly waiting the Divine order to advance to the new sphere and the new duty which the passing of his judgments may reveal. Noah waited fifty-seven days after the drying up of the waters before he left the ark, and then he only did so at God's command; wherefore, "be ye not unwise" by being over-hasty, "but understanding what the will of the Lord is" (Ephesians 5:17).
HOMILIES BY J.F. MONTGOMERY
God's infinite care.
In the experience of Christians the joy of first believing is often followed by a time of discouragement. Freshness of feeling seems to fade. The "law of sin" makes itself felt. Yet it is just the training by which firmer faith and fuller joy are to be reached. Deep must have been the thankfulness of those in the ark; safe in the midst of the flood. But their faith was tried. Five months, and still no abatement. Noah may well have had misgivings (cf. Matthew 11:3). But God had not forgotten him. He remembered not Noah only, but every creature in the ark (cf. Luke 12:6). He saves to the uttermost (Hebrews 7:25). The time of trial was a prelude to complete deliverance (cf. Acts 14:22).
I. THERE ARE TIMES WHEN BELIEVERS ARE TEMPTED TO FEEL FORGOTTEN. When troubles gather, and prayers seem unanswered, it is hard to keep faith firm. The warning Hebrews 12:6, Hebrews 12:7 often needful. Christians would fain be led in smooth ways. And when their course is irksome and discouraging they sometimes see the wind boisterous, and begin to sink. Still more surely does the feeling follow sin. The disciple has forgotten to watch; has trusted to his own strength; has ventured into temptation, and fallen. Then God is felt to be afar off (cf. Exodus 33:7). And there are times of discipline, when spiritual freedom seems denied, and the soul cannot cry Abba, and prayer seems choked (cf. Isaiah 49:14). Perhaps it is to teach humility; perhaps to show some root of evil; perhaps to excite more hunger for communion with God.
II. BUT GOD DOES NOT FORGET. A creature's love may fail (Isaiah 49:15), a creature's watchfulness may faint, but not God's. He made us; can he forget our wants? His purpose is our salvation; will he neglect any step? He gave his own Son for us; is anything else too great for his goodness? Not even thy coldness and unbelief can make him cease to care.
III. GOD'S CARE EXTENDS TO THE LEAST. Our Lord welcomed
(1) those of small account, and
(2) the undeserving (Luke 7:39; Luke 15:10; Luke 19:7). He cares also for small matters (cf. Luke 12:28). What treasures of wisdom and love surround us on every side! These are not beneath his care. Will he not fulfill? (Romans 8:28).
IV. FREEDOM THROUGH THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. God's time not always what we should choose (cf. John 7:6). Noah a prisoner of hope. God showed that the hope was well founded. The agent of deliverance "a wind "—the same word, both in Hebrew and in the LXX; as is used in Genesis 1:2 for the Spirit of God. Doubtless the agent in drying up the water was a wind. But in the spiritual lesson we are reminded of the Holy Spirit. His work at first brought life on the earth; and his work prepared for repeopling it, and completed the work of Noah's deliverance. And his work gives us freedom, showing us the work of Christ, and our position as children of God.—M.
HOMILIES BY R.A. REDFORD
Grace and providence.
The powers of material nature are obedient servants of God, and those who are the objects of his regard, remembered by him, are safely kept in the midst of the world's changes. "All things work together for their good." There is an inner circle of special providence in which the family of God, with those whose existence is bound up in it, is under the eye of the heavenly Father, and in the hollow of his hand. "And the ark rested" (Genesis 8:4). We speak of the cradle of the human race being set on Mount Ararat; is it not well to remember—
1. The new world came out of an ark of Divine grace. Religion is the real foundation of society.
2. The waves of the flood bore the ark to its resting-place. So the waters of affliction, though they heave our vessel and trouble our hearts with fear, carry us onward to a new and often higher standpoint of knowledge and faith.
3. While the flood bore the ark, God himself chose out the spot where it should end its awful journey. The Ararat of the new world was like the paradise of the first man—the nursery of a rising humanity; but whereas in the state of innocence it is a garden, in the case of the redeemed man it is a mountain, with its steep, rough places, its heights and depths, its trials and dangers. The humanity which started from Ararat carried with it at once the good and the evil of the old world which had passed away, and the mountain symbolized the complex treasury of possibilities, mingled with liabilities, which were laid up in the rescued race.—R.
The dispensations of righteousness and love.
The raven and the dove. While this passage has its natural, historical fitness, we cannot overlook its symbolical significance. It seems to set forth the two administrations of God, both of them going forth from the same center of his righteousness in which his people are kept safe. The one represented by the carrion bird, the raven, is THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUDGMENT, which goes forth to and fro until the waters are dried up from off the earth—finding a resting-place in the waters of destruction, though not a permanent rest; returning to the ark, as the beginning and the end of judgment is the righteousness of God. The dove is the emblem of DIVINE GRACE, spiritual life and peace. It cannot find rest in the waters of judgment until another seven days, another period of gracious manifestation, has prepared the world for it; then it brings with it the plucked-off olive leaf, emblem of retiring judgment and revealed mercy; and when yet another period of gracious manifestation has passed by, the dove shall return no more to the ark, for the ark itself is no more needed—the waters are abated from off the face of the earth. So we may say the raven dispensation was that which preceded Noah. Then followed the first sending forth of the dove unto the time of Moses, leading to a seven days' period of the ark life, waiting for another mission of grace. The dove brought back the olive leaf when the prophetic period of the old dispensation gave fuller promise of Divine mercy. But yet another period of seven days must transpire before the dove is sent forth and returns no more to the ark, but abides in the earth. After the two sacred intervals, the period of the law and the period of the prophets, which were both immediately connected with a special limited covenant such as is represented in the ark, there followed the world-wide mission of the Comforter. The waters were abated. The "Grace and Truth" took possession of man's world, cursed by sin, redeemed by grace.—R.