Read Genesis 8:1-14
Any thoughts?
Verse 1. But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded.
1 – “Remembered” Did God forget about Noah?
Luke 12:6. Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God.
Isaiah 4915. “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!
God does not forget about animals, let alone people.
No – it means he turned his active attention towards Noah
The whole race of mankind, except Noah and his family, were now dead, so that God’s remembering Noah, was the return of his mercy to mankind.
God had wrath towards sin that had to be dealt with but Noah was spared. He was in there a long time. Do you think he wondered if God had forgotten about him?
Job 14:13. “If only you would hide me in the grave and conceal me till your anger has passed! If only you would set me a time and then remember me!
Deep thought – What was God doing all that time when Noah was on the ark??
He sent a wind… he could snap his fingers, but he does not. The water came gradually, and it will recede gradually.
Note – God has control of the water and the wind. Men do not. Evil, Godless men want to control the weather. The whole global warming movement is about controlling people and believe it or not, controlling the weather.
Proverbs 30:4. Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Whose hands have gathered up the wind? Who has wrapped up the waters in a cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is the name of his son? Surely you know!
Verse 2. Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had been closed, and the rain had stopped falling from the sky. 3. The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down,
In the creation story, God separated the waters from above and below in a statement in an instant. Here he has the water recede for many weeks. why?
When God created the earth, he was “finished.” and he rested. When he sends judgement, he does it gradually.
Verse 4. and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.
Name some ways good or bad for this resting place.
In one way of thinking, this is not convenient. The animals and people will need to descend from a mountain.
in another way of thinking, this is great. The sooner they “feel” stable ground the better, I’m sure.
If you want the ark to last for preserved to a thousand years, this is a good place.
-read a book on the search for this ark-
Verse 6 After forty days Noah opened a window he had made in the ark
Imagine how the ark looked. there is a window that he can see out, but he cant see down. The ark is on top of a mountain. So he cannot see land, vegetation, green, etc.
-God told Noah exactly when to get on the ark, but he did not tell him how long he would stay on the ark. What do you think that was like? Not knowing? What can Noah work on during this time.
So since he does not know, he sends out spies…. A raven and a dove…
Read verse 7-9
Verse 7 and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. 8 Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. 9 But the dove could find nowhere to perch because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark.
What is the significance of the raven vs the dove and the order?
A raven is a scavenger. It is probably feeding on dead carcasses. It comes back and forth though. It does not find a new home. This is probably not the information Noah is looking for, so he sends out a dove.
A dove is a herbivore. But the dove came back empty handed, indicating there is no food or place to stay.
The raven can signify the search for worldly satisfaction. The dove comes back to Noah and to the ark. As we can come back to Christ. he waits patiently for God to provide.
Read verse 10-12
Verse 10 He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. 11 When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth. 12 He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.
The dove returned with an olive “leaf” in its beak. This indicates that there is vegetation on the earth again. The olive branch is a symbol for peace and goodness…and still is today. “offer an olive branch…”
Note – it is a leaf, not an olive branch. – a branch could not be plucked or carried by a dove. just a note to file for a skeptics argument.
What is significant about 7 days after and 7 days after that?
It indicates that Noah is celebrating the sabbath. He is praying and expecting blessing on the Lord’s day.
The last time, the dove does not return, indicating that the earth was habitable.
Read verse 13,14
Verse 13 By the first day of the first month of Noah’s six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. 14 By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry.
Noah sees that “Jan 1st” the surface of the ground was dry, but he has to stay in the ark for 58 more days. He can see it, but does not leave. Why?
How hard is that?
The surface was dry, but not completely dry. God knows what is best for us. Did Noah question God’s timing to himself? Or did he sit and wait?
What do we think of God’s “rules?” Are they cause he is mean, or are they for our good? What is an example from todays. world?
Where do you need to trust that God’s standards are for your own good?