CHAPTER 7

(2349 B.C.)

GODS COMMAND TO ENTER THE ARK

¹And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all your house into the Ark (the Epistle to the Hebrews states that Noah prepared this Ark because he believed the Divine warning; as well, the word Come, as used by the Lord, presents the fact that God is the first One in the Ark; had He been outside, He would have said, Go into the Ark!); for you have I seen righteous before Me in this generation (refers to Noahs Faith in the coming Redeemer, for that is the only Faith that God will recognize; Paul wrote of him: And became heir of the Righteousness which is by Faith [Heb. 11:7]; the Faith addressed here speaks of Christ and what He would do at the Cross; Noah only had a dim view of that coming time, but, as dim as it was, he placed his past, his present, and his future in the Promise of God to send the Seed).

²Of every clean beast you shall take to you by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.

³Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the Earth (this is not a reference to the Levitical Law, for that would not be given for another 900 years; probably the clean animals mentioned were such as from the days of Adam and Abel, as had been offered in sacrifice; thus, provision was made for Noahs sacrifice on his exit from the Ark, when the flood would subside).

⁴For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the Earth forty days and forty nights (the command to enter the Ark was given a week before the rains would begin and rain such as the world had never known); and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the Earth.

⁵And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him (this is the second time that the Holy Spirit through Moses speaks of Noahs obedience).

THE FLOOD BEGINS

⁶And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the Earth (this Verse proves that the 120 years of Genesis 6:3 had nothing to do with the time limit until the flood; in fact, the Bible doesnt tell us how long it was that the warning was given to the people; the number six is generally a Scriptural symbol of suffering; in the Apocalypse, the sixth seal, the sixth trumpet, and the sixth vial introduce critical periods of affliction).

⁷And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons wives with him, into the Ark, because of the waters of the flood (concerning this time, Paul said in Hebrews 11:7 that they did this thing being moved with fear and impelled by faith).

⁸Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of everything that creeps upon the Earth.

⁹There went in two and two unto Noah into the Ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah (nothing short of Divine power could have effected such a timely and orderly entrance of the creatures into this huge vessel).

¹⁰And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the Earth (that which Noah had preached for a number of years was now a reality).

¹¹In the six hundredth year of Noahs life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened (the water came from above and from below; as well, it is believed by some Scientists, and rightly so, that the waters came with such force from the Earth, that it would have taken only a few days to have cut the Grand Canyon and other such similarities).

¹²And the rain was upon the Earth forty days and forty nights (the literal Hebrew translation is, And there was violent rain...).

¹³In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noahs wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the Ark (on the day the rains began, Noah and his family entered the Ark);

¹⁴They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps upon the Earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort.

¹⁵And they went in unto Noah into the Ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life (the Lord gave these animals the instinct to do what they did).

¹⁶And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in (the contrast between the two names of the Deity is most vividly presented here; in this one Verse, both God and LORD are used. It is Elohim Who commands Noah about the beasts; it is Jehovah, the Covenant God, Who ensures his safety by closing the Ark behind him; nothing can more fully express the Believers perfect security in Christ than those words, the LORD shut him in).

¹⁷And the flood was forty days upon the Earth; and the waters increased, and bore up the Ark, and it was lift up above the Earth (wherever it was that Noah built the Ark, the flood waters reached it, and it began to float).

¹⁸And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the Earth; and the Ark went upon the face of the waters (probably pertains to the fact that the scoffers flattered themselves that it would abate, and never come to extremity; but still it increased, and prevailed).

¹⁹And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the Earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered (those who dwelt upon the tops of the loftiest mountains perished equally with those who lived in the deepest valleys; there was no difference; many who live upon the mountains of morality think themselves secure from the judgment of fire that is now coming, and pity the certain fate of those who live in the depths of vice; but without Christ, all will perish).

²⁰Fifteen cubits upward (above the highest mountains) did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered (many Scholars believe that before the flood the tallest mountain in the world was approximately 10,000 feet or less; the great deep being broken up changed much of the topography of the world, making huge canyons and, at the same time, huge mountains).

²¹And all flesh died that moved upon the Earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creeps upon the Earth, and every man (the fish were not destroyed):

²²All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died (not one wave of that judgment reached Noah; he was absolutely safe; Noah could not perish because the Ark could not perish; the Ark could not perish because Jehovah was in the Ark; in effect, the Ark was Christ; therefore, God was in Christ, reconciling man unto Himself).

²³And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the Earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they who were with him in the Ark (only those who are in Christ are saved. There are no exceptions [Jn. 3:16]).

²⁴And the waters prevailed upon the Earth an hundred and fifty days.