Advancing the Revelation of Truth

 

THE EVENTS OF NOAH'S OBEDIENCE DURING

THE YEAR OF THE UNIVERSAL FLOOD

 

When considering this catastrophe we should bear in mind that the Earth, at that time in  2477bc, was one large land mass named by God, Eden. It was not until the days of Peleg, 2341bc, that this land mass was divided to form the various continents with which we are familiar to-day.

 

SEQUENCE OF EVENTS IMMEDIATELY BEFORE AND DURING THE TIME THAT THE UNIVERSAL FLOOD PREVAILED UPON THE EARTH. 

God chooses Noah and tells him the reason why He will flood the Earth.

These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.   And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.  And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

God describes the design of the Ark.

GEN 6:14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.

GEN 6:17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die. But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee.

Noah is given details of all to be Saved from the flood.

GEN 6:19 And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.  And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.

GEN 6:22 Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.

Noah enters the Ark.

GEN 7:1 And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.  For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.

GEN 7:5 And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him.

Noah, his family and all the animals and birds confined to the Ark.

GEN 7:6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth. And 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.  Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth, There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah. 

The waters begin to engulf the Earth

And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.  In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month [1.17], the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.  And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. [2.27]

GEN 7:13 In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark;  They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort.  And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.  And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.

The waters increased whilst the rain descended  for 40 days and nights

GEN 7:17 And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth.  And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.  And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.  Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.  And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man:  All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.  And 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 that were with him in the ark.

GEN 7:24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days. [6.17]

The waters begin to return from off the Earth

GEN 8:1 And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged;  The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained; And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.

The Ark comes to rest upon Ararat

GEN 8:4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. [6.27]

GEN 8:5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.  And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:  And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.  Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;  But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.

GEN 8:10 And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;  And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.

GEN 8:13 And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, 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.

God commands Noah to go forth from the Ark

GEN 8:15 And God spake unto Noah, saying, Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee.  Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.

GEN 8:18 And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him: every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.

GEN 8:20 And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.  And the LORD smelled a sweet savour;

The Lord promises to Himself that He will not again curse the ground for man's sake.

and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.  While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

Comments

1.  Because the length of the months is not stated at this time, it is assumed that the days of each month are equal at 30days, making the year 360days.

2.  The change to 365.25 days is assumed to have taken place either at the time of the breaking up of the continents in the days of Peleg, Genesis 10:25, or during 'Joshua's long day' recorded in Joshua 10:12.

3.  Noah and his family were in the Ark from the 17th day of the 2nd month in Noah's 600th year, to the 27th day of the second month of Noah's 601st year. A total of 370 days [37 x 10]  The factor 10 indicates 'The perfection of Divine Order' and the factor 37 suggests the power of God in Salvation, as were the 37 Mighty Men of David[2Sam 23:22-39]

4.  Following the fountains of the great deep being broken up and the windows of heaven being opened, the torrential rain fell for 40 days and nights. the figure 40 is well understood as an important number by the uniformity of its association with a period of probation, trial and chastisement, not judgement as the number 9, which stands in connection with the punishment of enemies, but the chastisement of sons. These were the sons of Adam under the promise made to the deceiving Serpent in Genesis:- Thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field, upon thy belly shalt thou go and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life, and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel. A reference to the interaction between The Christ and Satan.

5.  Because the Ark rested upon Ararat well before the tops of the mountains were seen, we must conclude therefore that Ararat was higher than the tops of the mountains. At this time of the Universal Flood the Earth had yet to be divided in the coming days of Peleg, some 120 years later. Then, continents were moved and crushed against continents. Science to-day supports this fact when it describes the formation of the Himalayas caused by the movement of the sub-continent of India against the continent of Asia, similarly Iberia against Europe, etc.

6.  We need to confirm the length of the years of those patriarchs whose lives related to the Universal Flood period. Careful study of the Scripture details confirms the following:

 

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