Genesis 7
"OK Kids! Everyone Inside NOW!!"
or
"Lots of Water and a WHOLE Lot of Devastation"
Verses 1-16 – These 16 verses both summarize the end of chapter 6 and provide greater detail to the Flood that is about to take place. Once again, God reminds Noah that he is being preserved because he is the person that God feels is worth saving. (It’s a harsh reality to face actually; I would imagine that Elijah during the reign of Ahab and Jezebel would have much in common with Noah.) However, we find here that God asks Noah to take more than just one pair of certain kinds of animals, as if the animals are special creations that God wants preserved right alongside humanity.
Specifically, Noah is to save 7 pairs of all clean animals, 7 pairs of all unclean animals, and 7 pairs of every kind of bird so that, when the Flood is over, these animals will be fully able to propagate their species once again. (Genesis, at this juncture, doesn’t tell us what “clean v. unclean” animals really were; however, if Moses did write Genesis, as many claim he did, the Hebrews who were reading/listening to these stories would know exactly what kinds of animals Moses was referring to. Ah, the joys of Levitical law….)
God gave Noah 7 days to complete this task before He sent rain upon the earth for 40 days and nights, before He was to destroy every living thing left upon the earth. And, just like everything else he had done, Noah did exactly as God commanded him to do. Thankfully, God sent most of the animals Noah’s way, pair by pair, as Noah, his family, and all of the animals that had arrived entered the Ark to be saved from the Flood.
The Bible says, in verse 11, “all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.” (TNIV) Many scholars and commentaries that I’ve read feel that the reason that so much water fell from the skies was that, until the Flood, there had been no rain upon the earth. There was a canopy of water that protected the earth from the most harmful effects of the sun. There is a bit of logic behind this reasoning: before the Flood, people lived rather long lives, but Genesis 6:3 tells us that God began to limit human life expectancies to 120 years. Hence, post-Flood, there were no long lifetimes recorded in the Bible, after Noah’s 950 years. (Please don’t take me to be some kind of Creation-scientist or rigid proponent of intelligent design; I’m simply speculating a bit.)
Verses 17-24 – These verses are rather straight-forward: water flooded the earth for 40 days, the ark floated upon the water, the water covered even the highest mountain peaks (by a margin of 22 feet above the peaks), and every creature that lived on the earth perished. Yes, literally everything died, with the exception of those with Noah on the Ark. The flood waters covered the earth for 150 days; that’s right, water covered the earth for 110 days AFTER the flooding had stopped.
or
"Lots of Water and a WHOLE Lot of Devastation"
Verses 1-16 – These 16 verses both summarize the end of chapter 6 and provide greater detail to the Flood that is about to take place. Once again, God reminds Noah that he is being preserved because he is the person that God feels is worth saving. (It’s a harsh reality to face actually; I would imagine that Elijah during the reign of Ahab and Jezebel would have much in common with Noah.) However, we find here that God asks Noah to take more than just one pair of certain kinds of animals, as if the animals are special creations that God wants preserved right alongside humanity.
Specifically, Noah is to save 7 pairs of all clean animals, 7 pairs of all unclean animals, and 7 pairs of every kind of bird so that, when the Flood is over, these animals will be fully able to propagate their species once again. (Genesis, at this juncture, doesn’t tell us what “clean v. unclean” animals really were; however, if Moses did write Genesis, as many claim he did, the Hebrews who were reading/listening to these stories would know exactly what kinds of animals Moses was referring to. Ah, the joys of Levitical law….)
God gave Noah 7 days to complete this task before He sent rain upon the earth for 40 days and nights, before He was to destroy every living thing left upon the earth. And, just like everything else he had done, Noah did exactly as God commanded him to do. Thankfully, God sent most of the animals Noah’s way, pair by pair, as Noah, his family, and all of the animals that had arrived entered the Ark to be saved from the Flood.
The Bible says, in verse 11, “all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.” (TNIV) Many scholars and commentaries that I’ve read feel that the reason that so much water fell from the skies was that, until the Flood, there had been no rain upon the earth. There was a canopy of water that protected the earth from the most harmful effects of the sun. There is a bit of logic behind this reasoning: before the Flood, people lived rather long lives, but Genesis 6:3 tells us that God began to limit human life expectancies to 120 years. Hence, post-Flood, there were no long lifetimes recorded in the Bible, after Noah’s 950 years. (Please don’t take me to be some kind of Creation-scientist or rigid proponent of intelligent design; I’m simply speculating a bit.)
Verses 17-24 – These verses are rather straight-forward: water flooded the earth for 40 days, the ark floated upon the water, the water covered even the highest mountain peaks (by a margin of 22 feet above the peaks), and every creature that lived on the earth perished. Yes, literally everything died, with the exception of those with Noah on the Ark. The flood waters covered the earth for 150 days; that’s right, water covered the earth for 110 days AFTER the flooding had stopped.
posted by APN | 9:13 PM
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