Genesis 8
"What Happens As It All Starts Over"
OR
"Who Let the Doves Fly Around and Poop on All of Us??"
Verses 1-12 – We have here the story of how Noah, his family, and all of the Ark’s inhabitants finally stepped back onto dry land. After the 150 days of the floodwaters covering the earth, they finally began to recede and, by the middle of the seventh month of the (Jewish??) year, the Ark came to rest on the peak of Mt. Ararat (located in modern-day Turkey). 2-1/2 months later, at the beginning of the tenth month of the (Jewish??) year, the waters had receded enough for the tops of the mountain to finally be seen (that is, if you were outside of the Ark, which no one was).
40 days after the mountaintops could be seen, Noah released a raven to see how the raven would respond to what it saw. The raven simply flew around until all of the water dried on the earth. Noah then sent off a dove to survey the situation – it flew around, finding nothing, and returned to Noah when he beckoned for it. Seven days later, Noah sent off this dove again; the dove returned that evening with a freshly-plucked olive leaf in its beak. At this, Noah was excited because it meant that the water had finally left the surface of the earth. Noah decided to wait yet another week before releasing the dove. This time, the dove failed to return, a sign to Noah that it was time to exit the Ark.
Verses 13-22 – By the beginning of a new year (2 months after seeing the mountaintops for the first time), Noah removed the covering of the ark (the roof maybe?) to see that the waters had finally left the earth, and, by the end of the month, the ground was completely dry. God spoke to Noah and told him to exit the ark with his family and every creature on the earth. It was now ALL of their jobs/responsibilities to repopulate the earth – “…multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it.” (TNIV)
And beautifully and appropriately, the first thing that Noah does when he exits the ark is to build an altar unto God, thanking for His provision and protection from & through the Flood. In response, God saw Noah’s sacrifice burning on the altar and said to Himself that He would never again attack Creation that way again, no matter how poorly humans acted, since they are inclined to evil always. God also said that He would never destroy all living creatures again, as He had just done.
I could comment greatly upon what we have here, but I think that I'll wait until we work through Chapter 9. There's a culmination of God's promises as well as Noah's response to this new (renewed??) earth that he gets to refill. A crazy ending to a story filled with tragedy, redemption, hope, massacre (will I ever understand God in the OT), and rebirth.
OR
"Who Let the Doves Fly Around and Poop on All of Us??"
Verses 1-12 – We have here the story of how Noah, his family, and all of the Ark’s inhabitants finally stepped back onto dry land. After the 150 days of the floodwaters covering the earth, they finally began to recede and, by the middle of the seventh month of the (Jewish??) year, the Ark came to rest on the peak of Mt. Ararat (located in modern-day Turkey). 2-1/2 months later, at the beginning of the tenth month of the (Jewish??) year, the waters had receded enough for the tops of the mountain to finally be seen (that is, if you were outside of the Ark, which no one was).
40 days after the mountaintops could be seen, Noah released a raven to see how the raven would respond to what it saw. The raven simply flew around until all of the water dried on the earth. Noah then sent off a dove to survey the situation – it flew around, finding nothing, and returned to Noah when he beckoned for it. Seven days later, Noah sent off this dove again; the dove returned that evening with a freshly-plucked olive leaf in its beak. At this, Noah was excited because it meant that the water had finally left the surface of the earth. Noah decided to wait yet another week before releasing the dove. This time, the dove failed to return, a sign to Noah that it was time to exit the Ark.
Verses 13-22 – By the beginning of a new year (2 months after seeing the mountaintops for the first time), Noah removed the covering of the ark (the roof maybe?) to see that the waters had finally left the earth, and, by the end of the month, the ground was completely dry. God spoke to Noah and told him to exit the ark with his family and every creature on the earth. It was now ALL of their jobs/responsibilities to repopulate the earth – “…multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it.” (TNIV)
And beautifully and appropriately, the first thing that Noah does when he exits the ark is to build an altar unto God, thanking for His provision and protection from & through the Flood. In response, God saw Noah’s sacrifice burning on the altar and said to Himself that He would never again attack Creation that way again, no matter how poorly humans acted, since they are inclined to evil always. God also said that He would never destroy all living creatures again, as He had just done.
I could comment greatly upon what we have here, but I think that I'll wait until we work through Chapter 9. There's a culmination of God's promises as well as Noah's response to this new (renewed??) earth that he gets to refill. A crazy ending to a story filled with tragedy, redemption, hope, massacre (will I ever understand God in the OT), and rebirth.
posted by APN | 8:55 PM
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