At the end of the flood, the earth was reset. Not everything was the same but it was a fresh start for Noah, his family, and all the animals that were with him. All the details give us a clear picture of how everything happened to bring the floodwaters down.

After my last issue, we pick up the story with the end of the flood described in great detail with repetition. We will be going through everything they Bible tells us about the end of the flood. The final section of the chapter highlights God’s choice of Noah and why.

The Waters Dry up at the End of the Flood

Genesis 8:1-9: Then God remembered Noah and every living thing and every animal on the ark. And God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. Then the fountains of the deep and the floodwaters in the windows of the heavens were closed, and the rains from the sky were restrained. And the waters went back from all the earth continually, and the waters decreased at the end of 150 days. Then the ark settled in the mountains of Ararat in the seventh month on the seventeenth day of the month. And it came to pass that the waters went away and decreased until the tenth month, in the tenth month, on the first of the month, the mountain tops were seen. Then it happened at the end of forty days that Noah opened the window of the ark that he made, and he sent the raven that went back and forth and returned until the water dried up from all the earth. Then he sent the dove from himself to see if the waters decreased from the face of the earth. But the dove did not find a resting place for the sole of her foot, so she returned to him on the ark because the water was on the face of all the earth, and he stretched out his hand and took her and brought her to himself in the ark.

As we talk about the end of the flood, it starts by God remembering Noah in the animals on the art. It does not mean that God forgot about them. God never forgets, except our sins after He forgives them (Isaiah 43:25).

The idea of God remembering Noah means that God is about to act on Noah’s behalf. When the Israelites are in Egypt for 400 years, Exodus tells us God remembered Israel. That meant God was going to act on Israel’s behalf. So this word for remember in this case, and in cases referring to God, means action is about to happen

Noah and his family along with the animals have been on the ark for 150 days. I can’t imagine what that was like. Just the smells alone would probably kill me. It’s been a long time of continual rain, and then 150 days of just floating around.

The first thing God does is cause a wind to blow across the waters. You can’t see it in English but the Hebrew word for wind is the same word for spirit. Go back with me the whole way to Genesis 1:2.

There, God’s Spirit hovered over the waters. Here, the wind (same as spirit) blows over, or moves over, the waters. It’s not the same verb as Genesis 1:2, but the imagery is amazingly similar.

We will notice a few of these similarities between creation and this new creation after the flood. This wind causes the waters to begin to subside. We will see selecting God’s Spirit repetitions of how this happens, and you will be tempted to wonder how many times the waters recede or subside.

Repetition Hebrew storytelling is not unusual. A few different words will be used for how the waters reacted to the end of the flood. They all have to do with it draining, receding, or subsiding. You have already seen repetition of the animals that were on the ark.

After the wind passes over the earth, we see a reversal of what happened when the flood began. They are, the fountains of the deep opened up and the window in the sky opened up for the rains to come down. Now we have the reversal of that. The fountains of the deep closed up. The window in the heavens or sky also closed.

This time, the Bible says the waters went back from the earth. It’s as if the earth is swallowing up the waters to return to where they were before the flood began. Although this is the second time we have heard about the waters receding, the Bible is using repetition to show the action of the waters.

All the living people and things on the ark had to wait for quite a while yet. Just because the waters were receding does not mean it is safe to get out of the ark. The flood is still there. It is to slowly going down. We read that Noah had to wait almost three months after the ark settled in the mountains of Ararat.

This is key. The Bible is very specific about where the ark landed. It does not say “the mountain of Ararat.” It says “in the mountains of Ararat.” Ararat is one mountain, and there are surrounding mountains. The ark came to rest in the mountain range around Mount Ararat.

I make this distinction because they have found the likely resting place of the ark. It is not on Mount Ararat. It is on the mountains surrounding Mount Ararat. Rick Renner has done extensive study on this and has produced a series that talks about the ark and its resting place. Here are the pertinent videos. There are several videos that talk about where he believes the ark ended up.

It’s only after three months after the ark settles that nobody can see the tops of the mountains. Even after the flood begins to subside Noah sti safe ll has time to wait before it is safe. Noah waits another forty days before he opens up a window and sends a raven to check on the situation,

So it is now another month and ten days. Then he sends out the raven. I would like to note that in Genesis 7, I did not see the word for window when Noah constructed the ark. However, the word for window in the ark is in the text in this chapter. The raven returns to Noah.

Noah next sends a dove out but it returns because it cannot find a place to perch. He sends out the birds because they can cover a lot of area. If they could not find a place to perch, then there probably wasn’t one. The waters still have not receded enough for even the birds to find a place to perch or food to eat. The end of the flood is still happening.

Noah Waits for the End of the Flood

Genesis 8:10-14: So he waited another seven days, and again he sent out the dove from the ark. Then the dove came back to him toward evening and, behold, fresh olive leaves in her beak, so Noah knew the waters decreased from upon the earth. And he waited seven days more and sent out the dove, and she did not return to him again. So it happened in the six-hundred-first year, in the first month on the first day, that the waters dried up from all the earth, and Noah pushed aside the covering of the ark, and he looked, and behold, the land before him was dried up. And in the second month on the twenty-first day, and the earth was dry.

We have been noticing at the end of the flood that the birds are still not finding a place to perch or to get food. Noah has been waiting now for over four months since the ark settled. He can see the tops of the mountains but the birds cannot find anything safe enough to exit the ark.

He continues to wait to open the door to the ark. The second time he sends the dove out, she returns with olive tree leaves in her beak. Noah decides to wait another seven days. When he sends her out again, she doesn’t come back. That’s how he knows it is safe to exit the ark. But he wisely waits another seven days. Now we have approached five months.

Fresh olive Leaves suggested that the trees and plants were not yet ready to bear fruit. But the next time he sends up the dove, she must have found food because she did not return. He finally pushes aside the door to the ark.

But they still must have waited another month to leave the ark. The total time Noah, his family, and the animals spent in the ark was roughly one year. They went into the ark when Noah turned 600. They exited when he was 601. Finally, it is the end of the flood. Now, we will find out what happens when everyone leaves the ark.

God Speaks to Noah at the End of the Flood

Genesis 8:15-17: Then God spoke to Noah, saying, “Go from the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives with you, all the animals that are with you from all flesh, everything that flies, and animals, and all the creeping things that crawl on the ground. Let them go with you and creep on the earth and be fruitful and become numerous on the earth.”

At the end of the flood, Noah did not leave the ark even though he opened the door to see what was out there. God closed the door of the ark, but Noah opened it. He still waits for God to give him the command to leave the ark. He obediently and faithfully waits for God’s say so.

How hard is it sometimes to try to do things on our own without waiting for God’s voice to speak to us? This is yet another lesson we can learn from Noah. He waited for God to tell him to leave the ark. We see more repetition of the types of animals that were on the ark.

God wanted Noah to leave the ark with the animals so that they could begin to multiply and be fruitful. He blessed the animals to multiply just as He blessed humans to multiply. God wants to do everything to repopulate His beautiful creation on the earth.

Noah is obedient and listens to God speak at the end of the flood. Even though he saw the land was dry, he did not venture out until God gave them explicit instructions to go from the ark. He waited on God, and God answered.

Noah Offers a Sacrifice at the End of the Flood

Genesis 8:18-22: So Noah went out, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him. All the animals, all the creeping things, and everything that flies, all creatures that crawl on the ground, of all kinds, went from the ark. Noah built an altar to the Lord and he took from all the clean animals and from every clean thing that flies, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And when the Lord smelled the appeasing smell the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of humanity, for the inclination of man’s heart is evil from his youth and I will never again strike every living creature as I have done. While the whole earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will not cease.

At the end of the flood, Noah does something that makes God happy. Remember how upset God was that He had to end life on the earth. He was sorry He had ever made man. But now, Noah will make God happy again.

Noah built an altar to the Lord. Before he does anything else, he worships the Lord for His protection and guidance. We can learn a lot from Noah. Do we take the time to not only hear God’s voice, and obey Him, but to worship Him for his direction and protection of our lives?

Noah does something very specific I alluded to before. When he builds his altar, he gathers up all the clean animals he brought on the ark. I think the reason Moses tells us about the difference between clean animals and impure animals (because he does not use the word for unclean), he was setting up Noah’s sacrifice.

Noah sacrifices from the clean animals and birds only. He offers a burnt offering before the Lord and it goes up before Him. The Lord smells Noah’s sacrifice and is very pleased. God is so pleased that he vows not to curse the ground.

Isn’t this interesting? The curse is not put on the ground and God does not do it again. I think we know that the curse originally placed on the ground by adding’s sin is still in place. But God does not proclaim it again.

God promises in His heart to never cleanse the earth with a flood again. He will work another way against the sinfulness of a person’s heart. Instead, He promises that the earth will continue on until its end in the same manner. There will always be seeds to plant and a harvest to reap. There will always be temperature and there will always be summer and winter.

There will always be day and night. The seasons and times will continue until it is time for God to judge the creation again. That will not be until the end times. We can trust God’s goodness and mercy toward us. No matter how wicked things get, even though the days of Noah will happen again, we trust that the earth will continue to nurture us.

God did not say anything about us destroying our home, though. Some people who want to mismanage the earth and destroy its resources for us. God did not say He would keep that from happening. But God is good in His offering of the earth to us. Let us thank Him by stewarding it well.

The Saga Continues…

Even after the flood, there is still more to learn about Noah and his family. In our next issue, we will talk about what happens in Genesis 9 to Noah and his family. Stay tuned to see what happens next.