The Realities of the Flood PT 6: Receding waters, a changed world and a new beginning.

Good evening to all of you.

Tonight, the post will examine the post diluvian world that Noah and his family saw when they emerged from the ark.

Genesis 8:4-5 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. 
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.

First, the text indicates that the waters were receding fairly quick and the ark came to a rest somewhere in the mountain range named Ararat. The tops of the mountains were finally visible, meaning the overall water level had dropped more than 22.5 feet. 

Genesis 8:6-9 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.

Noah released a dove and a raven to see if the waters had receded enough for them to find some new habitat. The raven is a bird that will eat dead animals. It apparently did not return to the ark. However, the dove which is generally  ground feeding seed eater, came back because it found no place clean enough for the bird to stop and to rest.

Genesis 8:10-12 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 plucked 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. 

Noah waited 10 days and sent the dove out again and the bird returned with an olive leaf in its beak. Noah waited an additional 7 days and sent the dove out and this time the bird did not return, indicating to Noah that it was safe for them to exit the ark. 

The Bible often uses symbols to communicate truth. For example, the dove is a New Testament symbol of the Holy Spirit of God. An olive tree or branch or leaf is a symbol of peace. It could be that Noah knew this as well, and understood this as a message from the Spirit of God that it was now time for them to leave the shelter of the ark.  

Genesis 8:13-14  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.

Almost one year after the flood began, Noah removed the cover of the ark and peered out and saw that the ground was dry. The text seems to indicate that the drying process was completed. 

The terrain that Noah and his family saw when they came out of the ark was entirely unrecognizable. There were no familiar landmarks because the flood changed the geography and topography of the entire world. 

Plant life would probably have remained the same, but all growth would be new growth and mature plants or trees would take a bit more time. It is worth noting that coal is a fossil fuel formed by vegetation layers and layers of silt deposited by flood action. It is also worth noting that the vast oil reserves around the world are also a fossil fuel, meaning that an abundance of animal life was trapped in layers of sediment laid down by the action of a flood. 

In addition the fossil record in hard rocks show a continuity of life forms.. That is, you do not see innumerable transitional fossils of one form of life changing into another form, as evolutionary theory would require. A frog is still a frog; a bat is still a bat and so on. 

Genesis 8:15-19 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. 
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.

God speaks to Noah and tells him to go out of the ark along with all his family and all the animals in the ark. They are commanded to breed abundantly and repopulate the earth with animal and human life. 

The faith and obedience of Noah is on display as well. Although he removed the covering to the exit on the ark, and could see dry land, Noah waited until God spoke to him before he took it upon himself to leave the ark. Waiting on the Lord is always best. 

The first thing Noah did when he left the ark was to build an altar to Jehovah and to offer the type of sacrifice he knew God would accept. The Lord then blessed Noah for his faithful actions. He gave Noah a promise that He would never again destroy the earth with a flood. He said that the cycle of plowing, planting, weeding and harvest would begin again. The text seems to indicate that the climate also would be different having summer and winter, hot and cold seasons. 

Genesis 8:20-22 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; 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.

In the next post, we will turn to Genesis 9 and see some more new changes that Noah and his family would be impacted by. For example, the next time we have a list of genealogy, or family ancestry, we will see that the lifespans of mankind are greatly shortened compared to before the flood. 

Bob