Genesis Chapter 7
1 The LORD said to Noah, "Come with all of your household into the ship, for I have seen your righteousness before me in this generation.
2 You shall take seven pairs of every clean animal with you, the male and his female. Of the animals that are not clean, take two, the male and his female.
3 Also of the birds of the sky, seven and seven, male and female, to keep seed alive on the surface of all the earth.
4 In seven days, I will cause it to rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights. I will destroy every living thing that I have made from the surface of the ground."
5 Noah did everything that the LORD commanded him.
6 Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came on the earth.
7 Noah went into the ship with his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives, because of the floodwaters.
8 Clean animals, unclean animals, birds, and everything that creeps on the ground
9 went by pairs to Noah into the ship, male and female, as God commanded Noah.
10 After the seven days, the floodwaters came on the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the sky's windows opened.
12 It rained on the earth forty days and forty nights.
13 In the same day Noah, and Shem, Ham, and Japheth-the sons of Noah-and Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered into the ship-
14 they, and every animal after its kind, all the livestock after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort.
15 Pairs from all flesh with the breath of life in them went into the ship to Noah.
16 Those who went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God commanded him; then the LORD shut him in.
17 The flood was forty days on the earth. The waters increased, and lifted up the ship, and it was lifted up above the earth.
18 The waters rose, and increased greatly on the earth; and the ship floated on the surface of the waters.
19 The waters rose very high on the earth. All the high mountains that were under the whole sky were covered.
20 The waters rose fifteen cubits higher, and the mountains were covered.
21 All flesh died that moved on the earth, including birds, livestock, animals, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man.
22 All on the dry land, in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died.
23 Every living thing was destroyed that was on the surface of the ground, including man, livestock, creeping things, and birds of the sky. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ship.
24 The waters flooded the earth one hundred and fifty days.
Footnotes
- Verse 20 (Cubit)
- A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man's arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimetres.
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Genesis Chapter 7 Guide
At last the work was completed, and the man who by faith had done that which was evidence of his folly in the eyes of the world entered the Ark, leaving behind him all his possessions.
Then came the swift and final judgment of God against the corrupted race.
The righteousness of this judgment can be challenged only by such as fail to notice carefully the corruption of the race as to its nature and extent. The only way in which it was possible to ensure the eventual purity of the race, and thus realize the divine ideal m its creation was by the destruction of that which was utterly and irrevocably corrupt.
Love, illumined by light, acts not merely in the interests of the present moment, but of all the coming centuries. There is a severity which is of the very essence of tenderness; and the story of the Flood is an instance of the actuality of the love of God.
Questions as to the universality of the Flood are not relevant to the story as it is written in Genesis. All that this story declares is that the destruction was coextensive with the region occupied by man. The Hebrew word used uniformly for "the earth" through this section, erets, is used sometimes of the whole earth, sometimes of a part of it, as we may use the word 'land." All that this account demands is that we should understand that a corrupt race was swept away and a godly remnant spared.
From "An Exposition of the Whole Bible" by G. Campbell Morgan.
Genesis Chapter 7 Commentary
Chapter Outline
- Noah, and his family and the living creatures, enter the ark, and the flood begins. -- (1-12)
- Noah shut in the ark. -- (13-16)
- The increase of the flood for forty days. -- (17-20)
- All flesh is destroyed by the flood. -- (21-24)
Verses 1-12
The call to Noah is very kind, like that of a tender father to his children to come in-doors when he sees night or a storm coming. Noah did not go into the ark till God bade him, though he knew it was to be his place of refuge. It is very comfortable to see God going before us in every step we take. Noah had taken a great deal of pains to build the ark, and now he was himself kept alive in it. What we do in obedience to the command of God, and in faith, we ourselves shall certainly have the comfort of, first or last. This call to Noah reminds us of the call the gospel gives to poor sinners. Christ is an ark, in whom alone we can be safe, when death and judgment approach. The word says, "Come;" ministers say, "Come;" the Spirit says, "Come, come into the Ark." Noah was accounted righteous, not for his own righteousness, but as an heir of the righteousness which is by faith, Heb 11:7. He believed the revelation of a saviour, and sought and expected salvation through Him alone. Thus was he justified by faith, and received that Spirit whose fruit is in all goodness; but if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. After the hundred and twenty years, God granted seven days' longer space for repentance. But these seven days were trifled away, like all the rest. It shall be but seven days. They had only one week more, one sabbath more to improve, and to consider the things that belonged to their peace. But it is common for those who have been careless of their souls during the years of their health, when they have looked upon death at a distance, to be as careless during the days, the few days of their sickness, when they see death approaching; their hearts being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. As Noah prepared the ark by faith in the warning given that the flood would come, so he went into it, by faith in this warning that it would come quickly. And on the day Noah was securely fixed in the ark, the fountains of the great deep were broken up. The earth had within it those waters, which, at God's command, sprang up and flooded it; and thus our bodies have in themselves those humours, which, when God pleases, become the seeds and springs of mortal diseases. The windows of heaven were opened, and the waters which were above the firmament, that is, in the air, were poured out upon the earth. The rain comes down in drops; but such rains fell then, as were never known before or since. It rained without stop or abatement, forty days and forty nights, upon the whole earth at once. As there was a peculiar exercise of the almighty power of God in causing the flood, it is vain and presumptuous to attempt explaining the method of it, by human wisdom.
Verses 13-16
The ravenous creatures were made mild and manageable; yet, when this occasion was over, they were of the same kind as before; for the ark did not alter their natures. Hypocrites in the church, who outwardly conform to the laws of that ark, are yet unchanged; and it will appear, one time or other, what kind they are after. God continued his care of Noah. God shut the door, to secure him and keep him safe in the ark; also to keep all others for ever out. In what manner this was done, God has not been pleased to make known. There is much of our gospel duty and privilege to be seen in Noah's safety in the ark. The apostle makes it a type of christian baptism, 1Pe 3:20, 21. Observe then, it is our great duty, in obedience to the gospel call, by a lively faith in Christ, to come into that way of salvation which God has provided for poor sinners. Those that come into the ark, should bring as many as they can with them, by good instructions, by persuasions, and by good examples. There is room enough in Christ for all comers. God put Adam into paradise, but did not shut him in, so he threw himself out; but when God put Noah into the ark, and so when he brings a soul to Christ, the salvation is sure: it is not in our own keeping, but in the Mediator's hand. But the door of mercy will shortly be shut against those that now make light of it. Knock now, and it shall be opened, Lu 13:25.
Verses 17-20
The flood was increasing forty days. The waters rose so high, that the tops of the highest mountains were overflowed more than twenty feet. There is no place on earth so high as to set men out of the reach of God's judgments. God's hand will find out all his enemies, Ps 21:8. When the flood thus increased, Noah's ark was lifted up, and the waters which broke down every thing else, bore up the ark. That which to unbelievers betokens death unto death, to the faithful betokens life unto life.
Verses 21-24
All the men, women, and children, that were in the world, excepting those in the ark, died. We may easily imagine what terror seized them. Our Saviour tells us, that till the very day that the flood came, they were eating and drinking, Lu 17:26, 27; they were deaf and blind to all Divine warnings. In this posture death surprised them. They were convinced of their folly when it was too late. We may suppose they tried all ways and means possible to save themselves, but all in vain. And those that are not found in Christ, the Ark, are certainly undone, undone for ever. Let us pause, and consider this tremendous judgment! Who can stand before the Lord when he is angry? The sin of sinners will be their ruin, first or last, if not repented of. The righteous God knows how to bring ruin upon the world of the ungodly, 2Pe 2:5. How tremendous will be the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men! Happy they who are part of Christ's family, and safe with him as such; they may look forward without dismay, and rejoice that they shall triumph, when fire shall burn up the earth, and all that therein is. We are apt to suppose some favourable distinctions in our own case or character; but if we neglect, refuse, or abuse the salvation of Christ, we shall, notwithstanding such fancied advantages, be destroyed in the common ruin of an unbelieving world.
From the "Concise Commentary on the Bible" by Matthew Henry.