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1 Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. 2 The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. 3 And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. 4 Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. 5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen. ~ Genesis 8:1-5
Today, we continue our study of Genesis where we are being given an overall view of the story of man with God. In giving us this story, God is highlighted His faithfulness to us. Since Noah had faith in the God of the Bible, God did not disappoint him. We have seen through Noah that true faith in the God of the Bible is not in a hurry. True faith waits on the faithfulness of God. The number 8 in the Bible is the number of "new beginnings" thus the number of the people on the ark.
In v.1 of today's passage we read, "Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided."
I can only imagine what a whirlwind Noah felt that he was in while he was on the ark for so long. I am sure that when he first heard God tell him to build the ark, He was like, "This can't be real." And, as the days marched on, I am sure that Noah wondered about the veracity of this call that God had given him. In addition, I am sure that Noah wondered after being on the ark for all of those days that if God was aware of him.
We are told by Moses that "God remembered Noah and every living thing and all of the animals." This means God never relinquished the promise of salvation that He had made to Noah. The Hebrew word translated "remember" is used a total of 73 times in the Scriptures. For Noah, the impossible happened. And, hundreds of thousands of humans and animals died in the flood because they lacked the type of faith that Noah had.
God remembered Noah by making a wind dry off the earth after the waters receded. It was highly probable that before the flood there was no wind due to the vapor canopy that surrounded the earth. Then, before the flood, a whole different hydrology existed, but when the canopy was removed, typical evaporation and the jet streams happened.
The word for "wind" in the Hebrew is exactly the same word used in Genesis 1:2 for God's Spirit. There, we read, "The Spirit of God hovered over the waters." Spirit and wind in Hebrew are the same word.
In v.2-3 of today's passage we read, "2 The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. 3 And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased."
No doubt the surface of the earth was greatly changed after the flood. In fact, this was when the Grand Canyon was formed as it is now. It wasn't until the flood that the high mountains that we have today were formed. This was due to the break-up of the earth and the subsequent continental drift. It was at that time that the huge basins in the ocean were formed.
In v.4-5 of today's passage we read, "4 Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. 5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen."
On the 17th day the ark rested on Mt Ararat. Interestingly, it happened on the same day that the Lord Jesus Christ came out of the grave almost 2400 years later. The Bible uses two calendars, the creation calendar and the redemption calendar. Until the time of the Exodus, the calendar started in the fall, but at the Exodus, the first month was changed to the spring. The 17th day of the seventh month in the creation calendar is the 17th day of the first month of the redemption calendar. The Passover occurs on the 14th day of the first month and the resurrection happened, according to the Bible, on the Sunday after the Passover, the 17th day of the first month.
Most interestingly, "Ararat" means "the curse is reversed." On the same day that the ark struck the ground, the waters began to subside. The curse of the waters were then reversed at the exact same moment that Noah was brought to the safety of the land. Noah and his ark are a picture of the true reversal of the curse which began at the fall of man in Genesis 3. Only 5 chapters after the fall, Noah was given as a sign of what was to come in the future. The rain lasted 40 days. The waters stayed upon the earth 150 days. It took another 150 days for the waters to abate. And then Noah waited another 40 days before he opened the window. It all took place in the time of 380 days. Often in life, troubles come on fast and recede slowly. Our calling is to be faithful, to persevere, to hold on to the faithful object of our faith.
The waters didn’t cover the earth forever. The ark shows that salvation is by faith through God's grace. Grace means that God saves us apart from any effort of our own. God's grace began something new on that 17th day when Noah and his family were saved, What started off as an insignificant date has become a whisper of His grace. This 17th in reality was the first in a series of clues that God gave throughout the Old Testament which all points us to the greatest display of all, the resurrection of His only Son!
