Chapter Seven

The entry of Noah into the ark

Genesis 7:1. And the Lord [God] said to Noah: Come you and all your household into the ark This is the positive command of God concerning the preliminary placing of Noah in the ark, which was the last warning to all and the last call to the sinful world to repent.

Genesis 7:2–3. You shall take with you of every clean beast by sevens, the male and his female; and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female; Also of fowls of the air by sevens, the male and the female; and of every fowl of the air [clean] by twos, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth, In these words we have the first case of the division of animals into clean and unclean; the former included all those animals and birds which either were only used as food (Lev 11:1-47), or, besides that, were offered in sacrifice (Lev 1:2; Gen 8:20). Although the exact delimitation of all these kinds properly belongs to a later period — given in the legislation of Moses — however, in practice it existed much earlier, going back, as we see from this, to the time of the flood, although Noah’s selection of clean animals and birds for sacrifice (Gen 8:20) did not coincide with the provisions of the law of Moses about the offering in sacrifice of only 3 kinds of cattle and two kinds of birds. The law later, in this case as in others similar to it, confirmed, precisely formulated, and enjoined by law what before was only an established custom. Of clean animals they were commanded to take seven, in the first place to ensure their better preservation and greater multiplication after the flood, and in the second place, perhaps, also for the sustenance of the people shut up in the ark.

Genesis 7:4. For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth The last week was appointed, evidently, for the final placing of all the people and animals in the ark. This indication of the week itself, in connection with others that are present in the same flood narrative (Gen 7:10), can speak in favor of the great antiquity of the weekly cycle and the primordial origin of the seven-day week and later the sabbath. forty days and forty nights; The very same period was later appointed for the penitential preaching of the prophet Jonah to the inhabitants of Nineveh (Jonah 3:4), Moses remained that long on Mount Sinai (Exod 24:18), the prophet Elijah fasted in the wilderness of Beersheba on the way to Mount Horeb (1 Sam 19:8), the Lord Jesus Christ fasted in the wilderness and prepared Himself for His messianic ministry (appearance to the world) (Matt 4:2), and finally, He was pleased to remain on the earth that same length of time and appear to His disciples after His resurrection until His ascension into heaven (Acts 1:3). Hence one can conclude that the number forty represents one of the important, sacred numbers of the Bible.

Genesis 7:6. Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was on the earth. Such was Noah’s age at the moment of the flood; the age of his sons, as is evident from the comparison with what preceded (Gen 5:32), was about one hundred years.

Genesis 7:8. And of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth, The words of this verse, enclosed in brackets, are not found in the modern Hebrew text; but the fact that they have been preserved in almost all ancient translations and stand in perfect agreement with the context gives them full right to exist.

Genesis 7:9. By twos, male and female, went in to Noah into the ark, as God had commanded Noah. This does not mean one pair, but in general pairwise, and the very quantity also had been previously determined (Gen 7:2).

The beginning, growth, and duration of the flood

Genesis 7:11. In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, The Hebrews had two years: one — sacred, beginning with the month of Nisan (March-April), the other — civil, beginning with the month of Tishri (September-October). More definite indications of the existence of the former begin only from the epoch of Mosaic legislation (Exod 12:2; Deut 16:1), so scholars generally think that in an earlier epoch there existed only one, civil time of reckoning, beginning from the time of the autumn equinox (Josephus, Rabbi Kimchi, Rosenmüller, Keil, and others). Based on this, one can suppose that the flood began on the seventeenth of Marcheshvan, which, by our calculation, falls on the very first days of November. on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, By this name, evidently, is meant the water enclosed within the earth’s crust, which, probably by the special action of volcanic forces in an enormous quantity, came out onto the surface. and the windows of heaven were opened; This is a vivid and powerful image of the fall of abundant rain streams, which is in perfect agreement with the biblical view of the very heavenly firmament itself, which the Semites imagined to be in the form of a solid tent or covering spread out over the earth (Gen 1:7).

Genesis 7:12. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. The fulfillment of what was predicted earlier (Gen 7:4).

Genesis 7:13. In the very same day entered Noah into the ark, That is, on the day of which the historian of origins just spoke and which we have determined as one of the first days of November (when in Palestine there is customarily a period of the heaviest rains).

Genesis 7:14–16. And they, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort, Went in two and two to Noah into the ark, the male and the female, of all flesh wherein is the breath of life; And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: This entire section presents a condensed repetition of what had already been said many times in parts earlier. By doing so, the historian of origins evidently wishes to draw the special attention of readers to the importance of this fact and to the greatness of divine love toward those being saved. And the Lord [God] shut him in [the ark]. (From without). A touching image of divine providence toward those being saved from the flood, beautifully concluding the entire picture of their salvation from destruction. Some, however, see here an allegory bearing the meaning that the Lord, having patiently awaited repentance from the sinful world, now put an end to this waiting and decided to carry out His dread judgment concerning the destruction of the first world. “And the Lord [God] shut him in [the ark]” and thereby as it were cut off the path to repentance (Luke 13:24-25).

Genesis 7:17–20. And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth; And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. In these verses with great consistency is imagined the gradual growth and intensification of the flood: “This gradualness,” says Metropolitan Philaret, “with exactness and strained force, showing the greatness of the action described: ‘the flood was’, ‘the waters increased’, ‘the waters began to prevail’, ‘the waters increased greatly’, ‘the waters prevailed exceedingly’.” And the flood was forty days upon the earth If now a notable downpour, passing in the course of 1–2 hours, sometimes produces a terrible flood and destruction, it is easy to imagine what a mass of water must have been formed by such a downpour, continuing for forty whole days. And if we add that approximately the same mass of water issued forth from the interior of the earth’s crust, then the picture of an immeasurable water ocean will be completely ready. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth: and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered, fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered. Fifteen cubits make about 25 feet. In the opinion of most contemporary scholarly exegetes, these words should not be understood in the absolute sense, that is, that there was so much water that it exceeded by 25 feet even such lofty peaks as the Himalayas and the Cordilleras. This cannot be allowed, chiefly because we cannot imagine on what such a depth could rest. From experience we know that whatever may be the depth of a given water basin, there is always, however, a line of land passing through its edges that must be somewhat higher than the level of the water, so that the latter does not overflow the edge. Consequently, imagining the picture of a universal flood, we are unable to represent such a condition of the earth’s surface when it would be positively entirely, without any exception, inundated with water. Besides, in the Bible there are fairly frequent examples of when the whole is taken instead of a part — all the earth, instead of this or that point of it (Gen 41:57; Exod 9:25; 1 Sam 10:24; Acts 2:5). It would be quite possible to suppose that here by the term “all the earth” and “all the mountains” are meant the earth and mountains of that very region which served as the habitation of primordial humanity and was situated in the basin of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the highest point of which was Mount Ararat. However, the Bible, and in particular the New Testament, considers the flood that occurred in Noah’s time to be “universal” (inasmuch as it destroyed all the known humanity of the historian of origins, although there is no reason to think that the flood covered the continents of Africa, America, Australia, Greenland, where the population was very small and was not sunk in the sins of the inhabitants of Mesopotamia), comparing it, in respect to cosmic universality, with the universal catastrophe awaiting the world at the end of times — with the destruction of the world by fire before the appearance of “new heavens and a new earth” (Matt 24:37-39 and parallel 2 Pet 3:5-7; 1 Pet 3:20).

Genesis 7:21–23. And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: all in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. This entire biblical section expressively and forcefully shows in what sense the universality of the flood should be understood; it consisted precisely in this, that the waters of the flood destroyed literally all living things “upon the face of the earth” — from man to cattle and creeping things and fowls — except, of course, those saved in the ark. Consequently, considering the biblical flood from the point of view of its results, we must acknowledge it as universal, since it destroyed all the life of the whole world.

Genesis 7:24. And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days. The growth and intensification of the waters of the flood continued during one hundred and fifty days or five and a half months, including those forty days with which the flood itself began (Gen 7:17). Consequently, if we place the beginning of the flood in the first days of November, then the highest point of its intensification will fall on the seventh day of the seventh month, that is, on the last days of our April.