GENESIS 8

BERESHIS 8

1 And Elohim remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and Elohim made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged;

The Ark.—The size of the Ark, reckoned according to the common cubit of 18 inches, would be—length (300 cubits) 450 feet; breadth (50 cubits), 75 feet; height (30 cubits), 45 feet; and its estimated burden about 42,413 tons. According to the larger cubit of 21 inches, the Ark would be 547 feet long, 91 feet 2 inches wide, 47 feet 2 inches high.

The Deluge.—The time occupied by the deluge was one year and ten days, during which, of course, the four seasons were suspended. "All the writers of barbarian histories," says Josephus, "make mention of this flood and of this Ark."

The Spirit.—The spirit comes in for first mention in connection with the brooding operations which preceded the existence of the world of light, developed by the six days' work; and next to that it appears again in connection with the striving with men, represented by the spirit-energised testimony of Enoch and Noah.

The Sons of God.—Alias the heaven-born representatives of the sin-bruising seed of the woman in the line of Seth. The daughters of men, alias the serpentised descendants of Cain, the father of what is called "natural religion" (!), alias self-devised religion in harmony with the natural instincts.

The Christadelphian, Sept 1889

2 The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;

3 And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the150 days the waters were abated.

4 And the ark rested in the 7th month, on the 17th day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.

5 And the waters decreased continually until the 10th month: in the 10th month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.

6 And it came to pass at the end of 40 days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:

7 And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.

8 Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;

Three chapters of Genesis are devoted to the great judgment in the days of Noah: a destruction of the sin-power of the flesh by water.

...The signal victory of Yahweh's power was demonstrated in the flight of the dove (Heb. yonah -- thus the "sign of the prophet Jonah," which later the Lord Yahshua highlighted as the only sign for his generation). The dove was sent from the ark but found no rest and ultimately returned -- as Jewry was first exiled from the joy of God's favour, and yet returned to the Land in these last days.

It was sent a second time, and returned with an olive branch -- and Israel will ultimately recognise the symbol of peace when confronted with the Prince of Peace. Finally the dove was sent from the ark and found its home, not to return again -- as Israel will ultimately find its home, and not seek again the wandering spirit.

This grand sign indicates that the time of divine judgment will give way to the happiness of the kingdom, as Noah came forth and Yahweh smelt a "sweet savour" in the joy of the Kingdom.

GEM

9 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.

10 And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;

11 And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.

12 And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.

The meek inherited the earth

13 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.

14 And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.

15 And Elohim spake unto Noah, saying,

16 Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee.

17 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.

18 And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him:

19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.

20 And Noah builded an altar unto Yahweh; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

21 And Yahweh smelled a sweet savour; and Yahweh 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.

22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.