1. God’s Care for Noah

Genesis 7:1-5

1 And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. 2 Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. 3 Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. 4 For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth. 5 And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him.

In His surpassing care for His children, God says, “Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation” [verse 1]. How beautiful it is for God to bear witness to His children! His testimony is truly faithful. Although humanity at that time had brought destruction upon itself and upon the world, God continued to testify to Noah’s righteousness. For his sake He cared for him and his household, arranging their salvation through the ark with extraordinary precision. He specified its dimensions, the kind of wood to be used, the number of its stories, and the provision of a window. He determined the numbers of clean and unclean animals and birds, and commanded Noah to take the creeping things of the earth and the necessary provisions. He also appointed seven days for bringing all these in [verse 4], and forty days and nights for the flood [verse 4]. All this was for the sake of one righteous man, that He might establish a covenant with him (Genesis 6:18).

Here we observe the following:

A. Noah’s Warning to His Generation

Some hold that Noah spent one hundred and twenty years warning the wicked, building the ark before their eyes to confirm the truth of God’s warnings. Those who hold this view rely on the words, “yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years” (Genesis 6:3). Many accepted this opinion even in the days of Saint Augustine. In any event, Noah, at the age of six hundred, was an object of ridicule: in his old age he was building an ark of such a size to escape a flood that people regarded as a product of his imagination.

Sadly, many helped build it for this righteous old man, yet foolishly sought only the wages of their labor. They never thought of entering it for their own salvation. In this they represent certain ministers of the word who preach the truth of the Gospel as a paid occupation by which they earn their living. Because they do not live it, they perish, while those who receive the word from them in faith are saved. For this reason the Apostle Paul conducted his preaching with watchfulness, saying, “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway” (1 Corinthians 9:27).

B. The Animals and the Capacity of the Ark

God directed Noah to bring in clean animals by sevens, male and female; unclean animals by twos, male and female; and birds of the air also by sevens, male and female [verse 3]. Some consider this a very large number, beyond the ark’s capacity. For this reason some scholars have said that the flood was local and did not cover the whole earth, and that Noah was therefore required to take only the animals and birds of his own region. According to this view, the vast, distant continents, which human beings had not yet inhabited, contained animals and birds that survived the flood.

Saint Augustine, however, considers the ark to have been enormous, and the cubit mentioned here to have been a geographical cubit, equal to six ordinary cubits. Thus the ark could accommodate all the animals and birds, and so forth. [183]

C. The Meaning of “By Sevens”

Some understand “by sevens, the male and the female” [verse 3] to mean that Noah took seven males and seven females of each kind, perhaps because he would offer some of them as sacrifices to the Lord, and because he, his sons, and their families would eat their flesh. Others, however, understand the expression as seven of each kind: three males and three females, with the seventh animal set apart for sacrifice. [184]

D. Clean and Unclean Animals Before the Law

God did not explain to Noah which animals were clean and which were unclean, although the Mosaic Law had not yet been revealed. Some therefore hold that Adam received the law concerning clean and unclean animals orally from God, and that it was handed down through the generations by tradition. When the Mosaic Law came, it recorded what was already practiced, but in greater detail.

E. Forty Days and Forty Nights

The flood continued for forty days and forty nights, the same period that the Lord Christ spent fasting, as did Moses and Elijah. In our study of the Gospel according to Saint Matthew, we saw that the number forty points to our temporal life on earth. [185] It is as though, for as long as we remain on earth, we must hide in the ark from the waters of the flood, remaining safe through faith in the Church of Christ so that we do not perish.

If the flood signifies baptism, through which the old man perishes and we enjoy the new man, its continuation for forty days signifies the believer’s obligation to respond to the blessings of baptism throughout all his days on earth through continual repentance. He thus practices the renewed life, not once for a few moments, but as an unceasing way of life. His outward man perishes day by day, while his inward man is renewed, advancing from strength to strength and from glory to glory!

2. Entering the Ark

Genesis 7:6-9

6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth. 7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood. 8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth, 9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.

At the age of six hundred, Noah entered the ark with his wife, his sons, and his sons’ wives, together with all the animals and birds, “as God had commanded Noah” [verse 9]. Perhaps there was no natural sign that a flood was coming. Nevertheless, the procession began to move and continued toward the ark for seven days, prompted only by God’s command to Noah and by obedience to the commandment in faith in God’s promises.

The world mocked Noah, while Noah’s heart was torn with grief for his brethren, longing to bring everyone into the ark to be saved. His remaining for seven days with this moving procession points to the Church, which opens the doors of hope to every person on every day of the week: that is, throughout all the days of our sojourn on earth. She welcomes every person, even at the last breath of life!

It should also be observed that Noah and each of his sons had only one wife, like their father Adam.

3. The Coming of the Flood

Genesis 7:10-16

10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth. 11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. 12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. 13 In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark; 14 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. 15 And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life. 16 And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.

Holy Scripture describes the flood with great precision, specifying its duration and recounting its details. It began on the seventeenth day of the second month in the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, corresponding to the year 1656 from the creation of the world, and approximately 2349 BC according to the Hebrew chronology. This fell in the middle or latter part of November according to the months of the civil calendar. The rains continued upon the earth for forty days [verse 12], and the waters prevailed upon the earth for one hundred and fifty days [verse 24]. The earth did not become dry until 371 days after the beginning of the flood, when God commanded Noah to leave the ark (Genesis 8:13-16). This was in Noah’s six hundred and first year, on the twenty-seventh day of the second month (Genesis 8:14), reckoning the year as 360 days by lunar months. [186]

We observe the following in the text before us:

A. The Fountains of the Great Deep

The expression “all the fountains of the great deep broken up” [verse 11] indicates that the flood did not come only from the heavy rains, of which Scripture says, “the windows of heaven were opened” [verse 11]. Rather, the earth itself became, as it were, a multitude of springs and fountains pouring forth water without measure.

In any event, if the believer bears within his life an unceasing flood through continual repentance, God brings forth from his earth, that is, his body, fountains of a great deep that sweep away and destroy every evil. He grants his heavens, that is, his soul, unceasing spiritual rains that work by the same Spirit together with the body sanctified in the Lord. Thus the body sanctified by the Lord is in harmony with the soul, so that together they work by the Holy Spirit of God through continual repentance. Every trace of the old life is brought to an end, and the person continually enjoys the power of the new life in our Lord Jesus Christ.

B. “The LORD Shut Him In”

Scripture says, “and the LORD shut him in” [verse 16]. The door remained open for seven days, receiving the procession so that those entering might enjoy complete salvation. But when the time of our sojourn ends, the door is shut. Those within remain safe, and destruction cannot reach them; those outside are no longer able to enjoy the glories within.

This is what the Lord Christ declared when He spoke of the kingdom of heaven, likening it to the virgins entering to meet the Bridegroom. Time comes to its end at the Bridegroom’s arrival: “and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut” (Matthew 25:10).

The marvelous thing is that God Himself shuts the door, for it is said, “and the LORD shut him in.” He alone is the One “that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth” (Revelation 3:7). He has opened the gates of Paradise for us with the key of His Cross, that we may enter with Him and in Him into fellowship in His glories. He will shut us in with Him forever, so that the evil enemy cannot steal in among us.

4. The Waters Prevail upon the Earth

Genesis 7:17-24

17 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. 18 And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. 19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. 20 Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered. 21 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: 22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. 23 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. 24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.

Scripture frequently repeats the expression “the waters prevailed” upon the earth, or words like it [verses 17, 18, 19, 20, 24]. As the waters increased, the ark rose to move upon the face of the waters [verse 18], lifted above the high mountains under the whole heaven [verse 19]. The waters continued to prevail in this way for one hundred and fifty days.

If a person, through his love of earthly things, has become “earth” and “dust,” the waters of baptism can cover him to put to death within him the works of the old man, while raising his soul upward through the Cross to seek heavenly things. If, through pride, a person has become a lofty, bare rock mountain, the waters wash him completely so that he becomes a holy mountain, bearing the fragrance of life in Christ Jesus in place of the old life marked by pride. [*]

We may also say that the more severely trials assail the believer, as though they were the waters of a flood, the more they lift him up, provided that we are truly within the ark, the Church of the Lord Christ, even if the ark is shaken for a time. Trials surround us but do not enter us. They rage against us, yet they raise us up, as the waters raised the ark. Through trials the believer continues to rise in God’s sight, until, when the afflictions have ended, he comes to rest upon the summit of the highest mountain and remains thus glorified in the Lord.

Notes and References

[183] Cf. City of God 15:27.

[184] Ibid.

[185] The Gospel According to Matthew, 1983.

[186] Edersheim, p. 45.

[*] Website editor’s addition: the Arabic word ṣald means hard, smooth rock; here the intended meaning is bare, stripped clean of soil.