Genesis 8

The Flood Recedes
1 “But God remembered Noah and all the animals in the boat. He sent a *wind to blow across the waters, and the floods began to disappear.”

* wind: “ruach” = wind or spirit or invisible force.

2 “The underground water sources ceased their gushing, and the torrential rains stopped.”

3 “So the flood gradually began to recede. After 150 days,

4 “exactly *five months from the time the flood began, the boat came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.”

* five months: Hebrew - on the seventeenth day of the seventh month. This is also the month and day that Christ rose from the dead! This is our month April. Passover is on the 14th day of that month.

** Ararat – Marine fossils have been found on Ararat. Present Mount Ararat is 17,000 feet high.





5 “* Two and a half months later, as the waters continued to go down, other mountain peaks began to appear.”

* Two and a half months: Hebrew - On the first day of the tenth month

6 “After another forty days, Noah opened the window he had made in the boat”

7 “and released a *raven that flew back and forth until the earth was dry”

*raven: An unclean bird (Leviticus 11:15,) meaning that it survives off the carcasses of other animals yet it did not return inside the ark.

8 “Then he sent out a dove to see if it could find dry ground”

9 “But the dove found no place to land because the water was still too high. So it returned to the boat, and Noah held out his hand and drew the dove back inside.”

10 “Seven days later, Noah released the dove again.”

11 “This time, toward evening, the bird returned to him with a fresh olive leaf in its beak. Noah now knew that the water was almost gone.”

12 “A week later, he released the dove again, and this time it did not come back.”

13 “Finally, when Noah was 601 years old, ten and a half months after the flood began, Noah lifted back the cover to look. The water was drying up.”

* ten and a half months after: Hebrew - on the first day of the first month

14 “Two more months* went by, and at last the earth was dry!”

* Two more months: Hebrew The twenty-seventh day of the second month arrived

15 “Then God said to Noah,”

16 "’Leave the boat, all of you.”

17 Release all the animals and birds so they can breed and reproduce in great numbers.’"

18 “So Noah, his wife, and his sons and their wives left the boat.”

19 “And all the various kinds of animals and birds came out, pair by pair.”

20 “Then Noah built an *altar to the LORD and sacrificed on it the animals and birds that had been approved for that purpose.”

*altar: Sacrifices before this were brought to the entrance to Eden. Here, Noah is acting as the priest of his family.

21 “And the LORD was pleased with the sacrifice and said to himself, ‘I will never again curse the earth, destroying all living things, even though people's thoughts and actions are bent toward evil from childhood.”

22 “As long as the earth remains, there will be springtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night.’"

Jehovah’s covenant with Noah was unconditional in connection with the earth, as with Abraham to give him the land (Genesis 15) and with David to give him the throne (2 Samuel 7).









Covenants constitute one of the principal keys to the interpretation of the Old Testament, denoting the dividing lines between the different dispensations, and indicating the several changes of procedure in God’s dealings with the earth. At various times God entered into a compact with man. The covenants varied in their requirements, in their scope, in their promises and in the seals or signs connected with them.

There are 7 covenants made by God in the Word:
1) The Adamic which concerned man’s continued enjoyment of Eden on the condition that he refrained from eating the fruit of the forbidden tree. But Adam failed to keep his part of the agreement.
2) The Noahic which concerned the earth and its seasons.
3) The Abrahamic which concerned Israel’s occupancy of Palestine.
a. Genesis 15:18 – “So the LORD made a covenant with Abram that day and said, "I have given this land to your descendants, all the way from the border of Egypt[a] to the great Euphrates River…”
4) The Mosaic which concerned Israel’s continued enjoyment of God’s favors, conditioned by their obedience to His law.
a. Exodus 24:7-8: “Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They all responded again, ‘We will do everything the LORD has commanded. We will obey.’ Then Moses sprinkled the blood from the basins over the people and said, ‘This blood confirms the covenant the LORD has made with you in giving you these laws.’”
b. Exodus 34:27: “And the LORD said to Moses, "Write down all these instructions, for they represent the terms of my covenant with you and with Israel.’”.
5) The Levitic which concerned the priesthood, promising that it should remain in this tribe.
a. Numbers 25:12-13: “’So tell him that I am making my special covenant of peace with him. In this covenant, he and his descendants will be priests for all time, because he was zealous for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel.’"
b. Malachi 2:4-5: “’Then at last you will know it was I who sent you this warning so that my covenant with the Levites may continue,’" says the LORD Almighty. ‘The purpose of my covenant with the Levites was to bring life and peace, and this is what I gave them. This called for reverence from them, and they greatly revered me and stood in awe of my name.‘”
c. Ezekiel 44:15: “’However, the Levitical priests of the family of Zadok continued to minister faithfully in the Temple when Israel abandoned me for idols. These men will serve as my ministers. They will stand in my presence and offer the fat and blood of the sacrifices, says the Sovereign LORD.’”
6) The Davidic which concerns the Kingdom and particularly the throne.
a. 2 Samuel 23:5: “‘It is my family God has chosen! Yes, he has made an everlasting covenant with me. His agreement is eternal, final, sealed. He will constantly look after my safety and success’”.
b. 2 Chronicles 13:5: “’Don't you realize that the LORD, the God of Israel, made an unbreakable covenant with David, giving him and his descendants the throne of Israel forever?’”
7) The Messianic or New Covenant which concerns the Millennium.
a. Isaiah 42:6: “’I, the LORD, have called you to demonstrate my righteousness. I will guard and support you, for I have given you to my people as the personal confirmation of my covenant with them. And you will be a light to guide all nations to me.’”
b. Jeremiah 31:31-34: “’The day will come,’ says the LORD, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife,’ says the LORD. ‘But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day,’ says the LORD. ‘I will put my laws in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their family, saying, “You should know the LORD.” For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will already know me,’ says the LORD. ‘And I will forgive their wickedness and will never again remember their sins.’”

The Noahic covenant signified the beginning of a new world - a fresh start. With the exception of those who found shelter in the ark, the flood had completely destroyed both the human family. On to the destruction-swept earth came Noah and his family. Noah’s first act was to build, not a house for himself, but an altar "unto the Lord," on which he presented burnt offerings. These were accepted by the Lord and after declaring that He would not curse the ground any more for man’s sake, and after promising that while the earth remained its seasons should not cease, we are told "God blessed Noah and his sons". This is the first time that we read of God blessing any since He had blessed unfallen man in Eden (Gen. 1:28). The basis of this "blessing" was the burnt offerings; the design of it to show that the same Divine favor that was extended to Adam and Eve should now rest upon the new progenitors of the human race.

Here then we have the second "beginning" of Genesis, a beginning which, in several respects, resembled the first, particularly in the command to be fruitful and multiply, and in the subjection of the irrational creature to man’s dominion. But there is one difference here which it is important to notice: all now rests upon a covenant of grace based upon shed blood. Man had forfeited the "blessing" of God and his position as lord of creation, but grace restores and reinstates him. Let us now note:

At least two of the seven covenants referred to above (the first and the fourth) were mutual agreements between God and man, but in the Noahic, God Himself was the initiator and sole compacter. The whole passage emphasizes the fact that it was a covenant of God with Noah, and not of Noah with God. God was the giver, man the receiver. Note "I will establish My covenant with you" (9:11); "This is the token of the covenant which I make" (9:12); "And I will remember My covenant" (9:15). That this was God’s covenant with Noah, and that man had no part in the making or keeping of it is further seen from the following language: "I do set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between Me and the earth" (9:13), and, "I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh" (9:15).

The basis of the Noahic covenant is seen in the closing verses of Genesis 8. Genesis 8 ought to end with the nineteenth verse, the remaining three forming the proper commencement of the ninth chapter. "Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and sacrificed on it the animals and birds that had been approved for that purpose.”" (Gen. 8:20)—the next two verses, and the whole of chapter nine down to the seventeenth verse, contain Jehovah’s response to Noah’s offering. It is in these verses we learn God’s answer to the offering that ascended from the altar. This covenant, then, was based upon sacrifice, and being made by God with Noah, and not by Noah with God, is therefore unconditional and unbreakable.