Genesis 8:14 Komentář

In the close of the foregoing chapter we left the world in ruins and the church in straits; but in this chapter we have the repair of the one and the enlargement of the other. Now the scene alters, and another face of things begins to be presented to us, and the brighter side of that cloud which there appeared so black and dark; for, though God contend long, he will not contend for ever, nor be always wrath. We have here, I. The earth made anew, by the recess of the waters, and the appearing of the dry land, now a second time, and both gradual. 1. The increase of the waters is stayed (Gen 8:1, Gen 8:2). 2. They begin sensibly to abate (Gen 8:3). 3. After sixteen days' ebbing, the ark rests (Gen 8:4). 4. After sixty days' ebbing, the tops of the mountains appeared above water (Gen 8:5). 5. After forty days' ebbing, and twenty days before the mountains appeared, Noah began to send out his spies, a raven and a dove, to gain intelligence (Gen 8:6-12). 6. Two months after the appearing of the tops of the mountains, the waters had gone, and the face of the earth was dry (Gen 8:13), though not dried so as to be fit for man till almost two months after (Gen 8:14). II. Man placed anew upon the earth, in which, 1. Noah's discharge and departure out of the ark (Gen 8:15-19). 2. His sacrifice of praise, which he offered to God upon his enlargement (Gen 8:20). 3. God's acceptance of his sacrifice, and the promise he made thereupon not to drown the world again (Gen 8:21, Gen 8:22). And thus, at length, mercy rejoices against judgment.

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 8 This chapter gives an account of the going off of the waters from the earth, and of the entire deliverance of Noah, and those with him in the ark, from the flood, when all the rest were destroyed: after an one hundred and fifty days a wind is sent over the earth, the fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven are stopped, the waters go off gradually, and the ark rests on Mount Ararat, Gen 8:1 two months and thirteen days after that the tops of the mountains were seen, Gen 8:5 and forty days after the appearance of them, Noah sent forth first a raven, and then a dove, and that a second time, to know more of the abatement of the waters, Gen 8:6. When Noah had been in the ark ten months and thirteen days, he uncovered it, and the earth was dry, yet not so dry as to be fit for him to go out upon, until near two months after, Gen 8:13 when he had an order from God to go out of the ark, with all that were with him, which was accordingly obeyed, Gen 8:15 upon which he offered sacrifice by way of thankfulness for his great deliverance, which was accepted by the Lord; who promised him not to curse the earth any more, nor to drown it, but that it should remain, and as long as it did there would be the constant revolutions of the seasons of the year, and of day and night, Gen 8:20.

And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month,.... This was the month Marchesvan, as the Targum of Jonathan, which answers to part of our October, and part of our November; though according to Bishop Usher (y), this day was Friday the eighteenth of December, A. M. 1657; it was on the seventeenth of this month that Noah went into the ark, Gen 7:11 so that be was in it twelve months and ten days, according to a solar year; but if the reckoning is made according to Jewish months, six of which consisted of thirty days, and six of twenty nine only, then the twelve months made but three hundred and fifty four days, add to which eleven days to the twenty seventh, fully ended, it makes three hundred and sixty five days; so that he was in the ark just a full year, according to the course of the sun; but it seems very plain that the months here reckoned consisted of thirty days, since the one hundred and fifty, days when the waters abated are reckoned, from the seventeenth day of the second month, to the seventeenth day of the seventh month; which make exactly five months, and allow thirty days to a month: and at this time, when Noah had waited almost two months, after he had removed the covering of the ark: was the earth dried; so that it was fit to walk upon, and was become commodious both for man and beast: a different word from that in the preceding verse is here used for "dry", this being a different kind, or, however, a greater degree of dryness than the other. (y) Ut supra. (Annales Vet. Test. p. 4.)

In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried. It was stated above that the surface of the ground was dried up in the beginning of the first month; and now, in the second month, nearly completed, it is described as dry because then the ground was dried on the surface with growing grass, so that it could revive and produce anew the grass that the water had consumed. But now it is dried even inwardly to such an extent that it could bear the footsteps of those walking on it, and covered with so many flowering grasses that it was also suitable for the pasturing of animals and beasts of burden.

At the end of one hundred and fifty days the waters begin to subside, Gen 8:1-3. The ark rests on Mount Ararat, Gen 8:4. On the first of the tenth month the tops of the hills appear, Gen 8:5. The window opened and the raven sent out, Gen 8:6, Gen 8:7. The dove sent forth, and returns, Gen 8:8, Gen 8:9. The dove sent forth a second time, and returns with an olive leaf, Gen 8:10, Gen 8:11. The dove sent out the third time, and returns no more, Gen 8:12. On the twentieth day of the second month the earth is completely dried, Gen 8:13, Gen 8:14. God orders Noah, his family, and all the creatures to come out of the ark, Gen 8:15-19. Noah builds an altar, and offers sacrifices to the Lord, Gen 8:20. They are accepted; and God promises that the earth shall not be cursed thus any more, notwithstanding the iniquity of man, Gen 8:21, Gen 8:22.

And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day - From this it appears that Noah was in the ark a complete solar year, or three hundred and sixty-five days; for he entered the ark the 17th day of the second month, in the six hundredth year of his life, Gen 7:11, Gen 7:13, and continued in it till the 27th day of the second month, in the six hundredth and first year of his life, as we see above. The months of the ancient Hebrews were lunar; the first six consisted of thirty days each, the latter six of twenty-nine; the whole twelve months making three hundred and fifty-four days: add to this eleven days, (for though he entered the ark the preceding year on the seventeenth day of the second month, he did not come out till the twenty-seventh of the same month in the following year), which make exactly three hundred and sixty-five days, the period of a complete solar revolution; the odd hours and minutes, as being fractions of time, noncomputed, though very likely all included in the account. This year, according to the Hebrew computation, was the one thousand six hundred and fifty-seventh year from the creation; but according to the reckoning of the Septuagint it was the two thousand two hundred and forty-second, and according to Dr. Hales, the two thousand two hundred and fifty-sixth. See on Gen 11:12 (note).

ASSUAGING OF THE WATERS. (Gen 8:1-14) And God remembered Noah--The divine purpose in this awful dispensation had been accomplished, and the world had undergone those changes necessary to fit it for becoming the residence of man under a new economy of Providence. and every living thing . . . in the ark--a beautiful illustration of Mat 10:29. and God made a wind to pass over the earth--Though the divine will could have dried up the liquid mass in an instant, the agency of a wind was employed (Psa 104:4) --probably a hot wind, which, by rapid evaporation, would again absorb one portion of the waters into the atmosphere; and by which, the other would be gradually drained off by outlets beneath.