Day 3, Genesis 8-11

Today the flood subsides.

“But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided. The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, and the waters receded from the earth continually.”

-Genesis 8:1-3

After 150 days the waters had abated and the ark came to rest on top of a mountain. I found this quite confusing, not fully understanding the time frame. First, I wonder if the days and months mentioned are the same as we know today. Second, they were on that thing for a long ass time! I thought it was forty days and forty nights, and magically things dried up and they got off the ride.

All of this to me was a lot of back and forth. At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark and sent forth a raven. Then, he sent forth a dove, but the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned. He did this seven days later and the dove brought back an olive branch.

“And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth.”

-Genesis 8:11

Then, seven more days he sent the dove again, but she did not return. So there’s 21 days after it stopped raining right there. I went back to yesterday’s reading to check when it says they went into the ark to try to make sense of all of this. https://liveandlearnjourney.com/day-2-genesis-4-7/

“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights. On the very same day…[they] entered the ark.”

-Genesis 7:11-13

“In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry. In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth had dried out. Then God said to Noah, “Go out from the ark.”

-Genesis 8:14-16

They were in the ark for over a year? I am so confused.

I did however understand the covenant, and the symbolism of a rainbow. That is one of the few things I had learned in Bible School as a child. I love seeing rainbows in the sky. That’s even the cover photo of this website! http://liveandlearnjourney.com/

“I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.

-Genesis 8:21-22

“I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations. I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.”

-Genesis 9:11-13

For one, what was the point of everything if God still knows the intentions of man are evil? Reading this again, it is a little terrifying how specific God was about not sending another flood. He could’ve said, “I will not destroy the earth again,” but instead chose to focus on the one thing he will not do. That leaves Him open to all kinds of other natural disasters…

From here on out, the rest of today’s study has been challenging. First, I struggle with the fact that the entire population of the earth were dispersed by one family.

“These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the people of the whole earth were dispersed (Or from these the whole earth was populated).”

-Genesis 9:19

So, the same thought I had about Adam and Eve, I now have again. Everyone in the world is an off-spring of incestual relationships? Or, that’s something that never gets talked about or acknowledged, and I just have a corrupt mind?

Another thing that took time to sort out was when Noah gets all hopped up on wine and passes out naked. Not that part, I understood that easily. If I understood the scenario correctly, his sons Shem and Japheth take care of him, with no help from Ham. When Noah wakes up, he’s mad at Ham for not helping, and curses his son Canaan to be a servant to the brothers. This took a lot of rereading to try to understand what was happening here.

That was a perfect example of why I am enjoying taking the time to post about each day’s reading. I am focusing on things and getting a chance to reread, and really take in the information, and try to understand it the best I can. I am actually studying!

However, there is still a lot that I do not understand. Like the entire section on “Nations Descended from Noah.” The whole section is full of names I don’t know if I’m pronouncing correctly, and family trees. It was all very confusing.

I also didn’t understand the “Tower of Babel.” It sounded like things were going really well for them, and God decided to go down and mess with it.

“Now the earth had one language and the same words.”

-Genesis 11:1

Wouldn’t that be a good thing? Have one language so everyone can communicate?

“And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” So the lord dispersed them from there over the face of the earth, and they left off building the city.”

-Genesis 11:6-9

A couple more last thoughts. I thought people were only to lived 120 years now. Why are all these people still living so long? Is it because they are descendants of Noah?

Lastly and humorously, I thought calling someone a “nimrod” was an insult. Apparently that is not the case.

“Cush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord.”

-Genesis 10:8-9

I found this very entertaining. Who knew?