Genesis 7:5

7:1-12 The call to Noah is very kind, like that of a tender father to his children to come in-doors when he sees night or a storm coming. Noah did not go into the ark till God bade him, though he knew it was to be his place of refuge. It is very comfortable to see God going before us in every step we take. Noah had taken a great deal of pains to build the ark, and now he was himself kept alive in it. What we do in obedience to the command of God, and in faith, we ourselves shall certainly have the comfort of, first or last. This call to Noah reminds us of the call the gospel gives to poor sinners. Christ is an ark, in whom alone we can be safe, when death and judgment approach. The word says, Come; ministers say, Come; the Spirit says, Come, come into the Ark. Noah was accounted righteous, not for his own righteousness, but as an heir of the righteousness which is by faith, Heb 11:7. He believed the revelation of a saviour, and sought and expected salvation through Him alone. Thus was he justified by faith, and received that Spirit whose fruit is in all goodness; but if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. After the hundred and twenty years, God granted seven days' longer space for repentance. But these seven days were trifled away, like all the rest. It shall be but seven days. They had only one week more, one sabbath more to improve, and to consider the things that belonged to their peace.

But it is common for those who have been careless of their souls during the years of their health, when they have looked upon death at a distance, to be as careless during the days, the few days of their sickness, when they see death approaching; their hearts being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. As Noah prepared the ark by faith in the warning given that the flood would come, so he went into it, by faith in this warning that it would come quickly. And on the day Noah was securely fixed in the ark, the fountains of the great deep were broken up. The earth had within it those waters, which, at God's command, sprang up and flooded it; and thus our bodies have in themselves those humours, which, when God pleases, become the seeds and springs of mortal diseases. The windows of heaven were opened, and the waters which were above the firmament, that is, in the air, were poured out upon the earth. The rain comes down in drops; but such rains fell then, as were never known before or since. It rained without stop or abatement, forty days and forty nights, upon the whole earth at once. As there was a peculiar exercise of the almighty power of God in causing the flood, it is vain and presumptuous to attempt explaining the method of it, by human wisdom.

The execution of the command is recorded and fully particularized with the additional circumstance of the age of Noah. "The son of six hundred years," in his six hundredth year. "Went they unto Noah." They seem to have come under the influence of a special instinct, so that Noah did not require to gather them. Seven days were employed in receiving them, and storing provisions for them.

Genesis 7:1-12 When the ark was built, and the period of grace (Genesis 6:3) had passed, Noah received instructions from Jehovah to enter the ark with his family, and with the animals, viz., seven of every kind of clean animals, and two of the unclean; and was informed that within seven days God would cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights. The date of the flood is then given (Genesis 7:6): "Noah was six hundred years old, and the flood was (namely) water upon the earth;" and the execution of the divine command is recorded in Genesis 7:7-9. There follows next the account of the bursting forth of the flood, the date being given with still greater minuteness; and the entrance of the men and animals into the ark is again described as being fully accomplished (Genesis 7:10-16). - The fact that in the command to enter the ark a distinction is now made between clean and unclean animals, seven of the former being ordered to be taken, - i.e., three pair and a single one, probably a male for sacrifice-is no more a proof of different authorship, or of the fusion of two accounts, than the interchange of the names Jehovah and Elohim. For the distinction between clean and unclean animals did not originate with Moses, but was confirmed by him as a long established custom, in harmony with the law.

It reached back to the very earliest times, and arose from a certain innate feeling of the human mind, when undisturbed by unnatural and ungodly influences, which detects types of sin and corruption in many animals, and instinctively recoils from them (see my biblische Archeologie ii. p. 20). That the variations in the names of God furnish no criterion by which to detect different documents, is evident enough from the fact, that in Genesis 7:1 it is Jehovah who commands Noah to enter the ark, and in Genesis 7:4 Noah does as Elohim had commanded, whilst in Genesis 7:16, in two successive clauses, Elohim alternates with Jehovah-the animals entering the ark at the command of Elohim, and Jehovah shutting Noah in. With regard to the entrance of the animals into the ark, it is worthy of notice, that in Genesis 7:9 and Genesis 7:15 it is stated that "they came two and two," and in Genesis 7:16 that "the coming ones came male and female of all flesh." In this expression "they came" it is clearly intimated, that the animals collected about Noah and were taken into the ark, without his having to exert himself to collect them, and that they did so in consequence of an instinct produced by God, like that which frequently leads animals to scent and try to flee from dangers, of which man has no presentiment. The time when the flood commenced is said to have been the 600th year of Noah's life, on the 17th day of the second month (Genesis 7:11).

Under the head of ( c ), the following are examples of distinctive phraseology: P J “God” ( Elohim ), Genesis 6:9 ; Genesis 6:11-13 ; Genesis 6:22 , Genesis 7:16 a, Genesis 8:1 ; Genesis 8:15 . “the Lord” (Jehovah), Genesis 7:1 ; Genesis 7:5 ; Genesis 7:16 b, Genesis 8:20-21 . “male and female” ( zâkâr un’ḳêbâh ), Genesis 6:19 , Genesis 7:16 . “the male and his female” ( ish v’ishto ), Genesis 7:2 . “destroy” ( shâḥath ), Genesis 6:13 ; Genesis 6:17 . “destroy” ( mâḥâh ), Genesis 6:7 , Genesis 7:4 ; Genesis 7:23 . “all flesh,” Genesis 6:12-13 ; Genesis 6:17 , Genesis 7:21 . “every living thing,” Genesis 7:4 ; Genesis 7:23 . “breath ( ruaḥ ) of life,” Genesis 7:15 . “breath of ( nishmath ) the spirit of ( ruaḥ ) life,” Genesis 7:22 . “die” ( gâv‘â ), Genesis 7:21 . “die” ( mûth ), Genesis 7:22 . “waters prevailed” ( gâbâr ), Genesis 7:18-19 ; Genesis 7:24 . “waters increased” ( râbâh ), Genesis 7:17 b. “waters abated” ( ḥâsêr ), Genesis 8:3 b, 5. “waters abated” ( qâlal ), Genesis 8:8 . Also characteristic of P is the minute description of the ark and its dimensions ( Genesis 6:14-16 ), the varieties of animals ( Genesis 6:20 ), the Flood’s depth ( Genesis 7:20 ), and the members of Noah’s family ( Genesis 7:13 , Genesis 8:15 ; Genesis 8:18 ); while, in J, Divine action is described in anthropomorphic terms (e.g. Genesis 6:6 , Genesis 7:16 , Genesis 8:21 ), and vivid details of narrative are introduced ( Genesis 8:6-12 ). Roughly speaking the portions derived from P consist of

Under the head of ( a ) “repetitions,” notice the duplicated account of the growing corruption of mankind in Genesis 6:5-8 (J), and in Genesis 6:9-12 (P); of the entrance of Noah and his family into the ark Genesis 7:7 (J) and Genesis 7:13 (P); of the rising of the waters of the Flood Genesis 7:17 (J) and Genesis 7:18-19 (P); of the end of all living creatures Genesis 7:21 (P) and Genesis 7:22-23 (J); and of God’s promise to Noah in Genesis 8:15-19 (P) and Genesis 8:20-22 (J). [12] See Appendix C (book comments). Under the head of ( b ) “discrepancies,” notice that, in P, Noah takes one pair of every kind of animal into the ark ( Genesis 6:19-20 , and Genesis 7:15-16 ), while, in J, Noah is commanded to take seven pairs of every clean animal and one pair of every unclean animal into the ark ( Genesis 7:2-3 ); again, in P, the Flood is brought about through the outburst of the waters from the great deep both from beneath the earth and from above the firmament ( Genesis 7:11 , Genesis 8:2 ); while, in J, it is produced by the rain ( Genesis 7:12 , Genesis 8:2 ). According to P, the Flood was in progress for 150 days ( Genesis 7:24 , Genesis 8:3 ), while according to J the rain lasted for 40 days ( Genesis 7:12 ); in J the waters were subsiding for 14 or 21 days ( Genesis 8:10 ; Genesis 8:12 ), and in P the earth was dry after a year and 10 days ( Genesis 8:14 ).