1Then the LORD said to Noah, "Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this time. 2"You shall take with you of every clean animal by sevens, a male and his female; and of the animals that are not clean two, a male and his female; 3also of the birds of the sky, by sevens, male and female, to keep offspring alive on the face of all the earth. 4"For after seven more days, I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will blot out from the face of the land every living thing that I have made." 5Noah did according to all that the LORD had commanded him. 6Now Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of water came upon the earth. 7Then Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him entered the ark because of the water of the flood. 8Of clean animals and animals that are not clean and birds and everything that creeps on the ground, 9there went into the ark to Noah by twos, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. 10It came about after the seven days, that the water of the flood came upon the earth. 11In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened. 12The rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights. 13On the very same day Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark, 14they and every beast after its kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, all sorts of birds. 15So they went into the ark to Noah, by twos of all flesh in which was the breath of life. 16Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and the LORD closed it behind him. 17Then the flood came upon the earth for forty days, and the water increased and lifted up the ark, so that it rose above the earth. 18The water prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. 19The water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered. 20The water prevailed fifteen cubits higher, and the mountains were covered. 21All flesh that moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind; 22of all that was on the dry land, all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died. 23Thus He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark. 24The water prevailed upon the earth one hundred and fifty days.
1) v. 2 "You shall take with you of every clean animal by sevens, a male and his female; and of the animals that are not clean two, a male and his female;
Where before this text are we given an explanation of what counts as a "clean" animal and an "unclean" animal? My bible refers to Leviticus but were the writers of this chapter supposing that we already new these definitions?
2) v. 4 God annouces that the flood will be upon the earth for 40 days and 40 nights.
Do we know why God chose this timeframe? What is the significance of the 40's?
3) v. 6-7 The flood begins and Noah enters the ark. v. 11 seems like a huge shift in writing (it gets very descriptive...very Robert Frosty). This happens again in v. 13 and the story of them entering the ark is described again. v. 17 states the flood started and a majorly descriptive explanation occurs again. Any thoughts on this repetitiveness and shift in writing style?
4) v. 24 The water prevailed upon the earth one hundred and fifty days.
Does this mean that Noah and the crew remained in the ark for 150 days?
11 comments:
wow, cindy, these are awesome questions!! this is really fun!! but it's gonna take me a few days to come up with my answers for you because i'll have to look some of this up and maybe break out the hebrew.:)
Cindy,
Just a note of encouragement for you. I was encouraged by it and hope you and others will be. I will get back with you on your specific questions.
"The most important thought I will have is what I think when I think about God."-JB
"Everything I find in my private Bible study I bring to the community of faith for testing."-JB
The point in these statements is that I can read the Bible and God can talk to me, and then I take it and share it with the community of faith to make sure I am thinking Christianly. Otherwise, I get into heresy. What a great opportunity to have been invited to this Bible study thru cyberspace!! I am actually learning things also. Keep it up.
BTW I have also enjoyed the comments from others.
Clean vs Unclean knowledge:
I would say that that there may be two ways of answering the question. 1) Verse 5 and Verse 9 state that Noah did all the Lord commanded. This could mean that besides the ark-building instructions, God gave Noah instructions on what was clean and not clean, but the author did not think it important to tell us. Remember, the author has a purpose behind what he tells. For example, the first 10 to 11 chapters is to get us from Creation to Abram. (I realize here that I am ruining the story for you. Reading the Bible again for the first time is always difficult when someone else keeps giving the plot away.) When we get to ch12, one notices that from there until ch50, we have three major characters. What a huge chunk of space for just 3 people. But the author intended that to happen. The biblical authors are just as ingenious as modern film makers! But I digress a little. Maybe God told Noah, but the author did not tell us. Sort of like how Abel and Cain both knew what was acceptable to God. Somehow, they just did. God must have revealed it to them.
2) If we take the author of Genesis through Deuteronomy to be Moses (and there is no good evidence not to) then we can say Moses is simply writting back into the story what had already been given to him. In other words, all these stories from Genesis to Deuteronomy are written many years after the actual event. I am not sure when Moses would have written them, but it is probable that it was after roaming in the wilderness and before he died. Thus, Moses has received at Mt. Sinai the law in Leviticus, knew what it said about clean and unclean animals, knew through revelation that God wanted Noah to bring clean and unclean and thus decides not to tell us here. However, the people needed to know the difference between clean and unclean and thus a separate book. It it like a movie in which something happens but we don't know why until later. From Noah's standpoint, God must have shown him. From the author's viewpoint, Moses already knows because of the revelation at Mt. Sinai and assumes the reader knows what is clean and what is not. Moses leaves this out because it is not important for this particular story. But, it is important to know which animals are clean and which are unclean so, he writes another book for that purpose. Hope this helps and is not confusing!
Significance of 40 days and 40 nights:
Don't have a definitive answer here. Children of Israel roam in wilderness 40 years. Jesus tempted 40 days and 40 nights. So when you get to wilderness wandering and Jesus' temptation (both in a desert as opposed to water in this case) we are suppose to think of rain of flood for 40 days and 40 nights. Why? I don't know. Can't wait to see what the answer is.
The Robert Frosty description:
Adam will have to tackle that one when he breaks out the Hebrew. i do not have a clue.
hey cindy,
ok, about the 40 days. so far, i've found out a few things that seem to be interesting. this number would have been very familiar to the peoples of the near east because since Sumerican times, around 3000 bc or so, that number has been associated with the mythology of the cultures. it was used for significant time periods of mortal interactions with the gods. in noah's case, the length of the rain. therefore, the Jews would be familiar with the use of this number as an interaction with the Supreme Being.
also, this number is associated with times of testing and punishment everytime it is used in the Bible. the punishment of the flood, the days of Jesus' testing, the number of lashing as punishment in the Torah, the number of days Moses fasted getting the Law, the number of years the Israelites spent in the desert. therefore, the Jews would have associated this number with a time of testing and punishment. this could go back the use of this number in previous mythology.
that's about all i could figure out about that number. did i mention that this website is fun?
i think pecheur did a good job on the clean/unclean question. however, i would like to add something else. there is always the fact that by the time of Noah there were many known pagan societies that commonly practiced animal sacrifice. possibly, some of the animals used were considered unclean by believers of Yahweh. this is just a guess. another guess comes from Matthew Henry. he stated that the animals considered clean were probably the ones that were of the most use to mankind such as oxen and other farming animals. there is no proof of this theory but it's as good as any.
later cindy...i'll keep working on the other questions later.
about the Robert Frosty sections...
the only explanation i can come up with is this kind of description is very typical of Hebrew narrative. kinda like when you read the Illiad and Odyssey or other works by contemporary authors in which the language and descriptions are similar. i know this is a vague answer but it seems to me at least to be the only reason. simply a stylistic choice of the author.
ok...now for the question of the 150 days...
Noah and crew were aboard for around 7 months or so according to chapter 8 of Genesis. this would mean that yes, they did stay on the ark. an example can be seen in the recent hurricanes. those storms caused flooding to happen very quickly but the waters did not disappear the next day as soon as the storm had passed. in some areas, the water was around for days afterwards because the reason flooding happens is that the ground becomes saturated and can no longer take on water until some of it begins to seep deeper into the ground. the same thing happened to Noah.
Adam said: ok, about the 40 days. so far, i've found out a few things that seem to be interesting. this number would have been very familiar to the peoples of the near east because since Sumerican times, around 3000 bc or so, that number has been associated with the mythology of the cultures. it was used for significant time periods of mortal interactions with the gods. in noah's case, the length of the rain. therefore, the Jews would be familiar with the use of this number as an interaction with the Supreme Being.
Hey Adam, so are you saying that 40 days was significant in other 'religions' outside of old testament christianity? prior to Noah? You mentioned mythology and that really got me thinking and doubting faith (<----having a hard time spiritually brings up these questions). Please give more info. Thanks, cindar
hey cindy ann,
well, i didn't mean to make you doubt but if it helps at all, i've been there myself. actually, the times that i hit the lowest spiritually in my life came during my time in seminary. isn't it odd that i was surrounded by biblical teaching everyday and doubted the very existence of God? doubting and asking questions is ok. it helps you grow and learn. after all, if you never questioned what you believed how would you know that you really believe it? i think by being surrounded by "preacher boys" constantly made me a cynic and i began to look for the most liberal way of viewing theology and researching to find holes in the traditional views. this actually led me to a deeper faith in God and gave me new insights because apparently, southern baptist sunday school teachers aren't always right. who knew? so keep asking questions...if you are genuine, and i know you so i know you are, God will answer in time. you'll see. just keep reading and tell God about your doubts and ask Him to show you the way out. i'm here to pray for you and talk if you ever want to. you know my email.
anyway, enough of that and on the question of the 40 days...
the answer to your question is yes, that number was significant to other religions of the area prior to Judaism. however, the writer, probably Moses, came much later and learned the story of Noah through God's inspiration and Jewish oral tradition. the writer used that number probably because that is what was passed down through the story over the years. i have no doubt that the story is true but the numbers of days have no real importance as far as being literal or not. that is not the point of the author. he is trying to get across the story of faith and perseverance of Noah and his family and God's faithfulness to believers. God kept His end of the deal if Noah followed through and he did. the actual number of days is probably not literal but added by teachers later after the original number was forgotten. however, what's so neat about that number is that nonbelievers who followed other religions would recognize this number as a significant interaction between the gods and mankind and lead them to believe in the God of Israel! God can work through anything and anyone!! that's what's so neat to me about that. i hope this helps answer your question a little deeper. keep asking me..i'm there for you.
adam
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