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Genesis

1 Creation of the Physical Realm
2 Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden
3 God’s Judgment of Sin
4 The First Murder
5 Adam’s Descendants
6 People’s Universal Wickedness
7 The Great Flood
8 End of the Great Flood
9 God’s Covenant with Noah
10 Nations after the Flood

11 The Tower of Babel
12 Abram Leaves Home
13 Separation of Abram and Lot
14 Lot’s Captivity and Rescue
15 God’s Agreement with Abram
16 The Birth of Ishmael
17 Eternal Promise Guaranteed
18 Son of Promise
19 Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
20 Abraham and King Abimelech

21 Birth of Isaac
22 Sacrifice of Isaac
23 Sarah’s Death and Burial
24 Marriage of Isaac and Rebekah
25 Abraham’s Death and Isaac’s Sons
26 Isaac and Abimelech
27 Isaac Blesses Jacob Instead of Esau
28 Jacob’s Great Escape
29 Jacob Loves Rachel
30 Jacob’s Prosperity at Laban’s Expense

31 Jacob Leaves without Saying Goodbye
32 Jacob Prepares to Meet Esau
33 Jacob Meets Esau
34 Dinah Defiled
35 Jacob Returns to Bethel
36 Esau’s Descendants
37 Joseph’s Dreams
38 Judah and Tamar
39 Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife
40 Two Prisoners’ Dreams

41 Pharaoh’s Dreams
42 Joseph Sees His Brothers
43 Joseph Sees His Brothers Again
44 Joseph Detains Benjamin
45 Joseph Reveals Himself to His Brothers
46 Israel’s Migration to Egypt
47 Jacob’s Family Settles in Goshen
48 Blessing for Joseph’s Sons
49 Jacob’s Last Words
50 Burial in the Promised Land

Genesis 8: End of the Great Flood

Ask for the Author’s Thoughts about a Question

How did the wind cause the waters to recede and not just make waves?

Author’s Thoughts
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Genesis 8:1 God turned his attention to Noah, the livestock, and the other animals with him in the ship.
God sent the wind to blow across the earth, and the floodwaters began to recede.
King James
Genesis 8:1 And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged;

Where did the water go to allow the dry land to appear?

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Genesis 8:2–4 The waters quit gushing up from beneath the earth, and the rain no longer poured down from the sky above. 3 The floodwaters continued to recede.
After 150 days, on the seventeenth day of the seventh month, the ship came to rest in the Ararat mountains.
King James
Genesis 8:2–4 The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained; and the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated. And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.

What did the raven’s behavior tell Noah about the flood conditions?

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Genesis 8:5–7 The flood decreased even more.
On the tenth day of the tenth month, the mountain tops became visible.
After another forty days, Noah opened a window and released a raven, which flew out and back until the waters on the earth had dried up.
King James
Genesis 8:5–7 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen. And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made: And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.

Why would the release of a dove be any different from the release of a raven?

Author’s Thoughts
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Genesis 8:8–9 Then he released a dove to see if the waters had receded enough for it to find dry ground, but the dove returned, finding nowhere to perch, so Noah reached out and took the dove back into the ship.
King James
Genesis 8:8–9 Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground; but the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.

At what time of day do you think Noah released the dove? During the time he spent waiting, what might his expectations have been?

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Genesis 8:10–11 After another week, he sent the dove out again. 11 The dove finally returned in the evening, this time with an olive leaf in its mouth. Noah then knew the floodwaters had significantly receded from the earth.
King James
Genesis 8:10–11 And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark; and the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.

Why didn’t Noah remove a section of the roof earlier?

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Genesis 8:12–13 A week later, he released the dove, and it didn’t return.
On the first day of the first month, when Noah was 601 years old, the flood was over. After removing a section of the roof, he saw that the ground was no longer covered with water.
King James
Genesis 8:12–13 And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more. And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.

Why did Noah wait for God’s instruction to leave the ship?

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Genesis 8:14–18 On the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the earth was completely dry.
“Noah,” God said, “leave the ship—you and your wife and your sons and their wives. Bring out the birds, livestock, and all the other animals so they can multiply upon the earth.
So Noah left the ship with his wife and his sons and their wives.
King James
Genesis 8:14–18 And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried. And God spake unto Noah, saying, Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons’ wives with thee. Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth. And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him:

How were the animals dispersed?

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Genesis 8:19 All the birds and everything that moves on land left the ship in groups of their own kind.
King James
Genesis 8:19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.

With a limited number of animals on the ship, why did Noah think it was important to sacrifice some of the breeding stock that would have helped replenish the earth?

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Genesis 8:20 Noah built an altar and offered burnt offerings of the clean animals and birds.
King James
Genesis 8:20 And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

Why did the sacrifice please the Lord?

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Genesis 8:21 The aroma of the sacrifice pleased the Lord, and he said, “I will never again curse the ground for people’s sake. Even though their thoughts and motives are evil from childhood, I will never repeat this destruction of every living thing.
King James
Genesis 8:21 And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.

Of what value is God’s promise not to repeat this destruction?

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Genesis 8:21–22 The aroma of the sacrifice pleased the Lord, and he said, “I will never again curse the ground for people’s sake. Even though their thoughts and motives are evil from childhood, I will never repeat this destruction of every living thing. As long as the earth remains, planting and harvest, hot and cold, summer and winter, and day and night will never end.”
Exodus 32:10–11 “Now leave me alone so I can burn them up with the heat of my anger. Then I will make a great nation from your descendants.”
But Moses did not leave. “Lord,” he said, “why are you so angry with the people you brought out of Egypt with your miraculous power?”
2 Peter 3:10 For those who don’t know God, the Lord’s return will be a complete surprise, like a thief arriving one night. With an explosive sound, the skies will disappear, the elements will melt in intense heat, and everything on Earth will be consumed.
King James
Genesis 8:21–22 And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
Exodus 32:10–11 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation. And Moses besought the Lord his God, and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?
2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.