Genesis 7:19

“They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered.”  Genesis 7:19

The flood waters rose so high that all of the tallest mountains on the whole earth were covered by water.  This is one verse that is brought up in the argument of whether or not the flood was a universal global flood or just a local flood that covered that region where all the people resided. 

 

Today, our tallest mountains are, of course, the Himalayan Mountains with Mt. Everest at 29,035 feet – that would take a lot of water to cover.  According to the Institute for Creation Research, the flood didn’t have to rise that high, because the Himalayan Mountains didn’t exist before the flood.  They were actually formed by the flood.  However, the National Center for ScienceEducation argues that the geological evidence does not support the idea that there was a global flood.

 

Whether this was only a local flood, or it was, in fact, a global flood, the point of this passage in scripture is that God was wiping clean his creation.  The only humans to survive this event were those eight people closed up in the ark, who listened when God commanded them to build a boat.

Genesis 7:18

“The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water.”  Genesis 7:18

According to the qbible the words in this verse could be translated that the waters strengthened or prevailed and increased with might or force over the earth.  It almost sounds like an invading army – water verses land.  In this instance the water is winning.  So, there’s this great battle going on with the water thoroughly beating the land and throughout it all God is keeping Noah and his family safe from it – floating above it all in this giant basket.

 

When we obey God’s commands, even when we don’t understand them, what storms and battles does he keep us safe from now?

Genesis 7:17

"For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth."  Genesis 7:17

So for forty days there was rain and springs of water flooding the land.  That’s almost a month and a half of raining weather.  That’s a lot of water.  And here I feel like we’re getting a lot of water after just one day of heavy rain – they had forty days of rain.  There was enough rain to lift this huge basket full of animals and Noah’s family.

Now with this pandemic sweeping through the world, how many people feel like they can relate to Noah and his family – closed up in isolation as the world outside faces utter destruction?  In Noah’s day, God brought the flood to wash away the perversions and sin that had taken over his creation.  How could God be using this pandemic?  What benefits could he bring about because of this world-wide crisis?

Genesis 7:16

"The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah.  Then the Lord shut him in."  Genesis 7:16

Again, Noah didn't just bring in the male animals or just the female animals, but he brought in both genders of every kind of animal.  It also repeatedly points out that Noah is doing these things just as God commanded him to.  It doesn't tell us how Noah felt about these commands or even if he went about them without grumbling or complaining about them or if he ever questioned God - it only tells us that he obeyed God.

It doesn't matter if we understand what or why God tells us to do something.  Sometimes, like Noah, we can look back and understand how obeying saved us from some calamity.  There are some things that we may never understand in this life, but that doesn't mean that they weren't for our benefit anyway.

Genesis 7:15

"Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark."  Genesis 7:15

This is reiterating the point that pairs of every kind of animal came to Noah and were loaded into the ark.  Noah didn't leave any kind of animal out no matter how much he may have wanted to.

Genesis 7:14

"They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings."  Genesis 7:14

As God told them to, Noah and his family had every kind of animal, except of course the sea creatures, in the ark with them.  Even if you say a kind of animal is a general term and referring to a pair of dogs as opposed to a specific breed, that is still a lot of animals.  They certainly had their work cut out for them just caring for the creatures loaded up with them.  At least temporarily, Noah and his family were zookeepers or ranchers.

Genesis 7:13

"On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark."  Genesis 7:13

So these eight people went into the ark the day the rain started.