Genesis Chapter 8 Verse-by-Verse Commentary
Genesis 8:1–2
God remembered Noach, every living thing and all the livestock with him in the ark; so God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water began to go down. Also the fountains of the deep and the windows of the sky were stopped, the rain from the sky was restrained.
As we saw in Genesis Chapter 7, the floodwaters covered the earth for one hundred fifty days. After forty days, God shut off the water, but it took quite a bit of time for the waters to go down.
If it had not been for God’s love, He could have simply let the waters continue to cover the earth. But He remembered Noah and the animals He had created. The act of God remembering is not literal, as though God had forgotten about the creatures in the ark.
It speaks more of a covenant relationship, even though no formal covenant had been established at this point. It speaks of the relationship of obedience that had been established by entering the ark. Because of that relationship, God sent a wind to cause the waters to recede.
It was this love that brought an end to the judgment upon the earth, and it is this same love that brings our salvation based on the relationship established between ourselves and Jesus Christ.
Genesis 8:3–4
The water came back from completely covering the earth. It was after 150 days that the water went down. On the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.
At the end of this period, the ark came to rest in the mountains of Ararat, located in the modern country of Turkey. There is significance in the location where the ark came to rest, but the exact location is not the most important point.
Even though Jerusalem and the land of Israel did not exist yet, being away from the place that would become Israel would be the equivalent of being in exile. In Scripture, exile always speaks of a journey.
The ark’s resting place marked the beginning of a journey from judgment toward restoration. Noah and his family were safe, but they still had to wait for God’s timing before stepping into the new world He was preparing.
Genesis 8:5
The water kept going down until the tenth month; on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains were seen.
Even after the bottom of the ark touched the mountaintop, it took almost another three months for the waters to go down enough for Noah to see the other mountaintops.
This is a reminder that even while we may not see a huge amount of progress, God is still at work. In His time, we will see what He has been doing. The ark had already come to rest, but Noah still needed patience as the evidence of restoration appeared slowly.
Genesis 8:6–7
After forty days Noach opened the window of the ark which he had built; and he sent out a raven, which flew back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth.
Another forty days went by after the ark came to rest, and then Noah sent out a raven to examine the land. A raven is an unclean bird that eats dead flesh, so it kept flying back and forth in search of food.
The raven would continue until it could find dead animals to feed upon, and when it did, it did not return to the ark. This is also a picture of those who come to Jesus without truly coming to Jesus.
There are those who have heard a watered-down gospel and do not truly accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. These people are like the unclean raven, coming to God only to get what they want or need. When they find something else to satisfy their physical desires, they fly away from the Lord.
Genesis 8:8–9
Then he sent out a dove, to see if the water had gone from the surface of the ground. But the dove found no place for her feet to rest, so she returned to him in the ark, because the water still covered the whole earth. He put out his hand, took her and brought her in to him in the ark.
The second bird Noah sent out was a dove, and it kept returning to the ark because it did not eat dead flesh. This is a picture of our walk as Christians.
We may make mistakes, but when we do, Jesus is waiting there to welcome us back into God’s will for our lives. The dove found no place to rest in the world still covered by water, so it returned to the safety and provision of the ark.
Genesis 8:10–11
He waited another seven days and again sent the dove out from the ark. The dove came in to him in the evening, and there in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf, so Noach knew that the water had cleared from the earth.
Throughout the Bible, the number seven is associated with completeness. Noah waited seven days before sending the dove out again to see if the waters had gone down.
This time the dove returned with an olive leaf, and Noah knew that the waters had cleared from the earth. The olive leaf became a visible sign that restoration was underway and that the world was becoming ready for life again.
Genesis 8:12
He waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, and she didn’t return to him any more.
After seven more days, Noah sent the dove out again. This time she found a place to land and food, so she did not return to the ark.
The dove’s final departure showed that the earth was ready to sustain life again. God’s restoration was continuing, but Noah still waited for God’s direct instruction before leaving the ark.
Genesis 8:13–14
By the first day of the first month of the 601st year the water had dried up from off the earth; so Noach removed the covering of the ark and looked; and, yes, the surface of the ground was dry. It was on the twenty-seventh day of the second month that the earth was dry.
This passage shows us just how long, more than a month, it took for the water to recede completely. During that time, all that Noah and his family could do was pray and wait on the Lord.
It is much the same in our Christian walk. We often have to wait on the Lord’s timing. It is not always easy, but it is necessary. Noah could see dry ground, but he still did not leave the ark until God told him to go.
Genesis 8:15–19
God said to Noach, “Go out from the ark, you, your wife, your sons and your sons’ wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing you have with you—birds, livestock and every animal that creeps on the earth—so that they can swarm on the earth, be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” So Noach went out with his sons, his wife and his sons’ wives; every animal, every creeping thing and every bird, whatever moves on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark.
Finally, God called Noah, his family, and the animals out of the ark and told them to multiply. We are all familiar with getting a fresh start in life, and here we see the greatest fresh start the world has ever seen.
Noah did not leave the ark merely because he wanted to. He waited until God told him to go out. The same God who instructed Noah to enter the ark instructed him when it was time to step into the new beginning outside it.
Genesis 8:20
Noach built an altar to ADONAI. Then he took from every clean animal and every clean bird, and he offered burnt offerings on the altar.
Burnt offerings were offerings in which the animals, except for their hides, were burned up and the smoke rose to heaven. This was an effort to renew the relationship between a holy God and sinful man.
This is a reminder that any fresh start must begin with God. There are many programs designed to help people start over after addiction, jail, loss, or failure, but many do not start with a renewed relationship with God.
Noah’s first recorded action after leaving the ark was not to build a house, plant crops, or establish a city. He built an altar. Worship came before rebuilding. His first priority was restoring and honoring his relationship with God.
Genesis 8:21
ADONAI smelled the sweet aroma, and ADONAI said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, since the imaginings of a person’s heart are evil from his youth; nor will I ever again destroy all living things, as I have done.”
God’s promise is that this judgment is never to be repeated. You have probably heard the saying, “He has a good heart,” in reference to a person, but as we see here, we all have a heart affected by sin.
Even so, God said that He would not judge the earth again in this same manner. The sacrifice offered by Noah was a sweet aroma before God and marked the beginning of a renewed relationship after the flood.
Genesis 8:22
So long as the earth exists, sowing time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will not cease.
God promised that the order of creation would continue. Seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night would not cease while the earth remains.
There will be no more judgments of this kind until the final day known as the Day of the Lord. Until then, the steady rhythm of the seasons stands as a reminder of God’s faithfulness and His promise to preserve the earth until His appointed time.