Genesis Chapter 7 Verse-by-Verse Commentary
Genesis 7:1
ADONAI said to Noach, “Come into the ark, you and all your household; for I have seen that you alone in this generation are righteous before me.”
Noach, or Noah, and his family were invited into the ark because he was righteous before God. The letter tsadi is translated as righteous, and it speaks of applying the commands of God to his life.
God had commanded Noah to build the ark in the previous chapter, but in reality one hundred years had elapsed since the command was given. Noah spent one hundred years obeying God by getting up every day and building a boat in the desert. That is faith in action.
Just like Noah, the outcome of applying God’s commands to our lives is righteousness. All the preparations had been made, and now came the time of decision. God instructed Noah to take his family and enter the ark. There, they would be saved from the judgment that was to come through the waters. This is a picture of salvation through Jesus Christ.
This verse has caused some confusion and false teaching because Noah’s family was allowed to enter the ark because of him. Some people think they can ride another person’s faith and have a right relationship with God through that person, but that is not what happened with Noah’s family.
Noah would have explained to them what God said was going to happen. At that point, they each had the chance either to believe God by faith or reject His word, remain outside the ark, and perish. Each person was acting on his or her own faith in God and in the fact that God would do what He said.
Genesis 7:2–3
Of every clean animal you are to take seven couples, and of the animals that are not clean, one couple; also of the birds in the air take seven couples—in order to preserve their species throughout the earth.
God instructed Noah to take seven pairs of clean animals and birds into the ark with him. This was God’s way of providing for the sacrifices that were to come.
He also had Noah take pairs of unclean animals so that they could repopulate the earth after the flood. God’s provision included both the preservation of life and preparation for worship after judgment had passed.
Genesis 7:4
“For in seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights; I will wipe out every living thing that I have made from the face of the earth.”
Why did God wait seven days? Throughout the Bible, the number seven is associated with completion. Here, we see that God gave everyone the opportunity to repent.
During these seven days, others could have accepted the word of God by faith and been saved, but they did not. God gave them every complete opportunity to repent before the judgment began.
God explained to Noah that it was going to rain for forty days and forty nights. Throughout the Bible, the number forty is associated with complete earthly trouble, testing, trials, and transition.
Genesis 7:5
Noach did all that ADONAI ordered him to do.
What difference can a single man make in this world? We see the answer in this simple verse. Noah simply did what the Lord told him to do, and because of that, we are all here today.
Noah’s faith was not only an inward belief. It was expressed through obedience in the details of everyday life. He listened to God, built the ark, prepared supplies, received the animals, and entered the place of safety God provided.
Genesis 7:6
Noach was 600 years old when the water flooded the earth.
In our world today, it seems like everyone is working toward the goal of retirement, but that is not the biblical pattern for life. Noah did not lie around in his house waiting to die; instead, he remained active in serving the Lord.
There is a huge pool of older Christians who need to heed this example of Noah and keep listening and working for the Lord. Imagine what work the Lord could do through their experience, faith, and wisdom.
Genesis 7:7–10
Noach went into the ark with his sons, his wife and his sons’ wives, because of the floodwaters. Of clean animals, of animals that are not clean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, couples, male and female, went in to Noach in the ark, as God had ordered Noach. After seven days the water flooded the earth.
We see that all who were called boarded the ark for safety from the coming judgment. It is interesting to note that Noah did not have to go out and round up the animals. Instead, God brought them to him.
God’s provision was complete. He had prepared the ark, called Noah, brought the animals, and gave the final warning before the waters came. Noah’s responsibility was to trust, obey, and enter.
Genesis 7:11–12
On the seventeenth day of the second month of the 600th year of Noach’s life all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of the sky were opened. It rained on the earth forty days and forty nights.
At the appointed time, this judgment was brought upon the earth. The phrase mayan rab tehom is translated as “fountains of the great deep,” and this is connected in this study with the abyss spoken of in Revelation 9.
A great fountain of water was released from this very deep place, while water also rained down from the sky to cover the earth. This continued for forty days and forty nights.
Throughout the Bible, the number forty relates to a transition from a period of trials and tribulation to the will and purpose of God. The flood marked both judgment on corruption and the beginning of a new stage in God’s plan for humanity.
Genesis 7:13–16
On that same day Noach entered the ark with Shem, Ham and Yefet the sons of Noach, Noach’s wife and the three wives of his sons accompanying them; they, and every animal of every species, all the livestock of every species, every animal that creeps on the ground of every species, and every bird of every species—all sorts of winged creatures. They went in to Noach in the ark, couples from every kind of living thing that breathes. Those that entered went in, male and female, from every kind of living being, as God had ordered him; and ADONAI shut him inside.
We see again that all were aboard the ark, and it happened just as God had commanded. Then we see that it was God who shut the door and sealed them in.
This is a reminder that once the judgment starts, it is too late to accept the provision of God. The open door was available before the rain began. Once God shut Noah inside, the time of decision had passed.
Noah did not secure the door by his own strength. God Himself shut him in, showing that the same God who provided the ark was also the One who sealed and protected those who had entered it by faith.
Genesis 7:17–20
The flood was forty days on the earth; the water grew higher and floated the ark, so that it was lifted up off the earth. The water overflowed the earth and grew deeper, until the ark floated on the surface of the water. The water overpowered the earth mightily; all the high mountains under the entire sky were covered; the water covered the mountains by more than twenty-two-and-a-half feet.
The number forty throughout the Bible is related to the completion of earthly trials and temptations. Here, we see that it took this long for the waters to rise and cover everything on the earth.
Meanwhile, these rising waters lifted the ark containing God’s people above the judgment. In the same way, God’s Word, pictured as water, lifts us above this fallen world today.
Though we are still in the world just as the ark and its passengers were still surrounded by water, we are not submerged in the ways of the world. God’s provision does not always remove us immediately from difficulty, but it keeps us secure in the middle of it.
Genesis 7:21–23
All living beings that moved on the earth perished—birds, livestock, other animals, insects, and every human being, everything in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life; whatever was on dry land died. He wiped out every living thing on the surface of the ground— not only human beings, but livestock, creeping animals and birds in the air. They were wiped out from the earth; only Noach was left, along with those who were with him in the ark.
The same thing is repeated three times in this passage, and that should make us take notice. Everything on the earth outside the ark was wiped out.
This is a picture of the exclusivity of Jesus Christ. All can be saved through Him, but nobody can be saved outside of Him. The ark was God’s provision of safety, and those inside it were saved from the judgment that came upon the earth.
Noah was left, along with those who were with him in the ark. God’s judgment was complete, but His grace was also complete toward the family and creatures He had preserved.
Genesis 7:24
The water held power over the earth for 150 days.
It took that long for the waters to completely cover the earth and then go down far enough for the ark to rest on a mountaintop. The number 150 is significant in that the Hebrew for fifteen is “Yod Hey,” which are also the first two letters in the proper name of God, YHWH.
This 150 speaks of the completion of the wrath of YHWH on the earth. The flood was not random or uncontrolled. It unfolded under God’s authority and according to His appointed purpose.