This chapter pertains to the flood itself. Noah was around 480 to 500 years old when God called him and instructed him to build the Ark. He walked with God even before having his children (Genesis 5:32). He was 600 years old when he entered the Ark, which he had spent about 100 to 120 years constructing. During these years, Noah was considered foolish by his contemporaries because it had never rained on earth before. The Ark symbolizes Christ, who receives all kinds of people coming to him (whether they are Jews, Greeks, or from any other ethnic origin).

Note that lions, rabbits, and all animals were not enemies within the Ark (when we are united in God, our differences fall away). When Noah entered the Ark, the flood did not start immediately but seven days later. The one who closed the door of the Ark was not Noah, but God (Genesis 7:16). We can see in this chapter that since man’s fall in the Garden of Eden, even animals have been affected. Those that fed on carcasses or other animals were considered unclean.

Some were clean and others unclean before God, depending on the harm they had caused other creatures and their filth. Clean animals were later used for sacrifices and food for humans. All of nature rebelled against God, much like an army without a commander. Pure, from the Hebrew “Tahor,” means pure and bright, not living in dirt or filth. These pure animals were brought to Noah by God. The list of clean and unclean animals was given to Moses at a later stage (see Leviticus 11).

However, God also advises us to eat everything sold in the market without raising questions of conscience and forbids us from considering impure what he has declared pure (1 Corinthians 10:25; Acts 10:13-15). The flood began on the seventeenth day of the second month of Noah’s 600th year (according to Moses’ calendar), which corresponds to May in the Gregorian calendar (current time). When God closed the door of the Ark, He indicated by this act that the favorable period for humanity had ended.

The flood lasted only 40 days, but the waters reached their maximum level after 150 days (the highest mountains on earth were covered with waters 7 meters above them. The highest mountain in the region, Mount Ararat, is 5,137 meters high. This shows that the flood covered the entire earth. At that time, months consisted of 30 days (according to the Jewish calendar)…

This text is an excerpt from the book “THE PENTATEUCH: Through the Eyes of Grace” written by Dr. Rhema Divin NGOY.

We invite you to read the following article “God’s Covenant with Noah Detailed.“