Genesis 7:11-8:14

DURATION AND EXTENT OF THE FLOOD

When did the flood begin (Genesis 7:11)? What shows an uprising of the oceans and seas, occasioned perhaps by a subsiding of the land? How long did the rain continue? What suggests a rising of the water even after the rain ceased (Genesis 7:17-19)? How long did it continue to rise (Genesis 7:24)? What circumstance mentioned in Genesis 2:5 may have given “a terrifying accompaniment” to the rain? When and where did the ark rest (Genesis 8:4)?

Ararat is rendered Armenia in 2 Kings 19:37 and Isaiah 37:38. What is the story of Noah’s messengers (Genesis 8:6-12)? How long did the flood last (Genesis 8:14)? A beautiful parallel is found in considering the ark as a type of Christ. All the waves of divine judgment passed over Him, and He put Himself judicially under the weight of all His people’s sins. But He rose triumphantly from the grave to which that penalty had consigned Him. Nor did He thus rise for Himself only, but for all believers who are in Him by faith as was Noah and his family in the ark.

But did the flood actually occur? and did it cover the whole earth? are questions frequently asked. As to the first, the Word of God is all-sufficient to the man of faith, but it is pertinent to add that the event is corroborated by tradition and geology. As to the second, there may be a division of opinion even among those who accept the authority of Scripture.

Genesis 7:19-23 seems to teach its universality, but whether this means universal according to the geography of Noah or Moses or the geography of the present, is a question as to which Christians are divided.