Matthew Poole's Commentary And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged; The waters abate, Genesis 8:1-3. The ark rests on Mount Ararat, Genesis 8:4. The day on which the tops of the mountians were seen, noted, Genesis 8:5. Noah opens the window of the ark, Genesis 8:6; sends forth a raven, Genesis 8:7; after that a dove, Genesis 8:8, which returned, Genesis 8:9. He sends the dove out a second time, Genesis 8:10, which returns with an olive leaf, Genesis 8:11. He sends her out again, and she returns not, Genesis 8:12. The earth dry, Genesis 8:13-14. God commands Noah and his family to come out, Genesis 8:15-17, which they do, Genesis 8:18-19. Noah builds an altar, and sacrifices, Genesis 8:20. God accepts it, and promises not to drown the world again, Genesis 8:21, but to continue the seasons of the year, Genesis 8:22. God remembered Noah, i.e. he showed by his actions that he minded and cared for him, or pitied and succoured him. God is said to remember his people, when after some delays or suspensions of his favour he returns and shows kindness to them, as Genesis 19:29, Genesis 30:22, Exodus 32:13 Job 14:13 Psalm 132:1. As God punished the beasts for man’s sin, so now he favours them for man’s sake. God made a wind to pass; a drying or burning wind, like that of Exodus 14:21, which had a natural power to dry up the waters; but that was heightened by the assistance of a higher and miraculous operation of God. The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained; No text from Poole on this verse. And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated. No text from Poole on this verse. And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. In the seventh month, from the beginning, not of the flood, but of the year, as appears by comparing Genesis 7:11, and Genesis 8:13-14, the ark rested upon one of the mountains of Ararat; by a frequent enallage of the number, as Judges 12:7 Matthew 21:5. And by Ararat is here commonly and rightly understood Armenia, as appears both by comparing Isaiah 37:38 Jeremiah 51:27, and by the testimony of ancient writers, produced by Josephus and others to this purpose; and by the great height of those mountains, and by its nearness to the place where the first men lived; this great vessel not being fitted for sailing to remote places, but only for the receipt and preservation of men and other creatures in it. And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen. No text from Poole on this verse. And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made: No text from Poole on this verse. And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth. He sent forth a raven; a fit messenger for that purpose, because it smells dead carcasses at a great distance, and flies far, and then returneth to its former habitation with something in its bill. To and fro; Heb. going and returning; i.e. went forth hither and thither; now forward, then backward; sometimes going from the ark, and sometimes returning to the ark, though never entering into it again. Not as if she returned afterwards; the phrase implies that she never returned. And so the word until is often used, as 2 Samuel 6:23, Michal had no child until the day of her death, i.e. never had a child. See also Psalm 110:1 Matthew 1:25. Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground; The dove flies lower and longer than the raven, and is more sociable and familiar with man, and more constant to its accustomed dwelling, and more loving and faithful to its mate, and therefore more likely to return with some discovery. But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark. The dove found no rest for the sole of her foot; because the tops of the hills which then appeared were either muddy and dirty, or unobserved by the dove, as not soaring so high; whence the doves are emphatically called the doves of the valleys, Ezekiel 7:16. He took her, and pulled her in; her former acquaintance with Noah, and her present necessity, making her more tractable. And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark; No text from Poole on this verse. And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. The dove came in to him in the evening, as the manner of doves is, partly for better accommodation, both for food and lodging, than yet she could meet with abroad; and partly from her love to her mate. In her mouth was an olive leaf. Quest. Whence was this leaf, when trees had been so generally overthrown and rooted up by the deluge? Answ. 1. Many trees might be preserved by an advantageous situation, between the rocks or hills which broke the force of the waters. 2. It is probable that God, by his powerful providence, preserved the plants and trees for future ages; and therefore there is no mention of any of their roots or seeds preserved in the ark. 3. The olive-tree especially will not only stand, but live and flourish under the waters, as Pliny, 1. 13. c. 25, and 16. 20, and Theophrastus, 4. 8, observe. Add, that the word here rendered leaf signifies also a tender branch. And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more. Finding convenient food and resting place upon the earth, and preferring her freedom before her mate: possibly she might lose the sight of the ark, and forget or mistake the way to it. And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry. The words month and day are ofttimes, for brevity sake, omitted by the Hebrews, as being easily understood. Thus the first of the feast, Matthew 26:17, is the first day of the feast, Mark 14:12. And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried. Not only from water, as it was Genesis 8:13, but from mud and dirt also. So the flood continued ten days more than a year, by comparing this with Genesis 7:11. And God spake unto Noah, saying, No text from Poole on this verse. Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee. As Noah expected the command of God for his going into the ark, Genesis 7:1-2, so for his coming forth of it. Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth. Quest. How could these creatures which came out of the ark in Asia get thence to America, or to the islands remote from the continent? Answ. 1. As for America, it is thought by divers learned men, that it is either joined to this continent, or separated from it only by a narrow sea, which divers living creatures could easily swim over. 2. Many living creatures are, and always were, transported by men in their vessels, either for their supply, or profit, or diversion, or other ends, and thence might easily be propagated there. 3. The same God who made all these creatures, and caused them to come first to Adam, and afterwards to Noah, could afterwards both incline and empower them to go whither he pleased, without the advice of these vain men, who will believe nothing of God which themselves either do not see or cannot do. And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him: No text from Poole on this verse. Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark. No text from Poole on this verse. And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. This is the first altar we read of, but not the first which was built; for the sacrifices which were offered before, Genesis 4:3-4, presuppose an altar. Therefore it is no sufficient evidence that such things were not done because they are not said to be done in Scripture; which will be a useful consideration for the understanding of many passages in Scripture hereafter. The first thing Noah doth, is to pay his debt of justice and gratitude to that God which had so miraculously preserved him, and restored him to his ancient and proper habitation. God expects to be served in the first place. What beasts were clean and what unclean, see Genesis 7:2 Leviticus 11:2, &c. And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. The Lord smelled a sweet savour, i.e. graciously accepted the person and faith and praise offering of Noah, and was as well pleased therewith as men use to be with a sweet smell; and the Lord said in his heart, i.e. determined within himself, and expressed so much to Noah. The Hebrew preposition el sometimes signifies in, as Genesis 21:6 1 Samuel 27:1. Others, said to his heart, i.e. spoke to the heart of Noah, who is mentioned, Genesis 8:20. To speak to the heart, in Scripture use, signifies to comfort. Will not again curse the ground, i.e. the whole earth, with this kind of curse, with another deluge. Otherwise God doth not hereby tie his hands, that he may not either destroy a particular land by a deluge, which hath been done since, or destroy the world by fire when he sees fit, as he hath declared he will do. For the imagination of man’s heart is evil. The reason contained in these words is this: Since all men’s hearts are naturally corrupt, and from that filthy spring wicked actions will be continually flowing forth into the world; and consequently, if I should be severe to punish men according to their sins, I should do nothing but send one deluge after another. Or these words may be joined with the former, and the sense may be this: I will not again destroy the earth with a deluge for man’s sake, or for man’s sin, or because of the imagination, & c., i.e. because his heart is corrupt, and his actions are agreeable to it, which was the cause of the last deluge. Or the particle chi may be rendered although, as it is frequently taken, as Exodus 5:11, Exodus 13:17, Exodus 34:9, Joshua 17:13 Psalm 25:11, Psalm 41:5; and so the sense is plain, I will not again destroy the earth, although the imagination, & c., i.e. although I have just cause to do so. Or, from his very childhood and infancy, as the Chaldee and Greek interpreters translate it. Neither will I again smite, i.e. kill or destroy, as the word smiting is taken, Exodus 21:18 Numbers 14:12, Numbers 35:16, Deu 28:22, Deu 28:27, Amos 4:9. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. While the earth remaineth, viz. in this estate; for though it seems probable that the substance of the earth will abide for ever, after the dissolution of the world by fire; yet that will be in another manner, and for other purposes, and then there will be no need of seed-time, or harvest, & c. Day and night. This distinction in a manner ceased in the ark, the heavens being covered, and all its lights eclipsed by such thick and black clouds, as never were before nor since. |
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