Lesson 7 The Genesis Flood from the Peak through the Receding Period
A. Overall Lesson Objective
•To assess the Record of this period in Genesis 8, especially where time and events are provided.
B. Learning Competencies
•God remembers Noah, commands a wind over the earth, closes the fountains of the deep, and restrains rain. The waters abate.
•Specific events are recorded in terms of time to document the progressive recession of water. It was a violent time for the newly appearing lands.
•Disembarking from the ark, regardless of tests and observation by Noah, did not occur until God commanded the action.
•Noah’s response and God’s promise with a sign are recorded, but so is God’s commanded change in the kingdom of living things that are now a food source. God restates that the life of man is special and commands the survivors to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth.
•Other books in the Bible record the impact, finality, and importance of the Genesis Flood, forming a thread of references that underline its significance.
C. Lesson
Overview
The flood waters are unabated in the closing verses of Genesis 7. God provides a change in emphasis at the beginning of Genesis 8, which begins His description of the receding period of the Great Flood. His noted concern at this point is Noah. God begins the steps to abate the floodwaters. From an ark point of view, it is business as usual: take care of the animals and keep yourself alive. There is plenty to do. Noah’s family is in close quarters for a long time. Though Noah is named for his righteousness, God saves him and his entire family. They were all still fallen, fallible descendants of Adam. Close quarters, hard work, and the sounds of catastrophe must have made for a difficult period. After several months of floating in turbulent seas, God remembers Noah and those with him in the ark. He begins to abate the waters and provides various markers in Genesis 8. At the end of several more months, the ark grounds on a mountain range. Noah opens a window after some more time. He tests the situation several times using a dove. No matter what the results, however, nobody leaves the ark until God says ‘go.’ Anything else would have been foolish. And what they see when they finally observe the outside must have been a shock. The landscape would bear the scars of the monster Flood; most of the features they observe would have been made during the receding period. Little would be familiar compared to their previous home.
Reading and Notes
Using your notes from the reading assignment (Genesis 8), follow the teacher’s instructions to fill a table with four columns. In the left column, put the verse references that pertain to an event or group of events. In the second column, add a short title for the event within those verses. In the third column, put a few notes about who is present. In the last column (the largest), summarize what happens. Use the following segments: Genesis: 8:1-5, 6-14, 15-19, and 20-22. Then proceed to the following notes:
1.God does two things in verses 1-5. The mechanisms responsible for the two sources of water are stopped on God’s command. God orders a wind. Neither the stop in the water sources nor the start of the wind are ‘natural’—God makes them happen to cause the waters to abate or recede. God engineers and commands the cessation of events, just as He ensured that the Flood began and prevailed. None of this has any counterpart in today’s more settled conditions. The receding waters are hundreds of meters in depth, so incredible forces are still in operation. The ocean depths increase. Uneven land masses emerge. The combination only makes the flow over new terrain faster. The water must go somewhere. The earth must appear and be habitable for those people and creatures that exit the ark because that is God’s stated intent. Thus, land surfaces must be raised and sea beds lowered to accommodate the water. The actions do not take eons; they take a short time. The majority of this occurs before those on the ark can disembark in a particular region. All of this makes events during the receding period like a series of mini-catastrophes that carve and form the new land masses. The ark is grounded on a named set of mountains. After a few months, mountain peaks can be seen. It is a miraculous event in itself that the ark rests high and safe while the forceful and cataclysmic receding waters continue to flow over and cut the land. Lands continue to emerge. The ark’s inhabitants remain safe. No exit is entertained. The noise of surrounding waters and wind would have been heard. We hear waterfalls that are large and consider them deafening. What they heard was probably far beyond what we have experienced, and it probably did not stop for some time.
2.Verses 6-14 record things from Noah’s perspective. He has a way to test the conditions outside the ark. He repeats the test more than once. Only a window is opened for the tests. Even when the last test shows that a little bird has found a new home and need not return, Noah does not make the move to open the ark. It is conjecture but it is highly likely, in view of what the crew experienced during the preceding months, that a bird finding a safe haven would not have been sufficient to calm their fears. After another period of time, the covering of the ark is removed, but still no exit is entertained. They observe the earth to be dry; they still do not depart. Another period of time is recorded.
3.Verses 15-19 begin with God’s command. It is only with this permission from the ultimate Authority that they have the assurance that they can disembark safely. There is good reason to need assurance; they have heard, felt (from the motion of the ark), and seen a little of what the Flood has done. Noah and the family are commanded to bring out all the creatures that have been with them. Further, God says they are to disembark so they may multiply, be fruitful and fill the earth. Changed though it was, the earth will again see living things that will multiply on its surface.
4.Verses 20-22 describe Noah’s response—to worship God. Sacrifices, which would have been a suitable response to God for their safe arrival on land, are made of a few of the clean animals. God records His response to Noah’s action. The response is a critically important one for those who fear another cataclysmic worldwide event like the Genesis Flood. As the verses state, it will not happen. An end will occur to the universe and the earth, to be sure, and great catastrophes will occur at that time, but that is another study of other portions of scripture and pertains to the day of the Lord, or His return. Read 2 Peter 3: 3-10, especially verse 6, and Matthew 24:37-39. Note particularly the contrast between the two global-scale destructions. The first of which was by water, and the prophesied scoffers will ‘deliberately forget’ both the part of water in earth’s creation and the global Genesis Flood. Jesus links days of Noah with His return in several respects. [Research note: was the flood global?] The biblical creation view, which includes the event of the Flood, is referenced quite often in the scriptures. It is a mark in the Bible that shows the mercy of God, His strict judgment, and His ability to see the true heart of man. For this last point, compare God’s statement about man in these scriptures: Genesis 8:21, Psalm 51:5, Isaiah 53:6 and John 3:19.
D. Assignment
Find evidence from school books or public media of the largest flash floods on earth with respect to the time of the event, the depth of the water, the speed of the water, and the effects of earth or debris being moved. The teacher will assign groups or individuals as appropriate. Bring the results to the next class.
E. Learning Activity
Using references supplied by the teacher, summarize at least two of the largest volcanic events recorded in media with respect to the following information: Time duration of the event; total area affected around the volcano; depths, speed, and effects of any lava and pyroclastic flows; evidence of any regional or worldwide weather changes. (Pyroclastic flows are fast moving, destructive flows of hot rock fragments mixed with gas.)
🦕 CT? Estimate these effects as if 1000 volcanoes occurred within a few months of each other along the ‘Ring of Fire’ as a limited picture of the effects of volcanism related to the Genesis Flood.
F. Concluding Assessment
The receding part of the Genesis Flood was as violent as the Flood’s beginning, but God remembers Noah and the ark, securing their future as they are ordered to disembark and repopulate the earth at the proper time.