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GENESIS 8
The obedience of Noah and the first altar for sacrificing a burnt offering to the LORD -- (DATE: Around 1657 after Adam)
DISCOVER Genesis 8: God remembered Noah and all the living creatures in the ark, and therefore he made a strong wind blow over the earth and closed both the fountains of the great deep and the windows of heaven, restraining the rains. This is why the waters continually abated, so that on the seventeenth day of the seventh month, after 150 day of flooding had passed, the ark came to rest on top of the mountains of Ararat. The waters continued to abate until the tenth month, so that on its first day the tops of other mountains became visible in the distance. -- Finally after another forty days, Noah opened a window in the ark and let a raven fly out, which flew to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. Then Noah sent out a dove, to use as a scout and see if the ground was free of water. But the bird found no place to set its feet down, and thus returned to him. After waiting another seven days, Noah tried anew and sent the dove out once more. And in the evening the bird returned with a leaf of an olive tree in its beak, telling him that indeed the ground was now again free of water. Another seven days later, Noah sent the dove out a third time, but this time the bird did not return to him. -- So, in the six hundred and first year of Noah, on the first day of the first month, Noah removed the covers from the ark and saw for himself that indeed the ground was dry again. And on the twenty-seventh day of the second month, God said to Noah that it was time for him, his wife, his sons, and their wives to leave the ark and open its large doors and let all the animals, birds and creeping things therein out, to populate the earth once more with his blessing. And Noah did as God had told him, opening the ark and letting all the animals go out, to be fruitful and multiply on the face of the earth. -- In thanks to the LORD and to worship him, Noah also built an altar and took some of the clean animals and birds he had taken more of, as God had commanded him, and made a burnt offering of them to the LORD. Smelling the pleasing aroma drifting up from the altar, the LORD said in his heart that he will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither would he ever make other living creatures pay the price of man’s folly. Rather, he would make sure that as long as the earth remained, life, seedtime and harvest, warm days and cold days, the seasons and the succession of day and night would never cease.
PRAYER: Thank you heavenly Father for your mercy in the midst of your judgment. Thank you for remembering Noah and all those with him in the ark and for bringing an end to the source of your terrifying judgment on the earth. Thank you that the waters of the flood receded into the oceans so that the dry land could again be used for humans and animals to live on. And thank you for your divine promise, that the yearly seasons and all forms of life are guaranteed by you personally on a global level, so that we do not have to fear a repetition of such a great flood on earth. Amen.
QUESTION 8: How did Noah find out that the land was dry enough for him and all animals to leave the ark and populate the earth again?