v.1-10
1. The contrast: the animals which Noah take with him to the ark would be "to preserve their offspring on the face of the entire earth," while the rest of them God would, "wipe from the face of the ground every living thing that I have made.”
Noah was commanded by God to come into the ark v.1 and 7 along with his families. Animals would also enter came into the ark to Noah just as God had commanded him. v.9 These stood in contrast to the floodwaters which would engulf the earth v.6-7.
2. The ark was clearly the tool God told Noah to prepare as a mean of salvation in the flood. The spiritual obedience of Noah saved him through a physical disaster. v.5 And Noah did all that the LORD commanded him.
Perhaps not all Christians are exempt from physical harsh ship, including death, but our spiritual definitely will save us from from our physical trouble.
3. Questions
1) Noah is obedient to God, godly among his generation
2) He would be saved from floodwaters while the entire earth would be engulfed and all the living creatures would be wipe out.
3) He was the one who gained favor in God's eyes, and the animals are preserved so that they would cover the face of the earth again. They would be saved by God's design. On the other hand, it would not be easy to stay with animals in a closed environment
4) ***That is good reminder. God would save Noah, but he needed to bear with the time cramping with the animals in the ark even thought it was a tool of salvation. That will be like my time when I went through chemo. Even it might be a tool of salvation, it would bring me some discomfort. During the time in the ark, Noah still have job to do, i.e. he still needed to take care of the animals. During my chemo, I still have jobs to do, i.e. to glorify God, to be joyful, to worship Him.
v.11-24
1. The repeated word, "all"
11 all the fountains of the great deep burst open and the floodgates of the heavens were opened
14 They entered, along with every living creature after its kind, every animal after its kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, everything with wings
15 Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life came into the ark to Noah
16 Those that entered were male and female, (Heb “Those that went in, male and female from all flesh they went in.”) just as God commanded him. Then the LORD shut him in
19 The waters completely inundated the earth so that even all the high mountains under the entire sky were covered.
21 And all living things that moved on the earth died, including the birds, domestic animals, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all humankind.
22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died
23 So the LORD destroyed every living thing that was on the surface of the ground
Summary: Every water from above below were coming on the earth, and all the land and even high mountains were completely covered. The entire land animals including human died except all those which entered into the ark with Noah.
2. The repetition of the words from the creation account in Gen 1,2
a. The category of the land animals and the birds, "after its kinds"
b. The descriptions that used to describe Adam/mankind were applied to animals as well, "male and female," "breath of life in its nostrils,"2:7
c. The water in the great "deep" 1:2
NET The watery deep. The same Hebrew term used to describe the watery deep in Gen 1:2 (תְּהוֹם, tihom) appears here. The text seems to picture here subterranean waters coming from under the earth and contributing to the rapid rise of water. The significance seems to be, among other things, that in this judgment God was returning the world to its earlier condition of being enveloped with water—a judgment involving the reversal of creation.
3. Reflection: When God destroyed the earth He has the "re-creation" in mind. However, as mankind repeated our own mistake and sins after the flood we see that there is no remedy of sins from among us. The wages of sins is death and we have no way to escape that when we repeatedly sins generation after generation. Thank God that in Jesus Christ there is no condemnation.
When I see the helplessness of mankind, it also helps me to not worry. My worry is my attempt to control and thus manipulate the result of the things I worry about. There are many things out of my control, and I need to admit that, my worry did not change anything.
4. Questions
5) We caused the death of all the land animals during Noah's time except those preserved in the ark. The flood changed the landscape somewhat, too.
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