8:1 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;
8:2 THE FOUNTAINS ALSO OF THE DEEP AND THE WINDOWS OF HEAVEN WERE STOPPED, AND THE RAIN FROM HEAVEN WAS RESTRAINED;
8:3 AND THE WATERS RETURNED FROM OFF THE EARTH CONTINUALLY: AND AFTER THE END OF THE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DAYS THE WATERS WERE ABATED.
A.REMEMBERED NOAH: Not that God just happened to recall that Noah was out there, but that He acted on Noah's behalf. Same usage as when one says, "I'll remember you in my will."
B.GOD MADE A WIND: He is in control; He sent the rain, He stopped the rain, now He made the wind to dry the land.
C.WATERS ASSWAGED: Calmed, settled, subsided, ceased.
D.WATERS WERE ABATED: Decreased, diminished, lowered.
8:4 AND THE ARK RESTED IN THE SEVENTH MONTH, ON THE SEVENTEENTH DAY OF THE MONTH, UPON THE MOUNTAINS OF ARARAT.
8:5 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.
8:6 AND IT CAME TO PASS AT THE END OF FORTY DAYS, THAT NOAH OPENED THE WINDOW OF THE ARK WHICH HE HAD MADE:
8:7 AND HE SENT FORTH A RAVEN, WHICH WENT FORTH TO AND FRO, UNTIL THE WATERS WERE DRIED UP FROM OFF THE EARTH.
A.WATERS DECREASED CONTINUALLY: Continued to be lowered.
B.HE SENT FORTH A RAVEN: This was a scavenger; It would stay out and find food among the dead things.
8:8 ALSO HE SENT FORTH A DOVE FROM HIM, TO SEE IF THE WATERS WERE ABATED FROM OFF THE FACE OF THE GROUND;
8:9 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 was not a scavenger, so it would have to come back for food if there was nothing growing on the earth.
8:10 AND HE STAYED YET OTHER SEVEN DAYS; AND AGAIN HE SENT FORTH THE DOVE OUT OF THE ARK;
8:11 AND THE DOVE CAME IN TO HIM IN THE EVENING; AND, LO, IN HER MOUTH [WAS] AN OLIVE LEAF PLUCKED OFF: SO NOAH KNEW THAT THE WATERS WERE ABATED FROM OFF THE EARTH.
8:12 AND HE STAYED YET OTHER SEVEN DAYS; AND SENT FORTH THE DOVE; WHICH RETURNED NOT AGAIN UNTO HIM ANY MORE.
**The dove could find fresh food, so the world was now again becoming fit for human habitation.
8:13 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.
A.The rain began on the 17th day of the 2nd month of year 600 of Noah's life - Gen 7:11. It is now the 1st day of the 1st month of the year 601 of Noah's life. So they had now been on the ark ten and a half months.
B.NOAH...LOOKED: His first look must have held similar interest to man's first look at the surface of the moon.
8:14 AND IN THE SECOND MONTH, ON THE SEVEN AND TWENTIETH DAY OF THE MONTH, WAS THE EARTH DRIED.
**The rain began on the 17th day of the 2nd month of the year before; Now it is the 27th day of the 2nd month; So they had been on the ark a year and ten days (not 40 days, as casual readers might think).
8:16 GO FORTH OF THE ARK, THOU, AND THY WIFE, AND THY SONS, AND THY SONS' WIVES WITH THEE.
8:17 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.
8:18 AND NOAH WENT FORTH, AND HIS SONS, AND HIS WIFE, AND HIS SONS' WIVES WITH HIM:
8:19 EVERY BEAST, EVERY CREEPING THING, AND EVERY FOWL, [AND] WHATSOEVER CREEPETH UPON THE EARTH, AFTER THEIR KINDS, WENT FORTH OUT OF THE ARK.
A.EVERY...EVERY...EVERY: God said He would save them, and He did -- Not one of them died on the ark.
B.He does what He says He will do: He said He would destroy all outside the ark, and He did.
8:20 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.
A.CLEAN BEAST...CLEAN FOWL...BURNT OFFERINGS: So here is one reason for preserving more of them than the UNCLEAN animals.
B.We will read later of humanity's right to eat CLEAN animals.
8:21 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.
A.LORD SMELLED A SWEET SAVOUR: He can do anything He wants, but the thought here may not be that He relished the physical smell, but that He delighted in the praise Noah offered.
B.NEITHER WILL I AGAIN SMITE: Don't quit reading the sentence before the last four words -- AS I HAVE DONE qualifies the "smiting;" The next time will not be by water, but by fire.
8:22 WHILE THE EARTH REMAINETH, SEEDTIME AND HARVEST, AND COLD AND HEAT, AND SUMMER AND WINTER, AND DAY AND NIGHT SHALL NOT CEASE.
A.This is truth for all of time, no matter what the wild-eyed environmental prophets of doom predict.
B.At the close of Chapter Eight we note two things: