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†. Gen 8:1a . . God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the
cattle that were with him in the ark,
Does that mean God forgot all about the ark's passengers until He realized
why there was a string tied around His finger? (chuckle) No; it reaffirms that
they were always on God's mind. He isn't forgetful. But what about Noah's
sisters and brothers, and/or his aunts and uncles? Did God think of them
too? No. Noah's kin, except those aboard the ark; were all wiped out in the
Flood. He and Mrs. Noah may have had other children too; and grand
children. If so, then those also perished: and their family pets too right
along with them.
Out ahead, at the final judgment, many of us are going to have to watch as
our own kin face justice at the Great White Throne event depicted at Rev
20:11-15, and afterwards thrown alive-- wild eyed, shrieking, yelping,
bellowing, and bawling like little children --into a lake of brimstone. We
might even be called up as witnesses to testify in the prosecution's case
against them. That will be an awful ordeal.
†. Gen 8:1b-3a . . and God caused a wind to blow across the earth,
and the waters subsided. The fountains of the deep and the
floodgates of the sky were stopped up, and the rain from the sky
was held back; the waters then receded steadily from the earth.
The Old Testament Hebrew word that the editors of the NIV translated
"receded" is shuwb (shoob) an ambiguous word that can mean draw back,
return to the beginning, or simply diminish. The very same word is used in
the NIV's translation of Gen 3:19 thusly:
"By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the
ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will
return."
In that example; shuwb indicates that Adam went right back where he came
from; viz: the dust.
According to Gen 7:11 the waters of the Flood came from the springs of the
great deep and from heaven. So then, I take shuwb to mean that the waters
went right back to heaven and the great deep as the Flood dried up so that
the waters didn't drain off, they were pulled off; which is a good thing
because had the waters drained off, they would have caused quite a bit of
erosion; but actually, there was nowhere for them to drain; they had to be
removed.
Gen 8:1-3 strongly suggests that the Flood's waters were removed by the
process of evaporation. But there's just no way that much water got
absorbed by the earth's atmosphere or it would still be here. No, I'm
convinced those waters were pulled back out into space from whence they
came in the first place. How were they pulled back out in space? Well; if I
could explain how God got the Flood's waters off the planet with wind
power; then I would be able to explain how Jesus levitated off the ground in
Acts 1:9. People think walking on water is amazing? Try walking on air.
†. Gen 8:3b-4 . . At the end of one hundred and fifty days the waters
diminished, so that in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of
the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.
The precise topographic location, where the ark went aground, was not
really up on a specific mountain by the name of Ararat nor up on any other
mountain for that matter. The Hebrew word for "mountains" in Gen 8:4 is
haareey which is the plural of har (har). It doesn't always mean a prominent
land mass like Everest or McKinley; especially when it's plural. Har can also
mean a range of hills or highlands; like the region of Israel where Miriam's
cousin Elizabeth lived.
"At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of
Judea, where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth." (Luke
1:39-40)
In California, where I lived as a kid, the local elevation 35 miles east of San
Diego, in the town of Alpine, was about 2,000 feet above sea level. There
were plenty of meadows with pasture and good soil. In fact much of it was
very good ranchland and quite a few people in that area raised horses and
cows. We ourselves kept about five hundred chickens, and a few goats and
calves. We lived in the mountains of San Diego; but we didn't live up on top
of one of its mountains like Viejas, Lyon's , or Cuyamaca.
Another inhabited region in the continental U.S. that's elevated is the area of
Denver Colorado; which is located on the western edge of the Great Plains
near the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. Denver is a whole mile above
sea level-- 5,280 feet. However, Denver, even though so high above sea
level, isn't located on the tippy top of a mountain, nor even on the side of
one; it's just located up on high ground.
The ark contained the only surviving souls of man and animal on the entire
planet. Does it really make good sense to strand them up on a mountain
peak where they might risk death and injury descending it?
When my wife and I visited the San Diego zoo together back in the early
1980's, we noticed that the Giraffes' area had no fence around it. The tour
guide told us the Giraffes' enclosure doesn't need a fence because their area
is up on a plateau 3 feet high. The Giraffes don't try to escape because
they're afraid of heights. There's just no way Giraffes could've climbed down
off of Turkey's Mount Ararat. It's way too steep and rugged. Those poor
timid creatures would've been stranded up there and died; and so would
hippos, elephants, and flightless birds like penguins.
The Hebrew word for "Ararat" is from 'Ararat (ar-aw-rat') which appears
three more times in the Bible: one at 2Kgs 19:36-37, one at Isa 37:36-38,
and one at Jer 51:27. Ararat is always the country of Armenia: never a
specific mountain by the same name.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
†. Gen 8:1a . . God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the
cattle that were with him in the ark,
Does that mean God forgot all about the ark's passengers until He realized
why there was a string tied around His finger? (chuckle) No; it reaffirms that
they were always on God's mind. He isn't forgetful. But what about Noah's
sisters and brothers, and/or his aunts and uncles? Did God think of them
too? No. Noah's kin, except those aboard the ark; were all wiped out in the
Flood. He and Mrs. Noah may have had other children too; and grand
children. If so, then those also perished: and their family pets too right
along with them.
Out ahead, at the final judgment, many of us are going to have to watch as
our own kin face justice at the Great White Throne event depicted at Rev
20:11-15, and afterwards thrown alive-- wild eyed, shrieking, yelping,
bellowing, and bawling like little children --into a lake of brimstone. We
might even be called up as witnesses to testify in the prosecution's case
against them. That will be an awful ordeal.
†. Gen 8:1b-3a . . and God caused a wind to blow across the earth,
and the waters subsided. The fountains of the deep and the
floodgates of the sky were stopped up, and the rain from the sky
was held back; the waters then receded steadily from the earth.
The Old Testament Hebrew word that the editors of the NIV translated
"receded" is shuwb (shoob) an ambiguous word that can mean draw back,
return to the beginning, or simply diminish. The very same word is used in
the NIV's translation of Gen 3:19 thusly:
"By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the
ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will
return."
In that example; shuwb indicates that Adam went right back where he came
from; viz: the dust.
According to Gen 7:11 the waters of the Flood came from the springs of the
great deep and from heaven. So then, I take shuwb to mean that the waters
went right back to heaven and the great deep as the Flood dried up so that
the waters didn't drain off, they were pulled off; which is a good thing
because had the waters drained off, they would have caused quite a bit of
erosion; but actually, there was nowhere for them to drain; they had to be
removed.
Gen 8:1-3 strongly suggests that the Flood's waters were removed by the
process of evaporation. But there's just no way that much water got
absorbed by the earth's atmosphere or it would still be here. No, I'm
convinced those waters were pulled back out into space from whence they
came in the first place. How were they pulled back out in space? Well; if I
could explain how God got the Flood's waters off the planet with wind
power; then I would be able to explain how Jesus levitated off the ground in
Acts 1:9. People think walking on water is amazing? Try walking on air.
†. Gen 8:3b-4 . . At the end of one hundred and fifty days the waters
diminished, so that in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of
the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.
The precise topographic location, where the ark went aground, was not
really up on a specific mountain by the name of Ararat nor up on any other
mountain for that matter. The Hebrew word for "mountains" in Gen 8:4 is
haareey which is the plural of har (har). It doesn't always mean a prominent
land mass like Everest or McKinley; especially when it's plural. Har can also
mean a range of hills or highlands; like the region of Israel where Miriam's
cousin Elizabeth lived.
"At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of
Judea, where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth." (Luke
1:39-40)
In California, where I lived as a kid, the local elevation 35 miles east of San
Diego, in the town of Alpine, was about 2,000 feet above sea level. There
were plenty of meadows with pasture and good soil. In fact much of it was
very good ranchland and quite a few people in that area raised horses and
cows. We ourselves kept about five hundred chickens, and a few goats and
calves. We lived in the mountains of San Diego; but we didn't live up on top
of one of its mountains like Viejas, Lyon's , or Cuyamaca.
Another inhabited region in the continental U.S. that's elevated is the area of
Denver Colorado; which is located on the western edge of the Great Plains
near the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. Denver is a whole mile above
sea level-- 5,280 feet. However, Denver, even though so high above sea
level, isn't located on the tippy top of a mountain, nor even on the side of
one; it's just located up on high ground.
The ark contained the only surviving souls of man and animal on the entire
planet. Does it really make good sense to strand them up on a mountain
peak where they might risk death and injury descending it?
When my wife and I visited the San Diego zoo together back in the early
1980's, we noticed that the Giraffes' area had no fence around it. The tour
guide told us the Giraffes' enclosure doesn't need a fence because their area
is up on a plateau 3 feet high. The Giraffes don't try to escape because
they're afraid of heights. There's just no way Giraffes could've climbed down
off of Turkey's Mount Ararat. It's way too steep and rugged. Those poor
timid creatures would've been stranded up there and died; and so would
hippos, elephants, and flightless birds like penguins.
The Hebrew word for "Ararat" is from 'Ararat (ar-aw-rat') which appears
three more times in the Bible: one at 2Kgs 19:36-37, one at Isa 37:36-38,
and one at Jer 51:27. Ararat is always the country of Armenia: never a
specific mountain by the same name.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=