Study notes

Genesis 7

Introducing GenesisWho wrote it, when, why, and what to look for as you read

6:1–8:14 Section

In Genesis 1:31 the writer of Genesis recorded that God saw everything he had made. He was pleased because it was very good.

When God created human beings, he told them to fill the earth. This meant that God wanted the earth to continue to be filled with good things. But instead people lived lives controlled by the power of sin. They filled the earth with evil and harmful things.

One example of this was marriage between women and the sons of God. The writer of Genesis recorded that God saw how sinful everyone was. God wasn’t pleased. He was very sad about this.

So God limited the number of years that people could live. He also decided to destroy what he had created. But Noah had faith in God and obeyed God. That is what it means to walk faithfully with God. God was very pleased with Noah.

God brought judgement against people and the earth through the flood. Yet God showed grace as well. He saved Noah, his family and some of every kind of animal.

7:2

every kind of clean animal: There were animals meant to repopulate the earth. There were also these ceremonially clean animals for food and for Noah's sacrifice after the flood (8:20–21).

This passage does not use the specific terms found in the rules about ceremonially clean and unclean animals given to Israel at Mount Sinai (see Leviticus 11; Deuteronomy 14:3–12). But the basic idea is the same. It could be that God explained it directly to Noah.

7:11–12

  • on the seventeenth day of the second month: This specific detail gives the flood account a sense of seriousness. It shows that the event is presented as something that happened in history.

  • fountains of the great deep: See 2:6.

  • the floodgates of the heavens were opened: The great flood undid the boundaries established on the second and third days of creation (1:6–13). Other parts of the Bible describe God's judgment as undoing creation (see Jeremiah 4:23–26; Amos 7:4).

  • forty days and forty nights: See study note on 7:4.

7:16

the LORD shut him in: This showed that God was in control. He protected the people inside the ark and punished those who remained outside (see also 6:16 and study note).

7:17

  • the waters rose (literally waters multiplied): This is the same word used for the increase of humans and animals during creation (see 1:22, 28). Now, ironically, the story uses this word for the water that would destroy them.

  • high above the earth: The Hebrew word translated as “ground” or “earth” appears eight times in eight verses (7:17–24). The great flood was now cleansing the earth, which humans had polluted.

Verse notes: Adapted by Mission Mutual (Aquifer Open Study Notes) from Tyndale Open Study Notes © 2023 Tyndale House Publishers. CC BY-SA 4.0. Section notes: Biblica Study Notes © 2023 Biblica, Inc. CC BY-SA 4.0, via BibleAquifer. About the sources