Populating the Earth
Since creation started with one family, it is difficult to understand how the world was populated from them. There had to have been many unidentified people who were alive between creation and the flood.
We know this because, in Genesis 5, we are told how old the man was when he had a son, how many years he lived after the birth, that he had other sons and daughters, and how old he was when he died. We are not told who his wife was or how many other children they had.
Moses gave us even less information about on the genealogy list after the flood. We are just given the father’s name and the son’s name.
There is some debate as to who the sons of God and who the daughters of men are — their children being the Nephilim. We know that they lived prior to the flood and after the flood.
The main point is that Adam and his descendants obeyed the command to go forth and multiply (Gen. 1: 28; Gen. 9: 1).
Enoch, Methuselah, and Noah
Enoch would have been Noah’s great-grandfather. Methuselah was Noah’s grandfather. These three men were Hall of Famers of the Old Testament. They were three big role models of practical godliness.
Enoch walked with God and was taken to be with God.
Methusaleh meant when he dies, it will come. He died the same year as the flood happened.
Only Noah had remained faithful to God as the world became more corrupt. He was described as “… a righteous man” (Gen. 6: 9 NLT), “… [a] blameless person …” (Gen. 6: 9 NLT), and “… [walked] in close fellowship with God” (Gen. 6: 9 NLT).
We are told several times that Noah was completely devoted to being obedient to God (Gen. 6: 22; Gen. 7: 22).
It didn’t matter what Noah did or didn’t know. Didn’t matter how things looked. One day, God said to him. “Height, width, and depth. Do it.” Noah’s response was, “Good plan.”
Increasing Corruption and Violence on the Earth
The vast majority of the population on earth were filled with corruption that led to violence. Wickedness was widespread on the earth. This was everyone – what would later be known as Jew and Gentile. People were living corrupt lives. They were not following God’s laws and commandments.
But some of Seth’s descendants would have turned away from God, also.
God didn’t like what He saw on the earth. Verse 6 says that “… It broke his heart” (Gen. 6: 6 NLT) that He had made humankind in the first place.
God putting up with us is an interesting translation. The Orthodox Jewish Bible translated it as striving. In other words, God wasn’t going to continue to fight us.
When we think about the days of Noah, we like to think about God waiting patiently around a hundred years to get the ark built. But prior to that, God had been pulling back His hand.
There are two choices — obey God or obey Satan. Once we make our final decision, He is gone to those who reject Him or will never leave those who obey. He will not stay with an impure person.
But God is not going to force us to obey Him. It is our choice — called free will.
Punishment for the Earth
God had a plan. He wanted a redo for the creation He had made. It had become corrupted, and God wanted to cleanse and liberate it.
God had made up His mind that He would punish the wicked by destroying everything that breathes – and nothing was going to change His mind. He will allow this corruption and violence in His world only so long before He will mete out punishment.
God didn’t destroy the earth and all living things without a purpose. That purpose was to further His kingdom of peace.
God has absolute control over the natural world. He will pass judgment on our sin. It is in retribution for our disobedience. The ultimate judgment on sin is death and utter destruction.
It also is amazing that Noah didn’t question what rain was. Some believe that it hadn’t rained yet (Gen. 2: 5 NLT).
The corrupt world was not interested in following God. They wanted to continue on as they had been doing. God said, “No. I’m done.”
The people in the days of Noah had made the choice and continued to choose wickedness — so they would suffer the consequences.
True, the wicked may have not known what a flood or rain was any more than Noah did. But Noah took the warning as an absolute truth. They didn’t when Noah told them.
Noah and Methusaleh (who is believed to preach the coming flood alongside Noah) could be considered unsuccessful preachers because no one else in the family or friends repented and turned from their sinful ways. They would have been laughed at, in the least, and probably mocked and belittled.
They only way they would have escaped was to join Noah in his faith. Only that would secure a ticket on the ark.
Noah’s Command to Build the Ark
Humankind had the 120 years it took Noah built the ark to turn back to God or be destroyed.
God gave Noah the specific dimensions of the ark. We don’t know exactly how he got the ark built.
Noah or even one of his sons may have had the tools or the knowhow to build the ark. What we do know is God gave that ability to someone in his family because the ark got built. Whether Noah had the skills or he knew that someone in his family did – even if none of them did – he knew that God would provide what was needed to get the ark built.
The whole purpose Noah built the ark was to save the family. The focus isn’t on Noah built an ark. It is on God warned him, and he obeyed. Noah was moved by reverence to do what he was told and save his household.
When Noah started the ark, Shem, Ham, and Japheth weren’t even alive. They were born 20 years later.
All they would have known was doom was coming to those who didn’t believe.
Other Ark Passengers
While there were other passengers than Noah on the ark, they were not credited as being blameless as Noah was. Noah’s three sons and their wives along with Mrs. Noah benefited from Noah’s being blameless.
Noah was the only one called righteous. Still, his wife, the triplets, and their wives got to enter the ark, too. That is logical as the earth would need to be repopulated.
The Hebrew words in Genesis 7: 1 don’t say anything about Noah being the only righteous person. It just comments on his spiritual condition, no one else’s.
Where was the rest of Noah’s family? Did Noah have other kids? If he and Mrs. Noah did, they didn’t get the same ticket. He had to have had brothers and sisters alive. Pastor Steve has been reading a book that estimated there were a million people alive. Surely, he had a lot of cousins in there.
If Noah was 500 when the triplets were born and 600 when the flood came, the triplets were 100 years old. All three were married, but it doesn’t say kids came with them. Did they not have kids yet, or were the kids too wicked? Was God waiting until post-flood to give them kids so they would repopulate the earth?
It goes back to our relationship with God is an individual decision. We can’t coast on our parents’ laurels. We have to decide — and live — for God on our own.
God wanted enough provisions on board to feed His people, knowing it would just be the eight in Noah’s family. Even before the first board was sawed for the ark, God didn’t tell Noah to prepare for anyone else but his family.
God had already condemned the rest of the population. He was no longer drawing near to them.
Taking Pairs of Animals
God made provision for the animals. The other purpose of building the ark, besides saving the people, was to save the animals.
Usually, I think, in our minds — and definitely in pictures and songs — we think about a two-by-two line patiently waiting to get into the ark. And I think that is significant.
Gilfillan reminded us of the parade of animals before Adam to receive a name (Gen. 2: 11 NLT). This spectacle would rival that.
Just as God was planning Noah and his family repopulating the earth through the family unit, He was planning the same thing through the animals. That connection was important to Him. He puts a lot of emphasis on us bring the family of God.
God made sure every animal species would be represented on the ark, and every animals species would have the means by which to repopulate the world. He didn’t want them to come off the ark and not be able to go forth and multiply.
Noah didn’t have to go round up the animals. They came to him.
But God also has Noah bring seven pairs of a lot of animals. Seven is also a significant number. It means completion. On the seventh day of creation God rested.
When Everything Was Ready
God invited Noah and his family to enter the ark.
Had Noah obediently followed every direction God had given him? Yes, he had, so he could confidently enter the ark.
Noah was probably glad that the labor of building the ark was over. The mocking was over, too. But I bet his heart was breaking.
I don’t really like how the New Living Translation translates John 3: 18. It isn’t that we will be judged, and a sentence be passed. It is we will be judged and condemned if we do not believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and wholeheartedly, openly declared that.
God provided Noah and his family with advanced notice of when the rain was going to start. Everyone —Noah included — was going to find out what rain was.
I wonder how long it took the wicked to admit that Noah wasn’t a fool.
God intended to totally annihilate the population – except for those riding in the ark.
- It came when it was predicted to come (after the death of Methuselah).
- It came the way it was predicted – a whole lot of rain.
- The extent of the result (which we will get to) that was predicted happened (every breathing thing annihilated).
Noah had come this far; he wasn’t going to start being disobedient then. It took him 120 years, and he never wavered.
Noah didn’t bring up that he was pushing retirement age. We’ve seen time and time again that Noah was obedient (Gen. 6: 8, 22; Gen. 7: 5). God rewarded that by saving his life.
From Where the Water Came
As Creator of the universe, God retained control of the earth, opening the buried reservoirs. It should not surprise us that God’s created world follows His and Jesus’ voices.
If it hadn’t rained before, I wonder what the wicked thought when the sky went dark and the clouds turned black. They probably would have been uneasy. Moses said that the rain came down in torrents.
With the underground waters bursting forth from the earth and the rain coming down from the sky, it must have been terrifying for the wicked people seeing it coming.
We aren’t told if the rain started during the day or during the evening. Whatever time the flood started, the wicked were going along with business as usual.
The wicked heard the words that Noah and Methuselah spoke. They saw the ark taking shape before their eyes. They saw animals — maybe some they had never seen before — that were normally enemies lining up together to go inside a wooden structure and take a ride.
God provided salvation for those who followed His Will. When God shut the door of the ark, He was showing that that part of the plan was completed.
In a way, God asked Noah and his family into His house. He was already there when He invited them to enter.
Countless thousands — maybe a million — died. But God kept those who believed in Him and lived for Him safe.
The Floodwaters Rose and Subsided
Everything that breathed died.
I don’t agree that we can discount the occurrence of the flood because oceans impeded animals getting to the ark. Our seven continents once made up one continent, called Pangaea. There was no ocean to traverse at that time. We don’t know how spread out the population became.
We don’t have to worry about the debate as to whether this was a local or global flood. Location isn’t the focus here. Results are.
God judged His creation and sentenced them to death for their transgressions. Only Noah, his family, and the animals with them survived because they were obedient and entered the ark.
The sad part is that the wicked died, but that wasn’t the end of wickedness. Evil is right here with us today.
God didn’t immediately dry out the land.
The ark had floated on the water for 150 days. God guided the ark. He had it land on Mount Ararat.
Sending Out the Birds
The first bird that Noah sent out was a raven, an unclean bird. Why would Noah choose an unclean bird before he chose a clean one? Well, it was probably because, being unclean, it was more suited to what it would find.
The raven, being an unclean bird, was associated with death – aka sin. It would have been a great choice. But then, it didn’t come back. It just kept flying back and forth until it found a spot to land. It could survive on its own.
Noah sent out the dove at the same time as the raven. A dove was a clean bird.
I can see the dove instinctively flying away from the ark. This poor little guy flew around for a while but didn’t find a landing spot. So, it came back – back to God in the ark.
The second dove sent out by Noah came back with an olive branch. It meant that things were growing again in the earth. If the plants could grow, it would soon be inhabitable by the humans.
Noah knew their time in the ark was about over when the third dove didn’t come back.
The Flood Officially Over
The rain had stopped, and the earth had dried out.
God told Noah when to exit the ark, and Noah waited for God to say, “It’s time to get out.” He didn’t want to get ahead of God.
We can’t be stymied by sin after we have experienced God’s judgment. He doesn’t judge us to drive us away.
God judges us to correct us and bring us back to Him. We have to let Him and not let our doubts and guilt get in the way.
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Devotions in the Creation’s Do-Over series