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NOTES for Gen 7:11-8:22

Printable version
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
13 In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark;
14 They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort.
15 And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.
16 And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.
17 And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth.
18 And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.
19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.
20 Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
21 And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man:
22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.
23 And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.
24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.
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;
2 The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;
3 And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.
4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.
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.
6 And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:
7 And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.
8 Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;
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.
10 And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;
11 And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.
12 And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.
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.
14 And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.
15 And God spake unto Noah, saying,
16 Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee.
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.
18 And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him:
19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.
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.
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.
22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
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God gives humanity another chance: He knows that not all people will be like Noah, and He knows this secret of the human person, of which people themselves are not always aware—that “every imagination of the heart is evil from youth.” God promises that humanity will never again perish in a worldwide catastrophe. He makes this promise, as it were, “in advance,” knowing of the apostasy to come. But for God this is not simply indulgence toward human evil and sin—He acts out of mercy, symbolized by the olive branch in the dove’s beak. His mercy is always given beforehand; it is never a “reward” for good behavior. He forgives, comforts, and saves (how else can His actions be expressed in human language?), giving us the opportunity to respond to His actions—with our own.

Other notes

 
For Gen 8:1-22
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;
2 The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;
3 And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.
4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.
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.
6 And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:
7 And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.
8 Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;
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.
10 And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;
11 And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.
12 And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.
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.
14 And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.
15 And God spake unto Noah, saying,
16 Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee.
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.
18 And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him:
19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.
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.
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.
22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
Hide
The covenant-union with Noah is the main event of the parable, its center of meaning. Here we no longer have simply a relationship with a particular person, but precisely a union with him and with all his descendants, and that is serious, forever - for God, unlike a human being...  Read more

The covenant-union with Noah is the main event of the parable, its center of meaning. Here we no longer have simply a relationship with a particular person, but precisely a union with him and with all his descendants, and that is serious, forever - for God, unlike a human being, keeps steady and unconditional faithfulness to the obligations He has taken upon Himself and to the word once given. Not because He lacks power over His creation, but because all His promises and unions are connected with His plan. His plan does not change merely because some human being betrays Him or turns away from Him. Such is the covenant with Noah, and through him with all humanity.

Still, not with all in every sense. On the one hand, the covenant with Noah really does concern everyone; on the other, it is revealed in its fullness only in the righteous, who, like Noah, "walk before God," walking as it has been revealed to them. In this connection a question arises: why did God need anything else? Why the people of God, why the Messiah? Why is the covenant with Noah alone not enough? In the language of a modern person this question sounds somewhat different, although its meaning does not change: why is it not enough simply to be a "good person"? In that case, of course, everyone understands "good person" in his own way, but the general idea remains the same: there are many good people in the world, however one understands the expression. They are already good without any additional effort; they do not need to be Christians or even simply believers in God; they are righteous in life. So why do they, or the world in general, need anything else? The answer to this question is given in the parable of Noah.

Yes, God makes a covenant with him, but in making it He says: every intention of the human heart is evil from his youth. In the Hebrew text of the parable it is precisely intentions, not thoughts. Even a righteous person cannot change himself without special efforts specially applied by God. He can follow God in spite of his own nature corrupted by sin, overcoming the intentions of his own heart, but he cannot change his heart and his nature by himself, even if he makes every effort to do so.

Here there is an impasse: after the fall, the human person is doomed to balance all the time on the edge of a very serious spiritual collapse, and with him the whole world is likewise doomed to balance on the edge of collapse. That is why the covenant with Noah is not enough. It is only the beginning of the way, and in no sense the end or the completion, which is impossible without God. God Himself will eventually place the final point on the way of humanity's return to God, but He will not place it soon, since the whole way still lies ahead. Noah takes the first step on that way, a very important and absolutely necessary step, but only the first.

Hide
 
For Gen 8:1-22
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;
2 The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;
3 And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.
4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.
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.
6 And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:
7 And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.
8 Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;
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.
10 And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;
11 And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.
12 And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.
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.
14 And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.
15 And God spake unto Noah, saying,
16 Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee.
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.
18 And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him:
19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.
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.
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.
22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
Hide
Having found Noah, who fulfilled God's command to build the ark, God accomplished the salvation of humanity from the worldwide...  Read more

Having found Noah, who fulfilled God's command to build the ark, God accomplished the salvation of humanity from the worldwide flood. Noah and his family disembarked onto dry land; he was saved. How often, in a similar situation of deliverance from danger, we forget how only recently we cried out to heaven and prayed in complete despair! Relief came — well, good, that is how it should be. Not a word of gratitude; more than that, it does not even come to mind where the deliverance came from.

But Noah acts differently. He offers sacrifice to God because he understands that he did not save himself, although it was not God who built the ark, but Noah; rather, God saved him. And precisely because of this, Noah can become the ancestor of humanity after the Flood: he heard God in the midst of ordinary life, he trusted Him in danger, and he did not forget Him in joy. With such a Noah, God can make His agreement-covenant, and now God announces His decision, what He promises Noah and his descendants: there will be no more destruction of everything living, the earth will no longer be cursed because of man and his sin. And if we have any basis at all for confidence that life will not cease, it is precisely this promise of God.

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For Gen 8:4-21
4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.
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.
6 And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:
7 And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.
8 Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;
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.
10 And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;
11 And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.
12 And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.
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.
14 And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.
15 And God spake unto Noah, saying,
16 Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee.
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.
18 And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him:
19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.
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.
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.
Hide
Our Lord compares His second coming with the drama of the flood: as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man...  Read more

Our Lord compares His second coming with the drama of the flood: as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man (Matt 24:37), and therefore it is especially important now to fix our gaze on this event, remembering this comparison made by Jesus. It is very important, because it allows us to draw nearer to an understanding of the coming Judgment. There was a world before us, but it was subjected to judgment and punishment, forgiveness and mercy. Here there is, as it were, an icon of the Lord, who has already lowered His left hand (symbolizing judgment) and raised His right hand (symbolizing mercy). And there is something parentally tender in the words: "I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth." And immediately one remembers: "Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions" (Ps 24:7). The Lord forgave us then, in the days of Noah, because He knew: people still understood too little, and because of their ignorance they could be forgiven.

But the years of humanity multiply. What "age" will correspond to the final Judgment? The answer to this question is also contained in today's reading: "While all the days of the earth remain, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease." That is, the Judgment will take place when all the days have been drunk to the dregs.

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For Gen 8:4-21
4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.
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.
6 And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:
7 And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.
8 Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;
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.
10 And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;
11 And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.
12 And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.
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.
14 And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.
15 And God spake unto Noah, saying,
16 Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee.
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.
18 And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him:
19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.
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.
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.
Hide
So, after all, what can a righteous person do? The first thing Noah does after leaving the ark is offer sacrifice to the God who saved him...  Read more

So, after all, what can a righteous person do? The first thing Noah does after leaving the ark is offer sacrifice to the God who saved him. This is unquestionably the act of a righteous person. And God? The sacred writer deliberately makes the image of God archaic here: his God draws in the smoke of the sacrificial fire with His nostrils, as pagan gods do, for example, in Homer. But the outwardly archaic and somewhat primitive image must not deceive us: God says something very serious and important. He says: I will no longer destroy the earth because of man, because all the intentions of the human heart are evil from his youth (the corresponding Hebrew text sounds exactly like this). Put simply, there is no point in cleansing the earth by such radical methods: all the same, as long as people live on it, evil and sin cannot be avoided, and it is not worth even trying.

The definition is certainly absolutely true, though very sad. But what about righteousness? What is its meaning? Does it play any role at all in the destinies of the universe? In the end, yes. After all, God promises to preserve the world from catastrophe while breathing in the sacrificial smoke. And even if this image sometimes makes the reader smile, everything here is entirely serious: the world is upheld by righteousness. By the righteousness of those righteous people of all times and nations whose collective image Noah became. And if the world has not yet collapsed into the abyss, if it still waited for the coming of the Messiah promised by God, that is their merit. Their righteousness on earth becomes a reflection of God's mercy in heaven. And the world stands. With difficulty, but it stands. And it receives a chance for salvation.

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For Gen 7:11-8:22
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
13 In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark;
14 They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort.
15 And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.
16 And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.
17 And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth.
18 And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.
19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.
20 Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
21 And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man:
22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.
23 And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.
24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.
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;
2 The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;
3 And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.
4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.
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.
6 And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:
7 And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.
8 Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;
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.
10 And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;
11 And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.
12 And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.
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.
14 And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.
15 And God spake unto Noah, saying,
16 Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee.
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.
18 And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him:
19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.
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.
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.
22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
Hide
The most remarkable part of the parable of Noah is its conclusion (Gen 8:20-22). It speaks of the union...  Read more

The most remarkable part of the parable of Noah is its conclusion (Gen 8:20-22). It speaks of the union, the "covenant," that God makes with Noah, and in his person with all righteous people who have ever lived and are now living on earth. And at this solemn moment the full limitation of human nature and human possibilities becomes clear. The image of God here is deliberately made somewhat archaic. The God of the Bible in this passage resembles the gods of Homer: like them, He "inhales," drawing into His nostrils the smoke rising to heaven from the sacrifice, which ancient pagans thought the gods fed on just as we feed on food. But the definition God gives the human race at this point is extremely severe: "every intention of the human heart is evil from his youth" (Gen 8:21; in the Hebrew text it is precisely "intentions," not "thoughts," as in the Synodal translation). That is why destroying the human race is pointless: even if only one righteous person remains on the whole earth, as happened after the flood, evil will still enter the world, if not through him, then through his descendants. And yet, making a covenant with Noah, God promises him that the catastrophe will not be repeated (Gen 8:22). Here the limits of human righteousness become clear, and here also lies the answer to questions often asked of Christians: why was it so necessary for the Savior to come at all? Why was some separate, special people of God needed? Are there not enough righteous people in the world, some of whom did not know and do not know about God, yet nevertheless live according to His laws, keeping the commandments He gave? Today, however, people more often speak not of righteous people but of "good people," though this does not change the essence of the matter. The answer to these questions is simple and sorrowful: all the righteousness of all the righteous people in the world, people like Noah, all their faithfulness to God, is enough only to keep catastrophe from striking the world again, to keep it from collapsing into the abyss. This is the most they can do. They are not able to change the situation in the world radically or break the course of events, just as they are not able to change their own nature, damaged by the fall. For this, special efforts are needed; a special plan of God is needed, the plan for the salvation of the human person and the world, of which both the special people of God and the Messiah-Christ become a part.

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For Gen 7:11-24
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
13 In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark;
14 They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort.
15 And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.
16 And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.
17 And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth.
18 And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.
19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.
20 Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
21 And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man:
22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.
23 And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.
24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.
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What can a righteous person do? And what is righteousness worth? On the one hand, he can do little, almost nothing. In any case...  Read more

What can a righteous person do? And what is righteousness worth? On the one hand, he can do little, almost nothing. In any case, Noah is not able to stop the flood; events take their course. He was, of course, able to build the ark, but without God's direct instruction it would not have occurred to him, just as nothing of the kind occurred to his contemporaries.

On the other hand, it is precisely through Noah and his ark that the world is saved. This is not about the former world, which is passing away forever, but about a new world whose history will begin after the flood. This is probably the task of the righteous and the role of righteousness. No righteous person can prevent a catastrophe produced by human sinfulness; that is simply beyond human power. But a righteous person can give a chance at new life to those who trust him and follow him, a chance that certainly does not guarantee that the new world will become ideal, but at least guarantees everyone who has to live in it the possibility of making one more attempt to live life as God commands.

This chance, however, is not something the righteous person gives on his own, but together with God. Strictly speaking, it is God who gives the world another chance through the righteous person, using human righteousness as an instrument for achieving His purposes. Of course, He could have done everything Himself. But He created the human person so that the human person would become His helper. And He takes this absolutely seriously. Therefore, even to save the world, He needs at least one righteous person. More would be better, of course. But less than one will not do.

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For Gen 7:11-24
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
13 In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark;
14 They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort.
15 And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.
16 And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.
17 And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth.
18 And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.
19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.
20 Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
21 And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man:
22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.
23 And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.
24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.
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The Genesis reading is preceded by the Lord's promise not to destroy the earth and every living thing. And the words...  Read more

The Genesis reading is preceded by the Lord's promise not to destroy the earth and every living thing. And Isaiah's words "You were angry with me, but You turned away Your anger and comforted me" precede the coming of Christ. Comfort for people lies in Salvation and the path of Resurrection, and everything will be resolved on the day of Judgment.

And in Proverbs we find the words: "The blessing of the Lord makes rich, and He adds no sorrow with it". The Lord blessed us for life, for work, for happiness. But with Him and in Him, in His blessing. The whole world is now saved only through Christ and judged through our deeds.

And as the Lord restored the world after the flood, so through the Church and Christ each person will be restored. And each receives the whole world and bears his own burden of responsibility before the Lord.

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For Gen 8:22
22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
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What is the meaning of the covenant God makes with Noah, and what is its significance? It would seem that God promises Noah nothing special. It is only a matter of the stability of the existing order of nature...  Read more

What is the meaning of the covenant God makes with Noah, and what is its significance? It would seem that God promises Noah nothing special. It is only a matter of the stability of the existing order of nature, of the fact that a catastrophe like the flood witnessed by Noah will not happen again. But it turns out that this "only" is a real miracle of God: the very possibility of living while avoiding planetary-scale cataclysms that threaten humanity with destruction is not something self-evident at all, but the result of God's direct intervention in the life of the world, an intervention that follows from the covenant made with the righteous man and from the fulfillment of the promises given to him. And at the same time, the full limitation of this covenant is also evident here.

In every age people have asked the same question: why did God need some special people of His own? Why did the Messiah need to come? Are there not enough righteous people in the world as it is? Is their righteousness really insufficient? In our day, however, people usually speak not of the righteous, but of "good people," but this does not change the substance of the matter.

And so it turns out that all the righteousness of all the righteous of all times and nations, and Noah can in a certain sense be regarded as a collective image symbolizing such righteous people, is enough only for the world not to perish, not to collapse into the abyss under the weight of the sin that has burdened it since the fall. There can be no question of any fundamental change, of any deliverance of the world from the power of the evil in which it lies, of any transformation of it. The world is balancing on the edge of its own destruction, and all the righteousness of all the righteous barely suffices to keep it from falling into the abyss. And for something greater to become possible, as we can see, special efforts are needed. And God undertakes such efforts, creating His people and then sending into the world the Messiah, who will bring the Kingdom to the world, giving it what all the righteous of all times and nations could never have earned for it.

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For Gen 8:22
22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
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What is the meaning of the alliance that God concludes with Noah, and what is its meaning? It would seem that God promises nothing special to Noah. It is only about the inviolability of the order of things existing in the nature, about that a disaster similar to that flood, which Noah witnessed, will not repeat itself any more...  Read more

What is the meaning of the alliance that God concludes with Noah, and what is its meaning? It would seem that God promises nothing special to Noah. It is only about the inviolability of the order of things existing in the nature, about that a disaster similar to that flood, which Noah witnessed, will not repeat itself any more.

But, it turns out, that it is “only” God's real miracle, that the possibility of living, avoiding the cataclysms of the global scale, threatening the humanity of destruction, isn’t in fact something that occurs of itself, but rather a consequence of God's direct intervention in the life of the world, intervention, which becomes the consequence of the alliance concluded with the righteous and the fulfillment of the promises which had been given to him. At the same time we have here all the limitation of this alliance. Any time people asked one and the same question: Why God needed a particular nation, His own people? Why the Messiah had to come? Are not there already enough righteous men in the world? Or is their righteousness insufficient?

Nowadays, moreover, we speak usually not about righteous men, but of "good persons", but it does not change the bottom of things. And here is it turns out that all the righteousness of all the righteous men of every time and all peoples (and we can in a certain sense, consider Noah as a collective image symbolizing such righteous men) is only enough so that the world does not die, does not collapse in the abyss under the weight of this sin, which revolves on him from the moment of the fall. It can’t be a question neither of any cardinal change, nor any liberation of the world of the power of this evil, in which it is, nor of its transformation.

The world teeters on the brink of its own destruction, and all the righteousness of all the righteous men is barely enough for holding it from falling into the abyss. And in order to make possible something bigger, as we see, requires special efforts. And God undertakes such efforts, by creating His people, and then by sending into the world the Messiah, Who will bring the Kingdom to the world, offering it what could not deserve for it all the righteous men of every time and all peoples.

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For Gen 7:1-24
1 And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
2 Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.
3 Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.
4 For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.
5 And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him.
6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
13 In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark;
14 They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort.
15 And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.
16 And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.
17 And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth.
18 And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.
19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.
20 Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
21 And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man:
22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.
23 And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.
24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.
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The salvation of humanity from the flood is presented by the author of the parable quite symbolically: people and animals are saved in the ark, on a ship built by Noah according to God's instruction...  Read more

The salvation of humanity from the flood is presented by the author of the parable quite symbolically: people and animals are saved in the ark, on a ship built by Noah according to God's instruction. Literalists and biblical critics have broken many spears trying to prove, some the absolute historical reliability of the story, others its equally complete and absolute unreliability and the impossibility of the events described by the sacred writer.

Meanwhile, the author had no intention of describing events literally. After all, he borrowed the story of the flood itself from a myth he did not invent, as if giving the reader to understand in advance that his story has a symbolic character and should be perceived as myth, not as a chronicle. Yet myth for a person of the time of the Babylonian exile is not what myth is for us. For us today, myth is something like a fairy tale or legend, and we perceive such things as a kind of literary work in which there may be as much fiction as in the fairy tales of Charles Perrault or the Brothers Grimm.

For the ancients, however, myth was a description of reality, but a symbolic description. A symbol is not the same thing as allegory or fiction; it is not arbitrary. Symbols form a kind of language whose elements allow no more arbitrariness in their interpretation than the words of any natural language. The flood and the ship in which people are saved together with animals are a mythologem well known to the ancients, whether Egyptians, Sumerians, or Greeks.

Considered as history, such a mythologem really does look absurd. But when it is read precisely as a mythologem, as a phrase written in symbolic language, we receive meanings that are no longer absurd at all, and precisely the meanings that the sacred writer wanted to convey to us. The matter concerns the unity and wholeness of the entire human race, God's plan in which will and permission stand alongside one another. The flood is more God's permission than God's will.

God does not want the death of people, but humanity cannot go on existing in the spiritual state in which it found itself before the flood. God preserves humanity in the person of the righteous man and of the world that fits with him into his ship, built according to God's instruction. Humanity is not simply saved; it is cleansed and reborn. Or at least it receives a new chance to begin its history with a clean page, and what that page becomes depends on people.

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For Gen 7:1-24
1 And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
2 Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.
3 Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.
4 For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.
5 And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him.
6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
13 In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark;
14 They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort.
15 And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.
16 And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.
17 And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth.
18 And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.
19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.
20 Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
21 And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man:
22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.
23 And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.
24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.
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So the Lord looked at all this ugliness and came to the conclusion that He had worked in vain. He had created the world, cared for...  Read more

So the Lord looked at all this ugliness and came to the conclusion that He had worked in vain. He had created the world and cared for it, while people took it for granted and forgot the Creator. What next? And next... Every evil, like a stone thrown upward, returns and falls on the one who threw it. Up to a certain point the Lord held out His hands and protected people from these stones, the consequences of their sins. But then came the moment when He decided to remove His hands. Dishonest, unfair? But why, exactly? After all, we are speaking of a situation in which people reject God by all their behavior. And the Lord chooses one person, more precisely, one family. Let us venture to suppose that the one chosen was not simply someone especially pleasing to God. Most likely, Noah was simply the only one capable of hearing His voice! So God speaks with the one person who hears Him. And if enough people had been ready to listen, most likely there would have been no flood at all. But in that situation the Lord did the only thing possible: He warned of the danger the only one who was listening, and by his faith the fragile little vessel on which Noah was saving his family and the animals protected them from the water. A fairy tale, a parable, an image? Is it so important what the scale of the flooding of Mesopotamia was in unknown ancient years before our era? Something else is more important: in this story, once again, we are given the opportunity to look at how the Lord acts. And the main conclusion that can be drawn is simple: the foundation of relationship with God is readiness to listen and trust.

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