NOTES for Gen 8:1-22
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.