Waiting on Dry Ground
The Subsiding Waters (1-13)
The thought here of “God remembered” is not referring to something God forgot in the first place. It is more like God kept in His mind, or kept bringing to His mind, or maybe even kept His mind filled with Noah and all who were on the ark (1).
God then used three means to cause the waters to stop prevailing on the earth:
A blowing wind
Fountains of the deep closed
The window of Heaven restrained
These three activities were directly affected by God's hand on the 150th day since it all began. Yahweh first caused the waters to stop flowing and then caused the waters to recede from the earth continually (2-3).
On the seventh month and the seventh day of the month, the ark grounded on Mt. Ararat (4).
Seventy-three days later, the tops of mountains were visible (5).
To make sure the floods would not return, Noah waited another 40 days to open the window of the ark and dispatch a raven (6). The raven was sent because the raven was a scavenger, and Noah was seeking to know the condition of the surface of the ground, to know if it was filled with dead carcasses. From the movement of the bird, Noah was unable to determine the ground’s condition (7).
Seven days later, Noah dispatched a dove, but the ground was still too muddy for the bird to land, so it returned to the ark for safety (8-9).
After another seven days, Noah sent out another dove; that evening the dove returned with an olive leaf in its mouth. Noah knew the water had receded to lower levels where olive trees grew (10-11).
After another seven days, Noah sent out another dove; it did not return but found a clean, dry place to make her nest (12).
After 163 days of being grounded, Noah finally removed the covering of the ark and looked and saw that the ground was dry (13).
Noah Disembarks (14-18)
On the 371st day of being on board the ark, God told Noah to go ashore, as it were, with his family, with the animals, with everything, and begin the process of being fruitful and multiplying. As the Lord had told them, they left the ark and began to rebuild this new world (14-18).
Noah's First Act (20-22)
The first mention of an altar in Genesis occurs here. Noah took one from each of the clean animal species, the animals most cared for and beloved by Noah's family, and sacrificed them to Yahweh as an act of complete consecration. In the offering, Noah was recognizing Yahweh as his exclusive God, his need for the death of animals for survival, and the need for the sacred execution of animal life before God (20).
Yahweh found the offering to be an act of faith, so pleasing that He responded to Noah. He told Noah that neither the earth nor animal life would again globally be called upon to pay for the evil of humans. Yahweh knew the intention, the thinking patterns, the motives of humans were godless; they were not beings dedicated to reflecting Yahweh’s image, but they were creatures further separated from oneness and determined to think apart from Yahweh, determined to live apart from a lifestyle of contemplation. Yahweh promised He would not make the earth pay again for something humans were responsible for. If corruption was to be met with worldwide destruction, then a worldwide catastrophe would need to be scheduled in every generation (21). Instead, Yahweh made a promise: for as long as the earth would last, seasons would remain. There would be cold and heat, and there would be seasons for planting and harvest (22).
Confidence in Yahweh
Psalm 7 is a “Lament Psalm,” which David wrote while being pursued by Saul, The name “Cush” in the inscription is a nickname for those (or maybe even for Saul himself) who made slanderous accusations to Saul against David.
This Psalm falls into five basic divisions:
David's request: “save me” (1-2)
David's innocence: “I have not repaid my friend with evil” (3-5)
David's appeal for a trial before the judgment seat of God (6-10)
David's reflection: God is always poised and ready to judge (11-16)
David's doxology; in praise he acknowledges God's goodness (17)
Purpose: This Psalm teaches us how to pray when we feel God is not taking His place as Judge over those who mistreat us.