Reading of Black Sea Flood II

Here is the continuation of the reading of the Bible (or Torah as we call it in Hebrew) Genesis (8:1-22)

1) And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged;

-The waters had finally equalized between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. This caused the extra water that had overflowed from the basin onto the dry land to recede back into the basin.

2) the fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained.

-As stated before this means the massive amounts of water stopped rushing in to the Black Sea basin.

3) And the waters returned from off the earth continually; and after the end of a hundred and fifty days the waters decreased.

-The overflowing water that rushed onto the land around the Black Sea basin was receding.

4) And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.

-The Ark hit an area of highland in the Sea and was stuck while it was still surrounded by water.

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.

-In the distance, Noach could see the waters receding to the point that land was now visible.

6 And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made.

-In the middle of the eleventh month Noach decide to see how far they were from the shore.

7 And he sent forth a raven, and it went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.

-The Raven kept flying around the Ark until the waters had completely dried and settled in the Black Sea basin.

8) And he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground.

-Noach saw that the Raven was not flying towards the dry land so he took another bird and hoped that bird would fly and see if the land was the same land that they had departed from.

9) But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him to the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth; and he put forth his hand, and took her, and brought her in unto him into the ark.

-The entire Back Sea basin had been destroyed, that means their previous home. The dove was not able to find any semblance that remained. This is what the pasuk is teaching us, that the entire land where their civilization had lived was destroyed and the dove could not find any part of it that remained.

10) And he stayed yet another seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark.

-I think, that the reason he waited seven days was because he was mourning the destruction of his entire civilization. His entire land was destroyed, along with everyone he knew. This is why Noach waited seven days, because the dove had proven that his entire country had been laid waste and he was mourning for them.

11) And the dove came in to him at eventide; and lo in her mouth an olive-leaf freshly plucked; so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.

-This pasuk really strikes home my point. It is impossible for a dove to not be able to find land and then seven days later the dove comes back with a leaf. A leaf shows that the tree had been growing life. If the tree had been completely submerged in water, even seven days ago, it would be impossible that seven days later it would have a leaf. This is why I think the dove was looking for its previous home and could not find even a semblance of it.

12) And he stayed yet another seven days; and sent forth the dove; and she returned not again unto him any more.

-This time the seven days were a celebration like the seven days of shevah brachos. It was so happy that he could start a new and that this new land would be an acceptable home that could grow the same plants and trees as the old home. Also, the dove went to start its life over again as well.

13) And it came to pass in the six hundred 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 dried.

-The waters had receded back into the Black Sea basin far enough that Noach's ark was ALMOST on dry land.

14) And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dry. {S}

-It was at this point that the waters had completely receded into the Black Sea basin as we know them today. This is why G-D tells Noach to leave the Ark since it was at the new shoreline.

15) And God spoke unto Noah, saying:

16) 'Go forth from 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 fowl, and cattle, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may swarm in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.'

-The species that he brought with him were supposed to populate this area of the world.

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, whatsoever moveth upon the earth, after their families; went forth out of the ark.

-This is referring to all of the animals that were on the Ark. None of them stayed on the Ark is the point.

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.

-Every clean animal that was on the Ark with him.

21) And the LORD smelled the 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.

-G-D does not want to have to destroy a civilization again like he destroyed the civilization of Noach.

22) While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.'

-This pasuk might be used by some to say that the flood must have been supernatural. Scripture even says that nature was changed during the flood. However, I think it might just be talking about the natural disasters that occurred, aka a natural disaster that will wipe out a whole civilization.

If you made it this far and still have questions and think I did a bad Job, remember this: The whole story is from Noach's viewpoint if we view this as a local flood. That should be able to answer most questions that might be left. Everything is stated as global because this is what Noach knew. There were animals and even civilizations in other parts of the world, but the bible is focusing on this civilization because of Noach and how he was able to overcome his debased society.