Genesis 7 - The Un-creation
It may seem like God's justice is prevailing, but this story showcases His mercy.
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Read the chapter in an outlined format:
Genesis 7 (ESV)
1 Then the Lord said to Noah,
“Go into the ark,
you and all your household,
for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation.
2 Take with you seven pairs
of all clean animals,
the male and his mate,
and a pair of the animals that are not clean,
the male and his mate,
3 and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also,
male and female,
to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth.
4 For in seven days
I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights,
and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.”
5 And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him.
6 Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth.
7 And Noah
and his sons
and his wife
and his sons’ wives
with him
went into the ark
to escape the waters of the flood.
8 Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground,
9 two and two,
male and female,
went into the ark
with Noah,
as God had commanded Noah.
10 And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life,
in the second month,
on the seventeenth day of the month,
on that day
all the fountains of the great deep burst forth,
and the windows of the heavens were opened.
12 And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
13 On the very same day Noah and his sons,
Shem and Ham and Japheth,
and Noah’s wife
and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark,
14 they
and every beast, according to its kind,
and all the livestock according to their kinds,
and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, according to its kind,
and every bird,
according to its kind,
every winged creature.
15 They
went into the ark with Noah,
two and two
of all flesh
in which there was the breath of life.
16 And those that entered,
male and female of all flesh,
went in as God had commanded him.
And the Lord shut him in.
17 The flood continued forty days on the earth.
The waters increased
and bore up the ark,
and it rose high above the earth.
18 The waters
prevailed and increased greatly on the earth,
and the ark floated on the face of the waters.
19 And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth
that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered.
20 The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep.
21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth,
birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind.
22 Everything
on the dry land
in whose nostrils was the breath of life
died.
23 He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground,
man
and animals
and creeping things
and birds of the heavens.
They were blotted out from the earth.
Only Noah was left,
and those who were with him in the ark.
24 And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.
Watch / Listen to the DIG DEEPER video:
Genesis 7 Summary
v1-4 - God orders Noah into the ark, along with pairs of every kind of creature. All that remain outside of the ark, God "will blot out from the face of the ground (v4)."
v5-16 - Noah obeyed God.
This chapter may seem repetitive, but reading it in the outlined format will help you see that even though this text is historical narrative, it has a poetic rhythm to it.
v17-24 - This section can be summarized by the phrase that's repeated four times in it: The water prevailed.
Dig Deeper
This passage is often properly referred to as The Flood, but we can also think of it as The Uncreation.
In the creation:
God separated and restrained the water from the sky and land.
In the uncreation:
God allowed the water to prevail and rise up over everything.
In the creation:
God created every creature according to its kind.
In the uncreation:
All flesh died that moved upon the earth, poetically listed according to its kind.
In the creation:
God put the breath of life into every creature, and put His own breath into man.
In the uncreation:
All that had breath died.
Yet even as God's justice and wrath prevailed, so does His mercy. God's breath remained in Noah and his family, and life continued for all "who were with him in the ark."
Think about the two main points that this tragic story teaches:
God hates sin so much that He was willing to destroy that which He had created;
The ark points us to Christ.
Not even these prevailing flood waters could cleanse the earth of sin, and ultimately God's justice will demand His breath back from all who persist in their sin.
But all those who are in Christ will be saved, just like those in the ark were saved. The water will not prevail, rather all things will submit to Christ.
AAA Prayer:
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father who is both merciful and just;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will depend on Christ in the way that Noah depended on the ark;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
