Part 9
Genesis 7:10-24 It came about after the seven days, that the water of the flood came upon the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened. The rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.
On the very same day Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark, they and every beast after its kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, all sorts of birds. So they went into the ark to Noah, by twos of all flesh in which was the breath of life. Gen Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and the LORD closed it behind him.
Then the flood came upon the earth for forty days, and the water increased and lifted up the ark, so that it rose above the earth. The water prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. The water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered. The water prevailed fifteen cubits higher, and the mountains were covered.
All flesh that moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind; of all that was on the dry land, all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died. Thus He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark. The water prevailed upon the earth one hundred and fifty days.
The flood was a world-wide disaster. The waters rose to 20-22 feet above the highest mountain top. All flesh perished. All the animals and all the people died in this flood. The entire earth was covered for 150 days, so all vegetation also died. What a global mess! What had been created in beauty and wonder and declared as good by God, was now rendered inhabitable and inhospitable.
The question keeps coming up, why did God do this? What was so terrible or evil to require such a drastic response from God? The other real question is did this flood rid the earth of all the evil, the giants, and the terrible destruction and manipulation of the gene pool of humans and animals? Did it accomplish all that we would understand as God’s reasons for the flood?
While all that God does, accomplishes all that He alone desires, we often fall short of this understanding.
Job came to this profound realization.
Job 42:1-6 Then Job answered the LORD and said, "I know that You can do all things, And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. 'Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?' "Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know." 'Hear, now, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You instruct me.' "I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; But now my eye sees You; Therefore I retract, And I repent in dust and ashes."
We too often think we know more than God or know better than God. We need to know what God has declared and be convinced that it is the absolute truth. We will study what God did next in Part 10.