†. Gen 7:10 . . And on the seventh day the waters of the Flood came
upon the earth.
Back in verse 4, God gave Noah seven days to get moved into the ark. The
water came right on time, just exactly when God said it would. God's word
carries different force in different circumstances. Sometimes He makes
predictions, sometimes He makes promises, and sometimes He even makes
threats.
Threats are often negotiable; sort of like an "or else". Like when Jonah went
to Ninevah and walked around town heralding in the streets that within forty
days they would be overthrown. When the people changed their ways, God
backed off.
But a prediction isn't negotiable; nor is it open to discussion. When God
makes a prediction, you can make bank on it because He's seen the future.
The Flood was predicted. He said it was coming in seven days; and sure
enough it showed up.
†. Gen 7:11a . . In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the
second month, on the seventeenth day of the month,
That's an important marker. I'll refer to it again later.
†. Gen 7:11b . . on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst
apart,
The word for "deep" is from tehowm (teh-home') which means: an abyss (as
a surging mass of water), especially the deep (the main sea or the
subterranean water-supply). Tehowm occurred very early on in the Bible's
texts.
†. Gen 1:1-2 . .When God began to create heaven and earth-- the earth
being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a
wind from God sweeping over the water
The difference in Gen 7:11b, is that this deep is the great deep. The word for
"great" is rab (rab) which means: abundant (in quantity, size, age, number,
rank, quality), so that this particular deep could be thought of as
bottomless-- a source of water beyond human imagination.
Water was one of the very first items created in the physical cosmos. It was
truly an enormous amount and no one today has ever seen it all. There are
yet vast reserves of water stored somewhere.
†. Ps 33:6-7 . . By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, by the
breath of His mouth, all their host. He heaps up the ocean waters like a
mound, stores the deep in vaults.
The word for "vaults" is 'owtsar (o-tsaw') which means: a depository.
Webster's defines depository as: a place where something is deposited
especially for safekeeping. Examples of depositories are banks, libraries,
museums, arsenals, cellars, silos, reservoirs, tanks, vats, and warehouses.
President John F. Kennedy was assassinated from the window of a book
depository.
There is roughly a total of about 340 million cubic miles of water on the
Earth-- enough to cover the entire United States to a depth of 99 miles. But
considering Earth's topographic configuration, that amount of water is
nowhere near enough to cover the entire globe to a depth required for the
Flood.
The atmosphere itself holds about 2,900 cubic miles of water at any given
time; with the balance of Earth's water stored in oceans, rivers, lakes, ice
caps, glaciers, permafrost, and the ground. Relatively little ground water is
stored in subterranean voids. Most of it is soaked in tiny pores and cracks in
soil and rocks. Almost all ground water resides within five to ten miles of the
surface. Water below that depth is chemically bound in the rocks and
minerals and not readily accessible; but can be released as a result of
geologic processes such as volcanism.
Scientists have long suspected an abundance of water out in the cosmos.
Well, it's there alright. According to Genesis and the Psalms, somewhere out
in space (or perhaps beyond) God has quite a bit of water tucked away, and
could easily end the world's water shortages with His reserves in no time at
all-- and one day, in Messiah's theocratic kingdom; that will happen.
†. Mal 3:10-12 . . I will surely open the floodgates of the sky for you and
pour down blessings on you; and I will banish the locusts from you, so that
they will not destroy the yield of your soil; and your vines in the field shall
no longer miscarry-- said the Lord of Hosts. And all the nations shall account
you happy, for you shall be the most desired of lands-- said the Lord of
Hosts.
†. Isa 41:18-19 . . I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the
midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry
land springs of water. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah
tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and
the pine, and the box tree together.
†. Isa 55:13 . . Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of
the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to Yhvh for a name,
for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
†. Isa 35:1-7 . .The arid desert shall be glad, the wilderness shall rejoice
and shall blossom like a rose. It shall blossom abundantly, it shall also exult
and shout. It shall receive the glory of Lebanon, the splendor of Carmel and
Sharon. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf
shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of
the dumb shall shout aloud; for waters shall burst forth in the desert,
streams in the wilderness. Torrid earth shall become a pool; parched land
become fountains of water; the home of jackals become a pasture; the
abode [of ostriches] become reeds and rushes.
Lebanon's glory of old was timber; especially cedars (1Kng 4:33). Sharon
was known for its flowers (Song 2:1) and Carmel for its orchards. (Isa 33:9)
It should be interesting to see how God gets timber, flowers, and orchards to
flourish in deserts like the Negev, Syrian, Arabian, Dasht-e Kavir, Death
Valley, Dasht-e Lut, Simpson, Atacama, Thar, Sahara, Gobi, Kalahari,
Patagonian, and the Great Victoria.
†. Gen 7:11c . . and the floodgates of the sky broke open.
The sky of course being all that is visible when you look up; including the
upper atmosphere and outer space. This means that it rained everywhere all
over every square inch of the earth's surface all at one time, like a spherical
implosion, sort of like the way they shape the charge in a nuclear device so
the plutonium core is rapidly bombarded with neutrons from all directions at
once.
Implosions are devastating, and in the case of water, I'd have to say that
the initial impact of the first few days of imploding, non-compressible
hydraulic fluid, caused colossal destruction-- possibly far more than an
asteroid collision. Seriously: sans the hand of God, I really don't think the
ark would have survived it.
†. Gen 7:12 . . (The rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.)
†. Gen 7:13-16a . .That same day Noah and Noah's sons, Shem, Ham,
and Japheth, went into the ark, with Noah's wife and the three wives
of his sons-- they and all beasts of every kind, all cattle of every
kind, all creatures of every kind that creep on the earth, and all birds
of every kind, every bird, every winged thing. They came to Noah
into the ark, two each of all flesh in which there was breath of life.
Thus they that entered comprised male and female of all flesh, as
God had commanded him.
That's another example where a "day" can be longer than twenty-four hours;
in fact, the day here in Gen 7:13-16 is a whole week plus forty more days
and nights. Thus from the time of God's invitation to come into the ark, and
up until it stopped raining, was a day consisting of 47 calendar days.
Cont.
/
upon the earth.
Back in verse 4, God gave Noah seven days to get moved into the ark. The
water came right on time, just exactly when God said it would. God's word
carries different force in different circumstances. Sometimes He makes
predictions, sometimes He makes promises, and sometimes He even makes
threats.
Threats are often negotiable; sort of like an "or else". Like when Jonah went
to Ninevah and walked around town heralding in the streets that within forty
days they would be overthrown. When the people changed their ways, God
backed off.
But a prediction isn't negotiable; nor is it open to discussion. When God
makes a prediction, you can make bank on it because He's seen the future.
The Flood was predicted. He said it was coming in seven days; and sure
enough it showed up.
†. Gen 7:11a . . In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the
second month, on the seventeenth day of the month,
That's an important marker. I'll refer to it again later.
†. Gen 7:11b . . on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst
apart,
The word for "deep" is from tehowm (teh-home') which means: an abyss (as
a surging mass of water), especially the deep (the main sea or the
subterranean water-supply). Tehowm occurred very early on in the Bible's
texts.
†. Gen 1:1-2 . .When God began to create heaven and earth-- the earth
being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a
wind from God sweeping over the water
The difference in Gen 7:11b, is that this deep is the great deep. The word for
"great" is rab (rab) which means: abundant (in quantity, size, age, number,
rank, quality), so that this particular deep could be thought of as
bottomless-- a source of water beyond human imagination.
Water was one of the very first items created in the physical cosmos. It was
truly an enormous amount and no one today has ever seen it all. There are
yet vast reserves of water stored somewhere.
†. Ps 33:6-7 . . By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, by the
breath of His mouth, all their host. He heaps up the ocean waters like a
mound, stores the deep in vaults.
The word for "vaults" is 'owtsar (o-tsaw') which means: a depository.
Webster's defines depository as: a place where something is deposited
especially for safekeeping. Examples of depositories are banks, libraries,
museums, arsenals, cellars, silos, reservoirs, tanks, vats, and warehouses.
President John F. Kennedy was assassinated from the window of a book
depository.
There is roughly a total of about 340 million cubic miles of water on the
Earth-- enough to cover the entire United States to a depth of 99 miles. But
considering Earth's topographic configuration, that amount of water is
nowhere near enough to cover the entire globe to a depth required for the
Flood.
The atmosphere itself holds about 2,900 cubic miles of water at any given
time; with the balance of Earth's water stored in oceans, rivers, lakes, ice
caps, glaciers, permafrost, and the ground. Relatively little ground water is
stored in subterranean voids. Most of it is soaked in tiny pores and cracks in
soil and rocks. Almost all ground water resides within five to ten miles of the
surface. Water below that depth is chemically bound in the rocks and
minerals and not readily accessible; but can be released as a result of
geologic processes such as volcanism.
Scientists have long suspected an abundance of water out in the cosmos.
Well, it's there alright. According to Genesis and the Psalms, somewhere out
in space (or perhaps beyond) God has quite a bit of water tucked away, and
could easily end the world's water shortages with His reserves in no time at
all-- and one day, in Messiah's theocratic kingdom; that will happen.
†. Mal 3:10-12 . . I will surely open the floodgates of the sky for you and
pour down blessings on you; and I will banish the locusts from you, so that
they will not destroy the yield of your soil; and your vines in the field shall
no longer miscarry-- said the Lord of Hosts. And all the nations shall account
you happy, for you shall be the most desired of lands-- said the Lord of
Hosts.
†. Isa 41:18-19 . . I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the
midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry
land springs of water. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah
tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and
the pine, and the box tree together.
†. Isa 55:13 . . Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of
the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to Yhvh for a name,
for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
†. Isa 35:1-7 . .The arid desert shall be glad, the wilderness shall rejoice
and shall blossom like a rose. It shall blossom abundantly, it shall also exult
and shout. It shall receive the glory of Lebanon, the splendor of Carmel and
Sharon. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf
shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of
the dumb shall shout aloud; for waters shall burst forth in the desert,
streams in the wilderness. Torrid earth shall become a pool; parched land
become fountains of water; the home of jackals become a pasture; the
abode [of ostriches] become reeds and rushes.
Lebanon's glory of old was timber; especially cedars (1Kng 4:33). Sharon
was known for its flowers (Song 2:1) and Carmel for its orchards. (Isa 33:9)
It should be interesting to see how God gets timber, flowers, and orchards to
flourish in deserts like the Negev, Syrian, Arabian, Dasht-e Kavir, Death
Valley, Dasht-e Lut, Simpson, Atacama, Thar, Sahara, Gobi, Kalahari,
Patagonian, and the Great Victoria.
†. Gen 7:11c . . and the floodgates of the sky broke open.
The sky of course being all that is visible when you look up; including the
upper atmosphere and outer space. This means that it rained everywhere all
over every square inch of the earth's surface all at one time, like a spherical
implosion, sort of like the way they shape the charge in a nuclear device so
the plutonium core is rapidly bombarded with neutrons from all directions at
once.
Implosions are devastating, and in the case of water, I'd have to say that
the initial impact of the first few days of imploding, non-compressible
hydraulic fluid, caused colossal destruction-- possibly far more than an
asteroid collision. Seriously: sans the hand of God, I really don't think the
ark would have survived it.
†. Gen 7:12 . . (The rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.)
†. Gen 7:13-16a . .That same day Noah and Noah's sons, Shem, Ham,
and Japheth, went into the ark, with Noah's wife and the three wives
of his sons-- they and all beasts of every kind, all cattle of every
kind, all creatures of every kind that creep on the earth, and all birds
of every kind, every bird, every winged thing. They came to Noah
into the ark, two each of all flesh in which there was breath of life.
Thus they that entered comprised male and female of all flesh, as
God had commanded him.
That's another example where a "day" can be longer than twenty-four hours;
in fact, the day here in Gen 7:13-16 is a whole week plus forty more days
and nights. Thus from the time of God's invitation to come into the ark, and
up until it stopped raining, was a day consisting of 47 calendar days.
Cont.
/
