†. Gen 8:6-7a . . At the end of forty days, Noah opened the window
of the ark that he had made and sent out the raven;
Although the Raven is listed in Moses' covenanted law as an unclean bird,
sometimes it's an excellent choice for assisting in a Divinely appointed task;
for example 1Kgs 17:1-6.
The word for "Raven" is 'oreb (o-rabe') which isn't a specific species of bird,
but a whole family of birds now classified as Corvids; which includes Crows,
Jackdaws, Jays, Magpies, Nutcrackers, and Rooks.
Ravens are classified in ornithology as song birds; although Crows don't
seem to carry much of a tune. They're intelligent, sociable, and highly
adaptable. Although they don't usually trust Man, they have been known to
associate with him in remarkable ways.
One morning I was out in front weeding the yard when some crows down
the street were raising a serious ruckus and dive-bombing back and forth
across the street. One of them flew to where I was weeding and landed on a
streetlight above me and cawed its fool head off; the meanwhile fluttering
its wings and leaning forward and rocking as it cawed. Then it flew back and
rejoined the others. Then another one, a really big barrel-chested crow,
came and landed on our roof. It too cawed like mad (only louder).
Then it occurred to me they might be trying to get my attention. So I walked
down to where the others were, and there in a driveway was a fledgling
Crow who couldn't fly well enough to get back up in the trees from whence it
fell; and a big cat was harassing it. So I brought the young Crow home and
put it up on a limb in our backyard and pretty soon the others heard its cries
and came to take care of it. We had to assist the fledgling back up to his
limb a few more times after it soared down to the food and water we put out
for its friends; but eventually its wings became strong enough to do it alone.
†. Gen 8:7b . . it went to and fro until the waters had dried up from
the earth.
Ravens will eat just about anything, including carrion; and there was
probably plenty of that floating around out there. With all the dead stuff to
feast on, the raven could spend the whole day out on its own. However, no
tree tops were above the water yet and crows need to get off the ground at
night so it probably returned to the ark in the evening to roost.
Unfortunately it must have roosted up on the roof where Noah couldn't see
it. That was no help. He needed to know if it was safe yet to get out of the
ark.
†. Gen 8:8-9 . .Then he sent out the dove to see whether the waters
had decreased from the surface of the ground. But the dove could
not find a resting place for its foot, and returned to him to the ark,
for there was water over all the earth. So putting out his hand, he
took it into the ark with him.
The word for "Dove" is from yownah (yo-naw') which is a general term for
either a Dove or a Pigeon. Pigeons are well known for their homing instincts.
So why didn't the Pigeon roost up on the roof of the ark instead of letting
Noah take it inside? Well . . a Pigeon's nature is different than a Raven's.
The big guys are somewhat independent, but Pigeons readily take to human
care. That's probably why they are so much more common in cities than
Crows; where people can feed them popcorn and bread crumbs.
Pigeons and Doves don't eat carrion; but prefer to forage on the ground for
seeds. But bare ground was inaccessible at this point in time. The yownah
no doubt became very hungry; and certainly knew Mr. Noah had plenty of
grain on board with him back at the ark. Pigeons also prefer a roof over their
heads; like docks, wharfs, bridges and roadway overpasses. It almost seems
they were actually made to live in coops; and what better coop than the ark?
†. Gen 8:10-11 . . He waited another seven days, and again sent out
the dove from the ark. The dove came back to him toward evening,
and there in its bill was a plucked-off olive leaf! Then Noah knew
that the waters had decreased on the earth.
The word for "plucked-off" is from taraph (taw-rawf') which means: recently
torn off; viz: fresh. A taraph olive leaf is alive.
It is just unbelievable that any trees survived. Even ordinary flooding is very
destructive. Just southeast of Mount Ste. Helens is an area called the Lahar.
It was a totally denuded region caused, not by the volcano's blast, but by
water that poured down from the mountain's side when glacier and snow
pack melted during the eruption in 1980. In the water's path, whole pine
trees were uprooted and swept away, like hot-waxing a woman's legs;
leaving nothing but bare, scraped earth. Well, Noah's flood was umpteen
times more powerful than Ste. Helens' rush of water. The destruction it
caused must have been beyond belief.
Note : old-world olives prefer a Mediterranean climate, which is probably
why olives do so well in southern California. Anyway, that olive leaf is pretty
good empirical evidence that the ark didn't come to rest on Turkey's Mt.
Ararat. It's seriously doubtful any kind of trees have ever grown up on that
mountain; which is a snow-capped dormant volcano consisting of two peaks:
Lesser Ararat @ 12,782 feet, and Greater Ararat @ 16,854 feet. High
mountains like Ararat have what's called a timberline; which is a zone above
which no trees grow. The elevation of Mt. Hood's timberline zone here in
Oregon is right around 6,000 feet.
†. Gen 8:12 . . He waited still another seven days and sent the dove
forth; and it did not return to him any more.
Apparently the dove finally found some dry, bare ground to forage for seeds,
and minute gravel for its craw.
Why didn't Noah just look out the window and see for himself? Well; the
structural location of the ark's window is a bit a mystery. For one thing, it
wasn't cut into the sides like the windows in an airplane, rather, it was
located up on top.
The horizontal dimension of the window is unknown, but its vertical
dimension is known to be only a cubit; roughly 18 inches.
Imagine a structure on top of the ark similar to the windowed portion of the
cab of a large pick-up truck; for example a Ford 350. If a structure like that
were situated in the middle of the top of the ark, whose top deck dimensions
are 750 feet by 75 feet, the angle of Noah's view would be pretty much
limited to the portion of sky that he could see above the horizon.
†. Gen 8:13-14 . . In the six hundred and first year, in the first
month, on the first of the month, the waters began to dry from the
earth; and when Noah removed the covering of the ark, he saw that
the surface of the ground was drying. And in the second month, on
the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.
It's curious that God dumped the Flood on the ground in only 40 days but
utilized something like 330 to completely remove it all to the last drop.
Where in the world did all that water go? Well; nowhere on earth; that's for
sure. Actually, nobody really knows where it all came from in the first place.
Genesis' language is just too vague. The author may not have understood it
himself, but just wrote it down as best as he knew how within the language
of the known science of his own day, which was pretty limited.
Cont.
/
of the ark that he had made and sent out the raven;
Although the Raven is listed in Moses' covenanted law as an unclean bird,
sometimes it's an excellent choice for assisting in a Divinely appointed task;
for example 1Kgs 17:1-6.
The word for "Raven" is 'oreb (o-rabe') which isn't a specific species of bird,
but a whole family of birds now classified as Corvids; which includes Crows,
Jackdaws, Jays, Magpies, Nutcrackers, and Rooks.
Ravens are classified in ornithology as song birds; although Crows don't
seem to carry much of a tune. They're intelligent, sociable, and highly
adaptable. Although they don't usually trust Man, they have been known to
associate with him in remarkable ways.
One morning I was out in front weeding the yard when some crows down
the street were raising a serious ruckus and dive-bombing back and forth
across the street. One of them flew to where I was weeding and landed on a
streetlight above me and cawed its fool head off; the meanwhile fluttering
its wings and leaning forward and rocking as it cawed. Then it flew back and
rejoined the others. Then another one, a really big barrel-chested crow,
came and landed on our roof. It too cawed like mad (only louder).
Then it occurred to me they might be trying to get my attention. So I walked
down to where the others were, and there in a driveway was a fledgling
Crow who couldn't fly well enough to get back up in the trees from whence it
fell; and a big cat was harassing it. So I brought the young Crow home and
put it up on a limb in our backyard and pretty soon the others heard its cries
and came to take care of it. We had to assist the fledgling back up to his
limb a few more times after it soared down to the food and water we put out
for its friends; but eventually its wings became strong enough to do it alone.
†. Gen 8:7b . . it went to and fro until the waters had dried up from
the earth.
Ravens will eat just about anything, including carrion; and there was
probably plenty of that floating around out there. With all the dead stuff to
feast on, the raven could spend the whole day out on its own. However, no
tree tops were above the water yet and crows need to get off the ground at
night so it probably returned to the ark in the evening to roost.
Unfortunately it must have roosted up on the roof where Noah couldn't see
it. That was no help. He needed to know if it was safe yet to get out of the
ark.
†. Gen 8:8-9 . .Then he sent out the dove to see whether the waters
had decreased from the surface of the ground. But the dove could
not find a resting place for its foot, and returned to him to the ark,
for there was water over all the earth. So putting out his hand, he
took it into the ark with him.
The word for "Dove" is from yownah (yo-naw') which is a general term for
either a Dove or a Pigeon. Pigeons are well known for their homing instincts.
So why didn't the Pigeon roost up on the roof of the ark instead of letting
Noah take it inside? Well . . a Pigeon's nature is different than a Raven's.
The big guys are somewhat independent, but Pigeons readily take to human
care. That's probably why they are so much more common in cities than
Crows; where people can feed them popcorn and bread crumbs.
Pigeons and Doves don't eat carrion; but prefer to forage on the ground for
seeds. But bare ground was inaccessible at this point in time. The yownah
no doubt became very hungry; and certainly knew Mr. Noah had plenty of
grain on board with him back at the ark. Pigeons also prefer a roof over their
heads; like docks, wharfs, bridges and roadway overpasses. It almost seems
they were actually made to live in coops; and what better coop than the ark?
†. Gen 8:10-11 . . He waited another seven days, and again sent out
the dove from the ark. The dove came back to him toward evening,
and there in its bill was a plucked-off olive leaf! Then Noah knew
that the waters had decreased on the earth.
The word for "plucked-off" is from taraph (taw-rawf') which means: recently
torn off; viz: fresh. A taraph olive leaf is alive.
It is just unbelievable that any trees survived. Even ordinary flooding is very
destructive. Just southeast of Mount Ste. Helens is an area called the Lahar.
It was a totally denuded region caused, not by the volcano's blast, but by
water that poured down from the mountain's side when glacier and snow
pack melted during the eruption in 1980. In the water's path, whole pine
trees were uprooted and swept away, like hot-waxing a woman's legs;
leaving nothing but bare, scraped earth. Well, Noah's flood was umpteen
times more powerful than Ste. Helens' rush of water. The destruction it
caused must have been beyond belief.
Note : old-world olives prefer a Mediterranean climate, which is probably
why olives do so well in southern California. Anyway, that olive leaf is pretty
good empirical evidence that the ark didn't come to rest on Turkey's Mt.
Ararat. It's seriously doubtful any kind of trees have ever grown up on that
mountain; which is a snow-capped dormant volcano consisting of two peaks:
Lesser Ararat @ 12,782 feet, and Greater Ararat @ 16,854 feet. High
mountains like Ararat have what's called a timberline; which is a zone above
which no trees grow. The elevation of Mt. Hood's timberline zone here in
Oregon is right around 6,000 feet.
†. Gen 8:12 . . He waited still another seven days and sent the dove
forth; and it did not return to him any more.
Apparently the dove finally found some dry, bare ground to forage for seeds,
and minute gravel for its craw.
Why didn't Noah just look out the window and see for himself? Well; the
structural location of the ark's window is a bit a mystery. For one thing, it
wasn't cut into the sides like the windows in an airplane, rather, it was
located up on top.
The horizontal dimension of the window is unknown, but its vertical
dimension is known to be only a cubit; roughly 18 inches.
Imagine a structure on top of the ark similar to the windowed portion of the
cab of a large pick-up truck; for example a Ford 350. If a structure like that
were situated in the middle of the top of the ark, whose top deck dimensions
are 750 feet by 75 feet, the angle of Noah's view would be pretty much
limited to the portion of sky that he could see above the horizon.
†. Gen 8:13-14 . . In the six hundred and first year, in the first
month, on the first of the month, the waters began to dry from the
earth; and when Noah removed the covering of the ark, he saw that
the surface of the ground was drying. And in the second month, on
the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.
It's curious that God dumped the Flood on the ground in only 40 days but
utilized something like 330 to completely remove it all to the last drop.
Where in the world did all that water go? Well; nowhere on earth; that's for
sure. Actually, nobody really knows where it all came from in the first place.
Genesis' language is just too vague. The author may not have understood it
himself, but just wrote it down as best as he knew how within the language
of the known science of his own day, which was pretty limited.
Cont.
/
