Matthew Poole and continuators on Genesis 8

1. AND God remembred Noah , and every living thing , and all the Cattle that was with him in the Ark: And God made a Wind to pass over the Earth, and the Waters asswaged.

(i. e) He shewed by his actions that he minded and cared for him: Or, pitied and succoured him. God is said to remember his people when after some delays or suspensions of his favour, he returns and shews kindness to them, as Gen. 19. 29. and 30. 22. Exod. 32. 13. Iob 14. 13. Psal. 132. 1.

As God punished the Beasts for mans sin, so now he favours them for mans sake.

A drying and burning Wind, like that of Exod. 14. 21. which had a natural power to dry up the Waters, but that was heightned by the assistance of an higher and miraculous operation of God.

Marginal references: Heb. Beast▪

4. And the Ark rested in the seventh moneth , on the seventeenth day of the moneth, upon the Mountains of Ararat .

From the beginning not of the Flood, but of the year as appears by comparing ch. 7. 11. and ch. 8. 13, 14.

(i. e.) Upon one of the Mountains of Ararat, by a frequent Enallage of the number, as Iud. 12. 7. Matth. 21. 5. And by Ararat is here commonly and rightly understood Armenia, as appears both by comparing Isa. 37. 38. Ier. 51. 27. and by the Testimony of antient Writers produced by Iosephus and others to this purpose, and by the great height of those Mountains, and by its nearness to the place where the first men lived, this great Vessel not being fitted for sailing to remote places, but only for the receit and preservation of Men and other Creatures in it.

7. And he sent forth a Raven, which went forth to and fro , untill the Waters were dried up from off the Earth .

A fit messenger for that purpose, because it smells dead Carcases at a great distance, and flies far, and then returneth to its former habitation, with something in its bill.

Heb. Going and returning. (i. e.) went forth hither and thither, now forward then backward, sometimes going from the Ark, and sometimes returning to the Ark, though never entring into it again.

Not as if she returned afterwards, but the phrase implies that she never returned. And so the word untill is often used as 2 Sam. 6. last. Michal had no Child untill the day of her death, i. e. never had a Child, See also Psal. 110. 1. Matth. 1. 25.

Marginal references: Heb. in going forth and returning.

8. Also he sent forth a Dove from him to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground.

Which flies lower and longer than the Raven, and is more sociable and familiar with Man, and more constant to its accustomed dwelling, and more loving and faithful to its mate, and therefore more likely to return with some discovery.

9. But the Dove found no rest for the sole of her foot , and she returned unto him into the Ark: For the Waters were on the face of the whole Earth. Then he put forth his hand, and took her , and pulled her in unto him into the Ark.

Because the tops of the Hills which then appeared, were either muddy, and dirty: Or unobserved by the Dove, as not soaring so high: Whence the Doves are emphatically called the Dovis of the Vallies, Ezek. 7. 16.

Her former acquaintance with Noah, and her present necessity making her more tractable.

Marginal references: Heb. caused her to come.

11. And the Dove came in to him in the Evening , and lo, in her mouth was an Olive-leaf n pluckt off: So Noah knew that the Waters were abated from off the Earth.

As the manner of Doves is, partly for better accommodation both for food and lodging than yet he could meet with abroad; and partly from his Love to his Mate. Quest. Whence was this leaf when Trees had been so generally overthrown and rooted up by the deluge! Answ. 1. Many Trees might be preserved by an advantageous scituation, between the Rocks or Hills which broke the force of the Waters. 2. It is probable that God by his powerful providence preserved the Plants and Trees, for future ages, and therefore there is no mention of any of their Roots or Seeds preserved in the Ark. 3. The Olive-tree especially will not only stand, but live and flourish under the Waters, as Pliny l. 13. c. 25. and 16. 20. and [illegible: 1 word] 4. 8. observe. Adde, that the word here rendred leaf, signifies also a tender branch.

12. And he stayed yet other seven days, and sent forth the Dove, which returned not again unto him any more .

Finding convenient food and resting place upon the Earth, and preferring her freedom before her mate. Possibly she might lose the sight of the Ark, and forget or mistake the way to it.

13. And it came to pass in the six hundredth and one year, in the first moneth, the first day of the moneth 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 dry.

The words moneth and day are oft times for brevity sake omitted by the Hebrews as being easily understood. Thus the first of the Feast, Matth. 26. 17. is the first day of the Feast, Mark. 14. 12.

14. And in the second moneth, on the seven and twentieth day of the moneth was the Earth dried .

Not only from water, as it was ver. 13. but from mud and dirt also. So the Flood continued ten days more than a year, by comparing this with Chap. 7. 11.

16. Go forth of the Ark , thou, and thy Wife, and Sons, and thy Sons Wives with thee:

As Noah expected the command of God for his going into the Ark, Chap. 7. 1. 9. so for his coming forth of it.

17. Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all Flesh, both of Fowl, and of Cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the Earth, that they may breed abundantly in the Earth, and be fruitful and multiply upon the Earth :

Quest. How could these Creatures which came out of the Ark in Asia get thence to America, or to Islands remote from the Continent? Answ. 1. As for America, it is thought by divers learned men, that it is either joyned to this Continent, or separated from it only by a Narrow Sea, which divers living Creatures could easily swim over. 2. Many living Creatures are and always were transported by men in their vessels, either for their supply, or profit, or diversion, or other ends, and thence might easily be propagated there. 3. The same God who made all these Creatures, and caused them to come first to Adam and afterwards to Noah, could afterwards both encline and impower them to go whether he pleased, without the advice of these vain men, who will believe nothing of God which themselves either do not see or cannot do.

Marginal references: Chap. 1. 22.

20. And Noah built an Altar unto the Lord , and took of every clean Beast, and of every clean Fowl, and offered Burnt-offerings on the Altar .

The first Altar we read of, but not the first which was built: For the Sacrifices which were offered before, Gen. 4. 3. 4. presuppose an Altar. Therefore it is no sufficient evidence, that such things were not done, because they are not said to be done in Scripture. Which will be an useful consideration for the understanding of many passages in Scripture hereafter.

The first thing Noah doth, is to pay his debt of Justice and Gratitude to that God which had so miraculously preserved him, and restored him to his antient and proper habitation. God respects to be served in the first place. What Beasts were clean and what unclean, see on chap. 7. 2. Levit. 11. 2. &c.

21. And the Lord smelled a sweet savour , and the Lord said in his Heart , I will not again curse the ground any more for mans sake, for the imagination of mans Heart is evil from his youth: Neither will I again smite any more every thing living as I have done.

(i. e.) Graciously accepted the Person and Faith and Praiseoffering of Noah, and was as well pleased therewith, as men use to be with a sweet smell.

(i. e.) Determined within himself, and expressed so much to Noah. The Hebrew preposition, el, sometimes signifies in, as Gen. 6. 6. 1▪ Sam. 27. 1. Others, said to his Heart, i. e. spake to the Heart of Noah, who is mentioned ver. 20. To speak to the Heart, in Scripture use signifies to comfort.

(i. e.) The whole Earth with this kind of curse, with another deluge. Otherwise God doth not hereby tye his hands, that he may not either destroy a particular Land by a deluge, which hath been done since, or destroy the World by Fire when he sees fit, as he hath declared he will do.

The reason is this, since all mens Hearts are naturally corrupt, and from that filthy spring wicked actions will be continually flowing forth into the World, and consequently, if I should be severe to punish men according to their sins, I should do nothing but send one deluge after another. Or these words may be joyned with the former, and the sense may be this, I will not again destroy the Earth with a deluge for mans sake, or for mans sin, or because the imagination, &c. (i. e.) because his heart is corrupt and his actions are agreeable to it, which was the cause of the last deluge. Or the particle, chi, may be rendred, although, as it is frequently taken, as Exod. 5. 11. and 13. 17. and 34. 9. Ios. 17. 13. Psal. 25. 11. and 41. 5. and so the sense is plain, I will not again destroy the Earth, although the imagination, &c. i. e▪ Although I have just cause to do so.

i. e. Kill or destroy, as the word smiting is taken, Exod. 21. 18. Numb. 14. 12. and 35. 16. Deut. 28. 22, 27. Amos 4. 9.

‖ Or, From his very childhood and infancy, as the Chaldee and Greek interpreters Translate it.

Marginal references: Heb. a savour of rest.; Chap. 6. 5. Matth. 15. 19.

22. While the Earth remaineth , Seed-time, and Harvest, and Cold, and Heat, and Summer, and Winter, and Day and Night shall not cease.

In this estate: For though it seems probable that the substance of the Earth will abide for ever, after the dissolution of the World by fire, yet that will be in another manner, and for other purposes, and then there will be no need of Seed-time, or Harvest, &c.

Which distinction in a manner ceased in the Ark, the Heavens being covered and all its lights eclipsed by such thick and black Clouds as never were before no[illegible: 1+ letters] since.

Marginal references: Heb. as yet all the days of the Earth.