Глава 7

Gen.7:1. And the Lord [God] said to Noah: Enter you and all your family into the ark. This is God's positive command about the preliminary placement of Noah in the ark, which was the last warning to everyone and the last call to repentance of the sinful world. Gen.7:2–3. And of every clean cattle take seven by seven, male and female, and of every unclean cattle by two, male and female; also of the birds of the air [clean] by seven, male and female, [and of all unclean birds by two, male and female,] to preserve a tribe for the whole earth, In these words we have the first instance of the division of animals into clean and unclean; The first included all those animals and birds that were either only eaten as food (Lev. 11:1–47), or, in addition, were sacrificed (Lev. 1:2, 10, 14; Gen. 8:20). Although the precise delimitation of all these species belongs to a later era - given in the legislation of Moses - however, in practice it existed much earlier, going back, as we see from here, even to the time of the flood, although Noah’s selection of clean animals and birds for sacrifice (Gen. 8:20) did not coincide with the provisions of the Law of Moses on the sacrifice of only 3 breeds of livestock and two breeds of birds. The law subsequently, in this case, as in others similar to it, confirmed, precisely formulated and legitimized what had previously been only an established custom. It was commanded to take seven times more of everything pure, firstly, in order to ensure their better preservation and greater distribution after the flood, and secondly, perhaps, for food for the people imprisoned in the ark. Gen.7:4. for after seven days I will cause rain to fall on the earth The last week was apparently appointed for the final placement of all people and animals in the ark. In itself, this indication of a week, in connection with others found in the same story of the flood (Gen. 7:10, 8:12), can speak for the deep antiquity of the weekly cycle and for the primitive origin of the seven-day week and then the Sabbath. forty days and forty nights; Exactly the same period was subsequently assigned for the repentant preaching of the prophet Jonah to the inhabitants of Nineveh (Jonah 3:4), Moses spent the same amount of time on Mount Sinai (Exodus 24:18), the prophet Elijah fasted in the desert of Bathsheba on the way to Mount Horeb (1 Kings 19:8), the Lord Jesus Christ fasted in the desert and prepared for his messianic service (appearance to the world) (Matthew 4:2). ), and, finally, for the same amount of time he was pleased to remain on earth and appear to His disciples after His resurrection before His ascension into heaven (Acts 1:3). From this we can conclude that the number forty represents one of the important, sacred numbers of the Bible. Gen.7:6. Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of water came to the earth. This was the age of Noah himself at the time of the flood; the age of his sons, as can be seen from a comparison with the previous one (Gen. 5:32), was about a hundred years. Gen.7:8. And [from clean birds and from unclean birds, and] from clean cattle and from unclean cattle, [and from beasts] and from everything that creeps on the earth The words of this verse enclosed in brackets do not appear in the modern Hebrew text; but the fact that they have been preserved in almost all ancient translations and are in full accordance with the context gives them full right to exist. Gen.7:9. in pairs, male and female, they went into Noah’s ark, as [the Lord] God commanded Noah. This does not mean one pair at a time, but in general, in pairs, and the very quantity has also already been previously determined above (Gen. 7:2). Beginning, increase and continuation of the flood Gen.7:11. In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, The Jews had two years: one was sacred, starting from the month of Nisan (March-April), the other was civil, starting from the month of Tishri (September-October). More definite indications of the existence of the first begin only from the era of Mosaic legislation (Ex. 12:2, 13:4, 23:15; Deut. 16:1), which is why scientists usually think that in the early era there was only one, civil time of reckoning, starting from the time of the autumnal equinox (Joseph Fla., Rabbi Kimhi, Rosenmüller, Keil, etc.). Based on this, we can assume that the flood began on the seventeenth of Marcheshvan, which, according to our calculation, falls on the very first days of November. on this day all the fountains of the great deep opened up, This name obviously denotes the water contained within the earth's crust, which, probably, through the special action of volcanic forces, came to the surface in enormous quantities. and the windows of heaven were opened; This is a clear and powerful image of the fall of abundant rain streams, which is in full accordance with the biblical view of the very firmament, which the Semites imagined in the form of a continuous tent or roof spread over the earth (Gen. 1:7). Gen.7:12. and rain fell on the earth for forty days and forty nights. The fulfillment of what was previously predicted (Gen. 7:4.). Gen.7:13. On this very day Noah entered the ark That is, on the day that the writer of everyday life just spoke about and which we defined as one of the first days of our month of November (when in Palestine, as a rule, there is a period of heaviest rain). Gen.7:14–16. They, and every beast [of the earth] after their kind, and every livestock after its kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth on the earth after its kind, and everything that flies after its kind, every bird, every winged thing, and they went into Noah's ark, two by two, of all flesh in which is the spirit of life; and those who entered into [Noah's ark] male and female of all flesh entered, as [the Lord] God commanded him. This entire section is a condensed repetition of what has already been said several times in parts before. By doing this, the writer of everyday life obviously wants to draw special attention of readers to the importance of this fact and to the greatness of divine love for those being saved. And the Lord [God] shut the [ark] behind him. (Outside). A touching image of divine providence about those being saved from the flood, which perfectly encapsulates the whole picture of their salvation from destruction. Some, however, see here an allegory that has the meaning that the Lord, who had long-sufferingly awaited repentance from the sinful world, has now put an end to this waiting and decided to carry out His terrible sentence about the destruction of the first world. “And the Lord [God] shut [the ark] behind him,” and thereby, as it were, cut off the path to repentance (Luke 13:24–25, 28). Gen.7:17–20. And the flood continued on the earth for forty days [and forty nights], and the water increased, and lifted up the ark, and it rose above the earth; But the waters increased and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the waters. In these verses, with great consistency, the gradual increase and intensification of the flood is imagined: “This is gradualism,” says the Metropolitan. Filaret, - with precision and intense force, showing the greatness of the described action: “there was a flood,” “the water multiplied,” “the water increased,” “the increase increased greatly,” “the increase increased greatly.” And the flood continued on the earth for forty days If now any outstanding downpour, passing within 1-2 hours, sometimes produces a terrible flood and destruction, then it is easy to imagine what kind of mass of water such a downpour must have formed, going on for as long as forty days. And if we add that approximately the same mass of water was produced by the interior of the earth’s crust, then the picture of an immense ocean of water will be completely ready. And the water on the earth increased exceedingly, so that the high mountains that are under the whole sky were covered; The water rose above them fifteen cubits, and [all the high] mountains were covered. Fifteen cubits is about 25 feet. According to the majority of modern learned exegetes, these words should not be understood in the absolute sense, that is, that there was so much water that it was 25 feet deep. exceeded such highest peaks as the Himalayas and the Cordillera. This cannot be allowed, mainly because we cannot imagine what such depth was based on. We know from experience that whatever the depth of a known body of water, the line of land running along its edges must always be slightly higher than the water level so that the latter does not overflow. Consequently, when imagining a picture of a global flood, we are unable to imagine a position on the earth’s surface in which it would be absolutely completely flooded with water, without any exceptions. Moreover, in the Bible there are quite frequent examples of when the whole is taken instead of a part - the whole earth, instead of one or another of its points (Gen. 41:57; Exod. 9:25, 10:15; 1 Kings 10:24; Acts 2:5). It could well be assumed that here, too, the term “all the earth” and “all the mountains” refers to the land and mountains of the very district that served as the habitat of primitive humanity and was located in the basin of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the highest point of which was Mount Ararat. However, the Bible and, in particular, the New Testament considers the flood of Noah to be “worldwide” (since it drowned all humanity known to the writer of Genesis, although there is no reason to believe that the flood covered the continents of Africa, America, Australia, Greenland, where the population was very small, not mired in sins, like the inhabitants of Mesopotamia), comparing it, in terms of cosmic universality, with a worldwide catastrophe awaiting the world in the end of times - with the destruction of the world from fire before the appearance of “new heavens and new earth” (Matthew 24:37–39 and parallel 2 Pet. 3:5–7; 1 Pet. 3:20). Gen.7:21–23. And all flesh that moved on the earth lost its life, and birds, and cattle, and wild beasts, and every creeping thing that crawled on the earth, and all people; everything that had the breath of the spirit of life in its nostrils on the dry land died. Every creature that was on the surface of the earth was destroyed; from man to cattle, and creeping things, and birds of the air - everything was destroyed from the earth, only Noah remained and what was with him in the ark. This entire biblical section expressively and powerfully shows in what sense the universality or universality of the flood should be understood; it consisted precisely in the fact that the waters of the flood destroyed literally all living things “on the surface of the earth” - from humans to livestock and reptiles and birds - except, of course, those saved in the ark. Therefore, considering the biblical flood from the point of view of its results, we must recognize it as worldwide, since it destroyed all life of the entire world. Gen.7:24. The water increased on the earth for one hundred and fifty days. The increase and intensification of the waters of the flood continued for one hundred and fifty days or more than five months, including those forty days from which the flood itself began (Gen. 7:17). Consequently, if the flood begins in early November, then the highest point of its intensification will occur on the seventh day of the seventh month, that is, on the last days of our month of April. You might be interested in: