Глава 8

Gen.8:1. And God remembered Noah, “Let us, beloved, understand these words in a godly manner, and not in the crude sense in which our weak nature tends to understand them,” St. John Chrysostom says regarding them: “What does remembered mean? “He had mercy, that is, God had mercy on the righteous man who lived in the ark, took pity on him when he was in such a cramped and difficult situation, and did not know how his misfortunes would end.” The very “remembrance” of God of His servants, in the language of Holy Scripture, means the fulfillment of promises and the distribution of rewards to them (Gen. 19:29; Ex. 2:24, 32:13; Ps. 132:1). and God brought a wind upon the earth, and the waters stood still. The strong wind that drove away the rain clouds was, in the hands of divine omnipotence, the mediating or natural cause of the cessation of the flood. In this case, as in others similar to it (Ex. 10:13–19, 14:21), God uses natural phenomena and laws that He established as instruments of His will. Gen.8:2. And the fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were closed, and the rain from heaven ceased. The reason for the end of the flood is in full accordance with the reason for its origin (Gen. 7:11). Gen.8:3. The water gradually returned from the earth, and the water began to decrease at the end of one hundred and fifty days. In parallel to the picture of the gradual increase of the flood (Gen. 7:17–20), this section gives an equally artistic depiction of its gradual cessation. Having noted the very fact of the water leaving its usual reservoirs, the writer also points out details - firstly, a decrease in the amount of water, and secondly, the stopping of the ark on the top of Mount Ararat and the release of the tops of other mountains from under the water. Stopping the Ark on Mount Ararat Gen.8:4. And the ark stopped in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, Considering the most reliable date for the beginning of the flood to be the seventeenth day of the month of Marheshvan (the first days of November), we must place the stop of the ark on the top of the Ararat Mountains on the seventeenth day of the month of Nisan, which will correspond to the beginning of our April. And since, according to the instructions of the writer of everyday life, one hundred and fifty days passed between the two above-mentioned chronological terms (Gen. 7:24), then, consequently, each of these five months has 30 days, from which many, not without reason, conclude that in the primitive era the year was solar, and not lunar, as it became among the Jews later, during the period under the law. It should be noted that there is some difference in indicating the very date of both months between the Russian and Greek-Slavic texts - in the first it is the 17th, and in the second it is the 27th. It must be assumed that this difference was probably due to the fault of the translators, who could easily confuse the letter designation of the Hebrew numbers. The mere fact that instead of the singular the plural is used here (Ararat Mountains) indicates that we are not talking about one specific mountain peak, but about a whole chain of mountains, or about mountainous terrain in general. And indeed, the Bible knows the whole country of Ararat, which it identifies with Armenia, as is especially clear from the comparison of 2 Kings. 19:37 with Isa. 37:38 (according to LXX). Armenia is also designated by a similar name – Urarda or Urtu – in the wedge-shaped monuments of the Assyrian kings. On one of the mountains of this Armenia, probably the highest, called Kara-Daga, or “Great Armenia” (16,254 feet above sea level), Noah’s ark stopped. Gen.8:5. The water continually decreased until the tenth month; on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains appeared. Since Great Ararat is only one of the peaks of an entire mountain range, it is quite understandable that as the water receded, the tops of other mountains also opened up. This happened, as can be seen from the text, on the first day of the 10th month of Tammuz, that is, approximately halfway through our July. Gen.8:6. After forty days, Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made. These forty days, obviously, should be counted from the moment the ark stopped on the mountains of Ararat, i.e. after 270 days. Release of the raven and dove from the ark This entire section talks about the means by which Noah ensured the end of the flood. Since Noah’s ark, as we saw above (Gen. 6:16), did not have side windows that opened up the prospect of the flood, but was illuminated by a single hole from above, Noah, in order to inspect the condition of the earth, resorted to releasing birds: first a raven, and then a dove. and he sent out a raven [to see if the water had subsided from the earth], which flew out and flew back and forth until the earth was drained of water. Or, as the Hebrew text puts it even more emphatically, “he went out, flying and flying.” This makes it clear that the predatory raven, living outside the ark, flew off onto the corpses of people and animals and again sat on top of the ark, thus not giving any indication of the state of the earth. Gen.8:8. Then he released a dove from himself to see if the water had disappeared from the face of the earth, Noah made a new release seven days after the first (verse 10); this time he released a dove, which suited the purpose better, since the dove feeds on grains and is afraid of moisture. Gen.8:9. but the dove found no rest for its feet and returned to him in the ark, for the water was still on the surface of all the earth; and he stretched out his hand, and took him, and took him into the ark. A pictorial representation of the fact from which Noah was convinced that the earth was still unsuitable for habitation not only by people, but even by birds. Gen.8:10. And he delayed another seven days and again sent the dove out of the ark. This frequent repetition of the seven-day period may serve as proof that the weekly reckoning of time was already well known at that time. Gen.8:11. The dove returned to him in the evening, This was evidence that the ground had already dried out somewhat, so it was possible to spend the whole day on it, until sunset. and behold, a fresh olive leaf was in his mouth, and Noah knew that the waters had fallen from the earth. The best proof that new life has already begun to awaken on earth. In addition, the olive tree, from which oil is extracted and which serves in the Holy Scriptures as a symbol of joy and peace, gave Noah a calming indication of the end of divine punishment. Gen.8:12. He delayed another seven days and [again] sent out a dove; and he never returned to him. This time the dove did not return, which proved that humans can live freely on earth. Gen.8:13. In the six hundred and first year [of Noah’s life], by the first [day] of the first month, the water on the earth dried up; Here are the chronological dates for the end of the flood, which thus fell on the first day of the new year, i.e., at the beginning of the month of Tishri (September-October). Gen.8:14. And in the second month, by the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth dried up. But the complete drying of the earth occurred only at the end of the second month, exactly a year and ten days after it began (Gen. 7:11). Combining now all the chronological dates of the flood available in the Bible, we get that its total duration embraced 364 days (220 + 88 + 56), which is a whole solar year. The writer of everyday life makes it clear that the flood lasted a year and ten days; from here, with high probability, we can conclude that in the era of the flood, the most ancient era, there was still a solar reckoning and that only later, from the time of Abraham or even Moses, it was transferred to the lunar one. Gen.8:15–16. And [the Lord] God said to Noah: Come out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons, and your sons' wives with you; Just as Noah once entered the ark by special divine command, so he does not leave it until he receives a special divine revelation about it. The memory of the flood is one of the most widespread traditions of the ancient world, and the very details of these legends often coincide amazingly closely with the biblical story of the flood. This should especially be said about the famous Chaldean poem about Izdubar or Gilgamet, discovered in the most ancient wedge-shaped texts that are part of the so-called “Chaldean genesis”. A parallel comparison of this Chaldean poem with the biblical legend leaves no doubt about their close family connection, and the deep antiquity and documentation of the wedge-shaped texts provides a strong weapon for biblical apologetics in the fight against rationalistic criticism. For more details, see S.S. Glagoleva, “Supernatural revelation and natural knowledge of God” and about “The Origin of the Human Race”. Gen.8:17. Bring out with you all the animals that are with you, of all flesh, birds, and cattle, and every creeping thing, and that creeps on the earth: let them disperse throughout the earth, and let them be fruitful and multiply on the earth. Regarding these words of divine command, which directly relate to animals, but also concern man, Saint John Chrysostom says, for example, the following: “see how this righteous man again receives the blessing that Adam received before the crime. Just as he, immediately after his creation, heard: and God bless them, saying: grow and multiply, and fill the earth (Gen. 1:28), so this one now grows and multiplies on the earth, because just as Adam was the beginning and root of all who lived before the flood, so this righteous man becomes, as it were, the leaven, the beginning and root of everyone after the flood” (St. John Chrysostom, Discourse XXVI). Gen.8:18–19. And Noah went out, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him; Every beast, and every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moved on the earth, according to their kinds, came out of the ark. This speaks of the quick and accurate execution of the divine command, by which Noah once again testified to his complete obedience to the divine will. Building the Altar and Noah's Sacrifice Gen.8:20. And Noah built an altar to the Lord; This is, strictly speaking, the first biblical mention of a sacred altar or altar; its Hebrew name - mizbeah - indicates it as a place for the slaughter of sacrificial animals. and he took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered them as burnt offerings on the altar. From among those clean animals that were in the ark in deliberately increased numbers (Gen. 7:2), Noah, upon leaving the ark, offered a sacrifice to the Lord. These sacrifices are here called burnt offerings; with her, the sacrificial animal was burned without a trace (Lev. 1:1–17), which served as a symbol of complete, perfect consciousness of sinful weakness and deep heartfelt repentance. Hence, Noah’s sacrifice was, on the one hand, an act of his repentance for the past sin of mankind, which caused the flood, and on the other, an expression of gratitude to God for salvation and an expression of complete submission and obedience to His holy will. Gen.8:21. And the Lord smelled a pleasant aroma, “Do not be tempted by the rudeness of expression,” Chrysostom says on this occasion, “but, having recognized your own weakness in words as the reason for such condescension in words, understand from here that the offering of the righteous was pleasing to God...” That is why the Apostle Paul said in his letter: “For we are the aroma of Christ to God in those who are saved and in those who are perishing: for some a smell of death unto death, and for others a stench of life for life” (2 Cor. 2:15-16 ). The words “pleasant aroma”, according to a more accurate translation from Hebrew - reach hannichoach, should be translated as follows: “the smell of satisfaction, tranquility”, and in the very analysis of concepts they find similarities with the name of Noah, which means “tranquility” (Gen. 5:29) and from where they see, as it were, the fulfillment of the very prophecy that was embedded in the name given to him. This sacrifice of Noah, like the earlier sacrifice of Abel, was undoubtedly pleasing to God not because of the material of the offering itself, but because of the feelings of faith, piety and humble submission to the Creator expressed in it. Likewise, a sweet taste (a sweet aroma) is attributed to the prayer and almsgiving of the faithful (Phil. 4:18 ; Open 5:8, 8:3–4; Ps. 140:2). and the Lord [God] said in His heart: I will no longer curse the earth for man’s sake, because the thought of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will no longer smite every living thing, as I have done: In these words, obviously, a solemn confirmation of God himself is given about the uniqueness of such a worldwide (in the sense universal for all humanity and all living creatures) punishment; but its very motivation seems at first glance somewhat incomprehensible: apparently, it represents a repetition of the motive that served as the main cause of the flood (Gen. 6:5, 12–13); and here the same fact is taken as a motive for an opposite attitude towards the world. But a more careful comparison of these two parallels, made on the basis of the context of speech, reveals a significant difference between them. In the first case, it is said much more generally and more strongly - namely, that “every imagination of the thoughts of their hearts was evil continually” (Gen. 6:5), which characterizes not so much hereditary, but mainly a constant personal sinful disposition, which passes, as can be seen from the context, into a proud trampling of moral principles and into unrepentant stubbornness (Gen. 6:11). In the verse we are considering, we are talking almost exclusively only about hereditary sinful corruption, for which a person is comparatively less responsible than for conscious, personal sinfulness. By making the sacrifice that was just mentioned, the person proved in the best possible way that his personal disposition had improved significantly, that although he, due to the sinful weakness of his nature, continued to sin, each time in the consciousness of his fall and often with deep sorrow about it and with a request to God for mercy, the expression of which was served by various sacrifices. Such a change in the mood of the human heart created quite sufficient grounds for a change in the divine attitude towards it. “Before, justice was revealed to the general, and mercy to a special actor (the story of the flood and Noah): from now on, justice will appear in the particular, as for example, over Sodom, over Pharaoh, and mercy in the universal” (Filaret). Hence, it becomes quite natural and understandable to point to the hereditary sinful corruption of a person as a motive for a condescending attitude towards his sinfulness, with which a person expresses (through sacrifices) a desire to fight to the best of his weak strength. Gen.8:22. henceforth all the days of the earth That is, as long as the earth exists and when the “days of the earth” will have to give way to the “days of heaven” (Ps. 89:30). sowing and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will not cease. Three seasons are named here by name: spring, summer and winter, and the fourth is descriptive: “harvest”, as the time of gathering grains and fruits. However, it should be noted that the Masoretic text and some of the translated texts do not also name spring, but only give a repeated designation of two main seasons or entire half-years, these are “cold and heat” or, what is the same, “summer and winter”, in accordance with which the third pair of contrasts “day and night” stands. And the last reading is preferable, as it is found in other places in the Bible (Ps. 73:17). As for the thought contained here, it serves as a more detailed explanation and development of what was just expressed above - about the uniqueness of a terrible natural disaster like a flood, coupled with the inevitable violation of the basic Laws of nature (Jer. 33:20-25, Ezek. 34:25-29, 37:26). “The kindest Lord usually pays attention not so much to our sacrifices as to the inner disposition with which we make them, and, judging by it, either accepts or rejects our sacrifices” (John Chrysostom, 27:273). Concluding the history of the flood, we consider it our duty to briefly point out the educational significance that the Church Fathers found in it. The basis for this view was laid by our Lord Jesus Christ himself and His apostles. Thus, the Lord sees in the past history of the flood a prediction of the future history of His second formidable coming: just as then people were extremely corrupt and careless about their salvation, the same will happen before the second coming; and just as then the terrible sentence of divine judgment was carried out over the entire sinful world, exactly the same thing will be repeated at the moment of the Last Judgment (Matthew 24:37–39; Luke 17:25–27). The Apostle Peter in one of his letters compares the baptismal font with Noah's ark (1 Pet. 3:20–21), indicating that both equally save us from sinful death. His thought is also developed by the Apostle Paul, saying that we were “buried with Him by baptism into death” and at the same time, by the same action, we are introduced into His Church and begin to walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:4–6). You might be interested in: