Genesis 8:1

And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that [was] with him in the ark,.... Not that God had forgotten Noah, for he does not, and cannot forget his creatures, properly

And God remembered 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; God remembered Noah.

GENESIS CHAPTER 8 The waters abate, . The ark rests on Mount Ararat, . The day on which the tops of the mountians were seen, noted, . Noah opens the window of the ark, ; sends forth a raven, ; after that a dove, , which returned, . He sends the dove out a second time, , which returns with an olive leaf, . He sends her out again, and she returns not, . The earth dry, . God commands Noah and his family to come out, , which they do, . Noah builds an altar, and sacrifices, . God accepts it, and promises not to drown the world again, , but to continue the seasons of the year, . God remembered Noah, i.e. he showed 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 shows kindness to them, as , , . As God punished the beasts for man’ s sin, so now he favours them for man’ s sake. God made a wind to pass; a drying or burning wind, like that of , which had a natural power to dry up the waters; but that was heightened by the assistance of a higher and miraculous operation of God.

Genesis 8:1 And God remembered 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;Ver. 1. And God remembered Noah.] He might begin to think that God had forgotten him, having not heard from God for five months together, and not yet seeing how he could possibly escape. He had been a whole year in the ark; and now was ready to groan out that doleful Usquequo Domine :Hast thou forgotten to be merciful? &c. But forgetfulness befalls not the Almighty. The butler may forget Joseph; and Joseph, his father’ s house: Ahasuerus may forget Mordecai; and the delivered city the poor man that by his wisdom preserved it. The Sichemites may forget Gideon; but "God is not unfaithful to forget your work and labour of love," saith the apostle. And there is "a book of remembrance written before him," saith the prophet, "for them that fear the Lord". A metaphor from kings that commonly keep a calendar or chronicle of such as have done them good service: as Ahasuerus, and Tamerlane, who had a catalogue of their names and good deserts, which he daily perused, oftentimes saying that day to be lost wherein he had not given them something. God also is said to have such a book of remembrance. Not that he hath so, or needeth to have; for all things, both past and future, are present with him: he hath the idea of them within himself, and every thought is before his eyes, so that he cannot be forgetful. But he is said to remember his people (so he is pleased to speak to our capacity) when he showeth his care of us, and makes good his promise to us. We also are said to be his "remembrancers" when we plead his promise, and press him to performance. Not that we persuade him thereby to do us good, but we persuade our own hearts to more faith, love, obedience, &c., whereby we become more capable of that good. God made a wind.] So he worketh usually by means, though he needeth them not. But many times his works are, as Luther speaketh, in contrariis mediis . As here he assuageth the waters by a wind, which naturally "lifteth up the waves thereof," and enrageth them. God worketh by contraries, saith Nazianzen, that he may be the more admired. Though our ark be driven in a tempestuous sea, saith one, yet it shall neither sink nor split, whiles we sail in the thoughts of Almighty God. Fuit in arca per annum integrum et decem dies. - Piscator. Turk. Hist., p. 227. Dιατηνεναντιωνεναντιαοικονομειταιινακαιμαλλονθαυμαζηται

VIII.(1) God.—Elohim. On the Jehovistic theory, one would have expected Jehovah here. (See Excursus.) Every living thing.—See Note on Genesis 7:14. The waters asswaged.—Heb., became still. It is plain from this that the “strength” of the waters, described in Genesis 7:24, has reference to the violent currents, which still existed up to the end of the one hundred and fiftieth day, after which they ceased. A wind (comp. the creative wind in Genesis 1:2) began to blow as soon as the rains ceased, or even before, as must necessarily have been the case with so vast a disturbance of the atmosphere; but its special purpose of assuaging the waters only began when the downpour was over. This wind would affect the course of the ark, but scarcely so strongly as the currents of the water.

CHAPTER VIII At the end of one hundred and fifty days the waters begin to subside, 1-3. The ark rests on Mount Ararat, 4. On the first of the tenth month the tops of the hills appear, 5. The window opened and the raven sent out, 6, 7. The dove sent forth, and returns, 8, 9. The dove sent forth a second time, and returns with an olive leaf, 10, 11. The dove sent out the third time, and returns no more, 12. On the twentieth day of the second month the earth is completely dried, 13, 14. God orders Noah, his family, and all the creatures to come out of the ark, 15-19. Noah builds an altar, and offers sacrifices to the Lord, 20. They are accepted; and God promises that the earth shall not be cursed thus any more, notwithstanding the iniquity of man, 21, 22. NOTES ON CHAP. VIII Verse 1. And God made a wind to pass over the earth] Such a wind as produced a strong and sudden evaporation. The effects of these winds, which are frequent in the east, are truly astonishing. A friend of mine, who had been bathing in the Tigris, not far from the ancient city of Ctesiphon, and within five days' journey of Bagdad, having on a pair of Turkish drawers, one of these hot winds, called by the natives samiel, passing rapidly across the river just as he had got out of the water, so effectually dried him in a moment, that not one particle of moisture was left either on his body or in his bathing dress! With such an electrified wind as this, how soon could God dry the whole of the earth's surface! An operation something similar to the conversion of water into its two constituent airs, oxygen and hydrogen, by means of the galvanic fluid, as these airs themselves may be reconverted into water by means of the electric spark. See Clarke on Genesis 7:11. And probably this was the agent that restored to the atmosphere the quantity of water which it had contributed to this vast inundation. The other portion of waters, which had proceeded from the breaking up of the fountains of the great deep, would of course subside more slowly, as openings were made for them to run off from the higher lands, and form seas. By the first cause, the hot wind, the waters were assuaged, and the atmosphere having its due proportion of vapours restored, the quantity below must be greatly lessened. By the second, the earth was gradually dried, the waters, as they found passage, lessening by degrees till the seas and gulfs were formed, and the earth completely drained. This appears to be what is intended in the third and fifth verses by the waters decreasing continually, or, according to the margin, they were in going and decreasing, Genesis 8:5.

Ch. Genesis 8:1-14. The Diminution of the Waters 1 (P). God remembered] The same expression occurs in Genesis 19:29, Genesis 30:22. It is a form of anthropomorphism which is not infrequent in the O.T. and which is in continual use in the language of devotion. and all the cattle] LXX adds “And all the fowls and all the creeping things.” For the expression of pity for the brute beasts, cf. “and also much cattle,” in Jonah 4:11. God made a wind to pass] The wind was to drive the waters back into their channels, and to dry up the ground. Cf. the action of the wind in Exodus 14:21. 2a (P). the fountains, &c.] The first clause in this verse describes the closing of the sources of the Flood mentioned in Genesis 7:11 (P). 2b, 3a (J). and the rain … continually] This is the duplicate account from J, in whose version the rain for 40 days was the cause of the Flood (Genesis 7:12). 3b (P). after the end, &c.] The 150 days are those mentioned in Genesis 7:24.

- The Land Was Dried 1. שׁכך shākak “stoop, assuage.” 3. חסר chāsar “want, fail, be abated.” 4. אררט 'ărārāṭ, “Ararat,” a land forming part of Armenia.

1-3. God remembered Noah — The ark, containing the seed of the Church and of the human race, a solitary speck in the watery wilderness, was remembered by God. The tokens of that remembrance followed.