CLEAR SHINING AFTER RAIN
by Alexander Maclaren
'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;
The fountains also of the deep and the windows
of heaven
were stopped, and the rain from heaven was
restrained;
And the waters returned from off the earth
continually:
and after the end of the hundred and fifty days
the
waters were abated. And the ark rested in the
seventh
month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon
the
mountains of Ararat. And the waters decreased
continually
until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on
the first
day of the month, were the tops of the mountains
seen.
And it came to pass at the end of forty days
that Noah
opened the window of the ark which he had made:
And he
sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro,
until
the waters were dried up from off the earth.
Also he sent
forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were
abated
from off the face of the ground; 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. And he
stayed
yet other seven days; and again he sent forth
the dove
out of the ark; And the dove came in to him in
the
evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf
pluckt
off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated
from off
the earth. And he stayed yet other seven days;
and sent
forth the dove; which returned not again unto
him any
more. And it came to pass in the six hundredth
and first
year, in the first month, the first day of the
month,
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. And in the
second month,
on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was
the
earth dried. And God spake unto Noah, saying, Go
forth
of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons,
and thy
sons wives with thee. 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.
And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife,
and
his sons' wives with him: Every beast, every
creeping
thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth
upon the
earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the
ark.
And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and
took of
every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and
offered
burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord
smelled a
sweet savour; and the Lord said in His heart, I
will
not again curse the ground any more for man's
sake; for
the imagination of man's heart is evil from his
youth;
neither will I again smite any more every thing
living,
as I have done. While the earth remaineth,
seedtime and
harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and
winter, and
day and night shall not cease,'--GENESIS viii.
1-22.
The universal tradition of a deluge is most
naturally accounted for
by admitting that there was a 'universal deluge.'
But 'universal'
does not apply to the extent as embracing the whole
earth, but as
affecting the small area then inhabited--an area
which was probably
not greater than the valleys of the Euphrates and
Tigris. The story
in Genesis is the Hebrew version of the universal
tradition, and its
plain affinity to the cuneiform narratives is to be
frankly
accepted. But the relationship of these two is not
certain. Are they
mother and daughter, or are they sisters? The theory
that the
narrative in Genesis is derived from the Babylonian,
and is a
purified, elevated rendering of it, is not so likely
as that both
are renderings of a more primitive account, to which
the Hebrew
narrative has kept true, while the other has tainted
it with
polytheistic ideas. In this passage the cessation of
the flood is
the theme, and it brings out both the love of the
God who sent the
awful punishment, and the patient godliness of the
man who was
spared from it. So it completes the teaching of the
flood, and
proclaims that God 'in wrath remembers mercy.'
1. 'God remembered Noah.' That is a strong
'anthropomorphism,' like
many other things in Genesis--very natural when
these records were
written, and bearing a true meaning for all times.
It might seem as
if, in the wild rush of the waters from beneath and
from above, the
little handful in the ark were forgotten. Had the
Judge of all the
earth, while executing 'terrible things in
righteousness,' leisure
to think of them who were 'afar off upon the sea'?
Was it a blind
wrath that had been let loose? No; in all the
severity there was
tender regard for those worthy of it. Judgment was
discriminating.
The sunshine of love broke through even the
rain-clouds of the
flood.
So the blessed lesson is taught that, in the widest
sweep of the
most stormy judgments, there are those who abide
safely, fearing no
evil. Though the waters are out, there is a rock on
which we may
stand safe, above their highest wave. And why did
God 'remember
Noah'? It was not favouritism, arbitrary and
immoral. Noah was bid
to build the ark, because he was 'righteous' in a
world of evil-
doers; he was 'remembered' in the ark, because he
had believed God's
warning, obeyed God's command as seeing the judgment
'not seen as
yet,' and so 'became heir of the righteousness which
is by faith.'
They who trust God, and, trusting Him, realise as if
present the
future judgment, and, 'moved with fear,' take refuge
in the ark, are
never forgot by Him, even while the world is
drowned. They live in
His heart, and in due time He will show that He
remembers them.
2. The gradual subsidence of the flood is told with
singular
exactitude of dates, which are certainly peculiar if
they are not
historical. The slow decrease negatives the
explanation of the story
as being the exaggerated remembrance of some
tidal-wave caused by
earthquake and the like. Precisely five months after
the flood
began, the ark grounded, and the two sources, the
rain from above
and the 'fountains of the deep' (that is, probably,
the sea), were
'restrained,' and a high wind set in. That date
marked the end of
the increase of the waters, and consequently the
beginning of their
decrease. Seven months and ten days elapsed between
it and the
complete restoration of the earth to its previous
condition. That
time was divided into stages. Two months and a half
passed before
the highest land emerged; two months more and the
surface was all
visible; a month and twenty-seven days more before
'the earth was
dry.' The frequent recurrence of the sacred numbers,
seven and ten,
is noticeable. The length of time required for the
restorative
process witnesses to the magnitude of the
catastrophe, impresses the
imagination, and suggests the majestic slowness of
the divine
working, and how He uses natural processes for His
purposes of moral
government, and rules the wildest outbursts of
physical agents. The
Lord as king 'sitteth upon the flood,' and opens or
seals the
fountains of the great deep as He will. Scripture
does not tell of
the links between the First Cause and the physical
effect. It brings
the latter close up to the former. The last link
touches the fixed
staple, and all between may be ignored.
But the patient expectance of Noah comes out
strongly in the story,
as well as the gradualness of God's working. Not
till 'forty days'--a
round number--after the land appeared, did He do
anything. He
waited quietly till the path was plain. Eager
impatience does not
become those who trust in God. It is not said that
the raven was
sent out to see if the waters were abated. No
purpose is named, nor
is it said that it returned at all. 'To and fro' may
mean over the
waste of waters, not back and forward to and from
the ark. The
raven, from its blackness, its habit of feeding on
carrion, its
fierceness, was a bird of ill-omen, and sending it
forth has a grim
suggestion that it would find food enough, and 'rest
for the sole of
its foot,' among the swollen corpses floating on the
dark waters.
The dove, on the other hand, is the emblem of
gentleness, purity,
and tenderness. She went forth, the very embodiment
of meek hope
that wings its way over dark and desolate scenes of
calamity and
judgment, and, though disappointed at first,
patiently waits till
the waters sink further, discerns the earliest signs
of their drying
up, and comes back to the sender with a report which
is a prophecy:
'Your peace shall return to you again.' Happy they
who send forth,
not the raven, but the dove, from their patient
hearts. Their gentle
wishes come back with confirmation of their hopes,
'as doves to
their windows.'
3. But Noah did not leave the ark, though 'the earth
was dry.' God
had 'shut him in,' and it must be God who brings him
out. We have to
take heed of precipitate departure from the place
where He has fixed
us. Like Israel in the desert, it must be 'at the
commandment of the
Lord' that we pitch the camp, and at the commandment
of the Lord
that we journey. Till He speaks we must remain, and
as soon as He
speaks we must remove. 'God spake unto Noah, saying,
Go forth ...
and Noah went forth.' Thus prompt must be our
obedience. A sacrifice
of gratitude is the fit close of each epoch in our
lives, and the
fit beginning of each new one. Before he thought of
anything else,
Noah built his altar. All our deeds should be set in
a golden ring
of thankfulness. So the past is hallowed, and the
future secure of
God's protection. It is no unworthy conception of
God which
underlies the strongly human expression that he
'smelled the sweet
savour.' He delights in our offerings, and our
trustful, grateful
love is 'an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice
acceptable' to Him.
The pledge that He will not any more curse the
ground for man's sake
is occasioned by the sacrifice, but is grounded on
what seems, at
first sight, a reason for the very opposite
conclusion. Man's evil
heart the reason for God's forbearance? Yes, because
it is _'evil
from his youth_.' He deals with men as knowing our
frame, the
corruption of our nature, and the need that the tree
should be made
good before it can bring forth good fruit. Therefore
He will not
smite, but rather seek to draw to repentance by His
goodness, and by
the faithful continuance of His beneficence in the
steadfast
covenant of revolving seasons, 'filling our hearts
with food and
gladness.'
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