Charles Ellicott Commentary Genesis 8

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 subsided. —Hebrew, became still. It is clear from this that the “strength” of the waters, described in Genesis 7:24, refers to the violent currents, which still existed until the end of the one hundred and fiftieth day, after which they ceased.

A wind (Compare to 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 such a vast disturbance of the atmosphere; but its special purpose of causing the waters to subside only began when the downpour was over. This wind would affect the course of the ark, but hardly as strongly as the currents of the water.

The waters returned from off the earth. —This backward motion of the waters also seems to indicate that a vast wave from the sea had swept over the land, in addition to the forty days of rain.

Were abated. —Heb., decreased. Those in the ark would notice the changing current, and would know, by their being aground, that the flood was diminishing. But it was not till the first day of the tenth month that the tops of the mountains were seen. This slow abatement of the waters and their stillness, described in Genesis 8:1, makes it probable that the ark had grounded on some land-locked spot.

The seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month. — As the months each had thirty days (see Note on Genesis 8:14), this makes exactly 150 days . The seventh civil month would be Abib, and the Speaker’s Commentary notes the following remarkable coincidences: “On the 17th day of Abib the ark rested on Mount Ararat; on the 17th day of Abib the Israelites passed over the Red Sea; on the 17th day of Abib, Christ, our Lord, rose again from the dead.”

Ararat. — If in Genesis 11:2 the Authorised Version is right in saying that the descendants of Noah travelled “from the east” to Shinar, this could not be the Ararat of Armenia. Moreover, we are told that the word in Assyrian means “highland,” and thus may signify any hilly country. In the Chaldean Genesis, the ark rests upon Nizir, a region to the east of Assyria, the highest peak of which, now named Elwend, is called in the cuneiform texts “the mountain of the world” (Chaldean Genesis, p. 307). The rendering, however, “from the east,” is by no means certain, and many translate “eastward,” and even the Authorised Version renders the word east, that is, eastward, in Genesis 13:11. In 2 Kings 19:37, “Ararat” is translated Armenia; but it is more correctly described in Jeremiah 51:27 as a country near Minni, that is, near Armenia.

There are in this region two mountains of great altitude, the Aghri-Dagh and the Kara-Dagh, the highest of which is 17,260 feet above the sea-level; and naturally, legend chooses this as the place where the ark settled. But the inspired narrative says that it rested upon the mountains of Ararat, upon some chain of hills there; and seventy-three days afterwards, Noah found himself surrounded by an amphitheatre of mountains. The word used in Genesis 8:5 is emphatic and signifies “the tops of the mountains became distinctly visible,” not that they had just begun to emerge. For, doubtless, after so vast a flood, mists and vapours would prevail for a long time and shut out the surrounding world from Noah’s view.

The Targum of Onkelos and the Syriac translate “on the mountains of Carduchia.” This range, which separates Armenia from Kurdistan, is regarded by many authorities as the hills really meant, because, as they are nearer the place from where the ark started, the difficulty regarding the course it took is not so insuperable.

Seen. —See Note on Genesis 8:4.

Noah opened the window. —Not the zohar of Genesis 6:16, but an aperture. He had waited forty days after seeing the heights around him rising clearly into the air, and then, impatient of the slow subsidence of the waters, Noah at last sent forth a raven to bring him some news of the state of the earth. This bird was chosen as one strong of flight, and also, perhaps, because anciently regarded as prophetic of the weather; besides this, it is easily tamed, and as Noah retained its mate, he had security for its return. And so it seems to have done, for it is described as going forth to and fro. Each night it returned to the ark, and probably to its old perch near the female.

The Chaldean Genesis agrees with many commentators and the ancient versions in supposing that the raven did not return, finding abundant food in the floating dead bodies (Chaldean Genesis, p. 286); but this is contrary to the Hebrew. The versions must have had a negative in their copies, and have read, “which went forth, going, and not returning.” The present Hebrew text is, however, consistent with itself; for it adds, until the waters, etc. This must mean that as soon as the earth was dry, this going to and fro ceased.