Key Text: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth (Genesis 9:13).
Moses records the exact day when “Noah (rest) removed the covering of the ark to view his surroundings, and to discern for himself that ‘the face of the ground was dry’ v 13. The Flood Chronology included the forty-day-and-night period of rain where the flood rose to its peak at that point. One perspective is that “the floors of the oceans cracked open and gushed forth additional volumes of waters so that the flood waters rose for 150 days.” Another perspective is that “the reconfiguration of the topography of this planet was caused by the rapid draining of water into the abyss of the deep.” It then took over two and one-half months before the water receded to reveal other mountain peaks, and over four and one-half months before the dove could find dry land. God used the wind to dry the ground and evaporation returned water to the atmosphere. The best speculation is that as the water subsided, the top of Mount Ararat, also known as ancient Assyrian Urartu (the territory of Armenia), could be seen at an elevation exceeding more than 17,000 feet v 5.
Another forty days elapsed before Noah opened the window and sent forth a raven ( the unclean bird) with the knowledge that ravens survive on a broad range of food types. If any food was available outside the ark, the raven could survive. In contrast, a dove is much more selective in its food choices. The dove’s choice of food would indicate that new life had begun to grow; thus Noah and his family could also survive outside the ark. After seven days, Noah “sent forth a dove” to see if the waters were abated but the drove “found no rest for the sole of her food, and she returned unto him into the ark”. Seven days later, Moses again sent forth the dove; and when she returned this time, “in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off” v 11. This was proof to Noah that the waters had sufficiently drained so that the valleys were beginning to be clear. Another seven days passed when he sent forth the dove again, “which returned not again unto him any more”. This proved to Noah that the earth had once again become a friendly and inhabitable environment. Noah and his family had already been in the ark for 378 days, more than a year. Then “God spake unto Noah, saying, God forth of the ark…be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth” v 15. Noah removed all the fowl…cattle” v 18, and of every creeping thing from the ark at the command of God.
So “Noah builded an altar unto the Lord” and sacrificed of every clean beast and of every clean fowl. “And the Lord smiled a sweet savor”, a sacrifice offered by a righteous man in faith, and acceptable to God. Therefore, “the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake”. That is, The Great Universal Flood would be the last total disruption of the natural processes of life that the world would see this side of the judgment of God. God has since promised to destroy the earth with fire one day (Rev. 20:9). That Noahic Covenant God made with Noah also included living creatures. As a sign of this covenant God determined, “I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between and the earth.” We must remember that God needs no prompting of His memory; the rainbow is there to assure us at the end of every rainstorm, God has held His covenant in remembrance. At the end of every rainstorm, we ought to delight afresh in the faithfulness of God and a token of God’s grace toward His creation v 13. AMEN!
| May 20, 2025 MAGA’s HR 3518 amends Higher Educ Act of 1965 (Pres. L.B. Johnson) to prohibit graduate medical schools from receiving federal financial assistance and to attack said DEI Programs or DEI Office on campus. |  |
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