Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Genesis 7:11 - 7:16

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Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Genesis 7:11 - 7:16


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

The Flood Begins

v. 11. In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.

v. 12. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
The exact fixing of the day on which the terrible punishment of God had its beginning serves to emphasize its importance for all time. It was not a small local disturbance which is here recorded, but a universal deluge, a flood which covered the entire earth. It was a miracle of God's avenging and punitive justice. For all the fountains of the great deep were split open and broke forth: the waters beneath the earth which are otherwise locked and hidden in its depths rushed forth with impetuous force. And the windows of heaven were opened. The waters which are ordinarily held back by the firmament set above by the Lord, Gen_1:6-7, were now released to pour their masses upon the earth. At the same time a rain set in which streamed down without intermission for forty days and forty nights.

v. 13. In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth; the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark;


v. 14. they and every beast after his kind and all the cattle after their kind and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort.

v. 15. And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.

v. 16. And they that went in went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him. And the Lord shut him in.
Time and again the emphasis is placed upon the exact manner in which the command of God was carried out. All the mammals of every kind, according to genera and species, had assembled, likewise the birds and the reptiles, in the interval of seven days after the Lord's first announcement. The family of Noah had likewise been obedient to the command of God, to the last letter. The embarkation had thus been completed just as God had outlined it before the Flood began. And the Lord Himself locked the door after Noah. All the clamoring of men for admission after the beginning of the predicted catastrophe would be vain, their repentance would come too late. Let no man be deceived; the same God that brought the Deluge upon a fallen race is living today, and He is not mocked. To continue in trespass in the face of the plain words of the Lord is a dangerous proceeding, to say the least. We know that a punishment, even greater and more terrible than the Deluge, is coming at the end of the world. The heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the Day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men, 2Pe_3:7. Then will the fire of divine wrath burn through all eternity.