Welcome to As He Leads, a Bible study podcast for busy women! Today's show notes include notations and situations from the podcast episode, as well as other interesting tidbits that didn't make the cut into the show this time.
My favorite verses from this chapter:
- verse 1: "Then God remembered Noah..." Noah was not truly forgotten by God but was delivered by Him.
- verse 13: "...in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth..."
- verse 21: "And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma..." Our worship today is the same pleasing aroma when we bring it to God with an obedient and joyful heart!
- verse 22: The implied global changes here just astound me.
Another interesting thing I found while combing through this chapter was the choice of birds used. Ravens and Doves are very different types of birds in many ways. I'll include notes from both MacArthur and Constable below on the details.
Our Takeaways from Genisis 8:
- God Remembered Noah. He extended mercy and deliverance from death and destruction. God made a promise to us, through this covenant with Noah, that He will not completely destroy the earth. His reference to seasons is repeated in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.
- Noah was patient and obedient. Gen 8:6-18 detail each step in the process Noah took before God said he could leave the ark. His first act on dry land was to build an altar and make a sacrifice of thanksgiving and worship.
When you are facing your ark moments - those seemingly unending trials, periods of unrest, family struggles, relationship issues - be like Noah
From Dr. Thomas Constable's Notes on Genesis available at planobiblechapel.org/soniclight/
- "When Moses wrote that "God remembered" someone, in this case "Noah," he meant that God extended mercy to him or her by delivering that person from death or destruction or from barrenness (30:22). God's rescue of Noah foreshadows His deliverance of Israel in the Exodus."
- "The raven in seeking food settles upon every carcass it sees, whereas the dove will only settle on what is dry and clean."
- Noah's "altar" is the first altar mentioned in the Bible. His "burnt offerings" were for worship. Some of the burnt offerings in the Mosaic cultus (system of worship) were for the same purpose. Specifically, a burnt offering made atonement and expressed the offerer's complete personal devotion to God. As the head of the new humanity, Noah, with his sacrifice, represented all humankind.
From The MacArthur Bible Commentary
- 8:7-12 a raven . . . a dove. 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.
- 8:14-16 Noah and his family had been in the ark for 378 days (cf 7:4, 10, 11).
- 8:22 While the earth remains. With many alterations from the global flood, God reestablished the cycle of seasons after the catastrophic interruption.
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Rachel K
