Gen 8:1
Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided: God remembered? Strange wording. However, how else are we to explain the action of God stopping the flood so that life on earth could be restarted by those on the ark? God stopped the flood for them. At first, the wording seems strange, but doesn't at all when you think about it. As for the wind, this is the normal process of evaporation.
Gen 8:2
The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained: In addition to the wind in Gen 8:1, God also closed the fountains of the deep and stopped the rain. Whatever these fountains of the deep were, they contained enough water to flood the earth to the point that the highest mountain was covered over by twenty feet (Gen 7:20). These fountains of the deep make me wonder what's truly under the earth. Is it really like the scientists think? Here's what scientists think: Earth's interior- Layers of the earth | Geography4u
Gen 8:3
And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased: This is just restating that the waters started receding after the 150 days of increase.
Gen 8:4
Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat: The question that arises here is where are the mountains of Ararat? It seems that they're probably located in Armenia: Bible Map: Mount Ararat (bibleatlas.org). Randall Price has been searching for the ark, and here's a great talk he gave at a Prophey Watchers conference: The Search for Noah's Ark | Randall Price - YouTube
Gen 8:5
And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen: This is 74 days after the rains and the fountains of the deep stopped. 150 + 74 = 224. Biblical Overview of the Flood Timeline | Answers in Genesis
Gen 8:6
So it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made: After another 40 days, Noah opened the window. I'm not sure of the significance of the 40 days here, but 40 is usually the number of judgement. Meaning of the Number 40 in the Bible (biblestudy.org). Even though a lot of scholars believe the window went around the entire ark, it doesn't seem likely because Noah would have been able to see that the waters had receded. He was on top of a mountain, so he would have been able to see a long way.
Gen 8:7
Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth: The raven went to and fro probably means that the raven took off and didn't return, flying around until the water receeded. Ravens eat carrion, and everything had just died.
Gen 8:8
He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground: Doves like dry places and if the dove couldn't find a home, it'd return.
Gen 8:9
But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself: This time, the dove returned because there was nowhere it found as a home.
Gen 8:10
And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark: The first attempt was unsuccessful, so Noah waited one week and sent the dove again.
Gen 8:11
Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth: When the dove returned, it had an olive leaf, but wasn't able to find a place to call home.
Gen 8:12
So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore: We aren't told the significance of why Noah keeps waiting these periods of seven days, but there is something here because the number seven is the number of completion. Noah was a rightous man and walked with God, so I'm sure there's something there, but don't know exactly what.
Gen 8:13
And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry: Biblical Overview of the Flood Timeline | Answers in Genesis - This is now a total of 314 days. Noah was able to remove the cover of the ark and look around, and the ground was dry. Apparently, even though the waters had receded, the earth wasn't dry yet.
Gen 8:14
And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried: Biblical Overview of the Flood Timeline | Answers in Genesis - This is 56 days later, for a total of 370 days.
Gen 8:15
Then God spoke to Noah, saying: It is interesting to note that even though the waters had fully evaporated and the earth was dried, Noah still didn't depart from the ark. He was waiting for God. I can't imagine what it must have been like for him. The entire world devastated, with no other people on the planet, and he had a family to take care of.
Gen 8:16
Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives with you: Finally, after the 370 days, God tells Noah and his family to leave the ark.
Gen 8:17
Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth: First Noah is told to leave, and he's told to let all the animals loose so they can repopulate the earth. Remember, these animals were samples from families, not all species, so repopulation of the different species was to be accomplished through intraspecies evolution.
Gen 8:18
So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him: This had to take guts. Stepping out into a devestated earth, and it's your job to repopulate it. How do you survive? Where do you get food and water? But Noah, being faithful, did as instructed.
Gen 8:19
Every animal, every creeping thing, every bird, and whatever creeps on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark: Notice that this doesn't say that Noah put the animals out of the ark. The animals went out of the ark.
Gen 8:20
Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar: This is simply amazing. Noah's family are the last remaining people on the planet. They are exiting the ark, and now have to get their own food and such, yet Noah kills and scrifices one of each of the clean animals. I can't imagine the amount of faith he must have had to kill and offer the animals as burnt offerings. I guess he knew that God would take care of him.
Gen 8:21
And the LORD smelled a soothing aroma: This has always intrigued me. God actually likes the smell of barbecue!
Then the LORD said in His heart, "I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done: With this restart, God's redemptive plan is set in motion. He won't need another physical reset because the plan is salvation through Jesus Christ.
Gen 8:22
While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease: Take that, global warming conspiracy theorists! When God says that cold and heat, winter and summer shall not cease, I'm pretty sure He's right and the conspiracy theorists are wrong.
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