Genesis Chapter 7

Today, I thanked God for his forgiveness and mercy over my life. I need him to complete my goal of reading his word thoroughly within one year.  When you set out to follow God’s will,  I pray that he will give you the strength to overcome any opposition against God’s perfect will.  Let’s begin.

Genesis Chapter 7 deals with Noah, his mission, his family, and the flood.

Genesis 7:1 (NASB) “Then the Lord said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before me at this time.”

Remember that in Chapter 6:8 Noah had found favor in the eyes of the Lord. Chapter 6 also called Noah a “Righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God”

So I am thinking that his steadfast walk with God has something to do with him being seen as righteous in the eyes of God.

In Genesis 7:2-3 you will see that God has specific instructions for clean versus unclean animals.  For “every clean animal” God wanted 7 pairs of male and female, and for every “unclean animal” God wanted just 1 pair. (male and female)

Significance of the number seven in this chapter:

7 pairs of clean animals

7 pairs of the birds of the sky

7 days after Noah and his family went into the ark, the floods came

My wife told me that the number seven was symbolic of completion.  (She wanted 7 diamonds on her wedding ring…)  As we continue reading, I should be able to develop a better picture of this.

So Noah loaded up the ark as God instructed and the floods came.  This chapter references the flood coming by rain (Gen 7:4),”fountains of the great deep” and “floodgates of the sky” (Gen 7:11).  So water is coming from everywhere and it rains for 40 days and 40 nights.  It covered the mountains and everything that had the “breath of the spirit of life” died.  (Gen 7:22) The water prevailed upon the earth for 150 days.