Gen 7 | TNotes

7:2 ^a of each animal I have approved: In addition to the animals that were to repopulate the earth, these “clean” animals were for food and for Noah’s sacrifice after the flood (8:20-21 ^b). This passage does not use the precise technical language that is found in the regulations concerning “clean” and “unclean” given to Israel at Sinai (see Lev 11 ^c; Deut 14:3-12 ^d), but the underlying concept is the same (perhaps God revealed it directly to Noah).
7:4 ^e The number forty is often associated with affliction, trial, or punishment (see Exod 16:35 ^f; Judg 13:1 ^g; 1 Kgs 19:8 ^h; Ezek 4:6 ⁱ; Jon 3:4 ^j; Matt 4:2 ^k; Acts 1:3 ^l).
7:6 ^m covered the earth: See study note on 6:17.
7:8 ⁿ See study note on 7:2.
Summary for Gen 7:11-12: 7:11-12 ^o on the seventeenth day of the second month: Such information gives the flood account a certain solemnity; it reminds readers that this was a true historical event.

• underground waters: See 2:6 ^p.

• rain fell: The flood undid the boundaries established on the second and third days of creation (1:6-13 ^q). Elsewhere, the Bible describes God’s judgment as an undoing of creation (see Jer 4:23-26 ^r; Amos 7:4 ^s).

• forty days and forty nights: See study note on 7:4.
7:16 ^t the Lord closed the door: The sovereign Judge took responsibility for the annihilation of all outside the boat and the protection of those within (see also 6:16 ^u and study note).
7:17 ^v floodwaters grew deeper (literally waters multiplied): The same word used for the proliferation of humans and animals during creation (see 1:22 ^w, 28 ^x) is now used ironically of the water that would annihilate them.

• covering the ground: The Hebrew word translated “ground” or “earth” is mentioned eight times in eight verses (7:17-24 ^y). The earth is the domain that humankind had polluted and that was now the object of a cleansing deluge.
7:22 ^z Everything that ... lived: See study note on 6:17.