Genesis 8

We know that it rained 40 days and 40 nights; Genesis 7:4 and 12 tells us so. Apparently, that’s how long “the fountains of the deep” were broken up as well, because 8:2 seems to indicate that that action stopped at the same time as the rain. But it was still a year before Noah was able to exit the ark. As the new mountain ranges around the earth arose, the waters slowly receded into ocean basins. If, as I suggested in chapter 7, the breaking up of the “fountains of the deep” was caused by a violent shift in the earth’s axis, then in whichever polar region the sun wasn’t shining, snow and ice storms would have begun immediately after the rain stopped; by the time Noah left the ark, both north and south poles would be frozen. There is an interesting theory that the Ice Age—where ice in the northern hemisphere extended all the way down into what is currently the United States—was caused by a massive “ice dump”. Some kind of icy planet or asteroid in space was caught in the earth’s orbit, slowly dragged closer and closer to the surface, then broke up over the magnetic poles and dropped its ice. This would certainly explain how wooly mammoths in the northern region have been discovered frozen in ice literally with the grass they were eating still in their mouths. It’s an interesting theory, and I like it, but I doubt we’ll ever know for sure.

Anyway, once Noah, family, and animals existed the ark, he built an altar and offered a sacrifice to God of every clean animal (remember there were seven of each clean animal). God promised that He would never destroy the earth again as He had done, and confirmed that promise in chapter 9 with a rainbow. Of course, at the second coming of Christ, fire, not water, will burn up the earth (II Peter 3:10). But no universal destruction until then. Chapter 10 and 11 will show us how man began to spread across the globe. Obviously he carried some of the animals with him because there are species today that are distinct to their continents—kangaroos and koala bears in Australia, for example. It’s almost certain that modern day Russia and Alaska were connected after the flood and some Asiatic-type peoples crossed over and spread over (current) North and South America—the Indians. As the polar ice melted during the summer, that land bridge was eventually overrun with water and apparently nobody crossed from the “Old World” to the “New World” until Columbus.

One last unimportant but interesting anecdote: Verse 4 of this chapter says that the ark rested “on the mountains of Ararat.” Those mountains exist today, or at least there is a mountain range by that name on the border between Turkey and Armenia (I believe). There have supposedly been sightings of a mysterious object that looks like a huge vessel, and even some testimonials from people who have been on the thing—the ark? I’m a little suspicious. That—object, whatever it is—is high in the mountains; the Ararats top out at over 17,000 feet. Explorers have had an extremely difficult time getting to whatever it is; the Turkish government hasn’t helped by being reluctant to issue permits for exploration. But if it’s that hard to get to the—object—because it’s trapped in snow and ice some 15,000 up, then how did Noah and all the animals get down from that location? I suppose God could have picked them all up and put them somewhere else, but the Bible doesn’t say that and there would be no reason for such divine involvement. The ark came to rest on the 17th day of the 7th month (v. 4), but the tops of mountains didn’t appear until two and half months later, which indicates to me, not that the ark rested on some very elevated location, but that the mountains were still being formed from the ruptures created by the flood. I suspect, like most wood, the ark simply rotted and disappeared. But we may find out for sure if anybody can ever get to whatever that thing is in the Ararat mountains.