“And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth.”
My Notes
What Does Genesis 7:17 Mean?
"And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth." The flood lasts FORTY DAYS — the number that will become the template for every biblical testing-period: Israel's wilderness, Moses on Sinai, Jesus' temptation. The waters INCREASE (grow, multiply, become abundant) and BEAR UP the ark (lift it, carry it, raise it). The same waters that DESTROY the world SAVE the ark. The same flood that kills everything LIFTS the one vessel God prepared. The judgment and the salvation use the same instrument: water.
The phrase "the waters increased, and bare up the ark" (vayyirbu hammayim vayyis'u et hattevah — the waters multiplied and lifted up the ark) describes SALVATION THROUGH JUDGMENT: the waters that rise to destroy EVERYTHING are the SAME waters that rise to LIFT the ark. The increasing is the destroying AND the saving simultaneously. The more the water rises, the more the world drowns AND the higher the ark floats. The instrument of death is the instrument of deliverance.
The "it was lift up above the earth" (vattarom me'al ha'aretz — it was raised above the earth) makes the ark ELEVATED by the judgment: the ark is LIFTED — raised above the earth, carried above the destruction, elevated by the same waters that produce the devastation below. The ark doesn't escape the flood by going AROUND it. The ark survives by being lifted UP by it. The judgment itself is the vehicle of the rescue.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What flood is simultaneously destroying the old AND lifting you above it?
- 2.What does the same water destroying AND saving teach about judgment being the vehicle of deliverance?
- 3.How does the ark being lifted BY the flood (not despite it) describe salvation through judgment?
- 4.What 'forty days' of testing are you in — and what is the testing proving?
Devotional
Forty days of flood. The waters INCREASED. The ark was LIFTED UP. Above the earth. The same water that destroyed the world SAVED the ark. The rising that drowned everything CARRIED the one vessel God prepared. The judgment and the salvation are the SAME EVENT viewed from different positions.
The 'forty days' establishes the TEMPLATE: the forty-day flood becomes the pattern for every biblical testing-period. Forty years in the wilderness. Forty days on Sinai. Forty days of Jesus' temptation. The number forty means TESTING — the duration that proves what's inside. The flood's forty days are the first in a series. The testing-duration starts here.
The 'waters increased and bare up the ark' is SALVATION THROUGH the instrument of JUDGMENT: the same water. The SAME rising. One reality — rising water — produces TWO outcomes: death below, life above. The world DROWNS in the water that the ark FLOATS on. The judgment that destroys the wicked delivers the righteous. The instrument is identical. The experience is opposite.
The 'lifted up above the earth' makes the judgment the ELEVATION mechanism: the ark isn't lifted by an alternative force. It's lifted BY THE FLOOD. The destruction that covers the earth RAISES the ark above the earth. The higher the destruction, the higher the deliverance. The worse the judgment gets, the more elevated the ark becomes. The relationship is PROPORTIONAL: maximum destruction produces maximum elevation — for the one inside the ark.
What 'flood' in your life is simultaneously destroying AND lifting — and are you in the ark?
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth,.... Yet more and more, so that the people without the ark were…
The prevalence of the waters. The forty days are now completed. And at the end of this period the ark had been afloat…
We are here told,
I. How long the flood was increasing - forty days, Gen 7:17. The profane world, who believed not that…