And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was on the earth.
Genesis 7:6 fixes the flood to a single point in one man's life: the year he turned six hundred. That small line of chronology marks the end of God's patience with a whole world. It raises two questions: what filled those six hundred years, and why the record changes its tone right here.
Most of Noah's six hundred years pass without a headline. One writer weighs how little the record says about the first four-fifths of that span:
When Noah was born, over a thousand years had passed since sin entered the world, at the lowest estimate. Six hundred years later the flood would sweep away the world of the ungodly. Divide those six hundred years into five equal parts. Four of the five passed with nothing put on record except the all-important fact that he was "a righteous man, blameless in his generation," and that he "walked with God."
That quiet stretch was not wasted time. It was the groundwork for the final fifth:
Four-fifths of the period passed with little happening. Yet during those years this steady walk with God laid the foundation for the activity and the witness of the final fifth — the one hundred and twenty years just before the flood. That was the period when "God's patience waited … while the ark was being prepared" (1 Peter 3:20), and also of the witness Noah gave as "a herald of righteousness" (2 Peter 2:5).
Those closing years were not just construction time. The ark itself preached, plank by plank:
Is not this same care for His people seen in the long respite granted to the people before the flood? Here we see the longsuffering of God, who bore long with the sinners before the flood and gave them room for repentance. Every day that Noah worked at the ark, every plank, every nail, every stroke of his hammer, was a warning and a threat of the coming judgment. More than that, God could do nothing until Noah was safe in the ark, after He Himself had shut him in. Even then there was a respite of seven days (perfect forbearance).
Noah himself worked without knowing the deadline. One writer draws attention to what God withheld:
The Lord God had fixed 120 years as the term of His longsuffering. Noah's preaching, as well as ark-building, was to be for that period. Such was the purpose of God. But Noah was told nothing of this appointed interval. The Lord kept back all mention of the 120 years.
The opening of Genesis 7 says "the LORD," while this verse and the ones after it say "God." One writer reads that change as a move from private favour to public judgment:
The general statement that follows in verses 6-10 confirms the special force of these five verses all the more. There "God" appears rather than Jehovah, and so nothing of moral relationship in particular. Here we have Noah's age when the flood came — six hundred years — and the entrance of himself and all his house into the ark… He who enjoyed the favour of Jehovah had the earlier communication in grace. Nobody could fail to be aware of God's judgment when it came.
The same writer treats the change of names as evidence of design rather than of stitched-together documents:
The theory of Elohistic and Jehovistic documents so fails to account for the use of the divine names, as well as the other features of the text… From verse 6 we have Noah's action in view of Elohim's word as such, where accordingly the entrance of the creatures, clean or unclean, two and two, is named as in Genesis 6; and all the more strikingly here, because in the earlier verses the clean by sevens had been commanded by Jehovah, as suited His dealings with His own.
The record does not stop at Noah's age. A few verses later it gives the day itself:
In verse 11 God gives the date of the beginning of the flood in relation to the age of Noah. He gives not only the general time, but the exact day: the 17th day of the second month, in Noah's 600th year. The many dates, names and places recorded in Scripture are an invitation to anyone to check the accuracy of the word of God as he pleases.
One writer reads Noah as a picture of every believer, and Noah's day as a picture of ours. What made Noah look foolish was how long normal life had lasted:
Noah pictures the believer in general, as one who flees to Christ for refuge from the wrath to come… There is a sense in which the whole time of gospel witness matches Noah's days… It was the long stretch of undisturbed prosperity that made the builder of the ark look like a fool to those whose day was nearly over. In the same way we are warned that the Destroyer will appear when men begin to think that peace and safety are about to crown a world whose earlier generations have seen such strange changes.
- Walk first. Four-fifths of Noah's six hundred years hold no recorded event. The record says only that he was righteous and walked with God. That hidden walk carried the visible work.
- Then witness. The last hundred and twenty years turned that walk into building and preaching. Every hammer stroke was a warning to those who watched.
- Patience has a term. God fixed the length of His longsuffering but never told Noah the number. The builder worked by obedience, not by countdown.
- Then the name changes. From this verse on the record says "God" rather than "Jehovah." Grace had spoken in private. Judgment now lands where no one could miss it.
- And it dates itself. Noah's six hundredth year, second month, seventeenth day. The date is precise enough to check, and the pattern will return.
And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
Genesis 7:7 records eight people leaving the old world and stepping into the ark, while the sky was still dry. Why did they go in, and why did a whole household go in on the strength of one man?
Noah moved because of waters no one could see yet. One writer explains what made that possible:
When God spoke to Noah of judgment coming, there was no sign of it. It was "not seen as yet"; but the word of God made it a present reality to the heart that was able to mix that word with faith. Faith does not wait to see a thing before it believes, for "faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ."
(The older translation reads "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.")
Going in was one plain act, and it cut them off from everything outside:
The last day came, however. Each of the four men and four women took the last decisive step that secured their preservation from destruction. That step came when each of them planted one foot on the ark and lifted the other off the earth under judgment. It was impossible to have one foot in and one foot out. It was either both feet in, or both feet out. This is a useful parable for gospel preachers today. Their action agreed with God's judgment against the world. It also expressed their faith in the way of salvation God had appointed.
The verse names sons, a wife, and sons' wives. Later events rule out the idea that each of them earned a place:
The Lord commands Noah to enter the ark with his house on this ground: "for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation." Someone might object that all the members of the household were probably "righteous" before God too. The later history of one of them — Ham — forbids that thought. So nothing weakens the statement: God delivered the family of Noah from the judgment of the flood because of the faith of its head.
One writer notices who was not in that group:
The three sons of Noah, all married men, did not carry one infant into the ark. Eight adult persons passed through the flood. What a touch this is, showing God's thoughtful planning, His arranging and tender care! It turns up in such an unexpected place, and it may well comfort many who face trials in their circumstances.
They entered ahead of the flood, not during it. Their safety rested on whose hand shut them in:
Noah's story was now nothing less than safety and deliverance. He held it with the fullest security and the clearest right, in an hour of most solemn judgment. And this is the salvation of the gospel… The One who decided within Himself to judge the world had also told His chosen ones the way of escape. It was the hand which was about to let the waters out that was now shutting Noah in. Could they then prevail against him? Just as impossible!
Outside, ordinary life carried on to the last hour. One writer asks what was actually wrong with it:
"They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all" (Luke 17:26-27). There was nothing wrong in any of these things, looked at in themselves. The wrong was not in the things done, but in the doers of them. They could do every one of these things in the fear of the Lord, and to the glory of His holy name, if only they did them in faith.
Entering was not the end of the story. One writer traces where the door led:
He entered the ark before the flood, and God shut him in. He was as safe as God could make him. Even so, no one could yet call him saved: he was still to be brought safely through the water. The water was God's judgment, and it overwhelmed the world. Noah goes through it. He enters the ark in the old world, goes through the water, the judgment, and comes out in the new world. He could not be saved except by going through.
- Warned — Noah went in for waters no one could yet see; God's word, believed, made the flood a present fact.
- Went — one step took both feet off the condemned ground; there was no standing half in.
- Whole house — the family entered on the faith of its head, and even the make-up of the eight shows God's care.
- Walled in — the hand that released the waters had already closed the door; safety was as secure as God Himself.
- Water-borne — the ark did not avoid the judgment but carried them through it, out into a new world.
Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowl, and of everything that creeps on the ground,
Here the ark's passengers are named in four groups, and the next verse says they went in two by two. Two questions follow. Why pairs, when verse 2 asked for seven of every clean kind? And why are animals called clean or unclean here, when no rule has yet been given to explain the difference?
No rule here tells Noah how to tell one class from the other. What he did after the flood shows what the sorting was for.
The first time we read of clean and unclean animals is when Noah went into the ark. God told him to take seven pairs of each of the clean beasts and clean birds, and only two of the unclean. We are told nothing about how Noah told them apart, but it shows that in early days there was a distinction between the clean and the unclean. Those called "clean" were surely clean for sacrifice, and not for food, since Scripture says nothing of man eating animal food until after the flood... When Noah came out of the ark, he offered some of every clean beast and every clean bird as burnt offerings.
Verse 2 asked for seven of each clean kind. The next verse says they went in two and two. Commentators see no clash here: the twos describe male and female pairing, while the clean came in greater numbers. Two names for God appear in what follows — Elohim and Jehovah.
In the accounts of Elohim's directions for saving the different kinds of creatures, the order is to take two of every sort, the male and the female, to keep them alive. Nothing could be simpler than the meaning of this. When Jehovah states His thoughts about Noah, and gives His directions about His relationship with man and the earth, He tells Noah to take the clean beasts by sevens — still two and two, male and female. And they all go in two and two, just as Elohim had commanded.
Commentators read the switch between the two names as deliberate. Where He acts as Creator, pairs are enough. Where He deals with Noah in relationship, He asks for more.
In relation to His place as Creator, God preserved two of every sort. In relation to His own moral government, He would have seven taken into the ark — seven animals of each clean sort. Of the unclean, just enough would be there to preserve what He had made. So in the one case we have what was generally necessary. In the other we have what was special, and due to the relationship in which man stood with Jehovah.
This verse belongs to a paragraph where God is named as God rather than by His covenant name, and the wording matches that.
Clean beasts are named as well as unclean, and birds, and reptiles, as all going in. Yet only two and two, male and female, are spoken of, "as God commanded Noah," because the point here is simply to keep each race alive, high or low.
Commentators differ on whether verse 2 means seven animals of each clean kind or seven pairs. Read as seven, the number leaves three pairs and one over — and that one had a purpose waiting on dry ground.
Why the odd one in the seven? Because they were to be offered in sacrifice as a burnt offering at the very start of the renewed earth. The Lord knew that the flood had made no change in human nature. Even in Noah and his family it was the same after the flood as before it... and so from the outset the new world could only continue on the basis of sacrifice.
Noah did not have to hunt these animals down. They came — and their coming preached to the people watching.
From east, west, north, and south, the hand of God gathered the animals that cannot speak. The people must have thought it strange when those beasts went in. They were wiser than men. They obeyed the call of God... These animals knew the call of their Creator, and they passed in safely, but man paid no attention. Oh, sinner, what a state you are in! Just think — the very creatures stand as a testimony against you. They all came to a place of safety. Have you?
The ark held more than one family. Its passenger list points beyond the rescue of people.
The beasts, clean and unclean, taken into the ark, along with the birds of the air, give us the hint that creation will share the blessed effects of salvation. Later prophetic words, and Romans 8:19-23, tell us of a coming deliverance for groaning creation.
- Commanded. Every passenger came in at God's word, not by instinct alone. That command covers the whole list, clean and unclean alike.
- Counted. Seven of each clean kind, two of the unclean, and all of them still male and female. Commentators see design here, not contradiction.
- Clean. Scripture first draws the clean and unclean line at the ark. It points forward to the altar, not back to an earlier rule.
- Consumed. The spare clean animal was for the burnt offering. Human nature came out of the flood unchanged, so the new world would rest on sacrifice.
- Carried. Beasts, birds and creeping things all rode out the judgment. That hints that creation itself will share in God's salvation.
there came two and two unto Noah into the ark, male and female, as God had commanded Noah.
The animals go into the ark in pairs, and the verse ties the whole scene to one fact: God had commanded it. That raises two questions — why "God" here and not "the LORD", and how the pairs fit with the sevens of clean animals Noah was told to take.
Genesis 7 uses two names for God within a few verses. Commentators read the change as deliberate. In the five verses before, the name is Jehovah — the personal name printed as "the LORD". From verse 6 the account uses "God", which is Elohim in Hebrew.
The general statement that follows in verses 6-10 confirms the special force of these five verses. There "God" appears rather than Jehovah, and so nothing about moral relationship in particular. And this is so true that the account names clean beasts as well as unclean, and birds, and reptiles, as going in too. Yet it speaks of only two and two, male and female, "as God commanded Noah," because the point is simply to keep each kind alive, high or low.
"Male and female" belongs to the same thought. It is about keeping the kinds going, not about how anyone stands with God. That is why the name "God" fits here.
Some read verse 9 as clashing with the earlier instruction about sevens of clean animals. Both are true at once: the sevens were themselves counted in pairs.
When Jehovah states His thoughts about Noah, and gives His directions about His relationship with man and the earth, He tells Noah to take clean beasts by sevens — still two and two, male and female. And they all go in two and two, as Elohim had commanded. So the text itself ties the two names together. The reason for treating the clean beasts differently — still two and two, male and female — is too obvious to raise the smallest difficulty.
The clean animals were counted differently, and not only so that they would survive.
Here God provides not merely for keeping the creature alive, but with marked completeness for sacrifice. So we see His perfect care to keep His own rights and place as the One who governed morally.
The verse does not say Noah rounded the animals up. It says they went in. One writer draws a warning out of that.
From east, west, north, and south, the hand of God gathered the animals. It must have looked strange to the people when those animals went in. They were wiser than men. They obeyed the call of God. Men would not obey then, and many still do not. These animals knew the call of the Creator, and they passed in safely, but man paid no attention. Oh, sinner, what a case yours is. Imagine — the very creatures being a testimony against you.
Every detail of the ark and its passengers came by instruction — the numbers, the kinds, the food. That is the point of the closing clause of the verse.
God also gave instructions about all that the ark was to hold: seven of the clean creatures and two of the rest, male and female, with enough food for all. Nothing was left to arrangement or imagination; God ordered it all from first to last. This is worth noting, for here we have the first illustration of salvation that the Bible gives us.
Commentators read the ark itself as a picture of Christ:
The ark had a window above — looking towards Heaven and not on the earth and its judgment beneath. It had one door and only one, in the side. All of this applies to Christ and salvation... He passed through death and judgment for us and has made Himself our perfect ark, our hiding place. In Him we are lifted above the judgment waters.
The ark held more than one family. The pairs of animals and birds point past their own survival.
The beasts, clean and unclean, taken into the ark, as well as the birds of the air, give us the hint that creation will share the blessed effects of salvation. The later prophetic word, and Romans 8:19-23, tell us of a coming deliverance of groaning creation.
- Commanded. Every number came from God's word, not Noah's planning: "nothing was left to arrangement or imagination."
- Gathered. Noah did not hunt the animals down; they came, obeying a call that the people around them ignored.
- Counted. Pairs and sevens do not conflict: the sevens were themselves male and female, the extras kept back for sacrifice.
- Preserved. The name "God" fits verse 9. Here the Creator keeps every kind alive through judgment.
- Restored. The animals saved with Noah hint that creation itself will share in God's deliverance.
And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth.
God had set a seven-day countdown, and this verse records that the week ran out just as He said. One short sentence raises two large questions: why did God wait, and what happened to the people who wasted the wait?
The 120 years of Genesis 6:3 had already run out before this last week began.
Noah preached all these years, and never got a convert, that I know of. Remember, a moment is coming when you will have heard the last word. So it was in Noah's day. In the end the one hundred and twenty promised years ran out. Then God gave a guilty world seven extra days of grace. He did not promise these seven days, but He gave them. How like God. If you want to be saved, you come to Jesus today. There is no promise of seven days of grace to you.
That week put the evidence in plain view.
Then a respite of seven days is given before the flood would come. This shows again the longsuffering of God. Men saw the large number of animals coming to the ark. They saw Noah's whole family go into this finished, gigantic vessel. At least by then they should have realized that the project was not just something Noah had dreamed up, even though rain had never fallen before. But God gave men another week to change their minds. Perhaps, as those few days passed, people grew more confident each day that nothing would happen, instead of growing worried as they should have.
Notice the order: the door closed first, and the water came after.
We see God's longsuffering here. He bore long with the sinners before the flood and gave them space for repentance. Every day that Noah worked at the ark, every plank, every nail, every stroke of his hammer, was a warning and a threat of the coming judgment. More than that, God could do nothing until Noah was safe in the ark, after He Himself had shut him in. Even then He waited seven more days. And if Noah had taken twice as long to be shut up safe in the ark, judgment would have waited just as long.
The door that shut Noah in also shut everyone else out.
Once God had shut the door, no one could open it again. When the rain began to fall, others might be terrified enough to rush for shelter, but they could not get in. Once the door closed, it was too late. How solemn a lesson for those who neglect the salvation of their souls until too late!
Two deadlines stand in the record here, one long and one short.
So we have clear examples of God's ways in prophecy. There is the short, clearly marked interval of "seven days" in Genesis 7:10, when the blow was to fall. It came after a long and generous warning of "a hundred and twenty years" in Genesis 6:3. Both stand plainly in the record. Each is worthy of Him who alone could announce both with authority and fulfil both on time. If He executes judgment on a world that hardens itself in wickedness and refuses to believe His word, He also makes room to show His mercy. He shows it to those who keep His word in faith and obey Him, as Noah did, and so saved his household.
The warning came first to one man. The flood reached everyone.
The man who enjoyed Jehovah's favour received the earlier word in grace. When the judgment came, no one could miss it.
Jesus pointed back to the days of Noah when He described His own coming.
The Lord next refers to the days of Noah. It will be the same in His own days, when He comes as the Son of Man… "They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed all of them." Men forget too easily that a far more sweeping judgment awaits the world, on the pattern of these two acts of God — the flood in Noah's day, and the fire that fell on Sodom in Lot's day. The Lord waits, to save souls. Such is His longsuffering and grace, but He "is not slack concerning His promise as some men count slackness."
- Warned — 120 years of building and preaching gave the world notice; every nail Noah drove was a warning.
- Extended — the 120 years ran out, and then God added seven days He had never promised.
- Wasted — the loading of the ark should have convinced them; instead each quiet day made them surer nothing would happen.
- Sealed — judgment waited until Noah was safe inside; the door that shut him in shut everyone else out.
- Kept — the short deadline landed as surely as the long one; Jesus points back to Noah's day when He speaks of His own coming.