And he waited yet other seven days, and sent forth the dove; but she returned no more to him.
Noah sends the dove out a third time, and this time she never comes back. Her silence told him the earth was ready — and writers have long seen in this small event a picture of the Spirit of God finding a home.
The first flight ended in return, the second in a plucked olive leaf, and the third in silence. Writers point out that this silence carried the clearest message of the three.
The result after another seven days is plainer still, if that is possible. This time the dove was sent out, and she could find rest for the sole of her foot on the renewed earth. She did not return to him again. The dove had strong wings to fly from anything out of keeping with her pure and gentle nature. Now she had a place that drew her, and Noah could only draw the right conclusion.
Noah waited a further week before he tested the earth again. That patience did not come easily to him.
Noah, no doubt, became impatient to leave the ark after it had done its work. Nothing exposes our impatience or self-will as much as this… It is harder to stay in the place of blessing than to reach it… The freed raven, going back and forth, is a fitting picture of our restless, impatient spirits. The dove reads Noah a different lesson… The dove tells him first that he must have patience. The dove had a home in the ark; why should not Noah?… And when the dove goes out again, she may stay away. The discipline is over, and he is called into a new scene.
One writer takes the dove as a picture of the Spirit of God and reads the three flights as three stages.
Noah sent out the dove, emblem of the Holy Spirit of God, three times. The first time it returned with nothing. There was nowhere to rest her foot, for the waters were everywhere. This shows the utter ruin of the first man and of the old creation bound up with him. Death covered them all. The second time she returned with the single olive leaf. At last the first piece of the renewed earth had appeared above the waters… The third time the dove found not just a leaf, but a resting place for her feet.
The dove would not settle on a scene still under water. That is why, one commentator argues, the Spirit's coming had to wait for a finished work.
On the first flight the dove has nowhere to rest, so she returns. The Holy Spirit can only rest where the work of judgment is complete… The dove returns to Noah, but afterwards goes out from him and returns no more. This, I think, is how we should understand John 7:39. In Old Testament times the Holy Spirit visited the earth many times. But He could not yet be given until the ascension of Christ bore witness that the work of atonement was perfect. He is then given as a witness that peace has been made with God.
The dove that never came back has an echo in the New Testament. Another writer sees it in the opening chapter of John's Gospel, where the Spirit at last has someone to rest on.
The dove, you remember, went out once and again, but returned, because she "found no place to set her foot." At last she found a resting place, and she "did not return to him anymore"… The heavenly Dove searched 4,000 years for a sinless resting place in man and found none. In the first chapter of John He has found One to rest on.
The final flight also looks forward. The bird stayed away because the earth below her was fit to live in again.
The third sending out of the dove carries our thoughts on to the world to come, the days of the glorious Kingdom still to dawn for this sin-spoiled earth. Judgment will have cleared that scene of everything offensive to God. It will then be a fitting home for the Holy Spirit. The renewed earth was a fitting home for the dove; she returned to the ark no more. And in coming days the Holy Spirit will not be given only to those who are "in Christ," but will be poured out upon all flesh.
- Silence — The dove's failure to come back was itself the report; Noah read the absence and knew the earth was ready.
- Patience — He waited seven more days before the final test. The restless raven pictures our hurry; the dove teaches waiting for God's time.
- Sequence — Three flights, three stages: no rest at all, then one olive leaf from a world still under water, then a home.
- Ground — The dove settles only where judgment is over. So the Spirit came only after Christ finished the work of atonement.
- Person — The bird that stayed away points to the Spirit resting on Christ, and on to a renewed earth where God will pour Him out on all flesh.
And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first [month], on the first of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the surface of the ground was dried.
A date opens this verse: the first day of the first month of Noah's six hundred and first year. After ten and a half months shut inside, he lifts the covering, looks out, and sees dry ground — yet he does not step out.
The verse gives an exact date. One writer explains why the ground can look dry here while the whole earth is not dry for another two months:
Ten and a half months had now passed since Noah entered the ark. He removed the covering of the ark and found the face of the ground dry (v. 13). Of course it would be dry on the higher ground where the ark was. The lower areas needed more time for the waters to drain away. So verse 14 tells us that it was about two months later that the earth was dried. The total time comes to one year and ten days.
Noah had no clear view until the covering came off. One writer finds the reason in where the ark's openings were:
The door of the ark was in the side, but the window above. It is no new thing to say that this is faith's outlook. The passengers in that wonderfully guided and protected vessel did not need their eyes for steering. They were not to look out on the solemn scenes of judgment taking effect around them. Meanwhile the waters, which were the grave of the world, floated them above its mountain tops up to the blue heavens, growing calmer as they rose.
What Noah sees is more than the end of a storm. The dove had not come back. One writer reads Noah's uncovering of the ark as the act of a man who has understood why:
Beautiful mystery! The earth was redeemed from the curse now, and in its new-creation state the dove can delight. All of it is her native air. It is now the land of the turtledove and the olive, and Noah understands why this clean creature is absent. He at once removes the covering from the ark and looks out. The God of glory soon lets him out, as the God of all grace had before shut him in.
Noah sees dry ground, but the verse records no exit. He waits until God speaks. One commentator makes that restraint the heart of the verse:
His faith had been tested more than a little, but the prospect was comforting even from the first. "The face of the ground" was dry when he looked. After nearly two months more "the earth was dry." But even with this comfort, he still waited on God's word to go out, as he had gone in at His word. He will not rush ahead in the impulsiveness of nature and its self-confidence. He depends on God and obeys His word. The word came in due time, as it always does to those who look up to Him.
The ark carried its passengers safely through the judgment. But the dry ground shows God's purpose ran further than survival:
Meanwhile it was never God's mind that there should be life only, but liberty. Life out of death leads into liberty. Christ not only gives life and shelter, but does so as a preparation for the freedom of grace... now there is life. Death and judgment have done their worst on Him who is risen out of both. So there is liberty also for those given new life.
The same writer sets this drying against the world's future:
The waters of Noah did go over the earth, as surely as they shall go over it no more. A still more terrible destruction awaits it, however long the delay seems. By His word the heavens and earth that now exist are kept in store. They are reserved for fire on a day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. The one is as certain as the other. But we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.
- Judgment — the waters that buried a world lifted the ark above its mountain tops. The flood carried Noah; it did not threaten him.
- Sight — the window was above, the door in the side. Only when the covering came off could Noah see the ground. Faith's outlook is upward before it is outward.
- Word — dry ground was not the signal to leave. Noah went in at God's word and waited to go out at God's word, refusing the impulsiveness of nature.
- Liberty — God never intended life alone, but liberty. Shelter in the ark prepared the way for freedom on a cleansed earth.
- Promise — water will never cover the earth again. The present heavens and earth are kept for fire on a day of judgment. The believer looks for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.
And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.
A single date closes the flood: the earth is dry at last, more than a year after the waters broke loose. Yet Noah is still inside the ark. If the ground is dry, why has he not stepped out?
The verse is the last entry in a careful log. One writer lays out every date in the account, from the first rain to this verse:
The account of the flood itself (Genesis 7:11 — Genesis 8:14) is very clear about how long it lasted and how far it reached. The tremendous rain lasted for 40 days and 40 nights. The waters prevailed from the 17th day of the 2nd month to the 17th day of the 7th month, when the ark grounded on the mountains of Ararat. On the 1st day of the 10th month the tops of the mountains appeared. On the 1st day of the 1st month of a new year the waters had vanished from the face of the earth. On the 27th day of the 2nd month the earth was dry enough for those in the ark to go out — one year and 10 days after it all began.
Verse 13 already said the ground was dry. This verse says it again, and the difference is height and time:
Ten and a half months had now passed since Noah entered the ark. He removed the covering of the ark and found the face of the ground dry (v. 13). Of course, the high ground where the ark rested would be dry first. Lower areas needed more time for the waters to drain away. So verse 14 tells us that the earth was dry about two months later.
Noah could see the change with his own eyes, and it comforted him. Still he did not move:
His faith had been tested hard, but the prospect was comforting even from the first. "The face of the ground" was dry when he looked. Nearly two months later "the earth had dried out." He was rightly stirred and comforted by this. Even so, he still waited for God's word before going out, just as he went in at His word. He will not rush ahead with the rashness and self-confidence of nature. He depends on God and obeys His word. The word came at the right time, as it always does to those who look up to Him.
The same writer notes how long Noah had already waited:
But it is beautiful to note how Noah can wait. Many days had passed before he opened the window of the ark. Many more passed while he tested the state of the renewed earth by the messengers he sent out again and again — and not in vain.
Waiting inside a dry world is its own test. One writer suggests Noah felt it once the ark had done its work:
After years of discipline and toil, Noah is in the ark. Very often the quality we are best known for, the one we have gained most from, deserts us, and we suffer much. Noah, no doubt, became impatient to leave the ark after it had accomplished its purpose. Nothing exposes our impatience and self-will like this… He worked for many a year to build the ark. Now he is impatient to abandon it, as soon as it has given him salvation… It is harder to stay in the place of blessing than even to reach it.
The dried earth is a new earth. One writer reads it as a picture of coming through death into life:
The flood swept away the ungodly. It brought judgment and death on the world. The ark rode above the waters and rested at last on the cleansed earth. It taught the lesson of life for the people of God, once they had passed through judgment and death. The new earth came up out of the waters of death. Noah and his family set their feet on the dry land as people saved through those waters, as people raised from the dead.
Dry ground is not the end. God's purpose goes beyond bare survival:
Meanwhile it never was the mind of God that there should be life only, but liberty. Life out of death ushers into liberty. Christ not only gives life and shelter, but this as a preparation for the freedom of grace.
- Dated. The flood is a record with exact markers, closing here at one year and ten days from the day the waters began.
- Dried. Verse 13 shows the high ground dry. Verse 14, two months later, shows the whole earth dry — the same drying, finished.
- Delayed. The earth was ready before Noah moved; he entered at God's word and would leave only at God's word.
- Disciplined. The hardest test came after the ark had done its work — staying in the place of blessing is harder than reaching it.
- Delivered. Dry land is resurrection ground, and God's aim there is not bare life but liberty.
And God spoke to Noah, saying,
The waters have gone down and the earth is dry, yet Noah is still inside the ark. He waits, and this verse is the moment God's word comes to him.
Noah could see for himself that the ground was dry. Yet seeing was not the same as going.
His faith had faced no small test, but the prospect was comforting even from the first. "The face of the ground" was dry when he looked. Almost two months later "the earth had dried out." This stirred and comforted him, and rightly so. Yet he still waited for God's word before going out, just as he went in at His word. He will not rush ahead with the rashness of nature and its self-confidence. He depends on God and obeys His word. And the word came in due time, as it always does to those who look up to Him.
The ark had two openings, and only one of them was his.
The ark had a window in it. The door was in the Lord's keeping, but the window was for Noah's use. The One who had shut him in was the only one who could let him out. The times and the seasons were in His hand. No one can shorten the time of his journey as a prisoner of hope. But the hopes of such a prisoner may be richly fed, and his spirit stirred within him.
Three commands frame Noah's story, and all three come from the same God. What he does after the last one shows where his faith rested.
"Then God said to Noah, 'Go out from the ark.'" The same God who had said, "Make yourself an ark," and "Go into the ark," now says, "Go out from the ark." "So Noah went out … and built an altar to the LORD." ALL is simple obedience. There is the obedience of faith and the worship of faith: both go together… Superstition would have worshipped the ark, since the ark was the means of salvation. The heart always tends to let what God appoints take God's place… But Noah's faith passed beyond the ark to the God of the ark. So when he stepped out, he did not look back at it with longing, and he did not treat it as an object of worship. He built an altar to the LORD and worshipped Him — and the ark is never heard of again.
The command reaches everyone aboard, not Noah alone.
Not one thing had gone into the ark thirteen months before which did not now come out. The small and the great had been in it, and the small were as safe as the great. The creeping thing from the ditch or the hedge was as free from danger and harm as Noah himself. Precious mystery! We may be little, and we are little, as the heart knows full well. But heaven, or the coming system of glory, has fitted itself, like the ark, to receive the small as well as the great.
Commentators see more here than one man's release. It pictures how God brings people through a coming trial instead of lifting them out of it.
Now comes the faithful word of God to His waiting and watching servant: how welcome to the prisoner of hope! It is the type of those kept safe through the great hour of temptation that will come on the whole inhabited world to test those who dwell on the earth… Christ's coming to receive His own to Himself for the Father's house on high follows a different pattern. It is not the pattern of Noah passing through the scene of judgment, but of Enoch taken up to heaven before the time of trouble came, as we may see in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.
Waiting inside a finished ark on a drying earth was a test of its own. The two birds Noah sent out show how a heart handles delay.
No doubt Noah became impatient to leave the ark once it had done its work. Nothing exposes our impatience or self-will so much as this… God stands vindicated, His truth has its witness, Noah and his house are saved — and now he wants to leave before it is God's will. It is harder to stay in the place of blessing than even to reach it… The freed raven, going back and forth, is a fitting picture of our restless, impatient spirits. The dove teaches Noah a different lesson… The dove tells him first that he must have patience.
- Word. The new world begins with God speaking. Noah moves at a word, not at the view from his window.
- Wait. He went out as he came in, at God's word. He could open the window, but only the Lord could open the door.
- Walk. Obedience and worship travel together. Noah leaves the ark and builds an altar, and the ark is never mentioned again — his faith rested on the God of the ark.
- Whole. Every creature that entered came out. The smallest was as safe as Noah himself, and the coming glory has room for small and great alike.
- Watch. The hardest test came after the rescue. The raven pictures our restlessness. The dove teaches patience. It is harder to stay in the place of blessing than to reach it.
Go out of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee.
The flood is over and the ground is dry, yet Noah does not move until God speaks. Why does a man already free to step out wait to be told? And what world is he stepping into?
Noah had already looked out and seen dry ground. He still did not move, and one writer reads that restraint as the mark of a tried faith.
His faith had been tried more than a little, but the prospect was comforting even from the first. "The face of the ground" was dry when he looked. Nearly two months later, "the earth was dry." This rightly moved and comforted him. Even so, he still waited on God's word to go out, as he went in at His word. He will not rush ahead with the impulsiveness of nature and its self-confidence. He depends on God and obeys His word. The word came in due time, as it always does to those who look up to Him.
Three commands shape Noah's whole story, and all three come from the same God.
"And God spoke to Noah, saying, go out from the ark." The same God who had said, "make yourself an ark," and "come into the ark," now says, "go out from the ark." "And Noah went out … and built an altar to the Lord." ALL is simple obedience. There is the obedience of faith and the worship of faith: both go together. Superstition would have worshipped the ark, since it was the means of salvation. The heart always tends to let the things God appoints take God's place. But Noah's faith went past the ark to the God of the ark. So when he stepped out, instead of looking back at the ark, he built an altar to the Lord and worshipped Him — and the ark is never heard of again.
The command sends Noah back to soil he had walked before the flood, but it is no longer the same soil.
He landed on the renewed earth. At that mysterious moment, all was in a great sense according to God's mind again. It was no longer corrupt, as it had been when he last walked on it in its old condition, but clean, refined by the judgment.
One writer moves from the ark's passengers to what heaven itself is made to hold.
Not one thing had gone into the ark thirteen months before that did not now come out. The small and the great had been in it, and the small were as safe as the great. The creeping thing of the ditch or the hedge was as free from all danger or harm as Noah himself. Precious mystery! We may be little, and we are little, as the heart knows full well. But heaven, or the coming system of glory, has fitted itself like the ark, to receive the small as well as the great.
Noah is not called out alone. God names his wife, his sons and their wives with him, and one writer draws a wide principle from that.
Some will say that Noah was a picture of Christ — the righteous head of a saved family, saved because of their connection with him. I grant all this. But Noah's role as a picture does not in any way interfere with the principle I am drawing from this and similar passages. I will state that principle plainly here at the start: the house of every servant of God is brought into a place of privilege, and of responsibility that follows, because of its connection with him.
Commentators also read this call out of the ark as a picture of a later rescue.
Now comes the faithful word of God to His waiting and watching servant. How welcome to the prisoner of hope! It is the picture of those kept safe through the great hour of temptation. That hour will come upon the whole inhabited world to test those who dwell on the earth.
Another writer pairs Noah with Enoch, and the two picture different groups.
Enoch is a figure of those caught up, Noah of the remnant of the Jews who go through the tribulation. In Noah the world is comforted — the figure of the millennium.
- Word in. Noah entered the ark because God spoke; the same voice, not the drying ground, moves him out.
- Word waited for. He could see the earth was dry, and still would not act on his own confidence. Faith that will not run ahead gets the word "in due time."
- Word obeyed. He goes out and builds an altar at once — worship for the God of the ark, not for the ark itself.
- Word wide enough. Everything that went in comes out again. The smallest creeping thing was as safe as Noah himself.
- Word ahead of us. Commentators read the call out of the ark as a picture of people kept safe through coming judgment. Enoch stands for another group — those caught up.