And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat.
The flood story turns here: after five months adrift over a world under judgment, the ark touches solid ground on a dated day. Commentators find far more in that date and that mountain than a shipping log — they see God giving rest, and a new world beginning.
The verse fixes the landing to a named day. That day matters once you line the calendar up with the Passover.
God's judgment had done its full work. Then we read that the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day (Gen. 8:4). This is no accident. The seventh month became the first at the time of the Exodus (Ex. 12:2). So the ark rested three days after the day set for the sacrifice of the Passover lamb — the very day of our Lord's resurrection. The Saviour's triumphant return from among the dead is the public proof that God's wrath about the sins of His people has spent itself, and that He has established rest and peace forever.
The Hebrew word for what the ark does here shares its root with the name of the man inside it.
Noah means, as we have seen, "rest" or "comfort." His father Lamech gave him that name in faith that God would give His comfort through him, and that hope was well founded. In Gen. 8:4, the ark rested, literally "Noahed," upon the mountains of Ararat. In the 21st verse of the same chapter, "the Lord smelled a sweet savour," literally "a savour of rest," or Noah. In each case the root is the same. It shows how truly God answered the faith seen in his name. He gave rest while the scene around lay in ruins, and He declared that the sacrifice was the basis of it.
The named landing place is hard evidence about how far the waters reached. It answers those who shrink the flood to a local river basin.
It is no use for the writer of the "Genesis of the Earth" to move the disaster to the low lands of the Euphrates and the Tigris. There a flood of fifteen cubits would barely affect the earth in general or those living on it. This is to overlook or disbelieve "the mountains of Ararat" (Gen. 8:4), where the ark rested when the waters were going down. Its chief peak stands 17,000 feet above the sea. That may give some idea of the appalling fact.
One reference work adds a caution: "Some object that the mountain is too high. But the ark may not have rested on its highest part" (Morrish Bible Dictionary).
Where the ark stops is where everything after it begins.
The new world did not begin until God had executed judgment on the old, and the starting place was Ararat. This is the great question, I repeat: when did the new creation begin, and where is the source of righteousness and life? The New Testament makes it clear to my soul that this was so, and could only be so, when God raised Christ from the dead. The Old Testament makes it just as clear that Noah's world began when God raised him from the dead above the waters of the flood. I do not doubt the sons of Noah were safe, resting in the word of God, before this. But they were saved when the ark rested on Ararat.
The name itself may carry meaning. Ararat is said to mean "high ground" and "holy ground," and one writer adds: "Nothing is so holy and so productive of holiness as the rest of the gospel" (F. W. Grant).
The ark settles, but the view from inside has not changed. Nothing dry is in sight for months more.
The five months of floating on a shoreless sea would seem endless to Noah and his family. You can well imagine that they would feel God had forgotten them… Yet at the end of 150 days the ark only grounded in the mountains of Ararat. There was still no land in sight (v. 4). Four and a half months later the tops of the mountains appeared (v. 5).
Yet the ground underneath is real, and one writer applies that solid footing to the reader.
Then the waters go down, and the ark rests on the mountains of Ararat (Gen. 8:4)… For forty days he has been on solid rock. It is divine security. I am not only in the place of safety, but I have the sense of security. How absolute and perfect is the salvation that God gives.
- Judgment spent — the ark rests only after the flood has finished its work; rest follows judgment, it never skips it.
- Rest named — the verb shares the root of Noah's name, which means "rest"; the sacrifice later in the chapter is "a savour of rest" too.
- Rest dated — on Israel's later calendar, the ark lands three days after the day set for the Passover lamb: resurrection day.
- Rest grounded — Ararat is real, high ground where a new world starts; commentators tie it to Christ risen from the dead.
- Rest before sight — the ark touches rock while water still hides the land; safety comes first, the view comes months later.
And the waters abated continually until the tenth month in the tenth [month], on the first of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.
The flood has peaked and begun to fall. This verse marks the day the drowned world first came back into sight, and it raises two questions: why did God's rescue come so slowly, and what did Noah do while he waited?
The flood narrative is not vague. Every stage carries a month and a day, and this verse supplies one of them.
The account of the flood itself (Genesis 7:11 — Genesis 8:14) is very clear about both how long it lasted and how far it spread. The huge 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. Then the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. On the 1st day of the 10th month the tops of the mountains were seen. 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 leave it — one year and 10 days after it all began.
The ark stopped moving months before anyone on board could see land.
The five months of floating on a sea with no shore would seem endless to Noah and his family. It can well be imagined that they would feel God had forgotten them… But a flood that covered even the mountains would take a long time to go down, even with the wind God sent to help. Yet at the end of 150 days the ark only came to rest in the mountains of Ararat: there was still no land in sight (v. 4). Four and a half months later the tops of the mountains were seen (v. 5).
The wording of this verse has been used as an argument about how far the flood reached. Because mountain tops had to re-emerge, they must first have been under water — and mountains do not hold water on one side of the globe only.
I believe the flood was all over the earth, wherever man was. There is no mistake. Some have questioned whether it covered the whole globe, speaking in general terms, as if it only covered the part where people lived. But Scripture says, "the mountains were covered," and "the tops of the mountains were seen," and so on. That sounds like the whole earth. You have to allow for a miracle in any case… Suppose Mount Ararat, fifteen or sixteen thousand feet high, in northern Armenia, stood covered. If the waters had not stood all around it, and far beyond it, they would have run off and covered somewhere else. There had to be a miracle either way.
Commentators read the sequence — resting, then land appearing — as a picture. What the passengers saw was not the old world restored but a new one beginning to show itself.
The third section pictures the resurrection… It speaks of the ground of resurrection (the resurrection of Christ) on which faith now builds, beyond the reach of any flood. It is high ground and "holy ground," which is said to be the meaning of "Ararat"… The new beginning is in rest: the ark comes to rest on Ararat, and the new earth begins to be visible.
Another writer puts it as a clean break with the past.
The old world perished. The new world began where the ark rested, upon the mountains of Ararat. God did not save the old world by Noah; old things passed away and all became new. It is so in Christ, old things passed away, and all things became new; and all things of God.
Seeing the mountain tops was a signal to act, but not a signal to leave. Noah's next step came only after this sight.
Another step was now taken by Noah after the tops of the mountains were seen. God had given the warning needed to save life, but He also put Noah's dependence and patience to a long test.
The pressure now was to get out. One writer treats that pressure as the real test.
No doubt Noah became impatient to leave the ark once it had done its work… He worked for many years to build the ark, and now he is impatient to leave it, as soon as it has saved him. God has been vindicated, His truth witnessed to, Noah and his house saved; and now he wants to leave it before it is God's will. It is harder to stay in the place of blessing than it is to reach it.
- Seen — dated. This verse is one dated point in a record of a year and ten days. Rain fell 40 days, the waters stayed high 150, and mountain tops showed on day one of the tenth month.
- Seen — slowly. The ark had come to rest four and a half months earlier. Even with the wind God sent, water that deep took a long time to go down.
- Seen — everywhere. Tops can only reappear if water once stood over them. Commentators take this as a mark of a flood over the whole earth, not one region.
- Seen — new. What came into view was not the old world restored but a new one, pictured on resurrection ground. Old things passed away and all became new.
- Seen — not yet entered. The sight of land let Noah look, not leave. He had to wait, and staying in the place of blessing proved harder than reaching it.