Why did Noah release a raven? Why did he later release a dove (Genesis 8)?

1895 241 Another step was now taken by Noah after the tops of the mountains were seen. God had given necessary warning to save life, but exercised his dependence and patience abundantly.

"And it came to pass at the end of forty days that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. And he sent forth the raven; and it went forth, going to and fro until the drying of the waters from off the earth. And he sent forth the dove from him, to see if the waters were abated [become light] from off the face of the ground; but the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and returned to him into the ark, for the waters [were] on the face of all the earth. And he put forth his hand and took her and brought her in to him into the ark. And he stayed yet other seven days, and again he sent the dove out of the ark; and the dove cane to him at eventide, and behold the leaf of olive fresh plucked [was] in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. And he stayed yet other seven days, and sent forth the dove, which returned not again to him more" (vers. 6-12).

We may easily gather from scripture that "forty" is habitually used, days or years, for a term of trial, both O. and N. Testaments furnishing instances. So it would seem to have been here. And temptation must be borne, not evaded; as we have the assurance not only that God will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able, but that He will, with the trial, make also the way of escape that we may be able to endure. So here after duly waiting Noah opened, not the light or roof, but the window of the ark, and sent forth the raven, which kept going to and fro till the waters were dried up from off the earth. He also sent forth the dove. In this case it is added to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground. The raven and the dove were true to their habits. The unclean bird found congenial food in that scene of desolation, and sought no more an entrance into the ark, content with what death provided everywhere. The bird of associations afterward so hallowed found no rest for the sole of her foot, and returned to Noah and to the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth; and he put forth his hand, and took her, and brought her to him into the ark. This was conclusive. They must still wait. The historic facts seem to be comprised here; and their design is evident.

But without contending for a type more or less faithful, we may readily admit the moral instruction derivable from the description. The raven is notorious for its restlessness and its voracity, as the dove for its harmlessness and expression of love; the one prohibited from the Israelite's use, as the other was expressly fit, not merely for his food, but for a burnt sacrifice to be offered to Jehovah, and in certain cases as a sin offering also. There is surely nothing far-fetched in observing how the unclean nature finds its satisfaction without where death reigns; while that which is clean returns to the shelter of the ark, first, without a sign of life, next after seven days more with a freshly plucked olive leaf in her beak, the pledge of coming "fatness" wherewith God and man are honoured, making man's face to shine. Plainer if possible is the result after seven days further; for the dove, when sent forth, could find rest for the sole of her foot in the renewed earth, and returned not again to him more. The dove, strong of wing to flee from that which was out of harmony with her pure and gentle nature, had now a sphere which attracted her; and Noah could not but draw the right conclusion.

The ark, as I have already noticed, had its door and its window, and Noah had his spies to send into the promised land — and the mission of these spies, the raven and the dove, express the experience of the saint in the contrary workings of the flesh and spirit, which contend in him.

The raven never returns. The earth may be still unpurged, but the unclean nature can take up with it. The "present evil world" will do well enough for fallen, degraded man. Indeed, the ark was rather a place of captivity than security, to the unclean raven. She never returns to it when once escaped. But Noah will not trust her. Beautiful saintly intelligence! The raven may remain outside; but that is no proof to Noah that the earth is clean, or fit for the sole of his foot. Noah will not trust her, but sends out a clean creature after her. And different indeed are the tidings which she bears. It is, in principle, the contest of Caleb and Joshua with their companion spies. The dove returns instinctively. There was no rest for her in a place still under judgment of God, and unpurged. And Noah, conscious that he can trust her and commit the question to her settlement, sends her out a second and a third time. And well indeed he may trust her. Her only sympathy is with the pledges of peace and of a new creation. On her second return she bears an olive-leaf in her mouth, and after her third mission she never comes back.

Beautiful mystery! The earth was redeemed from the curse now, and in its new-creation state the dove can delight. All is native air to her. It is now the land of the turtle and the olive, and Noah understands the absence of this clean creature. He at once removes the covering from the ark, and looks out; and the God of glory shortly lets him out, as the God of all grace had before shut him in.

The first reference to the olive tree is in the time of Noah and the flood. The ark had eventually come to rest on the mountains of Ararat and the waters of the flood decreased continually (Gen. 8:4-5). At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark and sent forth a raven. Being an unclean bird it never returned, no doubt resting and feeding upon the carcasses floating in the water. It is with the dove that we are more concerned. It was a clean bird and after being sent out the first time it returned again, not finding any place for the sole of her foot. However, the second time it was sent out it came back with the evidence of dry land, and we quote, "And he stayed yet other seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark: And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf, pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth (Gen. 8:10-11). There is a lot more to learn from this incident, but we will leave it here for the moment and emphasise the fact that the olive leaf was a sure witness to Noah that the flood had subsided.

God remembered Noah and all that were alive with him in the ark, and He stopped the waters and sent the wind, which commenced the process of drying up the waters. The window of the ark being in the roof and not in the side of it, Noah must have had an imperfect knowledge of what was transpiring without, hence his action recorded in Genesis 8:6-12. A raven and a dove are birds of a different nature as to habits and food. The one feeding on carrion and other unclean things, the other a clean feeder. When first released there was plenty to attract the raven, but as yet nothing for the dove.

In the New Testament the dove becomes the emblem of the Spirit of God, and the expression used on the first occasion is worthy of note — "no rest for the sole of her foot." As yet the whole scene was a waste of death and corruption. On the second occasion the dove returned with, "an olive leaf pluckt off." Here was the first evidence of life appearing above the waters of death, for it was not a leaf that had been drifting among the debris but plucked off a living tree. Death entered by sin, and "so death passed upon all men" (Rom. 5:12), as much after the flood as before it. The first evidence of real life rising up beyond the scene of death was when Christ rose from the dead. Though the Spirit came at Pentecost as wind and fire, He came as a Witness to Christ risen and glorified.

When the dove was sent forth for the third time she returned no more, but it is not added that she did find rest for the sole of her foot. That she found somewhere to perch is obvious, but the statement is omitted, we believe, because there is a typical or allegorical significance, which comes to light when we reach Matthew 3:16. When the Lord Jesus came forth there was at last found One, on whom the Spirit of God could permanently rest, and not before.

The word oreb, from a root signifying 'to be black,' appears to be used not only for the common raven, but for birds of the same genus (corvus), as the crow, the rook, etc., for we read of "every raven after his kind" as being unclean. Lev. 11:15; Deut. 14:14. The raven, when sent from the ark by Noah, could doubtless find food (though the dove could not), because it can feed upon carrion, though it went 'to and fro' till the waters were dried up. Gen. 8:7. That the carnivorous ravens should bring flesh as well as bread to Elijah shows God's miraculous power; He caused them to feed His servant. 1 Kings 17:4, 6. They are greedy eaters, and have no storehouse nor barn, yet God feeds them, and will surely feed those who trust in Him. Job 38:41; Ps. 147:9; Prov. 30:17; Cant. 5:11; Isa. 34:11; Luke 12:24. There are several species of the raven in Palestine: it belongs to the order Insessores, family Corvidae.

The ark had a window in it. The door was in the keeping of the Lord, but the window was for Noah's use. He who had shut him in, alone could let him out — the times and the seasons were in His hand. But while the time of his pilgrimage, as a prisoner of hope, cannot be shortened, yet may the hopes of such a prisoner be very preciously nourished, and his spirit within him blessedly exercised. Noah may open the window, remove the covering, look out, and send forth his messengers, his Caleb and Joshua and their companions, to spy out the land, and report to him what it is, whether it be fat or lean, good or bad, and to bring him the fruit of it.

But we come next to a clearer type of the Spirit — the dove in the ark (Gen. 8:7-12). This need not detain us long, for all is familiar and clear here. The flood speaks of the judgment coming upon all men for their sins; the ark, of Christ the only shelter from the judgment. He has gone through the flood of wrath, and as the ark touched Ararat, the new earth, so Christ risen has passed into the new scene. But His people while still prisoners of hope, can know nothing of what is theirs in Christ risen. Therefore the Spirit, — the dove is given to make us know what is ours. The dove is sent out thrice to make known the state of what was not visible. On his first flight he finds nothing but a scene of desolation, and in contrast to the raven, who will feed upon the refuse of what has been judged, he returns to the Ark. The Spirit of God can find nothing in a world under judgment to rest upon, and returns, as it were, to Christ. It is as though He said to us, You will find nothing in all this world for your heart to rest upon; Christ is all. On the contrary the raven, type of the flesh, chooses anything but the restraint of the ark; just as the flesh cannot endure the presence of Christ.

Next, the dove brings back something from the new earth — an olive leaf, pledge of fruitfulness after the judgment. So the Spirit is for us the earnest of our inheritance — the foretaste and the pledge of what is to come. The olive leaf itself suggests the fruits of the Spirit — the olive producing oil — which are in connection with the new creation. Thus the Spirit would occupy us with "the things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God."

The dove lastly flies off into the regenerated earth, and thus Noah knows that the waters have departed. I need hardly say how the time is soon coming when the Spirit, who now fills the heart with longing for the coming of the Lord, will with the Church pass into that inheritance of which He is now the earnest. No one can fail to notice too the appropriateness of the dove as a type of the Spirit. Love and sorrow are the characteristics of the gentlest of birds, and fittingly set forth the infinite tenderness and love of that Holy Person, who rested upon the "Man of sorrows."

You know the story of Noah's Ark: how he liberated two birds as the waters began to abate. One was a raven, and one was a dove. One had an unclean nature with a very depraved taste, loving nothing better than carrion. The other, a bird of a very different order, found nothing attractive in the raven's food. The raven soon found something to satisfy its taste and did not come back. The dove found nothing till dry land began to appear. The flesh in us is like the raven, and feeds on carrion, but that which is begotten of God is like the dove, feeding only on that which is pure — the dove, we may remember, is in Scripture an emblem of the Spirit of God. Now just as the dove got the victory over the carrion, so does whatsoever is born of God get the victory over the world. It must do so: it is in its very nature to do so. We are viewing things abstractly, as I have said.

"And it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made: and he sent forth a raven, which went forth, to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth." The unclean bird made its escape, and found, no doubt, a resting-place on some floating carcass. It sought not the ark again. Not so the dove. "She found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned to him into the ark … and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark: and the dove came in to him, in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf, pluckt off." Sweet emblem of the renewed mind, which, amid the surrounding desolation, seeks and finds its rest and portion in Christ; and not only so, but also lays hold of the earnest of the inheritance, and furnishes the blessed proof, that judgement has passed away, and that a renewed earth is coming fully into view. The carnal mind, on the contrary, can rest in anything and everything but Christ. It can feed upon all uncleanness. "The olive leaf" has no attraction for it. It can find all it needs in a seen of death, and hence is not occupied with the thought of a new world and its glories; but the heart, that is taught and exercised by the Spirit of God, can only rest and rejoice in that in which He rests and rejoices. It rests in the Ark of His salvation "until the times of the restitution of all things." May it be thus with you and me, beloved render; may Jesus be the abiding rest and portion of our hearts, that so we may not seek them in a world which is under the judgement of God. The dove went back to Noah, and waited for his time of rest: and we should ever find our place with Christ, until the time of His exaltation, and glory, in the ages to come. "He that shall come, will come, and will not tarry." ALL we want, as to this, is a little patience. May God direct our hearts into His love, and into "the patience of Christ."

Allowing forty days more, Noah opened the window of the ark and sent out a raven, and the raven did not return (v. 7). He also sent out a dove as a test, but the dove did not find any favorable circumstances and returned to the ark (v. 9). The unclean raven would no doubt find carrion to feed upon, which would be offensive to the clean dove. The raven is typical of the unclean, sinful nature of man that finds pleasure in the corruptions of this world, while the dove pictures the pure, renewed nature of the believer that can find pleasure only in what is pure and holy.