Noah started building the ark one hundred and twenty years before the Flood. During this time Noah remained faithful to God and he completed the task that God had given him. He did all that God commanded and he did it totally by faith. "By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith." (Hebrews 11:7)

        Noah's faith saved him physically from the Flood and spiritually from eternal separation from God in Hell. God's plan of salvation has always been by faith. Noah worked for the Lord. He obeyed God and preached righteousness all the while he was working on the Ark. His works, which was walking with God, preaching and building the Ark were the result of his faith. His works did not saved him. Noah would not have worked all those years on the Ark if he did not believe what God had told him. It took faith first to believe God, and then his faith directed his life as he obeyed God. God chose him because in believing and trusting God he could be used by Him.

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: {it is} the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast". (Ephesians 2:8-9)

        God instructed Noah that He would send two of every unclean animal and seven of every clean animal into the Ark. (See Gen. 6:20) Noah did not have to gather the animals. They came to the Ark under the direction of God. Henry Morris, notes that God told Noah to "come" not "go" into the ark. The presence of God would be in the Ark with Noah.⁽¹⁾

        God classified all animals into two groups. Unclean animals, which Israel was for bidden to eat, and clean animals they were to use for food. The following list is from Leviticus 11:1-47:

        Those that chewed the cud and have does not have cloven feet. Example: camel, rock hyrax (similar to a rabbit), rabbit. Those that have cloven feet but do not chew the cud (Swine).

Fish or sea life that does not have scales.

Birds that were unclean are the eagle, vulture, buzzard, kite, falcon, raven, ostrich, short eared owl, seagull, hawk, little owl, screech owl, white owl, jackdaw, carrion vulture, stork, heron, hoopoe and the bat.

Insects that creep on all fours, does not fly. All insects except for those that fly, have jointed legs.

All animals that have paws. Also weasel, mouse, tortoise, ferret, chameleon, lizard, snail, and mole.

Any thing that crawls on its belly, has multiple feet (more that four)

Note: The animals named were not to be eaten or "there kind". Example: All reptiles, worms, clawed animals, etc.

CLEAN ANIMALS:

Any animal that has cloven feet and chews cud.

Fish with scales.

Locusts, crickets, grasshoppers and any flying insect that had jointed legs and hops.

        It should be noted that God had not at this time stated what were clean and unclean animals. He later named them when Israel became a nation. It seems likely what God declared to be clean and unclean in Leviticus 11, was the same classification he earlier used here in Genesis 7.

        Noah then entered the Ark and all the animals, birds and insects followed two by two until all the animals were safely inside.

        The Flood began in the year of Noah's six hundredth birthday. It was the seventeenth day of the second month of the year, sixteen hundred and fifty five days after Creation. That would mean it was April 17th in the spring assuming that Moses used the Jewish calendar.

        On the day that Noah entered the Ark with all the animals God shut the door behind them! Safely inside was Noah, his wife, his three sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth and their wives.

        In Genesis 7:14, God classifies the animals on the Ark into four groups. All wild animals of every sort are classed as "beasts". Domesticated animals are called "cattle". The term "creeping thing" would refer to all insects and "fowl" would mean all birds.

        Note that in verse 15, it states that all the life forms in the Ark were those that "wherein is the breath of life". This indicates that fish were not in the ark because they do not breath air. Many fish died in the Flood. It is possible that as God preserved two of every kind of unclean animal and seven of every clean animal in the Ark He preserved also clean and unclean fish. In the Green River Formation, which was an ancient lake found in south western Wyoming and Colorado and parts of eastern Utah, there are found millions of fossilized remains of many species of fish. The same thing is found in Brazil, South America.

        Plant life was preserved by floating on the water and by seed. Most seeds can still germinate after being in salt water for a year. The seeds of plant life floated on the water and when the water receded they were deposited in fresh soil and began to grow.

        Evolutionists have a problem in explaining the distribution of various types of plants all over the earth. Many plants are native only to particular areas on earth and are not found elsewhere. The evolutionist explains this by saying different plants evolved in different areas. A better explanation is that as the flood water receded various seeds were deposited in different areas and began to grow there. There is evidence that before the Flood plant life was evenly distributed over the earth. In Siberia there have be unearthed, from the permafrost, giant Mammoths which became extinct at least 10,000 years ago (according to evolutionary dating methods). They are shown in the supposed "Geological Time Table" as living from 49 million years (Eocene) to within 10,000 years ago (Holocene).⁽²⁾

Scientists have concluded that these Mammoths were quick frozen in less than one half hour by temperatures at least -150 ^oF. They are found in such a state of preservation that their flesh has been eaten by dogs. More important is that the contents of their stomachs are so perfectly preserved that each species of plants the mammoth had just eaten could be identified. It was amazing that such plants as buttercups were found. Today buttercups do not grow in Siberia. Also plants were found that grow in Siberia today and also Mexico.⁽³⁾

        In the frozen regions of the New Siberian Islands a ninety foot plum tree with ripe fruit and leaves was found. This area is 600 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Geological reports indicate that Alaska once teemed with tropical plants. Remains of mangroves, palm trees and Burmese lacquer trees have been found.⁽⁴⁾

It would seem from these discoveries that the earth in the past had an even climate over all the globe and this accounts for plants being found in places today where because of the climate they cannot live.

        Verse 11, states, that "the great fountains of the deep broke up, and the windows of heaven were opened". It must be understood that the earth was very different before the Flood. There was a great water canopy in the sky above the earth. (See page 8, of this commentary) In Genesis 1:6-7, the Bible says God created a firmament (the expanse of sky) in the midst of the waters. God then "divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament".(Gen. 1:7) Thus, God placed a great canopy of water vapor around the earth. This explains why the Scriptures tell us it had not rained on earth until the Flood and that the earth was watered by a mist. (Gen. 2:5-6) A great water canopy over the earth would create a "green house" effect and cause vegetation to grow rapidly.

        The whole of the earth was a gigantic green house. Great expanses of water was stored above the earth. Below a vast system of subterranean conduits channeled water under the earth. When God caused the Flood to begin, He did it by causing the water canopy over the earth to deposit its water as rain on the earth. At the same time the great subterranean rivers were broken up and the underground water brought to the surface. One example of a vast underground cavern is Mammoth Cave in southern Kentucky. This cave has passages extending over 150 miles, with fantastic limestone formations, lakes and rivers. The corridors of the caves occur in five different levels and many large chambers are connected by narrow passages.⁽⁵⁾

        There were no storms before the Flood. The canopy caused the earth to have a mild climate which was the same over all the earth. There were no polar caps or frozen regions such as presently exists on earth.

        In verse 12, the Bible states that the rains fell on the earth for forty days. In verse 17, it states "the flood was forty days on the earth", meaning that the flood waters increased steadily for a month and tens days.

        This does not mean that the flood only lasted for forty days, but that the water was continually rising for the first forty days. Note verse 18. The waters "prevailed", meaning they did not stop, but increased continually. The Ark, with all safely aboard was lifted and floated on the waters. Noah was in the Ark for over one year.

        The Bible states that the water rose until all the mountains of the earth were covered to a distance of "fifteen cubits" or about twenty two feet. Many Bible commentators such as Henry Morris, believe this figure represents the draft of the Ark. In other words, the Ark fully loaded, sank about twenty two feet into the water. This would mean that for the Ark to safety float over the highest mountains on earth the water would have to be at least twenty two feet above them. Modern scientists argue that there is not enough water on the earth to cover the highest peak which is Mount Everest in the Himalayas, which rises 29,002 feet above sea level. They state that if the surface of the earth were completely flat, with no mountains there would only be enough water to cover the for two miles. With Everest being five miles high there seems to be a problem.⁽⁶⁾

        However, it should be understood that there is evidence the high mountains such as the Himalayas and the Great Rocky Mountains were most likely formed toward the end of or after the flood receded. In Genesis 10:25, we find that God says in the days of a post-flood a descendent of Shem, named Peleg, "the earth was divided". This is understood by most to be a reference to the separation of the continents.

        There is great evidence that the continents were once joined into one great land mass which later separated. Geologists called this the "continental drift theory". When the foundational plates on which the continents rest shifted on the earth's mantle the high mountain systems of the earth were formed. It is interesting to note that most geologists understand that the continents are still moving today, but very slowly. The present movements of the continents do not seem adequate to explain the how the mountains of the earth were formed. Scientists have observed that neither the Moon, Mercury or Mars have similar folded mountains belts such as the earth has. This is quite puzzling due their assumption that similar forces after the Big Bang⁽⁷⁾

formed all the planets. ⁽⁸⁾ However, only the earth has experienced a supernatural global flood. Thus, what is found in nature is easily explained in light of the Biblical record that God has given us. (More will be said of the dividing of the continents later).

        The Bible says that the Ark finally came to rest on Mount Ararat, which is today 17,000 feet in height. If we assume science is correct in estimating the amount of water on earth there is not enough to cover this mountain. There is a good explanation available to logically explain this presumed problem. In Psalm 104:5-9, the Scriptures say that God covered the earth with water and caused it to recede from the land. Further, it states that after this the mountains were formed in the places God chose for them. It seems that mountains were formed at the end of the flood and that Mount Ararat as other mountains rose up out of the water. There is evidence on the mountain that it was formed under water. At 13,500 feet on Mount Ararat there is a layer of "pillar" lava, and brecciated cones which are only formed by rapid flowing water.⁽⁹⁾ The Ark at the end of the flood, came to rest on this newly formed mountain.

        One very clear statement of Genesis 7:19-20, is that the Flood was global. The whole of the earth was covered. There would have been no reason for the Ark if, as some have falsely concluded, that the Flood only effected the Middle East. Noah knew the Flood was coming one hundred and twenty years before it began. That was ample time to move out of the area if it was only to be a local flood.

        The Bible says that "every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground".(Gen. 7:23) In Genesis 6:7, God stated he would destroy all living creatures that lived on the "face of the earth". Nothing in the Biblical account even vaguely limits the Flood to just the Middle East as some have suggested.

        There is overwhelming evidence all over the earth of the world wide scope of the Flood. A few of the evidences are listed below:

1. Ryrie, points out that there are over 270 flood stories around the globe.⁽¹⁰⁾ Most cultures have such stories, regarded now as myths, in their legends. The oldest know civilization yet discovered by archaeologists are the Sumerians. In the "Kings List" of these ancient peoples, there are several mentions to a great Deluge. One Sumerian tablet gives a full account of one man being saved by the gods from a great flood.⁽¹¹⁾

        In the ancient Assyrian-Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, found by archaeologists at Nineveh, in 1853, there is a story of a great flood. The boat was fives times larger than the Ark. The accounts states the wooden ship was covered with pitch the same as the Ark. The Babylonians state that Utanpishtim was the one who built the boat which preserved life during the great flood. This account although twisted to fit the pagan beliefs of the Babylonians does attest to the fact of knowledge in ancient times of a world wide flood.⁽¹²⁾

        Halley further lists the following flood stories from various cultures around the world:⁽¹³⁾

Greek: Deucalion, was warned the gods were going to destroy the earth with a great flood because of the people's wickedness. An ark saved him and finally rested on Mt. Parnassus. A dove was sent out twice.

Hindu: Manu, warned of a flood, built a ship an was the only one on earth saved.

Chinese: Fa-He, founder of Chinese civilization, escaped a great flood, sent because men had rebelled against God, and he was saved with his wife and three sons and daughters.

England: The Druids, record a man was saved because he was righteous in a strong ship from a great flood sent to destroy all wicked men on earth.

Polynesians: In their story eight escaped a great flood.

Mexicans: One man, with his wife and children are saved in a ship when a great flood destroys the earth.

Peruvians: One man, and one woman saved in a box that floated on the flood waters.

American Indians: Many legends in which one, three or eight persons were saved in a boat above waters on a high mountain.

Greenland: The earth tilted over and all men drowned, except for one man and woman who fathered the earth's people today.

        The wide spread stories of an ancient flood give evidence that there was common knowledge of a great flood by early man. If there was a world wide flood you would surely expect ancient people to record it.

        2. Every major mountain range on earth contains sea fossils. In addition the vast fossils beds found all over the earth attest to a world wide flood. Fossils are impressions of plants, animals and insects that have been preserved in sedimentary rock. The fossils were once living beings that died and were rapidly buried within water lain deposits of soils. After being buried, the soft parts of the fossil dissolved. However, the firmer parts such as bone and scales are replaced by chemical action and a stone impression was preserved in the rock which is generally shale and limestone. Fossils are exclusively found only in sedimentary rock. That means they are only formed by cataclysmic water action which a world wide flood would surely produce.

        It is interesting and enlightening to understand that geologists date rock by the fossils that they contain. Their method of reasoning is this: First, they assume that life on earth evolved. Primitive living organisms existed first in time and "evolved" into more complex live forms. Next, they make another assumption, and judge that the forces they find occurring on earth have always continued as they are today. Next, they judge that the sediments they find under the ground were placed there long ago, because today great deposits of sediment all over the earth are not being formed. The only sediments they observe are being slowly formed over many years. They then conclude that the deepest layers of sediment contain the oldest live forms that evolved on earth. Because sediments of the depth magnitude found take great amounts of time to be formed, they assume this means the sediments are millions of years old. Because the "hypothesis" (not even a theory) of evolution demands simple live forms existed in time first, they declare that they have proved evolution because in the deepest sediments you find simple live forms!!

        The problem with all this is that the whole sequence is based upon one assumption after another. First, if the earth were populated as the Bible states with all types of life forms and a great world wide flood came would you not expect to find buried in the first layers of sediment the small life forms such as lived on the bottoms of shallow seas. Would you not expect to find sea shells, trilobites, and other animals and plants that lived in the water in the first sediments deposited by the Flood? Would you also not expect to find in subsequent layers higher up larger life forms which died falling to the bottom and being covered by water lain sediments that lasted, as the Bible says, for over one year.

        Smaller animals because of their size and habitat were confined to a small area and could not escape the flood waters. Most larger animals would migrated to higher areas to try and escape the rising waters, but finally being overcome with the water they too would be killed and buried in the sediment. The larger the animal and the more able to move about the longer it could possibly avoid being drown and buried. Is it not extraordinary that is exactly what you find in the fossil record! Smaller life forms fossilized in the deepest layers and the higher you go, the larger the life forms! The fossil record attests to the occurrence of a catastrophic flood in the past that buried large numbers of animals that once being buried under sediment deposited by the flood waters became the fossils we find today.

        3. The earth is covered in sedimentary deposits indicating that in the past the earth was covered by water which is the only way these sediments could be produced. These sediments are in places several miles deep. The sediments are in layers. As the catastrophic geological forces were being released all over the earth by the Flood, great amounts of soils became water born and deposited. Great amounts of rock and stone were moved over all the earth by the flood waters. One example of water deposited soil and rock mixed together is the sedimentary rock called "conglomerate". It consists of rounded water-worn pebbles found in a harden mass of sand and gravel. Vast deposits of conglomerate are found all over the earth. One deposit that is found in the Canada and the western United States extents from Montana down into Arizona. Great layers of conglomerate are found under coal beds in Pennsylvania and adjacent states. Another layer found in Michigan and Wisconsin is 2,200 feet thick.⁽¹⁴⁾ There can be no doubt that these extensive accumulations of conglomerate were formed by some catastrophic event in the past when great expanses of water were turbulently cascading in these areas.

        4. The extinction of the dinosaurs is evidence of the catastrophic destructive forces of a world wide flood. Scientists today seem to be coming out with a new theory for the extinction of the dinosaurs every few months. The completely ignore the most plausible answer as to what killed these great beasts of the past. Dinosaurs are always found fossilized in sedimentary rock. This means they died in some water borne catastrophic because that is what forms sediment. The Bible says the climate of the earth was changed. After the Flood the dinosaurs who had in the pre-flood flourished so abundantly, found the post-flood world inhospitable. A few survived after the flood for some time, but eventually they died off and became extinct has thousands of species of live have. In the Book of Job, the oldest book of the Bible, God speaks of two creatures which were surely dinosaurs. In Chapter 40, and 41, the "behemoth and the leviathan" are described. Most Bible commentator refer to the creatures as being possibly a hippopotamus and a crocodile. But the descriptions do not fit these animals!

        Who would ever describe a hippo as "moving his tail like a cedar", or having his strength in is lions and the force in the navel of his belly? (Job 40:16-17)

        The Bible says the leviathan could not be caught with a hook, yet that is exactly how crocodiles are caught. Crocodiles also do not have close fitting scales (The meaning of verse 13) The Hebrew word "leviathan" means a "great water animal or serpent". The animal described best fits the description of a water dinosaur.

        5. The formation of glaciers. Science is can not explain what forces caused the formation of the glaciers. However, the formation of glaciers is what you would expect happen following the catastrophic changes on earth caused by the flood. With the great protective water canopy over the earth gone, the previously warm oceans would cool causing the northern and extreme areas of the globe to rapidly turn into a gigantic refrigerator. If you consider that there was a quick freezing in northern areas such as Siberia and Alaska, as evidenced by the freezing of giant mammoths, flood waters there would also be quick frozen and this could have been the beginning of glaciers. Later as the earth warmed the ice retreated to the present location of the polar ice capes.

        6. The vast deposits of coal and oil found all over the earth can logically only be explained by understanding that the earth before the Flood was much different than it is now. There is no force on earth today capable of forming the great oil and coal fields found all over the earth. Coal and oil are formed when plant life is rapidly buried and covered by sedimentary deposits. Further the plant matter must also be placed rapidly under great pressures. This is what you would expect to find following global flooding of a lush green earth that had a climate like that of a green house. The plant matter would be rapidly buried under sediments and pressures caused by the weight of the sediments and several miles of water would create coal and oil. With out being rapidly buried and put under pressure the plant matter would decay and no coal or oil be formed.

        7. Vast deposits of fossilized plants, insects and animal life attest to the occurrence of a catastrophic flood on the earth. Fossils are formed only when they are rapidly buried by sediment and placed under pressure. During a great flood you would expect vast numbers of life on earth to be buried and preserved. It is not interesting that on earth today, few if any fossils are being preserved! Why? The force to make them in vast amounts, such as the Great Flood, is no longer operating.

        8. The drift of the continents. Recent mapping of the ocean floors show clear evidence of great changes in the face of the earth. There is much evidence that the continents have moved from their positions in the past. The Bible in Genesis 10:25, states, "An unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided. . .". Many believe this is a reference to the separation of the continents from one giant land mass scientists call, "Pangaea", into there present positions. Most geologist today in examining the shapes of the continents conclude they in the past were connected. The present shape of the eastern shores of North and South America fix almost glove-like to Africa and Europe. Other areas of the globe also follow the same pattern. Australia seems to fix perfectly to the eastern coast of Africa and southern Asia. One must conclude that there is great evidence the continent were once connected. The early connection of the continents would explain how the America's and Australia were inhabited.

        9. Frozen mammoths found in permafrost with undigested food in their mouths and stomachs attest to the fact some catastrophic event in the past occurred and caused them to be frozen within minutes. Surely no such force is operating on earth today.

        10. Formation of large pools of water left by the receding flood waters. Lake Bonneville in Utah is an excellent example.

        11. Formation of great canyons such as the Grand Canyon, as vast amounts of mud and water flow off the land as the waters recede.

        12. The absolute authority is that God said it happened in His Word the Bible.

        As stated earlier every animal, insect, bird and man died in the flood. Only those that were in the Ark were preserved. God's provision for man and his ultimate plan of salvation was riding on the waters of the flood. God was destroying wicked man, but at the same time providing the means of salvation of the one righteous man on earth Noah, and his family. Consider also that the hope of all those that have believed and trusted God and died before the Flood rested in God's provision for Noah and his family. Because God saved Noah, the line of Seth, was continued and Christ later came to earth born of a virgin a descendent of Shem.

        This figure of one hundred and fifty days includes the first forty days of rain and the breaking up of the water caverns of the deep. The rains stopped on the fortieth day, however the waters continued to rise for one hundred and ten more days making a total of one hundred and fifty days.

1. The Genesis Record, Henry M. Morris, page 190.

2. Chart titled, "Geological Time and the History of Life in North America", Published by Dinosaur National Monument in Vernal, Utah.

3. "Creation Research Quarterly", Vol. 14, June 1977, Article "The catastrophic Deep-Freeze of the Beresovka Mommoth", pgs 5-12.

4. "Bible-Science Newletter", Vol. 23, No. 4, April 1985, Article "The Mystery of the Frozen Giants", by Lee Grady, pg 2.

5. The Illustrated Colombia Encyclopedia, William Bridgwater and Symour Kurta, Colombia University Press, New York & London, Volume 13, 1956, pg 3851.

6. The World That Perished, by John C. Whitcomb, Jr.,Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Mich., 1981, page 40.

7. 1. The "Big Bang" is the popular theory today among evolutionists to explain the origin of the Universe. The theory is that all matter in the Universe about five billion years ago was condensed into one super heated mass, that exploded throwing matter in all directions. This matter flying through space formed the bodies in the Universe we see today.

8. The Earth's Dynamic Systems, by W. Kenneth Hamblin, Burgess Publishing Company, Minneapolis, Minn., 1975, Chapter 22, "Evolution of the Continents", page 362.

9. "Bible-Science Newsletter", Volume 17, July 1979, No. 7., "Five Minutes with the Bible and Science", page 3.

10. The Ryrie Study Bible, Charles C. Ryrie, Moody Press, Chicago, Ill, 1978, page 17.

11. Halley's Bible Handbook, by Henry H. Halley, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Mich, 1965, page 80.

12. Unger's Bible Handbook, by Merrill F. Unger, Moody Press, Chicago, 1967, page 48.

13. Halley's, page 75.

14. How to Know the Minerals and Rocks, Richard M. Pearl, Signet Key Book, The American Library, New York, 1955, page 167.