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How is the Divine care towards Noah and the other inmates of the ark expressed? v. 1. 'Remembered,' i. e. he put forth an act of renewed and reviving care;' the word here signifies a special act of favor, a merciful visitation, rather than a constant mindfulness: He remembered him by making the wind to pass over the earth.

By what means were the waters assuaged? Was this effect of the wind miraculous? Ps. 107. 25.

Accordingly the Chald. Paraph, calls it a wind or spirit of mercies.'—' Assuaged,' Heb. 'stilled, quieted; applied to the assuaging of anger, Est. 2. 1, and of murmurings, Num. 17. 5.

What else was done to arrest the progress of the flood? v. 2.

Were stopped,' Gr.' were covered.'

How is the gradual abatement or ebbing of the waters expressed? v. 3.

Continually; Heb. 'in going and returning.'

After what length of time did they thus abate, and in what month did the ark rest? v. 3, 1.

This is the same period of 150 days as that mentioned above, ch, 7. 21. The seventh month' was not the seventh from the commencement of the flood, but of the year. The flood had now continued precisely five months,

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Did the ark rest before the mountain-tops were seen, and how long before? v. 4, 5.

Tops; Heb. 'heads.'-'Upon the mountains of Ararat; i. c. upon one of the mountains. Thus, Judg. 12. 7, And he was buried in the cities of Gilead,' i. e.

in one of the cities. Jonah 1. 5, But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship;' i. e. into one of the sides.

In what part of the world are the mountains of Ararat situated?

Supposed to be in Armenia, a country contiguous to Assyria and Mesopotamia. In that region a noted mountain still bears the name of Ararat. The Persians in the neighborhood call it "Kuhi Naach,' mountain of Noah. It is one of the loftiest mountains in all the eastern world, rising from a plain in Armenia, not far from Erivan, its capital; and elevating its summit above the region of snow to that of eternal ice, which glitters under the burning sun of summer. The magnitude of the peak is constantly increasing, in consequence of the incessant accumulation of ice. No one has ever ascended it, and its steepness, with the ice upon its summit, renders ascent impossible. The tradition, says Rosenmuller, that the ark lodged here when the waters of the flood subsided, is confirmed by the most weighty testimony of antiquity, and is one of the oldest which has reached us.

What did Noah do at the end of forty days from this time? v. 6, 7.

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To and fro; Heb. 'In going and returning.'- Window; Heb. Hallon.' It has been before remarked that the word rendered window' in this place, and Gen. 6. 16, are far from being the same. The prevailing usage of Hallon,' seems to be to denote a dome or observatory, on the top of a house in which were one or more apertures or windows for looking out. See note on Gen. 26. 8-11. Such an appendage we suppose Noah formed to the ark, and when it is said v. 13, that he removed the covering of the ark, to see if the earth had become dry,' we conceive it to have been the covering spread over this observatory, and over no other part of the roof. It is difficult to conceive the use of a covering of cloth or skins thrown

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over the whole roof of the ark, and if such an appendage hung over the eves, and before the apertures in the sides, it would of course have excluded the light and the air from the cells of the animals. The following extract from the Bibliothica Biblica, vol. ii. Occas. Annot. in the Appendix, is highly deserving of notice. That it was customary among the Jews, to have a room in the upper part of their houses, (i. e. constructed on the flat roofs, common in the eastern countries,) set apart for Divine worship, in Heb, called beth-alijah; in Gr. huperoon, and in Lat. oratorium; and that in this place of prayer there was always a hhalon, a hole, or window, which pointed to the Kebla, or place whereunto they directed their worship, is evident from several passages of Scripture. Among the Jewish constitutions in the code called berachoth, there is a certain canon grounded upon this custom; That no man shall pray but in a room where there is a hhalon, opening toward the holy city;' and of Daniel it is positively related, that when he knew that the decree for his destruction was signed, he went into his house, and his hhalon, his window, being opened in his chamber towards Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, as he did aforetime;' for that this was not a common window, but one dedicated to religious worship is plain, from the people's discovering by its being open, that he was at prayer. Now as the practice among the Jews of worshipping in upper rooms, with their faces towards a hole or window in the wall, was never introduced by any positive law, and yet universally prevailing, it is reasonable to believe that at first it was derived from Noah, and that the windows in their oratories were made in imitation of his hhalon, or point of adoration in the ark.' See Gleig's Hist. of the Bib. vol. i. p. 92.

As it does not appear that the raven again returned into the ark, though he probably came back to it, upon what may we suppose he subsisted? See Prov. 30. 17.

By the ravens of the valley,' is probably meant the ravens frequenting the valley of dead bodies,' mentioned Jer. 31. 40, where the carcasses of malefactors were cast out and devoured by birds of prey. From this it is perhaps to be inferred, that the raven sent out by Noah, subsisted upon the carcasses of the dead which may have floated upon the waters, or been deposited upon the summits of the mountains.

What did he next send forth, and with what success? v. 8, 9.

A dove.' A bird tenderly attached to its mate, and therefore more likely to return. From its being said v. 10, that he waited other seven days,' it appears that the dove was sent out seven days after the raven. In this fact there is an intimation that the weekly division of time was observed by Noah in the ark.-The waters were on the face of the whole earth;' i. e. upon all the flat regions in contradistinction from the mountains, the tops of which were now exposed to view. Pulled; Heb. 'caused to come.'

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How long before the dove was again sent forth, and what the result? v. 10, 11.

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Stayed,' Heb.waited patiently,' Ps. 40. 1.- Again he sent,' Heb. he added to send.' Thus, v. 12, re turned not again,' Heb. added not to return;' v. 21, 'will not again curse the ground, Heb. will not add to curse.'-Olive-leaf;' rather, olive-branch or twig,' as in Neh. 8. 15, where the same original phrase is rendered olive-branches.'

Of what has the olive, in consequence of this circumstance, become the emblem?

Was the dove again sent out, and with what results? v. 12.

What was the temper strikingly displayed by Noah under these circumstances? Ps. 40. 1.

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At what time were the waters dried up from the earth, and how did Noah discover the fact? v. 13.

This covering' was perhaps made of skins like that of the Tabernacle, Ex. 26. 14, and thrown over the observatory, on the roof of the ark. He took a station therefore from which his eye might command the most extensive prospect.

How long after this before the ground was sufficiently dried to permit them to leave the ark? v. 14.

What was the exact time of the continuance of the flood, and of Noah's abiding in the ark? The following table may be considered as presenting as correct a calendar of the time as the history will admit of.

A. ET. N. M. D.

600.

66

2. 17. Noah-enters the ark-fountains

3. 27.

7.

17.

10. 1.

11.

11.

66

18.

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1.

broken up.

Forty days rain elapsed-ark
borne up and floating.
One hundred and fifty days (in-
cluding the 40) elapsed-ark
begins to rest.

Mountain tops become visible.
Raven sent out.

Dove sent out-returned.

Dove again sent out-returned.
Dove again sent out-returned

not.
Unaccounted for in the narrative.
Waters dried from off the sur-
face-the body of the earth
still saturated with moisture.
27. Ground fully dried, Noah leaves
the ark.

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