Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“In the same day Noah, and Shem, Ham, and Japheth—the sons of Noah—and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered into the ship— they, and every animal after its kind, all the livestock after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. Pairs from all flesh with the breath of life in them went into the ship to Noah. Those who went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God commanded him; then Yahweh shut him in.”
(Genesis 7:13-16)

These verses imply imperfect obedience. Noah believed. Noah gathered his family. Noah entered the ark. But did he do it seven days before the Flood began when he was INVITED to (Genesis 7:1-4)? Or did he wait until the first raindrops start to get inside? Was it that he didn’t believe that it would really happen? That’s hard to swallow considering he built the ark. He gathered the food for all who would be in the ark. He supervised the animals getting into their places once God brought them. Why do all of that if deep down you don’t really believe? I think that the unspoken thing here is that Noah was trying to get others to believe as he did and come inside. Peter tells us that Noah preached righteousness (2 Peter 2:5). Proverbs tells us that we should seek to save those who are going to die (Proverbs 24:11-12). I think that Noah was INVITED to enter and they prepared their places, but I think Noah waited to the very last minute to try and get someone, ANYONE to believe, repent, and join them.

These verses tell us that God brought the animals in pairs of male and female. Humans had no part in gathering them. God brought them and they obeyed God and entered the ark. Animals that in nature we see at each other’s throats suppressed their natural urges and natures, obeying God’s words and submitting to His will. They came, they entered, and they did not hurt each other during the entire Flood.

God shut the ark. Noah didn’t do it. I don’t think Noah could be TRUSTED to do it. I think he would have left it open right up until water was coming in to give people a chance to choose to get inside. But people in an emergency will say anything and behave any way they need to in order to save themselves. It does not mean their hearts are changed. God sees into our hearts. God knew the decisions these people had made. The true and real and honest and deep decisions. When it was too late for them to change their minds. When it was too late to make a free decision to embrace His ways, will, and moral character. That was when God closed the door. Once He had closed it, no one was going to get inside no matter what. I’ve heard it said that if the ark was still intact in the world, we would find fingernails logged in the door – left by people trying to claw their way in as the rain fell and the waters rose. Noah could NEVER stand by and let that happen. God shut the door to keep the cancer out and judge those who wanted to save their lives, but never submit to God’s truth and righteousness. We will find the same people in hell today. Suffering. Begging for release. But not ONE of them willing to submit to Jesus to do so. God SENDS no one to hell. People CHOOSE to go because they REFUSE to submit to Jesus (John 3:16-18). It’s the ONLY way to get judged by God. But once you willingly and completely in full knowledge of the truth choose it? You get judged. God shuts the door. He wants you saved more than you do (2 Peter 3:9), but when it is too late, it is too late.

If one ‘kind’ of every animal went into the ark, and then later perpetuated by breeding, only about 1,400 ‘kinds’ needed to enter the ark to produce all the myriad of species that we see today. Not every kind of cat needed to enter the ark. Only a pair of the ‘original’ kind. God made this Earth and the living creatures in it to be ABUNDANT (fruitful) and MULTIPLY and FILL the Earth. God didn’t need to save everything. God saved the exact building blocks needed to fill the Earth. Humans could never have figured this out on our own (we struggle with the idea today). That’s why God brought them and only told Noah to care for them (feed and protect).

The sage Radak writes: ‘בעצם היום הזה, on this very date, the 17th day of the second month, after Noach had entered the ark. How do we reconcile this statement with the verses 4-6 from which we deduced that Noach entered the ark already 7 days before the onset of the deluge? We must conclude that whereas the animals entered the ark at the beginning of the seven day period, Noach, who entered with them and made things comfortable for them, still commuted between the ark and his regular home. It is possible that even the animals and the birds still grazed in the vicinity of the ark, knowing that as soon as the rains would start their place was only inside the ark. They did not look forward to having to spend any more time than absolutely necessary for their survival inside the ark. On the seventh day, i.e. the 17th of the month, they all entered the ark for the last time prior to the earth having dried sufficiently after the deluge to enable them to disembark. As soon as everybody was inside, Noach locked the exit door, as well as the window which he had built into the roof of the ark, seeing the waters of the deluge would commence to descend on this very day.’

Rabbeinu Bahya writes: ‘בא נח ושם וחם ויפת בני נח ואשת נח וגו’ , “Noach, Shem, Cham, and Yaphet, Noach’s sons and his wife entered, etc.” By rights the Torah should have written: בא נח ושם וחם ויפת בניו ואשתו ושלשת נשי בניו, in that order. [Had the Torah written the verse in that way it could have avoided mentioning the name Noach three times in that verse.] However, Noach was so beloved of G-d that G-d wanted to mention his name repeatedly in order to convey this to us. It is a common practice amongst people that when they are especially fond of someone they look for opportunities to refer to such a person by his name.’

The sage Steinsaltz writes: ‘And they that came, male and female from all flesh came, as God had commanded him; and the Lord shut it for him. Due to the unparalleled intensity of the waters of the flood, which came from above and below, God’s own special closing of the ark, as it were, was required to prevent water from penetrating inside.’