Time and Place. (8)

The Scriptural association of chronology and topography
to doctine and purpose. - Charles H. Welch

#8. The chronology and typical dates of the Flood (Gen. vii., viii.). 

               The simple, straightforward register of births and deaths that providesthe chronological link between Adam and the Flood, carries with it the conviction of truth. 

We now come to the record of the flood itself and upon examination find in it a number of interrelated dates so connected with the narrative that they can be neither removed nor altered without dislocating the whole. Seen in their true place, as records of actual fact, they vivify the story and place the narrative upon the high ground of actual history. 

Let us first of all assemble our data. 

   “For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights” (Gen. vii. 4). 

   “And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth” (Gen. vii. 6). 

  “And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth” (Gen. vii. 10). 

 “In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened, and the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights” (Gen. vii. 11, 12). 

  “And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days” (Gen. vii. 24). 

  “And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated” (Gen. viii. 3). 

 “And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat” (Gen. viii. 4). 

 “And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month were the tops of the mountains seen” (Gen. viii. 5).

 “And it came to pass at the end of the forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made” (Gen. viii. 6). 

 “He stayed yet another seven days: and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark” (Gen. viii. 10). 

“And he stayed yet another seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more” (Gen. viii. 12).

 “And it came to pass on the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth” (Gen. viii. 13). 

 “And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried” (Gen. viii. 14). 

We cannot help but be struck with the opening and closing dates given here. In order that the evidence may be the better seen let us use figures, instead of spelling out the numbers. 

Years when the flood came: 600th year of Noah. 

Year when the waters were dried up: 601st year, 1st month, 1st day. 

Six is the number of man, of labour, of failure, and of the measurement of time. Seven is associated with perfection, rest, and attainment. It is significant that Noah, whose name means “rest”, and of whom the word “perfect” is first used (Gen. vi. 9), should at the close of his 600th year experience the flood and the deliverance of the ark, and that the drying up of the waters of judgment should coincide with the New Year’s day of Noah’s seventh century. The type is too clear to be missed, and, linked together with the witness of the first chapter of Genesis, makes us certain that all has been ordered according to a mighty plan. 

If we were asked to say how many days there were in five months, we should have to ask for a clear statement as to the word “month”. The first five months in our calendar have 31, 28, (29), 31, 30, 31 days, so that we should require to know what months were intended before a total could be reached. But the Hebrew month was a period of 30 days which gave 360 days for 12 months, leaving 5 days to be accounted for. Time was measured by the revolution of the sun, as it is to this day, and the year was one of 365 days. The feast, however, were regulated by the revolution of the moon. 

“Blow up the trumpet in the new moon” (Psa. lxxxi. 3). 

“Your new moons and your appointed feasts” (Isa. i. 14). 

“Burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and drink offerings, in the feasts, and in the new moons, and in the sabbaths, in all the solemnities of the house of Israel” (Ezek. xlv. 17). 

We must not make the mistake of imagining that the Hebrew names and number of months must necessarily have been used by Adam, Noah or Abraham: we can only be tolerably certain that no radical changes could have been made at Sinai, for day and night, summer and winter, remained unaltered, and the length of the solar year is independent of any dispensational change among the sons of men. As can be seen from the following data, the narrative of the flood contains positive proof of the average length of a month.

The flood commenced on the 17th day of the 2nd month and the ark rested on the 17th day of the 7th month. Thus we have an interval of exactly 5 months, which Gen. viii. 3, 4 declares to be 150 days. A month therefore must have averaged 30 days. We cannot, however, be dogmatic and say that a month must have been 30 days because the Hebrews reckoned 30 days to the month except when they saw the new moon on the 30th, which then became the 1st day of the new month. 

Kennedy, a chronologer of the eighteenth century, makes the length of time during which Noah was in the ark exactly 365 days. He maintained that Moses measures time by solar years, and computes time by lunar years. His attitude to the Scriptures encourages one to give him a hearing, for he says: 

“The Hebrew text has never been corrupted in the article of Chronology by Jew or Pagan, by chance or design. It is not more certain that there is a sun and moon in the heavens than it is that not a single error of the press, or of Jewish transcriber, has crept into the present copies of the Hebrew Massoretic Text, to give the least interruption to its chronological years.” 

Returning to details, and, particularly, typical foreshadowings, let us look at Gen. viii. 4. 

“The ark rested in the 7th month, on the 17th day of the month.” What is there suggestive about these dates? At first, nothing, but when we remember that in the month Abib, the month of the Passover, Moses instructed the Israelites to reckon that month “the beginning of months, the first month of the year to you” (Exod. xii. 1, 2), we discover that the 17th day of the 7th month is a date to be noted. The 7th month became the 1st month. The Passover was observed on the 14th, and on the 17th the Lord was raised from the dead, consequently, the specific date of the resting of the ark on the mountains of Ararat becomes one of intensely typical importance. 

The rain was upon the earth 40 days and 40 nights. This is the first occurrence of this critical number in the Scriptures. It is the number of trial. We immediately think of the 40 days occupied by the spies in spying out the Land, with the consequent 40 years wandering in the wilderness, (Numb. xiii. 26; xiv. 34); or of the 40 days of Jonah iii. 4; or of the 40 days preceding the temptation in the wilderness (Matt. iv. 2). 

Again we see how complete, and how satisfactory is the account given of the flood, and its particular events. May these studies confirm our faith that these Scriptures are inspired, authoritative and trustworthy. 

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(From The Berean Expositor, vol. 34, page 183).

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