Genesis 7:10 Commentary and Bible Study

Moses refers us back to chapter one, and the waters above the firmament, in the atmosphere above, the great vapour layer that was described at the creation of the world, and the subterranean water. And the waters seem to come from both directions. The figures indicating the duration of the rain are given repeatedly in this passage; it is very precise – forty days and forty nights. Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife [we do not know her name], and the three wives of his sons with them, enter the ark, and then all the animals. These are dramatic words. The downpour must have been tremendous, far beyond anything we see today. The rain was upon the earth 40 days and 40 nights, and as it began, or just before, in the self-same day, entered Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth. So the flood begins. ‘And the Lord shut him in’ – it is a simple little phrase. Why? Could Noah not close the door behind him? Presumably, it was at a sufficiently low level to load, not just the family, but all the animals. And down at that level, it would have to be well and truly sealed to survive the waters. And this is a figure of salvation as well as a literal vessel, and so God must see to the security. This is the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, or if you like the preservation of the saints. In that ark, they would be absolutely safe. Everyone else would perish, but they would be safe. They were sealed in by the hand of God.It was now too late for any outside to change their mind about seeking refuge on the ark. Certainly Noah would have welcomed any who came before the door was shut, but none did, and now it was too late. So, we are told, in the parable of the ten virgins that when the bridegroom came, ‘they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut’ (Matthew 25:10). But the foolish virgins were still outside and could not persuade anyone on the inside to reopen the door. Similarly, Christ impresses on all the urgency of repentance when he says, ‘Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are’ (Luke 13:24-25). It was God who shut the door of the ark, not Noah, and it is the Lord who will determine when all the elect have been gathered in and no more will be admitted.