A Prophecy of Esau and Jacob

Genesis 7

¹ And the Lord said unto Noah, “Come thou and all thy house into the ark, for thee have I seen righteous before Me in this generation. — thou and all thy family; which consisted only of eight persons; Noah and his three sons, and their four wives, Genesis 6:18.

² Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female; and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. — of every clean beast; of all clean cattle, thou shalt take to thee by sevens; or seven pairs.

³ Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female, to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. — of every clean fowls; by sevens or seven pairs.

⁴ For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.” — yet seven days; or after seven days;

— and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights: this was not an ordinary but an extraordinary rain, and the quantity of water that fell;

⁵ And Noah did according unto all that the Lord commanded him. — and Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him; he prepared for his entrance into the ark, and all the creatures with him; got everything ready for them, the rooms for their habitation, and food for their sustenance;

⁶ And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth. — Noah was six hundred years old; it follows that Shem was about one hundred years of age (Genesis 5:32), and his two brothers were all married, though apparently without children;

⁷ And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him into the ark, because of the waters of the flood. — and Noah went in, and his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark;

— within the space of the seven days, between the command of God to go into it, and the coming of the flood; or rather on the seventh day, on which it began to rain; when he saw it was coming on;

⁸ Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth, — of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean; there were no mention of a distinction between clean and not clean in the beasts, birds and the creeping things; or, perhaps, distinction were made but were not written down;

— the behemoth (H930 ḇə·hê·mō·wṯ), or known as as dinosaur in Job 40:15, is not mentioned in this verse or anywhere hereabout; indicating they were not in the ark;

⁹ there went in two by two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female as God had commanded Noah. — there went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, being impressed with an instinct from God so to do; or by the ministry of angels;

¹⁰ And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were upon the earth. — and it came to pass after seven days; were ended, or on the seventh day, after God had given the orders to Noah, to prepare for his going into the ark, with his family, and all the creatures;

¹¹ In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, that same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. — the second month; either of the one sacred, for the celebration of feasts, beginning in March; or the other civil, for men’s political or civil affairs, beginning in September;

— Masoretic, the Flood was 1656 after the creation of Adam: Seth (130 Gen 5:3); Enosh (105 Gen 5:6); Cainan (90 Gen 5:9); Mahalalee (70 Gen 5:12); Jared (65 Gen 5:15); Enoch (162 Gen 5:18); Methuselah (65 Gen 5:21); Lamech (187 Gen 5:25); Noah (182 Gen 7:28-29) Noah (600 Gen 7:6,11) = 1656

— Septuagint, the Flood was 2242 after the creation of Adam: Seth (230 Gen 5:3); Enosh (205 Gen 5:6); Cainan (190 Gen 5:9); Mahalalee (170 Gen 5:12); Jared (165 Gen 5:15); Enoch (162 Gen 5:18); Methuselah (165 Gen 5:21); Lamech (167 Gen 5:25); Noah (188 Gen 5:28-29); Noah (600 Gen 7:6,11) = 2242 (a difference of 586 years)

— Samaritan, the Flood was 1407 after the creation of Adam: Seth (130 Gen 5:3); Enosh (105 Gen 5:6); Cainan (90 Gen 5:9); Mahalalee (70 Gen 5:12); Jared (65 Gen 5:15); Enoch (162 Gen 5:18); Methuselah (65 Gen 5:21); Lamech (67 Gen 5:25); Noah (53 Gen 7:28-29) Noah (600 Gen 7:6,11) = 1407 (a difference of 249 years from the Masoretic Text)

— Targum of Jonathan and the Peshitta both went along with the Masoretic figures; whereas the Armenian largely went along with the Greek Septuagint; both are of Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

¹² And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. — forty days and forty nights; so long it was falling upon it, after the windows of heaven were opened.

¹³ In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark — a threefold description of the entrance of Noah and his retinue into the ark, first in the command, next in the actual process during the seven days, and, lastly, in the completed act on the seventh day;

¹⁴ they, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort. — they, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind; all sorts of beasts and cattle, reckoned one hundred and thirty sorts, by some one hundred and fifty, including serpents;

¹⁵ And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two by two of all flesh wherein is the breath of life. — two by two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life; they that went by sevens; being seven couples, as they went by pairs;

¹⁶ And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him; and the Lord shut him in. — went in male and female of all flesh; that is, two by two;

¹⁷ And the flood was forty days upon the earth, and the waters increased and bore up the ark, and it was lifted up above the earth. — the flood was increasing for forty days; the waters rose so high, that the tops of the highest mountains were overflowed;

Orthodox Judaism says this happens in the year 1656 from Adam; but Josephus says 2656 from Adam, (Antiquities: book 1 chapter 3, section 3); a difference of a thousand years;

— a difference of a thousand years to reconcile:

¹⁸ And the waters prevailed and were increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark went upon the face of the waters. — it raised the ark above the earth and above the mountains, and, on the other, destroyed every living being upon the dry land, from man to cattle, creeping things and birds;

¹⁹ And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth, and all the high hills that were under the whole heaven were covered. — all the high hills, and the mountains were covered; there were hills and mountains before the flood, and that these were not caused by the deluge.

²⁰ Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail, and the mountains were covered. — fifteen cubits would be about twenty-two feet;

²¹ And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl and of cattle and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: — all the men, women, and children, that were in the world, excepting those in the ark, died;

²² all in whose nostrils was the breath of life, all that was on the dry land, died. — all flesh, fowl, cattle, and creeping thing, died;

²³ And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man and cattle, and the creeping things and the fowl of the heaven, and they were destroyed from the earth. And Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. — of the millions of creatures that were upon the earth (except those who dwell in the sea), none was left, the flood came and destroyed them all;

²⁴ And the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days. — fifty and a hundred days; these, and the forty days of rain, make one hundred and ninety days: about six lunar months and thirteen days;

— this number “one hundred and ninety days” coincides with Ezekiel 4 in the Septuagint version where Ezekiel was asked to sleep for the iniquity for Israel: for more, see Ezekiel Timeline – 190/40 Years

Genesis 8

¹ And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters were assuaged. — Noah, who having heard nothing of him for five months, and having been perhaps longer in the ark than expected, might begin to think that he was forgotten of God; but God remembered him;

² The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. — the subterraneous waters in great quantity upon the earth, and the clouds of heaven, which poured down water upon it like spouts, were stopped from sending forth any more;

³ And the waters returned from off the earth continually, and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated. — the waters returned from off the earth; a vast wave from the sea had swept over the land, in addition to the forty days of rain; now it has return back to the ocean;

⁴ And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. — the ark rested upon one of the mountains of Ararat; some, Josephus and the Targum of Jonathan, think one of those mountains in Armenia, for other loose cannons, in Turkey;

⁵ 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. — the ark rested; it is stranded on some hill in Ararat; this country forms part of Armenia;

⁶ And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. — at the end of forty days; it is easy to imagine the ardent longing Noah and his family must have felt to enjoy again the sight of land as well as breathe the fresh air;

⁷ And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth. — Noah sent forth a raven; through the window of the ark; which wentback and forth; until the waters were dried up from the earth;

⁸ Also he sent forth a dove from him to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground; — Noah sent forth the dove a second time, probably seven days after the first time, and the third time was after seven days too after the sending forth of the raven;

⁹ but the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. Then he put forth his hand and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark. — the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot; because the tops of the hills which then could not be landed;

¹⁰ And he stayed yet another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. — and he stayed yet other seven days; as he had stayed seven days between the sending out of the raven and the dove, so he stayed seven days more after he had sent out the dove, and it returned to him;

¹¹ And the dove came in to him in the evening, and lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off; so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. — so Noah knew the waters were abated from off the earth: by this he perceived not only that they were gone off the mountains, but the lower grounds, at least the hills on which olive trees delight to grow;

¹² And he stayed yet another seven days and sent forth the dove, which returned not again unto him any more. — which returned not again unto him any more: the earth being dry, it found rest for the sole of its feet, sufficient food to eat; and liking to be at liberty in the open air, chose not to return to the ark;

¹³ And it came to pass in 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; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry.

— and, behold, the face of the ground was dry; the ground or surface of the earth looked dry; but was not so dry and hard as to bear heavy bodies, or the foot to tread on it, being soft and tender;

¹⁴ And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried. — Noah delays apparently another month, and, on the first day of the new year, ventures to remove the covering of the ark;

¹⁵ And God spoke unto Noah, saying, — and God spake unto Noah, saying; whether in a dream or vision, or by an articulate voice, appearing in an human form, or by an impulse on his mind, is not certain;

¹⁶ “Go forth from the ark, thou and thy wife, and thy sons and thy sons’ wives with thee. — Go forth of the ark; though the earth was dry and fit to be inhabited, yet they would not go out without orders, as he had to go in; which he waited for before he would, and now he has them;

¹⁷ Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee of all flesh, both of fowl and of cattle and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply upon the earth.”

— Question: how could these creatures which came out of the ark in Asia get thence to America, Australia, like the slow moving koalas or to the islands remote from the continent? A: perhaps with the help of angels;

¹⁸ And Noah went forth, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. — and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him: in all eight persons, and no more were saved in the ark;

— interestingly the Chinese symbol for “boat” or 船 is made of 舟 (which means vessel), 八 (meaning eight) and 口 (meaning mouth); 船 literally translate “eight people in the boat.” This character was used in the ancient Chinese story of Noah’s ark.

¹⁹ Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark. — after their kind; not in a confused disorderly manner, mixing with one another; but as they went in by pairs, male and female of every sort, so they came forth in like manner;

²⁰ And Noah built an altar unto the Lord, and took of every clean beast and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. — Noah builded an altar; literally, “a high place” probably a mound of earth, on which a sacrifice was offered;

²¹ And the Lord smelled a sweet savor; and the Lord said in His heart, “I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake, for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. — the Lord said in his heart; same as “I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth” Isaiah 54:9.

²² While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” — while the earth remaineth; literally, as yet, all the days of the earth, that is, henceforth, so long as the earth continues.

~ by Joel on July 9, 2024.

Posted in Books of Moses