In the six hundredth year of his life Noah is commanded by God to enter
the ark, taking with him his wife, and his three sons with their wives
(Genesis 7:1-10).
The rain begins on the seventeenth day of the second month (Genesis
7:11-17).
The rain ceases, the waters prevail, fifteen cubits upward (Genesis
7:18-24).
The ark grounds on one of the mountains of Ararat on the seventeenth day
of the seventh month, or one hundred and fifty days after the Deluge began
(Genesis 8:1-4).
Tops of the mountains visible on the first day of the tenth month (Genesis
8:5).
Raven and dove sent out forty days after this (Genesis 8:6-9).
Dove again sent out seven days afterwards; and in the evening she returns
with an olive leaf in her mouth (Genesis 8:10, 11).
Dove sent out the third time after an interval of other seven days, and
returns no more (Genesis 8:12).
The ground becomes dry on the first day of the first month of the new
year (Genesis 8:13).
Noah leaves the ark on the twenty-seventh day of the second month
(Genesis 8:14-19).
The historical truth of the narrative of the Flood is established by the
references made to it by our Lord (Matthew 24:37; comp. Luke 17:26).
Peter speaks of it also (1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 2:5). In Isaiah 54:9 the Flood
is referred to as “the waters of Noah.” The Biblical narrative clearly shows
that so far as the human race was concerned the Deluge was universal; that
it swept away all men living except Noah and his family, who were
preserved in the ark; and that the present human race is descended from
those who were thus preserved.
Traditions of the Deluge are found among all the great divisions of the
human family; and these traditions, taken as a whole, wonderfully agree
with the Biblical narrative, and agree with it in such a way as to lead to the
conclusion that the Biblical is the authentic narrative, of which all these
traditions are more or less corrupted versions. The most remarkable of