Session 7

Wait (Genesis 8:10-14)

the final thing Noah did while in the ark.

10 So Noah waited seven more days and sent out the dove from the ark again.
11 When the dove came to him at evening, there was a plucked olive leaf in its beak.
So Noah knew that the water on the earth’s surface had gone down.
12 After he had waited another seven days, he sent out the dove,
but it did not return to him again.
13 In the six hundred first year, in the first month, on the first day of the month,
the water that had covered the earth was dried up.
Then Noah removed the ark’s cover and saw that the surface of the ground was drying.
14 By the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the earth was dry.

Overview:

Noah’s family and the animals were inside the ark for more than a year.
Refer to Genesis 7:11 and 8:14.

Genesis 7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day
all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened.

Genesis 8:14 In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.

Explain:

Explain the difference between ravens and doves.
The release of a raven (v. 7) and a dove (vv. 8-12)
was an effort to determine if the water had receded enough to allow the inhabitants of the ark to exit.

• The raven was an unclean animal and not fit for food or sacrifice.
• The dove could be used for both.
• The raven, as a scavenger, would live on whatever was found from the devastation-including animal carcasses.
• The raven represented the wickedness of the world before the flood and departed from the ark so a new day might begin.
• The dove, identified with purity, played a key role in this story.

Also note the meaning of the olive leaf. The dove with the olive leaf in its beak has long been a Christian symbol of peace and of God’s Spirit.

It points to the redemption and restoration God enacted through the rescue of Noah.
It also points to the coming of new life in Christ.
For Noah, the olive leaf was a signal of hope
that the water had receded enough for plant life to emerge.

Explain why Noah waited seven days to release the dove.

The waiting period observed by Noah could point backward to the seven days of Creation.
It also could echo the seven days between Noah and his family
entering the ark and the beginning of the flood.

Ask:

• Why does God put us in situations where we have to wait? (p. 63)

Transition:

Once it was clear that the ground was dry,
Noah, his family, and the animals were free to leave the ark.