GENESIS CHAPTER SEVEN OVERVIEW
Overall what is happening in this chapter is that Noah finishes the ark, gets it loaded and endures the flood.
Matthew Henry (Concise Commentary) – Genesis 7
1. Noah, and his family and the living creatures, enter the ark, and the flood begins. (Genesis 7:1-12)
2. Noah shut in the ark. (Genesis 7:13-16)
3. The increase of the flood for forty days. (Genesis 7:17-20)
4. All flesh is destroyed by the flood. (Genesis 7:21-24)
Matthew Henry (1714) – Genesis 7
In this chapter we have the performance of what was foretold in the foregoing chapter, both concerning the destruction of the old world and the salvation of Noah; for we may be sure that no word of God shall fall to the ground. There we left Noah busy about his ark, and full of care to get it finished in time, while the rest of his neighbors were laughing at him for his pains. Now here we see what was the end thereof, the end of his care and of their carelessness. And this famous period of the old world gives us some idea of the state of things when the world that now is shall be destroyed by fire, as that was by water. (See 2 Peter 3:6-7)
We have, in this chapter:
I. God's gracious call to Noah to come into the ark (Genesis 7:1), and to bring the creatures that were to be preserved alive along with him (Genesis 7:2-3), in consideration of the deluge at hand (Genesis 7:4).
II. Noah's obedience to this heavenly vision (Genesis 7:5). When he was six hundred years old, he came with his family into the ark (Genesis 7:6-7), and brought the creatures along with him (Genesis 7:8-9), an account of which is repeated (Genesis 7:13-16), to which is added God's tender care to shut him in.
III. The coming of the threatened deluge (Genesis7:10); the causes of it (Genesis 7:11-12); the prevalence of it (Genesis 7:17-20).
IV. The dreadful desolations that were made by it in the death of every living creature upon earth, except those that were in the ark (Genesis 7:21-23).
V. The continuance of it in full sea, before it began to ebb, one hundred and fifty days (Genesis 7:24).
Tom Holladay (2020) – From Drive-time Devotionals
Four Principles of Divine Judgement
1. God’s judgment is not arbitrary.
2. God always warns of His judgement.
3. God always grants time for repentance.
4. God always keeps His word.
KEY VERSE
Genesis 7:5 “Noah did according to all that the LORD had commanded him.”
KEY THOUGHT
Genesis 7:16 “Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and the LORD closed it behind him.” God is directly involved with those who are being saved. When they are all safely inside the ark – it is God who shuts the door.
KEY BIBLE CROSS-REFERENCE
Matthew 24:37-39 "For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.”
KEY QUOTE
“God, if he has freely justified you by faith in his Son, and given you his Spirit, has sealed you to be his – as surely as he secured Noah, when he locked him in the ark.” George Whitefield
