Genesis Part 1 - Week 14

Day 1 

READ 

Genesis 6:20-22 

20 “Pairs of every kind of bird, and every kind of animal, and every kind of small animal that scurries along the ground, will come to you to be kept alive. 21 And be sure to take on board enough food for your family and for all the animals.” 22 So Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him. 

Noah did not have to go out and round up the animals to put them in the big boat; they came to him to be kept alive. God told Noah to take enough “food for your family and all the animals.” There did not need to be enough food for all the varieties of animals seen today; only one “kind” of each needed to be taken aboard. Noah could not have known how long he would be in the boat, but he “did everything exactly as God commanded him.”  

REFLECT 

Think of the unquestioning faith Noah had. Does it encourage you to step out in faith? 

RESPOND 

Talk with a friend about faith. Read Hebrews 11:1-3. “Faith” is trust. Those who have faith in Jesus for salvation trust Him for forgiveness of sin and eternal life (see John 3:16-18; 12:44-45).  

Day 2 

READ 

Genesis 7:1-2 

1 When everything was ready, the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the boat with all your family, for among all the people of the earth, I can see that you alone are righteous. 2 Take with you seven pairs—male and female—of each animal I have approved for eating and for sacrifice, and take one pair of each of the others.” 

Only clean animals could be sacrificed so Adam was instructed to take seven pairs of them. He was only to take one pair of the others. Notice how it is made clear that a pair is “male and female.” God made only two genders in both humans and animals. God specifically told Noah that of all the people on earth, “you alone are righteous.” His family was blessed to have such a godly leader.  

REFLECT 

Consider how one person’s godly character has benefit for the rest of the family. Salvation is an individual matter, but blessing can come to the family of a godly person.  

RESPOND 

For verses that tell of a godly life, see 1 Timothy 6:3 and 2 Peter 1:3-4. Visit with a friend about living so others see the characteristics of God’s life in yours. 

Day 3 

READ 

Genesis 7:3-5 

3 “Also take seven pairs of every kind of bird. There must be a male and a female in each pair to ensure that all life will survive on the earth after the flood. 4 Seven days from now I will make the rains pour down on the earth. And it will rain for forty days and forty nights, until I have wiped from the earth all the living things I have created.” 5 So Noah did everything as the Lord commanded him. 

Noah was to take seven pairs of all birds. The reason for pairs being both male and female was “to ensure that all life will survive on the earth after the flood.” Without this gender combination life would not continue. They were in the big boat for seven days before the rain began. Perhaps Noah did not understand everything at this time but he “did everything as the Lord commanded him.” 

REFLECT 

Do you obey the Lord without having to understand everything He wants you to do? 

RESPOND 

Do you wonder why some people cannot understand the Bible? 1 Corinthians 2:13-15 answers that question. 2 Corinthians 4:4 tells who has blinded them. 

Day 4 

READ 

Genesis 7:6-8 

6 Noah was 600 years old when the flood covered the earth. 7 He went on board the boat to escape the flood—he and his wife and his sons and their wives. 8 With them were all the various kinds of animals—those approved for eating and for sacrifice and those that were not—along with all the birds and the small animals that scurry along the ground. 

This was the age of Noah at the time of the universal flood. Notice that what went on board was the “various kinds” of animals, not the varieties within each kind. The evolutionary theories (there is more than one) would have different explanations for this, but it is simpler and takes less faith to believe what the miracle-working God has had recorded in the Bible by divine inspiration. 

REFLECT 

Think about God’s creation of animals and people, male and female, reproducing after their kind.  

RESPOND 

Visit with a friend about how animals and people reproduced after their kind (see Genesis 1:24-27). Thank the Lord for the way He has created life.  

Day 5 

READ 

Genesis 7:9-12 

9 They entered the boat in pairs, male and female, just as God had commanded Noah. 10 After seven days, the waters of the flood came and covered the earth. 11 When Noah was 600 years old, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the underground waters erupted from the earth, and the rain fell in mighty torrents from the sky. 12 The rain continued to fall for forty days and forty nights. 

This gives the precise time when it began to rain. Genesis 1:6-7 reveals God made the waters of the heavens and earth and separated them. Now the “waters erupted from the earth, and the rain fell in mighty torrents from the sky.” This enormous event would change the surface of the earth as well as the life span of people. The rain continued for 40 days and 40 nights but the flood would last much longer.  

REFLECT 

Have you sometimes thought the flood lasted 40 days and 40 nights? That was only how long the deluge from the sky and eruption from the underground waters lasted. 

RESPOND 

Talk with a friend about the beginning of the Genesis flood. Distinguish between the length of time the water came down from the heavens and up from the earth from the length of time the flood covered the earth. It will be revealed later in the text how long Noah remained in the big boat, commonly referred to as the “Ark,” but is to be distinguished from the “Ark of the Covenant” (see Exodus 16:33-35 for a reference to this ark).