Articles under Scripture

“Then Noah sent forth a dove.”

(Here are the first and second parts of the scholion on this verse.)

As the raven was sent forth before the dove, the Holy Spirit goes forth mysteriously to prepare matter to receive God’s informing Word.  Thus, as the Spirit broods like a bird of prey at Creation, prior to God’s speaking, so the raven flies ‘to and fro’ over the waters before the re-creation after the Flood.  So, too, does the Holy Spirit overshadow the Virgin Mary to prepare her to conceive the Word Incarnate in her womb.

“Then Noah sent forth a dove.”

(Here is the first part of the scholion on this verse.)

Just as Noah sent forth the dove three times, so the Son of God is sent three times.  The first time, He comes as the Son of Man, with ‘nowhere to rest his head’ just as the dove found no place to rest.  His second coming is mystically, after the resurrection, and as the dove brought back an olive branch, so Jesus appears to His disciples saying, “Peace be with you.”  And so we recall this coming in peace before we consume the holy Eucharist each day.  When He comes the third time in glory, it will be the establishment of new heavens and a new earth, and He will no longer return to the Father, for God will be all in all.

“Then Noah sent forth a dove.”

The word for dove in Hebrew is jonah. We see from this, that just as Noah first sent forth a raven which went to and fro on the earth, God sent His Spirit to the Ninevites to prepare for the visit of Jonah, in order to open their hearts to His message. And just as the dove, when first sent, could find no place to set her foot, Jonah the prophet first went a direction opposite to that where God had sent him. He ultimately found no earth on which to set his foot, but only water, after he was thrown overboard. And as the dove, on its second venture found an olive branch, so did Jonah, when he went to Nineveh, find an earnest desire for peace and repentance, the sprigs of righteousness, even in a heathen land.

“The ark came to rest.”

This completes the prophecy of 5: 29, “Lamech called his name Noah, saying, ‘Out of the ground which the Lord has cursed this one shall bring us rest from our work and the toil of our hands.’”  Together, the prophecy and its fulfillment reveal the significance of the Sabbath that will be declared for mankind.  They also offer insight into the corruption of the earth (see here and here).

Failure to observe a Sabbath rest, to work endlessly, restlessly; to be constantly seeking for ways to improve efficiency, productivity and profit:  these corrupt the heart of man and do damage to the earth, too, as we know well in our own time.  The curse of the earth is there not to be overcome by man’s ingenuity, but as a spur to faith in the One ‘who gives the growth’ [1 Cor 3:6].

Lamech does not comprehend the essence of his prophecy.  As one who in his heart rebels against the curse and against the curative effect of work, he imagines that his offspring will carry through some kind of program that will undo the curse.  Instead, Noah’s birth portends God’s intervention and an imposed Sabbath over all the earth, that the damage done by man’s unbridled will might be undone, and that Noah might re-consecrate the earth to God by his sacrifice in the making of the Noachide covenant.

“The waters prevailed so mightily upon the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered.”

This is a notice not merely respecting the great extent of the Flood, but the action of ‘covering’, much like that of ‘blotting out’ (cf. Psalm 51, the “Miserere”), carries with it sacrificial and expiatory connotations.  Mountain tops are places of communication with the divine, and these had been defiled by the corruption of flesh.  Perhaps they were even places where false gods had received sacrifice.  By covering them all, God wipes away the stain of this corruption.

“The waters…bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. ”

To be lifted “higher than the mountains” is to prefigure the eternal Mount Zion, which “shall be established as the highest mountain and raised above the hills.”  This place of communication with the one, true God is a place of holiness.  Only those with “clean hands and pure heart” can climb the Lord’s mountain.  Likewise, only Noah, who was just before God, was worthy to ascend above the waters in the sacred ark.

“Make yourself an ark…and cover it inside and out with pitch.”

(Here are the first and second parts of the scholion on this verse.)

God could easily have destroyed the entire cosmos and started over.  Creating from nothing poses no obstacle to God’s designs.  However, He spares those who find favor with him.  Even more, He desires that men and women participate in the reconstitution: Noah must save the animals and his family (and we are not told if they have found favor with God as Noah did).  God will not work to defeat evil, nor to recreate, without Noah.

“My spirit shall not abide (LXX: katameine) in man for ever, for he is flesh.”

This is a temporary state of affairs, ending with the Incarnation.  As John the Baptist testified, “I saw the Spirit descend as a dove from heaven, and it remained (emeinen) on him.” [John 1: 32]  Thus, the true ‘Son of God’ who looked from afar with longing at the lives of men, came down not for physical marriage, but to be the Bridegroom of the Church in the Spirit.  And since we have been made one flesh with Christ, the Spirit also remains in us.  This is the bread which came down from heaven.  He who eats this bread, and thus becomes one with Christ, will live forever.

“And all flesh died that moved upon the earth…everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died.”

So we see all living creatures in the air and on land are conceived of as having a bi-partite nature of ‘flesh’ and ‘breath’.  There is no distinction between human beings and animals in this way of thinking.  Animals would seem to partake of a soul that is not distinguished, at least in this context, from a human soul.  What does distinguish human beings is being made in the image and likeness of God.

“And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.”

When we read that “all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth,” and yet we read that Noah “was a righteous man,” who “walked with God,” [6: 9] we are to understand that Noah was not a man of the flesh but of the spirit.