Have you ever read a mystery story where some strange, little detail gets mentioned? By the end of the book you know it wasn’t just put in to fill up extra pages, somehow each bit mattered to the story.
The Bible is like that. Most of the time we long for more details and extra information about the people and events of long ago, but sometimes there are odd tiny facts thrown in. Sure enough, when you learn more about archaeology, science, and history, every one of them means something.
Some of the coolest of these details are in the early parts of Genesis.
OK, here’s a pre-quiz. The world-wide flood lasted:
- 6 days and 7 nights (like the ancient Assyrians believed)
- 40 days
- 1 year and 10 days
The only way you’re going to know the answer is to pull out your Bible and look for those details. Here’s the first one to find:
Genesis 7:11
What’s it tell you? On the ______ day of the _______ month all the “fountains of the great deep” broke up and the windows (or sluice gates) of heaven were opened. The Flood was starting!
Now for the fun part:
Genesis 7:17-24
How many days did it take before the ark started floating around? __________
How many days did the Flood last before going down (verse 24)? _____________
Genesis 8:1-2
At what point did the rain and ground waters stop? ______________ days from the beginning of the Flood.
Genesis 8:3,4
OK, now we have to learn something a little odd: ancient people always measured months as being 30 days long, so 150 days equaled exactly 5 months. So this means Noah’s 7 months minus 2 months equals 150 days.
Noah knew the Flood had reached its highest point and started to go down because the ark landed on the mountain exactly 5 months after the whole thing started.
Those returning waters are some of the coolest parts of the whole account, be sure to find out why!
Genesis 8:5
How much longer did it take for any land to be visible from Noah’s outlook on the mountain? 17 days plus ______ days equal one month (8th month, first day). 8 months need ____ more months to get to the 10th month= ______ months and _______ days
Genesis 8:6-9
How many more days after seeing dry ground did Noah wait before sending out the raven? ______ days.
The Dove Returns to Noah, by James Jacques Joseph Tissot
Why was the raven not a good choice to look for dry ground? Ravens will eat anything and are especially fond of meat, even dead bodies. Doves only eat seeds, fruit, and plants.
Genesis 8:10-12
How many days after the dove came back empty did Noah wait to send out the dove? ____ days
What did she bring back with her this time? ____________________ So Noah knew the ground was dry enough for sprouts and that _________ seeds had survived the water.
A week later the dove didn’t come back at all. Why not? There must have been enough ______________ for her to survive without Noah’s help!
Genesis 8:13
What did Noah get for his birthday present? A look at _______ land. But he didn’t do anything but look. Why not? (there’s not a wrong answer to this, but you might look at the end of Genesis 7:16 for a clue) ______________________________________________
Genesis 8:14-19
Alright, now the Flood is finally over, at least enough for life to start getting back to normal! 601 years, 2 months, and 27 days minus 600 years, 2 months, and 17 days equals= ________ year ______ days. That’s a long time to be stuck in a boat, even if it’s an ocean liner.
Noah Descending from Ararat (1889 painting by Ivan Aivazovsky)
Do you think it was a bother for Noah’s family and all the animals to obey God’s command that time?
And God did not spare the ancient world—except for Noah and the seven others in his family. Noah warned the world of God’s righteous judgment. So God protected Noah when he destroyed the world of ungodly people with a vast flood. II Peter 2:5 NLV
You can also check out the time chart another young lady did on the Flood HERE: Bible Answer Girl: How Long Was Noah on the Ark
13 Comments
Nero Phillips · at
So – where’s the laws of science that explain how Noah built a durable ship with wood that was able to last out a 40-day flood, and how was he able to build it in 7 days while also gathering animals from all over the world to fit on a 450 foot ark while the best zoos today don’t even have 1% of species of the world’s animals? Sounds like quite a feat of engineering!
Cheri-CreationScience4Kids · at
Nero, I’m posting your comment so others can see what happens when you don’t actually read God’s Word for yourself. Nothing you have said here fits the Bible’s account; all you’ve done is mock a strawman.
Nero Phillips · at
No? The ark was 450 feet long, and had a width of 75 feet, as stated in Gen. 6:15. Then, Noah had only seven days to load the Ark as it tells us in Gen. 7:4-10. Now, there’s a few other problems with the re-introduction of dinosaurs after the flood since it tells us in Gen. 7:21-23 that every land creature not aboard the ark perished. CreationWiki, however, suggests that some of them in fact did reappear. Perhaps they were re-introduced after the flood with spontaneous generation? Now, the other complication is how exactly the carnivores and herbivores didn’t eat each other while on board the ark…After all, this was following the Fall of Man when animals ate other animals.
Cheri-CreationScience4Kids · at
Nero, you’re not trying very hard to think this through. I said you hadn’t read the account for yourself because of your statement here, “a 40-day flood, and how was he able to build it in 7 days”. The flood was not 40 days long and he didn’t build it in 7 days.
I suggest you read this: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%206,7,8&version=NLT
As for the dinosaurs being spontaneously generated after the flood, you’re not even trying. From your words one can assume you don’t believe any dinosaurs could have been on the ark. Where did you get that notion? It’s certainly not from reading the Bible.
Your question about the carnivores is a little better and shows you understand meat eating followed Adam’s disobedience. Kudos. However, there are plenty of ways to have carnivores live peacefully in the near vicinity of prey. You might find some answers here:
http://creation.com/feeding-carnivores-on-the-ark-and-refuting-an-accusation-of-closet-scientism
BibleScienceGuy · at
This is a good tool to help kids study through the Flood account. I like it. Thanks for your efforts in putting it together.
Cheri-CreationScience4Kids · at
My pleasure, thanks for noticing.
I go through all this in my book, but then realized it wasn’t up on the blog yet! At supper last night I asked my pastor husband how long the Flood lasted and it blew his mind when I told him. Just skimming the surface of the text it’s super easy to miss these amazing events.
BibleScienceGuy · at
The duration of the Flood is very important information. It’s another piece of evidence that the Flood was global. No local flood lasts even a week, much less over a year. Even the worst tsunami floods are over in a few days at most. The fact that the Flood lasted over a year means that it had to have been a worldwide, global cataclysm.
Cheri-CreationScience4Kids · at
Good point, there is no wiggle room for Bible compromisers in the Word itself. Also, the matter-of-factness and specific dates of Noah’s account puts it in a whole separate category from the Flood myths other cultures vaguely remembered.
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