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Public-domain commentary
Matthew Henry
From his Commentary on the Whole Bible. Henry comments on passages, not single verses — this entry covers Genesis 7:11–12. His three-level outline is real structure in the source text, so it is rendered as structure.
Here is, I. The date of this great event; this is carefully recorded, for the greater certainty of the story.
1.It was in the 600th year of Noah's life, which, by computation, appears to be 1656 years from the creation. The years of the old world are reckoned, not by the reigns of the giants, but the lives of the patriarchs; saints are of more account with God than princes. The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance. Noah was now a very old man, even as men's years went then. Note,
(1.)The longer we live in this world the more we see of the miseries and calamities of it; it is therefore spoken of as the privilege of those that die young that their eyes shall not see the evil which is coming, Kg2 22:20.
(2.)Sometimes God exercises his old servants with extraordinary trials of obedience patience. The oldest of Christ's soldiers must not promise themselves a discharge from their warfare till death discharge them. Still they must gird on their harness, and not boast as though they had put it off. As the year of the deluge is recorded, so,
2.We are told that it was in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, which is reckoned to be about the beginning of November; so that Noah had had a harvest just before, from which to victual his ark.
II.The second causes that concurred to this deluge. Observe,
1.In the self-same day that Noah was fixed in the ark, the inundation began. Note,
(1.)Desolating judgments come not till God has provided for the security of his own people; see Gen 19:22, I can do nothing till thou be come thither: and we find (Rev 7:3) that the winds are held till the servants of God are sealed.
(2.)When good men are removed judgments are not far off; for they are taken away from the evil to come, Isa 57:1. When they are called into the chambers, hidden in the grave, hidden in heaven, then God is coming out of his place to punish, Isa 26:20, Isa 26:21.
2.See what was done on that day, that fatal day to the world of the ungodly.
(1.)The fountains of the great deep were broken up. Perhaps there needed no new creation of waters; what were already made to be, in the common course of providence, blessings to the earth, were now, by an extraordinary act of divine power, made the ruin of it. God has laid up the deep in storehouses (Psa 33:7), and now he broke up those stores. As our bodies have in themselves those humours which, when God pleases, become the seeds and springs of mortal diseases, so the earth had in it bowels those waters which, at God's command, sprang up and flooded it. God had, in the creation, set bars and doors to the waters of the sea, that they might not return to cover the earth (Psa 104:9; Job 38:9-11); and now he only removed those ancient land-marks, mounds, and fences, and the waters of the sea returned to cover the earth, as they had done at first, Gen 1:9. Note, All the creatures are ready to fight against sinful man, and any of them is able to be the instrument of his ruin, if God do but take off the restraints by which they are held in during the day of God's patience.
(2.)The windows of heaven were opened, and the waters which were above the firmament were poured out upon the world; those treasures which God has reserved against the time of trouble, the day of battle and war, Job 38:22, Job 38:33. The rain, which ordinarily descends in drops, then came down in streams, or spouts, as they call them in the Indies, where clouds have been often known to burst, as they express it there, when the rain descends in a much more violent torrent than we have ever seen in the greatest shower. We read (Job 26:8) that God binds up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not rent under them; but now the bond was loosed, the cloud was rent, and such rains descended as were never known before nor since, in such abundance and of such continuance: the thick cloud was not, as ordinarily it is, wearied with waterings (Job 37:11), that is, soon spent and exhausted; but still the clouds returned after the rain, and the divine power brought in fresh recruits. It rained, without intermission or abatement, forty days and forty nights (Gen 7:12), and that upon the whole earth at once, not, as sometimes, upon one city and not upon another. God made the world in six days, but he was forty days in destroying it; for he is slow to anger: but, though the destruction came slowly and gradually, yet it came effectually.
3.Now learn from this,
(1.)That all the creatures are at God's disposal, and that he makes what use he pleases of them, whether for correction, or for his land, or for mercy, as Elihu speaks of the rain, Job 37:12, Job 37:13.
(2.)That God often makes that which should be for our welfare to become a trap, Psa 69:22. That which usually is a comfort and benefit to us becomes, when God pleases, a scourge and a plague to us. Nothing is more needful nor useful than water, both the springs of the earth and the showers of heaven; and yet now nothing was more hurtful, nothing more destructive: every creature is to us what God makes it.
(3.)That it is impossible to escape the righteous judgments of God when they come against sinners with commission; for God can arm both heaven and earth against them; see Job 20:27. God can surround men with the messengers of his wrath, so that, if they look upwards, it is with horror and amazement, if they look to the earth, behold, trouble and darkness, Isa 8:21, Isa 8:22. Who then is able to stand before God, when he is angry?
(4.)In this destruction of the old world by water God gave a specimen of the final destruction of the world that now is by fire. We find the apostle setting the one of these over against the other, Pe2 3:6, Pe2 3:7. As there are waters under the earth, so Aetna, Vesuvius, and other volcanoes, proclaim to the world that there are subterraneous fires too; and fire often falls from heaven, many desolations are made by lightning; so that, when the time predetermined comes, between these two fires the earth and all the works therein shall be burnt up, as the flood was brought upon the old world out of the fountains of the great deep and through the windows of heaven.
Historical interpretation
Three Centuries of Reception
4 surviving comments on this verse. Each one is dated, so this reads as a timeline rather than a list.
Select a marker to jump to its quote. Markers stagger vertically where authors wrote within a few decades of each other.
The fact, too, that he brought on the deluge for forty days and nights is a further wonderful sign of his loving kindness. His purpose in his great goodness was that at least some of them might come to their senses and escape that utter ruin, having before their eyes the annihilation of their peers and the destruction about to overwhelm them. I mean, the likelihood is that on the first day some proportion were drowned, an additional number on the second day, and likewise on the third day and so on. His reason for extending it for forty days was that he might remove from them any grounds for excuse. You see, had it been his wish and command, he could have submerged everything in one downpour. Instead, out of fidelity to his characteristic love he arranged for a stay of so many days.
It is now time to examine the evidence that proves convincingly that the biblical years, so far from being only one-tenth as long as ours, were precisely as long as the present solar years. This is true of the years used in giving those extremely long life spans. It is said, for example, that the flood occurred in the six hundredth year of Noah's life. But notice the full text: "The waters of the flood overflowed the earth in the six hundredth year of the life of Noah, in the second month, in the twenty-seventh day of the month." Now those words are inexplicable if a year was so short that it took ten of them to make one of ours. That would mean that a year had only thirty-six days. For so short a year (if it was actually called a year in ancient usage) either had no months at all, or if it had twelve months, then each month could have had but three days. How, then, [can we] explain the words of the text, "in the six hundredth year … in the second month, in the twenty-seventh day of the month," unless the months then were the same as they are now? There is no other way of explaining how the flood could be said to have had a beginning on the twenty-seventh day of the second month.
And then what? “All the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the flood gates of heaven were opened. And the rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights.” And a little later: “And all flesh was destroyed that moved upon the earth.” And again, “And Noah only remained alive and they that were with him in the ark.” Here and now I wish to ask them who call God indifferent to human affairs whether they believe that at that time he either cared for earthly affairs or intervened in them.
In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened, and rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights. The months among the Hebrews are computed only according to the course of the moon from the first to the first, and their first month, in which the Passover is commanded to be kept, and in which the world was made, is called Nisan, which we call April. The second is Jair, which we call May, on whose seventeenth day, that is, when the moon of the same month was the seventeenth, the flood came, when on that same day Noah entered the ark with all the men, animals, and birds that were to be saved through it, for this is what follows.
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Summary
Genesis 7:11 precisely records the cataclysmic commencement of the Great Flood, a pivotal event in biblical history that dramatically illustrates God's meticulous timing, sovereign power, and righteous judgment against a world steeped in pervasive wickedness. This verse marks the precise moment when both the subterranean waters of the earth and the torrential downpour from the heavens combined in an unprecedented deluge, fulfilling God's declared purpose to cleanse and renew the earth.
Context
Literary Context
This verse serves as the climactic fulfillment of God's prior pronouncements regarding the flood. It immediately follows the detailed account of Noah's obedience in gathering the animals and entering the ark, as commanded by God in Genesis 6:18-21 and reiterated in Genesis 7:1-5. The narrative meticulously builds tension, detailing the preparations and the seven-day waiting period (Genesis 7:4), before culminating in the exact moment the floodwaters began. Genesis 7:11 thus transitions the narrative from preparation and anticipation to the direct execution of divine judgment, setting the stage for the forty days and nights of rain described in Genesis 7:12.
Historical & Cultural Context
The concept of a great flood is not unique to the biblical narrative, with similar accounts found in ancient Near Eastern literature, such as the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Atrahasis Epic. However, the Genesis account stands apart due to its monotheistic framework, moral imperative, and precise chronological details. Unlike the capricious deities of other myths, the God of Israel acts with deliberate purpose, justice, and forewarning. The meticulous dating—"In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month"—reflects ancient Near Eastern scribal practices of precise record-keeping for significant historical and theological events, underscoring the historicity and divine orchestration of the event within the biblical worldview. This precision contrasts sharply with the often vague or mythical chronologies of pagan flood narratives.
Key Themes
Genesis 7:11 powerfully contributes to several overarching themes within the book of Genesis and the broader biblical narrative. It highlights the theme of divine judgment against human wickedness, particularly the pervasive corruption and violence described in Genesis 6:5-7. Simultaneously, it underscores God's sovereignty and meticulous control over creation and history, demonstrating that the flood was not a random natural disaster but a divinely orchestrated act. The verse also implicitly reinforces the theme of Noah's righteousness and obedience, as his faithfulness (Genesis 6:8-9) positioned him and his family for salvation amidst this universal judgment. Furthermore, the description of waters erupting from below and pouring from above subtly introduces the theme of cosmic reversal, hinting at a temporary undoing of the orderly creation established in Genesis 1.
Exposition and Analysis
Genesis 7:11 vividly describes the dual source of the floodwaters, emphasizing the unprecedented and comprehensive nature of the deluge. The precise dating underscores God's meticulous control and the deliberate execution of His judgment.
Key Word Analysis
A primitive root meaning "to cleave; generally, to rend, break, rip or open." This word conveys a violent, forceful rupture, suggesting that the "fountains of the great deep" did not merely leak or flow, but burst forth with immense power, indicating a cataclysmic geological upheaval.
Referring to "an abyss (as a surging mass of water), especially the deep (the main sea or the subterranean watersupply)." This term evokes the primordial, unformed waters mentioned in Genesis 1:2, implying a return to a chaotic, water-dominated state, signifying the vastness and overwhelming nature of the subterranean water sources.
A primitive root meaning "to open wide (literally or figuratively); specifically, to loosen, begin." This word describes the action of the "windows of heaven," suggesting a deliberate, forceful unleashing of celestial waters, as if floodgates were thrown open, rather than mere rainfall. It points to divine agency in initiating the deluge from above.
Verse Breakdown
"In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day"
This highly specific chronological marker emphasizes the divine precision and intentionality behind the flood. It demonstrates that the flood was not a random or accidental event but a divinely appointed and meticulously timed act of judgment. This exact date also highlights the long period of grace and warning that preceded this ultimate judgment, underscoring God's patience before His justice was fully executed.
"were all the fountains of the great deep broken up"
This clause describes the eruption of vast subterranean water sources. The phrase "fountains of the great deep" (Hebrew: ma'yenot tehom rabbah) refers to immense underground reservoirs, springs, or geological fissures that violently burst forth. The use of "broken up" (Hebrew: bâqaʻ) signifies a cataclysmic, forceful upheaval from beneath the earth's surface, indicating a massive geological event contributing to the inundation. This suggests that the flood was not solely precipitation but a comprehensive release of water from within the earth itself.
"and the windows of heaven were opened"
This clause describes the outpouring of water from the sky. The "windows of heaven" (Hebrew: arubbot ha'shamayim) is a vivid metaphorical expression for celestial floodgates being thrown open, signifying an immense, unprecedented, and sustained outpouring of water from above. This imagery conveys a deluge far beyond ordinary rainfall, emphasizing the supernatural and overwhelming nature of the downpour, complementing the waters erupting from below. Together, these two sources portray a comprehensive, global inundation from both above and below.
Literary Devices
Genesis 7:11 masterfully employs several literary devices to convey the magnitude and divine nature of the flood. Merism is prominently featured through the pairing of "fountains of the great deep" (representing subterranean waters) and "windows of heaven" (representing celestial waters). This literary technique combines two opposite or contrasting elements to signify totality, illustrating that the flood originated from every conceivable water source, both below and above the earth, underscoring its comprehensive and global scope. Furthermore, the phrases themselves utilize hyperbole, exaggerating the scale of the water sources ("great deep," "windows of heaven") to convey an event of unprecedented and overwhelming proportions, far beyond any natural occurrence. The active verbs "broken up" and "opened" imply divine agency, suggesting that God Himself, through His sovereign power, initiated these cataclysmic events, rather than them being mere natural phenomena. This imbues the description with a sense of theophany, where God's presence and power are manifested through the dramatic upheaval of creation.
Theological and Thematic Connections
Genesis 7:11 stands as a profound theological statement, primarily demonstrating God's absolute sovereignty over creation and His unwavering justice. The precision of the dating and the dual sources of the water underscore that the flood was not an accident but a deliberate, divinely orchestrated act of judgment against a world consumed by sin. This event serves as a stark reminder of the gravity with which God views human wickedness and His holy intolerance for pervasive corruption. Yet, even in judgment, God's patience is evident in the long period of warning and Noah's opportunity to prepare, highlighting His desire for repentance before the full outpouring of His wrath. The cosmic upheaval also hints at God's power to "un-create" or reorder creation, emphasizing His ultimate authority over all things.
Reflection and Application
Genesis 7:11 serves as a powerful and enduring reminder of God's holiness and His ultimate authority over creation, teaching us that God takes sin seriously and will ultimately judge it. The account of the flood stands as a solemn warning for all generations to repent and turn to Him, for just as He brought the flood precisely as He said, He will also fulfill His promises of salvation and future judgment. The dual nature of the flood, from below and above, speaks to the comprehensive nature of God's judgment, leaving no corner untouched. Furthermore, Noah's story underscores that obedience to God is crucial for deliverance; his faith led him to prepare for what seemed impossible, and his obedience saved his household. This calls us to live in readiness and obedience, trusting God's warnings and His provision, for our ultimate security lies not in worldly preparations but in faithful adherence to His word.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Why is the date of the flood's beginning so precisely stated?
The precise dating ("In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month") emphasizes God's meticulous planning and sovereign control over all events. It demonstrates that the flood was not a random occurrence but a divinely appointed and executed judgment, highlighting God's faithfulness to His warnings and His perfect timing. This specificity also lends historical weight to the narrative, presenting it as a real, chronological event within biblical history.
What are the "fountains of the great deep"?
The "fountains of the great deep" (Hebrew: ma'yenot tehom rabbah) refers to vast subterranean reservoirs of water, possibly immense underground springs, aquifers, or geological fissures that erupted. This imagery suggests a cataclysmic upheaval from beneath the earth's surface, contributing significantly to the global inundation. It evokes the primordial waters mentioned in Genesis 1:2 before creation's order, implying a temporary reversal of that order.
Did the "windows of heaven" literally open?
The phrase "windows of heaven were opened" (Hebrew: arubbot ha'shamayim niftachu) is a vivid metaphorical expression signifying an immense, unprecedented outpouring of water from the sky. It suggests that the heavens themselves acted as floodgates, releasing torrential and continuous rain far beyond ordinary precipitation, emphasizing the supernatural and overwhelming nature of the deluge. While not literal windows, the imagery powerfully conveys the divine agency and the sheer volume of water involved in this cosmic event.
Christ-Centered Fulfillment
Genesis 7:11, marking the cataclysmic onset of a world-cleansing judgment, profoundly foreshadows the ultimate judgment and salvation found in Jesus Christ. Just as Noah and his family found salvation through the ark amidst the waters of judgment (1 Peter 3:20-21), so too is salvation offered through Christ, who is our spiritual ark, bearing the judgment for sin on the cross. The flood's comprehensive nature, touching every part of the earth, points to the universality of sin (Romans 3:23) and the need for a complete and universal redemption, which Christ accomplished through His atoning sacrifice. Moreover, the flood's end and the new beginning it ushered in prefigure the new creation and eternal life offered through Christ's resurrection (2 Corinthians 5:17). Ultimately, the flood serves as a powerful type of God's future judgment, reminding us that while the next judgment will not be by water, it will be by fire (2 Peter 3:7), leading to the establishment of a new heavens and new earth for those found in Him (Revelation 21:1).