Genesis 404
Lesson Three

Gen 8:1  And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged; 
Gen 8:2  The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained; 
Gen 8:3  And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated. 
Gen 8:4  And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. 
Gen 8:5  And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.

Genesis 8:1 "And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that [was] with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged;"

“God remembered Noah”: This is not to intimate that during the days of the Flood, God had forgotten His righteous servant; the verb “remembered” refers to the special attention or personal care that God gives to His own.

God’s covenant with Noah brought provision and protection in the midst of severe judgment. The remnant was preserved and God initiated steps toward reestablishing the created order on earth. We see this again when God destroys the earth the next time with fire (Read 2 Peter 3:10), and will once again restore things back to the created order (Read Rev. 21:1)

"The waters "assuaged" (lessen or abate): God used the wind to dry the ground; evaporation returned water to the atmosphere. The waters also "returned from off the earth..". This means not only did the water evaporate and return to heaven, but water also ran back down into the earth from where it came from. This rushing of water coming up from the earth, and returning back into the earth is what caused the many canons we have today.

As we have said many times before, the elements are subject to God's command. When God told the wind to blow, it blew. This word assuaged means the water was made to cease, or was trapped. I believe this water was congregated in lakes and rivers, etc.

Genesis 8:2 "The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;"

The whole race of mankind, except Noah and his family were now dead, so that God's remembering Noah, was the return of his mercy to mankind, of whom he would not make a full end. The demands of Divine justice had been answered by the ruin of sinners.

Genesis 8:3 "And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated."

God sent his wind to dry the earth, and seal up his waters. The same hand that brings the desolation must bring the deliverance; and to that hand, we must ever look. When afflictions have done the work for which they are sent, whether killing work or curing work, they will be taken away.

As the earth was not drowned in a day, so it was not dried in a day. God usually works deliverance for his people gradually, that the day of small things may not be despised, nor the day of great things despaired of.

Genesis 8:4 "And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat."

The ark rested. It is stranded on some hill in Ararat. This country forms part of Armenia. As the drying wind most probably came from the east or north, it is likely that the ark was drifted toward Asia Minor, and caught land on some hill in the reaches of the Euphrates.

“Mountains of Ararat”: The text says mountains, which indicates a range of mountains and not necessarily one peak.  This is important to remember.  There is a mountain range called "Mountains of Ararat, and there is "A" mountain called "Mount Ararat".  Today, Ararat rises about 17,000 feet above sea level. The ark rested on land 74 days after the end of the 150 days while the water abated.

It cannot be supposed that it rested on either of the peaks now called Ararat, as Ararat was a country, not a mountain, and these peaks do not seem suitable for the purpose. These were in the region of the Caucasus, also known as ancient Urartu, where the elevation exceeded 17,000 feet.

Oct. 17th was the end of the water prevailing; and, at that point, the water began to subside. There are many people who do not believe this flood was universal because it was just for the world of the Bible. It really doesn't matter. We know that it was a judgment of God on a wicked and perverse generation. For our study here, that is all that is necessary.

Many expeditions have been made to find the ark. A number of people have proclaimed seeing the ark. There are bad storms on this mountain and many have lost their lives searching for the ark. God does not want us to believe in the ark because we can see it, but because we know in our hearts the account of the ark was true.

Genesis 8:5 "And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth [month], on the first [day] of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen."

"And the waters decreased continually", literally, were going and decreasing, until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month. The decrease of the waters was for wise reasons exceedingly slow and gradual.

"Were the tops of the mountains seen": "Became distinctly visible” The waters had now been subsiding ten weeks, and as the height of the water above the highest hills was probably determined by the draught of the ark."

The tenth month": The waters ceased to prevail on the first of the ninth month. The ark, though grounded six weeks before, was still deep in the waters. The tops of the hills began to appear a month after. The subsiding of the waters seems to have been very slow.
Their 10th month would be January on our calendar, in fact, January 1st.