Genesis 7:14, commentary and pictures

They, and every beast, cattle, creeping thing, and fowl after his kind, were the species God had created, each appointed kind gathered, housed, and shut inside the ark with Noah and his family.
They came two by two from every quarter, the fowls flocking till they darkened the heavens, entering quietly without visible leader under the invisible leadership of God.
God Himself shut them in, with bright light and an angel shutting the massive door, and they remained enclosed one week before rain fell, so that once judgment began no others could enter and the unrighteous were shut out.
The beasts and fowls were obedient to God and found refuge, while man was disobedient, making their coming a wonderful and remarkable final sign and evidence to the inhabitants of the Noachic world.

Flood History and Wording

Genesis 7:14 belongs to the inspired Genesis account of the Flood, which is literal history: Noah was a literal person, the Flood was a historical event, and the generation it describes prefigures the people living before Christ's return, with the gathering of the animals in the ark as part of that historical record. That flood came after Adam and Eve fell and the floodgates of woe were opened upon the world, when the world had become corrupt before God and, because people would not believe, only a few were saved in the ark, Noah and his family.

The verse shows that the animals preserved in the ark were the species God had created, each kind represented. Kinds described as confused and resulting from amalgamation were not created by God and were not His created kinds, and they were destroyed in the Flood. Amalgamation of humans and beasts has also occurred since the Flood. That post-Flood amalgamation produced varieties among animals and certain human races.

The verse belongs to the inspired history of the Flood which explains that the earth underwent great changes and once held animals unlike those living now, so its account of the animals gathered in the ark places their preservation within that Flood history, and the timing and meaning of remains found in the earth must be understood through the biblical record, not inferred from natural evidence alone. The Flood greatly increased the curse on the earth, which afterward rested more heavily on people, beasts, trees, and vegetation.

Animals Entering the Ark

Genesis 7:14 means that every kind of beast, cattle, creeping thing, and bird appointed to live was gathered, housed, and shut inside the ark together with Noah and his family. After the ark was finished and stocked, cattle and all other living creatures were brought to it and housed inside by an invisible hand. Noah with his wife and his sons and their wives entered by command to be saved from the waters.

They came two by two from every quarter through the forest to the ark built on dry land, and the fowls flocked like a dark cloud till they darkened the heavens. They entered quietly without a visible leader, the dumb animals moving under the invisible leadership of God. Noah walked by faith through this scene.

In this the beasts and fowls were obedient to God and to His commandments and found a place of refuge, while man was disobedient and remained unbelieving even with this wonderful sight before him. Their coming was a wonderful, singular, remarkable sight and a final sign and evidence given to the inhabitants of the Noachic world. It briefly impressed the minds of those who had laughed and scoffed at Noah, but it was put away through fellowship in unbelief and corruption, and the hardened people were not impressed, did not humble themselves, but made light of Noah and his family.

Then God Himself told Noah and his family to go into the ark and shut them in, so that no others could enter once judgment began. A bright light appeared and an angel shut the massive door, with Noah and his family shut into the ark and the unrighteous shut out. Their being housed closed a one-week testing time with no rain, during which Noah, his family, and the animals remained enclosed before rain fell. Mocked and derided by wicked men in that trial of faith, their mockery fully revealed unbelief until after seven days rain fell slowly and then in torrents.

Causes of Judgment

The wickedness of man was great, every imagination of the thoughts of his heart being only evil continually, and the earth was corrupt before God and filled with violence, crime and iniquity. Before the flood Noah preached and God gave an extended probation of one hundred and twenty years, but the antediluvians repeatedly rejected the messages God sent and wore out His long-suffering patience, so these despisers of His mercy were made to drink the waters of the flood. This history was known to the sons of the prophets and was taught to the children of Israel from the Word of God to prepare them for the advent of Christ.

Men put God out of knowledge and worshiped creatures of their own imagination, became like the idols they worshiped and sank lower and lower, clothed their gods with human passions and were defiled thereby. They set up idols and worshiped the works of their own hands, and adored the trees and the places they had enjoyed and idolized. Their groves and palaces and costly works were made to satisfy pleasure lovers, and the lovely places men had adored showed how idolatry had taken the place of gratitude and obedience.

Its inhabitants continually transgressed God's holy law, were ungrateful to God and disobedient to His law, deliberately chose to follow their own wicked ways instead of repenting and turning to God, and would not heed the admonitions given them. God sent warning by Noah that at the end of one hundred and twenty years He would send a flood of waters upon the impenitent, granting them that time to choose between evil and good, and if they had repented He would not have destroyed them. Noah was preserved because of right-doing and preserved and taught the law to his descendants, while the Flood gives the world a lesson on the sure result of transgression, in line with the destruction of Sodom for disobedience, of Jerusalem for rejecting heaven's messages, and of the whole world at last for transgression and impenitence.

They had become so corrupt through unrestrained appetite that God cleansed the earth of its moral pollution by a flood. They were an impenitent, pleasure-loving, corrupt people who had laughed and scoffed at Noah, and though briefly impressed they put conviction away through fellowship in unbelief and corruption. The animals were obedient to the commandments of God while man was disobedient, and violence and corruption prevailed everywhere as the consequence of transgression of God's law.

Flood Destruction and Evidence

For forty days and forty nights rain poured in torrents, at first falling slowly and then in torrents, while the crust of the earth was broken and the waters hidden in its bowels burst forth. The foundations of the great deep were broken up, the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. The waters from beneath united with the waters from heaven to form a great sea that lifted the ark, which needed no immense iron standards to bear it up like a great steamer resting on land. After a one-week testing time with no rain following the housing of the animals, steady rain came until every living person and every dumb animal outside perished.

The waters brought general ruin, sweeping away idol temples, houses, trees, and mountains. The trees men had enjoyed and idolized were uprooted and swept away with the inhabitants, with the groves and palaces and costly works made to satisfy pleasure lovers destroyed. The places where men had set up idols and worshiped the works of their own hands were filled with masses of rubbish and earth, and rocks concealed under the surface were thrown up above the earth covering the most lovely places men had adored. Fruitful trees, shady avenues, beautiful forests, and gardens were utterly destroyed, and the lovely home God had given man was turned to a broken, uneven surface and a frightful solitude.

Every terrified person and every terrified animal left outside perished together in the angry flood. Though they fled to high branches, high mountains, and temples, cried for a place of safety, pleaded with Noah for admission, and even clung to the ark until washed away by the waves, none were admitted once judgment began. Steady rain destroyed every living person and every dumb animal outside the ark.

Deep gorges and seamed and cleft rocks and varied shapes and structures remain as evidences of that destruction. Rocks and other features of the earth remain as witnesses of the waters that overwhelmed the world, and rocks raised from the deep and earth by the breaking forth of those waters remained as witnesses of the Flood. These remains vividly recall its terror and God's wrath.

The destruction declares God's verdict on the wicked as incurable, and was an act of mercy to the world. The inhabitants had become so corrupt through unrestrained appetite that God cleansed the earth of its moral pollution by a flood. God vindicated His authority by the waters of the Flood after long forbearance, having to assert His authority and punish the transgressors of His law, showing that He beholds all the works of the children of men even when the wicked say His eye does not see them. When the measure of iniquity was full and the boundaries of divine mercy were passed by decided disobedience and disgraceful transgression of God's law, God interposed in wrath to vindicate the honor of His law and repress the increase of unrighteousness, sweeping that wicked race from the earth while appearing as protector of the righteous and answering their prayers for the wickedness to end by terrible things in righteousness.

The Flood was God's exhibition of His power upon an impenitent world made bold in disobeying His law. It fulfilled the prophetic warning that all who would not keep the commandments of heaven should drink the waters of the Flood, exemplifying that obedience brings reward and disobedience brings penalty. The antediluvians were guilty of crime and violence and repeatedly rejected the messages God sent, wearing out His long-suffering patience, so these despisers of His mercy were made to drink the waters of the flood.

Saved and Lost

Only eight righteous persons — Noah with his wife and his sons and their wives — believed, entered the ark, and were saved, while all the rest of that vast world were swept out of existence. For one hundred and twenty years warning was proclaimed while the immense ark was built on dry land for shelter where the obedient could remain, yet only a few repented and probation ended when Noah and his family entered by command. Then rain was sent from heaven and the foundations of the great deep were broken up, the waters from beneath uniting with the waters from heaven to destroy the inhabitants, and only eight souls out of that vast population were saved. The disobedient were swept away and death was their portion, while the obedient found shelter in the ark; only Noah and seven members of his family survived. Their unbelief did not make the message of none effect, for when the flood came none but Noah and his family were saved in the ark.

The obedient found shelter while the disobedient were swept away, and Noah and his family were preserved by God's miracle and power, the immense boat riding safely upon the waters. Every kind appointed to live was shut inside with Noah and his family, and God Himself shut them in so that no others could enter once judgment began. For forty days and forty nights rain poured in torrents while the crust of the earth was broken and the waters hidden in its bowels burst forth, sweeping away idol temples, houses, trees, and mountains. Every terrified person and every terrified animal left outside perished together in the angry flood, though they fled to high branches, high mountains, and temples, cried for a place of safety, pleaded for admission, and even clung to the ark until washed away by the waves. Noah and his family were preserved in the ark because of right-doing, and Noah preserved and taught the law to his descendants.

Only a few repented: some believing carpenters died before the Flood and other converts backslid, so only eight righteous persons lived to enter the ark. Many believing ones kept the faith and died triumphant before the unrepentant were swept from the face of the earth, preaching all the more earnestly in proportion to the ridicule amid extraordinary self-importance, swelling pride, unrighteousness, and universal scorn thrown upon God's law. Many who helped build the ark did not believe the startling message, did not cleanse themselves from all wrong principles and from all wrongdoing, and did not overcome temptation to do and say things entirely contrary to the mind and will of God. By the standard of God's law the obedient were distinguished from the disobedient at a most critical time, and Noah did not yield to temptation to have less reverence and love for the law. The sparing of so few seemed contrary to the character of a merciful God, so the great men and good men, philosophers, scientific men and learned men saw no consistency in the warning, called it a fanciful illusion of the brain, and insisted Noah was deceived and could not alone be worthy to be spared while all the wise perished.

The same reasoning is repeated now when the warning is proclaimed to fear God and keep His commandments, with unfaithful professed servants lulling themselves to carnal security by insisting God is too good and merciful to save just a few who keep the Sabbath and believe the warning and to consume with fire the great and wise men who do not believe. Great numbers do not prove truth, so believers must not follow the majority, must not turn to the right or left to fables, and the few who regard the commandments must not be discouraged though those who know duty and will not lift the cross meet destruction. All were tested by the truth that Noah preached, and those who believed were saved. Directed by God, Noah built the immense ark on dry land for the safety of all who would believe and enter, and God used the massive boat to save all who would hear the warning and turn from unrighteousness, though he was laughed to scorn and mocked as fanatical because there had been no rain. Their unbelief did not prevent fulfillment; the rain came and the wicked inhabitants perished in the waters of the flood.

Their safety in the ark prepared by God illustrates His deliverance of the faithful from coming destruction. God shut Noah and his family in the ark and preserved them as the flood destroyed the old world. As Noah was kept safe then through the great deluge, so in the coming days of destruction and calamity God Himself will be the refuge of His believing ones. He appears as protector of the righteous and answers their prayers for wickedness to end by terrible things in righteousness, after long forbearance vindicating His authority and showing that He beholds all the works of the children of men even when the wicked say His eye does not see them. When the measure of iniquity was full and the boundaries of divine mercy were passed, He swept that wicked race from the earth by the Flood.

Warning and End-Time Application

God gave the old world 120 years to repent, to choose between evil and good, to overcome bad habits, to form righteous characters, and to find refuge, while Noah preached righteousness and built the immense ark on dry land amid pride, scorn, self-importance and derision. When Noah and his family entered by command, probation for the inhabitants ended, the door was shut, mercy was withdrawn, and by the standard of God's law the obedient were distinguished from the disobedient. If men had repented He would not have destroyed them, but the gracious invitation was rejected and only eight souls out of that vast population were saved.

The message that rain would come was given when no signs of it had ever existed and there had been no rain, yet people trusted the apparent permanence of nature and treated the warning as false and impossible. They claimed to know more than God's servant, closed their ears to truth, explained truth away by false science, forgot admonition, fell asleep in carnal security, and boasted that all things remain as from the beginning and tomorrow shall be as today, only much more abundant. They carried on routine money-making work without regard to principle and went deeper into pleasure-loving and into plans and inventions of iniquity.

Those who followed pleasure mocked heaven's messages, laughing, scoffing and deriding Noah as a preacher of righteousness, a fanatic, visionary, alarmist and enthusiast not levelheaded, saying he speaks in parables. The gathering of beasts two by two and fowls till they darkened the heavens was a wonderful, singular, remarkable sign and evidence before them, and it briefly impressed some minds but was put away through fellowship in unbelief and corruption. The hardened did not humble themselves, but made light of Noah and his family and mocked them during the rainless week after God closed the door, and that testing time with no rain fully revealed their unbelief.

Their unbelief and mockery did not prevent or hinder the predicted event nor make the message of none effect. Darkness came upon them, the waters covered the earth, they drank the waters, and those who refused were left to follow the curse their sinful hearts had chosen. Noah remained faithful in warning them, and when the flood came none but Noah and his family were saved in the ark.

As it was in the days of Noah so shall it be in the days of the Son of man, and so shall it be prior to Christ's second appearing at an unknown day and hour. The Flood took contemporaries by surprise, and Christ's return will come suddenly as a snare and as a thief while many expect continued prosperity. The world will be absorbed in eating and drinking, planting and building, pleasure, amusements, gains, traffic, moneymaking, dishonest practices, luxury, extravagance, wine-drinking and reveling, with the church following the world in blind slumber and ministers crying peace and safety, calling the warning impossible until sudden destruction breaks upon the unready.

The same kinds of growing sins are increasing now, the wicked do wickedly and wickedness is repeated with increasing calamities, earthquakes, floods, and disasters by land and by sea, and punishment of the impenitent is certain. God looked upon the world then as He looks upon the world now, and He sends warning messages now as He sent warning in the days of Noah. As the Flood, Sodom, and Jerusalem show the sure result of transgression of His holy law, so the Flood patterns the coming great destruction of the world by fire after another period of test and trial whether men will be loyal by obeying God's law rather than following Satan's plans.

Christ treated the Genesis account as inspired history, with Noah a literal person and the Flood a historical event prefiguring the people living before His return. This history was known to the sons of the prophets and was taught to Israel from the Word to prepare them for Christ's advent, when despisers of mercy who wore out long-suffering patience were made to drink the waters. The time left to prepare is very short and the same closing of mercy will come. People must therefore humble themselves under God, serve Him alone, heed the last call of mercy, fear God and keep His commandments including the Sabbath, get ready before it is everlastingly too late, remain loyal and true even if the whole world opposes God's law, not follow the majority or turn to fables, and lift the voice in warning despite moral darkness, since all will have sufficient light to accept saving truth, obey, and be saved, as Noah remained faithful in warning.