Flood Event Timing

Further support for three distinct events comes from the time each event lasted. Notice that the termination of these events is described at the 150-day point of the flood in Genesis 7:24-8:4. The 150 days is described at both the beginning and the end of this text, so there is no doubt about when it occurred. The text further describes the date in months from when the flood started (five months from the start = 150 days).

   And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days. But God remembered Noah, and all
   the beasts and all the livestock that were with him on the ark. And God made a wind
   blow over the earth, and the waters subsided. The fountains of the deep and the
   windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, and
   the waters receded from the earth continually. At the end of 150 days the waters
   had abated, and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark
   came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. (ESV)

Genesis 7:12 says the rain lasted for 40 days and nights. Genesis 8:2 says the rain was restrained at the 150-day point of the flood. Did the rain last 40 or 150 days?

Genesis 7:12 indicates the incessant nature of the rain. It lasted 40 days and nights without any break. Genesis 8:2 indicates that at the 150-day point the rain was restrained. Thus, after the 150-day point the rain returned to 'normal' levels. The text does not describe what the rain was like between the 40-day and 150-day points. While the text does not specifically say, it is logical that during this period the rain was still torrential, but not incessant. The indication is that for 40 days the rain was incessant and torrential. Then for 110 days the rain was intermittent and heavy. After 150 days the rain subsided to 'normal' amounts.

The other two events, the fountains and windows, opened at the start of the flood and were closed 150 days later.

The event timing indicates that the "windows of the heavens opened" is not the same event as the rain. The windows to the heavens were open 150 days and then completely closed and stopped. The rain was incessant for 40 days, then heavy for 110 days, and then restrained to normal amounts, but never completely stopped.

This page is in development 2/11/2014