Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Genesis, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
God, Humanity, and Creation
Mistrust, Disobedience, and Death
Covenants and Faith in God’s Promises
The Role of Women
Summary
Analysis
God remembers Noah, his family, and the animals in the ark. He causes a wind to blow over the earth, which makes the floodwaters subside. At the end of the 150 days, the ark rests on the mountains of Ararat. As the waters recede, the mountains gradually reappear.
When the Bible describes God as “remembering” someone, it doesn’t mean that God had forgotten about them. Instead, it means that God is about to act on that person’s behalf—in this case, bringing Noah and his family safely through the waters, as he’d promised to do. The mountains of Ararat are located in modern Turkey.
Themes
After 40 days, Noah opens a window and sends a raven out. The raven flies back and forth until the waters dry up. Then Noah sends out a dove, but it returns to the ark because there is not yet dry ground for it to rest on. He sends the dove out again 7 days later, and the dove returns with an olive leaf in its mouth, showing that the waters have subsided. After another 7 days, Noah sends the dove out for a final time, and it does not return.
While the flood was sudden and dramatic, the waters’ recession and the earth’s drying is a slow, gradual process. Noah’s method of sending out the various birds to gauge the earth’s conditions shows that even after Noah and his family had survived the flood, they were still required to wait and trust that God would fully deliver them from the situation.
Themes
Noah removes the covering from the ark and sees that the ground is drying. When it is fully dry, God tells Noah, his wife, and his sons’ families to leave the ark with the animals. After they emerge from the ark, Noah builds an altar to the LORD and offers burnt sacrifices on it. When the LORD smells the offerings’ aroma, he promises himself never again to destroy his creation.
When Noah emerges from the ark, the first thing he does is offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving and atonement (a practice that’s explained in greater detail in the Book of Leviticus). The offering also suggests that even if human beings disobey God again, God will not destroy them like he did with the flood, and that sacrificial practices will be part of upholding that harmony between humanity and God.
Themes
