Genesis — Chapter 8

AND GOD REMEMBERED NOE, AND ALL THE LIVING CREATURES, AND ALL THE CATTLE THAT WERE WITH HIM IN THE ARK. — \"Remembered\" = began to exercise special providence and care. After 150 days the waters began to subside. Allegorically: God always \"remembers\" the just soul enclosed in the ark of penance and virtue; after the flood of tribulation, He brings it to rest.

AND THE ARK RESTED IN THE SEVENTH MONTH, ON THE SEVENTEENTH DAY OF THE MONTH, UPON THE MOUNTAINS OF ARMENIA. — The ark came to rest on Mt. Ararat in Armenia — still called by this name (Josephus, Antiquities I, 4, says relics of the ark were still shown there in his time). The 17th day of the 7th month (= 150 days after the Flood began) was the day the ark rested. Symbolically: the ark rested on Mt. Ararat as the soul rests in the highlands of contemplation after the storm of temptations.

AND AFTER THAT FORTY DAYS WERE PASSED, NOE OPENING THE WINDOW OF THE ARK WHICH HE HAD MADE, SENT FORTH A RAVEN. — After 40 more days (= 190 days from the start of the Flood), Noe first sent out a raven. The raven did not return — it fed on the floating corpses. Then he sent a dove: the dove returned when no resting place was found. Seven days later, a second dove returned with an olive branch in its mouth. Seven days later, a third dove did not return — signifying the waters had fully subsided. Tropologically (Hugo Victorinus): the raven = false Christians who delight in temporal fluctuations and do not return to the mind's rest; the dove = good Christians who, sent to works of charity, return to the mind's quiet, bearing the olive branch of mercy.

AND IN THE SIX HUNDREDTH AND FIRST YEAR, THE FIRST MONTH, THE FIRST DAY OF THE MONTH, THE WATERS WERE DRIED UP ON THE EARTH: AND NOE REMOVING THE COVERING OF THE ARK, LOOKED, AND SAW THAT THE FACE OF THE EARTH WAS DRIED. — Noe left the ark on the 27th day of the second month of his 601st year — exactly one solar year and ten days after entering (27th day of 2nd month, year 600, to 27th day of 2nd month, year 601). He waited for God's command to leave, not presuming to depart on his own initiative.

AND NOE BUILT AN ALTAR UNTO THE LORD: AND TAKING OF ALL CATTLE AND FOWLS THAT WERE CLEAN, OFFERED HOLOCAUSTS UPON THE ALTAR. — Noe built the first altar after the Flood and offered the first post-diluvian sacrifice. He offered one of each pair of clean animals and birds (hence seven pairs were taken, not just two). Lapide: the offering of sacrifice as the first act after the Flood illustrates the primacy of worship: before building a house, before plowing a field, before anything else, thank God. This is the model for the Church's gratitude after every deliverance.

AND THE LORD SMELLED A SWEET SAVOUR, AND SAID: I WILL NO MORE CURSE THE EARTH FOR THE SAKE OF MAN. — \"Smelled a sweet savour\" = was appeased and placated — anthropomorphically. God's acceptance of the sacrifice signals the reconciliation. Lapide: the sweet savour comes not from the flesh but from Noe's devout heart, as burnt offerings prefigure the sweet-smelling sacrifice of Christ (Eph. 5:2: \"Christ gave Himself for us, an oblation and a sacrifice to God for an odour of sweetness\"). \"I will not again strike every living soul\" — this is not an absolute promise (God can still punish in other ways) but a promise not to send a universal deluge again.