When the rain is falling, and the water is rising, it’s easy to imagine that God has forgotten me. I’m sure that Noah felt that, too. In between feeding the animals, cleaning up after the animals and pacing the decks of his new little world, I like to imagine Noah staring out the window. I know I heard the LORD. He told me to build this thing. He said that He would use it to protect us. But now everything that I’ve ever known, except my family, is gone. I look out these windows, and I see nothing. But water. Lots and lots of water. At least the fish are happy…
And there was probably a little part of him that wanted to be gone as well. Weeks of wrestling with doubt started to take its toll. Every day, Noah would have had to look into his family’s eyes, wondering what they thought of him. Obviously, they trusted him. He was the father of the family, who acted as a high priest for them, interceding before the Most High God. But Noah could start to see the questions in their eyes: Will this stop? And when?
God was merciful, and provided signs that He was going to keep His promise. He knew that Noah and his family were merely human, and would need reminders. Noah first sent out a raven (which God would declare in Leviticus to be an unclean bird), and the wretched creature left. Noah then sent out a dove, which returned. In a way, that was God’s message: I’m still with you. A week later, the dove was sent out on another reconnaissance mission, and brought back an olive leaf. Olive trees don’t grow at high elevations, so the waters had receded below the tops of the mountains. The olive branch has since been a sign of peace, and in a way, this was God’s method of telling Noah and his family My wrath has been satisfied; I’m at peace with creation. This gave mankind hope and secure knowledge that God had a future for them. He has given us a sign of His deep desire for peace with man, in the form of Jesus.
As a quick aside, olive trees, and the oil produced from them figure prominently in Hebrew culture. It was a staple of their food, and as such, God used it to speak His messages to Israel time and time again:
- They burned olive oil in their lamps (light)
- It was used for anointing (blessing)
- In Zechariah 4:3, God provides Zechariah with a vision of two olive trees, representing the priestly and royal offices. Christ is our priest and king, and we are declared priests and kings
- In Romans 11, we are described as a wild olive shoot, grafted onto the olive tree that is the Hebrew people
- Jesus ascended from the Mount of Olives (Luke 24:50), and will return there as well (Zechariah 14:3-4)
The third time the dove was sent out, it didn’t return. God still hadn’t abandoned them, but instead was saying that it would soon be time to leave the ark, and He was preparing their place. While Noah’s family would have to stay in it a little longer, the ark was not their permanent home. Thousands of years later, Jesus would leave this world, and go to prepare a place for us. We have His promise that this world, in its fallen state, is not our permanent home.
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