Genesis 8:15 - Meaning and Application

Here is Noah’s release from the ark, in Genesis 8:15-17.

Noah did not move until God told him to. Just as he had received a command to go into the ark (Genesis 7:1), he waited for God’s command before leaving it, even though the confinement had been long and hard. We should also acknowledge God in all our ways and keep him before us whenever we make any move. Only those who follow God’s direction and submit to his rule can go forward under his protection. If we stay close to God’s Word as our guide, depend on his grace as our strength, and use his providence to help us apply general commands to specific situations, then we may trust him to direct our steps through this wilderness of life.

Though God kept Noah waiting, he did at last give him leave to go out. The promised vision comes at its appointed time, and at the end it speaks truth, not lies (Habakkuk 2:3). God had said, “Come into the ark,” but now he does not say, “Come out,” but, “Go out.” This suggests that God, who went in with Noah, stayed with him all the while and then sent him out safely, just as he had promised, “I will not leave you.”

Some note that when Noah and his family were first told to enter the ark, the men and women were mentioned separately, “You, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives” (Genesis 6:18). From this they think the men and women were kept apart during their time of mourning, as in Zechariah 12:12. But now God, as it were, joined them together again, sending Noah and his wife out together, and his sons and their wives together, so they could be fruitful and multiply.

Noah was also told to bring the animals out with him. He had taken care of feeding them for so long and had gone to so much trouble for them, so now he could have the honor of leading them out in their groups and receiving the respect of the creatures committed to him.

Noah left when his release came. He would not go out without permission, and he would not stay in out of fear or stubbornness once he had permission. In every way, he obeyed the heavenly vision. Though he had spent a full year and ten days in the ark, he did not complain about the long confinement, because he saw that God had preserved him there, not only for a new life, but for a new world.

Noah and his whole family came out alive, even though one of them was wicked Ham, who could have been taken away by God’s justice by some other means, even if he escaped the flood. Yet they all survived. When a family has been kept together for a long time, with no serious break among them, that is a special mercy and should be credited to the Lord’s kindness.

Noah also brought out all the creatures that had gone in with him, except the raven and the dove, which likely had already gone to meet their mates outside. Noah could give a very good account of his charge. He had lost none of what had been entrusted to him. He had been faithful to the one who appointed him, acting for this occasion as the steward of God’s household.