This is the online edition of In the Beginning: Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood, 8th Edition (2008), by Dr. Walt Brown. It is designed to be read online.
Copyright © 1995–2008, Center for Scientific Creation. All rights reserved.
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Did the Flood Last 40 Days and 40 Nights?
No. This is a common misunderstanding. Violent geshem rain lasted for 40 days and 40 nights, but the flood waters covered all preflood mountains 150 days after the flood began. People and animals were in the Ark for more than a year—7 months after the Ark landed. Why? Wouldn’t you have wanted to leave that boat? No doubt, conditions outside the Ark were hostile. Figure 68 on page 131 lists the destructive events following the continental drift phase.]
This is the most precisely recorded year in the Bible. Here are some flood-year events. (“D-day” marks the start of the flood. D-7 represents one week before the flood began.)
|
Day |
Reference |
Event |
Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| D - 7 |
7:1, 4, 10 |
Loading the Ark begins: Noah, his wife, their three sons, their sons’ wives, and representatives of all air-breathing land animals enter the Ark. |
|
| D |
7:11, 13 |
Humans enter the Ark for the last time. Then, on this single day, all the fountains of the great deep burst open2 and rain begins. [See Figures 41, 54, and 55.] |
This occurred on the 17th day of the 2nd month. Noah was 600 years old. |
| (40 days) |
7:12, 17 |
Rain3 falls upon the earth. The Ark is lifted up above the earth. The waters increase greatly4 upon the earth. |
Evidently, the Ark was loaded on dry land. |
| (150 days) |
7:19, 24 |
Waters prevail [rise with mighty power] upon the earth. They eventually cover all the earth’s preflood mountains. |
Notice that the waters rose for 110 days after 40 days of “geshem” rain. |
| D + 150 days |
8:1–4 |
A wind passes over the earth. The waters begin to subside; the fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky close, and the rain is restrained. The Ark rests upon the mountains of Ararat, and the water continues to steadily recede. |
Months were probably 30 days long. Compare 8:3 and 8:4, and note that 8:4 begins with “And.” After the flood, rapid rising of mountains and thickening of the crust displaced air and probably caused the wind.5 |
| D + 224 days |
8:5 |
The tops of the mountains become visible. |
Noah saw at least two peaks. |
| D + 264 days |
8:7 |
Noah sends out a raven. It does not return. |
The birds were released at seven-day intervals. (Study Genesis 8:10.) This hints at a seven-day week and a sabbath—a commemoration of the creation week. [See Genesis 7:4.] |
| D + 271 days |
8:8–9 |
Noah sends out a dove. It returns to Noah. |
|
| D + 278 days |
8:10–11 |
Again, Noah releases a dove. It returns with an olive leaf. |
|
| D + 285 days |
8:12 |
Noah releases a dove for the third time. It does not return. |
|
| D + 314 days |
8:13–14 |
Noah removes the covering of the Ark and sees the dry ground. |
Noah stayed in Ark 57 more days. Conditions outside were unsafe. [See “Recovery Phase” on page 125.] |
| D + 371 days |
8:15–19 |
God tells Noah to off-load the Ark. |
|