The first day of the month. — It will be plain to any one studying the following table that this was exactly one month after the day on which Noah, for the third time, sent out the dove (Genesis 8:12): —
The flood commenced in the second month, called
Marchesvan, on day 17.
The waters prevail during 150 days = 5 months,
unto month 7, day 17.
Mountain-tops seen on month 10, day 1,
i.e., after
73 days.
Noah sends out raven at end of
40 days.
Dove thrice sent out, at intervals of
7 days
= 21 days.
134 days.
But from the seventeenth day of the seventh month to the first day of the first month of the following year, there are: —
Of the seventh month
13 days.
Five months of 30 days each
= 150 days.
First day of new year
1 days.
164 days.
It was thus very slowly that the earth returned to its normal state. The intervals of seven days between the sending forth of the birds prove that the division of time into weeks was fully established, and also suggests that religious observances were connected with it.
The covering of the ark. — The word is elsewhere used of the covering of skins for the Tabernacle (Exodus 26:14; Numbers 4:25), and it has probably a similar meaning here. To have removed the solid framework of the roof would have been a very laborious task, and still more so to have broken up the roof itself. But as the asphalte employed for filling up the interstices between the beams in the hulk of the ark would have been difficult to manage for the roof, it was apparently protected from the rain by a covering, probably of skins sewn together.
No one can read the narrative without noticing that Noah is not only described as shut up within the ark, but as having very slight means of observing what was going on around. Had there been a deck, Noah would have known exactly the state of the flood, whereas, peeping only through the zohar, he seems to have been able to see but little, possibly because his sight was obstructed by the overhanging eaves of the roof. Thus the freshly-plucked olive-leaf was like a revelation to him. But when these skins were taken off, there were numerous apertures through which he could obtain an uninterrupted view, and he “looked, and, behold, the face of the adâmâh was dry.”