Lesson 5 - Elementary

Memory Verse

"Prepare ye the way of the Lord" (Luke  3:4).

Notes

The Great Flood Stopped

God remembered Noah and his family in the ship and stopped the waters from coming upon the earth. He told the wind to blow over the earth and dry it. Gradually the waters began to flow into rivers, lakes, and oceans, and the land began to be dry again. When the waters settled, the ship was on the top of the mountains of Ararat.

Noah Sent Out a Raven

Noah opened the window of the ark and sent a raven out, but the raven kept going back and forth as long as there was water over the earth.

Noah Sent Out a Dove

A dove was sent out. If the ground had been dry it would likely have stayed away, but it came back to the ark. After seven days Noah sent it out again and this time it came back with an olive leaf in its mouth. Then Noah waited seven more days and sent it out, but this time it did not come back. Noah knew then that the earth was dry.

More Than a Year in the Ship

Noah and his family and the animals had been in the ship a long time. But he did not go into the ark until God told him to go, and he did not leave the ark until God told him to do so. Then one day God said that he should bring his family and the animals out of the ark and live again on the earth.

All the wicked people had been drowned. It must have looked very different to Noah, for the great waters that had washed back and forth had no doubt filled up the low places, and built up high places. It is not easy to find places mentioned in the Bible before the flood because the water must have changed everything very much.

See shells, skeletons of animals, and many curious things are found on the tops of mountains and in the rocks and were no doubt washed there when the waters covered them.

Noah Worships God

About the very first thing Noah did when he came back upon the dry land was to prepare a place where he could worship God. Noah was surely thankful to God for keeping him safe during that long time when the waters covered the earth and every living thing was drowned. He must have loved God more than ever before.

God was pleased with Noah, too, and set a beautiful rainbow in the sky to tell the whole world that He would never again destroy it with a great flood. God always keeps His promise.

Questions

1. How did the rain finally stop? [GEN:8:2-3].

2. What kind of bird did Noah send out first? [GEN:8:7].

3. What did the dove do the first time it was sent out? [GEN:8:9].

4. Who told Noah to leave the ark? [GEN:8:15-16].

5. What was the first thing Noah did when he came out of the ark? [GEN:8:20].