NOAH’S FLOOD AND GOD’S CALENDAR   

     In light of the recent unprecedented floods in the Midwestern United States, I decided to revisit

the account of Noah’s flood in Gen. 6, 7, and 8. This resulted in bringing to my attention the very

careful recording of the passage of time as Christ, the Word, related the events of the flood.    

     These events are given to us in a chronology of days and months, and as you will see, God

reveals them through a system that parallels our present calculated calendar.

     Some assumptions have been made in the past about how time was measured in the book of

Genesis; the most prominent being that a year was comprised of twelve 30-day months. (Reference

Rev. 11:2-3; forty-two months equated to 1260 days.) It should be remembered that the 42 months

represents a period of time (the treading down of the Holy City)  different from the 1260 days that

the two witnesses prophesy. Neither the assumption of 30-day months, or that the moon had a

consistent orbit that agreed with the yearly cycle of the sun, is verifiable from this scripture. The

thinking is that  through the passage of time and events this relationship was altered, giving us the

present-day average of 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, and 3½ seconds. The Noachian Flood

demonstrates that the moon’s orbit was never changed, as seen by studying this account.

     Thus we have the present rather wobbly orbit of the moon, requiring the addition or subtraction

of days to the month and, in some years, a thirteenth month added to keep the calendar corrected to

the seasons – the Holy Days of God. This is dictated by the yearly cycle of the sun; summer and

winter.  This means that all moon-based calendars require calculations in order to prevent a

seasonal shift, including those based on moon sightings. 

     Because of the variableness of the moon’s orbit, the number of days in a month change. In the

calculated calendar they have either twenty-nine or thirty days.  This results in six different

lengths of years; defective common years with 353 days, regular common years with 354 days,

excessive common years with 355 days, defective leap years with 383 days, regular leap years

with 384 days, and excessive leap years with 385 days.

     The postponements play an integral part in determining the year’s length. The 385 day year is

determined by the postponements. If the year of the flood is 385 days in length it unequivocally

becomes a calculated calendar year, and demonstrates that it was the calendar with God’s stamp of

approval.     

     Gen. 7:11, “In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of

the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of

heaven were opened.”  This gives us the starting day of the deluge: the seventeenth day of Iyar, the

second month. Some may question this with the claim that the seventh month, Tishri would state

the year.    

     Ex. 12:2, “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the

year to you.”  It should be noted that God gave Moses the only piece of information he needed: the

starting point of the year to correctly calculate the yearly calendar.  Coupled with that, it can be

realized that he was not in the right geographical area to sight the new moon as presently accepted

by some. Therefore, the only way for Moses to establish the correct date was through calculation.

This is the first of many scriptures so designating when God started His year.

     Some may also point out that Adam and Eve would have been created in the fall of the year for

them to have food to eat. But the garden was tropical, or semi-tropical, producing food throughout

the year.

     The start of the forty days of rain is placed on the seventeenth day of the second month, resulting

in the passage of forty-six days from the first of the year to the beginning of the flood. Gen. 7:11,

“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day, on that day all

the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. The

breaking up of the foundations of the deep describe massive earthquakes releasing immeasurable

quantities of water. This produced tsunamis and storms of violence that modern man has never

witnessed. No man-made device could have withstood the enormity of the violence that passed over

the face of the earth. Verse 12, “And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.” This tells

us the initial length of the out-pouring of water was forty days, and Genesis 7:17 confirms it. “Now

the flood was on the earth forty days. The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high

above the earth.”

     It should be noted that the forty days resulted in lifting the ark high above the earth. The

description found in verses 17 through 23 describe what took place because of the forty days of rain

 and the breaking up of the foundations of the deep.  At the end of the forty days, the ark was fifteen

 cubits above the highest mountain.                                                                                                            

     Gen. 7:24, “And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days.” You cannot say

the waters prevailed on the first or second day of the flood. They did not prevail until the flood

reached its maximum depth, making the one hundred and fifty days consecutive to the forty days of

rain, and needs to be added to obtain the correct passage of time.

     As shown in the above scripture God did not allow the level of the flood waters to drop for one

hundred and fifty days. He did this with additional rain and by bringing up waters from the fountains

of the deep. Gen.8:1-2“Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that

were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. The

fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was

restrained.” Thus God caused additional waters to continue for the first one hundred and fifty days

to maintain the level at fifteen cubits above the mountains. This insured the death of all air breathing

life on land.

     Gen. 8:3, “And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the one hundred and

fifty days the waters decreased.”  Here God proceeds to dry up the flood waters, which took another

 one hundred and fifty days. This is more clearly understood by looking at the word translated

“decreased,” or “abated.”  Number 2637 at the end of verse 3.  Gesenius gives the following

definition of this word: “(1) To be devoid of anything, to lack, to be without, followed by an

accusative.” This makes it clear that God took another one hundred and fifty days for the earth to be

without the waters of the flood.

     Gen. 8:4, “Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the

mountains of Ararat.” This verse gives the impression that the ark came to the physical location,

resting on Mt. Ararat because the waters had apparently started to decrease  Of course, it would have

required the depth of the water to have fallen considerably. Every mountain was covered to a depth

of fifteen cubits, not a great depth until you consider Mt. Everest at 29,000 feet compared to Mt.

Ararat at 17,000 feet – a difference of about two miles.             

     Not only this, but the date given for this occurrence, the seventh month, the seventeenth day,

would be one hundred and ninety-five days into the six hundredth year. The account given shows

that two hundred thirty-six days of that year would have passed before God started to dry up the

flood waters. Forty-six plus forty, plus one hundred and fifty days equals two hundred and thirty six.

If you want to say that the forty days were part of the one hundred and fifty days the total would be

one hundred and ninety-six days before the waters started to decrease. This makes it impossible for

the ark to have been lodged on Mt. Ararat because the waters had not started to decrease. The

word “rested,” number 5117, is related to a stopping of movement or activity. God is telling us that

He brought the ark to a location, and there it remained until the waters were dried. It can be seen

when God used the same word in Ex. 20:11, “God rested on the seventh day.”  His activity or

movement ended.

     God maintained the location of the ark as a miracle, not because it was physically stuck on Mt.

Ararat but because God wanted it there.  It should also be noted that counting the initial forty days

of the flood as part of the one hundred and fifty days means the six hundredth year would contain

only three hundred and forty-five days. (46 + 150 + 150 = 346, minus 1 for the 601^st year = 345

days.) There is no yearly cycle, either calculated or observed, that would fit a three hundred and

forty-five day year.

     To determine the correct passage of time, it is necessary to place an end date for the second one

hundred and fifty days. This date is stipulated in Gen. 8:13, “And it came to pass in the six-

hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up

from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the

ground was dry.”  Here God tells us the waters were dried up on the first day of the six hundredth                                                               

and first year, and Noah removes the covering to confirm this as fact.                                                                  

 Gen. 8:14, “And in the second month, on the twenty-seventy day of the month, the earth was

 dried.” This may seem to contradict verse 13, but the word used in verse 13 carries a different

 meaning than the word in verse 14. In verse 13 “dried” and “dry” is number 2717. In verse 14

number 3001 is used for “dry.” Gesenius notes that these two words represent a graduation - the first

denotes an absence of water and the second represents a condition more akin to that of a lack of

moisture, or withered. Verse 13 pictures a condition of no standing water, while verse 14 is a picture

of soil with a lack of moisture, or dry soil.

     The following is a computation of the number of days that passed in the six hundredth year of

Noah’s life during the flood.

Gen. 7:11, 2nd month and 17th day, 30 days,              

                  1st month plus 16 days before the start.                                                         46 days

        .                                                                                                                              

Gen. 7:12, Rained for 40 days and 40 nights                                                                    40 days

Gen. 7:24, Waters prevail                                                                                              150 days

Gen. 8:3    Waters abated                                                                                              150 days

Total                                                                                                                              386 days

Gen. 8:13, Water dried on first day of the next year                                                       -    1 day

Total                                                                                                                             385-day year

     This period of 385 days for the Noachian Flood is highly significant because it is the exact

number of days required for an excessive leap year in the calculated calendar. God recorded in His

word this remarkable account, revealing His stamp of approval of the calculated calendar. There can

be no doubt about God’s true calendar.

Don Roth

August, 2008