Genesis 8: 6-14

Genesis
Chapter 8

6-14

6

² At the end of forty days Noah opened the hatch he had made in the ark,

7

and he sent out a raven, to see if the waters had lessened on the earth. It flew back and forth until the waters dried off from the earth.

8

Then he sent out a dove, to see if the waters had lessened on the earth.

9

But the dove could find no place to alight and perch, and it returned to him in the ark, for there was water all over the earth. Putting out his hand, he caught the dove and drew it back to him inside the ark.

10

He waited seven days more and again sent the dove out from the ark.

11

In the evening the dove came back to him, and there in its bill was a plucked-off olive leaf! So Noah knew that the waters had lessened on the earth.

12

He waited still another seven days and then released the dove once more; and this time it did not come back.

13

In the six hundred and first year of Noah's life, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the water began to dry up on the earth. Noah then removed the covering of the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was drying up.

14

In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.

Reflection: Noah must have been anxious to start over again. I can only imagine after being trapped on a boat for so long that he would long for the solid grown. He would long for the security of land. The Olive leaf has always had special meaning. To us it means peace. God didn't send the dove back with just any only leaf but an olive leaf. "Peace be with you" was from God that day. The olive is considered a healing plant. It helps with so many things. It is considered a plant of peace and a plant from the gods.