In the close of the foregoing chapter we left the world in ruins and the church in straits; but in this chapter we have the repair of the one and the enlargement of the other.

Here is, I. An act of God’s grace: God remembered Noah and every living thing. This is an expression after the manner of men; for not any of his creatures , much less any of his people, are forgotten of God, Isa. 49:15–16. But, 1.

Here we have the effects and evidences of the ebbing of the waters. 1. The ark rested. This was some satisfaction to Noah, to feel the house he was in upon firm ground, and no longer movable.

We have here an account of the spies which Noah sent forth to bring him intelligence from abroad, a raven and a dove. Observe here, I. That though God had told Noah particularly when the flood would come, even to a day , yet he did not give him a particular account by revelation at what times, and…

Here is, 1. The ground dry , that is, all the water carried off it, which, upon the first day of the first month (a joyful new-year’s-day it was), Noah was himself an eye-witness of.

Here is, I. Noah’s dismission out of the ark, Gen. 8:15–17. Observe, 1. Noah did not stir till God bade him. As he had a command to go into the ark , so, how tedious soever his confinement there was, he would wait for a command to go out of it again.

Here is, I. Noah’s thankful acknowledgment of God’s favour to him, in completing the mercy of his deliverance, Gen. 8:20. 1. He built an altar. Hitherto he had done nothing without particular instructions and commands from God.