Genesis 8:11

at eventide i.e. at the time when the dove would return to roost; implying a long absence from the ark.

an olive leaf pluckt off Better, as R.V. marg., a fresh olive leaf. This would shew two things, (1) that the waters had sunk to a level at which the olive would grow, and (2) that life had revived upon the earth. The scene has universally been accepted as symbolical of reconciliation and peace. It finds no counterpart in the Babylonian story. The olive would be the most familiar tree to the dweller in Palestine.

LXX φύλλον ἐλαίας κάρφος, Lat. ramum olivae virentibus foliis.

13 (P). And it came to pass … earth The disappearance of the waters is dated by P as coinciding with the 1st day of the 1st month of Noah's 601st year. The 1st month would be Tisri, corresponding to our October. See note on Genesis 7:11. Those who assume a reference to the later Heb. reckoning, which was identical with that of the Babylonian calendar, suppose the 1st month to be that of Abib, in the spring time, when the rainy season ended.

(J) and Noah removed LXX ἀπεκάλυψε τὴν στέγην τῆς κιβωτοῦ, Lat. aperiens tectum arcae.

the covering of the ark The literal rendering of the Heb. But what it was, and how it was removed, we are not told. The details of the structure of the ark, according to J, were probably left out, in order to make way for the description of P in Genesis 6:14-16.

14 (P). And in the second month We have here the last date in the Flood story. The earth is dry on the 27th day of the 2nd month in the 2nd year. The Flood had begun on the 17th day of the 2nd month in the previous year (Genesis 7:11). From first to last we have here a period of one year and 10 days. It has been pointed out that a lunar year consists of 354 days; and that one lunar year and 11 days is exactly a solar year of 365 days. This may be merely a coincidence; and in calculating the months we reckon them as solar months of 30 days each.

The LXX in Genesis 7:11 dated the commencement of the Flood from the 27th day of the 2nd month of the 1st year; and, therefore, assigns an exact year to its duration.

dry Note the successive stages in P: Genesis 8:5 waters decreased, tops of mountains visible; Genesis 8:13 waters gone; Genesis 8:14 soil dry.