Bible Question: It is written that Noah sent a bird(PIGEON?)to verify if they could leave the arch .Howcome the bird brought an olive tree leave if the earth and everything on it had been under water for more than one year? |
Bible Answer: I've heard this explained in a variety of ways, but I am going to tell you what I understand about the account of Noah in Genesis. The flood waters began during Noah's 600th year, 2nd month, on the 17th day. It rained for 40 days and nights. God then stopped the water and for the next 150 days (5 months) the waters were in the process of receding because of a strong wind that God sent to pass over the earth. [approximately 6.5 months covered here] In the 7th month of Noah's 600th year (during that 150 days), on the 17th day, the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat. The ark was about 45 feet high, but only a portion of that would have been underwater. So in the seventh month of Noah's 600th year, the water was shallow enough that the ark found a resting place somewhere in the mountains of Ararat. On the 1st day of the tenth month of Noah's 600th year, the tops of the mountains were visible (to Noah apparently). [7.5 months from day Flood started to here] The conditions after the Flood were more than likely quite different than they are today. The earth would have been very fertile after all that "stirring up by the waters", and the climate was much better than today. (All recognizable by the long life-spans for several hundred years after the Flood.) 40 days after the mountain tops were visible, Noah sent out a raven and a dove. The dove returned, finding no rest ("manowach" meaning a quiet, settled spot or 'home'). (This would have been in the middle of the 11th month of Noah's 600th year) 7days later, Noah sent out another dove which returned with an olive leaf. So if a seed germinated at the very end of the 9th month of Noah's 600th year (1st day of 10th month when Noah saw the mountain tops [dirt]), it would be very possible that in the 11.5 month of Noah's 600th year (1 and 1/2 months later) a "plant" would have grown from that seed, and had leaves on it's stalk, just as it would even today in that time-span. So could an olive tree grow and produced at least one leaf in a month and a half? Yes. I would think even a shorter time than that. |