Genesis 7:6-17 - Where was the ark? (Part 1) — The Earth and the Springs
Genesis 7:6…
 6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth.
This is an interesting verse. It doesn’t say much, but it says a lot. Floodwaters came on the earth. What does this mean? Well to get a feel, let us go back to God’s warning to Noah of what was to come, in Genesis 6:13,17…
 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.”
- - -
 17 I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.
Let us focus on “the earth” for a moment. The Hebrew word in every verse above is eretz. It can mean the earth at large, or partitively a land. Based on verses like Genesis 2:6, which describe the mist rising from the “eretz”, land or ground are certainly appropriate interpretations of the word. In fact, if you look carefully at verse 13 above, you can see by context the smallest amount of land that “eretz” is referring to: at least as much land as people had filled with violence. In fact, as spoken to Noah, that is exactly how much is referred to. Verse 17 however refers to something else: an “eretz” to flood that will kill those in the ”eretz” inhabited. How much more land than that inhabited would need to be flooded? Maybe a little more; maybe a lot more. However much it was, the context doesn’t require flooding the entire planet, only enough to kill the inhabitants, that is, Adam’s descendants. Furthermore, this context carries through to 7:6 above.
 6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth.
Now, when the floodwaters in Genesis 7:6 came, exactly what does “floodwaters” refer to? Custom would have us think mainly of rain, but Genesis 7 says that the flood was more than that.
 11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. 12 And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.
So yes, there was rain, a lot of it, but there were ”springs of the great deep” that ”burst forth” as well. Is that what verse 6 refers to? The floodgates of heavens and the springs of the great deep? Maybe, but maybe not. There are 4 other verses in between 6 and 11, and they describe an interesting series of events.
 6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. 7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. 8 Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, 9 male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.
A straightforward reading makes it sound like floodwaters came in verse 6, and Adam’s family responded by entering the ark. But then verse 10 makes it sound as if the floodwaters came again 7 days later. What’s up? Well, it would seem that verse 6 is just an overview of the paragraph.  The events here actually start with Noah and his family entering the ark. It says that it’s to escape the flood, but to be clear, the flood would not actually come for another 7 days. We know this because according to verses 8-10, the next 7 days would be spent receiving into the ark those animals that God brought to it.  And it was after these 7 days when God said the rains would start. Look again at verse 4…
4 Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.Â
So, it was in anticipation of the flood that Noah and his family entered the ark and received animals for the next 7 days…
 10 And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.
 11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. 12 And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.
Now, it would seem that during the preceding 7 days, Noah and his family were getting on and off the ark, most likely retrieving supplies and helping the animals on board. We know this because after getting on the ark initially to begin the 7 days, they entered the ark for a final time at the end of the 7 days…
 13 On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. 14 They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. 15 Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. 16 The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in.
Now, I glossed over a detail above that I want to come back to. According to verse 11, “on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.” Now, I can understand how Noah knew about the floodgates of heaven opening, but how did he know about the great springs bursting forth? God only referred to floodwaters when He spoke to Noah. In my opinion, I think Noah saw the springs. I think he saw them, because I believe that detail was from an eye witness account, passed down from Noah through the generations to Moses, who finally wrote it. Not only did Noah see those springs, but he wasn’t washed away from the ark by them! Why not? Hadn’t the LORD shut him in the ark?  Well, maybe not, or at least not yet.
If Noah and his family had entered the ark one time at the beginning of the 7 days, and then God simply shut the door at the end of the 7 days, then that would be one thing. But, it wasn’t that simple. “On that very day” that “all the springs” burst forth and the “floodgates of the heavens opened”, Noah and his family were apparently outside and needed to go inside. How did they know how long they had before having to go inside? I think it’s because God started the works going while they were outside, and it scared them enough to go inside. I think that’s why the account tells of the floodwaters coming in each of verses 6, 10, 11-12, and then 17… to convey the urgency Noah and his family felt to get everything wrapped up and done in those 7 days. In fact, verse 13 shows they were working right up until the last moment, and verse 14 assesses the completion of their job. Noah may well have been looking around the ark, feeling relief that God had stopped bringing them animals to board the ark! I know I would have!
So, what was the order of events that day? I think the account tells us. According to verse 11, the springs and floodgates were opened. If you look ahead to just after God shut the ark door, the waters did not start; they continued…
 17 For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth.
So here is the sequence: before Noah got onto the ark, verses 10-12 say that the springs burst forth and the floodgates of heaven were opened. After Noah got onto the ark, verse 17 says the flood kept coming. In other words, the Noah and his family were outside when the flood began! And they weren’t washed away when it happened! In fact, Noah got a good look, before getting on the ark and being closed in by God, that he knew the flood not only came from the sky, but it came from the springs of the deep as well. He must have seen it, and he must have gotten a close look!Â
I believe, from the sequence of events above, that scripture is telling us where Noah built the ark!