The Ark Rested on Mount Ararat

Noah wasn’t the only sailor who has used birds to help him navigate. Throughout history, mariners have used birds to guide their ships to dry land. Ravens fly toward the nearest land in a straight line, which can then be followed. Doves cannot keep flying for long, which helped indicate whether a landing site was nearby.

In this second focus within this month’s devotional study, we will be considering mountains and valleys within famous biblical narratives. What roles did they play? What are their special significances within the “spiritual geography” of Scripture?

Noah, his family, and the animals had been in the ark for 150 days, or about five months, when it “came to rest on the mountains of Ararat” (8:4). Notice that a specific mountain is not named. This mountain range—mentioned only here in Scripture—is located in what is today eastern Turkey. During the Flood, the water had covered the whole earth and risen above even the highest mountains (7:20). As a result, “Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out” (7:23), except for the people and animals on the Ark.

This event shows both God’s holiness and His love. It shows His holiness in that He judged sin as it deserves, and it shows His love in that He mercifully saved a remnant with which to replenish life on earth (8:17). Though the Flood has frequently been called a myth, the account here reads like a series of ship’s log entries. Noah and his family—and no doubt the animals as well—were more than eager to get off the boat! More than a year after they had first boarded, and seven months after the ship came to ground on the mountains of Ararat, that day finally came (8:13–20).

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BY Brad Baurain

Dr. Bradley Baurain is Associate Professor and Program Head of TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) at Moody Bible Institute. Bradley has the unique privilege of holding a degree from four different universities (including Moody). He has just published his first book, On Waiting Well. Bradley taught in China, Vietnam, the United States, and Canada. Bradley and his wife, Julia, have four children and reside in Northwest Indiana.