Kislev 27 – The windows of the heavens were closed…

December 28, 2024

09 – Kislev, 5785_09_Kislev, Genesis, Noah

Noah, Noah_Rains_End

Kislev 27, 5785; from sunset December 27, 2024, to sunset December 28, 2024

(The twenty-seventh day of the ninth month)

Noah’s Ark (1846), by the American folk painter Edward Hicks.

We’ve been following Rashi’s timeline for the story of the flood. Rashi is an acronym for Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, who lived during medieval times. According to Rashi, forty days ago, the fountains of the deep were broken up and the windows of the heavens were opened.

But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided; the fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained. – Genesis 8:1-2 (RSV).

It’s been raining for 40 days and 40 nights. Today, it ends. I imagine there is a wooden support column inside of the ark that has forty notches on it – the place where Noah kept track of the number of days that it rained – I sure would be counting them down! We’re always happy for a little sunshine after it rains, but now what? Reality sets in, everywhere he looks, there’s only water all around.

But by now Noah’s got a pretty good idea of the trustworthiness of our God. God commands Noah. Noah acts on the command. God comes through on His promises. Noah can look at those 40 notches and remember that God said it would rain for forty days and forty nights – and, sure enough, the rain stopped right when He promised. Now he can look forward to the next promise God made to him.

I will establish My covenant with you – Genesis 6:18a (NKJ)

It will probably take every bit of this hope to get Noah and his family through the next few months – floating on the waters with nothing but the heavens in sight. Just as in the creation narrative, the earth was surrounded by water; like a child in the womb. Now the earth was getting ready for its rebirth.

Tishrei 10	Noah covers ark with pitch?
Tishrei 15	Noah gathers harvest into the ark?
Cheshvan 11	Noah, his family, and the animals enter the ark.
Cheshvan 17	The rains begin to fall.
	plus 40 days of rain
Kislev 27	The rains end.