Genesis 7:23

“And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, etc.] Not everything, particularly trees; for after the flood was abated there was an olive tree, a leaf of which was brought to Noah by the dove, (<010811>Genesis 8:11) but all animals, both men and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven, and they were destroyed from the earth; this is repeated, partly for explanation of the preceding clause, and partly for confirmation of this general destruction, which might seem almost incredible; there never was such a destruction of creatures before, or since, nor never will be till the general conflagration; and is a proof of the sovereignty of God,…”

“The prevalence of the waters. The forty days are now completed. And at the end of this period the ark had been afloat for a long time. It was drifted on the waters in the direction in which they were flowing, and toward what was formerly the higher ground. Genesis 7:19 Upon the land. - The land is to be understood of the portion of the earth’s surface known to man. This, with an unknown margin beyond it, was covered with the waters. But this is all that Scripture warrants us to assert. Concerning the distant parts of Europe, the continents of Africa, America, or Australia, we can say nothing. “All the high hills were covered.” Not a hill was above water within the horizon of the spectator or…”

“every living substance: The most incontestable evidence has been afforded of the universality of this fact. the moose deer, a native of America, has been found buried in Ireland; elephants, native of Asia and Africa, in the midst of England; crocodiles, natives of the Nile, in the heart of Germany; and shell fish, never known in any but the American seas, with the entire skeletons of whales, in the most inland counties of England. Gen 7:21, Gen 7:22; Job 22:15-17; Isa 24:1-8; Mat 24:37-39; Luk 17:26, Luk 17:27; Pe1 3:20; Pe2 2:5 and Noah: Exo 14:28-30; Job 5:19; Psa 91:1, Psa 91:9, Psa 91:10; Pro 11:4; Eze 14:14-20; Mal 3:17, Mal 3:18; Mat 25:46; Heb 11:7; Pe1 3:20; Pe2 2:5, Pe2 2:9, Pe2 3:6…”