Genesis 8:11 - Exposition

And the dove came in unto him . Literally, to him . As the manner of doves is, partly for better accommodation both for food and lodging than yet he could meet with abroad, and partly from love to his mate (Poole). In the evening (of the seventh day). And, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off . Not as if "Deo jubente, uno die germinavit terra" (Ambrose), but because the olive leaves kept green under water (Chrysostom). Rosenmüller, Lange, and Kalisch quote Pliny (13. 50) and Theophrastus ('Hist. Plant; 4.8) to this effect. That the olive tree grows in Armenia is proved by the testimony of Strabo, Horace (Od. I . 7. 7), Virgil (Georg. 2.3), Diodorus Siculus (1. 17), &c.; On this point vide Kalisch. The leaf which the dove carried towards the ark was "taraf," freshly plucked; hence rightly translated by "viride (Michaelis, Rosenmüller) rather than by "decerptum" (Chaldee, Arabic) or "raptum" (Calvin). κα ì ρφος ( LXX .) is just the opposite of "fresh," viz; withered. So Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.