And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bore up the ark, and it was lifted up above the earth.
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John Chrysostom
AD 407
It is not without purpose that Scripture describes all this to us. Instead, its purpose is for us to learn that not only people, cattle, fourfooted beasts and reptiles were drowned but also the birds of heaven and whatever inhabited the mountains, namely, animals and other wild creatures. Hence the text says, “The flood rose fifteen cubits above the mountains,” for you to learn that the execution of the Lord’s sentence had been effected. He said, remember, “After seven more days I will bring a deluge upon the earth and I will wipe off the face of the earth all the life I have made, from human beings to cattle, and from reptiles to birds of heaven.” So Scripture narrates this not simply to teach us the flood level but that we may be able to understand along with this that there was absolutely nothing left standing—no wild beasts, no animals, no cattle—rather, everything was annihilated along with the human race. Since it was for their sake that all these creatures had been created, with...
But let us see where this most sacred number of forty days had its beginning. We read first in the Old Testament that in the time of Noah, when criminal wickedness had seized the whole human race, torrents of water poured forth from the opened floodgates of heaven for just as many days. In a kind of mysterious image of Quadragesima, this inundation of the earth refers not so much to a flood as to baptism. This was clearly a baptism in which the wickedness of sinners was removed and Noah’s righteousness preserved. For this reason, then, the Lord has given us forty days now as well in imitation of that time, so that for this number of days, while the heavens are opened, a celestial rain of mercy might pour upon us and, with the flood, the water of the saving washing might enlighten us in baptism and—as was the case then—the wickedness of our sins might be quenched in us by the streams of water and the righteousness of our virtues preserved. For the very same thing is at issue with regard...
