Finding No Rest in the Arid Places

An interesting parallel between Genesis 8:8-10 and Matthew 12:43-45

Noah sends the dove out of the ark:


Genesis 8:8-10
Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground (dry places); But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters [were] on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark. And he stayed yet another seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;

Compare to:

Matthew 12:43-45
When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth [it] empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last [state] of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.

Is this a true parallel or antithetic and what does it mean? Not sure, but I thought it was interesting.

5 comments:

Anonymous 12:01 PM  

There are a surprising number of points of correlation, but the differences leave the parallelism too disjointed for me to compare the passages. The dove needed an dry place to live while the evil spirit could not live in the dry places. The sevens are unrelated (days/spirits), but you might be able to make the dove (one of seven - Gen. 7:3) correspond to the evil spirit.
But I would really need more from the context of Matthew 12 before I made any application from these two passages' similarities.

Ephesians Revealed 6:07 PM  

Thanks Brian! I think I agree with you but let me know if you get any further revelation on this.

Anonymous 7:18 PM  

Did you ever know someone who called you "Gary Indiana"?

Ephesians Revealed 6:33 PM  

Nope, not that I recall. Sorry.

Anonymous 8:27 PM  

I have seen this in a different light. The evil or unclean spirit came out of a man but we are not told it was forced to go unto arid places but it chooses to go there seeking rest. Being arid may not be the reason for not finding rest. What I have wondered is what is it about water that repels evil or unclean. If unclean, I could see the water having a cleaning effect. There are a number of scripture that speak of evil spirits and water. What about the swine that the evil spirits are cast into and then are dispatched into the sea or the evil in the world dealt with by God with the flood or baptism or so many others like the verse in Matt. where the evil spirit goes to arid places. The spirit may have not found rest because there was no one there. Just a thought.

Joe