Genesis 8:1
And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged;

God’s covenant with Noah brought provision and protection in the midst of severe judgment.
The remnant was preserved and God initiated steps toward reestablishing the created order on earth.The waters subsided. God used the wind to dry the ground; evaporation returned water to the atmosphere.

Genesis 8:2
The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;

The passages which let out the subterraneous waters in great quantity upon the earth, and the clouds of heaven, which poured down water upon it like spouts, were stopped from sending forth any more, as they had from the first of the flood unto one hundred and fifty days from thence.

And the rain from heaven was restrained:
This seems to confirm what has been before observed, that after the rain of forty days and nights it ceased not to rain, more or less, though not so vehemently, until the end of an hundred and fifty days, and then it entirely ceased.

Genesis 8:3
And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.

Or "going and returning"; they went off from the earth, and returned to their proper places appointed for them; some were dried up by the wind, and exhaled by the sun into the air: and others returned to their channels and cavities in the earth, or soaked into it:

and after the end of the hundred and fifty days, the waters were abated;
Or began to abate, which days are to be reckoned from the beginning of the flood, including the forty days' rain. From the time of the ceasing of it. So that there were from the beginning of the flood one hundred and ninety days. Six months, and ten days of the year of the flood now past.

Genesis 8:4
And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.

That is, five months after the flood began, and when the waters began to decrease; for this is not the seventh month of the flood, which lasted only five months, but of the year.

the mountains of Ararat.
These were in the region of the Caucasus, also known as ancient Urartu, where the elevation exceeded 17,000 feet.

Genesis 8:5
And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.

The decrease of the waters was for wise reasons exceedingly slow and gradual - the period of their return being nearly twice as long as that of their rise.

in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen;
not the tenth month of the flood, but of the year, the tenth from when the rain began.

Genesis 8:6
And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:

It is easy to imagine the ardent longing Noah and his family must have felt to enjoy again the sight of land as well as breathe the fresh air. And it was perfectly consistent with faith and patience to make inquiries whether the earth was yet ready. We could say that this is the beginning of the end of the Flood. Notice what Noah does:

Genesis 8:7
And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.

The smell of carrion would allure it to remain if the earth were in a habitable state.
But it kept hovering about the spot, and, being a solitary bird, probably perched on the covering.

Genesis 8:8
Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;

Frankly, Noah becomes a bird-watcher. He sends out these two birds, the raven and the dove. Seven days after he had sent out the raven, as in Genesis 8:10.

to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;
for the dove is a creature that delights in cleanness, flies low, and goes far off, so that if it returned not again, he might conclude that the waters were gone off the earth. But being a sociable creature, and familiar to men, and especially loving to its mate, if they were not gone off, it would certainly return again.

Genesis 8:9
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.

It being a creature that feeds upon seeds it picks off from the ground, and loving cleanness, it could find no place where it could alight, and have food to live upon, and retain its cleanness. For though the tops of the mountains were clear of the waters, yet they might be muddy and filthy with what the waters had raised up in them, or left upon them.

And therefore it returned to Noah again, and not only like the raven unto the ark, but into it:
for the waters were on the face of the whole earth:
there was no place dry, and so neither food nor footing for this creature. Which was an emblem of a sensible sinner, who finds no rest in anything short of Christ; not in worldly enjoyments. Nor in external duties, not in hearing, reading, praying, fasting, nor in external humiliation and tears. Nor in the law, and in the works of it; nor in natural descent, nor in education principles, nor in a profession of religion, and subjection to ordinances.

Only in Christ, where it finds rest from the burden and guilt of sin, and the tyrannical power of it.
From the bondage, curse, and condemnation of the law, and from a sense of divine wrath and fear of it.

And though not from afflictions, yet it finds rest in Christ amidst them:
then he put forth his hand and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark:
she hovered about it, and got near the window, which Noah opened and took her in; Which may represent the gracious reception sensible souls meet with from Christ, who apply to him; He kindly embraces them, and they find room in His heart and affections, fulness of everything they want, and security from all danger.

Genesis 8:10
And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;

As he had stayed seven days between the sending out of the raven and the dove, so he stayed seven days more after he had sent out the dove, and it returned to him, waiting patiently for his deliverance, and the signs of it.

Though he could have been glad to have known its near approach, for which he made the experiments: and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark; probably the selfsame dove he had sent out before.

Genesis 8:11
And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.

It having been out all day delighting itself in a free air, and perching upon the trees, but yet not finding sufficient food, or a proper lodging, it returned to Noah at the evening for food and dwelling in the ark:

and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off:
which might easily be done, and even an "olive branch", as the word sometimes signifies, and is by some rendered; for it being now the summer season, young branches sprouted out, which being tender, were easily cropped.

so Noah knew the waters were abated from off the earth:
by this he perceived not only that they were gone off the mountains, but the lower grounds, at least the hills on which olive trees delight to grow; and yet that they were only abated, and not entirely gone off, since the dove returned to him:

This dove sent out the second time, and returning, may be considered as an emblem of a Gospel minister, comparable to a dove, for the dove like gifts of the Spirit of God, by which he is qualified for his work, and for his simplicity, harmlessness, meekness, and humility;
The olive leaf in its mouth may be an emblem of the Gospel, which is from Christ, the good olive; is the Gospel of peace, which an olive branch is a symbol of, proclaiming and publishing peace and reconciliation by Christ;

And as that is ever green, the Gospel always continues, and is the everlasting Gospel, and which was brought, and more fully and clearly dispensed in the evening of the world;
And by it, it is known that the waters of divine wrath are assuaged, and the people of God may be assured they will never return to come upon them.

Genesis 8:12
And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.

After the dove had returned: and sent forth the dove; the same dove again: which returned not again unto him any more:
the earth being dry, it found rest for the sole of its feet, sufficient food to eat, and a proper place for its habitation; and liking to be at liberty, and in the open air, chose not to return to the ark, even though its mate was there:

I want you to see a great spiritual truth that we have here in the eighth chapter in this account of the raven and the dove.

After Noah had spent over a year in the ark, he sent forth a raven, and the raven never came back. But the dove kept coming back and even brought in its beak a little bit of greenery, an olive leaf.

I do not know why the dove and olive leaf have always been symbolic of peace, but they are.I cannot qu ite see that that is exactly the message of the dove ...