Flood
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- Parallels to the Biblical Flood Story
- Sixty-eight different peoples are known to have flood stories
although not every culture has a flood story
- Stories in the Ancient Near East
- "Atrahasis Epic"
- The god Enlil decides to create a flood because people are too noisy
- they disturb the sleep of the gods and must be destroyed
- Atrahasis is warned by the god Ea
- He builds a boat and survives a 7 day flood
- "Epic of
Gilgamesh"
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- Sumerian version
- Dates to c. 2000 B.C.E.
- Hero is Ziusudra
- While the stories may borrow from one another, there is no direct
evidence of dependency - the differences between these stories and the biblical story are
striking
- Biblical Account (Gen. 6:1-9:29)
- Sons of God marrying the daughters of men (6:1-4)
- Very difficult passage
- Members of the "heavenly host" are having sexual relations
with human women - are members of the "heavenly host" sexual beings? - what will
the children look like? - sounds like a story of the Greek gods
- Certainly indicates that creation is not what God intended - it has
strayed further from God's purpose and even the heavenly host is becoming polluted
- As a side note, the text mentions that these half-heavenly,
half-human beings become the ancestors of a race of giants, the Nephilim
- God decrees that no person should live past 120 years (the age of
Moses when he died) - Abraham will surpass this age
- The flood (6:5-9:19)
- May be a combination of the Yahwist
and Priestly sources
- Some theological points
- Creation has refused to be God's creation - the "very good"
of Gen. 1:31 has become the "I will blot out" of Gen. 6:7 - God decides to
"undo" creation - yet, God is a grieving parent and not an angry dictator
- God can change His mind according to the account - the God who
decided to create can now decide to destroy
- God can destroy the world - God is not bound to or by creation -
Israel viewed God as having all power and authority
- In the midst of unfaith, faith is found - Noah is obedient and
righteous and God determines to spare him and his family
- God's decision to destroy is now softened because of Noah - rather
than destroying everything, God decides to offer a new beginning
- Mechanics of the account
- Boat - 300 x 50 x 30 cubits (450 x 75 x 60 feet) with three levels
and a roof
- Rain fell for 40 days and nights
- Water rose to a height of 15 cubits (22 ½ feet) over the tallest
mountain
- Water was on the earth for 150 days
- Conclusion
- Creation had not changed - God realized the human heart was still set
on distrusting God and disobeying Him (8:21)
- However, God had changed - God now approached creation with patience
and forgiveness - the rainbow reminds God of His promise never again to destroy the world
by flood - mankind is not forgotten
- Creation began again
- Noah and his family were to repopulate the earth and have dominion
over it just as in Gen. 1:28 - blessing and command continue
- Previously green plants had served as food - God now allowed animal
flesh (meat) to humans as food - thus, this new creation is marked by further tension
between humans and the rest of creation
- The cursing of Canaan (9:20-27)
- Although drunkenness is part of the account, it is not the primary
theme or primary sin
- "Looking upon his father's nakedness" may be:
- Having sexual relations with his mother
- Having sexual relations with his father
- Simply looking at his naked father
- Strange that the grandson is cursed rather than the son who committed
the crime
- Punishment of son may be harder on the father than his own punishment
would be
- Children did and do suffer for the sins and bad decisions of parents
(cf. Jer. 31:29, Ezek. 18:2)
- The black race does NOT come from this cursed Canaan - the Canaanites
and Israelites shared common skin coloring and features - this text has been used in
America to justify slavery of African-Americans but that terribly misuses the text
- Probably gives a theological basis for Israel's later conquest of
Canaan - the Canaanites came from bad stock, so the account says, and deserved to lose
their land
Photographs of Paintings are from the Sistine Chapel
