LESSON 6
Genesis for Today: Chapters 6-8
by Herb Drake

Copyright (c) 1998, 2020, Herb Drake.

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The Great Flood

We are interested in Noah, of course, because he (and his family) are the only ones who will survive the flood judgment--a hat-racking of the genealogical tree that has developed to this point. Noah, indeed, "walked with God" (6:9) just as Enoch had done--he is a "righteous" man. He was righteous enough to go to the tremendous effort of obeying God in the seemingly absurd command that he build an ark. Here is another application of Genesis that still applies today--the act of obeying God can lead to doing some things that will make absolutely no sense to one's neighbors. It's a good bet that Noah was probably the butt of the whole list of "stupid pet tricks" of his day as God sent him all those animals as the first storm clouds began to appear.

Is the flood story real, or simply a parable? The Bible claims no eye witnesses. Some people seek the remains of the ark, believeing that this enterprise will force the masses to believe the Bible. They have missed the lesson of Lazarus in Luke 16:29, and are best identified as "arkaeologists," rather than archaeologists.

The message these early narratives bring us is just as valid whether we regard them as "history" or not. The possibility of a flood cannot be dismissed too quickly because there are flood memories in other cultures, even though their accounts serve a completely different theological purpose. Theology, after all, is a main concern in our study of these narratives, and whenever they are read for their theological content they must be taken literally lest the intended lessons be lost. Besides, the very nature of ancient, biblical Hebrew is that it is not capable of expressing abstract, subjunctive ideas. So it conveys lessons like these by expressing them into a story form.

It is more important that we understand God's rationale for the flood, rather than its historicity. As bad as Lamech's behavior might have been, something far worse was required to tip the balance and justify the complete depopulation of humanity, save for one small family. That something had to come from outside, and have some deep mystery. So we have the Nephilim, the progeny of horribly evil spirits from the heavenly realms. Details on the Nephilim are not provided; indeed, they are unimportant. It is sufficient for our purposes to regard them as having provided ample rationale for God to invoke the flood judgment. Scholarship, in fact, regards these few verses as the closest that the bible ever comes to "myth" because of their strangeness.

Modern readers would probably imagine the flood as endless rain, and the account in Genesis supports that assumption. However, if you review the ancient understanding of the cosmos, the flood also consisted of an invasion of the waters at the edges of the earth and the swelling of groundwater beneath the earth. It was, in other words, an act of "un-creation." Considering the flood in this way help suggests that God was regretting his act of creation in the first place. Humans simply had lost sight of their purpose in being a part of God's creative work. God was "sorry" and "sad," but found reason for optimism in Noah: "But Noah found favor in the sight of the LORD." When looking on the wreckage of the flood aftermath, humanity should have learned the lesson that sin not only has consequences for individuals, but also for the creation.

Let us not miss that the flood judgment, as severe as it was, did not have a measure of God's grace. Noah and his family survived to continue the story.

Genesis 4-5 | Genesis 9-11