Christian Dimension

The Flood

By Joseph Neiman

In Chapter 6 of the Book of Genesis we read about Noah and the flood. God said to Noah: "...I mean to bring a flood and sent the waters over the earth to destroy all flesh on it". Now biblical scholars tell us that there really wasn’t a flood. What are we to believe?

It really doesn’t matter if there was a flood and so it is not necessary to choose between contemporary scholars and the Bible. Biblical studies only help us to understand more clearly what God has revealed and our understanding of this revelation must grow with our accumulation of new knowledge.

Scholars have discovered flood stories in Mesopotamian, Sumerian, Babylonian, and even Hindu writings. These may testify that something happened to these early people which led them to write a flood story but this is beside the point for understanding the Genesis account.

The Genesis account is like the others in many ways. This is not surprising since the Hebrews were originally from Mesopotamia. The differences between the stories are more important. It is in these differences that we learn about the God of Israel and our relationship with Him.

In the Mesopotamian story, for example, the gods become angry for no reason. They decide to destroy man and the earth with a flood. One god, Ea, tells his favorite man, Ut-napishtim, of the coming flood and instructs him to build an ark. He also tells Ut-napishtim to take aboard the ark animals and craftsmen, lest their craft perish. The flood lasts for six days and six nights. Afterwards Ut-napishtim offers a sacrifice. The gods gather around but they grow angry because he has escaped.

In Genesis there is but one God: Yahweh. His punishment is just and not mere fancy. "Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great on earth. (Genesis 6:5). Noah, however, was a just man and did not deserve to perish. God tells him of the flood to come and instructs him to build an ark. He is told to take aboard animals of different kinds. (See the differences between Genesis 7:2-3 and 7:8-9).

After the flood Noah offers a sacrifice to Yahweh. God is pleased and enters into a covenant with Noah. He promises to watch over man forever despite man’s evil tendencies.

McKenzie notes: "The deluge story is an extremely clear example of how the Hebrews could take popular traditions of other people, often devoid of historical value, and retell them is such a way as to present important theological conceptions through them: here, divine justice and providence, the security and stability of nature resting on the assured good will of God to mankind in spite the evil inclinations of man’s heart."

So even if there wasn’t a flood we can learn from this inspired story how God is just and how he watches over his people faithfully. We, like Noah, can be saved from our just punishment by our faithfulness to the new covenant – Christ. St. Paul explains to the Hebrews how Noah (and we like him) is saved by our faith. (Hebrews 11:7). We do not need to prove the existence of the biblical flood to have a proof for our faith. We need simply to believe.

Osceola County Herald-Thursday, November 30, 1967