A new look at the flood account(s)

September 23, 2008

“Reckless and incompetent expounders of Holy Scripture bring untold trouble and sorrow on their wiser brethren when they are caught in one of their mischievous false opinions and are taken to task by these who are not bound by the authority of our sacred books. For then, to defend their utterly foolish and obviously untrue statements, they will try to call upon Holy Scripture for proof and even recite from memory many passages which they think support their position, although they understand neither what they say nor the things about which they make assertion.” —

There’s an interesting study one can do in the , if one has a few minutes to spare and the inclination to copy, paste, and then read a few passages of text.

First, open a text editor window ( on , on , whatever…). Now, find your preferred online version of Genesis, and copy the following verses into the text editor window:

    Genesis 6:5-8, 7:1-5, 7:7-8, 7:10, 7:12,7:16b-17, 7:22-23, 8:2b-3a, 8:6, 8:8-12, 8:13b, and 8:20-22

Once that’s done, open a new text editor window (keep the first one open too), and copy the following verses into the second window:

    Genesis 6:9-22, 7:6, 7:9, 7:11, 7:13-16a, 7:18-21, 7:24-8:2a, 8:3b-5, 8:7, 8:13a, 8:14-19, 9:1-19

Once that’s done, read the contents of the first text editor window through in their entirety. Then read the contents of the second window through, also from start to finish.

Now…what do you see?

Well, if you followed the instructions properly, you’ll see that the first window contains something like this:

Genesis 6

[5] The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

[6] And the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.
[7] So the LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the ground, man and beast and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.”
[8] But found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

Genesis 7

[1] Then the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the , you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation.

[2] Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate; and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate;
[3] and seven pairs of the birds of the air also, male and female, to keep their kind alive upon the face of all the earth.
[4] For in seven days I will send rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.”
[5] And Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him.

[7] And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him went into the ark, to escape the waters of the flood.
[8] Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground,

[10] And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth.

[12] And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

[16b] and the LORD shut him in.
[17] The flood continued forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth.

[22] everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died.
[23] He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the air; they were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those that were with him in the ark.

Genesis 8

[2b] the rain from the heavens was restrained,
[3] and the waters receded from the continually.

[6] At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made,

[8] Then he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground;
[9] but the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put forth his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him.
[10] He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;
[11] and the dove came back to him in the evening, and lo, in her mouth a freshly plucked olive leaf; so Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth.
[12] Then he waited another seven days, and sent forth the dove; and she did not return to him any more.

[13b] and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry.

[20] Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

[21] And when the LORD smelled the pleasing odor, the LORD said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done.
[22] While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”

This is a complete flood account, one of two that are actually present in the Book of Genesis. Note that it is a complete account, giving an essentially unbroken narrative of the events of the flood, from the first moment the Lord noticed the sinfulness of humanity and elected to blot it out, to the final blessing and promise, to Noah and his family, from the Lord.

Note, also, the prominent use of only one name by which is referred to: the LORD. This is an important stylistic device to consider, and we’ll look at why that is shortly. First, though, let’s look at a few other stylistic devices in the text. We note that the Lord expresses regret for having made humanity (6:6), and that His heart aches (6:6 as well) at their wickedness. We note, also, that he smells an offering (8:21) and that within His heart, He speaks (8:21 as well). These are very anthropomorphic statements, and present the Lord as a very personal, present God intimately involved and interested in the life and doings of His creations.

Note also that there are distinctions made between clean and unclean animals (7:2,8), and that there is a significant, repeated ordering of the animals in this account — from man, to animal, to crawling things, to birds (6:7, 7:23).

Finally, note that the numbers 7 and 40 percolate through the text (7:2,3,4,10,12,17; 8:6,10,12).

Biblical scholarship attributes this flood account, which presents a personal and present image of Go, to an author that is called the (). Principally, the author is called by this term because he only ever refers to God by means of the , , which is translated into English as “the LORD” in these passages. However, it should also be noted that this author focuses on the ritual significance of animals in the order of , so much so that he even distinguishes between clean and unclean animals (although it should be noted that until the time of , who came well after Noah, it had not been strictly defined which animals were considered unclean).

So that’s one account. In contrast, here is what the Reader should have ended up with in the second text window:

Genesis 6

[9] These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God.

[10] And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
[11] Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence.

[12] And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.
[13] And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh; for the earth is filled with violence through them; behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
[14] Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch.
[15] This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.
[16] Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above; and set the door of the ark in its side; make it with lower, second, and third decks.
[17] For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall die.
[18] But I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.
[19] And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female.
[20] Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you, to keep them alive.
[21] Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up; and it shall serve as food for you and for them.”
[22] Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.

Genesis 7

[6] Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth.

[9] two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah.

[11] In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened.

[13] On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark,
[14] they and every beast according to its kind, and all the cattle according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth according to its kind, and every bird according to its kind, every bird of every sort.
[15] They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life.
[16] And they that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him;

[18] The waters prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark floated on the face of the waters.
[19] And the waters prevailed so mightily upon the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered;
[20] the waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep.
[21] And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, birds, cattle, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm upon the earth, and every man;

[24] And the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days.

Genesis 8

[1] But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided;

[2] the fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed,

[3b] At the end of a hundred and fifty days the waters had abated;
[4] and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest upon the mountains of Ar’arat.
[5] And the waters continued to abate until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.

[7] and sent forth a raven; and it went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth.

[13] In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth;

[14] In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.
[15] Then God said to Noah,
[16] “Go forth from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you.
[17] Bring forth with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh — birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth — that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply upon the earth.”
[18] So Noah went forth, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him.
[19] And every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves upon the earth, went forth by families out of the ark.

Genesis 9:

[1] And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.

[2] The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every bird of the air, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea; into your hand they are delivered.
[3] Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; and as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.
[4] Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.
[5] For your lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning; of every beast I will require it and of man; of every man’s brother I will require the life of man.
[6] Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for God made man in his own image.
[7] And you, be fruitful and multiply, bring forth abundantly on the earth and multiply in it.”
[8] Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him,

[9] “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your descendants after you,
[10] and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark.
[11] I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
[12] And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations:
[13] I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
[14] When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds,
[15] I will remember my covenant which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.
[16] When the bow is in the clouds, I will look upon it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.”
[17] God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.”
[18] The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan.

[19] These three were the sons of Noah; and from these the whole earth was peopled.

This is a second complete flood account, the second of two that are actually present in the Book of Genesis. Note that it is a complete account, giving an essentially unbroken narrative of the events of the flood, from the first moment the Lord noticed the sinfulness of humanity and elected to blot it out, to the final blessing and promise, to Noah and his family, from the Lord.

But note also that, unlike the Jahvistic account, this flood account presents God differently, employs different stylistic devices, and uses different imagery. Whereas in the Jahvistic account, God was referred to as “the LORD,” and was presented as being a personal and present deity, here God is referred to as “God,” and is much more imperious and transcendent. This author is called the Priestly author, for his focus on the Covenental aspect of Noah’s story.

The chief stylistic device to note in the Priestly account is the focus on details. The length, height, and volume of the Ark are all given (and all are multiples of 60, incidentally). Noah’s age is given (also a multiple of 60). The depth of the waters over the mountains is given (a factor of 60). And the duration of the flood is given (again, a multiple of 60). The use of multiples and factors of 60 is, then, another stylistic device of the Priestly account (6:15; 7:6,20,24; 8:3), whereas the Jahvist focused on the numbers 7 and 40.

Notice also that the three-tiered universe makes an appearance here in the Priestly author’s quest for detail. The ancient cosmological model can be seen in references to the springs of the deep and the windows of the heavens (7:11, 8:2). One final detail to note is how God “remembers” His creation (8:1, 9:15-16), an important message of mercy.

In the Priestly account, God “advances” humanity as a part of His blessing to Noah and his family. If we think back to Genesis 2:16 for a moment, we see God impart the first instruction in the Genesis account concerning what humanity is and is not supposed to eat:

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden;

In Genesis 9:3-4, God rewards Noah and his family in part by expanding their diet:

Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; and as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.

This will be significant shortly, but for the moment let’s turn our attention to what is probably the most significant discrepancy between the two accounts: the number of animals taken up into the Ark. According to the Jahvist, seven pairs of every kind of clean animal (and bird) were to be taken up into the Ark, but only one pair of every kind of unclean animal (7:2-3). Conversely, according to the Priestly author, two pairs of each kind of animal were brought into the Ark (6:19, 7:9,14-15).

Now, some evangelical apologists attempt to smooth over this discrepancy by arguing that the latter instruction, to take up two male/female pairings of each kind of animal, somehow supplements the earlier instruction to take up seven pairs of each kind of clean animal, and only one pair of each kind of unclean animal.

Bible students are familiar with the instructions recorded in Genesis 6:19 that God gave to Noah: “And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female” (Genesis 6:19, emp. added; cf. 7:15). It seems that fewer people, however, are aware that God also instructed Noah, saying, “You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female; two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female; also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of all the earth” (Genesis 7:2-3, emp. added). According to Bible critics, these verses are contradictory. “Are clean beasts to enter by 2’s or by 7’s?” asked skeptic (1983, p. 1).

To answer McKinsey’s question, the clean beasts and birds entered the ark “by sevens” (KJV), while the unclean animals went into the ark by twos. There is no contradiction here. Genesis 6:19 indicates that Noah was to take “two of every sort into the ark.” Then, four verses later, God supplemented this original instruction, informing Noah in a more detailed manner to take more of the clean animals. It was necessary for Noah to take additional clean animals because, upon his departure from the ark after the Flood, he “built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the alter” (Genesis 8:20). If Noah had taken only two clean animals from which to choose when sacrificing to God after departing the ark, then he would have driven the various kinds of clean beasts and birds into extinction by sacrificing one of each pair. Thus, after God told Noah to take two of every kind of animal into the ark, He then instructed him to take extras of the clean animals.

The problem with this argument is that Scripture doesn’t actually give would-be apologists the necessary wiggle room to assert that Genesis 7:2-3 supplements Genesis 6:19, or that the pairs of animals referred to in 6:19 only refer to unclean kinds. Genesis 6:19 is actually explicit: every living thing of all flesh is to be taken up into the Ark by that instruction. Likewise, Genesis 7:2-3 is not limited in its scope. It does separate clean and unclean categories of animal, but within those categories it is instructed that all kinds be taken.

So we have two distinct instructions to take all kinds of animals, and then in different ratios. Genesis 7:2-3 is no supplement to Genesis 6:19, especially when we remember that Genesis 6:19, being from the Priestly account, must be considered in light of Genesis 7:15-16, in which two male/female pairs (not a single pair) of each kind of beast are brought up into the Ark.

There is one other discrepancy worth noting, between the Jahvistic account, the Priestly account and a later part of Scripture (specifically, the Law of ). The Jahvist makes the effort to distinguish between clean and unclean animals…but this flies in the face of the fact that animals were not defined as being clean or unclean until the time of Moses, during the journey of the Hebrews through the desert.

Now, the evangelical apologist has a response to this:

For skeptics to allege that differentiation between clean and unclean animals did not exist before the time of Moses is totally unsubstantiated. Mankind had been sacrificing animals since the fall of man (cf. Genesis 3:20). That God had given laws concerning animal sacrifices since the time of is evident from the fact that the second son of Adam was able to offer an animal sacrifice “by ” (Hebrews 11:4; Genesis 4:4). Since “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17), Abel must have received revelation from God on how to offer acceptable animal sacrifices. Such revelation easily could have dealt with which sacrificial animals were acceptable (”clean”), and which were unacceptable (”not clean”). Furthermore, more than 400 hundred years before Moses gave the Israelites laws differentiating clean and unclean animals, God made a covenant with concerning the land that his descendants eventually would possess (Genesis 15). Part of the “sign” that Abraham was given at that time involved the killing of a heifer, a female goat, a ram, a turtledove, and a pigeon (Genesis 15:9). “It just so happens” that all of these animals were later considered clean under the Law of Moses (cf. Leviticus 1:2,10,14).

Without doubt, the distinction between clean and unclean animals existed long before the Law of Moses was given. Although this distinction did not include all of the details and applications given by Moses (since prior to the Flood the distinction seems only to have applied to the matter of animals suitable for sacrifice, not for consumption—cf. Genesis 9:2-3), animal sacrifice to God was practiced during the Patriarchal Age, and it is apparent that the faithful were able to distinguish between the clean and unclean. Noah certainly knew of the difference.

This would be compelling except for one problem. Cleanliness and uncleanliness of animals did not just apply to their use in ritual sacrifice, but to their use as food sources as well. And if we look back at the Priestly account for but a moment, we should take note of Genesis 9:3-4:

Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; and as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.

Every moving thing that lives is now acceptable as food for humanity. Presumably, that includes pigs, conies, and the whole host of other animals which Mosaic Law forbids the consumption of on the basis of their uncleanliness. The only limitation God imposes on the consumption of meat is in Genesis 9:4, in which it is forbidden to eat the flesh of a still-live animal, or flesh with blood in it.

And while this last point reflects , it also reflects the fact that ancient cultures viewed blood as having sacred significance in and of itself; attempting to establish a connection between Genesis 9:4 and the Law of Moses, then, is eisegetical, as is the attempt to read the Law of Moses into the flood accounts. The fact that humanity had been sacrificing animals prior to the Law of Moses proves nothing — it is true that such sacrifices took place, to be sure, but does that mean that a pagan religion extant in those early days was also unknowingly following the Law when it sacrificed animals to its malign deity?

Methinks not.

Now, granted, the cited apologist attempts to dodge around the issue of the fact that no distinction is made concerning the animals which are allowed to be eaten. The apologist attempts to characterize this as evidence of the partial applicability of Mosaic Law prior to the actual giving of the Law starting from . In layman’s terms, this is called “trying to have your cake and eat it too.”

The fact it, it is an eisegetical error to assume that Genesis invokes or refers to Mosaic Law already, and this error is only compounded by attempting to assert that said Law only applied in part. An audience of ancient Hebrews, upon hearing such reasoning, would probably have laughed heartily at the ignorance of the speaker, for the very idea that the Law of Moses would only be partially applicable is absurd on its face.

And because of this, it just doesn’t work when apologists wave their hands and attempt to pull a -esque “these aren’t the discrepancies you’re looking for” trick on attentive readers of Scripture. Any reasonable person can see that there are, between Genesis 6:19 and 7:2-3, two distinct sets of instructions, each concerning every extant animal species. One is not a supplement to the other. And if the evangelical apologist insists only on doing yet more hand-waving in a vain attempt to smooth out, by act of denial, that which cannot be denied about Scripture, then then just such an apologist will achieve only one end in his or her evangelical attempts: “people outside the household of the faith [will] think our sacred writers held such opinions, and, to the great loss of those for whose salvation we toil, the writers of our Scripture [will be] criticized and rejected as unlearned men.”

St. Augustine said that, and it certainly rings true in this case. Denying the discrepancies which so obviously exist in the flood accounts serves only to make evangelical apologists — and, by extension, and — look foolish in the eyes of others. “Usually, even a non-Christian knows something about the earth, the heavens, and the other elements of this world, about the motion and orbit of the stars and even their size and relative positions, about the predictable eclipses of the sun and moon, the cycles of the years and seasons, about the kinds of animals, shrubs, stones, and so forth, and this knowledge he holds to as being certain from reason and experience…[It] is a disgraceful and dangerous thing for an infidel to hear a Christian, presumably giving the meaning of Holy Scripture, talking nonsense on these topics.”

Sadly, most evangelical apologists also deny that there are two separate flood accounts, penned by two distinct authors at two different periods in history (the Jahvist is thought to have written his flood account in the 11th century BC, while the Priestly account is dated to about the 6th century BC). As if denying the discrepancies that exist between the two flood accounts were not a grevious error already, this second mistake is tantamount to shooting oneself in the foot, and then with a rather large gun, apologetically speaking. Because it is only in acknowledging the discrepancy, and then in acknowledging the two different authors of, at least, the flood accounts in Genesis, that Christian apologists have any hope of presenting a rational, coherent defence of the idea that Scripture really is inerrant and infallible.

If we look at the text of the flood accounts in Genesis in ignorance of the nature of their authors, we can come to only one conclusion: the text contains contradictions. And for those not within the community of , such a discovery may in fact be the first of many barriers to faith. The discrepancies are plain to see and ferret out with even only modest skill in the area of reading comprehension, and Christian would-be apologists who attempt to outright deny the discrepancies can only fly in the face of logic when they do so, as has been demonstrated. In so doing, such reckless and incompetent expounders of Holy Scripture will be as stumbling blocks (c.f. Matthew 18:6) to those struggling to come to terms with the idea that Scripture can be inerrant in spite of the discrepancies it contains.

By admitting the discrepancies, though, we open the possibility of reconciling the presence thereof with the notion that Scripture is indeed infallible. I’ll say that again, more plainly: yes, there are discrepancies between the two flood accounts…and yes, Scripture is, in fact, inerrant and infallible.

This is because the discrepancies that exist are, I think, subtle hermeneutical clues left there for us by the Spirit, to help us distinguish a message of faith from a historical legend. The most important thing to take away from the Genesis accounts is the message, not the record of events depicted. Those events never happened, but the Spirit took those ancient cultural legends and infused them with a theological message of faith.

Remember: if the flood actually happened as described, we’d see indicators of it in the various pieces of natural history that the sciences reveal.

From geology, we would expect to see some manner of rock strata (layer) which corresponds to rapid deposition from a catastrophic, world-spanning flood. No such geological formation exists.

From anthropology, we would expect to see some evidence of a massive population disruption in the roughly 200,000-year fossil history of anatomocally modern humans. We would likewise expect to see evidence of humanity’s re-emergence into the entire world from the in about 2400 BC. We would even expect to see interruptions in human inhabitance of every continent at some point within the last 50,000 years. In each case, however, we lack any evidence of the sort.

“To conclude, Scripture and do not support the historicity of Noah as described in Gen 6-9. Of course, every Biblical author believed that he existed and survived a world-destroying flood on an ark. But this was the history-of-the-day for the Jews and early Christians[1]. At best, Noah points back to an obscure individual/s who lived through a local deluge/s, most likely in the Mesopotamian flood plain. But more importantly, the [B]iblical flood is an incidental vessel that reveals the inspired message that God judges and saves righteous individuals from His wrath.” (taken from: Dr. , Evolutionary Creation, pp. 280-281)

* * *

1) for a modern analogy, think of how 58% of Britons think was an actual historical figure, and not a fictional character.

Posted by Kenneth Filed in Evolutionary Creationism, History, Religion, Sci-Tech, Theology
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,