Order in the Court of the King! (The Flood – Local or Worldwide? 1)

We’re currently looking at the question of whether Genesis chapters 1 – 11 are history or allegory. You can read previous volumes below –

The Flood

We looked at different views of Genesis 1:1-2 in the last part of our study. Let’s move on now to views about the Flood from Genesis chapters 6 – 9. Was it a ‘worldwide/universal’ flood or a ‘local/regional’ flood?

I recommend studying the Bible verse by verse, from the original language if possible. It’s also important to study text within context. That comes from both the verse-by-verse study process, and by understanding the recipients of the biblical writings. How would they have understood the text? Knowing that might help us understand the text better.

I believe that Moses wrote Genesis as God revealed to him some things that only God would have known for certain. There is also the possibility that God’s people (lineage of Seth) may have passed along information from generation to generation that eventually reached the children of Israel. It could also be a combination of both. Moses and the people of Israel knew about many things concerning their history, especially concerning the general history of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and his twelve sons who were the ancestors of the twelve tribes of Israel. How much they knew about what happened prior to Abraham is not known for certain.

What we do know for certain is that Moses spent 40 years speaking with God – “So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend” (Exodus 33:11). God, who spoke to Moses as a friend over a period of 40 years, could have easily told Moses all of the details that we read in Genesis. That would include the first 11 chapters that many Christians think are ‘allegory’ rather than ‘history.’ Moses would have written what God told him and passed them along to Joshua and the elders of Israel. Those writings were in the care of the leaders of Israel for centuries, who viewed them as the very words of God. The process of preserving the writings of Moses, the prophets, and others is quite amazing in both the precision and persistence of the people given the responsibility of ensuring the accuracy of every copy of those holy Writings.

So, as I look at Genesis chapters 6 – 9 that concern the topic in question, the Flood, I believe Moses wrote what God told him to write. I also believe that what God told Moses was ‘historical’ rather than ‘allegorical.’ You can read previous parts of this series to see why I came to that conclusion.

The Pre-Flood World

To understand the full impact of the ‘pre-flood world,’ be sure to read Genesis chapter 5. That’s where we learn about Seth and his family. Seth was born to Adam and Eve after Cain killed Abel. Seth’s older brother Cain was still alive, but God had banished him from his family for killing his younger brother, Abel.

It’s important that we don’t read through Genesis 5 so quickly that we miss this verse – “So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died.” Remember what God told Adam in the Garden of Eden? “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17). Adam lived a very long life, but he died physically just as God said he would.

As we follow the genealogy of Seth’s descendants through several generations, we come to a man named Noah. Noah was the son of Lamech who said this when he named Noah as a baby – “This one will comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord has cursed” (Genesis 5:29). In light of what we read next, Lamech’s words at the naming of his son seem prophetic.

Genesis 6 speaks of a world filled with wickedness, violence, and corruption. God determined that He would destroy every living thing on the earth, “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord” (Genesis 6:8). The next two verses repeat some of the lineage information we read in Genesis 5 about Noah’s sons (Genesis 5:32), but it adds more context –

This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Genesis 6:9-10

That’s quite remarkable when you think about it. Genesis described Noah as a ‘just man, perfect in his generations,’ even though Noah lived in a world that was filled with wickedness, violence, and corruption. Genesis 5 also mentions that Noah was 500 years old when he started his family. That was much older than when his ancestors started their families. Why was that? I think it might be because Noah did not participate in the wickedness of people until God called him to build an ark. Here’s why I think that –

The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. And this is how you shall make it … But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. 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. Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them … And Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him. Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on the earth. Genesis 6:11-15, 18-21; 7:5-6

Notice that God said the ‘earth’ was corrupt before God, and the ‘earth’ was filled with violence. So, God looked upon the ‘earth,’ and indeed it was corrupt. ‘All flesh’ had corrupted their way ‘on the earth.’ Then God said, ‘The end of all flesh has come before Me’ and that he would ‘destroy them with the earth.’ As a young Christian reading an English translation of Genesis, it looked as if God planned to destroy ‘all flesh’ on the ‘earth’ except for Noah, his family, and other living beings (e.g. birds, animals, creeping things) kept safe in the ‘Ark.’

Genesis chapters 7 – 9 are very specific about the number of days and months involving the Flood, how it impacted the earth, those living on the earth, and those protected in the Ark. Here’s an example –

And all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died. So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days. Genesis 7:21-24

Before getting into some of the disagreements among Christians about whether the Flood was worldwide/universal or local/regional, let’s look at Scripture to see how various inspired writers addressed this event –

1 Chronicles 1:1-28 includes all of the lineage of Adam through Seth until Abraham and his sons. The list in 1 Chronicles includes Noah, his ancestors, and his descendants listed in Genesis 1 – 11.
Isaiah 54 includes God telling the prophet that, ‘this is like the waters of Noah to Me; For as I have sworn That the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, So have I sworn That I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you.”
Ezekiel 14 includes God telling the prophet that, ‘Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness,” says the Lord God,’ and ‘even though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live,” says the Lord God, ‘they would deliver neither son nor daughter; they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness.
Matthew 24 includes Jesus answering questions from His disciples about the sign of His coming and the end of the age. Jesus replied, ‘But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.’
Luke 3 includes the lineage of Jesus Christ through Mary and includes the name of Noah and others mentioned in Genesis 1 – 11 – ‘the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah, the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Cainan, the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the sonof Adam, the son of God.’
Hebrews 11 mentioned Noah and the Flood – ‘By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.’
1 Peter 3 mentions Noah and the Flood – ‘when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.’
2 Peter 2 mentions Noah and the Flood – ‘and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly.’
Psalm 29 mentions God and the Flood – ‘The Lord sat enthroned at the Flood, And the Lord sits as King forever.’

Scriptures outside of Genesis treat Noah and the Flood as historical, so I will as well. The prophets, Jesus Christ, and His apostles viewed the events of Noah’s day to be history, not allegory.

Flood – Local or Universal?

When I read through Genesis during my investigation as an atheist, it was apparent to me that the writer was describing a world-wide event. I had covered many floods as a reporter in Florida, most from tropical weather events (e.g. tropical storms, hurricanes). I had seen photos and film of some of the worst flooding events in the world in previous years, including super-destructive tsunamis. However, I had never seen anything nor heard of anything that matched the scale of the flood described in Genesis chapters 7 and 8.

all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.
The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth.
The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters.
And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered.
The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered.
And all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died.
So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive.
And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days.
Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased.
Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.

As a journalist and atheist these details sounded ridiculous. There was no possible way a flood of that magnitude could have occurred on the earth. However, the scientist I had interviewed on my radio show believed it was historical. So, my goals was to undertake an ‘objective’ investigation into the Flood claims. Once I finished my investigation into evidence for the existence of God, the historical reliability of the Bible, and the reality of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, I became a Christian.

Based on what I had found in my investigation, I was surprised to meet many Christians who didn’t believe some things that were written in the Bible. One of those things was whether the Flood described in Genesis 7 and 8 was ‘worldwide/universal’ or ‘local/regional.’ Some believed the key was in the Hebrew word for ‘earth.’ They said that אֶרֶץ (erets) meant ‘land,’ which could be any size. They said there was no evidence for a ‘worldwide’ flood, so local or regional flooding was the correct way to understand the wording in Genesis chapters 7 and 8. They were correct – to a point.

The word erets is found about 25-hundred times in the Bible. English translations use words like ‘earth, land, ground, countries, floor, world, territories, region, etc. The key is always context. Many people I talked with who believed in a local/regional Flood believed God was only concerned with the people who lived in the Mesopotamia. They said the Flood probably occurred between the Tigris and Euphrates, known as the ‘Tigris–Euphrates river system’ that flows into the Persian Gulf. They believed that a large rainfall as described in Genesis 7 and 8 would have caused the two rivers to fill and overflow the ‘erets.’

I had several problems with their ‘local’ Flood theory –

And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them. Genesis 6:6-7

God didn’t limit Himself to being sorry He made a small group of the people who lived on the earth, but not others who lived in other parts of the world. He said He would ‘destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth.’ The phrase ‘face of the earth’ (pənê hā’ăḏāmāh) could be translated ‘face of the ground’ or ‘face of the land,’ but the context seems much larger. The anger of God against the violent, wicked, corrupt humans He had made seemed larger than just those who lived in a small land area.

Even if you think God was only destroying the people and animals living in the area of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (ancient Mesopotamia), there are some other things we need to consider.

all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.

Look at the phrase ‘all the fountains of the great deep were broken up.’ The Hebrew for ‘great deep’ is təhōwm rabbāh, and means ‘sea, abyss, many, much.’ The Tigris and Euphrates rivers are very long, but not particularly deep or wide. I wondered about the location of the ‘fountains of the great deep’ that would be ‘broken up’ and add so much water to the land, in addition to the forty days and nights of rain.

Another challenge to the ‘local/regional’ Flood theory is how long the water covered the earth (land, ground) and what it covered.

And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days.

And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered.

The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered.

Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.

I had never seen or heard of a flood that prevailed (gabar – to be strong, mighty) for 150 days. Given that much of the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers was flat (plains), I wondered about the water covering ‘mountains.’ The Murat River begins near Mt. Ararat, so there is a connection there. However, the question remained for me – how did that much water cover the mountain to the point that the Ark would have come to rest on it after the water receded?

Another question – why did it take so long for the flood waters to recede if it was a local/regional flood? I had seen many devastating floods from tropical storms, and storm surges from powerful hurricanes that brought storm surges of several feet of water along the coast. However, the flood waters took a matter of days to recede rather than weeks or months.

In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights. Genesis 7:11-12

And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry. And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried. Then God spoke to Noah, saying, “Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. Every animal, every creeping thing, every bird, and whatever creeps on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark. Genesis 8:13-19

I did the math based on information that ancient months were 30 days in length. The total length of time from when God unleashed His wrath through the great Flood until the day that Noah and his family stepped on dry ground was more than a year. I never covered nor heard of such a ‘flood event.’ This was truly remarkable in the history of the world.

Based on everything I had studied in Genesis and other portions of Scripture that addressed the Flood, it appeared to me that it could not have been a local/regional flood. Everything I saw pointed to a worldwide/universal Flood. Why haven’t we seen anything like that again? Because of a promise God made to Noah –

Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth. Genesis 9:11

If the Genesis Flood was just local/regional, wouldn’t that cast doubt on God’s promise? He said, “never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” Haven’t there been thousands of local/regional floods since God made that promise? God is not a liar. He said He would never again destroy the earth and cut off all flesh ‘by the waters of the flood.’ That’s more evidence that the Flood was worldwide.

The Post-Flood World

One other important piece of evidence supporting a world-wide Flood is what happened after Noah and his family left the Ark. God made a ‘covenant’ with Noah ‘and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations’ (Genesis 9:12). God established a special sign of His covenant in the sky for all to see and remember –

I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth. Genesis 9:13-17

That ‘sign of the covenant’ is still seen across the entire world, in every country, not just in a local or regional area.

God also established specific rules for how people were to address the type of violence that was so prevalent on the earth before the Flood. God also told Noah and his family the same thing He told Adam and Eve about being fruitful and multiplying across the earth –

So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. Genesis 9:1

Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man. Genesis 9:6

We see in Genesis 11 that the “whole earth had one language and one speech.” Noah’s family left Mt. Ararat and “found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there.” They found a place to begin building “a tower whose top is in the heavens” for the purpose of making a name for themselves, “lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” The people did not want to obey God, so God confused their language. That confusion of languages caused the people to scatter from each other – ” So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city.” The languages were apparently confused according to families. You can read in Genesis 10 and 11 about the families and where they went after the confusion and scattering at Babel.

I spent time following each family by name and was able to track most of them through extra-biblical historical sources. I also noticed that the Bible didn’t list any other names from that ‘post-Flood’ era except for those found in Genesis 10 and 11. Another evidence that the Flood was universal in destroying ‘all flesh’ except for those whom God protected on the Ark.

Next Time

How do we discuss differences about Creation and the Flood with fellow Christians who disagree? What about scientific evidence? We’ll look at that in the next part of our study, Order in the Court of the King!

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Order in the Court of the King! (The Flood – Local or Worldwide? 1)