The Great Flood of Noah

The Bible describes a great deluge in which the earth was covered in water that destroyed the land inhabitants, Genesis 6-9. God caused this because of the rampant evil that was displayed in mankind. Only 8 humans survived as well as all land animals in a huge ship, the Ark of Noah.

A world wide rain that lasted 40 days, as well as the fountains of the deep breaking forth, covered the earth with water.

Many ancient cultures had stories about the Flood. The Hammurabi, Tablets of Ebla, the Gilgamesh, as well as China and many others. It was considered a fact of history in the ancient world. Only in the recent rise of knowledge and science in the past 150 years or so have people began to doubt the truth of the Flood.

Is it Possible?

Lets look at what the Bible says about it.

In Genesis 1:6-9, it states that God made a firmament or atmosphere that divided the waters from the waters. This would make a very large canopy of vapor, much larger than our present atmosphere and much more humid.
In Genesis 2:5-6 it states that a heavy dew watered the land, and that in had never rained. This would help explain the longevity of men at that time as the larger atmosphere would filter out the harmful ultra-violet rays.

The collapse of the water vapor caused a world wide rain for several days. As it is written, 40 days long in Genesis 6. There were many hurricane type storms for the first time that condensed and collapsed the water from the atmosphere. 

The lifespan of man went down very rapidly after the flood. The time of the Flood is 1656 years (360 day years) from Adam, or about 4350 years ago. Man in the generations before the Flood average age was 847. A few generations later we see Abraham as very old at 175. By the time we get to Moses, men were old at 80, Psalms 90:10. 

There are fossils all over the world, from the mountain tops to the plains and valleys that were formed by the sea. I do not understand the fairly recent reluctance to accept the Flood as a possibility of what caused their formation. When the first fossils were found, it was common to believe that they were evidence of the Flood.

(There is evidence, physical and scriptural that speaks of an earlier flood prior to Adam. We are not referring to that flood right now)

There are huge coal deposits which were formed by great pressure on plants, and huge oil deposits which were formed by pressure on animals. There are those that try to stipulate that oil is being formed today, but that is not proved. Wars and world economy are founded on the importance and scarcity of oil. The Flood would explain both coal and oil formation.

Would it be possible to get all of the animals on the Ark?

The Bible says that God helped Noah to get a pair of every animal, and 7 pairs of every clean animal on the Ark. Plus he had to get food for all of them. This would require a lot of space. The Ark was 3 decks and measured 300 X 50 X 30 cubits. This would be equivalent to 5 trains of 110 boxcars. With the average size of an animal being the size of a house cat, this would be plenty of room. There is a recent study that was done in June 2011 that stated world species were a few million and most were insects.

The waters rose to cover even the mountains. However, the mountains of today were probably formed during and after the flood. Psalms 104:6-8 tells of the mountain and valleys forming from the flood.

After 150 days the waters started to subside. After 7 months the Ark rested on the mountains of Ararat. After 10 months, the tops of the mountains could be seen.

Noah released a raven to check on the condition of the earth. It did not return. Noah then sent a dove out, but it found no place to light and returned to him.

After many days, Noah sent out the dove again. This time it returned with an olive leaf in its mouth. There was rejoicing at this.

After 1 year and 10 days, Noah, his 3 sons (Shem, Ham, and Japeth) all their wives, and all the animals left the Ark to replenish the earth at God's command. None of the wives are named in the Bible, but ancient Jewish writings say that Noah's wife was Naamah.

God promised that while the earth remained there would be seed time and harvest, summer and winter, and day and night and that the curse of the land was over. God also said that He would never destroy all life on earth by a flood again. The rainbow was the perpetual sign of His covenant. (Remember it had not rained till the flood, and now the rain came and the rainbow was seen.) Noah offered sacrifices to God in honor and gratitude.

This is the basic story of the Flood. There are several deep reasons and concepts concerning the story that I will not go into at this time. The main point here is that what the Bible describes about the Flood of Noah is possible.  The next blog will go into evidence of the existence of the Ark.

All pictures were found on the internet. Story is taken from the Authorized KJV.

If you like my blogs you might like my book available at Amazon.com