If so please EMail us with your question to jonpartin@tiscali.co.uk and we will do our best to give you a satisfactory answer. EMailus.

Was The Flood Universal?

The question of the flood is one that raises temperatures among many people. Some would dogmatically assert that we must accept the inerpretations put on the passages by interpreters in the past without considering the fact that such interpreters were not ‘inspired’ and may have seen things in the light of the traditions of their own times. Some are frightened of anything that might be seen as ‘pandering to science’.

Those who follow a chronology similar to Archbishop Ussher's in the AV limit the age of the world to around 6000 years and have God intervening directly and cataclysmically. To such any change is simply referred to the activity of God in supervising and changing the world by instantaneous miracles. For them there is no problem as God’s miraculous intervention explains any changes. This is one view, but it usually requires us to assume that God has deliberately planted ‘faith-testers’ in the world, such as fossils. To them the Flood must come within the last 6000 years by definition, and they claim it to be universal.

Others argue that there is a gap between Genesis 1.1 (the creation of all things) and Genesis 1.2 (the preparing of the world for man). They also will usually make the Flood a fairly ‘recent’ event, and universal.

However, others would accept that we cannot build up a chronology from the Bible because it does not give us sufficient information. See for example our articles on the Use of Numbers in the Ancient Near East and Genesis on http://www.oocities.org/Athens/Delphi/4027.

They say we are to read the Bible for what it is, God’s revelation in terms that man can understand.

In this case there may be many thousands or millions of years between the birth of Adam (and the Flood), and the time of Abraham, the Scripture giving us in simple form the basic facts of revelation leading up to the birth of Abraham. (That Genesis 1 - 11 is intended as a brief introduction to the life of Abraham is unquestionable).

But was the Flood universal, is this what the Bible says?

One problem we face when seeking to understand ancient texts is the meaning of words at the time when they were used. Language changes considerably over time and words change their meaning somewhat drastically. Thus fifty years ago to be 'gay' meant that you enjoyed life and were not heavily burdened with cares, with no sexual connotations, now it means something very different.

Now when we come to the book of Genesis we are dealing with stories in ancient languages existing even before ancient Hebrew was invented, although we have of course only their translation into Hebrew. Furthermore ancient Hebrew itself was different from Hebrew today (or even Hebrew of 2000 years ago) and its etymology was primitive.

Discovering the original meaning of words is still an inexact science, for we do not have sufficient information to go on. What we can be certain of is that in early hebrew words had a broader use and were not so closely defined, while even with more modern Hebrew we have to contend with the fact that a word can have a number of meanings to be decided by the context. This should prevent overdogmatism in looking at the meaning of words.

Remembering these facts let us consider the book of Genesis. Firstly we are told that God created 'the heavens and the earth (eretz)' (Genesis 1.1). Here the word eretz clearly means 'world' from its context, including land and sea. Then we are told God called the dry land 'eretz' (Genesis 1.10), and this is its meaning for the rest of Genesis 1. Thus ‘eretz’ does not just mean one closely defined thing. Thus in 2.1, 4 the meaning reverts back to 'the whole world'. In 2.5 the meaning is probably 'the dry land' and in 2.6 we are not sure.

Thus already 'eretz' can mean 'the whole world including land and sea' and the 'dry land', for ancient man did not have a multiplicity of words to choose from and his thinking was limited to his environment. He had not become too exact in his expressions. His words conveyed ideas, but not with the exactness of modern language.

In Genesis 12.1 Abram is told by God to go to 'a land (eretz) that I will show you'. Here the meaning of eretz is a particular area of land in contrast to other areas of land. This is a third (and the predominant) meaning of eretz. Even today the Jews see themselves as 'the people of the land (eretz)'.

So eretz refers generally to land, and the wider meaning must be decided from its context.

Furthermore even the idea behind the term 'the world' changes in people's understanding. Consider how we could speak of America as 'the New World'. In Acts 24.5 Paul is described as having been a 'mover of sedition throughout the world' where clearly the ‘Roman world’ is in mind. So when speaking of the 'world', even in the time of Paul, men thought in terms of their own world, and Australia and America for example, were not in mind.

Thus the words for ‘land’ and ‘world’ have many meanings which must be decided from context. In today’s world we see ‘the world’ as being global, and other uses as merely symbolical, but this was not so in ancient days. When they spoke of ‘the world’ they meant the world in which they lived to the furthest bounds of their knowledge, the world as they knew it.

Now in the Flood narrative we find the word 'eretz' constantly used. Notice that God's intention is not to destroy the ‘earth’ but to destroy man (6.7). 'The earth is filled with violence through them' (6.13) can only mean the inhabited earth.

So in 6.17 does the word eretz mean 'the land, the inhabited earth' or 'the whole world'. The idea is of severe judgment and the destruction of 'mankind and of all living things', but whether in that area of the world or of the whole earth is not made clear by the language. It is the interpreter who decides. Why should Australian and America (possibly not yet inhabited by man) be included?

So 'the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windows of heaven were opened' (7.11). Something dreadfully cataclysmic is in mind here. Not only is there torrential rain but the seas themselves engulf the land. It is clearly a flood of gigantic proportions, remembered over long periods because of its significance and impact. Was this the result of a huge asteroid landing in the sea, or of violent earthquakes? We do not know. But we know that only Noah and his family survived.

When v.19 says 'all the high hills that were under the whole heaven were covered' that means of course from Noah's point of view. Thus he was thinking of the world he knew and the hills he knew, the hills in his world. Wherever he looked there was only water.

Now it is true that we know that in many nations all around the world is this memory looking back to a huge flood and the saving of animals, but this demonstrates only that all mankind was involved, not that the whole physical world was involved. It clearly happened very early in the story of man and occurred before he had reached distant places. The growth of nations and peoples in chapter 10 demand a long period of time following Noah, before the time of Abram, and there are good grounds for thinking that the ten names are representative rather than all inclusive (see our article on The Use of Numbers in the Ancient near East and Genesis).

But the language of Genesis does not demand a universal flood. On the other hand, it cannot be written off as a local flood. It was a flood of devastating proportions, with (as far as man was concerned), ‘worldwide’ consequences.

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Scholarly verse by verse commentaries on the Bible.

IS THERE SOMETHING IN THE BIBLE THAT PUZZLES YOU?

If so please EMail us with your question and we will do our best to give you a satisfactory answer.EMailus.

FREE Scholarly verse by verse commentaries on the Bible.

THE PENTATEUCH

GENESIS ---EXODUS--- LEVITICUS 1.1-7.38 --- 8.1-11.47 --- 12.1-16.34--- 17.1-27.34--- NUMBERS 1-10--- 11-19--- 20-36--- DEUTERONOMY 1.1-4.44 --- 4.45-11.32 --- 12.1-29.1--- 29.2-34.12 --- THE BOOK OF JOSHUA --- THE BOOK OF JUDGES --- PSALMS 1-17--- ECCLESIASTES --- ISAIAH 1-5 --- 6-12 --- 13-23 --- 24-27 --- 28-35 --- 36-39 --- 40-48 --- 49-55--- 56-66--- EZEKIEL --- DANIEL 1-7 ---DANIEL 8-12 ---

NAHUM--- HABAKKUK---ZEPHANIAH ---ZECHARIAH --- THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW ---THE GOSPEL OF MARK--- THE GOSPEL OF LUKE --- THE GOSPEL OF JOHN --- THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES --- 1 CORINTHIANS 1-7 --- 8-16 --- 2 CORINTHIANS 1-7 --- 8-13 -- -GALATIANS --- EPHESIANS --- COLOSSIANS --- 1 THESSALONIANS --- 2 THESSALONIANS --- 1 TIMOTHY --- 2 TIMOTHY --- TITUS --- HEBREWS 1-6 --- 7-10 --- 11-13 --- JAMES --- JOHN'S LETTERS --- REVELATION

--- THE GOSPELS

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