Noah Part 2 – The Flood: Was It Universal Or Local? Some Mathematics Here - Genesis 6&7 Series

NOAH PART 2 – THE FLOOD: WAS IT UNIVERSAL OR LOCAL? SOME MATHEMATICS HERE

This presentation contains some figures, mathematics and science. It is meant to set you on the road of enquiry, not to cause argument.

[1]. THE FIRST MATTER THAT OUGHT TO BE RESOLVED IS WHAT IS MEANT BY “THE EARTH” IN VERSE 11.

{{Genesis 6:11 “Now the EARTH was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence.”}}

When understood in context, what is the context of this Genesis verse (the “earth” part)? I believe it to be as wide as it needs to be, and as narrow as it must be. The corruption of mankind as examined in Part 1 of Noah, was universal, but people were still living in the Tigris-Euphrates region and had not ventured out of that. That was the extent of their wickedness.

Trying to discover the time between Adam and Noah is most difficult. I have searched many sites to see what is written and it is not made clear how this span is done. Was it from Adam’s creation to the birth of Noah, or the flood, etc.” Most who give a date say 1056 years or 1650 years. They are measuring from Adam’s creation to the birth of Noah for the lesser time, or to the start of the flood for the longer time (because it happened in the 500th year of Noah).

The purpose of the flood was to destroy all human life so what was the extent of human habitation? I tend to think that it was not too far removed from the original centre, and hold to what I said earlier, “I believe it to be as wide as it needs to be, and as narrow as it must be.” I know that some have argued for an extended dating of the early chapters of Genesis that would extend the usual 6000 years from Adam to the present, even to as much as 10 000 years, even though I am most happy with the 6000 years and that is what I hold to.

THE WINDOW IN THE ARK

{{Genesis 6:16 “You shall make a window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from the top.”}}

C H MACINTOSH has a most excellent volume on THE PENTETEUCH and it contains some wonderful thoughts. What CHM says about Noah not being permitted to look on the destruction of the earth as there was one window that only looked to heaven, is one more interesting point. Here are Macintosh’s words -

[[“There was both a window and a door to the ark. The Lord secured, with His own omnipotent hand, the door, and left Noah the window from which he might look upward to the place from whence all the judgement had emanated, and see that no judgement remained for him. The saved family could only look upward, because the window was "above" (Genesis 6:16) They could not see the waters of judgement, nor the death and desolation which those waters had caused. God's salvation - the "gopher wood," stood between them and all these things. They had only to gaze upward into a cloudless heaven, the eternal dwelling place of the One who had condemned the world, and saved them.”]]

Noah could not look out to see if the green tree had sprouted. He had to send a dove to find that out. His account seems to be that of an observer, yet he did not observe.

“Gopher wood” is unknown to us but it is suggested it was any of the trees of the resinous kind, such as pine, fir, or cypress, most probably cypress. Most translations just leave the term as “gopher wood).

ONE MORE PROBLEM

[2]. I FIND THIS A PROBLEM VERSE - GENESIS 7:11:-

{{Genesis 7:11 “In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened.”}}

All sorts of hypotheses have been advanced for “the fountains of the great deep”. Most seem to take it as the seas bursting forth but that would create all sorts of enormous water flows and tidal waves and therefore extreme violence and such a thing would cause huge destruction and chaos. There would be no alternative to this cataclysmic happening. The earth pulled from its axis would also do that and that reason is a suggestion by the Creation Research Institute (Answers in Genesis) (Creation Science) too. The flood also is how they explain all the geological formations and the oil and coal fields.

I have a lot of difficulty with the position of Creation Science. PLEASE NOTE – THIS IS NOT AN ATTACK ON THE ORGANISATION. I see it as utterly impossible that the oil basins – some more than 10 000 feet deep – and the thick solid coal seams, all the geological strata that are twisted due to folding, etc. and metamorphic rock forming from sedimentary rocks and deposits over a huge length of time and pressure, could possibly have been formed by violent water in turmoil, and anyone who has experienced a violent flood knows debris is all over the place, all dispersed and mixed up. All the trees could not be gathered and stacked for coal seams and all the animals gathered to be placed in oil basins some up to 10 000 feet deep. Oil comes from marine animals anyway.