Last time we considered:

The Flood Erupts (7:11-16)

In the 600th year of Noah’s life, from fountains of the great deep below and from heavenly windows, Noah and his family are spared.

The Flood Prevails (7:17-24)

The emphasis of this paragraph is not on those delivered, but those destroyed. The focus moves from inside the ark to outside, some were shut in and others shut out. It highlights not the dating and the sources of the flood, but the duration and depth of it.

The Depth of the Flood (17-20)

Four times in this paragraph, and three times in verses 17-20 alone, the word prevailed occurs. The water wins; it triumphs mightily over everyone and everything not in the ark.

The waters were at least 15 cubits (or 22.5 feet) over the tallest mountain peak. Using Mt. Ararat as our base (since it is the mountain mentioned in chapter 8), at roughly 16,900 feet tall, that means the water was over three miles higher than normal sea level. If Mt. Everest, at 29,000 feet tall, were in existence, then the water would have been well over five miles deep. Using the Ararat figures, if the waters rose over the course of 150 days, the water level increased 112 ft/day. If it only rose for the 40 days of rainfall, then the water level rose 420 feet or day, or 3.5 inches per minute.

Those Destroyed by the Flood (21-23)

Perhaps there were a few hours when men and women ran for higher ground. In most places, however, titanic waves probably crushed thousands of lives within minutes. All flesh…on the earth, everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life, every living thing on the face of the ground, were blotted out, just as the LORD determined.

It’s impossible to imagine this kind of cataclysmic event. No other “act of God” in history comes close. Without seeing it for ourselves, we might as well try to picture the eighth dimension (as well as the fourth through seventh dimensions, too). The havoc, the panic, the terror, the death, is incomparable. Maybe you’ve seen pictures of small floods, with buildings and cities demolished. Families separated. Generations lost. Those floods aren’t in the same league with Noah’s flood.

This week, before we finish our study of the paragraph and chapter seven, I do want to take time to address a very popular, and very wrong, view of the flood. As with the creation account, many evangelicals (professing Christians) compromise when it comes to the flood. They submit to the guesses of unbelieving geologists who deny a global flood and propose that Genesis 7 is the story of a mere local flood, perhaps caused by an overflow of the Euphrates or some other Middle Eastern river.

There are a few reasons why I think this wrong view is worth addressing.

First, as I said, it is a popular view. I may have thrown my ESV Study Bible out the window of my study at home, if my study at home actually had a window. The ESV Study Bible is a serious culprit of this misinterpretation:

Although God intends the flood to destroy every person and his remarks have a strong universal emphasis, this in itself does not necessarily mean that the flood had to cover the whole earth. Since the geographical perspective of ancient people was more limited than that of contemporary readers, it is possible that the flood, while universal from their view point, did not cover the entire globe….Many interpreters, therefore, argue that a huge regional flood may have been all that was necessary for God to destroy all human beings. The expression “all the earth” does not exclude such a possibility. (62)

There are many redeeming elements to the ESVSB, but this is a FAIL, a blue screen of death, an epic error. In this note they basically claim that ancient peoples are dumb, their “geographical perspective…was more limited.” Who says? Maybe that’s true, but just because they didn’t have satellite coverage and Google Earth doesn’t mean they were ignoramuses.

Another reason to address the wrong view of a local flood is because of authority. The best I can tell, the only reason anyone questions whether the flood was global is because somewhere, some scientist, motivated by a compelling need to debunk Scripture, suggested that maybe the flood could have been local. After persistent questioning, and after “science” deemed itself credible, men began to see science as a greater authority than the Bible. If something seems to go against the biblical account, the first response is to question Scripture, not science. It makes science the authority.

We’re in great danger when we listen to anyone or anything over the Bible. We abandon sola Scriptura to our peril. Scripture alone is the ultimate authority. Believing in sola Scriptura doesn’t require that we ignore every other source, but it does mean every other source takes its place under Scripture.

The local flood model is a popular view, it’s a view that neuters Scripture’s authority, and it’s a view that impoverishes meaning. It’s lazy reading, or rebellious reading, at least bad reading, or maybe no reading at all. How could a person possibly read the account as Moses writes it and walk away with any other conclusion?

I was always amazed when I taught Bible classes, or when I’ve lead small group discussions, that having turned to a passage, and asking questions about the passage, how many people do not look at the Book! It’s an open book quiz! The answers are right in front of you! It’s not a trick question! It’s not a scavenger hunt. Just read the Book!

There are evidences for a global flood outside of Genesis 6-9. Henry Morris lists 100 reasons in his commentary on Genesis. Scientific data, such as the existence of fossils, defy explanation without a cataclysmic event such as the flood. The New Testament–divinely inspired and inerrant–speaks of entire world destruction (cf 2 Peter 3:5-7). But really, everything we need is in the story itself.

For my part, I want to love the Bible loudly. I want to shake the biblical branches until all the fruit falls into my basket. I want to point people to their copy of God’s story, and I want to be faithful to pass that message on without messing it up. You might not know every apologetic, scientific argument, but if you can read the passage well, you can give all the answers you need.

Here are a flood of reasons for world-wide water, or, a biblical barrage that bursts the local flood bubble, or, gushing water going global, or, pulling the plug on a local flood model.

1. Nonfiction Classification

If you went to your local library to borrow a copy of this story, you’d find it in a certain section on specific shelves, not in the children’s area or the fiction department.

The bulk of the book of Genesis is in the narrative genre. Remember, “Narratives are stories, purposeful stores retelling the historical events of the past, that are intended for a given people in the present” (Fee and Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, 90). Moses is telling a story, but it is a nonfiction story, an historical record of actual events at specific times in particular places with real characters.

The flood is extraordinary and dramatic, as is the creation account. But God is amazing, so Him doing miraculous and supernatural things doesn’t make them unbelievable. The story is not make-believe. Nothing in the narrative suggests that it’s a fanciful or figurative fairy-tale. An unprejudiced reading of the story itself elbows us with reality.

2. Proportional Punishment

The reason God determined to flood the earth in the first place was because “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth” (6:5). “And the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth” (6:6), “so the LORD said, ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land’” (6:7). The size of the flood was in proportion to the extent of sinful flesh. The wickedness of men wasn’t limited to a certain locale; it was everywhere. In order for the judgment to match, to correspond, the flood must have been global.

3. Exhaustive Eradication

Each and every living thing was “blotted out,” that is, it was eradicated, completely destroyed. The death was exhaustive: every living thing that I have made I will blog out from the face of the ground (7:4), all flesh died that moved on the earth (7:21), everything on the dry land in shoes nostrils was the breath of life died (7:22), He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground (7:23). “All” or “every” or “everything” is used three times in verse 21, twice in verse 22, and again in verse 23. The comprehensive obliteration involves a globe-covering flood.

4. Unique Vocabulary

The Hebrew term for “flood” used in Genesis 6-9 is mabbul, found only in this story and in Psalm 29:10. There are other Hebrew words for local or regional floods. I realize this observation requires more than an English copy of God’s Word, but it’s still an evidence from the Genesis story itself.

5. Earth Echoes

The flood continued forty days on the earth (7:17), The ark…rose high above the earth (7:17). The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth (7:18). The waters prevailed so mightily on the earth (7:19). All flesh died that moved on the earth (7:21).

It is possible that “earth” could be translated as “land,” but when contrasted with heaven (heaven and earth), earth refers to the planet in contrast to the space above the planet. When God created the “earth” in Genesis one, “earth” included a planet’s worth of dirt.

6. Missing Migration

Arguments from silence are not as powerful, but this silence thunders.

Building and stocking the ark would have been “an absurd waste of time and money if the Flood were only a local flood. Migration would have been a far better solution to the problem, for Noah as well as the birds and beasts” (Morris, 200). Especially, we’d think, the birds would have been able to escape, even if they needed to travel a far distance.

In fact, the fact that birds could find nowhere to alight (8:6-9) is probably it’s own argument.

7. Winning Waters

As we read the story, the building intensity of increasing and prevailing waters is unmistakable. The waters prevailed (v.18), they “prevailed mightily,” or “exceedingly exceedingly,” a Hebrew superlative (v. 19). A three-mile deep flood cannot be contained in a region.

8. Under Cover

Not much more of an explicit statement could be made than this:

And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. (7:19)

The waters covered “all the high mountains under the whole heaven.” So there is a geospatial limitation of the flood; the flood is limited to whatever area of earth the heavens cover.

9. Broken Promises

If all that occurred in chapter 7 was a large regional flood, and if that’s what God promises never to do again, then hasn’t God broken His promise?

[T]he Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.” (8:21)

I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth. (9:11)

[T]he waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. (9:15)

Though we haven’t studied chapters eight or nine yet, God’s covenant with Noah (and with all the earth) is the final part of the flood story.

We asked this question when we talked about the days of creation and theistic evolution, but really, how much more plain could Moses have been? What else could Moses have written to make it clearer that the flood covered the face of the entire globe?

The Summary of Prevailing (v. 24)

And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.

Conclusion

For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. (Matthew 24:37-39)

Many are frittering away the final minutes of God’s patience with them. Only those who were in the ark were spared when God judged the world with the flood. Only those who are in Christ will be spared when God judges the world when the Son of Man comes. As trustworthy as God’s Word was in Noah’s day, it is as trustworthy today.

Because the wickedness of men prevailed on the earth, God commanded Noah to build an ark, in which Noah would be preserved from the punishment God would pour out through a flood of waters that would prevail on the earth. God commissioned Noah to build the ark (6:9-22) and called him to board the ark (7:1-10). After seven days of packing the ark with provisions, the flood begins.

The Flood Erupts (7:11-16)

It was time for God to fulfill His word. He told Noah that He “determined to make an end of all flesh” and that He was going to destroy “them (along) with the earth” (6:13). He revealed that the destruction would come by way of flood: “I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh” (6:17). He exposed His plan even more specifically in 7:4, “For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and everything that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.” The cataclysmic flood was purposed by God and controlled by God right down the very first drop.

The Timing of the Flood (11a, 12b)

Moses records the date the flood started, how long the rain lasted, and how long the waters continued to rise (v. 24b).

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. And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

Events rarely receive such explicit dating details as does the flood. This is the second paragraph in a row that begins with Noah’s age, and we can be sure that the survivors never forgot. Rather than force us to conclude that a later editor piece-mealed two accounts together, the repetition heightens the gravity of the occasion.

We know that Noah is 600 years old, but now we learn that the flood begins in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month. More than likely, the calendar in use at the time saw the new year start in late September. The flood rains came probably in the first week of November (for us), in the year 1656.

In addition to the great deep burst(ing) forth, the never-before-seen rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. The water level didn’t even start to decrease for another 110 days after the rain stopped, since verse 24 states that the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.

It wasn’t until the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month that **the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat (8:4). That means no land whatsoever was visible for the greater part of five months. The rain itself only lasted 40 days, but by the time the waters abated and the earth dried out, Noah and his family had been in the ark for 370 days (see 8:13-14).

The Sources of the Flood (11b-12a)

Two sources contributed the water for the flood, subterranean and celestial.

all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. And rain fell upon the earth

The first source described (mentioned for the first time in the story) were all the fountains of the great deep. These were great subterranean waters (that is, water below the earth’s surface), and they burst forth, they were “broken open” (KJV), they gushed out in a sudden rush of waters that must have caused something similar to a tidal wave.

The second source is what we expected based on God’s revelation in 7:4, rain. The duration of rain is significant, but the window metaphor is also powerful, the windows of the heavens were opened. It isn’t as if a few drops were falling on their heads. This was no light sprinkle. No filter slowed down the flow. The rain fell out of heavenly holes in torrents. It was a massive downpour. It dumped in buckets as though a window hatch on hinges fell open. God let out His heavenly storehouses laden with rain.

The flood came from waters above (rain) and from waters below (the great deep). In the beginning, “the earth was without form and void and darkness was on the face of the deep. And there Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters” (1:2). On the second day of creation, “God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse” (1:7).

Now God was dropping that huge canopy of water vapor He previously lifted. On day two He was still forming creation, now He was un-forming, He was un-creating and wrecking, trashing, scouring His planet.

With the canopy in place, storms would have been unknown because the temperature would have been uniform, heated as a global greenhouse. With the canopy in place, certain times of harmful radiation would have been blocked, perhaps one reason that men lived so long. With the canopy fallen, temperatures would change causing weather fronts and wind and storms and limited UV protection.

Who knows what havoc the great deep bursting forth wreaked. We can imagine earthquakes and volcanic eruptions and perhaps even entire continents shifting and crashing before settling into place. Think of the noise as the earth’s crust cracked open. Imagine the sounds of the storm beating on the ark.

The next paragraph repeats the depth of the water, but suffice it to say, this was the greatest “act of God” or so-called “natural disaster” ever.

Those Delivered from the Flood (13-16)

The repetition serves at least three things: it heightens the intensity of the epic story, it reminds us how life was preserved, and it haunts us with how many rejected the only way of salvation.

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, they and every beast, according to its kind, and all the livestock 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 winged creature. They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the LORD shut him in.

The week was no doubt full of work as God brought animals to the ark and as those animals, along with all the necessary supplies, were loaded onto the ark. According to verse 13, the Noah family entered on the seventh day, on the very same day, a phrase that signals a memorable occasion, the flood began.

Only Noah and his sons are named, their wives are only mentioned. Then the animals that boarded were listed with similar terminology that deliberately echoes the categories of created beings. There were beasts, livestock, creeping things, birds, other flying creatures (”everything with feathers and wings,” Leopold, 299), each according to its kind, all (sorts of) flesh in which there was the breath of life, male and female for the sake of the survival of the species.

The final phrase of verse 16 is similar to the final page of a chapter. And the LORD shut him in. Up to this point in chapter seven, “God” has been the actor. The name used was Elohim, the majestic, transcendent, authoritative, sovereign creator God. Now the name Yahweh is used, the covenant keeping, personal, immanent, gracious and faithful LORD. No doubt the door into the ark was substantial, big enough to allow the gigantic animals to board. But the stress seems to be the personal care of Yahweh more than Noah’s inability. Noah must have had some plan for shutting the door, but Yahweh affirms His attention and assures Noah of His protection.

The Flood Prevails (7:17-24)

The emphasis of this paragraph is not on those delivered, but those destroyed. The focus moves from inside the ark to outside, some were shut in and others shut out. It highlights not the dating and the sources of the flood, but the duration and depth of it.

The Depth of the Flood (17-20)

Four times in this paragraph, and three times in verses 17-20, the word prevailed occurs. “Prevailed” is a word that means to be strong, to be mighty, in such a way as to prevail or triumph over one’s enemies. In Genesis 7, the water wins.

The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep.

The waters increased, prevailed, increased greatly, prevailed mightily covering the mountains, and prevailed above the mountains 15 cubits (22.5 feet).

Speculating on the amount and depth of water is inexact at best. But taking what we know, that the ark came to rest on Mt. Ararat, that Mt. Ararat is almost 16,900 feet above sea level, and that the flood waters were above all the mountains by at least 22 feet (which, means that if half of the ark were under water it could float over the peaks smoothly, while also remembering that there are higher peaks than Mt. Ararat), that means that the water was over three miles high (from sea level). That also means that, taking the same height, and assuming that the waters continued to rise for 150 days, the level of water increased by 112 feet every day. If it only rose for the first 40 days, the level rose 420 feet a day. That’s a lot of water.

Filling up a pool, makes a lot of ruckus and sprays all over until there’s enough water for the end of the hose to be submerged.

Those Destroyed by the Flood (21-23)

God purposed the flood “to make an end of all flesh” (6:13), and now that purpose was fulfilled. The proportion of space devoted to describing the destruction, and the repetition make judgement the focal point of the paragraph.

And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark.

The repetition leaves no doubt. Every category of animals created, of which two each were spared on the ark, are now destroyed. There were only two qualifiers. The sea creates did not perish, and neither did Noah and those who were with him in the ark (v. 23). Though 7:11-16, as well as the preceding sections in the story, reveals that Noah was promised deliverance, the reminder at the end of verse 23 keeps us from taking the damage for granted. It’s amazing that Noah survived.

Otherwise, All flesh…on the earth, everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life, every living thing on the face of the ground, were blotted out.

It’s difficult to imagine the anguish and struggle and terror of this scene. Men and animals would have ran for high ground, but with the water level rising 112-400 feet each day, they could run far enough fast enough. All their possessions and homes were left behind and swept away. Perhaps some close to the ark would have beat on the sides, crying out for Noah to open the door. The weaker ones, the sick and elderly, wouldn’t have made it long. Perhaps some floated for while, though the initial downpour and bursting forth would have overwhelmed many, such as a tidal wave (as the fossil record demonstrates). Men in particular, those who didn’t die immediately, would have suffered most by drowning on fire in a guilty conscience. As they struggled for breath, they may have realized they didn’t praise God with their breaths, even though many had heard Noah’s message of righteousness and repentance.

Even for Noah and his family, though they were spared, virtually nothing would have been the same. There probably weren’t many jokes around the table.

The Summary of Prevailing (v. 24)

And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.

Next time we’ll observe how the Genesis story requires a universal, not local flood.

Read the notes here.

Read the notes here.

Read the notes here.

Read the notes here.