The Flood (Genesis 7:11-16)
‘In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day, were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the covered openings of heaven were opened, and the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.'
Notice how precise is the statement which confirms that we have here a memory of an eventful day. Indeed, who, who was there, could forget that day? For on that day it all happened, and its date was remembered precisely.
The description confirms that there was more to it than rain. Waters flooded up as well as down. The seas rose as well as the rains falling. A huge tidal wave swept over the land to combine with the continual torrential rain from the heavens.
But there really is no justification for talking about fountains and windows as though they were intended to be taken literally. These people well knew that the rain came from the clouds, and that the seas had been there from the beginning. But huge amounts of water came flowing up as from giant springs, and water came down in torrents of which they had never seen the like, released they knew not how, for forty days and forty nights (see on Genesis 7:4), yet in a way that they knew it was controlled by God. Language failed in the attempt to describe the situation, so they had to turn to metaphor. But it was not intended to be ‘a scientific description' or to be taken literally (we still say ‘the rain came down in bucketfuls'!). They were not trying to describe the cosmos. Apart from a few learned men at a later time, no one even gave a thought to the mechanics of the world. They described what they saw, as best they could, in terms of everyday things in their everyday lives.
We do not know how the date was originally passed down, but the ancients worked on phases of the moon and the seasons of the year, and would certainly have had names for them, and possibly had names for each day in the moon cycle. When the account was written down the writer interpreted this as above.
‘On that very day Noah, and Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the three sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons, entered the ark. They, and every animal after its kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort, went into the ark to Noah, two and two of all flesh in which is the breath of life. And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as Elohim commanded him, and Yahweh shut him in.'
The reason for this repetition, which as we have seen is characteristic of ancient narratives and was especially appreciated by the listeners (compare nursery stories today), is to stress the exact obedience of Noah to the command of Elohim in Genesis 6:19-20, and to indicate the perfect timing of God.
Noah had been told to commence entry into the ark seven days previously (Genesis 7:1) but it is clear that the task took the whole seven days allotted so that it was finally completed on the very day the Flood came, and on that day the final creature entered the ark, and Noah and his family went in for the last time.
So in Genesis 6:19-20 we have the Creator's command to take creatures of all kinds into the ark, in Genesis 7:2-3 we have the command from God as the covenant God to take in seven and seven of clean creatures, in Genesis 7:7-9 we have the obedience to this command but shown as included in the fulfilment of the total command which is brief in summary form, and in Genesis 7:14-16 we have the final declaration of the fulfilment of the Creator's plan in detail which ties in with the original command. This continual repetition stresses that these, and only these, survive the catastrophe and that the plan is to replenish the earth. The danger with such a cataclysm was that attention might be on the dreadful flood, but the continual repetition ensures that the listener is kept very much aware of the survivors. As every good teacher knows, repetition of what is important aids the memory of his hearers.
Then ‘Yahweh shut him in'. Note the change from Elohim to Yahweh. He has entered with all living things at the command of God the Creator (the wording re the living creatures ‘after their kinds' also echoes Genesis 1) but now it is Yahweh who shuts him in. Thus God, the covenant God, tenderly ensures the safety of His servant. The thought is not that Noah left the blocking of the gap to God, but that God Himself ensured that what Noah had done was strong enough and safe enough for the ordeal ahead. In the end their security depended not on what Noah had done, but on the faithfulness of God, Who would watch over them in what was to come. They were safe because they were safe in His hands.
EXCURSUS.
The Flood has been thought of in terms of the ending of the ice age when sea levels would rise dramatically and the skies would be filled with dense vapour, and all kinds of catastrophic events could have arisen depending on the land levels of the world at the time, but it could equally have been caused by an asteroid striking the seas and causing an unprecedented calamity, including vast clouds and huge tidal waves. However, in the end we have to accept the fact that we can have no final and specific explanation, for we do not know when it occurred, nor can we know what conditions were like at the time.
The Flood in fact lasts what was probably twelve moon cycles (a year) and ten days (Genesis 8:14), roughly 354 days. Its exact length would depend on the number of days to the each moon cycle over that period. The sequence in the narrative is as follows:
1). Flood commences - 17th day of the second month
2). Ark rests on Mount Ararat - 17th day of seventh month. There are 5 moon cycles from second to seventh month which times thirty using a recognised ‘standard 30 day method' of indicating days of a ‘month', would equal 150 days, the period not to be taken literally (‘150 days' is thus really a technical way of translating ‘five moon cycles' which is what the original possibly said. Moon cycles would actually be for 28/29 days thus the period in our terminology would be about 140 - 145 days). As has been previously suggested five may be the number of covenant (later the ‘commandments' will be given in two sets of five), or if not it is a number representing completeness.
3). Waters have abated and tops of mountains seen - 1st day of tenth month
4). Waters have receded from land which can now be seen as ‘dry' because no longer covered by water - 1st day of first month. This is five and a half moon cycles after the seventh month. This is possibly the second ‘150 days' (Genesis 8:3), meaning five moon cycles (thus ignoring the part cycle). The whole period in our terminology would be about 155 - 160 days (140 - 145 + the extra fifteen days). With 2). this makes about 300 real days. This last 150 days includes the forty days of waiting (8:6) as the first 150 days had included the forty days of rain, and also includes the sending out of the birds.
5). The land, being ‘dry land' again because it has come out of the sea (compare Genesis 1:9), now dries out thoroughly until on 27th day of second month it is again fit for use.
(END OF EXCURSUS).