The Worldwide Flood (Devotional)
February 5, 2011
"And I will establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth." (Genesis 9:11)
Those Christians who accept the concept of the "geological ages" commonly have to explain away the great deluge by assuming it was not really a global flood. They realize that any flood that would rise until "all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered" and in which "every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground" (Genesis 7:19, 23) would undoubtedly eliminate any evidence of the supposed geological ages. Therefore, they have suggested modifying the Bible record to mean an overflow of the Euphrates River or some such phenomenon which would destroy just the peoples of the "known" world at that time.
There are numerous problems with this "local flood" notion, however. Appendix 6 of The New Defender's Study Bible, for instance, lists 100 reasons why the biblical Flood must be understood as worldwide and cataclysmic.
But probably the best argument is that such an argument makes God out to be a liar! God promised Noah that this kind of flood would never be sent on the earth again. There have been innumerable river floods, tsunamis, torrential regional rains, etc., in the more than four millennia since Noah's day. If God's promise referred only to some such flood as one of these, then He has not kept His Word!
But God does not lie, and He has kept His promise. There has never been another such Flood. "He that believeth not God hath made him a liar" (1John/5/10"1 John 5:10). Theistic evolutionists, progressive creationists, and all others who believe the geological ages instead of God's Word should, it would seem, seriously rethink their position. HMM
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Dr. R,
ReplyDeleteRichard Chaffin is a mutual friend of ours, and your name/blog came up in a recent conversation. He obviously respects your expertise a great deal!
After reading your post here, how does your interpretation of Psalm 104:5-9 fit into your flood model?
This passage certainly evokes a parallel nature to Genesis 1:1-9 extremely well; it seems to tell us quite plainly that once God brought forth dry land (Genesis 1:9) the waters would never again cover the earth(Psalm 104:9). At first, one could argue that this is a possible reference to Noah's Flood, but then when you compare it with Job 38:10 we again see a clear boundary that the waters cannot cross.
After comparing these three verses (as well as Jr 5:22), I am compelled to think that the water boundary God set would not support a global flood interpretation of Genesis 6-8 - such an interpretation would seem to invalidate the scriptures in Pslam, Job, and Jeremiah.
How would you bring all of these passages together in support of a global flood interpretation?
One note about "regional" flood models that you have missed in forming your arguments: several flood models argue that ALL of humanity (minus those in the Ark) was indeed destroyed by the Flood, thus making it universal in its impact on humans but not global in its scope.
Quite simply put, mankind in the time of Noah had not yet fulfilled God's command to subdue the earth(Gen 1:28), and they were preoccupied with evil all the time(murder was most certainly at the top of the list since God insisted on a specific punishment for it in his covenant with Noah). Therefore, a global flood would not have been necessary to wipe the earth clean of this scourge.
This kind of universal flood has not been seen again since Noah, so I would argue that a universal regional flood model allows God to keep BOTH of His promises: (1)a set boundary for the waters and (2) never again wiping out all of humanity in a flood.
Although there are certainly other details to explain(types and numbers of animals in the Ark, where the Ark settled, geological formations), I think the above thoughts are, shall we say, at river's source?
Hook 'em Horns (with brotherly love)
David
I believe that a global flood is properly established by the Biblical record. The Psalms, Job and Jeremiah were written later (although Job is considered the oldest book in the Bible)and confirm that we will never again have a flood that will destroy all humankind. One problem with the Biblical record is a lack of information about what happened after the flood.
ReplyDeleteIt is obvious that the world was divided from one continent into the current continents around the world. When that happened and how is a matter of conjecture. The Bible only says in the days of Peleg the earth was divided. I speculate that the earth was catastrophically impacted by the Noah flood, that the canopy removal permitted solar radiation that caused shorter life spans than before the flood, and created one layer of fossils, buried the trees that formed coal, buried a lot of fish that formed oil deposits, but later after people began to populate the earth and dispersed after Babel, then another horrific event formed the continents in a catastrophic manner that affected populations differently in North and South America, Europe and Africa. I believe we have had catastrophic events that have wiped out civilizations several times and we have no good records. I read that excavations for brick clay around Mexico City has shown that at least three civilizations were divided by large lava flows. Looking at the geology of the West and even the vertical formations in Central Oklahoma I see a lot of catastrophic geology. When it occured is unknown but I can see that it happened only a few thousand years ago. These are my speculations. If geologists assumed a young earth they would view their observations in the field differently than the assumptions of millions of years between events.
Dr. Rodenberg,
ReplyDeleteYour response provokes many questions – if you would be so kind to answer a few so that I can better understand your flood interpretation…
If I understand your argument correctly…are you arguing that there was only ONE continent at the time of Noah’s flood? If so, are you saying that the verse about Peleg refers to massive continental drift across thousands of miles in a one person’s lifetime?
I notice your mention of a canopy – I am familiar with this theory, but could you clarify exactly what you mean? From my understanding, the theory argues that there was a canopy of water encompassing the entire earth until the time of Noah’s flood. How thick do you believe this canopy to be? In what state was the water in: vapor, liquid, or ice?
What is your Biblical evidence in support of a canopy that lasted through the creation of man? I see the phrase “floodgates of heaven” used in other books of the OT to describe rain without a global flood (Malachi 3:10, 2 Kings 7:2), so where this canopy specifically mentioned in Scripture? More importantly, could the “lights in the sky” from Genesis 1 be seen through a canopy of water thick enough to flood the entire globe?
Whether or not they were written later (Job is most likely the oldest, as you say), are you saying that the verses in Psalm, Job, and Jeremiah are NOT accounts about creation? God asks Job “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth” and then proceeds to review details about the creation that only God could know, including the boundary that the waters will never again cross. This seems to be addressing the time before the creation of Adam; how could the God of Truth establish boundaries for the ocean pre-Adam and then violate them in the time of Noah?