NOAH AND THE FLOOD

Critics of the Bible like to point out other ancient flood stories, such as the Gilgamesh Epic, and say Genesis got its inspiration from those pagan stories. Others have pointed out that so many flood stories must well arise from memory of a great flood.

Some Bible critics wonder about the justice of such a world-destroying event. Let's begin by looking closely at Genesis 6:5 and how sin was piling up.

EVERY inclination of the thought of the human heart
was ONLY EVIL
ALL THE TIME!

Now folks, that's bad, and that's serious. The Lord saw how great the wickedness of humanity had become.

Sin had snowballed from the garden. Eve only took a few forbidden bites, but became a missionary of sin, leading Adam to join her. Her children were infected, and Esau committed a far worse sin – murder. By the time of Lamech in 4:23, we find a guy who had killed a man for merely injuring him and boasting veangeance not seven times, but 77 times! Now we find the human mind obsessing with sin incessantly!

Note also in verse 11 that the  “earth was full of violence.” Most of us recoil from R-rated content because of sex, but perhaps we need to recognize the Lord is equally concerned with violence. Scripture also speaks of massive corruption here. When's the last time you heard the church declaiming against corruption?

God reacted first by limiting human life to 120 years, instead of the very long lives of such men as Methusaleh. (6:3) While death puts a limit to how long an evil man can continue to sin, that was not enough to turn the present situation. Note 120, not 70! Seventy years is found in the poetical books, but here the life span is set at 120. More and more folks are living longer, and the last I heard 85 was the average age of those entering nursing homes.

The KJV also says “My spirit will not always strive with man...” which has been abused by preachers and evangelists. These guys make the verse mean that if you don't come to the front tonight, the Holy Spirit may leave  you and never visit you again. If you must do that, there is a verse in Hebrews that says something that can legitimately be interpreted this way, but don't abuse Genesis, because that is NOT what God means here. He simply means that the breath of life will leave man after 120 years instead of having more Methusalehs.

Verse 9 introduces Noah, who in the midst of all this wickedness continued to live blamelessly and righteously. You may from time to time be in an environment surrounded by wickedness, but one testimony of Noah is that you can follow God's standards anywhere and anytime. As a result, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAZSs4Hz_Fs

God gave Noah explicit directions on ark-building which he followed to the letter. You are familiar with the story of his gathering all the animals and his family into the ark. Note the Lord shut them in 7:16, and Noah had no way of admitting anyone else. The Bible is very explicit that all other life outside the ark was destroyed, and all future life was derived from people and animals preserved in the ark. Everyone knows the rain fell 40 days and nights, but did you notice water covered the earth for 5 months or 150 days?

After the flood, a rainbow. Once again a new covenant – no more flood to the extent of wiping out humanity.

The story teaches clearly there are consequences for evil, that God will not tolerate it forever. It also teaches one can remain untouched by evil in  a sinful world. Above all, it is a story of salvation, God preserving the righteous through the floods of this world. Innumerable sermons have compared the salvation through the ark to salvation through the ark of Christ.

A final addition because I'm from the south and hate scriptural abuse. One of the worst abuses is the statement that God cursed Ham, and that is why black people became slaves and suffer. Everything in that statement is false and just wrong. A chapter or so later Noah raises a vineyard and proceeds to get passing out drunk. While he was out, Ham came in and “uncovered his nakedness.” That could mean he simply looked at his father while undressed, or some believe he performed a homosexual act. His two brothers were more circumspect and walked in backwards to cover up their still sleeping father.

When Noah awoke, (9:25), he cursed CANAAN (not Ham) and cursed him to be the slave of Shem. Canaan was not the father of blacks, but of the Canaanites in the land where Israel went after the Exodus. God did not curse him, Noah did. And Noah was either still drunk or with a king-sized hangover when he did it. Read it yourself, and take it as a warning not to believe everything people tell you about the Bible.