Why this story matters
(commentary on Genesis 6-9)
(Page 2 of 4)
Flood myths
One of the first things to keep in mind when discussing Noah's Ark is that the story isn't unique. Other cultures had flood myths too. One of these is strikingly similar to the Hebrew flood myth. It's a Babylonian story called The Epic of Gilgamesh.
In the Epic of Gilgamesh, a flood story is told to Gilgamesh by the god Utnapishtim. At the beginning of the tale Utnapishtim is a mere mortal who has found favor with the god, Ea. (Bible version: “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord”). Ea tells Utnapistim a secret that is not known to any one else. The gods are going to send a flood to destroy all humans and animals, and Utapisthim must build a boat in order to save himself and his family. Ea even gives him the dimensions of the boat. (Bible version: “This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high”). When the boat is finished Utnapishtim enters the boat with his family, possessions, and animals and waits for the storm. When the the floodwaters eventually subside, the boat comes to rest on a mountain top which, in the Gilgamesh story, is Mt. Nimush (Bible version: “and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat”). Utnapishtim then releases a dove to see if it would come back signaling the waters had abated (Bible version: “He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark.”). After disembarking, Utnapishtim sacrifices a sheep and the gods “smelled the sweet savor” (Bible version: Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma”).
There are many differences between the stories but the similarities are too obvious to ignore. It is not known for certain which story was written first or if they both came from an earlier source. This issue obviously has serious implications for conservative Christians. If other flood myths preceded the Noah story, then the Biblical story is likely borrowed or copied.
But there's another important issue concerning other flood myths like the Babylonian myth. If Christians want to claim that other flood myths are all false and only theirs is true, then they need to apply the same critical standards to their own myth. So, let's apply some analysis now to see how it fairs.
The character of Yahweh in the story
Before the flood even starts, we get a sense of how similar Yahweh is to other gods, particularly concerning his capricious attitude towards humans. Just after he finished creating the world, he looked around and said it was all good, including humans: “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good (Gen. 1: 31).” However, within a few chapters, he’s whistling a different tune: “The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain (Gen. 6: 6).” What had caused this about face? As the Bible describes it, the people had become corrupt and violent: "Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence" (Gen 6:11). Of course, there is tremendous irony in putting an end to violence by killing millions of people and animals.
Moreover, we're told the problem went quite a bit deeper than corruption and violence. If the Bible is to be taken literally, every single thought that anyone had was evil all the time: “The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time” (Gen. 6: 5). But surely this is a nonsense statement worthy only of folklore. People have lots of thoughts, both good and bad. It's naive and even babyish to pretend that no one anywhere in the world formed a decent thought except for one man in the Middle East. No one hugged their kids? No man told his wife he loved her? No one looked after his elderly parents, and no one even said "Have a nice day" to her friend? Surely this kind of statement is folkloric hyperbole and not to be taken seriously as historically accurate.
And what does it mean that Yahweh was grieved in His heart? The New International Version says “and his heart was filled with pain”. Does God really get broken hearted and depressed? Surely this is an example of anthropomorphism.
The truth about the rising waters
When illustrated books tell Noah’s tale, they tend to take the focus off the violent act of drowning everyone. There's good reason for this. Imagine the waters slowly rising towards the necks of terrified mothers as they held their babies aloft in a vain attempt to save them. Imagine hearing the piercing screams of thousands of these mothers as they watch their children gasp desperately for their last few breaths knowing they would never get to see them grow up. It's hardly an inspiring thought. And it's hardly inspiring to claim that babies and little children are corrupt and violent. And what about the animals? They would, of course, be guilty of violence in their fight for survival but there couldn't be any moral component to this. How could they be guilty of "corruption"? Why did millions of animals deserve to be killed? It's not an easy question for Christians to answer. And, unfortunately for believers, it's even more difficult to explain what happened to the animals that were saved from the flood.
© IllustratedBibleStories.ca