Noah & the Flood

“The End of Creation And the Hope of a New Creation”

Genesis 6-9

How Does the World End?

Why are we so Fascinated by its Ending?

Noah’s Flood & Ancient Near Eastern Flood Stories

The Gilgamesh

EpicAn ancient flood story

whose hero is named Utnapishtim. The story

predates Genesis by 1500 years

(Other ancient flood stories: Akkadian account of atrahasis; Sumerian account of Ziusdra)

Genesis’s Flood Parallels with the Gilgamesh Epic

The gods or God use the flood as a means of judgement.

There is a “hero” in each story.

An ark is constructed to save life.

Particular dimensions are given for the arks construction.

All living beings are gathered together and brought onto the ark.

A dove and raven are sent out to determine if the flood has receded.

Differences among the parallels between Genesis & the

Gilgamesh Epic

Different canonical context between the stories.

Different reasons behind the judgment.

Different reasons behind the choice of the “hero.”

Different reasons behind the design of the ark.

Different reasons for sacrifices before traveling in the ark.

Order of birds is different.

“It is safe to conclude that the parallels between the biblical account of the flood and the Mesopotamian stories, being so numerous and detailed, are much more than the result of mere coincidence...Whatever be its literary history, the Flood story of the torah [of Genesis] stands out as an authentic, original expression of the religious genius of Israel. Conceptually, spiritually, and morally, it stands in striking contrast to all other versions.”

- Nahum Sarna, JPS Commentary on Genesis

One of world’s leading authorities on ANE Flood

Stories - Nahum Sarna

What can we learn from the Ancient Near Eastern Parallels to Genesis’s flood story?

The flood story must be understood in light

of the wider story it fits into.

The flood story was global news.

History and Literature were close together in

the ANE.

Why Did The World End Through a Flood?

Noah’s Flood The End of Creation is Like the Beginning

Genesis 1-3as Creation

Genesis 6-9as De-Creation

God de-created all life through water

(Genesis 7.11)

God saw all that he

created and said it was evil (6.5, 12).

God’s word proceeds

de-creation (6.7, 13).

God created out of the deep waters (Genesis

1.1, 6-7).

God saw all he created

and said that all was good (1.31).

God’s word proceeds

creation (1.3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26).

“The flood, in essence, represents an undoing of creation. Back in Genesis 1, the creation was narrated as God’s shaping the formless mass (tohu vabohu) by moving back the waters that completely surrounded the world. The flood is thus a reversal of creation.”

- Tremper Longman III, How to Read Genesis

The Flood as a Reversal of Creation

Noah’s Flood The End Is Also The Beginning Of A New Creation

Noah’s Flood is a central

hinge upon which the Biblical

Story turns.

Creation - End of Creation - New CreationAdam - Noah - Abraham - Moses - David - Christ

The Flood as the hope of new

creation

Noah as the 2nd Adam

Genesis 1-2

Genesis 9:1-17

Literary Repetitions

Wind Making Life Possible 1.2 vs 8.1

Rhythm of Nature Established 1.14 vs 8.22

Divine Blessing 1.28 vs 9.7

The Image of God Affirmed 1.26 vs 9.6

How does Noah’s flood offer us hope for a new creation?

A New Covenant

A New Community

A New Adam To Hope For

2 Peter 3.4-74 They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the

fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

The first end of

the world

Through Water

The final end of

the world

Through Fire

Noah’s Flood is where God’s Judgment and Grace Meet

“...in the Biblical perspective human history is not at the mercy of chance and meaningless catastrophe. The God who created the cosmos out of chaos is in sovereign control of the forces of destruction. The threat is the threat of God’s moral judgment, and even that judgment is not an end in itself, but for the sake of the new world of righteousness which he will once again create out of chaos.”

- Richard Bauckham, WBC Jude & 2 Peter

Creation is not at the Mercy of Chance

Noah & the Flood

“The End of Creation And the Hope of a New Creation”

Genesis 6-9