the flood over Mesopotamia

Originally posted on July 09, 2009 – by Andre Piet
Last modified: 27 Aug. 2009

A little less than two weeks ago I gave a study under the title “the flood narrative of Shem, Ham and Japheth”. In it I pointed out, among other things, that the history of Genesis 6–9 is a report of direct eyewitnesses: the sons of Noah. What I also argued was that the history is not about “the planet earth” but about “the land” (ha arets), from the perspective of the inhabitants of the ark.

I would like to add another interesting argument to that in this weblog. In Genesis 8:8 we read that Noah sent out a dove to see whether the waters had subsided from the surface of the ground. A few verses earlier (8:5) it had already been mentioned that the tops of the mountains had become visible. Nevertheless we read in verse 9:

Yet the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned to him in the ark, because there was water over the whole earth (better: the whole land)…

The phrase “because there was water over the whole land” is not absolute but viewed from the perspective of the dove. After all, the highest land had by then already risen above the water. Well then, in the same way the expression “under the whole heaven” (7:19) is not absolute but viewed from the perspective of Noah’s sons.

For those who would like to read more about the flood in Noah’s days, I can highly recommend an article from Hugh Ross’ website (www.reasons.org). In this English-language article, among other things, the more scientific aspects of an event as described in Genesis 6–8 are discussed. Hugh Ross argues how the humanity of that time (except for eight souls) perished in the region of Mesopotamia, which is a kind of U-shaped basin. In the case of a flood (tidal surge) from the Persian Gulf, which in some places reached a depth of as much as 400 meters, in his view large parts of Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Syria were submerged . The ark eventually came to rest at the northern boundary of the water basin, namely on a spur of the Ararat mountain range.
In any case, just read the article yourself…

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