The Flood Narrative Part 12: The Flood Water Reciedes genesis 6:1-9:27

The Flood Waters Recede

Genesis 8:1–5 CSB

1 God remembered Noah, as well as all the wildlife and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water began to subside. 2 The sources of the watery depths and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the rain from the sky stopped. 3 The water steadily receded from the earth, and by the end of 150 days the water had decreased significantly. 4 The ark came to rest in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. 5 The water continued to recede until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were visible.

We also are reversing everything that lead up to the flood in this flood narrative. Pivoting on 8:1

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The waters above and below were released, later they are closed.

The ark was lifted and rose up high. Then the ark rests and touches down.

The waters were great and increased over the land. The waters recede and turn back.

The waters covered the mountains. The heads of the mountains are revealed.

God's ruahk passes over the waters.

If we've just been brought back to the moment of the wind over the dark waters, what do I expect to begin happening? Well, I've been through this once before. I think through Genesis one.

A Jewish scholar, Joshua Burman, was working this out and he has proposed a way of reading the sequence of after the blowing of the wind that he thinks is walking through either the vocabulary or the themes of Genesis one, days one through six in sequence. I Got this from the Bible Project

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The author(s) of this passage if very creative. and it isn’t just artistry there is a theological claim here.

“If Genesis one is the classic creation narrative, what is all of this doing, except saying when God delivers from death, that itself is also a creative act. You could say it's new creation act.” - Tim Mackie

What it does is it sets you up, to see moments when God delivers people from sickness or from their enemies or from exile. These are all deliverances from death. These are all creative acts of God. We think of, if we think of creation, just in the modern sense of bringing something into material existence, you miss so much of what creation means in the Bible, because it's about the transition from non order to order, the transition from death to life.

What is the Exodus from Egypt and the passage through the waters? It's, it's new creation. It's a creative act of God.

We don't think of it that way, but I think that's the, the theological meaning of what these parallels are trying to, you know, prompt us to think.

Mount Ararat

Notice that the narrator doesn’t say which particular mountain the ark rested upon. The narrator simply says that it came to rest in “the mountains of Ararat.”

And so anyway, that that's the region, you know, you can go there today and, ark hunters have gone there for a long time

The word “Ararat” (Heb. טררא ) is derived from Akkadian Urartu, and it refers to the region that today is on the far eastern border of Turkey, near Armenia. It’s a highland hill country north of Mesopotamia in between Lake Van and the Caspian Sea. There are a number of high peaks that tower above the horizon

Interestingly, in other Mesopotamian flood stories like the Epic of Gilgamesh, Utnapishtim’s ark rests on “Mount Nimush” in the Zagros mountains on the eastern border of today’s Iran and Iraq (some 400 miles from Mount Ararat). However, in Berossus’ account, he names the region similar to the biblical account, in the mountains of Armenia. For more information, see John Day’s “The Flood and the Ten Antedeluvian Figures in Berossus and in the Priestly Source in Genesis” (Day, 2011. 65-67.).

Genesis 5:28–29 CSB

28 Lamech was 182 years old when he fathered a son. 29 And he named him Noah, saying, “This one will bring us relief from the agonizing labor of our hands, caused by the ground the Lord has cursed.”

28 And Lemek lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and he caused the birth of a son. 29 And he called his name “Noah ( חנ ),” saying, “This one will give us comfort ( םחנ ) from our work and from the toil of our hands from the ground ( המדאה ) which the LORD has cursed ( הררא)

Do you remember Noah's dad?

He will give us Naham from our work and from the painful toil of our hands from the ground, which Yahweh has a, Ararah cursed, Ararah.

Interesting that the ark's Noah, on the mountains of Ararat, it's one letter different. And the next thing Noah is gonna do get off the boat and offer a sacrifice. And what's God going to do? He's going to smell the Nihoak, the pleasing smell of, of the sacrifice. And God says, I will never again, curse the ground.

It's a rhyme. In other words, Noah's dad says, this is the one, Noah, who will give us Nakham, from the curse on the ground, the ground that God has Ararah.

He lands on Mount Ararat where he offers a sacrifice that brings Nihoak rest to God who says, I will never curse the ground again.

This is it. This is the moment that Noah's dad was waiting for and anticipating. So the whole point is that curse rhymes with the name of the mountain range.

The waters have receded. The ark is rested. Three months go by. Remember that in the narrative, it just sits there for three months.

Genesis 8:6–14 NASB95

6 Then it came about at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made; 7 and he sent out a raven, and it flew here and there until the water was dried up from the earth. 8 Then he sent out a dove from him, to see if the water was abated from the face of the land; 9 but the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, so she returned to him into the ark, for the water was on the surface of all the earth. Then he put out his hand and took her, and brought her into the ark to himself. 10 So he waited yet another seven days; and again he sent out the dove from the ark. 11 The dove came to him toward evening, and behold, in her beak was a freshly picked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the water was abated from the earth. 12 Then he waited yet another seven days, and sent out the dove; but she did not return to him again. 13 Now it came about in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the water was dried up from the earth. Then Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the surface of the ground was dried up. 14 In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.

Do you remember, do you remember what category the raven fits into in Leviticus 11 cosure food law.

It's ritually impure. Because it, it belongs up in the heavens, but it eats land creatures and it crosses that boundary.And so it's, it's one of the boundary crossers. It's, it's impure. So it never comes back. The impure bird goes away.

Bird number two.

And he sent out a dove from him, To see if the waters were abated from the face of the ground. And the dove found no Manoak, no resting place.

It's Noah's name as a noun. The dove found no rest for the sole of its foot. And it returned to him into the ark because the waters were on the surface of all of the land.

In the Seventh Month, on the 17th Day

t's at the end of 40 days that he opens the window, and then here it's in the 600th year. And first year. First of all, it's of his life, he was 600. So it's been one whole calendar year.

But it's the first month of some calendar that we're not, haven't been told about yet. And then you get this, send out the raven. Never comes back. One, two, three, and then opening again.

Why am I being told this information? God, did God test Noah in relationship to the thing, that God said to do? Make this boat. We kind of walked through that in an earlier session. Do you remember God said something to Noah that I will set up my covenant with you.

So Noah's got a divine word that he's waiting for. So it's this interesting story where he partners with an animal and he keeps waiting. It's this image of the, the waiting, the one who waits on the word of Lord.

Noah's the first one who waits on the Lord.

Noah’s time on the ark has been coordinated with Israel’s liturgical calendar that appears much later in the Torah ( Lev. 23). The seventh month is the Fall new year celebration, and the 17th day is right in the middle of the festival of Sukkot/Tabernacles.

Given the importance of the ark as a proto-temple, this cannot be without significance: The ark, as a prototabernacle, goes through the chaos waters and comes to rest on a cosmic mountain at the same time of the year when the Israelites will later live in their micro-tabernacles during the feast of Sukkot to recall their journey through the desert on their way to the promised land.

Recall how in Genesis 1:2 the chaos waters and the desert are the two primary images of a non-ordered realm

Spying Birds in Mesopotamian Flood Accounts

The sending out of the raven and the dove is one of the most well-known parallels between the flood stories in the Epic of Gilgamesh, the account of Berossus, and the biblical account.

When the seventh day arrived,

I released a dove to go free,

The dove went and returned,

No landing place came to view, it turned back.

I released a swallow to go free,

The swallow went and returned,

No landing place came to view, it turned back.

I sent a raven to go free, The raven went forth, saw the ebbing of the waters,

It ate, circled, left droppings, did not turn back.

Gilgamesh Epic, Tablet 11

After the waters of the Great Flood had come and quickly left, Xisuthrus freed several birds. They found neither food nor a place to rest, and they returned to the ship. After a few days, he again set free some other birds, and they too came back to the they ship, but they returned with claws covered with mud. Then later for a third time he set free some other birds, but they did not return to the ship.

Berossus’ Babylonica, paragraph 54

This is in the notes. I won't go there in the moment, but this sending out of different birds is a really unique parallel to the Mesopotamian version in the Gilgamesh epic. In Gilgamesh, It's a, guy's name is Utanapishtee. And he sends out a dove, then a swallow, then a raven. And interestingly the raven doesn't come back. Just like, in his biblical account.

The 3 + 1 Test of Noah

Noah first sends out a raven, an omnivorous bird and therefore ritually impure (see Lev. 11:15). It does not return to the ark, presumably because it can find food out among the waters.

Noah then sends out a dove, a vegetarian and ritually pure bird (see Lev. 1:14; 5:7), and it cannot find food until the dry land appears.

The threefold sending out of the bird is a kind of test that Noah uses to make sure the divine promise is really taking place. This makes sense of why the narrator slows down the story, unnecessarily as far as the plot is concerned, to retell the dove scene in language reminiscent of the garden of Eden test.

Genesis 8:8–11 NASB95

8 Then he sent out a dove from him, to see if the water was abated from the face of the land; 9 but the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, so she returned to him into the ark, for the water was on the surface of all the earth. Then he put out his hand and took her, and brought her into the ark to himself. 10 So he waited yet another seven days; and again he sent out the dove from the ark. 11 The dove came to him toward evening, and behold, in her beak was a freshly picked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the water was abated from the earth.

Genesis 8:8- 8 And he sent out a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated ( ללק ) from the face of the ground. 9 And the dove found no place of rest for the sole of its foot, and it returned to him into the ark, because the waters were on the surface of all the land. And he sent out his hand and took it ( חקל + די + חלש ) and he brought her to himself ( וילא + אוב ) into the ark 10 and he waited yet another seven days; and again he sent out the dove from the ark. 11 And the dove came to him at the time of evening, and behold, in its mouth was an olive leaf ( הלע ) , freshly picked, and Noah knew ( עדי ) that the waters were abated ( ללק ) from upon the land,

Literary Connections to the Eden Test.

(LLQ)ללק is a homonym for “curse,” parallel to ררא in Genesis 3:14, 17 "

So that he doesn’t send out his hand and take ( חקל + די + חלש ) also from the tree of life” (Gen. 3:22)

"And he brought her to the human ( וילא + אוב ) " (Gen. 2:22)

“And they knew ( עדי ) that they were naked and they sewed a fig tree leaf ( הלע ) and made garments for themselves”(Gen. 3:7)

In Genesis 3, God is testing the humans’ faithfulness to him, while in Genesis 8, Noah is testing God’s faithfulness to him.

God “brought the woman to the human,” and she becomes the means through which the humans fail the test of following God’s command. In the same way, the bird is Noah’s means of testing God’s promise to deliver him, so he “brings her to himself.”

Adam and Eve “send out their hand and take” from the wrong tree, which is the object of their test. In the same way, Noah sends out his hand to take the dove, which is his way of testing God’s promise.

The humans take the knowing of good and bad, know they are naked, and so they use a leaf to cover over their failure. In the same way, Noah sends out a dove as a test and the leaf becomes the way he knows that God has kept his promise.

Genesis 8:15-19

Genesis 8:15–19 NASB95

15 Then God spoke to Noah, saying, 16 “Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. 17 “Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” 18 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. 19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by their families from the ark.

Once again, feels like a procession, like a ritual procession into the place of refuge, now out, and notice that the center of this little composition is the, the line from Genesis one, be fruitful and multiply.

Once again, new creation. And notice how the literary design reflects the order. this is the reestablishment of order, isn't it?

And so go out, humans animals make them go out. And so Noah went out humans, animals, and they went out

Command and Fulfillment

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Families of the Animals

And notice the word used to describe these, these human and animal groups. It's the first time the word for clan or family is used.

And this is going to become a very important word in the history of Noah's family and his sons. And in all families of the earth will be blessed. In Abraham, these are the, the first use of the word families in the story.

As Noah and his family get off the ark, they exit parallel to all the animals “by their families” (Heb. misphakhah / החפשמ ). This word appears 303 times in the Hebrew Bible, and this first appearance of the term is also the only time it is used of non-humans. In the parallel panel of 7:13-16, the animals are grouped together by species using the word “kind” ( ןימ ), a word used in Genesis 1:21, 24-25.

In deliberate contrast to “kind,” the narrator in Genesis 8:18-29 calls the animal species “families” as they exit along with Noah and his sons, who will become the three main families of the biblical world in Genesis 10. In fact, the word family will be used next of just these three sons ( Gen. 10:5, 20, 31).

This creates an “animal families / human families” parallel, which is drawn upon in the prophets in a big way, like in the two framing visions of Isaiah 2 and 11.

Bibliography

https://bibleproject.com/classroom/noah-to-abraham

Smith, George (1873). The Chaldean Account of the Deluge (2). Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology. 213-34.

Wenham, Gordon J. Genesis 1-15: word Biblical Commentary, Volume 1. Word Publishing, 1987.

https://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/8867/who-were-the-sons-of-god-bene-elohim-in-genesis-62

Heiser, Michael (2017). Reversing Hermon: Enoch, The Watchers, and the Forgotten Mission of Jesus Christ. Defender.

Annus, Amar (2010). “On the Origin of Watchers: A Comparative Study of the Antediluvian Wisdom in Mesopotamian and Jewish Traditions." Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha, Volume 19.4. 277-320.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/jan/01/noahs-ark-was-circular

Tremper Longman III, John H. Walton, et al. The Lost World of the Flood: Mythology, Theology, and the Deluge Debate

Gilgamesh subduing a lion, Louvre museum Darafsh [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], from Wikimedia Commons