Geneses Chapter 7- The Great Flood (1)

[뉴맨]

Geneses Chapter 7-

The Great Flood (1)

The Text from https://www.bible.com/bible/111/GEN.7.NIV

The Beginning of the Flood

1 The Lord then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. (Righteous Noah and his family will be confined/prisoned in the ark of salvation; true life in God. Eph. 3:1, 13 The ark was a float without oar, sail, anchor, or key.)

2 Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, 3 and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. (Seven pairs of clean and one pair of unclean animals were selected.)

4 Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.” (Global flood foretold.)

5 And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him. (Noah obeyed.)

6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. (600 years old.)

7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. (Eight family members entered the ark.)

8 Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, 9 male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. (All kinds of animals gathered and entered the ark. God summoned them.)

10 And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth. (The God's time has come. Mt. 25:10-12, Gal. 4:4, Rev. 16:17)

11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month- on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. (The day of the flood. Water from above and beneath.)

12 And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights. (Rain lasted for forty days.)

13 On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. (Eight of the Noah's family entered the ark of life; losing the freedom, secured life.)

14 They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings.

15 Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark.

16 The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. (ALL KINDS of animals were saved.) Then the Lord shut him in. (God the Lord closed the entrance.)

17 For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth.

18 The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. (The ark floated off the earth.)

19 They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered.

20 The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits. (It was a global flood.)

21 Every living thing that moved on land perished- birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind.

22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died.

23 Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark. (All other than confined in the ark had perished. They used to live freely according to their will but lost life for their freedom. The death is destined to those who are free from the Creator. Only those who were prisoned in the grace of God survived.)

24 The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days. (The flood lasted for 150 days.)

1. Time Table of the Great Flood (AI)

Based on the narrative in Genesis (chapters 7-8), the Great Flood spans a period of just over one year (1 year and 17 days, or 371 days in some interpretations) in the 600th year of Noah's life. The chronology follows a deliberate, symmetrical structure focused on the rise and recession of the waters.

Detailed Flood Chronology

※17th Day, 2nd Month (Year 600): The flood begins. "All the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened".

※ 40 Days and 40 Nights: Rain falls continuously, and the ark floats.

※ 150 Days: The waters prevail/rise on the earth.

※ 17th Day, 7th Month: The Ark comes to rest on the Mountains of Ararat.

※ 1st Day, 10th Month: The tops of the mountains become visible.

※ 40 Days Later: Noah opens the window and releases a raven, then a dove.

※ 7 Days Later: The dove is released again, returning with an olive leaf.

※ 7 Days Later: The dove is released a third time and does not return.

※ 1st Day, 1st Month (Year 601): The waters are dried up from the earth.

※ 27th Day, 2nd Month (Year 601): The earth is fully dry, and Noah leaves the ark.

Key Observations

Duration: The total time from entering to leaving the ark was roughly 1 year and 17 days.

Water Sources: The water came from two sources: rain from above and the "fountains of the deep" from below.

Symmetry: The narrative has a chiasmus structure (7-day warnings, 40-day rain, 150-day peak, 150-day receding, 40-day waiting, and 7-day intervals).

Biblical Date: Based on traditional biblical genealogies, some scholars, such as James Ussher, calculate the flood to have occurred around 2348 BC.

2. The Tales of the Great Flood (AI)

Tales of a global deluge, where a deity destroys a wicked world with water while sparing a righteous few, appear in hundreds of cultures worldwide. The most famous in Western culture is the account of Noah in the Bible's Book of Genesis.

Here are several major tales of the global flood:

1. The Epic of Gilgamesh (Mesopotamia)

Perhaps the oldest recorded flood story, predating the biblical account, this Babylonian epic tells of Utnapishtim, who was warned by the god Ea to destroy his house and build a boat to save the seed of all living creatures.

2. Noah and the Ark (Hebrew Bible/Genesis)

God instructs Noah to build an ark to survive a global flood intended to cleanse the Earth of wickedness.

The Survivors: Noah, his wife, his three sons, and their wives, along with pairs of every animal.

The Outcome: The ark lands on the mountains of Ararat, and a rainbow is given as a covenant promise never to destroy the earth by flood again.

3. The Aztec Legend (Mexico)

The Aztecs recorded that a worldwide flood destroyed the "fourth sun" (previous world) and lasted 52 years.

The Survivors: A man named Coxcox (or Tezpi) and his wife escaped in a boat made from a hollow cypress tree.

Rebuilding: Similar to the Tower of Babel story, survivors built a high tower (zacuali) to protect themselves from another flood, which resulted in a confusion of languages.

4. The Toltec Legend (Mexico)

The Toltecs reported that a great flood destroyed the "first world" 1,716 years after its creation.

The Escape: Only a few people escaped in a "toptlipetlocali" (closed chest).

5. Ayoreo Tribe Story (Paraguay)

According to South American traditions, a man survived a flood that caused all surrounding land and people to drown.

The Story: A man named Eshiporio killed a great creature called Mbusu, prompting the spirit Tatu Cornudo to cause a flood that covered the earth.

6. Greek Flood Myth (Deucalion and Pyrrha)

Zeus, angry at the wickedness of humanity, decided to end the Bronze Age with a flood.

The Survivors: Prometheus advised his son, Deucalion, and his wife, Pyrrha, to build a chest (larnax) to survive the nine-day flood.

7. Chinese Letter 선(船- Boat with eight mouths)

Common Themes

Divine Anger: The flood is almost always punishment for human wickedness or noise.

Forewarning: One man is warned to build a vessel.

Animal Preservation: Animals are brought on board to repopulate the earth.

Mountain Landing: The vessel lands on a high mountain as the waters recede.

These narratives are found in various cultures across the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa, often sharing striking similarities with the biblical account.

3. The Great Flood and the End Time (AI)

The Great Flood (Noah’s Flood) and the concept of the End Time are biblically linked, with the former serving as a historical type of judgment that foreshadows a future, final judgment. In Christian theology, Jesus compares the conditions of the world before the end time to the days of Noah.

1. The Great Flood (Genesis Account)

Cause: God brought the flood to judge humanity for extreme violence and wickedness.

Duration: The rains fell for 40 days and nights, but the waters prevailed upon the earth for 150 days, submerging all land.

Outcome: All life outside the ark was destroyed. The water took roughly a year to recede, and God promised never again to destroy all life by a flood, signing the covenant with a rainbow.

Timing: According to biblical chronology, the flood happened roughly 1656 years after Creation, or around 2348 BC.

The End Time (Judgment by Fire)

The Analogy: In Matthew 24:37-39, Jesus says: "As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man".

Parallels: The world at the End Time is described as unsuspecting, with people engaging in daily life (marrying, eating) while neglecting spiritual reality, much like Noah’s contemporaries.

Difference in Judgment: While the first judgment was by water, 2 Peter 3:5-7 teaches that the present heavens and earth are reserved for a final judgment by fire.

Purpose: The End Time brings about the final destruction of ungodly behavior and the renovation of the world.

In summary: The Great Flood is viewed as a definitive past event of judgment, while the End Time is the prophetic future culmination of history, both highlighting God's judgment on sin and protection of the righteous.