The Books of Moses:

Fact or Fiction?

 

Session 5

 

 

The Great Flood

in Noah’s Day

Part 1

 

 

Bruce Armstrong

 

 

The Great Flood in Noah’s Day

Part 1

 

Contents

Introduction

Jehovah Decides to Renew the Earth

Noah Asked to Build an Ark

Noah’s Ark Constructed

The Ark’s Carrying Capacity

The Great Flood Begins

The Fountains of the Great Deep Closed

The Ark Rests

Noah Leaves the Ark

 

 

And it came to pass ... that the waters of the Great Flood began on the earth…. all the Fountains of the Great Deep were split apart, and the windows of heaven were opened.  And the heavy rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.    Genesis 7:10 & 11

 

Then God spoke to Noah, saying, “Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you.  Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: flying creatures and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”    Genesis 8:15 to 17

 

 

Introduction

In our last session we saw that Adam and Chavvah disobeyed God, and that their Fall affected the entire earth and everything living on it.  We descended from living in a Paradise without defects or death, into a world where we were barred from Paradise and now lived with pain, suffering and treachery, often followed by the trials of old age and always by death.

 

As things grew worse and worse, the time came for Jehovah God to intervene.  This session looks at the Biblical details of God’s next Intervention, the Great Flood.  Our next session will look at evidence for and against such a massive Flood.

 

Jehovah Decides to Renew the Earth

And Jehovah said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is indeed straying flesh; and his days will be one hundred and twenty years.”1

 

Then Jehovah saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all day.  And Jehovah regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

So Jehovah said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, from man to beast, creeping things and flying creatures of the heavens, for I regret that I have made them.”  But Noah2 found grace in the eyes of Jehovah.

This is the genealogy of Noah.  Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations.  Noah walked with God.    Genesis 6:3 & 5 to 9

 

So we see that God has decided to reduce man’s lifespans and also sets a timetable for destruction of mankind then on earth: they will have only 120 years to live, unless they repent and turn back to obeying God and living righteously (2 Peter 2:5).  Noah was given the job of preaching to them and urging them to repent.  There will be more on the lifespans after the Great Flood in Part 2.

 

But why did God decide to destroy the animals as well as the humans?

 

So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.  And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.    Genesis 6:12 & 13

 

Like man, the animals too (part of the all flesh) had become corrupt.  By the way, in the Hebrew about destroying them “with the earth”, the earth is from אָרֶץ‎ erets, which usually refers to the firm surface of the earth.  So God is planning to destroy the entire surface of the earth, including all life on it, and starting again.

 

Noah Asked to Build an Ark

But God decides to spare Noah, and tells him what He wants Noah to do:

 

“Make yourself an ark3 of gopher wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with kopher.4  And this is how you will make it: The length of the ark will be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.  You will make a skylight5 for the ark, and you will finish it a cubit above; and set the door of the ark in its side.6  You will make it with lower, second, and third decks.    Genesis 6:14 to 16

 

Here we see the interaction between God and man: God gives Noah the plans for what He wants him to do.  Noah must then decide if he will obey God and take on this massive building project.  Though God could have made an ark Himself and then simply put Noah on it, Noah is given the building job as a test of his willingness to walk with God, and likely also as a test of Noah’s family’s commitment.  It also gives Noah and his family time to develop their relationships with Jehovah.  And there is another aspect of this allocation of jobs: Jehovah God is Creator of the Universe.  It is totally reasonable for Him to assign tasks to His creatures that He has made them capable to do.  Thus Jehovah assigns to Himself those jobs which are beyond our capabilities.  We call those jobs miracles.

 

We are given merely the outlines of the project.  But the outline is highly specific and gives us an accurate idea of the size, shape and internal layout of the Ark.  There can be no doubt that Noah was given detailed ‘blueprints’ and he and those who worked on the ark were given guidance in all they did.  We will come back to the construction of the Ark.  For now, we need to know why Noah is told to build an ark.

 

“And behold, I am bringing the waters of the Great Flood7 on the earth Myself, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth will expire.

“But I will establish My covenant with you; and you will go into the ark; you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.  And of every living thing of all flesh you will bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they will be male and female.  Of the flying creatures after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of each will come to you to keep them alive.

“And you will take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you will gather it to yourself; and it will be food for you and for them.”    Genesis 6:17 to 21

 

Now Noah understands why God has asked him to build this massive ark, which is essentially an enormous barge.  God is going to use it to save Noah and his family, as well as a male and female representative of each kind of animal when He brings the Great Flood onto the entire earth.  Footnote 7 explains that this Great Flood is called Mabbuwl in Hebrew and is used consistently and exclusively to refer to this Great Flood throughout the Bible.

 

Notice that in Verse 20 that the animals to be taken on the ark will come to Noah.  That is, Jehovah God will be selecting the animals that are to be saved Himself and will send them to Noah.  In this way, God can select the animals with the best genetics and the best temperaments.  The animals will need to both easily adapt to being confined on the ark for a year, and to then being released onto a totally altered world.

 

In contrast, Noah is given the job of finding food for his family and all of these animals.  It is totally reasonable to expect that God told Noah what animals he was going to need to feed, and how long he would need to feed them.  It is also reasonable to expect that Jehovah provided Noah with the resources he would need.8  Otherwise, Noah would not be able to fulfill this task adequately.

 

Noah’s Ark Constructed

Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.    Genesis 6:22

 

So Noah began his ship-building project.  To give you a sense of its scale, I will compare Noah’s Ark with two other ships, one smaller and one larger.

 

The smaller ship is the Edwin Fox, a timber sailing ship built in the 1850s which can be seen at Picton, NZ (http://www.edwinfoxsociety.com/ and in Figures 1 & 2).  It was a large ship when it was built, and transported general cargo, brought convicts and settlers to Australia and New Zealand, and served as a troop carrier to Bombay and the Crimea.  Table 1 gives statistics on it:

 

Table 1:  Edwin Fox Ship Picton NZ

Dimensions

Length

Width

Height

Cubits

104.7

19.8

16.4

Feet

157.1

29.7

24.6

Meters

47.9

9.0

7.5

Ext Volume

2,273 Cubic Meters

Int Volume

1,819 Cubic Meters

Decks

2

Build Completed               1854 CE in 9 months

Materials

Teak and Saul

Gross Tonnage

891

Draft

14.3 cubits or 21.5 ft or 6.55 m

Max Passengers

400

Crew

50

Propulsion

Sails

Could carry 1000 tonnes of cargo plus 300 people around the world.

 

 
 

 

Figure 1: The Edwin Fox Under Sail in its Heyday.

 

 

 
 

 

Figure 2: The Stern of the Edwin Fox in Picton, NZ.  I am there to give you an idea of the scale of this ship.

 

This ship is dwarfed by Noah’s Ark, as we will see in Table 4.  The Ark’s statisics are in Table 2 and it is illustrated in Figures 3 & 4.  This is also an appropriate place to point out that the common illustrations of Noah’s Ark are ludicrously small, often with an elephant’s head and trunk hanging out of a porthole and a giraffe’s head and neck protruding out the top.  Such misrepresentations must contribute to why many people say that Noah’s Ark would have been too small to have saved all of the kinds of land animals.  We will soon see that, in fact, it was correctly sized for its job.

 

Table 2:  Noah's Ark

Dimensions

Length

Width

Height

Cubits

300

50

30

Feet

450

75

45

Meters

137.3

22.9

13.7

Ext Volume

39,644 Cubic Meters

Int Volume

31,715 Cubic Meters

Decks

3

Build Completed in 2348 BCE in 8 to 35 years #

Materials

Gopherwood

Gross Tonnage

11,207

Draft

15 Cubits or 22.3 ft or 6.8 m

Passengers

17,000 creatures

Crew

8

Propulsion

None

 

# Estimating the build time for the ark is based on these factors: When Noah was told to build it, God promised him that it was for Noah, his wife, and his three sons and their wives.  So even Noah’s youngest son, Ham, must have been married at that time.  If we assume that Ham was born 95 years before the flood, and was married when he was 60 (young for pre-flood marriages) this is a maximum of 35 years build time (Gen 6:18).  Conversely, the scale of the Ark vs Edwin Fox suggests it would take at least eight years to build in a large, efficient shipyard.  Given the many unique features of the Ark and the extensive internal fit-out it would require, it is likely that it would have taken at least twelve years to complete, even with a large and skilled workforce.

 
 

 

 

Figure 3: Noah’s Ark, Drawn to Scale.  Though it shows that full-size dinosaurs could fit into it, it is very likely that small juveniles of the largest animals were taken onto the ark. (AIG)

 

 
 

 

Figure 4: One Proposed Internal Layout for Noah’s Ark (Model by Rod Walsh of CMI) The actual layout was likely stronger, more complex and had much better space usage.

 

The third ship is the Prinsendam, currently Holland America’s smallest cruise ship, which does special trips to remote locations and smaller harbours (Figure 5).  It is a steel ship with diesel engines built in 1988, as detailed in Table 3.

 

 
 

 

Figure 5: Prinsendam, a Holland America Cruise Ship

 

Table 3:  MS Prinsendam,

Holland America Cruise Ship

Dimensions

Length

Width

Height

Cubits

449.4

61.2

74.3

Feet

674.0

91.8

111.5

Meters

205.5

28.0

34.0

Ext Volume

136,945 Cubic Meters

Int Volume

109,556 Cubic Meters

Decks

9

Build Completed in 1988 in 4 years

Materials

Steel

Gross Tonnage

38,848

Draft

15.5 cubits or 23.3 ft or 7.1 m

Max Passengers

835

Crew

443

Propulsion

Diesel Engines

Deadweight Tonnage

6,000

 

 

Table 4 compares the three ships:

 

 

Table 4: Comparisons of the Edwin Fox (F), Noah’s Ark (A) and Prinsendam (P)

Property

Edwin Fox

Noah’s Ark

Prinsen-dam

Ratio A/F

Ratio A/P

Length

47.9

137.3

205.5

2.9

0.67

Width

9

22.9

28

2.5

0.82

Height

7.5

13.7

34

1.8

0.40

Draft

6.6

6.8

7.1

1.03

0.96

Tonnage

891

11,207

38,848

12.6

0.29

Length/Width

5.3

6.0

7.3

1.13

0.82

Width/Height

1.2

1.7

0.8

1.42

2.02

 

Several things become clear from Table 4:

1: The Ark was a very large wooden ship.9

2: The Ark had almost thirteen times the carrying capacity of the Edwin Fox, but less than 30% that of the Prinsendam.

3: The Ark was well designed, as shown by the fact that in almost all measurements, it sits nicely between the two other ships.

4: The exception is its Width to Height ratio.  The Ark was wider compared to its height than both of the other ships.  This indicates that the Ark was much more stable than the other two ships.  Indeed, modelling by naval engineers suggest that the Ark would have been almost impossible to capsize and would ride relatively smoothly even in rough seas.

 

The total lack of propulsion shows that Jehovah took direct responsibility for ensuring that the Ark was always where it needed to be, both during the Flood and when it was finally ‘landed’.

 

The Ark’s Carrying Capacity

Assuming we now have the Ark, though it is large, is it large enough?  John Woodmorappe, in Noah’s Ark, A Feasibility Study (2003), has extensively studied these issues.  He concluded that only land-dwelling mammals, birds and reptiles needed to be on the Ark, as shown by Gen 7:22, which indicates that only animals with nostrils were taken on the Ark.  Insects were thus excluded, and must have survived on floating vegetation mats.10  As only one pair of each kind was required, not each species, the total number of individuals required on the Ark was about 15,750, including now-extinct kinds such as dinosaurs.  Allowing for seven pairs of clean animals (Gen 7:2-3 and Lev 11:1-23) took his total to about 16,000.  He also found that the median size of the animals was that of a rat, if the largest animals went aboard the Ark as young juveniles.  And juveniles would be ideal for God’s intention, which was for them to reproduce when they left the Ark.  They would have their entire reproductive life ahead of them.

 

Answers in Genesis (AIG) scientists recently (2012 to 2016) did their own estimation of the numbers of kinds and thus animals required on the Ark.11  They added amphibians to the list, but decided that the total number of kinds was lower than Woodmorappe’s, as listed in Table 5.  They found that in most cases, the kinds were equivalent to the family level in taxonomy, above the species and genus levels.  They also allowed for many more clean animals required in seven pairs than Woodmorappe.  I think that AIG’s list is more accurate.

 

There was also the need to bring a full year’s supply of food for everyone.  And at least six months of water would be required as the intense rain during the first 150 days of the Flood would have been contaminated with salts and pulverised rock, as we will see below.  After that, rainwater could be collected from the roof and used to refill the water tanks.  Woodmorappe found that by simply feeding mostly dried grains, pulses and compressed hay, like our typical baled hay, there was sufficient room on the Ark for the animals to all have reasonably comfortable enclosures and adequate food and water.

 

Table 5: AIG’s Number of Animals Required on the Ark

Classes

Kinds

Animals Needed

Mammals

546

1644

Birds

285

3690

Reptiles

320

 928

Amphibians

248

 496

Totals

1,399

6,758

 

 

Woodmorappe also examined such issues as light, ventilation, bedding, feeding and waste treatment, and shows that by clever design, a crew of eight would be able to look after all of these animals.  I suspect that the larger farm animals would be exercised by powering various mechanical devices on the Ark related to these functions.

 

As these creatures were all selected by God for this purpose, it is also certain that He would ensure that they all remained healthy throughout their time on the Ark and at least until they had been able to reproduce in the new world.

 

More on this topic can be seen in the AIG video on Flood and their Ark replica at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ma-LP0UDtw

 

The Great Flood Begins

Finally, the Ark is completed, filled with food and the animals board it:

 

Noah was six hundred years old when the waters of the Great Flood were on the earth.  So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the Great Flood.

Of clean animals, of animals that are unclean, of flying creatures, and of everything that creeps on the earth, two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah.

And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the Great Flood began on the earth.  In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second new moon, the seventeenth day of the new moon, on that day all the Fountains of the Great Deep were split apart, and the windows12 of heaven were opened.  And the heavy rain13 was on the earth forty days and forty nights.
On the very same day Noah and Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark; they and every animal after its kind, all cattle after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every flying creature after its kind, every bird from every extremity.14  And they went into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life.  So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and Jehovah shut its door.    Genesis 7:6 to 16

 

There are many important details in these verses, but we will just pick out a few items:

 

First, the animals and then Noah and his family only entered the Ark when God told them to.  Next, we see that Jehovah gave the animals a full week to settle into their new environment before He unleashed the Great Flood.15  It seems that the humans went on and off the Ark until the final day, when they all went aboard and then God closed the door Himself.  I believe that until that moment, anyone who wanted to turn to God’s Way and be saved on the Ark could have done so.  That no one else did so, suggests that no one else wanted to do so, not even the parents or siblings of Noah’s son’s wives.  Certainly Jehovah God did not say that He would exclude anyone else who decided to walk with Him.

 

Next, we are given the exact date when the Fountains of the Great Deep were split open.16  The split rapidly spread around the entire earth.  Today, the remnants of these fractured fountains are the mid-ocean ridges.  The split released a massive surge of highly compressed supercritical water which was so powerful that it shot water all the way up into the upper atmosphere, where it was dispersed and came down as incredibly dense rain world-wide.17  The Fountains continued to spout far into the upper atmosphere continuously for forty days and nights, resulting in relentless, devastating rains for that entire period.18  As long as any land remained above the increasing ocean level, it was subject to violent scouring from the now raging rivers.  All human structures near these rivers and their mouths would be completely pulverised within a week.

 

These enormous volumes of high-pressure water came from beneath the crust, from the Great Deep, which we saw in the Creation Week session was trapped under the crust.  It seems likely that the underground sea contained at least as much water as the surface sea and lakes.  The escaping waters were also full of dissolved salts such as sodium, calcium and silicone, as well as granular material like quartz (sand) and larger rocks torn from the edges of the vents in the crust as the material shot skyward.

 

Note that much of the dissolved calcium and silicone would come out of solution when it encountered appropriate substrates, thus rapidly cementing some sediments into rock and converting plants and animals into fossils.  The essential thing in fossilizing organic matter is to have the right ingredients and conditions.  Like in making concrete, you must have the right amounts of aggregate, sand, cement and water for it to work.  Without the cement and water, no amount of time will convert the aggregate and sand into concrete.  This is why you can find uncemented layers of sediments interbedded with rock even in supposedly ancient deposits.  As organisms deteriorate rapidly, they MUST be fossilised and buried rapidly to preserve their details.  Long time spans only allow the organisms to decay.  Contrary to the claims of uniformitarians, slow and steady is the best way to ensure that NO fossils are formed.19

 

As the solids suspended in this ‘rain’ hit the ocean, they would sink to the bottom, suffocating and entombing any living organisms unable to escape rapidly.  Thus stromatolites and sponges would appear among the deepest fossils in these sediments.  Fluctuations in the water currents and liquefaction events would stratify the sediments, while some of the dissolved chemicals, such as calcium and silicone, would slowly precipitate and cement the sediments together to form rocks.  As the rains continued, the more agile marine animals would become exhausted and their gills choked, kind by kind, and succumb beneath the continuing descent of sediments.  On land, a similar process would be happening.  Initially, the freshwater animals and plants would be washed into the oceans and buried.  Then the lowland plants would be torn down, many carrying away the slower animals that had taken refuge in them.  Finally, the strongest and fastest animals, first in the seas but then from off the lowlands, and finally from the hills and mountains would all be drowned and many of them encased in sediments before they could bloat and float to the surface.

 

Ocean currents and liquefaction processes would tend to sort and concentrate the dead organisms and rock particles by size, shape and density.  This would create, as an example, layers of plant debris between layers of clay and silt.  As the layers became deeply buried they would be compressed and heated, converting the plant material into coal in decades.

 

The Bible account continues:

 

Now the Great Flood was on the earth forty days.  The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth.  The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters.  And the waters prevailed exceedingly, exceedingly20 on the earth, and all the highest mountains21 under all the heavens were covered.  The mountains were covered and the waters prevailed more than fifteen cubits above them.22
And all flesh expired that moved on the earth: flying creatures and cattle and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and all mankind.  All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was from the dry land, died.  So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and flying creature of heaven.  They were destroyed from the earth.  Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive.23

And the waters prevailed on the earth for one hundred and fifty days.    Gen 7:17 to 24

 

There are some more details here to comment on.  First, it appears that the Ark was built on solid ground, and it was not until some time during the initial forty days that the water level rose high enough to lift the Ark and float it away.

 

The Fountains of the Great Deep Closed

God remembered Noah, and every animal, and all the beasts that were with him in the ark.  God sent His Spirit to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.24  The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the heavy rain from heaven was restrained.    Genesis 8:1 & 2

 

We need to understand that the ocean level did not stop rising at the end of the forty days of constant rain. Verse 24 indicates that the waters continued to flow up through the fountains from the Great Deep for a total of one hundred and fifty days.  Verse 8:2 says that it was not until that very day that the Fountains were stopped and the heavy rains restrained.  It seems that after the forty days, the water pressure in the Great Deep lessened, so the Fountains no longer spouted water as high into the atmosphere and the heavy rain became intermittent.  Also the width of the fountains grew as they were eroded away, so more and more of the escaping water simply gushed straight into the deepening ocean.

 

God also tell us that at its peak, which is apparently at the beginning of the 150th day, the ocean, which was now world-encompassing, was deep enough to cover even the highest mountains by at least 15 cubits (6.68 meters).  Such an ocean would have devastating properties of its own, as there would be no land to stop it from forming massive waves which would circle the world.  These waves would tend to level any land that came near the surface, especially as the Flood began to recede and some land began to rise into its path.  These massive waves are likely the cause of the many submerged ‘table-top’ mountains in the world’s oceans.

 

Verses 21 to 23 confirm that absolutely no air-breathing land animals survived this phase of the Great Flood.  In five months, they were all dead.  Only those on the Ark had survived.

 

But notice verse 8:1: there are three groups that God ‘remembers’: 1: Noah and his family, 2: every animal and 3: all the beasts on the Ark.  What is group 2?  They must be all the animals that God has kept alive outside the Ark, which would include all of the aquatic animals and the plants, insects, microorganisms, etc that they would need to survive post-flood.  It is possible that God preserved representatives of the non-aquatic insects and land plants on floating vegetation mats.

 

The rapidity of all this destruction and burial is essential to forming fossils.  Today, dead plants and animals are scavenged and recycled before they can be buried and chemically altered to form fossils and fossil fuels like coal and oil.  There are extremely few exceptions to this observation.  In contrast to today, there are many fossils that have been trapped by water-borne sediments and fossilised so rapidly that they are ‘frozen’ in the act of eating another animal, or have their stomach contents so intact that it is possible to analyse what their last meal was.

 

To rephrase this, if there really was a world-wide flood of the intensity described in the Bible, we should find billions of dead things drowned in water and buried in sediments all over the world.  In fact, what we find is that there is billions of dead things drowned in water and buried in sediments all over the world.25

 

And at the end of the 150 days, the fountains of the great deep were stopped.  With the flow of water into the atmosphere finished, the heavy, dirty rains soon stopped.

 

And the waters receded continually from the earth.  At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased.    Genesis 8:3

 

The Ark Rests

Then the ark rested in the seventh new moon, the seventeenth day of the new moon, on the mountains of Ararat.26    Genesis 8:4

 

Under the pre-Flood conditions, a lunar month was exactly 30 days long, so 150 days was also five months.  Which means that on the very same day that the Fountains were stopped, the Earth’s surface began to reshape, and the highest mountain of the Ararat ranges became high enough that the Ark could run aground on it.  This confirms verse 8:1, which said that God’s Spirit was active on the earth and began making the waters recede.  This process was a combination of pushing up the continents and forcing down the ocean basins.  The still soft sedimentary layers were also compacted horizontally in many places, causing some layers to slide over each other and in other places mountains were folded and forced up.  Often, the continental plates also slid horizontally, lubricated by the remnants of the water layer beneath them and then grinding to a halt, thus increasing these effects.

 

Throughout the massive deformations of these continents during the  Great Flood, frictional heating occurred beneath the crust, melting the underlying magma and forcing it up through fissures in the crust.  Truly enormous amounts of lava were deposited in many areas of the world.

 

And the waters decreased continually until the tenth new moon.  In the tenth new moon, on the first day of the new moon, the tops of the mountains were seen.  So it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window27 of the ark which he had made.    Genesis 8:5 & 6

 

We see that the process of uplifting the new continents was done slowly and carefully.  From the 17th of the seventh to the 1st of the tenth new moon (month) was 72 days.  This is a bit over ten weeks for things to reshape enough that just the tops of the highest nearby mountains could be seen.  And even then, Noah waited another 40 days before he was told to open the window on the Ark.

 

As the continents were slowly uplifted and the ocean basins sank, the water overlaying the continents rushed off, ripping a lot of the soft new sedimentary rock off the surface.  At first the water was deep, and the flow was uniform, causing sheet erosion that formed massive flat planation surfaces, which we call plains and plateaus today.  As the water grew shallower, it broke up into channels, which gouged deep canyons into many of the planation surfaces.  (An excellent example of the results of these processes can be seen locally when driving down towards Bacchus Marsh from Ballarat, where at Werribee Gorge both the remaining elevated flat planation surfaces and the deep and steeply eroded canyon can be seen.)  Most of this eroded material was carried off the edges of the continents, forming the continental shelves.

 

As the remaining sediments dewatered, the cementing material from beneath the crust that was now mixed with it continued converting much of it into rock.  The surface of the ground was then slowly exposed to the air, and floating plant material, mostly crushed, was deposited as the waves receded.  Some of the tougher seeds had survived, carried on vegetation rafts for most of the Flood, and now began to germinate.

 

Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth.  He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground.  But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth.  So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself.

And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark.  Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth.

So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore.    Genesis 8:7 to 12

 

So we see Noah and his family waiting and waiting, week after week, until the earth is solid enough and revegetated enough to support and feed his precious passengers.

 

Noah Leaves the Ark

And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first new moon, the first day of the new moon, that the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry.  And in the second new moon, on the twenty-seventh day of the new moon, the earth was dried.

Then God spoke to Noah, saying, “Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you.  Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: flying creatures and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”

So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him.  Every animal, every creeping thing, every flying creature, and whatever creeps on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark.    Genesis 8:13 to 19

 

Noah and the other occupants of the Ark are finally given permission to get off the Ark.  The Calculated Biblical Calendar indicates that the animals were on the Ark from the 10/02/1657 AC to 27/02/1658 AC, which is 372 days.  Noah and his family were confined on it for seven days less, which is 365 days.  So the actual duration of the Great Flood was exactly one present-day solar year.28

 

In our Gregorian Date system, they left the ark on Monday, 17 May, 2347 BCE.  This places Noah’s family and the animals out on the earth just before the start of summer.  This means that they had the late spring growth ready to eat, and summer and autumn ahead of them, providing the animals with both immediate food and ongoing food through the next winter.  It was, of course, the ideal time for them to disembark.

 

 

Next Session

Noah, the animals and God’s Covenant with them after leaving the Ark.

 

Then we will looks at what the Great Flood effects would be on our world and possible evidences for and against such a World-wide Flood.

Issues and effects to discuss would include:

Where did the Ark land, and does it still exist?

Do local flood scenarios A: fit the Biblical account? and B: make any sense?

Are there world-wide stories of a global flood?

What does DNA and non-fossilised tissues in dinosaur bones mean?

Radiocarbon dating of these bones...

How many people died in the Great Flood?

Did the longevity of people change and when?

Who were the Neanderthals?

Who were the Cave-men?

Is there any genetic evidence that we are all descended from three brothers and their three wives?

Was the Great Ice Age a result of the Great Flood?

Where did radioactivity come from, and why does it make the world look very old?

Long-age radioactivity

Helium issues

Radioocarbon dating

Short timelines

Magnetic field decay

Did the Great Flood cause the Pacific ring of fire?

Could the Great Flood have created some meteorites?

Could the Flood explain the frozen Mammoths?

 

 

 

Bruce Armstrong

M App Sci

 

Copyright © 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022

Revised 3 October

 

Published by

CENTRAL HIGHLANDS CHRISTIAN PUBLICATIONS

PO Box 236, Creswick, Vic  3363  Australia

Email info@chcpublications.net

Web Page https://chcpublications.net/

 

Permission is given to copy and distribute this document provided it is not altered and is copied in full.  Copies must be given away.  We ask only that you notify us if you are making numerous copies.

 

Scripture quotes are from our CHCoG translation.

 

 

Some Other Resources Available at https://chcpublications.net/

Books of Moses: Fact or Fiction Series

Origin of the Universe and Our EarthHow did Earth and our Universe Originate?  Both the Biblical and Big Bang Models are presented.  Evidence for and against the models is also presented.

Origin of LifeHow did Life Originate on Earth?  Both the Biblical Special Creation and Evolutionary Neo-Darwinian Models are presented.  The Biblical Model covers the creation of plants and aquatic and flying organisms, while the Evolutionary model investigates the Origin of the First Cell.  Evidence for and against the models is also presented.

Mankind and Evolution of LifeHow did complex life, including humans, originate on Earth?  Both the Biblical and Evolutionary Models are presented.  The Biblical Model covers the creation of land animals and the first man and woman, while the Evolutionary model investigates what is required for their First Cell to evolve into complex organisms.  Evidence for and against the models is presented.

The Fall of CreationWhat is the Fall of Creation on Earth, and what was its Impact?  The Biblical Account is presented, including sin, death and the banishing of Adam and Chavvah (Eve) from the Garden of Eden.  Evidence for and against this account is presented.

The Great Flood, Part 1Was there a Great Flood during Noah’s life?  The Biblical Account explains why there was a Great Flood, Noah’s role in it and the extent of the Flood. This session ends with Noah and the animals leaving the Ark after the Flood.

The Great Flood, Part 2What events followed the Great Flood during Noah’s life?  Where did the Ark land?  It also looks at many of the objections to the Great Flood and shows evidence that it was a real event which shaped the world we live in.

Shinar, Nimrod and the Tower of BabelWhat did mankind do after the Flood?  Where is the Plain of Shinar and where was Nimrod’s first Kingdom, including the location of the Tower of Babel?  Why did God intervene and create a myriad of new Languages?

The Exodus from EgyptHistorical and Scientific information relating to the Israelites’ Exodus from Egypt is presented, analysing several proposed pathways to Midian, including crossing the Soph (Red) Sea.

To Mount Sinai and God’s InstructionsAfter crossing the Soph Sea, where did the Israelites go until their arrival at Mount Sinai, and where is this mountain?  This article includes Jehovah God giving them His Instructions there.  Historical and Geographical information is presented, some of it new and previously unpublished.

 

The Holy Bible CHCoG TranslationFrom the original Hebrew and Aramaic.  It is accurate and readable, giving you a clear understanding of God’s message.

 

 

Endnotes

 

1 The 120 years appears to have two applications.  First,  it seems to reflect a decision to reduce the maximum life spans of all people in the future to 120 years, which became the case within a few generations after the Great Flood, approximately one thousand-year ‘day’.  Secondly, in Gen 6:13, Jehovah decides to destroy the world, which will be the end of life for virtually everyone at that time.  It may be that was to happen in 120 years.

2 From the Hebrew נָּחֶ Noach, which means Rest.  In Gen 8:21, after the Flood, God decides to not curse the ground again, giving us the Rest that Noah signifies.  But we still have the thorns and thistles to deal with.

3 From the Hebrew תֵּבַת tebah, which means a box or container, rather than a ship.  In this case, the ark was essentially an enormous multi-level barge with about thirteen times the carrying capacity of large 19th century commercial wooden sailing ships, such as the Edwin Fox in New Zealand.  Tebah is also used to describe the waterproofed container that Moses was placed in as a baby, which had a similar shape.

4  From the Hebrew כֹּפֶר kopher.  Probably a shipbuilder’s water sealant.  It is neither bitumen nor pitch as was used on Moses’ ark.  It may have been a specialised pine tar.

5 From the Hebrew צִדָּהּ Tsohar, usually meaning the brightness of noon.  In this case, it seems to be an elevated window set above the roof of the ark through which both the overhead noon sun and the horizon could be seen.  It may have been the top of an atrium that directed light into the lower decks.

6 There is only one door leading to life.  Compare with Jeshua in John 10:9.

7 From the Hebrew מַּבּוּל mabbuwl.  Mabbuwl has the meaning of an ‘overwhelming flowing flood’.  It is used exclusively in the Bible to refer to this Flood.  We translate mabbuwl as “Great Flood” to distinguish it from all of the lesser local floods.

8 For example, it cost AIG $100 million US to build their non-floating Ark replica.

9 Though not of an impossible size as some claim.  Walter Raleigh, in History of the World, published in 1652, says similar sized wooden vessels were built by Hiero of Syracuse and Ptolemy Philopater (B1:C7:S9).  And the Chinese Ambassador Cheng Ho built dozens of ocean-sailing wooden junks of similar size in the early fifteenth century: (http://factsanddetails.com/china/cat2/4sub8/item45.html)

10 It seems certain that God had to protect and provide for the microbes, plants and creatures that were not sent into the Ark in other ways for representatives of their kinds to survive the Flood (eg. floating vegetation mats).  It is also likely that Jehovah knew that many kinds would not be able to live in the post-Flood conditions and allowed them to die out in the Flood.

11 A referenced introduction to their methods is given here: https://answersingenesis.org/noahs-ark/determining-the-ark-kinds/  A broader introduction to the Great Flood is the book A Flood of Evidence by Ken Ham and Brodie Hodge.

12 From אֲרֻבֹּת Arubbah, meaning opening, lattice-work or window.  Also see Footnote 16.

13 From גֶּשֶׁם Geshem, meaning very heavy, sustained rain.

14 From כָּנָף kanaph, literally wing, probably meaning from all reaches in this case.

15 There are many details about God’s relationship with His animals that are brought out in our article Animals in the Bible.

16 The date given indicates that they were already using the Biblical Solar-Lunar calendar, in which months begin with the sighting of the New Moon.  It is possible that the date is Sunday, 17 May, 2348 BCE Gregorian (1657 After Creationsee God’s Calendar and the Sign of Jonah and our Biblical Chronology for more detail).

17 Windows of Heaven: This probably refers to the region of the atmosphere above the zone where rain normally comes from.  This rain zone is below 6000 meters.  Only thunderclouds can take ice particles above this height, and they come back down inside the cloud to below 6000 meters before they exit the cloud as hail.  Rare exceptions to this are the highest mountains, where snow clouds can be pushed up as high as Mount Everest, at 8,850 meters.  So it is reasonable to suggest that the ‘windows of heaven’ are at about 6,000 to 10,000 meters.  The subterranean waters during the Flood were blasted up above this region of the atmosphere by the Fountains of the Deep and then spread out over the earth by the jet streams and descended as torrential salty, muddy rain.

18 See In the Beginning, by Walt Brown for more details of these events according to his Hydroplate Model. (https://www.creationscience.com/)

19 Vance Nelson discusses this and given many examples of rapid fossilisation in Untold Secrets of Planet EarthFlood Fossils.

20 As in the Hebrew.  The double ‘exceedingly’ is to show how extreme this event was.

21 From the Hebrew כָּל־הֶ:הָרִים הַ:גְּבֹהִים kolhe harim gabowahhim, meaning all the highest mountains.  The ‘high hills’ rendition used in the AV style translations should come from גִּבְעֹת גָּדוֹל gib‘ah gadowl, which does not exist in this verse.

22 The draft of the Ark was 15 cubits, meaning that all the mountains were at least 15 cubits (6.86 meters) below the water surface, so the Ark could not strike them.

23 Mat 24:37-39, Luk 17:26-27, 2Pe 3:5-6

24 Most translations say “And God made a wind pass” suggesting that was all He did.  The Hebrew actually shows that God’s Spirit was brought in to end the Flood, which required miraculous events.

25 This is quoted from Ken Ham, of AIG.

26 This is “the mountains of Ararat”, not Mount Ararat.  It is more likely that the Ark came to rest on Mount Judi (37.3794N 42.4526E), part of the mountains of Ararat (aka Urartu), discussed in the next session.

27 This time the skylight is called a חַלּוֹן Challown in Hebrew, which is the usual Hebrew word for a window.

28 The calendar calculations were done with our Biblical Calendar software, which is available free from: https://chcpublications.net/BiblCal_V10-42_Setup.zip