The Great Flood (Genesis 6-9)

A Few Thoughts to Consider

Why would God destroy the very earth he created?

The story of The Great Flood in Genesis 6-9 is one of the most challenging passages in all of Scripture. Here, we have the same God who created a world he called “good,” now unleashing total destruction.

First, it should be noted that there are lots of questions that naturally surround this account. Was this a local or global flood? How did Noah get all the animals on the ark? How would Noah have had the capacity to construct such a large boat?

Much has been written about these topics, but here is what we know. For starters, despite Noah’s failures as a person, he was viewed as a remarkable figure. Derek Kidner notes, “In a corrupt world Noah emerges not merely as the best of a bad generation, but as a remarkably complete man of God.”^[1]

Second, completing the ark was a fantastic feat of engineering and faith. The approximate dimensions of the ark are 450 feet in length, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet deep. We’re not exactly sure how long it took Noah to build the ark, although many estimate a range of 50 to 75 years. This required decades of faithful persistence in the face of blatant ridicule.

Third, the flood was truly devastating. According to John Walton,

The Hebrew word for Noah’s flood, used twelve times in Genesis 6–11, is mabbul. Outside of this section it occurs only once (Ps. 29:10). The word is similar to the Akkadian word for the cosmic deluge, abubu. In Akkadian it refers to a devastating flood of cosmic proportions that is seen as a destructive weapon of the gods. Just as Psalm 29:10 depicts Yahweh as enthroned on the flood, Akkadian texts depict gods such as Nergal as “king of the battle, lord of strength and might, lord of the Deluge,” and Ninurta as the “exalted lord who rides upon the Deluge.”[2]