Resource > Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable) >  Genesis >  Exposition >  I. PRIMEVAL EVENTS 1:1--11:26 >  D. What became of Noah 6:9-9:29 >  1. The Flood 6:9-8:22 > 
The aftermath of the Flood ch. 8 
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8:1-5 When Moses wrote that God remembered someone (v. 1), he meant God extended mercy to him or her by delivering that person from death (here; 19:29) or from barrenness (30:22).311God's rescue of Noah foreshadows His deliverance of Israel in the Exodus (cf. 8:13-14 and Exod. 2:24; 14:21).312

"Ararat,' known as ancient Urartu in Assyrian records, was an extensive territory and bordered the northern Mesopotamian region. It reached its political zenith in the ninth to sixth centuries B.C. Urartu surrounded Lake Van with boundaries taking in southeast Turkey, southern Russia, and northwest Iran. Among the mountains of modern Armenia is the impressive peak known today as Mount Ararat, some seventeen thousand feet in elevation, which the Turks call Byk Ari Da. Mount Ararat' as a geographical designation comes from later tradition. During the eleventh to twelfth centuries A.D., it became the traditional site known as the place of Noah's landing. Verse 4, however, does not specify a peak and refers generally to its location as the mountains of Ararat.' . . . The search for the ark's artifacts has been both a medieval and a modern occupation; but to the skeptic such evidence is not convincing, and to the believer, while not irrelevant, it is not necessary to faith."313

Modern Mt. Ararat lies on the border between Turkey and Armenia near the center of the ancient world. From this region Noah's descendants spread out over the earth.314

8:6-19 "The raven in seeking food settles upon every carcass it sees, whereas the dove will only settle on what is dry and clean."315

Doves (v. 8), white, clean animals (Lev. 1:14; 12:6; et al.) in contrast to black, unclean animals (Lev. 11:15; Deut. 14:14), return to their home when they find no place to land.

"The olive tree will put out leaves even under water."316

There are many interesting thematic parallels between God's calling Noah out of the ark and God's calling Abraham out of Ur (cf. 8:15 and 12:1; 8:16 and 12:1; 8:18 and 12:4; 8:20 and 12:7; 9:1 and 12:2; 9:9 and 12:7).

"Both Noah and Abraham represent new beginnings in the course of events recorded in Genesis. Both are marked by God's promise of blessing and his gift of the covenant."317

Verses 18 and 19 may seem like needless repetition to the modern reader, but they document Noah's obedience to God's words, which Moses stressed in the entire Flood narrative.

8:20-22 Noah's "altar"is the first mentioned in the Bible. His "burnt offerings"were for worship. Some of the burnt offerings in the Mosaic system of worship were for the same purpose. Specifically a burnt offering made atonement and expressed the offerer's complete personal devotion to God (cf. Lev. 1; Rom. 12:1-2). As the head of the new humanity, Noah's sacrifice represented all mankind.

God may judge the wicked catastrophically and begin a new era of existence with faithful believers.

Comparison of Flood Stories318

Biblical

Berossus (Greek)

Atrahasis (Akkadian)

Gilgamesh (Akkadian)

Sumerian

Date of Account

Earliest possible: 15th century B.C.

ca. 275 BC

16th century (copy of earlier work)

ca. 1500 B.C. (copies, not the original)

19th century B.C. (copy, not the original)

Author of Flood

Yahweh

Enlil

Council of gods

Assembly of gods

Intercessor

Yahweh

Kronos

Ea

Ea

Enki (probably)

Reason for Flood

Wickedness of mankind, violence, corruption.

The clamor, uproar of man disturbs Enlil's sleep.

No reason given at first. In the end, the "sin of man"implied as the cause.

None given.

Hero

Noah (rest)

Xisouthros (Greek for Ziusudra)

Atrahasis (all wise)

Utnapishtim (finder of life)

Ziusudra (he saw life)

Intended for Whom

All mankind.

All mankind.

City of Shurippak particularly, but all mankind.

All mankind.

Reason Hero Spared

"Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord."

"A righteous man. Blameless. Walked with God."

Ziusudra was "humbly obedient,"reverent; one who seeks revelation by dreams and incantations.

Means of Escape

Ark

Boat

Large ship

Ship

Huge boat

Description

Detailed:

3 stories,

1 door,

1 window at least.

(Text destroyed)

Detailed: 6 stories, 1 door, 1 window at least.

Occupants

Noah, wife, 3 sons, their wives.

7 pairs of all clean animals (male and female).

1 pair of all unclean animals (male and female).

Xisouthros, family, others, all species of animals.

Atrahasis, wife, family, relations, craftsmen. Grain, possessions, foods. Beasts and creatures of the field.

Utnapishtim and all his family and kin. Craftsmen. Beasts and wild creatures of the field.

Duration of Storm

40 days and nights

7 days and nights

6 days and nights

7 days and nights

Landing Place

Mountains of Ararat

Mountains of Armenia

(Text missing)

Mt. Nisir (Mt. of Salvation)

Birds Released

Raven, dove, dove, dove

Birds

(Text missing)

Dove, swallow, raven

Sacrifice

Hero offers. "Lord smelled the pleasing odor."

Hero offers

(Text missing)

Hero offers. "Gods smelled the sweet savor."

Hero offers, bows to Utu, Anu, Enlil.

Blessing

God blesses Noah and charged him to populate earth.

Hero disappears but his voice instructs others.

Enlil blesses Utnapishtim. Hero and his wife then become as gods.

Ziusudra granted "life as a god"and "breath eternal"; called "preserver of seed of mankind."

These non-biblical stories are undoubtedly perversions of the true account that God preserved in Scripture. God may have revealed the true account directly to Moses, or He may have preserved a true oral or written account that Moses used as his source of this information. Moses may have written Genesis under divine inspiration to correct the Mesopotamian versions (the maximalist view), or both the biblical and Mesopotamian accounts may go back to a common tradition (the minimalist view).

"Biblical religion explained that the seasonal cycle was the consequence of Yahweh's pronouncement and, moreover, evidence of a divine dominion that transcends the elements of the earth. There is no place for Mother-earth in biblical ideology. Earth owes itspowers (not her powers!) to the divine command."319



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