Today's Scripture Reading (June 25, 2021): Genesis 7
In "Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian
Spirituality," Donald Miller writes, "My Sunday school teachers had
turned Bible narrative into children's fables. They talked about Noah and the
ark because the story had animals in it. They failed to mention that this was
when God massacred all of humanity." We are good at telling only part of
the Bible story. We skim over the top of the story, often missing the
uncomfortable aspects. We do it all the time.
The historicity of "The Great Flood" has been intensely
debated, but there are indications that something happened. First, we have
found the skeletons of fish in unlikely places, like on or near mountain tops. Actually,
the existence of any fossils indicates the presence of water at some time in
the past. Water and mud are part of the process of creating a fossil. Adding to
these unexpected fossils is the reality that many cultures seem to have a
version of a flood story. Greek myth includes the story of Deucalion and a
flood that was brought onto the world by Zeus. According to the tale, the
Arcadian King, Lycaon, had sacrificed a small boy to Zeus, and the Greek God
was outraged at the act. In his anger over the wickedness of Lycaon, Zeus decided
to release a flood onto the earth. It was Deucalion who created a box to wait
out the flood with his wife, Pyrrha. One significant difference from the
biblical flood account is that no animals were saved, and the floodwaters
receded after only nine days. The Jicarilla Apache of New Mexico have a tradition
that says, "Dios told an old man and old woman that it would rain for 40
days and nights."
A number of the cultural flood stories do share four major
themes. The people were destroyed because they were evil, a great boat was built,
animals were saved in the boat in many
of these stories, and a sacrifice was made to God at the conclusion of the
story.
When we talk about the cause of the Great Flood, we often
point to the rain falling from heaven as the primary cause of the disaster,
likely because it seems to be a more direct connection to God's decision to
destroy the earth. But I have lived through a few floods, and the truth is that
while rain is often present in a flood, it is seldom the primary cause. In the
floods that I have lived through, it was more the quick melting of snow in the
nearby mountains, swelling the rivers and saturating the land, than the rain
that caused the excess of water. The rain simply adds an extra factor to flood;
it is rarely the only cause.
So, while the stories we tell in our fairy tale versions of
the Flood often point to the rain that came upon the earth for forty days and
forty nights, those who examine the possibility of a Great Flood often point to
another significant cause for the flood. Some argue that a meteor may have collided
with the earth, upsetting the balance and causing water to spring up from the oceans
and the depths. Or maybe it was a series of earthquakes that set the waters of
the earth in motion. But something happened besides the presence of the rain.
So maybe it isn't surprising that the actual biblical story
of Genesis agrees. Yes, Genesis says that "the floodgates
of the heavens were opened," but it also says that "all the
springs of the great deep burst forth." The rains came down, but the earth's
waters also burst forth, and the result was a flood that covered the surface of
the planet.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Genesis 8
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