by C. A. Gray
After Noah and his family exited the ark, God gave Noah a new covenant. While the Adamic covenant simply told man to be fruitful, multiply, and to have dominion over the earth, the Noahic covenant added to this. God again told him and his family to be fruitful and multiply, but God also promised to never again curse the earth—the first covenant in which God promised to do (or in this case, not do) something. The Genesis 3:17 curse was still in effect; the Hebrew word used in Genesis 8:21 means “to add to or augment.” The flood was certainly a new curse over and above the fall, and the rest of the chapter makes it clear that God is specifically promising that He will never again destroy the entire earth by flood. There will be a coming judgment at the end of time, but not until the corruption on the earth reaches the level of the antediluvian world (Luke 17:26)—and it will be a destruction by fire, not water, according to the book of Revelation. Noah’s is the first covenant in scripture that has a symbol, too, as evidence that God will keep His word: the rainbow.
God’s covenant with Noah also instills fear of man in the animals (Genesis 9:2-4) and gives the animals to mankind as food. Pre-flood, then, men must have been vegetarians. (Perhaps the animals all were too, though it doesn’t say this. In my story I still included the concept of predators and prey.) The only restriction God gives upon eating animals here is that they are not to eat the blood. Later God adds to this that the Jews must refrain from eating “unclean” animals, though this restriction is lifted in the New Covenant (1 Timothy 4:1-4)—and clearly Noah had some concept of clean versus unclean animals even then, as he knew which ones to sacrifice. Many scholars suggest that the reason for not eating unclean animals has to do with hygiene: the restricted animals can carry pathogens.
God also finally gives mankind through the Noahic covenant a moral restriction, forbidding murder (Genesis 9:6), and employing a death penalty for those who commit it. Prior to this, even murder was neither forbidden nor punished. After Cain killed his brother, God actually protected Cain from vengeance, because Cain asked Him to (Genesis 4:14-15). God is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8), but He would have been unjust to punish Cain when Cain never explicitly knew that murder was forbidden. It is the law that makes us conscious of sin (Romans 3:20). Again, God perhaps punished the entire corrupt world even though the law had not yet been given because it was the only way to preserve the pure bloodline through which Jesus could come, in order to save all the righteous men who had come before or who would come after Noah.
Aside from anecdotal reports throughout history, what evidence do we have that there actually was a worldwide flood? Quite a bit, actually, in the geologic record. The strata of rock are the same all over the earth, and each layer typically does occur due to flooding. The lack of erosion in each layer indicates that many layers were laid down in rapid succession, rather than over a period of millions of years. The Cambrian Explosion is the name for the sudden explosion of whole phyla of simpler animals in the Cambrian sedimentation layer—fully formed, not in intermediate evolutionary stages. These were the bottom-dwellers, the very creatures that one would expect to die first in a sudden worldwide flood. Each subsequent sedimentary layer contains more and more complex creatures, often all deposited in single areas, as one might expect if the bones were all washed into an area of lower elevation in a cataclysmic flood. Additionally, oil and coal deposits around the world are hard to explain with the current amount of vegetation on earth today—they imply massive destruction of a very lush earth, across the globe, at roughly the exact same time. (For a great documentary on this including interviews with geologists, I’d suggest “The Days of Noah: The Flood.” It’s a series, and they lost me in subsequent episodes covering other topics, but this one was scientifically grounded and made a lot of sense.)
In addition to the geologic evidence, it’s interesting that there are 270 flood myths in various cultures around the world according to Dr. Duane Gish, in Dinosaurs by Design (see https://answersingenesis.org/the-flood/flood-legends/flood-legends/). Many of them include the same elements: that man had become evil, that the flood was both divine and universal, that one man and his family survived in an ark, that the ark rested on a mountain, that birds were sent out to inspect the land, that the survivors sacrificed and worshipped the Lord, and that the Lord then gave them favor. Many versions of the same story is exactly what we would expect if such an event had actually occurred, and if all nations were descended from the lone survivors. Everyone should have a story about this—and sure enough, nearly everyone does.
One final point: why did I put dinosaurs on the ark in my retelling? Assuming that one does not ascribe to the “gap” theory of creation (which holds that each day of creation was actually millions of years), one can calculate the age of the earth based upon the genealogies listed in scripture (many of which also include life spans of those listed) as well as specific dates listed for specific events, to around 6000 years. (According to https://www.thesacredcalendar.com/how-old-is-the-earth-according-to-the-bible/, the actual date is 6,121 as of the year 2021). This is of course at tremendous odds with evolutionary dates, as well as dates of the ages of dinosaurs, which are traditionally held to have lived tends or hundreds of millions of years ago. But, in 2005, paleontologist Mary Schweitzer identified soft tissue from a fossilized Tyrannosaurus Rex bone (Schweitzer, M. et al. 2005. Soft-Tissue Vessels and Cellular Preservation in Tyrannosaurus rex. Science. 307 (5717): 1952)—and best estimates are that soft tissue should degrade completely within at least a million years. Since then, many scientists have reexamined fossils they had never bothered to inspect for soft tissues before, assuming there would be nothing to find. Sure enough, they have identified collagen, red blood cells, and skin from dinosaurs (Manning, P. L. et al. 2009. Mineralized soft-tissue structure and chemistry in a mummified hadrosaur from the Hell Creek Formation, North Dakota (USA). Proceedings of the Royal Society B . Published online before print, July 1, 2009). All of these are proteins which, based on known rates of decay, should have degraded if the animals were as old as they are purported to be.
As far as I can tell, if the creation story occurred over a literal seven days, there were no cataclysmic events that could have wiped out an entire species on the planet, until the flood—at which point all members of all species would have been wiped out, save those preserved on the ark (and indeed, scientists do agree that one single cataclysmic event occurred to wipe out not only dinosaurs but nearly everything else… they just disagree on the reason for it, https://www.history.com/topics/pre-history/why-did-the-dinosaurs-die-out-1 ). If the creation story is literal, man and dinosaurs must have coexisted. It makes sense that creatures might have both lived longer and grown much larger in the presumably temperate and lush pre-flood climate, with a canopy of water protecting the earth from the sun’s harsh UVA rays. I only assumed that Noah took dinosaurs aboard the ark also because the Genesis account says he took two of every kind of animal (Genesis 6:19); I’m taking that at face value. My assumption is that if this was the case, enormous creatures that would have thrived in a lush, temperate world with a protective canopy around it likely wouldn’t be suited to the comparatively intemperate and barren wasteland after the flood. They probably just never repopulated afterwards, and the last of them finally died out.
Except, perhaps, the leviathan in the deep seas… see the retelling of Job.
The Scriptures
Genesis 6-9:17
6:1 Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 2 that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. 3 And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” 4 There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men
of renown. 5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. 9 This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 13 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. 14 Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. 15 And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. 16 You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. 17 And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die. 18 But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. 19 And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. 20 Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. 21 And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them.” 22 Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.
7:1 Then the Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation. 2 You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female; two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female; 3 also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of all the earth. 4 For after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made.” 5 And Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him. 6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on the earth. 7 So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood. 8 Of clean animals, of animals that are unclean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the earth, 9 two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth. 11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. 12 And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights. 13 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— 14 they and every beast after its kind, all cattle after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. 15 And they went into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life. 16 So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the Lord shut him in. 17 Now the flood was on the earth forty days. The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. 18 The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters. 19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. 20 The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. 21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. 22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died. 23 So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. 24 And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days.
8:1 Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. 2 The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. 3 And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. 4 Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. 5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen. 6 So it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. 7 Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. 8 He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground. 9 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. 10 And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark. 11 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. 12 So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore. 13 And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, 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. 14 And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried. 15 Then God spoke to Noah, saying, 16 “Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. 17 Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds 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.” 18 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. 19 Every animal, every creeping thing, every bird, and whatever creeps on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark. 20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. 22 “While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease.”
9:1 So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. 4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I will require the life of man. 6 “Whoever sheds man’s blood,
By man his blood shall b
e shed; For in the image of God He made man. 7 And as for you, be fruitful and multiply; Bring forth abundantly in the earth And multiply in it.” 8 Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying: 9 “And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth. 11 Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13 I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. 14 It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; 15 and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17 And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”