An epic flood and a narrow escape for one chosen family... Steve Tomkins
gets to the bottom of the original Noah story.
Also click here to read episodes from the story of Noah's Ark as told in the Bible – plus links
to books and websites. |
Even in these post-Christian days, Noah's ark is a top nursery favourite
– presumably because it's so full of fluffy animals. In toys, books
and posters across the world, pairs of giraffes smile from little wooden
boats.
The animals went in four by four,
Hurrah! hurrah!
The animals went in four by four,
Hurrah! hurrah!
The animals went in four by four,
the dinosaur couldn't fit through the door!
Etc. And this is ironic, really, as Noah's Ark is the story of the
greatest act of genocide the world has ever known.
The story
Here's a summary of the story as you'll find it in the book of Genesis,
in a few easy-to-swallow paragraphs...
God is so appalled at the wickedness of the human race he decides to give
the world a wash and start all over again. He tells the only decent family
left – Noah's – to build a boat big enough for representatives
of every species (apart from the ones that float, presumably) and then it
rains for 40 days.
All non-swimmable life outside the Ark is destroyed. Finally God pulls out
the plug and the waters subside. Noah sends out birds to test the waters,
and when a dove comes back with an olive branch he knows the end is in sight.
At last the Ark comes down on Mt Ararat, and the family and their animals
disembark. It's very muddy.
Ironically, Noah then burns a vast numbers of animals as an offering to
God, who creates the rainbow and promises by this sign never to flood the
world again.
The moral of the story is clearly how seriously God takes human evil, and
also that if God can create all life from nothing then he has the right
to uncreate, too, if it turns nasty.
Bible boffins have noticed a clever little feature of the Genesis flood
story that makes this point rather well: it's the creation story backwards.
In Genesis chapter 1, having made the earth, God separates the dry land
from the water, fills it with birds, creeping things, animals and people,
and says, "It's very good". But in the Noah story, God says that it's very
bad, sends a flood wiping out "people, together with animals and creeping
things and birds of the air", until the waters have covered over the mountains
again.
But then, just as at the very start of the Bible, the spirit or breath of
God blows across the face of the waters, and creation starts again.
Other floods
Although the Hebrew storytellers made the flood story their own, many other
versions of the myth circulated in the ancient world.
The most famous is preserved in the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh. In this
the gods decide to wipe out humankind because it's getting to big for its
boots. A friendly creator god, Ea, breaks his oath to warn the Noah-like
figure, who is called Utnapishtim. The rain falls for seven days (and, naturally,
seven nights) in total darkness, and the human race is, unexpectedly, turned
to stone. Utnapishtim also does the same test as Noah with various birds.
In the Greek version, Deucalion and his wife throw stones off the ark, which
turn into people to repopulate the earth.
In India it is the first man, Manu, who is saved on the Ark, after being
warned of the flood by fish. He then makes a wife for himself from butter.
In Australia, Bunjil, the creator, floods the earth by relieving himself
in the ocean. A righteous man and woman save humanity by climbing a tree
on a mountaintop.
There are also many American stories of a man saving the animals from a
flood in his canoe.
How are these stories related? Those who believe in a real, worldwide flood
argue that they are all memories of the event – but that, to be polite,
is unlikely. Some of them, such as the North American story, seem to be
based on the story as told by Christians. The Babylonian and biblical stories
are clearly from the same roots (we know Gilgamesh is based on an older
story, so they're probably cousins rather than mother and daughter).
Other than that, it seems to be simply that floods, sometimes devastating
ones, are a feature of life, and survivors are bound to pass on stories
of their ordeal to future generations.
Reflecting on the story
For Jews and Christians, the flood story has always been a major symbol
of salvation. In the Jewish temple, the tablets of the God's law were kept
in an ark, while in Christian churches the inside of the roof is sometimes
consciously made to remind you of a boat – the church is the ark that
saves us. According to the New Testament, Noah's salvation through water
is a picture of baptism.
In medieval tradition, especially the English mystery plays, Noah's wife
was very unhappy about the whole Ark project, and only agree to board after
a long argument. March 17th was celebrated in the Middle Ages as the day
the animals boarded.
According to the Babylonian historian Berosus, writing in the 3rd century
BC, remains of the ark could still be seen in the mountains of Armenia,
and pilgrims were said to be visiting and scraping off bitumen as a charm
against witchcraft. Searches for the Ark still continue among those who
are optimistic about the literal history of Genesis and the preservation
of 6,000-year-old boats.
So did it really happen?
There is certainly no geological evidence for a worldwide flood. What's
more, you only need to apply a modicum of educated intelligence to the idea
of fitting every species now known to exist in the world into one 133-metre
boat to come to the conclusion that we are not dealing with literal history.
Add to this the fact that Genesis is clearly weaving together two slightly
different flood stories (each uses a different name for God, and they disagree,
for example, about the number of animals on the ark) and it becomes clear
that this, like the rest of the book of Genesis, is a retelling of well-loved
myth, a campfire story shaped to embody theological teaching. The Bible
makes no other claims for it.
Books, websites and the Bible's own account
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