Genesis Story
Was the Flood Local or Global?
God so loved the world that … He sent a flood to destroy the earth (Genesis 6:13). While some things of God remain an earthly mystery, there are certainties that we can bank on: God is love and God is holy. And the story of the flood in Genesis reveals the loving and holy heart of God. Scripture tells us that God was deeply grieved because humanity was filled with hatred and malice, and He sent a flood to destroy the pervading evil. Then, he receded the waters and repopulated the earth with new hope and a new promise sealed with a rainbow.
The biblical flood account is not just a Jewish tale. When God decided to send the flood, torrential rain actually submerged the earth. But how far did the flood waters reach? Four possibilities should be considered: Global (the floodwaters reached the entire globe), Known World (the flood was universal to those in the ancient world but did not affect other continents), Regional (the flood centered in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley, the Mediterranean basin, or the area near the Black Sea), and Local (the flood only affected several towns along a local river).[1]
Scientists conjecture that a global flood would require the sea level to exceed 17,000 feet (to cover Mount Ararat), which would increase the atmospheric pressure 840 times and prevent sunlight from reaching the surface of the earth. This type of rain (about 630 million cubic miles, weighing three quintillion tons) would eradicate all human life, whether on an ark or not. But we need to remember that God can do anything. Afterall, God created the world with mere words, and He has done extraordinary things with nature (such as hold the sun still for an entire day, Joshua 10:12-14). The Bible is not a history or geography book that details time and space in delineated epochs and borders, respectively. Nor is it a scientific book that uses scientific language. The chronology of creation, Pangea, the flood, and the dispersion of mankind over the globe are not explicitly covered in Scripture.
What we do know is that the flood had far-reaching consequences. Many Ancient Near East (ANE) accounts of the flood, as well as those from cultures around the world, attest to a notable flood. The Epic of Gilgamesh, a poem written in the Akkadian language from ancient Mesopotamia, is a famous example among many flood narratives dating to ancient times. We have written records from people of many cultures who wrote poetry, penned tales, and created art trying to rectify what happened. Records about the flood appear from, among others, these groups of people from Canada (Cree, Thinkut), Mexico (Aztecs, Papagos, Pimas, Toltecs, Wichoacan) and the United States (Cherokee, Lenni Lenape, Mandan, Takoe); and others from (present day) Brazil, Fiji Islands, Leward Islands, Hawaii, Nicaragua, and Peru.[2] These artifacts show that the flood was certainly widespread and indelibly left its imprint on humanity.
These flood stories, of course, are vastly different from the Genesis account. Many of the ANE flood stories reveal petty gods who were easily offended. In the Epic of Atrahasis, the flood is sent by annoyed gods who are awoken from their sleep by disruptive humans. And a Sumerian tale describes the flood story of Ziusudra, where an assembly of gods decides to destroy the kingship of men through the flood.
The Genesis account tells a very different story. Soon after creation, the fall of mankind came fast and hard. Coldblooded murder, idol worship, and wars plagued the world. “When the LORD saw that human wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every inclination of the human mind was nothing but evil all the time, the LORD … was deeply grieved [and] said, ‘I will wipe mankind, whom I created, off the face of the earth…Noah, however, found favor with the LORD” (Genesis 6:5-8).
And God’s favor extends to us now because of Jesus.
God so loved the world that … He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). Jesus came to rescue us from a deluge of sin and shame, and He promises to return again. In fact, Jesus spoke of the flood to foreshadow His Second coming when He will reign over the new heaven and new earth (Matthew 24:37-39). Until then, let us be encouraged that his loving and holy heart remains the same, and that He will safely carry us Home.
[1] John H. Walton, “Flood” in Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch, edited by T. Desmond Alexander and David W. Baker (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003), 320-1.
[2] Josh McDowell and Sean McDowell, Evidence That Demands a Verdict: Life-Changing Truth for a Skeptical World (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2017), 389.
