01.06. The Flood

The Flood Lesson Text:Genesis 6:1-22,Genesis 7:1-24andGenesis 8:1-22.

Memory Verses:Genesis 6:9;Matthew 24:37-39.

LEADING UP TO THE LESSON

Cain and Abel were the first children born to Adam and Eve, so far as the record indicates. Abel was a herdsman, Cain was a farmer. Both brought offerings to the Lord—Abel brought the firstlings of his flock; Cain, the first fruits of the ground. God accepted Abel’s offering, but rejected Cain’s. This seems to have embittered Cain, and he slew his brother. Cain, having now become a sinner in a double sense, "went out from the presence of Jehovah." In the land of Nod, he became the progenitor of a numerous posterity. Some of Cain’s descendants made considerable progress; Jabel invented musical instruments, and Tubal- Cain made cutting instruments of all sorts. Polygamy also originated with Cain’s descendants. See Genesis 4:19-22. Lamech, the first polygamist, was also a murderer. Seth, another son born, to Adam and Eve, is counted in the line of the patriarchs (Genesis 5). Among his descendants, down to Noah, only Enoch is worthy of special mention. He "walked with God: and he was not, for God took him." "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and he was not found, because God translated him: for he hath had witness borne to him that before his translation he had been well-pleasing unto God" (Hebrews 11:5). Being a prophet he warned the people of God’s wrath against all the ungodly and sinners (Jude 1:14-15). THE CAUSE OF THE FLOOD

Man, had progressed in wisdom rather than in righteousness. They were flesh (Genesis 6:3); or, according to the marginal reading in the American Standard Version, "In their going stray they are flesh." Corruption had been added to corruption, and sin piled up on sin, till "Jehovah saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Genesis 6:5). "And the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence" (Genesis 6:11). There was no thought of good in their hearts. Jesus says they were eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage till the flood took them away. Selfish indulgence, wicked scheming and plotting, corrupt practices, red-handed violence, made up the sum-total of their lives. No greater depravity could be reached. The cup of their iniquity was full—all possibility of reformation was gone. Hence, God determined to destroy them; yet he gave them.

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY YEARS OF RESPITE

Some have thought that Noah was engaged 120 years in building the ark; this is a mistake, as the following dates will show; Noah was 500 years old at the birth of his oldest son (Genesis 5:32; Genesis 7:6; Genesis 11:10). He was 600 years old at the flood (Genesis 7:6). His oldest son was therefore only 100 years old at the flood. But his three sons were all married when God commanded him to build the ark (Genesis 6:13-18). The 120 years mentioned was the period of respite which God gave the people when he informed Noah that his Spirit would not always strive with them.

NOAH AND HIS FAMILY To Noah and his wife were born three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth. These sons had wives. Only the family of Noah were righteous, and only they found favor in the eyes of Jehovah. Of Noah it is said, "Noah was a righteous man, and perfect (marginal reading, blameless) in his generation; Noah walked with God" (Genesis 6:9). "Righteous," or just, signifies that he treated his fellow-man right. "Blameless" indicates that he had no bad habits. "Walked with God" indicates his confidence and trust in God, and his reverence and piety towards him. Thus he "found favor in the eyes of Jehovah." Lamech, Noah’s father, had prophesied concerning him, saying, "This same shall comfort us in our work and in the toil of our hands, which cometh because of the ground which Jehovah hath cursed" (Genesis 5:29). Noah was a preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2:5). Through him as God’s inspired spokesman the Spirit was striving with the people. For more than a century Noah preached with no results outside his own family. To a less heroic spirit that would have been unbearably discouraging. The people gave no heed, did not even believe a flood would come, and knew not of their doom till destruction was upon them (Matthew 24:39). But when safe in the ark, it must have been a comforting thought to Noah to realize that he had saved his own. THE ARK The exact dimensions of the ark were given. God was the architect; Noah was the builder. The student should notice every specification mentioned in Genesis 6:14-16. Every specification was literally carried out, not an item was omitted or changed. "According to all that God commanded him, so he did."

"The ark, which was divided into three stories, was 300 cubits long, 50 cubits broad, and 30 cubits high (or, allowing 21 inches for a cubit, as Professor Perowne does in Smith’s "Dictionary of the Bible," 525 feet long, 87 feet wide, and 52 feet high . . .). Tiele, in his commentary on, Genesis, has calculated that the cubic contents were 3,600,000 feet. ... In 1609 the Mennonite P. Jansen, of Horn, in Holland, built a vessel after the model of the ark, and discovered that it would hold a third more freight than ships built in the usual way with the same number of cubic feet. The ark was not built for sailing but for carrying freight."—Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, THE INMATES OF THE ARK

Noah and his wife, his three sons and their wives, by the invitation of Jehovah, were to enter the ark. Two of every sort of animals, birds, and creeping things—all in whose nostrils was the breath of life— male and female were brought into the ark. As to clean beasts there was this exception: seven, pairs of all clean animals were to be taken into the Ark. Clean animals were those which might be used for food and which might be offered in sacrifice. For the distinctions made in the law of Moses concerning clean and unclean animals see Leviticus 11:1-47; Deuteronomy 14:3-20. THE FLOOD

Skeptics deny the fact of the flood, and claim it is only a tradition. They tell us that all nations have a tradition of a great deluge. But the universality of the tradition of a flood rather proves that there must have been a fact out of which these traditions grew; otherwise, how do you account for the fact that all nations believe it occurred? Who in, the remote past could have invented such a story and given it such wide circulation? What nations in the remote past with such limited communication with each other, and with much fighting and enmity between each other, would have accepted such a story invented by one of another nation? Why should any one feel that the story of the flood as recorded in the Bible is incredible? Even scientists bear witness that the greater part of the earth at some former time has been under water.

"An important confirmation of the Biblical record is furnished in, the traditions of other nations. The most interesting of these accounts was found by George Smith, among the Assyrian cuneiform inscriptions of the British Museum, which is much more full than the account of Berosus, and betrays a striking coincidence with the record of Genesis. Fragments of three copies of this original account, dating from 660 B. C., are also preserved. They belonged to the library of King Asurbanipal. The ancient Chaldean inscription of Smith is assigned by this scholar to the seventeenth century B. C. Sisit (Hasisadra), an old Chaldean king, takes the place of Xisuthros of Berosus and the Noah of Genesis. He describes the godlessness of the world, the divine command to build the ark, its construction, the flood, the resting of the ark upon a mountain, the dispatch of the birds, including the raven, etc. In these points the Chaldean accounts agrees with the record of Genesis. But there are certain differences which are very suggestive. Like the other accounts, the Chaldean ascribes the scene to a locality connected with its own special habitation, and brings it into close relation with its national origin. The Biblical account is in these respects more general, but, on the other hand, alone gives the indications of time, month, day, and year when it began, when it ended, etc.; and these marks of time stand in no relation whatever to the feasts of the Jews. In these omissions and additions we have a strong pledge of the accuracy of the historian."—Schaff-Herzog.

What brought such an, overwhelming of the waters? Torrential rains fell for a period of forty days and nights—"the windows of heaven were opened," says the writer. Of course this is a figurative expression, used to indicate the excessive downpour, just as we speak of a "cloudburst." In addition to this, "the fountains of the great deep were broken up." The "great deep" is the ocean, and this expression can mean nothing more nor less than that there was a great upheaval in the ocean causing its waters to rush out over the land.

HOW LONG WAS NOAH IN THE ARK? The flood began on the seventeenth day of the second month of the six hundredth year of Noah’s life. All remained in the ark till the six hundredth and first year of his life, the second month and twenty- seventh day. Adam Clark, in his Commentary, says: "From this it appears that Noah was in the ark a complete solar year, of three hundred and sixty-five days; for he entered the ark the seventeenth day of the second month, in the six hundredth year of his life, Genesis 7:11-13, and continued in it till the 27th day of the second month, in the six hundredth and first year of his life, as we see above. The months of the ancient Hebrews were lunar; the first six consisted of thirty days each, the latter six of twenty-nine; the whole twelve months making three hundred and fifty-four days; add to this eleven days, (for though he entered the ark the preceding year on the seventeenth day of the 2nd month, he did not come out till the twenty-seventh of the same month in the following year), which make exactly three hundred and sixty-five days, the period of a complete solar revolution."

GOD’S SPIRIT STRIVING WITH MAN That God’s Spirit did strive with man before the flood is attested by the record (Genesis 6:3). That he has continued to strive with man till this day is also a fact. But the method or manner of his striving is not clear in the minds of some. Evidently he was striving with man then, and is striving with him now, to turn from sin. Some think that he accomplishes this by a direct impact on the heart, independent of any medium or means—that his work is accomplished without the word of God. But it is not possible for us to see how finite man can withstand or resist a direct impact of infinite power. Besides, such theory is not in harmony with the word of God.

Jesus says the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin (John 16:8). It must follow, therefore, that in each instance where man is convicted of sin, it is done by the Holy Spirit. Let us take an example from the word of God. Saul of Tarsus declares himself to have been a sinner. He was convicted of sin. Yet, he himself declares, "Through the law cometh the knowledge of sin" (Romans 3:20), and "I had not known sin, except through the law" (Romans 7:7). As Paul affirmed that his knowledge of sin came through the law, and Jesus says the Holy Spirit convicts of sin, it must follow that the Holy Spirit uses the law, or speaks through the law. Where the law of God is not known people may commit the grossest sins and their conscience be void of offense. While some people hold to the direct work of the Spirit, in theory, none hold to it in practice; for when they undertake to make Christians amongst the heathen they always send a preacher to them. The Parable of the Sower (Luke 8:1-56). In the parable of the sower Jesus declares that the word of God is the seed of the kingdom (Luke 8:11). In the vegetable kingdom there can be no life without seed. Jesus says the same is true in the spiritual kingdom, and tells us that the word of God is the seed. If this parable does not teach that the spiritual seed, the word of God, is as essential to spiritual life as vegetable seed is to vegetable life, then the parable and his explanation of it is a misleading riddle.

Resisting the Spirit. Though the Spirit strives with man, man has the power to resist. Stephen says, "Ye do always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do ye" (Acts 7:51) How did their fathers resist the Holy Spirit? Of their fathers, "Yet many years didst thou bear with them, and testified against them by thy Spirit through thy prophets: yet would they not give ear" (Nehemiah 9:30). It is impossible to resist words; we may reject words, and, in so doing, may resist the power or person speaking the words. The Holy Spirit spoke through the prophets, reproving the fathers of their sins; but they did not give ear. They rejected the word, and thus, Stephen says, they resisted the Spirit.

Building the ark was itself a powerful sermon to the people. Such labors showed them that Noah believed what he preached, and was a constant warning to them. But human nature was the same then as now. Unbelief was stubborn and resisting. It scoffed at the wiser course of faith and humble obedience. No doubt the people condemned Noah as a fool and pronounced building the ark a crazy expenditure of time and means. To them Noah’s preaching and warnings were only the babblings of a crazy fool. To the most conservative amongst these unbelievers Noah was not a practical man, only a dreamer of dreams. But all, whether conservative or radical, resisted while Noah labored and warned. But when the flood came, they must have realized that Noah was wise and they were fools. They might resist God in his entreaties, but they could not resist him in his wrath.

NOAH IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

Jesus gives his endorsement of the story of the flood and of Noah and the ark, and refers to the wickedness and sensuality of the people who were destroyed by the flood (Matthew 24:37-39; Luke 17:26-27). Paul bears witness to Noah’s faith: "By faith Noah, being- warned of God concerning things not seen as yet, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; through which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith" (Hebrews 11:7). God commanded Noah to build the ark and gave him full directions. Noah’s faith, or confidence in God, led him to do all things as commanded. By faith he built the ark. And whether he was ten years or fifty in building the ark every step that he took and every lick that he struck are covered by the phrase "by faith." He believed God and did what he said, and the ark stood forth a creature of his faith. By building the ark as God directed Noah condemned the heedless course of his fellows.

Saved by water. God does not indulge man in sin, thought he is long-suffering toward him. He was long-suffering in the days of Noah, but destruction finally came to the impenitent. The faithful were saved.

Peter says that Noah and his family, eight souls, were saved in the ark by water. Water was the means by which the ark was transported from the ante-diluvian to the post-diluvian world. The water which was the means of destroying the wicked was the means of saving Noah and his family from that wicked generation. The water which saved Noah was a type of baptism which saves us. "The longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water; which also after a true likeness doth now save you, even baptism, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the interrogation of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 3:20-21). For "after a true likeness" the marginal reading in the American Standard Version has "in the antitype."

• Noah was really, actually, saved by water.

• Christians are really, actually saved.

• Peter says baptism now saves us.

• Peter does not say that baptism represents something, but that baptism is the interrogation of a good conscience.

Peter thus declares baptism to be a seeking act. He contemplates people who were conscious of the guilt of sin, and were seeking a good conscience, a conscience of freedom from sin. Baptism is a condition of salvation, of remission of sins (Acts 2:38). In baptism a man of faith is seeking remission of sins—seeking a conscience which is not lacerated by the consciousness of guilt and which does not goad him because of sins unforgiven.

Let the student reflect on the following facts:

SOME REFLECTIONS When Noah emerged from the ark, he looked out on a world purified from its former sins and corruption. How strange he must have felt as he looked out on the stillness of this new world and viewed its desolation! How terrible had been the judgment of God! The waters which had destroyed the sinners that the earth might be pure morally had also continued long enough to destroy all the putrifying bodies that the earth might be literally pure also. Hence, Noah stepped out into a world pure in a double sense. What emotions must have filled his heart as he reflected on all these things! He could realize that it is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:31). It is a poor student who cannot gain from the study of this story lessons of lasting benefit to himself.

* * * TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION AND DISCUSSION

• How Noah showed his faith.

• How we may show our faith.

• A character study of Abel, Enoch, and Noah

• Many men become so wicked that there is no hope of reformation?

• God’s method of dealing with such.

QUESTIONS