In every ancient civilization we have a story of a flood and a group escaping with animals in a boat. What we know from earth’s history is that there were times of floods, resulting after ice ages. One such ice age happened around 13,000 years ago. Around 11,000 BC ice started melting and caused flooding. Something else that has caused floods on the earth is that the earth’s plates have changed positions. As the continents have moved, different areas covered in ice have melted as they have moved closer to the equator. Volcanic activity has also caused mini ice ages at various times as ash surrounds the earth’s upper atmosphere and reflects the sun away from the earth. An average drop of just 41 degrees can cause a worldwide ice age. Once the atmosphere is cleansed of the ash, the sun then begins to melt the snow and ice causing flooding. In Noah’s case an earthquake caused underground springs to burst open. When this happened the firmament above was pierced and water came down to earth. Prior to this there was no rain but dew came up from the ground to water vegetation. Water came from beneath and above to cause flooding on the earth. What caused Noah’s earthquake? We don’t know but if by chance some meteorites hit earth at that time they would have pierced the firmament causing rain and the springs would have opened up to flood the earth at the same time.
To refresh, we know that there were angels that came down and cohabitated with women and created a mixed race called Nephilim. We know they intermingled with animals as well and they were dominators of men. As we read from Enoch what they did, we also find out what they taught man that God did not want man to know. Enoch:
CHAPTER VII.
1. And all the others together with them took unto themselves wives, and each chose for himself one, and they began to go in unto them and to defile themselves with them, and they taught them charms and enchantments, and the cutting of roots, and made them acquainted with plants. 2. And they became pregnant, and they bare great giants, whose height was three thousand ells: 3. Who consumed all the acquisitions of men. And when men could no longer sustain them, 4. the giants turned against them and devoured mankind. 5. And they began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and fish, and to devour one another's flesh, and drink the blood. 6. Then the earth laid accusation against the lawless ones.
CHAPTER VIII.
1. And Azâzêl taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and made known to them the metals 〈of the earth〉 and the art of working them, and bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying of the eyelids, and all kinds of costly stones, and all colouring tinctures. 2. And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they were led astray, and became corrupt in all their ways. Semjâzâ taught enchantments, and root-cuttings, Armârôs the resolving of enchantments, Barâqîjâl, (taught) astrology, Kôkabêl the constellations, Ezêqêêl the knowledge of the clouds, Araqiêl the signs of the earth, Shamsiêl the signs of the sun, and Sariêl the course of the moon. And as men perished, they cried, and their cry went up to heaven . . .It seems that some of the things the Angels taught man led to more corruption then they already had. God told Noah that he would give the earth 120 years before he would destroy the earth. Noah and Methuselah were to proclaim this to the sons of men.
Jasher 5:7 Speak ye, and proclaim to the sons of men, saying, Thus said the Lord, return from your evil ways and forsake your works, and the Lord will repent of the evil that he declared to do to you, so that is shall not come to pass. 8. For thus saith the Lord, Behold I give you a period of one hundred and twenty years; if you will turn to me and forsake your evil ways, then will I also turn away from the evil which I told you, and it shall not exist, saith the Lord. 9And Noah and Methuselah spoke all the words of the Lord to the sons of men, day after day, constantly speaking to them. 10 But the sons of men would not hearken to them, nor incline their ears to their words, and they were stiffnecked.
Noah didn’t even want a wife because he knew God would destroy the earth, but God told him to take a wife and have children, so he did, at 498 years old. Naamah was 580 years old. They had Japheth then Shem, then Ham. Meanwhile in heaven there was planning among the Archangels as to how to deal with the mess on earth. Again according to Enoch:
CHAPTER IX.
1. And then Michael, Uriel, Raphael, and Gabriel looked down from heaven and saw much blood being shed upon the earth, and all lawlessness being wrought upon the earth. 2. And they said one to another: 'The earth made †without inhabitant cries the voice of their crying† up to the gates of heaven. 3 ⌈⌈And now to you, the holy ones of heaven⌉⌉, the souls of men make their suit, saying, "Bring our cause before the Most High.".' 4. And they said to the Lord of the ages: 'Lord of lords, God of gods, King of kings, 〈and God of the ages〉, the throne of Thy glory (standeth) unto all the generations of the ages, and Thy name holy and glorious and blessed unto all the ages! 5. Thou hast made all things, and power over all things hast Thou: and all things are naked and open in Thy sight, and Thou seest all things, and nothing can hide itself from Thee. 6. Thou seest what Azâzêl hath done, who hath taught all unrighteousness on earth and revealed the eternal secrets which were (preserved) in heaven, which men were striving to learn: 7. And Semjâzâ, to whom Thou hast given authority to bear rule over his associates. 8. And they have gone to the daughters of men upon the earth, and have slept with the women, and have defiled themselves, and revealed to them all kinds of sins. 9. And the women have borne giants, and the whole earth has thereby been filled with blood and unrighteousness. 10. And now, behold, the souls of those who have died are crying and making their suit to the gates of heaven, and their lamentations have ascended: and cannot cease because of the lawless deeds which are wrought on the earth. 11. And Thou knowest all things before they come to pass, andThou seest these things and Thou dost suffer them, and Thou dost not say to us what we are to do to them in regard to these.'CHAPTER X.
1. Then said the Most High, the Holy and Great One spake, and sent Uriel to the son of Lamech, and said to him: 2. '〈Go to Noah〉 and tell him in my name "Hide thyself!" and reveal to him the end that is approaching: that the whole earth will be destroyed, and a deluge is about to come upon the whole earth, and will destroy all that is on it. 3. And now instruct him that he may escape and his seed may be preserved for all the generations of the world.' 4. And again the Lord said to Raphael: 'Bind Azâzêl hand and foot, and cast him into the darkness: and make an opening in the desert, which is in Dûdâêl, and cast him therein. 5. And place upon him rough and jagged rocks, and cover him with darkness, and let him abide there for ever, and cover his face that he may not see light. 6. And on the day of the great judgment he shall be cast into the fire. And heal the earth which the angels have corrupted, and proclaim the healing of the earth, that they may heal the plague, and that all the children of men may not perish through all the secret things that the Watchers have disclosed and have taught their sons. 8. And the whole earth has been corrupted through the works that were taught by Azâzêl: to him ascribe all sin.' 9. And to Gabriel said the Lord: 'Proceed against the bastards and the reprobates, and against the children of fornication: and destroy [the children of fornication and] the children of the Watchers from amongst men [and cause them to go forth]: send them one against the other that they may destroy each other in battle: for length of days shall they not have. 10. And no request that they (i.e. their fathers) make of thee shall be granted unto their fathers on their behalf; for they hope to live an eternal life, and that each one of them will live five hundred years.' 11. And the Lord said unto Michael: 'Go, bind Semjâzâ and his associates who have united themselves with women so as to have defiled themselves with them in all their uncleanness. 12. And when their sons have slain one another, and they have seen the destruction of their beloved ones, bind them fast for seventy generations in the valleys of the earth, till the day of their judgment and of their consummation, till the judgment that is for ever and ever is consummated. 13. In those days they shall be led off to the abyss of fire: 〈and〉 to the torment and the prison in which they shall be confined forever. And whosoever shall be condemned and destroyed will from thenceforth be bound together with them to the end of all generations. 15. And destroy all the spirits of the reprobate and the children of the Watchers, because they have wronged mankind. Destroy all wrong from the face of the earth and let every evil work come to an end: and let the plant of righteousness and truth appear:⌈and it shall prove a blessing; the works of righteousness and truth⌉ shall be planted in truth and joy for evermore.17 And then shall all the righteous escape,
And shall live till they beget thousands of children,
And all the days of their youth and their old age
Shall they complete in peace.
18 And then shall the whole earth be tilled in righteousness, and shall all be planted with trees and be full of blessing. 19. And all desirable trees shall be planted on it, and they shall plant vines on it: and the vine which they plant thereon shall yield wine in abundance, and as for all the seed which is sown thereon each measure (of it) shall bear a thousand, and each measure of olives shall yield ten presses of oil. 20. And cleanse thou the earth from all oppression, and from all unrighteousness, and from all sin, and from all godlessness: and all the uncleanness that is wrought upon the earth destroy from off the earth. 21. ⌈And all the children of men shall become righteous⌉, and all nations shall offer adoration and shall praise Me, and all shall worship Me. And the earth shall be cleansed from all defilement, and from all sin, and from all punishment, and from all torment, and I will never again send (them) upon it from generation to generation and forever.And shall live till they beget thousands of children,
And all the days of their youth and their old age
Shall they complete in peace.
In the heavens a plan was put in place to fix the problems that the angels who left heaven for earth had caused. As this was happening Noah started building the ark. It took five years according to Jasher 5:34, and all those who knew the Lord died the year before the flood. God then told Noah to gather food and two couples of animals to raise up seed after the flood. When all were gathered and entered into the ark, they waited seven days. Then the Lord shut them in. There were other animals that surrounded the ark as well.
Jasher 6:11 And on that day, the Lord caused the whole earth to shake, and the sun darkened and the foundations of the world raged and the whole earth was moved violently, and the lightning flashed, and the thunder roared, and all the foundations in the earth were broken up, such as was not known to the inhabitants before; and God did this mighty act, in order to terrify the sons of men, that there might be no more evil upon earth. 12 And still the sons of men would not return from their evil ways, and they increased the anger of the Lord at that time, and did not even direct their hearts to all this. 13 And at the end of seven days, in the six hundredth year of the life of Noah, the waters of the flood were upon the earth. 14 An all the fountains of the deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened, and the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
As the earth started to flood, 700,000 men and women of the sons of men came to Noah and begged for him to let them in. Noah reminded them that they had 120 years to change but they didn’t so the Lord was bringing this upon them to destroy them. They told Noah they were ready to return to the Lord and tried to break into the ark but the Lord sent the animals that surrounded the ark to overpower them, so the sons of men left.
Jasher 6:27 And the waters prevailed and they greatly increased upon the earth, and they lifted up the ark and it was raised form the earth. 28 and the ark floated upon the face of the waters, and it was tossed upon the waters so that all the living creatures within were turned about like pottage in a cauldron. 29 and great anxiety seized all the living creatures that were in the ark and the ark was like to be broken.
Something I find interesting is that in the Mormon religion, it is believed that the son’s of Jared got on ships and sailed to South America because of the corruption on the earth. They seem to have extensive writings regarding the sea crossing and in detail describe what it was like. The Mormons believe they descended from Jared, which may be why ancestry is so important to them. While this may seem unusual, it also has connection to their brass plates that Joseph Smith was given as there are collections of gold plates said to be found in Ecuador and guarded by local natives. There isn’t much about Mormonism I agree with, I think there are too many contradictions with the bible, however if the Father Crespi collection is said to contain metal plates with ancient writings, there would be some substantiation to that part of their belief system.
We have one flood story that we do want to look at a little closer called the Epic of Gilgamesh. This is a story written on Sumerian tablets that has a flood story in it regarding a person named Utnapishtim who built an ark and it rained for seven days. There are differences between Noah and Utnapishtim which are in my end notes along with the writing of Tablet 11 that the story was on. As in a previous blog I wrote concerning Zecharia Sitchin’s work and how being Jewish he desired to make the Sumerian texts fit into the Bible. He wrote regarding the Epic of Gilgamesh and the story of Utnapishtim that there was a flood at or around 11,000 BC and also one around 2,300 BC, so therefore the account of Noah could be the same as Utnapishtim. However the two accounts are not the same. Noah’s flood was 2,347 or so and that keeps the accuracy of the bible true. Also in the story, Gilgamesh goes into heaven and meets Utnapishtim, but in reality Noah was still alive during the time of Abraham. So Noah would not have been dead at that time. Gilgamesh’s story could have predated Noah’s as it is possible that at or around 11,000 BC there was a guy and a boat, just like there were possible boats sailing to South America with the son’s of Jared. Is it possible that there were a couple of other survivors of Noah’s flood? We have no written record of that but I bring up the question because there were giants after the flood of Noah as per Genesis 6:4 Could there have been another boat of those who were not men but Nephilim?
Gen 6:1-4 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, 2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. 3 And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. 4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. KJV
All aadaam (strongs # 120) died but it does not say all N’piliym (strongs # 5303) died.
Gen 7:21-24 And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man:22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.23 And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.KJV
One thing that is interesting is that there were so many stories of floods from ancient cultures. Is it possible that an enemy planted a few stories to cause confusion about the true story? Once the flood was over there was still a devil and demons (spirits that were now disembodied). We will explore the Demonic realm next.
End Notes
Table of flood ledgends http://www.nwcreation.net/noahlegends.html
Sumerian Texts:
Tablet 11
At this point, Gilgamesh realizes that he is talking to Utnapishtim, the Far-Away; he hadn't expected an immortal human to be ordinary and aged. He asks Utnapishtim how he received immortality, and Utnapishtim tells him the great secret hidden from humans: In the time before the Flood, there was a city, Shuruppak, on the banks of the Euphrates. There, the counsel of the gods held a secret meeting; they all resolved to destroy the world in a great flood. All the gods were under oath not to reveal this secret to any living thing, but Ea (one of the gods that created humanity) came to Utnapishtim's house and told the secret to the walls of Utnapishtim's house, thus not technically violating his oath to the rest of the gods. He advised the walls of Utnapishtim's house to build a great boat, its length as great as its breadth, to cover the boat, and to bring all living things into the boat. Utnapishtim gets straight to work and finishes the great boat by the new year. Utnapishtim then loads the boat with gold, silver, and all the living things of the earth, and launches the boat. Ea orders him into the boat and commands him to close the door behind him. The black clouds arrive, with the thunder god Adad rumbling within them; the earth splits like an earthenware pot, and all the light turns to darkness. The Flood is so great that even the gods are frightened:
The gods shook like beaten dogs, hiding in the far corners of heaven,
Ishtar screamed and wailed:
"The days of old have turned to stone:
We have decided evil things in our Assembly!
Why did we decide those evil things in our Assembly?
Why did we decide to destroy our people?
We have only just now created our beloved humans;
We now destroy them in the sea!"
All the gods wept and wailed along with her,
All the gods sat trembling, and wept.
Ishtar screamed and wailed:
"The days of old have turned to stone:
We have decided evil things in our Assembly!
Why did we decide those evil things in our Assembly?
Why did we decide to destroy our people?
We have only just now created our beloved humans;
We now destroy them in the sea!"
All the gods wept and wailed along with her,
All the gods sat trembling, and wept.
The Flood lasts for seven days and seven nights, and finally light returns to the earth. Utnapishtim opens a window and the entire earth has been turned into a flat ocean; all humans have been turned to stone. Utnapishtim then falls to his knees and weeps.
Utnapishtim's boat comes to rest on the top of Mount Nimush; the boat lodges firmly on the mountain peak just below the surface of the ocean and remains there for seven days. On the seventh day:
I [Utnapishtim] released a dove from the boat,
It flew off, but circled around and returned,
For it could find no perch.
I then released a swallow from the boat,
It flew off, but circled around and returned,
For it could find no perch.
I then released a raven from the boat,
It flew off, and the waters had receded:
It eats, it scratches the ground, but it does not circle around and return.
I then sent out all the living things in every direction and sacrificed a sheep on that very spot.
It flew off, but circled around and returned,
For it could find no perch.
I then released a swallow from the boat,
It flew off, but circled around and returned,
For it could find no perch.
I then released a raven from the boat,
It flew off, and the waters had receded:
It eats, it scratches the ground, but it does not circle around and return.
I then sent out all the living things in every direction and sacrificed a sheep on that very spot.
The gods smell the odor of the sacrifice and begin to gather around Utnapishtim. Enlil, who had originally proposed to destroy all humans, then arrives, furious that one of the humans had survived, since they had agreed to wipe out all humans. He accuses Ea of treachery, but Ea convinces Enlil to be merciful. Enlil then seizes Utnapishtim and his wife and blesses them:
At one time Utnapishtim was mortal.
At this time let him be a god and immortal;
Let him live in the far away at the source of all the rivers.
At this time let him be a god and immortal;
Let him live in the far away at the source of all the rivers.
| COMPARISON OF GENESIS AND GILGAMESH | ||
| | GENESIS | GILGAMESH |
| Extent of flood | Global | Global |
| Cause | Man's wickedness | Man's sins |
| Intended for whom? | All mankind | One city & all mankind |
| Sender | Yahweh | Assembly of "gods" |
| Name of hero | Noah | Utnapishtim |
| Hero's character | Righteous | Righteous |
| Means of announcement | Direct from God | In a dream |
| Ordered to build boat? | Yes | Yes |
| Did hero complain? | Yes | Yes |
| Height of boat | Several stories (3) | Several stories (6) |
| Compartments inside? | Many | Many |
| Doors | One | One |
| Windows | At least one | At least one |
| Outside coating | Pitch | Pitch |
| Shape of boat | Rectangular | Square |
| Human passengers | Family members only | Family & few others |
| Other passengers | All species of animals | All species of animals |
| Means of flood | Ground water & heavy rain | Heavy rain |
| Duration of flood | Long (40 days & nights plus) | Short (6 days & nights) |
| Test to find land | Release of birds | Release of birds |
| Types of birds | Raven & three doves | Dove, swallow, raven |
| Ark landing spot | Mountain -- Mt. Ararat | Mountain -- Mt. Nisir |
| Sacrificed after flood? | Yes, by Noah | Yes, by Utnapishtim |
| Blessed after flood? | Yes | Yes |
