| (Copyright) by Samuel S. Martin (Jerusalem, Israel) |
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| Note: I want to shift gears a little bit and talk about some research I did about ten years ago. I hope you find it interesting, and I am definitely looking for feedback (or feed forward) on this subject. The book of Genesis is one of my favorite books in the whole Bible. When I first began to do serious research into the Bible, Genesis was the place I started and the things that I have learned about Genesis, particularly in the early sections, really amazed me (and continue to do so today). I hope someday in the near future to be able to bring out more of my own research on the early sections of Genesis even beyond the subject of how the ancients lived such long ages and the mark of Cain that I have already mentioned. One of the most interesting subjects in the Bible is that of the Flood of Noah. This event is really a mystery to many people about the details of how it happened. No doubt, people are really interested in this issue. If you do any research at all, you will find dozens of opinions on the Flood and how it happened, and these opinions will cover a whole range of different opinions. Numerous books, articles and websites are devoted to this important issue. [By the way, the book “The Biblical Flood: A Case Study of the Church’s Response to Extrabiblical Evidence” by Davis A. Young (1995: Eerdmans) is one that I have in my library, and I enjoyed it very much. It is heavy reading, but if you are interested in the Flood of Noah, this is one book that I recommend. It is a scholarly book.] In studying this issue, I believe that my father’s work on the Flood represents a solid biblical approach to this issue. (I would urge interested parties to go to the following links for a number of articles on this very big subject) http://www.askelm.com/secrets/sec097.htm – http://www.askelm.com/secrets/sec099.htm – http://www.askelm.com/secrets/sec098.htm – http://www.askelm.com/secrets/sec003.htm) To sum up on his views on this subject, he believed the following (and I share his views). The Flood of Noah took place exactly as the Bible indicates it did. The Flood was caused by the disruption of a ring system made up of various substances suspended in water that came down to the earth at the time of the Flood. The waters of the Flood came from outer space, not only from water sources present on earth when the Flood happened – in this regard see Hecht, Jeff; “Snowballs from Space ‘Filled Earth’s Oceans’,” New Scientist, p. 38, May 12, 1988. The Flood was worldwide in scope, but when the Bible says the “mountains were covered”, it in no way means that they were “submerged.” The Bible indicates that about 276 inches of water descended upon the earth during the event of the Flood. Therefore, the mountain tops were not covered “from 15 cubits and upward” as the King James Version seems to tell us, but rather that the total amount of rain that descended “from above” (as the Hebrew text of Genesis 7:20 clearly teaches) was 15 cubits or 276 inches. All life on earth at that time, except what remained inside the ark, died. According to the Bible. new animals and even a new creation that had not been seen before were created after the Flood. These ideas may sound fantastic, (even ‘Buck Rogers’ as my father once termed them) but I would urge those of you who might not be familiar with dad’s views on this fascinating subject to study these papers in light of what the Bible reveals concerning this issue. Many of you may (or may not) know that prior to even getting interested in the social sciences of history, theology and the Bible, my father had a very strong scientific background being trained in college and in the United States Air Force as a weather forecaster. Because of this training, he had a unique perspective and a strong ability to integrate scientific data into his Biblical research. (Those of you who know of his work on the Star of Bethlehem will certainly know what I am talking about. – Importantly, dad’s work has also been prominently referenced in the standard work on Biblical Chronology produced by the late Dr. Jack Finegan – The Handbook of Biblical Chronology – available widely – http://www.centuryone.com/3143-9.html). For me, the issue of the Flood was one which occupied a great deal of study about ten years ago. Around that time, I learned some things which even my father did not reference in his own works. The Bible is such a rich book of treasures that it always seems that there are more things to learn. The title of this section is “And the waters assuaged.” (Genesis 8:1) So lets talk about this seemingly unimportant passage because it is in this passage that much interesting information is contained. Honestly, when we study Genesis or other sections of the Bible where we have very little information, we have to take what we do have seriously and look very carefully at the information provided and do our best to understand what it meant to the writer who wrote it, who in this case was Moses. We want to know the meaning that Moses wished to convey if we can. Now, why is this section important? It is because a careful examination of what this passage teaches helps to further augment the ideas put forth in the whole argument presented by my father concerning the Flood. We in the modern world have been influenced wrongly by epic films and artistic depictions about biblical subjects concerning many issues including the Flood. My father talked about a concept that I urged him to develop in one of his books on the Secrets of the Bible. It was a term that he chose to describe the influence of motion picture films on our modern conceptions of the Bible. He coined the phrase: “Hollywood Theology.” “Hollywood Theology” refers to religious conceptions that are influenced and guided by motion picture films. Here is a quote from pages 16-17 of his book “101 Bible Secrets that Christians Do Not Know” (available at www.askelm.com) which demonstrates what I am talking about here. “The Hollywood producers and directors have truly displayed magnificently absurd scenes in some of the most prestigious of films. It is not Hollywood, however, who deserves “Oscars” for foolishness in trying to depict what the Bible teaches. Hollywood actually has been deceived by the false teachings of the professional preachers, priests and theologians who have been their technical advisors. These first few “secrets” can show “Hollywood Theology” at its best. When Cecil B. DeMille produced the movie “The Ten Commandments,” Charlton Heston who played Moses brought down from the mountain two huge stones that surely must have weighed a good hundred pounds each (I saw these “stones” years ago when I toured one of the movie studios and they were actually made of foam rubber). But is this an accurate depiction of the stones on which the Ten Commandments were written? The truth is, the Bible shows that Moses was able to carry both stones in one hand (Exodus 32:15). No, not in one arm. He carried both stones in one hand. The stones were actually quite small – about pocketsize in dimension. They were small slate-like stones that could be carried in the palm of one hand, though to keep them from rubbing together he often carried them in both hands (Deuteronomy 9:15). And another point that is usually not understood. Each stone had the Ten Commandments written on both its sides, not on one side alone (Exodus 32:15). And something else, many scholars now believe that the two stones were actually duplicates of one another. The second stone was an exact copy of the first. In other words, Moses was given one stone with the full Ten Commandments written on it (front and back) and he was given a second stone, which was an exact copy of the first. The reason for this? These two duplicate stones were designed by God to be a double witness to the Israelites (to meet the requirement that at least two witnesses had to be in evidence in life and death matters –see Deuteronomy 17:6,7). For legal purposes, it looks like God gave Israel two identical sets of the Ten Commandments as a dual testimony to their seriousness. This shows how far off Hollywood can be when it comes to depicting biblical events. But why should we blame Hollywood? The movie industry has only been showing what Christian painters and sculptors (under the influence of past theologians, priests, and church leaders) have erroneously concocted as biblical teachings over the centuries. (Kline, Meredith, G., “The Two Tables of the Covenant,” Westminster Theological Journal (1960),22, pp.133-146). Both Hollywood films and television specials have been guilty of another falsity regarding the biblical periods that is so evident to anyone having studied the History of Western Civilization. They often show riders on horses which have saddles and stirrups. There have been some great film masterpieces that Hollywood has produced about the life of Jesus or the period when the apostles lived which often show Roman soldiers riding horses with saddles on them. This is fine enough, but the saddles are often shown with stirrups to hold the feet of the riders. After all, our modern saddles have to have stirrups because Hollywood directors do not want their members of the cast falling off their horses. But Hollywood is wrong again. Stirrups on saddles were not invented earlier than the mid-fifth century after Christ (and some evidence suggests their invention was two centuries later). (The New Columbia Encyclopedia, article “Stirrup,” p.2625.)” Now, what difference does it make? The point is films (and by extension photographs, television and paintings) influence dramatically people’s opinions about all kinds of things and the Bible is no exception. Look at the Hollywood films about the Flood. They seemingly follow the Biblical narrative, and you see people climbing up to the tops of mountains to escape the Flood; you see the ark floating on huge oceans of water and torrential downpours; you see rain for forty days and forty nights; you see the water covering the tops of the mountains and so on. However, are these really accurate descriptions? According to Hollywood, yes; but according to the Bible, no! One of the points that I have referenced here is the idea that many who speak about this issue advocate for the fact that the Bible teaches that the mountains were submerged by water. Yes, that is what many advocate for, yet my father has presented a very strong argument against this idea. However, there is one verse which I am focusing on in this short paper which seems to indicate this idea pretty clearly. It is the following which are the last few words of the passage in question: “And the waters assuaged.” (Genesis 8:1) When you read this passage, you get the feeling that the waters that were submerging the whole mountains were somehow miraculously removed from the earth by a divine agency. This is what you feel on the surface when you read the last section of Genesis 7 and the first verse of Genesis 8. It seems so clear that this is what it means. But is it? When we look at the Hebrew word for “assuaged” which is ישכו – yascu, this word needs some defining. Yes, it can mean “assuaged” or “receded,” however in this context many ancient commentators point out something else. Rabbi Raphael Hirschinson in his excellent commentary on Genesis says the following: “וישכו – vayascu (root שכך) The use of this expression indicates that the action of the water of the flood was not merely mechanically destructive but also chemically dissolving. According to one remark in Sanhedrin 108b (quoting here from the Babylonian Talmud – one of the ancient authoritative works on Jewish law and Bible interpretation – see http://www.come-and-hear.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_108.html), they were רותחין, seething. שכך is the reverse of boiling and bubbling up of a torrent.” (pg. 155). Continuing, Rabbi Hirschinson shows that to understand this verse it is essential to refer to a passage in the book of Esther chapter 7, verse 10, which says: “Then the king’s wrath was pacified.” The word for “pacified” in Esther 7:10 and the word for “assuaged” in Genesis 8:1 come from the same root. The point that arises out of these passages when we begin to dig deeper is that the Floodwaters themselves were boiling hot. Rabbi Hirschinson references a key passage in the Babylonian Talmud in this regard and it is good to show here what those ancient commentaries said about this verse. Note if here: R. Hisda said: With hot passion they sinned (speaking about those in the pre-Flood period), and by hot water they were punished. [For] here it is written, And the water cooled; (Genesis 8:1) whilst elsewhere it is said, Then the king’s wrath cooled down. (Esther 7:10) (Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 108b) You can see that this ancient commentator clearly understood that the waters of the Flood were hot water and he even translated the word as “cooled.” When we think about it, depending on our perspective, it could very easily mean that the waters indeed “cooled off” rather than “assuaged” or “run off” from a higher point to a lower point. What we find here is that those individuals who translated the word “assuaged” may have been influenced by their opinion of what took place in the Flood through means other than looking at the ancient sources (like religious art, paintings in churches, stained glass windows or icons) and comparing the information we find in the Biblical texts. Hot water during the Flood? Yes. In fact, we have many ancient nations producing Flood type narratives and “a Finnish story of the Deluge (the Flood) is of hot water.” (Hastings: Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, vol. IV, p. 548) What has to be understood is the whole conception of what took place in the Flood needs to be reexamined. I believe that this is what my dad was trying to do through his publications on this subject. Even the word for “flood” (מבול – mabul) does not always specifically mean “flood.” Note that in passages in the New Testament where the Flood is referenced, the Greek word used is kataklusmoV (kataklusmos), from which we get the English word cataclysm or cataclysmic. The point is, while all floods to one degree or another can be cataclysmic in effect, not all cataclysmic events are necessarily floods. It is important to note that the Hebrew word (מבול – mabul) only appears in the Hebrew Bible 12 times, 11 of which are in the first eleven chapters of Genesis. (the remaining time is in Psalm 29:10) We even find in the first passage where this word in referenced that the Lord says: “I do bring a flood (מבול – mabul – “a cataclysmic event”) of waters …” (Genesis 6:17) It seems to indicate that to limit the description of this event to that of a “flood” is to miss the intent and power of this word. What took place in the early chapters of Genesis was a complete destruction of everything alive on earth and it looks like that while water was involved, that water was not only very hot, but that it also had corrosive qualities to it. What I hope to show through this short article is that there is much to learn in these early sections of Genesis. While the language is terse and brief, we have to remember that this is what the Lord has provided for us to know about the early earth. Let us take these passages, believe them and be willing to study them carefully asking the Lord to guide our path. There is still much teaching to be had from that good old Book. ———————————————————————————————————— See Samuel S. Martin’s other articles at: Martin, Samuel S. – Church of God, Bismarck (church-of-god-bismarck.org) Reprinted with permission from: Samuel S. Martin http://www.biblechild.com ———————————————————————————————————— |
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