The Great Flood - when, why and why it happened

The Flood is, first of all, a biblical story described in the Book of Genesis - the first of the books of the Old Testament and the entire Bible. However, legends or stories about the Flood are found in a number of mythological and religious texts of various peoples of the world.

In this article we will look at the Biblical Flood or, as it is often called, the Flood of Noah, because Noah is a key figure in the events associated with the Great Flood in the Bible.

According to the Book of Genesis, the Flood is God's punishment for the sinfulness of mankind.

And the Lord said: I will destroy from the face of the earth man whom I have created, from man to beast, and the creeping thing and the bird of the air I will destroy, for I have repented that I created them. (Book of Genesis. Chapter 6)

The flood is God's way of destroying sin in man. God left only Noah and his family alive, commanding Noah to build an ark in which Noah and his family, as well as a couple of different animals and birds, hid. We will not dwell in detail on the history of the construction of the ark and its voyage, since there is already an article about this on the site that you can read - Noah’s Ark. Let's talk in more detail about the Flood, its symbolism and possible scientific interpretation.

What is a global flood

The story of the global flood is widespread among various peoples of the world. In the Christian religion, this plot occupies a special place. Believers view it as a large-scale death of people due to God's punishment for unbelief and lawlessness. The Flood as a historical fact and confirmation of its reality are questioned by skeptics.

Noah gathers animals for the Ark (medieval mosaic)

Finds and facts

• In 1927-1928, during the excavations of ancient Ur, Leonard and Catherine Woolley excavated the so-called “royal tombs of Ur,” which apparently dated back to the Sumerian period. Unexpectedly, right below them, the researchers stumbled upon a 20-meter layer of alluvial (alluvial) clay without any traces of human presence. The most likely explanation for the appearance of such a layer in this area could be a flood that was catastrophic in its severity and consequences.[11]

• The largest cemetery of hadrosaurs was found in 1990 during the construction of a highway near Kundur station (Amur region, Russia). The layer, which stretches along the road for about 600 meters and is 50 meters wide, is literally filled with tens of thousands of bones, which lie in a disorderly mass; individual femurs, shins, a lot of vertebrae and ribs, fragments of jaws are especially common, as if animals were torn apart and scattered in different directions. The deposits in which the bones are buried are lumpy variegated clays with unrounded fine gravel - typical in places where powerful mud flows descend. The sudden catastrophe crushed huge carcasses, tore off long tails, legs and front paws, and broke fragile openwork skulls and pelvic bones. So again and again paleontology confirms the biblical story of the Great Flood that destroyed the first world. [12]

The Flood - a biblical story

The Bible tells us that the first generations of people on earth after the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden were distinguished by great longevity. It was given to humanity for the rapid repopulation of the earth and for the preservation of faith and memory of the promise of the Deliverer. Thus, in every family over the centuries, knowledge about God and the creation of the world was passed on to subsequent generations.

However, long life became the reason for people to take root in bad customs and corruption. Death was rare, which allowed people's conscience to become dull. Evil and vices multiplied, punishment for them and deliverance from sins seemed distant, almost inaccessible. And the time came when evil spread throughout the earth, there was a complete corruption of people who were no longer capable of repentance and correction. Then the Lord decided to put to death all life on earth, to wash away wickedness and corruption from the earth.

However, among all people there was a blameless man who found grace with God, the righteous Noah. Then God told Noah to build an ark, because a great flood would be brought upon the earth. God determined 120 years during which humanity could repent of its sins. Noah had to complete the construction of the ark during this time.

Thirteen myths, different ones at that, have come to us from Asia;

four are from Europe,

five are from Africa;

nine from Australia and Oceania;

thirty-seven - from the New World:

sixteen are from North America;

seven from Central and fourteen from Southern.

The German historian Richard Hennig noted that among different peoples, “the duration of the flood varies from five days to fifty-two years (among the Aztecs).

In seventeen cases it was caused by rainfall; in others - snowfalls, melting glaciers, cyclones, storms, earthquakes, tsunamis. The Chinese, for example, believe that all floods are caused by the evil spirit Kun-Kun:

“In a fit of anger, he hits his head against one of the pillars that support the sky, and the heavens bring down giant waterspouts to the earth.”

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Construction of the Ark

The creation of the ark was carried out according to the direct instructions of the Lord, reminiscent of engineering instructions. The wood used for construction was gopher wood (a type of cypress). The Ark was 300 cubits long (about 150 meters), 50 cubits wide (about 25 meters), and 30 cubits high (about 15 meters).

For that time it was a grandiose structure. At the top there was an opening for light and air to enter, and a door was built on the side. The ark itself had three tiers with various compartments for livestock and birds. According to the behavior of God, Noah took seven clean animals and birds and two unclean animals and birds, male and female.

During the construction of the ark, people did not change, they did not stop doing evil. Not seeing repentance from the people, God commanded Noah, along with his wife and three sons with their wives, to enter the ark. Also, the animals and birds themselves arrived at the appointed place at a certain time. The Lord himself closed the door behind them. Seven days later it began to rain, which did not stop for 40 days and 40 nights.

Content

• 1 History of the flood in Jewish sources 1.1 Tanakh
• 1.2 Oral Torah
• 1.3 In the Apocrypha
• 1.4 Causes of the Flood
• 1.5 Covenant with God

How long did the Great Flood last?

There is an opinion that the great flood could not have occurred from rain in 40 days. Therefore, the existence of a universal flood is called into question.

The answer lies in the Bible, where it is written that windows opened in heaven and rain began to fall. Water began to flow from all water sources on earth for 150 days. Even the highest mountains disappeared under water. All living things perished, only Noah and his family and animals in the ark survived. Then God commanded the winds to blow, the flow of water stopped, and it began to drain.

Seven months later, the ark stopped on Mount Ararat (the territory of modern Turkey). The water subsided until the tops of the mountains appeared. After 40 days, Noah released a raven through the window of the ark. He returned after some time, unable to find a place for himself on the water-filled land. Then Noah released a dove, which also returned empty-handed, indicating that the earth was still covered by the waters of the flood.

A dove released 7 days later brought an oil leaf in its mouth, indicating that the water had already subsided from the ground. The pigeon released again 7 days later did not return. After waiting another 7 days, Noah opened the door of the ark and saw that the earth had dried up from the water. At the command of the Lord, Noah and his family left the ark and released all the animals and birds so that they could go and multiply on the earth. Noah spent exactly a year in the ark. When the global flood ended, he was 601 years old.

After leaving the ark, the righteous Noah first decided to give thanks to God for such salvation. He took clean animals and birds and offered them as burnt offerings. And God made a covenant with Noah, repeating to him his blessing to be fruitful, multiply and populate the earth. The Lord promised not to bring flood waters over the whole earth. As a sign of this covenant, a rainbow first appeared in the sky. Now it is a warning about the great punishment of God and reminds people that the Lord will never again send a global flood.

Was there a Flood? Scientific point of view.

The story of the Flood described in the Bible has analogues among different peoples, far from the Old Testament ideas. This suggests that such a cataclysm took place and its consequences were indeed severe, since legends about the Great Flood were preserved in the memory of the peoples of all continents of the Earth.

Today, scientists reject the version that in the times described by the Bible there really was a World Sweat. A large number of legends, including the biblical one, most likely describe various disasters associated with water and flooding, which occurred at different time periods and were of a local nature.

Thus, the Great Flood is most likely a huge number of local disasters in different regions, to which residents of the affected areas attributed a global nature. The probable causes of local sweats were:

• tsunami due to earthquakes or meteorite falls,
• rise in water level for one reason or another,
• water breakthroughs from closed reservoirs due to karst processes,
• typhoons.

What are we dealing with when we talk about the Biblical Flood?

Questions about the flood worried the Austrian geologist E. Suess, who studied the biblical text, as well as the primary source of the biblical legend - the Assyrian myth of Gilgamesh, and concluded that Noah's Flood was nothing more than a devastating flood of the Mesopotamian lowland in the lower reaches of the Euphrates. E. Suess considered the main cause of the Biblical Flood to be a tsunami formed as a result of a strong earthquake in the Persian Gulf. Scientists who followed Suess found that the probable cause of Noah's Flood was not a tsunami - tsunamis of such force are not typical for this region, but a devastating flood that occurred as a result of prolonged downpours and strong winds blowing against the flow of rivers. Similar floods have been observed more than once in the Bengal region. The water level during such floods quickly rose by 16 meters. Hundreds of thousands of people died. Probably a similar flood 4000-5000 years ago was described in the Bible as the Great Flood.

There is, however, another opinion among scientists, according to which the Flood took place precisely in the form of a global catastrophe, when the Black Sea ceased to be closed. Due to a powerful earthquake, the water level rose by 140 meters, the Black Sea connected with the Mediterranean, causing flooding of vast regions and the death of a huge number of people.

2. Determination of the date of the flood.

The year of the flood can be determined by analyzing data obtained from an ice core in Antarctica.
This graph was compiled from a core from the VOSTOK station, containing more than 422,000 annual rings. Fig.1 Graph of temperature, dust, carbon dioxide according to Vostok station data.

The date of the flood can best be determined from a dust plot. If we consider that during the flood it rained for 40 days. then the dust level should have dropped abruptly. The Earth's temperature is a much more inert value; it could change for more than a thousand years. As can be clearly seen from this graph, the concentration of dust in the atmosphere literally collapsed 12,000 years ago.

Unfortunately, we do not have accurate data for years; they have not been published by scientists. Let's look at the dust table for this graph. Source: ftp://ftp.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/icecore/antarctica/vostok/dustnat.txt

Ice age (GT4) 4509 0.025 4552 0.018 4690 0.015 5259 0.033 5674 0.028 6486 0.013 6874 0.02 6924 0.018 7267 0.038 7697 0.023 7745 0. 065 8091 0.038 9107 0.04 9298 0.05 10265 0.018 10515 0.03 10861 0.033 11053 0.045 11749 0.05 11973 0.025 — minimum point, s in steps of more than 300 years. 12569 0.075 13055 0.075 13237 0.04 13828 0.033 14404 0.085 14713 0.163 14775 0.18 15032 0.17 16426 0.638 16502 0.773 16653 0.32 17544 1.098

We decided on the year of the flood as 11973 ±300 years ago. This data was obtained in 2001. This means the active phase of the flood (RAIN) was 11973-2001 = 9972±300 BC.

This date agrees well with Plato. In his works Critias and Timaeus, he writes that Atlantis perished 9,000 years ago. These works were written around 340 BC. e. Then, according to Plato, the death of Atlantis is 9340±500 BC. Since Plato operates with the concept of a thousand, we will assume that for a thousand the accuracy is ±500

The Bible says: In the six hundredth year of the life of Noah, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of heaven were opened and rain fell on the earth for forty days and forty nights.

That is, Noah was 600 years 2 months 17 days old when the flood occurred. We have reached the age of Noah and what happened during the flood. Which is very valuable. Unfortunately, the dating of the flood is not stated in any way in the Bible.

It is believed that Noah lived in the period 1026-2006. from the creation of the World (Adam).

The date of the creation of the world (Adam) was calculated by the sages according to the life expectancy of Adam's descendants. It is difficult to understand how they were able to determine the date of creation of the world in this way.

Calculations of the ancient sages of the date of creation of the world: 3491 BC. e. — dating according to Jerome; 3761 BC e. — (October 6/7) Jewish era 4004 BC. e. (October 23) - by James Ussher; 4700 BC e. - Samarian era; 5199 BC e. — dating according to Eusebius of Caesarea; 5493 BC -(March 25) Alexandrian era of Annian 5500 BC. e. - according to Hippolytus and Sextus Julius Africanus; 5515 BC e. - according to Theophilus; 5508 BC e. — (March 21) Byzantine era 5509 BC. e. — (September 1) Byzantine era 5551 BC. e. - according to St. Augustine; 5872 BC e. - the so-called dating of 70 interpreters. 5969 BC e. — (September 1) Antiochian era

It turns out that according to the calculations of medieval people, the flood occurred in the period 1865...4343. BC. Which does not agree well with the cores of Antarctica and Plato's messages. Therefore, there is no point in relying on these calculations; their error is more than 50%. However, the events of the flood themselves were well documented in the Old Testament. And they agree well with Plato's data. From the Old Testament we have: 1. It rained for 40 days. 2. The water took 150 days to arrive.

If the time of year when Noah was born was known, then it would be possible to determine the time of year when the flood began.

Conclusion: The beginning of the Flood can be considered 9972±300 BC.

Wind direction during the flood.

It is very important where the wind blew during the flood.
For 40 days, torrential rains of incredible force poured onto the Earth. And the wind directed these flows in a certain direction. Where the most soil was washed away, there was more rain. On the Google Planet map we can clearly see this with the naked eye.

Fig. 16 Wind direction during the flood.

The wind drove the bulk of the steam to the east and southeast. There was absolutely no fertile soil left along the path of this downpour. She was washed into the ocean.

If you look to the west, everything is blooming and thriving, the soil has remained in place.

We can determine the vapor zone by islands in the Atlantic Ocean. Those islands that were hit by heavy rains still have no vegetation.

Rice. 17 Las Palmas Island. Completely devoid of soil.

The islands to the west of the rift are flourishing, the soil remains on them.

Fig. 18 Flores Island. Located just west of the tectonic fault. Has soil.

Thus, having outlined the islands devoid of soil, we can highlight the zone of water evaporation and steam movement.

It is absolutely clear that the brunt of the rainfall fell on North Africa. He turned the flourishing region into a stone desert.

Fig. 19 Petrified trees on the ancient shore.

Fig. 20 Coastline after the flood. Africa.

Sources

• KEE, volume: 6. Col.: 702–706.
• Are there different sources of Torah texts telling about the creation of the world and the Flood? Soncino's comment. Notes to the book Breishit.
• Description of the Flood in the Torah and parallels in ancient Babylonian literature. Soncino's comment. Notes to the book Breishit.
• Noah's Ark: Research by Ron Wyatt on the NBAO website
• Work by I. A. Slyusarev “On the Cataclysm and the Flood”

Notice
: The preliminary basis for this article was the article FLOOD in EEE

Bibliography

• Sumerian legend: Translated by V.K. Afanasyeva: From the beginning: An anthology of Sumerian poetry. St. Petersburg, 1997. P.295-297.
• Translated by V.V. Emelyanov: Emelyanov V.V.
  Ancient Sumer. Essays on culture. St. Petersburg, 2003. P.312-316.
• Kramer S.N.
  History begins in Sumer. M., 1991. P.155-159.

Sea level before the flood.

Determining the water level before the flood is even easier than after the flood.
Since the coast was stable for about 50 thousand years and left a wonderful coastline. It is all cut up by rivers and is clearly visible on the Google Planet map. Rice. 14 The coast of Europe before the flood.

Google Planet has already done everything for us, it even highlighted this coast in blue. All that remains is to measure the depth at the edge of this coast. It is equal to 180-200 meters below sea level.

Fig.15 Look at the Black Sea. Its ancient size is clearly delineated by the coastline at -180 meters.

We see river beds, conyons, bays, etc.

Conclusion: The water level before the flood was 180±20 meters lower than today.

Notes

1. Psalm 29:10
2. Midrash Bereshit Rabbah 32:7
3. Talmud, Zvachim 113a
4. (Nida 61a)
5. Rashi et al.
6. Rashi: " Atrocity (
   Hamas
   ) is robbery
   "
7. Talmud, Sanhedrin 108a
8. Weinberg J.
   Introduction to TaNakh. Part 1. M.-Jerusalem, 2002. P.165-166
9. ↑ 9,09,19,2 Description of the Flood in the Torah and parallels in ancient Babylonian literature. Soncino's comment. Notes to the book Breishit.
10. Weinberg J. Introduction to TaNakh. Part 1. Jerusalem-M., 2002. P.380
11. ↑ 11,011,111,211,311,4 Are there different sources of Torah texts telling about the creation of the world and the Flood? Soncino's comment. Notes to the book Breishit.
12. https://www.lib.ru/PRIKL/KERAM/bogi_archeology.txt