Hi Glenn,
You wrote: there are no east-west thrust faults in Southern Iraq.
How sure are you of that? I wonder. I have read some of your articles. You
often seem to speak as if there is absolutely no question as to the truth of
what you are saying. However, I have at times found that that is not the
case.
I wonder how well all of southern Iraq and Kuwait have been examined in this
regard.
>From what I have read it is now widely believed that a very large flood
drowned at least the southern plains of Mesopotamia and swept away the
civilizations in the area. As I understand it, this has been clearly
established by recent geological research in Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf
area. Evidence of this was presented by Theresa Howard-Carter in the article,
"The Tangible Evidence for the Earliest Dilmun," published in the Journal of
Cuneiform Studies, Vol. 33, 1981, pp. 210-223.
It seems to me that it would be foolish of us to just ignore this evidence.
How far northward this giant flood reached is still an open question. Most of
the Mesopotamian plains are very low. The whole delta lowland south of
Baghdad, for example, is extremely flat and rises only a few meters from the
Persian Gulf to Baghdad 600 kilometers north of the Gulf, so that Baghdad is
still less than 10 (ten) meters above sea level! Therefore, in my opinion, to
categorically reject the possibility that a local inundation of the
Mesopotamian plains could have reached as far north as southern Iraq, about
the time that the Bible indicates Noah's flood occurred, would be a sign of
stubborn dogmatism.
According to Carter's article, marine shells, marine terraces (she must have
been referring to east-west terraces), and other evidence show that the
waters that drowned southern Messopotamia was caused by a massive movement of
the sea from the Gulf. This conclusion agrees with the statement at Gen. 7:11
that the waters of the Flood had two sources: (1) "the fountains of the great
deep were broken up, and (2) the windows of heaven were opened." The "great
deep" (Hebr. ’Äôtehom rabba’Äô) is used in the Bible especially of the sea
(e.g., Isa. 51:10; 63:3; Jonah 2:4). An inundation from the Persian Gulf also
explains why the ark of Noah was brought northwards. If the Flood had been
caused only by rains from above and inundations of the rivers Euphrates and
Tigris, the ark would have been brought southwards to the Gulf.
The fact is that Iraq is often described as a "trough". The Encyclopaedia
Britannica, Vol. 12 (1969), for example, explains: "Iraq consists of a
lowland trough lying between asymmetrical and very different upland massifs
to the east, north and west, and continuing southeastward as the Persian
gulf." (Page 527) Similarly, Dr. Susan Pollock says in her recent work,
Ancient Mesopotamia (Cambridge, 1999): "Mesopotamia is, geologically
speaking, a trough created as the Arabian shield has pushed up against the
Asiatic landmass, raising the Zagros Mountains and depressing the land to the
southwest of them. Within this trench, the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers
and their tributaries have laid down enormous quantities of flood sediments,
forming the Lower Mesopotamian Plain (also known as the alluvial Mesopotamian
plain). Today the Lower Mesopotamian Plain stretches some 700 kilometers,
from approximately the latitude of Ramadi and Baquba in the northwest to the
Gulf, which has flooded its southeastern end." (Page 29)
Though I have suggested meteor impacts may have been the cause of Noah's
flood, I certainly do not claim to be certain what exactly caused the massive
movement of the sea to inundate southern Mesopotamia. There may have been
circumstances involved unknown to us today that prevented the water from
turning back too quickly to the sea again. Though a drop in the land's
elevation caused by earthquakes which were triggered by meteor impacts seems
to me like a reasonable possibility, I certainly have not meant to imply that
that is the only possible way Noah's flood may have occurred in Mesopotamia,
and occurred just as the Bible says it did. Obviously much research remains
to be done.
Anyway, I believe the facts show that there was indeed a very large flood at
about the time the Bible indicates Noah's flood occurred. I believe it was
local and limited to Mesopotamia, as is also indicated by the Sumerian flood
tradition, in which it is stated that the flood covered "the land." "The
land" in Sumerian = ’Äôkalam’Äô. ’ÄôKalam’Äô was the name the Sumerians used of
their own country, which roughly covered the area from the Gulf up to present
Baghdad. I believe the biblical and Mesopotamian flood traditions are closely
related, although it cannot be shown that the biblical story was derived from
the others, or vice versa. They seem to clearly originate in a common source
or event. That’Äôs partly why it seems likely to me that the biblical
tradition, like the Mesopotamian traditions, speaks of a local catastrophe.
As I and others have pointed out on this list before, the biblical Hebrew
word for "earth", ’Äôerets’Äô, usually was used in the sense of
"land", and more
rarely in the sense of "earth" (= the globe). It seems probable, therefore,
that it referred to the "land" of Mesopotamia, like the Sumerian word
’Äôkalam’Äô. The context should always decide whether ’Äôerets’Äô
means "land" or
"earth". And if the scriptural context is not enough for deciding the matter,
the historical context in which the story originated may be our best guide.
Mike
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