RE: hypothetical question about Noah's flood

Hi Shiela, you wrote:

We've had lots of debate about the extent and location of Noah's flood. I would like to look at the question from a purely theoretical position, from an "old earth" creation standpoint. First, let's assume that a global flood occurred 6,000 to 10,000 years ago. We will ignore the size of the boat and the animals and other logistical details and look only at the earth science side of the problem. What would cause the "waters of the deep" to flow to the surface?

 Nothing. There was no global flood. This comes from my book, The Origins Solution:

The phrase "fountains of the deep" (Gen. 7:11; 8:2) has been a major contributor to the global flood concept. Visions of great, oceanic, water-spewing volcanoes have been conjured up to rationalize this phrase, and to account for the massive amount of water needed for a universal deluge. Analyses of the flood layers at the excavated city sites found only those elements that could be expected from the waters of the Euphrates. No remains of any salt water creatures were present which indicates none of the floods involved sea water.

In the Septuagint the word "fountain" appears rather than "mist" in Genesis 2:6. This refers to an irrigation system in all likelihood. Here "fountains of the deep" again points to irrigation. The Hebrew word for "deep" can mean the sea, it can refer to subterranean waters, or it can mean the depths of a river. In the Atrahasis epic, the phrases "fountains of the deep" or "fountain of the deep" appear four times. In all instances, fountain(s) pertain to "fields," as in this example:

    Below the fountain of the deep was stopped,
        that the flood rose not at the source.
    The field diminished its fertility.

From the consistency in usage, we can see these were canals or levies used for irrigation. In the Gilgamesh account, Ninurta was the "lord of the wells and irrigation works." So, we now know what the phrase "fountains of the deep" means. The expression is defined by usage, and was employed by Semites long before Moses used it in the flood narrative. It was the overflowing rivers that caused the dams, dikes, and irrigation canals to burst open, flooding the land. We can now properly interpret "fountains of the deep" as a reference to irrigation, which clearly mandates a local flood.

Dick Fischer - Genesis Proclaimed Association
Finding Harmony in Bible, Science, and History
www.genesisproclaimed.org
Received on Fri, 22 Jul 2005 12:17:48 -0400