Deconstructing Noah and the flood : Part One
What does the name Noah mean and why is that important to the Hebrew Bible’s flood account?
The anticipation of deconstructing this next story has been building for quite some time but now that I find myself here I can definitely feel the pressure mounting. I hope to provide something meaningful to you while also doing this portion of the text justice. So as we begin, let’s all remind ourselves of the easily missed, future nugget of hope found in Genesis 5:28-29. This is where we are told that Lamech had a son and he named him Noah, which means rest. Rest from the toiling work of their hands from the ground which was cursed. This is referencing the consequences for Adam’s disobedience after eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But remember, the ground was cursed, not Adam. So in my mind this is huge, why? Well I hate to overpromise or improperly translate by assuming but, does this mean the curse was reversed? Obviously we still see thorns and thistles today and it still is work to grow food but something changes… what might that be? You’ll have to stay on the edge of your seat for a little while longer as we make our way through a few chapters first.
I encourage you if it’s been a minute to read this story again for yourselves. This post (video) would be far too long if I read the whole thing to you. We are however going to deconstruct several portions of the text and we will touch on a few observations for you to consider.
Beginning in Genesis 6:11 here is our root word translation:
To decay earth to face god, to fill earth to be violent; to see god earth also to decay, that to decay all to be fresh to tread upon earth; to say god to Noah to cut off all to be fresh to come to face; that to fill earth to be violent to turn also decay earth.
To make ark to fasten to house in to set up to make ark; to cover a house to wall; to cover this which to make three hundred measure to be long; ark fifty measure to broaden; thirty measure to rise to shine; to make ark to measure to end to ascend; to open wide ark a side to put the bottom to repeat (a second time) third to make.
I also to come to flow water upon earth to decay all to be fresh which breath to live below the sky; all which earth to breath out/die.
To arise to select to come to ark you, sons woman, woman sons all to live all to be fresh. two all to come to ark to live to remember to designate to exist, fowls to portion out a part, beasts a part, of all to creep of the ground a part, of two all to come to live.
You take all to eat which to eat, to gather to exist to eat.
To do Noah all which to constitute god, to exist to set up to do.
Alright, not too bad, I think the flow of this text has been easier than other sections to read and to understand. Let’s consider for a moment the two bookends if you will of this section before we dive in deeper. The first being that we are told that the earth was in a state of decay and filled with violence. The root word used there for violence is hamas. Things were not good. And secondly, we see that Noah continues to be a man that is right. He did everything that God told him to do.
Next, I don’t want to skip over the size of the ark but it is also not my focus, whether or not cubits is the correct measurement, I don’t know but there was great care in explaining the construction so there must be some importance there. I know many argue about the size and the improbability but all I’m going to say is… umm hello, the pyramids. Obviously people from antiquity were capable of far more than we give them credit for.
The text then tells us about the animals and I want to point out that when they came to Noah, we see the different terms used again of zakar and naqab first, then is and issa later. Why, why use different terms for male and female. Is that what is really going on here? So for me I have come to the current understanding that zakar and naqab in fact do not mean male and female but rather their basic meanings of to remember and to designate and I do believe that this is significant. I have plans to do a recap video of everything we have deconstructed thus far because I have made some different observations since. At first I was only deconstructing the modern translation but now I am in the process of stripping everything down to the roots. So if that interests you please watch for that video coming soon.
Lastly they were told to take and to gather all which to eat. Now I have heard in other deconstructing videos that one of the reasons that the Hebrew Bible account of the flood is a myth, is because you couldn’t have all those creatures together in one place, they argue that they would most definitely eat one another. But I question how well they have actually read their Bible because in Genesis 1:29-30 it says that Adam was to eat the herb and tree that bears seed for food and that all beasts, fowl and creeping things, aka every creature alive, was to eat of the herb. Everything alive was an herbivore! Therefore there would be no problem when it comes to sustenance in the ark, having all of those creatures together, according to this account, they did not and would not eat one another. And guys this is such a big pet peeve of mine when I listen to other videos that I am going to say it again… the original design that was considered functional according to the Hebrew Bible was that every thing was an herbivore, at the beginning and on the ark, they did not eat one another! And that concludes chapter 6.
Chapter 7 begins:
To say to exist Noah to come you all house to ark that to see to be right to face to remain; this all beasts to be bright take (complete) seven/sevens male female, to apportion beasts which not bright it two male female, to gather birds sky seven sevens, to remember to designate to live to sow upon the face all earth; that days to repeat seven, I to rain upon earth forty days forty nights to wipe off all, to rise which to do upon the face of the ground. To do Noah all which constituted to exist.
Clearly there was some difference between bright and not bright creatures, which we will get to in part 2 but just make a mental note now that it wasn’t just 1 pair of every creature, of some there were seven pairs.
We are then given what appears to be Noah’s age but it’s also odd because the root word used here is ben, where so far every other occurrence of this word has been used to describe children. It says Noah ben six hundred years or (to repeat) to flow to exist waters upon earth. Hmm… I don’t know but again I just find it fascinating so I point it out.
Next the text says again how Noah’s family and all living creatures were to come to the ark and that in 7 days the waters would exist. We then see that they did all that god had constituted and he shut them in.
Following after this, the next several verses go into much detail about how the waters opened and rained of the flood and how the ark was raised up and how everything that was still on the earth breathed out or died.
Then we see that god zakar Noah and all that were in the ark, there’s that word again and clearly here it does in fact mean to remember and the waters stopped. After there is a going forth and returning to see if the earth was dry. I’m not convinced that he sent out a raven and then a dove but I’m also not sure how important this portion is to our understanding of the truth. I’ll work at a possible translation and you should be able to find that on our website soon.
God then tells Noah to go forth from the ark and that is where we will stop for today. Before we go though, what are some key takeaways from todays text? To my knowledge most people groups have some kind of flood account in their history. I also believe that scientifically there is evidence to support its possibility. Again we can’t know everything there is to know about our history and everything is essentially speculation, however it’s possible that the Hebrew Bible’s account is true.
I remember a few years back, my father in law was hunting in the mountains of Colorado and found a seashell amongst the rocks. One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn’t belong. So how do we explain it? It’s possible that it fell out of someone’s belongings while traversing the mountains however it is also possible that some kind of water event put it there. Interesting!
Next, we have shown how it was possible for all those creatures to have existed together, closed up in the ark and that they did not eat one another because they were all herbivores. This debunks one of the main arguments of others who claim that the Hebrew Bible account is mythological. Now it doesn’t answer where all the excrement went but I digress.
If in fact water did cover the face of the entire earth, it most definitely would have killed everything that has the breath of life or land creatures but it is possible that all who were in the ark were preserved.
And lastly, I know we haven’t explained yet the rest that was to come but join us next time for part 2, where we will explore what changed after the flood.