Chapter 8: The Flood Subsides
After the rain, God suddenly remembered Noah and his animals and passes a wind across the Earth to counteract all that water. The water steadily decreases and five months after all this started, the ark comes to rest in a mountain range in the area of Ararat. Contrary to popular belief, there is no
After 40 days, Noah opened the window and sent forth the raven. It “flew here and there until the water was dried up from the earth.” Considering that’s months away, it’s a pretty impressive feat of endurance. He then sends out a dove but it returned as it found no place to land. Noah waited another seven days and sent out the dove again; this time it returned with a fresh olive leaf in its beak. This is surprising given that no olive tree could survive several months under water. Further, the common olive (Olea europaea) can take several months to germinate even in the most optimal circumstances. Add to this the fact that the olive is not a mountain-dwelling plant so the waters must have receded at an incredible pace for there to be an olive leaf available even if it plucked a new sapling tree from the ground.
Noah waited another seven days and sent the dove again. This time it did not return. Deciding after very nearly a year in the ark that it was safe to come out, Noah removes the covering of the ark and at exactly a year from the time they entered the ark the earth is declared dry again. God speaks to Noah and tells him to get out of the ark and bring all the animals forth to repopulate the earth. This is, of course, impossible. Two individuals from a species cannot repopulate the earth for very specific genetic reasons.
After bringing out the animals, Noah builds an altar to the Lord. Then he takes some the extra “clean” animals that the lord commanded him to save in chapter seven, slit their throats and burned their corpses on the altar as an offering to God. It’s funny, I never heard about any of that in Sunday school or those made-for-TV-movies about Genesis. If a person did this today, they would be thrown in jail or burned as a witch. This is exactly the sort of behavior that modern society ascribes to devil-worshipers. God “smelled the soothing aroma” and promised to never again curse the ground because of the acts of man. He goes on to say that “the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth.”
Frankly, I’m appalled at this chapter. Noah murders animals and burns their corpses and God looks on in apparent glee. Further, he goes on to say directly that man, who he created, is evil from his first days on earth. Any entity that looks at a baby and sees evil yet rejoices in the smell of burning corpses is, frankly, sick. Luckily, for the people who subscribe to this doctrine, all this has been revised and expunged from popular perception of the Bible.
4 comments:
When Fundamentalists read the Bible they impose their modern or post-modern mindset on a pre-scientific document. Unfortunately, you're doing the same thing. Maybe you could try to imagine that the text that you're reading has nothing to do with the religion that's left such a bad taste in your mouth. I'm sure you wouldn't have such an emotional reaction to The Epic of Gilgamesh or The Iliad.
Your revulsion at the idea of animal sacrifice has more to do with your being raised in this culture which still has a sentimental attachment to Christian morality (when it doesn't get in the way of a good time). In the culture in which this passage was written (and in some cultures in the world today) animal sacrifices seem like the natural thing to do.
Right, right, right... I agree completely. We can't take a 20th century context and slap it on something written... well, who knows when... and say "This is horrible, I won't read it." I'm not going to fail to read the Bible because it doesn't agree with 20th century morality (is there really such a thing?) but I feel forced to point out that this isn't just another book. This is a book that a lot of people build their whole lives around, their 20th century lives, so ignoring these huge moral icebergs seems like an inappropriate omission. Is this the infallible word of God or not? If God is perfect then he/she must also be immutable and therefore the same as he was during the writing of the Old Testament. This is probably one of the oldest Biblical arguments ever but I’ve never heard it properly put so I’m forced to rehash the same old song.
No, the Bible isn't just another book. People think they build their lives around it, when in fact they build their lives around their UNDERSTANDING of the book. So it seems to be a good idea to understand what the book is really saying and leave the whole Fundamentalist/Anti-Fundamentalist dichotomy behind as these are 20th century categories imposed on a very old document (or collection of documents). A good first step might be to read the Bible with a good commentary or couple of good commentaries that help you understand BC culture and get into the mind of some old, dead Hebrews. I've found the Anchor Bible series helpful in this regard. Each book provides a new translation of a book or books of the Bible along with commentary. (It should be available at your local library or IUPUI.) Perhaps there are better starting points, but I too curse my mortal coil for giving me a finite amount of time to read.
I'm curious. What aspect of God do you see as having changed between Old and New Testaments?
Found this list at Amazon, and not a Fundamentalist in sight.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/listmania/fullview/1IOYKHBNCTG4F/002-5991619-7730462?%5Fencoding=UTF8
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