The Severity of the Flood

Genesis 7:13-24

“In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark; They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort. And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life. And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.” (Genesis 7:13-16)

Rather than depending on Noah to find two of every single creature, God caused them to come to Noah. As a result, instead of years trying to collect them all, Noah was able to get them all into the ark in a single day. Once they were all aboard, God shut the door and sealed it so it wouldn’t leak. For the next seven days, the ark sat there as a testimony of Noah’s faith. Anyone who wanted in could have been taken in through the window around the top, but no one came. It was their last chance.

Genesis 2:5-6 informs us, “…for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.” I am sure that the concept of rain had an unreal quality to people who had never seen rain, just as the concept of flash flood seems to people visiting the desert. They weren’t really concerned right up until the water began to fall, as Jesus described in Matthew 24:38-39. “For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away;…” I can only guess at the terror and shock when the water began to rise.

“And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth. And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. ” (Genesis 7:17-18)

If the rain only fell at the rate it sometimes falls in the rain forest, about thirty inches a day, That would make over a hundred feet of water in forty days. Within a week, even without the subterranean waters gushing out the flooding would have been severe. The rising waters launched the ark when they reached a depth of about fifteen cubits or twenty three feet.

“And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.” (Genesis 7:19-20)

With modern mountains over twenty thousand feet in height, is seems impossible for there to have been enough water to have completely submerged them. However, geology indicates that the mountains have been pushed much higher than they were originally. Less than a tenth as much water would be required if they were only about two thousand feet in elevation. Over pumping some aquifers has caused vast areas to subside a foot or more in modern times. To break up and empty them completely would probably cause far greater amounts of sinking, and the amount of water required may have been far less than we would assume. Such vast amounts of water rushing to the lowest areas would cause tremendous erosion, filling in low lying areas, decreasing the differences in elevation and further decreasing the amount of water required.

Flash flooding in our state occasionally traps and kills people and animals and washes our trees, burying them in sediment here in New Mexico after a rain of only an inch or two in a relatively small area. It is easy to understand how such a major downpour over such a sustained period could trap even fish and sea animals and leave the fossils we see today, as well as the large coal beds and oil reserves. Quickly trapped and compacted, the sediment could easily begin to harden even before the flesh began to decay. Large piles of wood or animal bodies would be compacted and eventually change to coal or oil. This process has been observed in the aftermath of the Mount St. Helens collapse. Eventually the water reached such a depth that the ark floated safely over even the highest mountains. That deposits of coal and oil are found under deep layers of sediment are not surprising since the plants and animals would be among the first things to be washed away.