The flood was a punishment that fit the crime of humanity destroying the natural order God had put in place. God had brought order from chaos during creation, and the flood reversed this, returning the world to its original chaotic state. Even man's creation from dust and the breath of life was undone, as all living beings with the breath of life died.

God created the heavens and the earth as “good.” Clines argues (from Genesis 6) that the reason the flood was sent was that instead of following God’s way, all of creation was instead destroying the earth by rebelling against God’s way.

Part I

There are ancient-flood-sent-by-the-gods stories that we find all over the world. David Clines argues that generally these stories depict three different reasons for the sending of the flood. How is the Noah story from the Bible the same, and how is it different?