The flood, creation and life: what went wrong
Part 2
Hey! This is my second post summarizing an article by David Clines about the theology of the flood narrative.1 I am summarizing the article because I think it shows how the Genesis 1–3 stories about creation and the Genesis 6–9 flood stories are related: The flood is the “uncreation” of what God had put into place in Genesis 1–3. Because I was looking at the creation stories and tracing breath/wind of God and how the Bible presents this as related to life, the stories of when God took away life are also important for understanding God’s relationship to life. Stick with me!
OK, so, in my previous post, Clines looked at how there are flood narratives all over the world, but each story has a different interpretation of the flood. He thinks that the flood story in Genesis sets itself apart from other stories because 1. It clearly understands the flood to be sent because of God’s judgement of the world’s morality, and 2. the story focuses on God instead of the clever human who manages to stay alive despite God’s judgement. Basically, the biblical flood story is about God and his relationship to his creation. So let’s go back to my summary:
The sin of the generation of the flood
What is the sin the biblical Noah story identifies as the reason for the flood? Clines focuses on passages from the flood story to help us understand the problem:
Now the earth was destroyed before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw that the earth was ruined [same word for destroyed]; for all flesh had corrupted [same word for destroyed] its ways upon the earth (Genesis 6:11–12).
Clines focuses on how Genesis 6:11 says that the earth was “destroyed before God” noting that this is a strong contrast from “And God saw that [the earth and sky] were good” (Genesis 1:10). The earth was “corrupted by all flesh.” Clines thinks that “all flesh” is not just referring to people, but also to the animals as being culpable for the intentional destruction of the earth. Clines argues that there was a “natural order to life” prescribed by God and all of creation was not living according to it. All flesh had rebelled against the natural order that God had put into place.2
Examples of the accusations found in these verses are demonstrated by the stories that come before them in the Bible. Clines focuses on the word “violence” which he argues is used in the Bible to mean “a violent breach of just order.” We see this breach in the stories of Lamach and Cain. Lamach murders a young man for hurting him - taking vengeance into his own hands. This murder was unjust because it was not a life for a life, but rather a life for an injury (Genesis 4:19–24). Cain does violence to his brother by killing him and Abel’s blood cries out to God for justice from the ground. By spilling his brother’s blood, Cain takes into his own hands something that only belongs to God - a person’s life (Genesis 4:1–4:16).</p>
So where does this leave us in the argument? God created the heavens and the earth as “good.” Instead of following God’s way, all of creation is instead destroying the earth by rebelling against God’s way.
Take a big step back with me. Why am I looking at all of this? Well, I want to see how the Bible depicts God’s and human’s relationship to his creation. “And why do I care about a relationship to creation?” you might ask. Well, in answer to your question, I guess it's because I want to try to understand the connection that I feel to God’s creation: its ability to bring peace and healing and the wonder that it gives when learning about the complexities of the systems of the universe. Plus, I really enjoy analyzing the biblical stories (hehe). I’m bringing you, dear reader, along as I explore. 😀
In my next post, we will look at how Clines argues that the “punishment” of the flood is just a fulfillment of what creation was already doing: destroying the earth.
