The Pentateuch: Noah and the Flood

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Welcome to Word of Life Study Series- The Pentateuch! The time of Noah and the flood is a bit of a mystery in the Scriptures. However, in the book of Genesis we do get a glimpse of what had transpired for approximately 1,656 years from Adam to Noah. Due to the long life spans leading up to Noah’s flood, it is speculated that as many as five billion people or more could have been alive at the time God sealed the door to Noah’s ark and the deluge came upon the earth. The life span of people was greatly reduced when capped to 120 years due to the effects of sinful human nature living so long on the earth.

1. The world before the Flood

So what was life like on the earth before Noah’s flood. What kind of people were they? When God had created Adam and Eve, he told them in Genesis 1:28, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.” The depravity was widespread. And it was inward, continual and habitual. God was forgotten or openly defied according to the Scriptures. It is generally believed that there were only two branches of the race of man. One, a godly line through Seth (third son of Adam and Eve), and the other, an ungodly line through Cain.

2. The Profile of a Giant

It was the purpose of Satan and his fallen angels to corrupt the human race and thereby do away with pure Adamite stock through whom the seed of the woman should come- Genesis 3:15. This would avert their own doom and make it possible for Satan and his kingdom to keep control of the planet earth indefinitely. This, he tried to accomplish by sending some of his fallen angels to marry the daughters of men in (Genesis 6:1-4), and produce a nation of giants through them.

3. The Ark and Deluge

Up to 1850 A.D. there was no ship in the history of the world as large as the ark. The capacity of the ark was equivalent in tonnage to more than 600 freight cars, which would form a train about 4 miles long capable of handling over 90,000,000 pounds. When the catastrophe came, the physical means employed were twofold, namely the breaking up of the “springs of the great deep” and the opening of “the flood gates of heaven” in Genesis 7:11.

4. God’s Covenant with Noah

God makes an everlasting covenant with all life on the earth to last throughout all generations; He will never again destroy all life on the earth by a flood. As a sign of this covenant, the presence of a rainbow appears for the first time and becomes a perpetual reminder for us and God that even though mankind is wicked and deserves to be wiped out, God will honor His covenant with humanity and will not destroy the earth with another flood.

5. Table of Nations

It is interesting to note that all races, colors, and distinct physical characteristics of men came into being after the flood. Since Noah and his three sons and their wives were the only survivors of the great deluge. Even though today we have many distinct ethnic groups, we must remember we all came from the same family tree!

6. Tower of Babel & Division of the Earth

In the 100 years after the flood, mankind traveled from Mt. Ararat in Armenia to the east of the Euphrates where they settled. The whole world at that time had one language. Humanity were not divided as to tongues and nations until after the event of Genesis 11:1-9. Hence, Genesis 10 gives the earliest division of mankind after the confusion of tongues and before the division of the earth into continents and islands which took place in the days of Peleg- Genesis 10:25.

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