Parable of the Flood

Introduction

Stories about great floods are common throughout world cultures. The story of a flood that consumes the earth, in which humans save animal life from extinction with a boat, is almost universal in world legends. These stories have been documented in Mesopotamia, Greece, Europe, Africa, India, Australia, and the Americas. Many of these stories are remarkably similar. Probably the most popular, that of Noah and the ark, is documented in the Torah, the Bible, and the Koran. A comparable version is the legend of Utnapishtim (Assyrian), recorded in the Legend of Gilgamesh, which predates the Torah by more than a thousand years. The Maasai legend of Tumbainot, is another similar legend.

As we seek the underlying meaning of these legends, we are drawn to the conclusion that this is a story about preservation. Noah was only nine generations removed from Adam, whose mandate was to ‘tend the garden,’ or the earth that was his home. From this message of preservation comes the idea of stewardship - the moral responsibility to be a good caretaker of the environment.

Legend Summaries:

Assyrian (Mesapotamia): The gods, led by Enlil, agreed to cleanse the earth of an overpopulated humanity, but Utnapishtim was warned by the god Ea in a dream. He and some craftsmen built a large boat (one acre in area, seven decks) in a week. He then loaded it with his family, the craftsmen, and "the seed of all living creatures." The waters of the abyss rose up, and it stormed for six days. Even the gods were frightened by the flood's fury. Upon seeing all the people killed, the gods repented and wept. The waters covered everything but the top of the mountain Nisir, where the boat landed. Seven days later, Utnapishtim released a dove, but it returned finding nowhere else to land. He next released a sparrow, which also returned, and then a raven, which did not return. Thus, he knew the waters had receded enough for the people to emerge. Utnapishtim made a sacrifice to the gods. He and his wife were given immortality and lived at the end of the earth.1

Greek: The first race of people was destroyed because they were exceedingly wicked. The fountains of the deep opened, the rain fell in torrents, and the rivers and seas rose to cover the earth, killing all of them. Deucalion survived due to his prudence and piety and linked the first and second race of men. Onto a great ark, he loaded his wives and children and all animals. The animals came to him, and by God's help, remained friendly for the duration of the flood. The flood ended when water drained down a chasm opened in Hierapolis.1

Hebrew: God, upset at mankind's wickedness, resolved to destroy it, but Noah was righteous and found favor with Him. God told Noah to build an ark, 450 x 75 x 45 feet, with three decks. Noah did so, and took aboard his family (8 people in all) and pairs of all kinds of animals (7 of the clean ones). For 40 days and nights, floodwaters came from the heavens and from the deeps, until the highest mountains were covered. The waters flooded the earth for 150 days; then God sent a wind and the waters receded, and the ark came to rest in Ararat. After 40 days, Noah sent out a raven, which kept flying until the waters had dried up. He next sent out a dove, which returned without finding a perch. A week later he set out the dove again, and it returned with an olive leaf. The next week, the dove didn't return. After a year and 10 days from the start of the flood, everyone and everything emerged from the ark. Noah sacrificed some clean animals and birds to God, and God, pleased with this, promised never again to destroy all living creatures with a flood, giving the rainbow as a sign of this covenant.3

Hindu (India): Manu and Matsya: The legend first appears in Shatapatha Brahmana (700–300 BCE), and is further detailed in Matsya Purana (250–500 CE). Matsya (the incarnation of Lord Vishnu as a fish) forewarns Manu (a human) about an impending catastrophic flood and orders him to collect all the grains of the world in a boat; in some forms of the story, all living creatures are also to be preserved in the boat. When the flood destroys the world, Manu – in some versions accompanied by the seven great sages – survives by boarding the ark, which Matsya pulls to safety.2

Islamic: Allah sent Nuh to warn the people to serve none but Allah, but most of them would not listen. They challenged Nuh to make good his threats and mocked him when, under Allah's inspiration, he built a ship. Allah told Nuh not to speak to Him on behalf of wrongdoers; they would be drowned. In time, water gushed from underground and fell from the sky. Nuh loaded onto his ship pairs of all kinds, his household, and those few who believed. One of Nuh's sons didn't believe and said he would seek safety in the mountains. He was among the drowned. The ship sailed amid great waves. Allah commanded the earth to swallow the water and the sky to clear, and the ship came to rest on Al-Judi. Nuh complained to Allah for taking his son. Allah admonished that the son was an evildoer and not of Nuh's household, and Nuh prayed for forgiveness. Allah told Nuh to go with blessings on him and on some nations that will arise from those with him.1

Maasai (Africa): Tumbainot, a righteous man, had a wife named Naipande and three sons, Oshomo, Bartimaro, and Barmao. When his brother Lengerni died, Tumbainot, according to custom, married the widow Nahaba-logunja, who bore him three more sons, but they argued about her refusal to give him a drink of milk in the evening, and she set up her own homestead. The world was heavily populated in those days, but the people were sinful and not mindful of God. However, they refrained from murder, until at last a man named Nambija hit another named Suage on the head. At this, God resolved to destroy mankind, except Tumbainot who found grace in His eyes. God commanded Tumbainot to build an ark of wood and enter it with his two wives, six sons and their wives, and some of animals of every sort. When they were all aboard and provisioned, God caused a great long rain, which caused a flood, and all other men and beasts drowned. The ark drifted for a long time, and provisions began to run low. The rain finally stopped, and Tumbainot let loose a dove to ascertain the state of the flood. The dove returned tired, so Tumbainot knew it had found no place to rest. Several days later, he released a vulture, but first he attached an arrow to one of its tail feathers so that, if the bird landed, the arrow would hook on something and be lost. The vulture returned that evening without the arrow, so Tumbainot reasoned that it must have landed on carrion, and that the flood was receding. When the water ran away, the ark grounded on the steppe, and its occupants disembarked. Tumbainot saw four rainbows, one in each quarter of the sky, signifying that God's wrath was over.1

Sumerian: The gods had decided to destroy mankind. The god Enlil warned the priest- king Ziusudra ("Long of Life") of the coming flood by speaking to a wall while Ziusudra listened at the side. He was instructed to build a great ship and carry beasts and birds upon it. Violent winds came, and a flood of rain covered the earth for seven days and nights. Then Ziusudra opened a window in the large boat, allowing sunlight to enter, and he prostrated himself before the sun-god Utu. After landing, he sacrificed a sheep and an ox and bowed before Anu and Enlil. For protecting the animals and the seed of mankind, he was granted eternal life and taken to the country of Dilmun, where the sun rises.1

Trique (Oaxaca, southern Mexico): Nexquiriac sent down a great flood to punish mankind for its very wicked ways. He instructed one good man to make a large box and to preserve himself in it, along with many animals and seeds of certain plants. When the flood was almost over, Nexquiriac told the man not to come out, but to bury the box, along with himself, until the face of the earth had been burned. After that was done, the man emerged and repopulated the earth.1

1 http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html 2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_flood_myths 3 http://www.crystalinks.com/floodstories.html

Resources

Carr, Cindy. (April 25, 2014). ‘Noah’ panelists address connection between faith and the environment. In Sierra Club.org blog. Retrieved from http://blogs.sierraclub.org/compass/2014/04/the-panelists-from-left-to-right-jack-jenkins- michael-brune-danielle-baussan-darren-aronofsky-ari-handel-and-chris-mo.html

Flood Myth. (n.d.). In Brittanica Online. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/topic/flood-myth

Flood Myths. (n.d.). In National Geographic, online. Retrieved from http://education.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/flood/

Flood Stories. (n.d.). In Crystal Links. Retrieved from http://www.crystalinks.com/floodstories.html, Harris, Angela Kay (2006).

Flood Myths in the Religions of the Ancient World. In Academia.edu. Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/1427821/Flood_Myths_in_the_Religions_of_the_Ancient_W orld

Isaak, Mark (2002). Flood Stories from Around the World. In The Talk Origins Archive. Retrieved from http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html

JBA Martin. (2015, Apr 1). Noah. Retrieved from http://peopleplanetprophet.com/2015/04/01/noah/#more-389

List of Flood Myths. (n.d.). In Wikipedia, online. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_flood_myths

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