Journal: Southern Baptist Journal of Theology
Volume: SBJT 05:3 (Fall 2001)
Article: The Genesis Flood
Author: Mark F. Rooker

SBJT 5:3 (Fall 2001) p. 58

The Genesis Flood

Mark F. Rooker

Mark F. Rooker is Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He previously taught at Criswell College and Dallas Theological Seminary. Dr. Rooker is the author of numerous articles and books. His most recent work is a commentary on Leviticus in the New American Commentary Series.

Introduction

History of Flood Accounts in the Ancient World

The memory of a massive deluge of water is attested in many distinct and varied cultures of the world. Accounts of the occurrence of a great flood has been found in Greece, Mesopotamia, Australia, India, Malaya, Polynesia, China, Japan, and among the cultures of the Western Hemisphere. In all there are sixty-eight different legends of a massive flood.1 No other event in biblical history has as much extra-biblical attestation.

The flood stories that most closely resemble the biblical narrative come from southern Mesopotamia. Three distinct legends have been discovered. The best known is the Gilgamesh Epic, which relates how a certain Utnapishtim2 was arbitrarily chosen and warned of a coming deluge. Some scholars associated with the Comparative Religion School have not only attempted to link the Mesopotamian and biblical floods but have also suggested that the Genesis account is dependent on the Mesopotamian prototypes.

Indeed, the shared details between the Mesopotamian stories and the Genesis narrative are striking. They share the following features: (1) only one man is warned of the coming deluge and instructed to build a vessel; (2) the water vessels are lined with pitch for insulation (Heb. koper; Akk. kupru); (3) the chosen man is commanded what he is to bring into his boat; (4) specific mention is made of closing the door of the boat; (5) the deluge exterminated both man and beast; (6) mountains appear before the flood waters begin to abate; (7) the boat lands on top of a mountain; (8) birds are released from the opening of a window; and (9) sacrifices are offered after the flood is over.3

Attempts to relate the accounts, however, have not produced a consensus, and claims of direct literary dependence have been largely abandoned. As G. von Rad stated in 1972: “Today, forty years after the height of the Babel-Bible controversy, the dossier on the relation of the biblical tradition to the Babylonian story of the Flood as it is in the Gilgamesh Epic is more or less closed. A direct dependence of the biblical tradition on the Babylonian is no longer assumed.”You must have a subscription and be logged in to read the entire article.
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