What a difference a year can make! Part 1

by Clint Bishard

Jesus Created Ministries

            Have you ever thought back on a particular year in your life and reflected on how significant that one specific year was?  Well, Noah sure did!  As a result, he gave us a lot of detail for a significant year of his life - that is, the year of the Flood.  In fact, I believe no other year in the Old Testament (almost 4000 years of history!) is better chronicled than the year of the Flood.  Specifically, Genesis 7:1 to 8:19 provides the chronicled account.

Note: I take the view that Moses was compiling the various ancient accounts passed down from Noah and others in the book of Genesis.  This view is supported by the use of the Hebrew word transliterated as toledoth (Gen 6:9 – translated as account, history, or genealogy by various versions).  The word toledoth in Genesis appears to be a signpost for the start of the various accounts Moses was compiling.  Also, the explicit details given for the Flood account seem more natural as the recordings of an eyewitness than something God detailed for Moses after the exodus concerning what Noah went through.  However, God directly dictating the account to Moses would clearly still be an acceptable view that upholds the inerrancy of the Scriptures.  Either way, God specifically wanted us to have the details.

            So why did God want us to have this explicitly detailed and chronicled account of the Flood?  Maybe it was to make crystal clear the seriousness of God’s judgment on sin and to ground the event of the Flood in real earth history.  Both of these messages are important today given our culture that rejects this past judgment, no longer fears the coming judgment, and a church that is trying to turn the global Flood into a local Mesopotamian event.  Therefore, let us take a couple of weeks to analyze this most amazing year in the life of Noah, beginning next week with a look at Genesis 7:1.