Week 4: Genesis 6:9-22

Week 4: Genesis 6:9-22

At A Glance:

Author: Moses or "P"

Form: Ancient Flood Story

Themes: The complete corruption of the earth.  Noah's righteousness amid corruption.  The incompatibility between God's goodness and human sin.  

Summary:  This section is the introduction to the story of the great flood that reaches its conclusion in Gen 9:17.  Here God ("Elohim" in Hebrew) sees the corruption of the earth and declares his plans to destroy it.  He selects the singular righteous man and his family to save.  He commands Noah to build an ark and Noah carries out all the commands of God.

Commentary

6:9-9:17 - This section of Genesis is called often called "The Flood and the Renewed Blessing".  It surrounds the destruction of all living things except the one righteous man and his family.  The historicity of the flood account is often questioned.  We do know that there are many ancient accounts of a great flood indicating that there is a memory of an actual event.  In any case the greatest truths about the flood account are theological and not merely historical.  The flood account is a masterful literary work.  Highlighting Noah's righteousness and God's fidelity to save Noah and his family from a world of sin and death.  It also includes the second major covenant of the Old Testament that we will cover as the blessings and mandates arise.  The flood story has a chiastic or sandwich structure described below:

          A.  Lawlessness in God's Creation (6:11-12)

                    B.  1st Divine Address: Destroy (6:13-22)

                              C.  2nd Divine Address: Enter the Ark (7:1-10)

                                        D.  Beginning of the  flood (7:11-16)

                                                  E.  Rising of the flood waters (7:17-23)

                                                            F.  GOD REMEMBERS NOAH

                                                  E.  Receding of the flood waters (7:24-8:5)

                                        D.  Drying of the Earth (8:6-14)

                              C.  3rd Divine Address: Leave the Ark (8:15-19)

                    B: God's resolve to preserve order (8:20-22)

          A.  4th Divine Address: Covenant blessing and Peace (9:1-17)

The center of this sandwich is Gen 8:1 "God remembered Noah" all the parts point to this relationship indicating that the purpose of the flood story is not the fear of God's destructive power, but rather the mercy and fidelity God has to the human race regardless of our destructive power.

6:9-10 - Noah as we have seen is the 10th generation from Adam in the line of Seth and here he is listed as good, blameless, and he is portrayed as walking with God (Like Enoch before him).  This is placed in stark contrast to the rest of humanity mentioned in v5 where "every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually".  It will be Noah's character and fidelity to God's commands that will bring salvation for the human race. 

6:11-13 - The first Divine address begins with God's plan to destroy the earth.  The description of the earth as corrupt and full of lawlessness in v11 is used again through the mouth of God in v13 indicating that the destruction God is bringing is only a completion of the destruction that humanity has already begun. 

6:14 - God's command to Noah to build an Ark follows the divine command to destroy once again emphasizing God's fidelity to the human race.  Destruction will not be the last word.

6:15-16 - The building of the ark and its three sections is temple imagery.  The temple can be traditionally broken down into three sections: The Outer Court, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies. 

6:18 - This is the first use of the word "covenant" in scripture but as mentioned before it is actually a renewal of the Adamic Covenant that was broken in Genesis 3.  (See commentary on Gn 2:16-17)

6:19-21 - God's command to bring two of each animal into the boat models Gen 1:1-31 and the use of the language "according to its kind" implies procreation. 

6:22 - Like Moses in Exodus 40 Noah follows all of God's instructions to build the temple ark that will save him and his family from death and be the foundation of the covenant that God will create with him.

Final Thoughts

          Many see the story of Noah's ark as God's wrath taken out against sin, but rather I see it as a story of God's mercy.  All of creation had become evil and impenitent what would the fate of the one righteous man and his family be?  Should God allow them to suffer at the hands of evil humanity?  It seems to me that God shows great mercy to Noah and God shows great love for humanity in his choice to preserve it even though we constantly choose sin over him.

          Noah's ark is a foreshadowing of our salvation through Jesus in the waters of baptism.  The ark itself is an image of the Church made of wood and saved through water.  St. Augustine points out that it is the wood of the cross and the waters of baptism by which we are saved.  God's flood waters still wash away our sins today through the ark that is the Church. 

          Outside the awe and unity I recognize in Sacred Scripture through these verse I also feel a sense of responsibility.  I've recently read Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si and feel challenged by it.  I do not believe that it is coincidence that I read the encyclical on the environment while I am reading how "all mortals corrupted their ways on the earth" (Gn 6:12).  I'm learning to become more aware of my consumption and my waste.  I'm slowing beginning to discover what God really intended in the Original Justice of Genesis 1 & 2, and what this state has to do with our relationship with God.  We are not caring for God's creation simply because God commanded us to, or because that is what it means to be a good steward of God's creation.  Pope Francis puts it best:

The human person grows more, matures more and is sanctified more to the extent that he or she enters into relationships, going out from themselves to live in communion with God, with others and with all creatures. In this way, they make their own that trinitarian dynamism which God imprinted in them when they were created. (Laudato Si, 240)

Please feel free to add your insights and comments…