The Flood Story in the Hebrew Bible

I'm slowly making my way through some Bible Project classes online because Tim Mackie is a fantastic teacher and BP has done be a great service by opening my eyes to the reality of the Biblical narrative and what it means for my life of faith in Jesus.

The second session is filled with great points and 10 minutes in I had to jot this one down...

A Quilt as History

Imagine your grandmother's grandmother made a quilt, and passed it down the family tree. In a sense, that quilt contains history that would pre-date you but would absolutely have meaning to you... However, you might look for meaning that was never intended to be present.

The pieces of the quilt have their own history - there will be material that might've been part of a dress, or curtains, or bedsheets, or anything else someone in the family tree found interesting and meaningful for the story they are telling with their quilt.

The question of what each of the pieces mean on their own, or in where they come from is interesting perhaps, but it's not the same question as asking what those pieces mean now that they have been curated into the family quilt... The creator(s) of the quilt may repurpose those pieces entirely, and it wouldn't be "right" for you or me to be upset that one piece of the quilt came from an article of clothing or cloth associated with something we might not like - the author (your grandma) repurposed it for that very reason, to change the meaning and communicate something to you, perhaps something totally different than what that cloth might've meant before it was added to the quilt.

Creation as a Quilt

The quilt is a curated piece of pieces of fabric - and to bring the metaphor home very abruptly, so is the Hebrew Bible... the authors of the Hebrew scripture absolutely repurposed stories and images that were present in their time and before, but not to make something that is a cheap copy, but to communicate the story of the actual God of gods, ruling over the world.

For example - the very beginning of the creationa ccount in Genesis 1 has the spirit of God hovering over the waters. Without getting into more details than a short write-up warrants, the waters in ancient thought represent chaos. Not only that, but there is an older creation account called the Enuma Elish where their savior god, Marduk, fights the chaos waters (Tiamat) and conquers her eventually... The thing about the Hebrew narrative is that Yahweh doesn't have to fight the waters... he subdues with his words because he isn't in tension with creation, or even with chaos, all things obey him and the chaos waters that other gods had to fight and die over are no different. So the meaning of the waters is somewhat consistent across lots of cultures, but Hebrews took the stories and in essence made them "more true", but at the very least made them relevant to the story they are/were communicating about the God of gods and Lord of love - that he is the creator of all things and invites us to partner with him (as his image-bearers).

Calm Down

A lot of Christians get upset or skiddish when other stories and cultures get brought up - as if the Bible had to fall from heaven in their favorite English translation... but in my opinion that is the silliest and cheapest view of the Word of God... he chose people out of foreign lands to make an inheritence for himself, his people, and those people tell his story using images that they know.

It's important for us to answer interesting questions but not lose sight of what's important... The Enuma Elish is an interesting piece, and there's parallels with the Hebrew bible, but the Hebrew creation account clearly communicates that Yahweh doesn't have to labor and fight for order, he speaks order into chaos. That lesson is wholly different from other creation narratives, but is it derivative of them...

That used to bother me, but understanding that the authors of the Bible, carried forth by the guidance of God's spirit, curated these stories and narratives for God's people to communicate the truest Truths about him and his love for people help me understand the reality of God partnering with humanity

• which starts in the Garden and is how Revelation ends