The Flood

"The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. "Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. "And this is how you shall make it" - Genesis 6

The Old Testament - A Brief Overview

The Flood

Gen 6:5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Gen 6:11-15 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. "Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. "And this is how you shall make it . . ."

The earth had become completely corrupt so God sent a great flood to punish sinful mankind but He would not break His promise to redeem man so He preserved the lives of Noah and His family as well as two of every kind of living creature in an ark (a large wooden ship).

Gen 7:13-16 On the very same day Noah and Noah's sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark - they and every beast after its kind, all cattle after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. And they went into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life. So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the LORD shut him in.

The Ark was about 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. It had three decks and was divided into compartments. Calculations have been made estimating that there was room in the Ark for 7000 species of animals.

Gen 7:11-12 . . . on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.

The flood covered the entire world. After a period of 150 days the Ark rested on Mt. Ararat (17,000 ft.) 200 miles North of the ancient city of Nineveh.

Before the flood there was kind of a vapor canopy that enveloped the whole earth which preserved it in probably a tropical atmosphere so that people were recorded as living up to ages of 900 - 950 years, but when the upper waters were released upon the earth, lifespans were decreased and the physical characteristics of the world changed dramatically. After the flood, God put the fear of man on the animals, and gave man permission to eat animals for food. God commanded the death penalty for murder and ordered that men establish a form of justice.

Gen 9:6 "Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God he made man.

God also put a rainbow in the sky to be a constant reminder that He would never destroy the world again by water. Yet right after the flood, Noah's son, Ham, sinned against God by showing disrespect to his father, Noah (Gen 9) and Noah cursed Ham's son, Canaan, why we are not told. Then God spoke through Noah again and prophesied about his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth and also that the Messiah would come through Shem's family, and Japheth's family would share in that salvation.