Genesis 8
Flood dries up
Footnotes
This is a mountain range in what is now eastern Turkey.
Probably built out of stones found lying around.
These are animals many Bible translations describe as ritually clean—suitable for sacrifice to the holy God. They are also kosher to eat. Most animals were considered ritually unclean. According to the Laws of Moses, Jews were not allowed to sacrifice them to God.
Discussion Questions
- 1
“Noah’s boat came to a grinding halt somewhere in the Ararat mountain range” (8:4). For centuries, explorers have been scouring the tallest mountain there, Mount Ararat (about three miles high; 16,854 ft, 5,137 m). They’ve been looking for evidence of Noah’s Ark—with no verifiable success. What advice would you give explorers interested in finding evidence that the boat did exist?
- 2
Most Christians seem to accept the Flood story as it’s reported in the Bible, but other Christians say it sounds like the Flood story got exaggerated as it passed from generation to generation by word of mouth before anyone bothered to write it down. What do you think of the speculation that the Flood simply wiped out communities built alongside the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, since archaeologists confirm that flooding did devastate riverside cities thousands of years ago?
- 3
The Iraqi flood story from the Epic of Gilgamesh said the survivor’s boat ran aground on Mount Nisir, about 300 miles (483 km) south of Mount Ararat, and about 20 miles (32 km) from a couple of rivers that branch off the Tigris River. Kurdish people live there today. From a logistics standpoint, that mountain might seem like a far more likely landing spot for a boat that started somewhere in the Tigris and Euphrates River Valley. How much does it matter to you that the anonymous writer of Genesis got the mountain range right?
- 4
LIFE APPLICATION. Many of these early stories in Genesis are especially difficult for new Christians to believe. Which piece of advice do you think would best help Bible newcomers approach these stories?
- It’s in the Bible. So just believe it. You don’t have to understand it.
- Put the stories into a pending file. You don’t have to figure it all out right now, if ever.
- Drop and give me 100 push-ups. We’ll see if you believe after that.