Undoing Creation (6:14-7:24)

2. Undoing Creation (6:14-7:24)Noah was given instructions for constructing a waterproof vessel in which to house his immediate family, along with a sample of animal life. After they entered the ark the springs of the deep burst open and the floodgates of heaven broke wide. This is the reverse of the separation of the waters in chapter 1. The flood rose over the earth killing everything that was not in the ark.
    The waters rose so high they covered even the loftiest mountain by fifteen cubits (about forty-five feet). A number of Mesopotamian cities give evidence of ancient flooding caused by the overflow of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. But there is no archaeological evidence for a worldwide flood. The biblical flood account probably derives from the memory of a local disaster.

Flood Archaeology. There is no evidence of a widespread flood in Palestine, but that does not pose a problem. The flood account locates itself in Mesopotamia with the resting place of Noah's ark in the Urartu mountain range (see Figure 1.8). Ancient Shuruppak, where Utnapishtim lived (the survivor of the Gilgamesh Epic flood), as well as Ur, Kish, Uruk, Lagash, and Nineveh all present evidence of flooding. But the evidence comes from different times. See Parrot (1955).