Details of the Flood Story: Genesis 6-9

Noah and the Ark is a rich and vivid tale. having gone through the story as a whole, I'd like to take a look at a few of the details.

There are quite a few significant numbers here. Noah is given 7 days warning before the flood. The rain falls for 40 days and nights, and Noah is 600 years old. Numbers have a great deal of symbolism in the scriptures, and knowing that symbolism can help us understand the story in more depth.

The number 7 showed up in the story of creation, and every time it reappears it reminds us of that story. Seven in Hebrew is "sheh'bah" which comes from the a root word meaning "fullness" or "completion." It shows up many times in the Bible and is also the root of our word "sabbath." Whenever we see this, it signifies that something has reached completion. When it shows up in this story it makes us see this is more than a story of a flood; it is the story of God creating over again.

The number 40 is symbolic of a very long time. It shows up in many stories where a person or group of people are preparing for some new beginning. The people of Israel wandered for 40 years before crossing into the Promised Land, Moses stayed on Mt. Sinai for 40 days before receiving the 10 Commandments, Jesus spent 40 days and nights in the wilderness before beginning his ministry. Like the number 7, the 40 days and nights here reminds us that is the story of a new beginning.

The number 600 is not very common in the Bible, but it is 50 x 12 and multiples of 12 have their own symbolism. The number 12 is found in nature as the number of months in a year. It is a number of wholeness. In the Old Testament it represents the people of Israel, in the New Testament, the followers of Jesus.

This story is the first to use the term "covenent" in the Bible. This is an idea that we will see again throughout the scriptures. Here it is not an agreement between God and a chosen people but between God and all of creation.

God offers a rainbow as the sign of the covenant. This is a beautiful symbol cherished by people of faith to this day but it had even more meaning when it was written.

The composite bow was an important weapon in ancient times. Craftsmen would layer different materials like wood, horn, and sinew (animal tendons) to make a bow that was much stronger and more flexible than one made only of wood. If you look at a cross-section of the bow you see that the materials forned layers, like the bands of color in a rainbow.

In the imagination of the ancient Hebrews, the rainbow was God's weapon, a composite bow of miraculous size and beauty. By placing it in the clouds, God was symbolically laying down his arms and proclaiming peace with the world.