"God gave Noah the rainbow sign, No more water, the fire next time!"
- The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin
In another Card Talk about Noah’s story, we ask the questions What do we do with a silent God who kills His creation? and What do we do when a supposedly righteous man remains silent?
We also discuss the Documentary Hypothesis, and how Genesis 6-9 is a narrative composed/redacted from a least two distinct sources. However, whether we separate the narrative into its source material, or read it as one (sort of) unified whole, there is one fact that should remain salient:
This story is not about Noah or humanity. It is a story about God.
God is the main actor. Noah, his wife and kids, the marching Ark animals, and all the bloated, floating bodies that do not make it on the Ark, are all crappy extras struggling for a little more screen time. And oxygen.
To see this clearly we need to delete our fond (or not so fond) Sunday School memories, Bible videos, picture books, flannel graph, Grandparent-versions of the story. When we do, we see that Noah is not the hero of the story. He’s certainly not the protagonist: the character whose actions and struggle we are concerned with. When we read the text, when we simply count the verbs associated with Noah, we see he doesn’t do much.
A List of what Noah Does in the Story
Before the flood
Noah had sex at least three times, since he has three sons (6:10).
Noah blindly, mindlessly, did exactly what God told him to do (6:22; 7:5-9, 13-16). Think that’s harsh? Read it. There is no initiative on Noah’s part. The text explicitly holds that God said something and Noah did that exact thing. It shows Noah's faithfulness, but it does not an interesting narrative make.
During the flood
Noah opened a window on the Ark and performed the famous bird tests (8:6-14).
Noah exits the Ark after God tells him to (8:18-19).
After the flood
Noah makes an altar for sacrifices (8:20).
Notice: The text contains no narrative details about building the Ark; No explanation to his sons about their mission; No arguments with his wife about what this all means for their lives; No scenes about the growing, harvesting, or purchasing food for the journey; No moments of mockery from his neighbors; No preaching to them about the impending doom; No comical gathering of the animals; No record of his inner turmoil, doubt, prayer, strength, or even stalwart faith. None of the things included in Sunday School, sermons, and movies. Noah is an empty suit, a caricature of faith. We get more pathos from Abraham before he sacrifices his son (but just barely).
Noah is not the hero of this story.
He is not the protagonist.
God is.
God as Protagonist: A List of what God Does in the Story
God is the primary actor whose struggle is the focus of this drama. The most obvious example of this: God is the only one with any lines: God's the only one who speaks in the narrative. (Never noticed that, did you?) Beyond this, compare God’s verbs (actions) in the story to Noah's:
God looks at the world, says He is sick of our shit, and determines that in 120 years, He will hit reset with the Flood (6:1-13) [See the "Excurus on Methuselah" at the end].
God considers Noah as worthy of saving (6:8-9).
God commands the building of the ark and makes covenant with Noah (6:12-21).
God sends the animals and gets Noah's family on the Ark (7:1-9).
God sends the Flood waters (6:13, 17; 7:4-12,17-20, 23).
God shuts the door of the Ark (7:16) (Yeah, Noah can't even be trusted to handle that).
God commits genocide (7:21-23) (Think that's harsh? Read the language of the verse).
God remembers Noah and animals on the Ark (8:1a) [Bible nerd note: This whole story is a chiasm, and verse 8 is the X. There are numerous ways this narrative can be chiastically rendered, but they all meet at this verse).
God's holy spirit/breath (ruah) blows across the water, causing it to recede (8:1b).
God tells everyone to get off the Ark (8:15-17).
God uses two completely different symbols to promise that the flood won’t happen again (because there are two different sources braided together).
In 8:21-22 (J-Source), God presents the consistency of the seasons as the promise-sign
In 9:1-17 (P-source), God presents the famous rainbow as the promise-sign. God has hung up His bow (as in 'bow and arrow'), and will not again pierce the ra'quia, the boundary established in Genesis 1:6-7 to keep out the primordial waters of chaos (Again, see the "Excursus on Methuselah" at the end for more on the rainbow).
God did All of this.
God is the main actor in the story. It is God's inner life we are asked to examine, not Noah's.
What’s more, the story ends with a not too subtle threat in the form of a promise. Baldwin understood this. So did the writer of Second Peter
This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you; in them I am trying to arouse your sincere intention by reminding you that you should remember the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken through your apostles. First of all you must understand this, that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and indulging their own lusts and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since our ancestors died, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation!” They deliberately ignore this fact, that by the word of God heavens existed long ago and an earth was formed out of water and by means of water, through which the world of that time was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire, being kept until the Day of Judgment and destruction of the godless. ~ 2 Peter 3:1-7
God’s promise is not that He won’t DESTROY the world again, only that it won’t be with water.
Fire and Ice
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
- Robert Frost
Why the Flood: Returning to The Beginning
Many scholars have noted that the flood narrative is an inverted version of the creation narrative of Genesis chapter 1, another story where God is the protagonist. We will leave it to others to belabor the numerous ways the flood narrative is a negation of the creation narrative (beyond the obvious God made everything / God destroys everything) and focus on the why of it all.
Once creation was completed, "God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day" (Genesis 1:31). Previous to this, "the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters...And then God said, Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters...And then God said, Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear. And it was so" (Gen 1:1-2; 6; 9).
This bracketing of the primordial waters of chaos is exactly what God was referring to when He begins to rip Job a new one:
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
...who shut in the sea with doors
when it burst out from the womb?—
when I made the clouds its garment,
and thick darkness its swaddling band,
and prescribed bounds for it,
and set bars and doors,
and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther,
and here shall your proud waves be stopped’?" (Job 38:4; 8-11)
In the flood narrative, the world returns to a vast, formless, lifeless void: the dome above and below were pierced, and the waters of deep were allowed to return. And all that remained was the Spirit of God hovering over the face of the waters and the floating menagerie of creatures He deemed worthy to save.
But why?
As we Bible nerding-out with the Hebrew, we discovered that the progression of the verbs of destruction are informative: the words God uses for why the Flood waters are coming.
[For normal people]
Genesis 6:11-13
Now the earth was fucking itself over in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw that the earth was fucked; for all flesh was consistently fucking itself over upon the earth. And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence and they are causing me to fuck up their shit along with the earth.
Genesis 6:17
For my part, I am going to bring a flood of waters on the earth, to completely and utterly fuck up their shit from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die.
[For those who can parse Hebrew verbs]
Genesis 6:11-13
Now the earth was “going-to-ruin” [Niphal imperfect] in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw that the earth “had-gone-to-ruin” [Niphal perfect]; for all flesh was “actively-going-to-ruin” [Hiphil perfect] upon the earth. And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence and “they-are-causing-me-to-ruin” them [Hiphil participle] along with the earth.
Genesis 6:17
For my part, I am going to bring a flood of waters on the earth, to “actively-ABSOLUTELY-ruin” [Piel imperative,] from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die.
(Note: Why the "bad language"? See our theology of swearing.)
While the flood narrative is a radical destabilization of the world, the text says that we deserved it. This is one example of a biblical principle some (esp. climate science deniers) forget: human actions can bring about chaos, can erode God’s order. Our actions have consequences, for us and our environments.
From Genesis on, the Bible shows God saying, “oh, you know best? You want something other than the ordered world I've given you? Fine. Then you also get to deal with the rampant chaos that is writhing and waiting underneath: the things that go bump in the deep, that I Am keeping at bay. Enjoy!”
Perhaps this is something we should remember. What we do matters.
Perhaps we should also remember that Noah survives the flood, but drowns in alcohol and the improper affection of his kids.
Perhaps grace has limits.
Perhaps God will spare us the first time, but the next time...
But what do we know: we made this game and you probably think we're going to Hell.
And you're just happy that we got a rainbow out of all this (so keep reading)
Excursus on Methuselah
Genesis 5:5-28a states:
When Methuselah had lived one hundred eighty-seven years, he became the father of Lamech. Methuselah lived after the birth of Lamech seven hundred eighty-two years, and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty-nine years; and he died. When Lamech had lived one hundred eighty-two years, he became the father of a son; he named him Noah…
Genesis 7:6 reads:
Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came on the earth
So what?
It's Biblical math fun time!
The Flood began when Noah was 600 years old.
Methuselah dies at the age of 969.
969 - 600 = 369 (Methuselah’s age when Noah was born)
369 - 182 = 187 (Methuselah’s age when Lamech was born)
So all the Biblical math adds up.
Again, so what?
Methuselah died when the flood began. A detail not missed by Darren Aronofsky when filming Noah.
[Remember how/when Sir Anthony Hopkins died in the movie? No? Go (re)watch it.]
Adding to the Biblical cohesion is the meaning of the name “Methuselah.” While there is scholarly debate (isn't there always?) about an exact translation, each permutation is deeply, thematically connected to Noah's narrative:
"The man of the infernal river" - Do we really have to explain this one?
"His death shall bring judgment" - Again, you've got this one.
"When he dies it shall be sent" - We won't insult your intelligence.
"The man of the weapon (dart/javelin/spear/arrow)" - A man who lived long enough to see "the weapon," the instrument used by YHWH to pierce the dome surrounding the Earth, and let flow the primordial waters.
"Rainbow" T-shirt design by Carol King
The first three are obvious, but the last warrants a reminder of the promise of the rainbow. Or more accurately, it should remind us of what the rainbow actually is: a bow. As in bow and arrow/spear/javelin/dart.
The promise is predicated on God saying He is hanging His BOW in the sky.
We just blew your mind. You're welcome.