Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Karl Randolph" <kwrandolph AT email.com>]

Harold:

I agree with Dave in that the text implies that 
there was a new natural order after the flood, one 
that has seasons whereas the antediluvian world 
didn't.

While I, unlike Dave, am a young earth creationist 
(i.e. I believe that God created the universe only 
a few thousand years ago), I have not been active 
in the creationist movement and, other than 
Genesis, have only a passing familiarity with other 
creationist literature. Thus the main reason I hold 
to a young earth creationism is because of the 
linguistic structure of Genesis.

An argument could be made based on Genesis 1:14, 
when God created the sun, moon and stars, that 
seasons were mentioned, but the Hebrew does not say 
seasons (as in summer, fall, winter and spring) 
rather just times, appointed celebrations, years 
and other are mentioned. The implication that I 
draw from that omission is that the seasons didn't 
exist until after the flood. Before the flood, all 
time was harvest time, after the flood, there was 
a particular harvest time, before no winter, after 
winter cut off vegetative growth, and so forth.

Yes I recognize that the main intent of the passage 
is that a world wide flood would never again kill 
all life, this can also be read that God told Noah 
that things will be different after the flood than 
before.

Karl W. Randolph.

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Harold Holmyard" <hholmyard AT ont.com>
> 
> Dear Dave,
> 
> > But that's not the point of the whole flood story.  The point is 
> > the death of everything except those that caught the boat.  If 
> > you add up the whole thing, the entire event took a full year.  
> > But once again, that's not the point.  Again, I have no ax to 
> > grind here except trying to see what the text says I should see.  
> > And it sure appears to say that seasons etc. are something new 
> > after this world-destroying event, else in the context of the 
> > story there's no real reason to mention it.  Obviously, Your 
> > Mileage May Vary.  But the above is reading something into the 
> > text that the text itself doesn't discuss.  Noah and his family 
> > let all those stinky animals out of the boat, get out and walk 
> > around, and realize they're the only living humans left on earth. 
> >  There may even have been dead bodies scattered from hither to 
> > yon, further smelling the place up.  Is the question of seasons, 
> > hot and cold etc. really going to be the first thing on their 
> > minds?  I rather doubt it.
> >
> > All that's assuming the story is literal, of course.  I say that 
> > before someone pounces on me, because I really don't care one way 
> > or the other.  I'm just looking to deal with the text as it 
> > stands, since that's what working with biblical Hebrew is all 
> > about ;-)
> >
> >
> 
> HH: The fact that I have never understood the text the way you are
> describing it is my first clue your interpretation is far from being
> intuitively obvious. On the other hand, you seem to overlook the real
> implications of Genesis 8:22 by isolating them from their nearest
> context, the Flood. God seems to be making a promise that there will be
> no more major upheavals to the earth such as the Flood, upheavals that
> overthrow mundane realities of seedtime and harvest, hot and cold,
> summer and winter, and day and night. These uniformitarian expectations
> of life will not be disappointed until the end of the earth. There will
> not be anything comparable to the Flood.
> 
> Yours,
> Harold Holmyard

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