BBC Report: Noah's Ark "...more credible version based on Babylonian sources."

BBC On Line ^ | Friday, 19 March, 2004 | Jeremy Bowen

[yankeedame]

Last Updated: Friday, 19 March, 2004, 11:06 GMT

Did Noah really build an ark?

By Jeremy Bowen
Presenter, Noah's Ark

In the Bible, God tells Noah he has to build an ark and load a pair of every kind of animal before a great flood engulfs the world. It is widely regarded as a myth, but could it actually be true?

The story of Noah and his ark is one which sticks in the minds of children and never gets forgotten.

God warned Noah - the only good man left in a world full of corruption and violence - to prepare for a great flood. With his sons he built a great ark and the animals marched in two by two. By the time the rain started to fall, Noah was ready. The ark was a refuge until the waters went down, leaving Noah and his menagerie high and dry on Mount Ararat.

There are many problems with the story. If the story is taken literally, it would have taken 35 years for Noah and his family to load two of every animal on earth. And a flood that engulfed the Earth would have left a signature for geologists - yet none has been found.

But it is possible to build a much more credible version of the story based on a different reading of the Bible, on ancient Babylonian sources that predate the Book of Genesis, and on archaeology and science.

Broken apart

The traditional shape of Noah's Ark comes from the imaginations of 19th Century artists. It would have been about 450ft long, and experts say it would have broken apart.

Even if such a feat of marine engineering had been possible, there are about 30 million species of animals in the world. For so many creatures, a fleet of enormous arks would have been needed.

Geologists have also proved that there is not enough water in the world to cover all the continents, then or now.

Loading 30 million species of animal would have taken 35 years But just because the details of this familiar story do not add up, should we turn our backs on Noah and the ark?

We have to forget the idea that such a huge boat carrying all known animals existed, that it came to rest on Mount Ararat in modern-day Turkey, and that a flood covered the entire Earth.

In 1851, British archaeologists discovered hundreds of clay tablets while digging in ancient Babylon.

It was 20 years later that British Museum assistant George Smith became the first person to read them. He found the story of Gilgamesh, which bore strong similarities to that of Noah. He was visited by the great gods, who decided there would be a great deluge, told him to make a boat and carry in it the seed of all living things.

Further Iraqi texts were discovered, showing the story emerged in Mesopotamia. And in the 1930s conclusive evidence of a huge flood in the area about 5,000 years ago - the time of the story of Noah - was found.

Trading centres

What we know of the culture of what is now Iraq gives the first glimpse of the real-life historical figure behind the myth.

Noah might have been king of a city called Shuruppak. He would have had a kilt, a shaven head and eye make-up, like the figures portrayed in artworks created in what was then known as Sumeria.

The epic of Gilgamesh says Noah had silver and gold, then the currency of wealthy merchants, suggesting he was a businessman.

Could this story have provided the inspiration for the Book of Genesis 2,000 years later?

Instead of building an ark to survive a great flood, he is more likely to have built boats to trade goods like beer, grain and animals.

All the big trading centres of the era were on the River Euphrates and it was cheaper to move goods by water than land. Sumerians were able to build barges about 20ft in length, and marine archaeologists have not found remains or inscriptions of larger vessels.

But they believe they would have had the technology to have built a series of barges and used them like pontoons on which a much larger boat, or ark, could have been constructed.

Tropical storm

Parts of the Euphrates were only navigable at certain times of the year, when the waters were deep enough for large boats.

Noah was likely to have waited for the melt waters to arrive in June and July and, if these had combined with a tropical storm, the river could have flooded the Mesopotamian plain.

The currents in the area would not have taken him towards Mount Ararat, but out into the Persian Gulf. Life would have been difficult, but they could have survived on the animals and beer on board.

One Babylonian text suggests the ark came to rest on what is now the island of Bahrain, providing a very different yet plausible end to the adventure.

Could this story have provided the inspiration for the holy men who wrote the Book of Genesis 2,000 years later? When they first heard the story, how could they fail to recognise its moral power, that if humankind falls short of God's laws, there's a dreadful price to pay. Behind that moral message lies one of the world's greatest stories.

And behind that story we can just glimpse a real man, a real boat and a real adventure.

[VaBthang4]

http://www.noahsark-naxuan.com/index.htm

[aShepard]

Genesis 7:

17 And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth. 18 And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. 19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. 20 Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.

So there were some kind of high hills before the flood, and a distinction was made between hills in 7-19 and mountains in 7-20.

[justshutupandtakeit]

The Babylonian story PREDATES Genesis and the Hebrews. Abram came from that culture. This in no way diminishes the glory of God.

[LiteKeeper]

I beg to differ. The most recent, conservative scholarship shows that there is extremely strong evidence that Moses edited the clay tablets created by "eye-witness" authors. This is NOT JEPD...this is partially based on the scholarship of P.J. Wiseman. And this in no way impinges on the plenary inspiration of the Scriptures. I would be happy to point you to the research, but right now I am at the office and I don't have the information in front of me.

By the way, this is the part of the doctoral dissertation on Genesis that I am currently working on. It is, admittedly, not a widely held position, but the evidence is very strong, and very exciting. It shifts the authenticity question to much earlier to the actual events recorded in it.

[LiteKeeper]

Just ran into one of my sources

THE FIRST BOOK OF MOSES AND THE 'TOLEDOTH' OF GENESIS

[Chewbacca]

Considering that many of the HIGH mountains of today have evidence of sea life at their tops, I suspect the mountains before that time were rather low.

I believe that most of the HIGH mountains were created during the days the ark was floating around in the water. Earthquakes and large crustal movements wouldn't have impacted the ark as much as if it had come to rest and was being shaken while on dry land.

[dartuser]

Perhaps we are in a linguistic impasse ... You seemed to assert that Genesis was written by an eyewitness, one of Noahs sons. And I am saying that is impossible ...

My assertions are as follows:

1. Moses wrote Genesis (well documented fact).
2. The events in Genesis predate Moses by ... well, a long time.
3. Therefore, Genesis was not written by eyewitnesses.

Now, if you are saying Moses may have used written sources that were actual eyewitness accounts ...

That I would agree with ... its possible ...

[gunnedah]

Most of these type people do not realize the real God and what he can do.
If he can part the sea he can certainly build an ARK that will withstand anything.
My God cannot and will not fail. He will not let you down like man and all his theories.

[aShepard]

..."I suspect the mountains before that time were rather low.".........


Ok, Maybe.

Or maybe the chisel slipped on the tablets and only recorded 23 feet of water. That's about 7 inches of rainfall per day, and surely God could unleash more than that.

[farmfriend]

Gods, Graves, Glyphs
List for articles regarding early civilizations , life of all forms, - dinosaurs - etc.
Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this ping list.

[dartuser]

Can you tell us what verse you read the total level of water was 23 feet ?

[#3Fan]

I like the story of the flood being when the Black Sea was formed.

So God made Noah spend 120 years building an ark when Noah could've just picked up and walked a couple days to high ground away from the Black sea? lol

[Dog Gone]

No, but what he did take on the ark were infant animals, which included dinosaurs.

Wow, that's the first time I've heard anyone declare something like that.

[dartuser]

lol ... and liberals say we shut off our brains when we believe the inspiration of the bible ...

[Junior]

A "testing the waters" ping.

[dartuser]

Which part?

The infant animals ... or the dinosaurs ????

[Junior]

there are LOTS of stories in LOTS of cultures about a great flood. they only serve to affirm the biblical account.

They only serve to affirm that floods have happened all over the world at various times.

[Dog Gone]

Both, but the dinosaur part is the more stunning assertion.

[#3Fan]

True. They're the simple-minded ones. Those who believe must connect what was with what is and imagine the transitions. Those who don't believe simply observe what is and assume it was that way always, which is much simpler, but not the whole truth.

[aShepard]

See my post 42. Genesis 7:20.

With a cubit the length of a forearm and hand (Ezekiel 43:13), or an average of about 18 inches.