We had some pretty decent rains in the last couple of days here in southeast Queensland; enough water to cause minor flooding, but not enough to send streams of animals heading for the nearest ocean liner. Ironically, as the gates of heavens have opened (not the springs underneath as the Bible bespeaks) I have been reading the biblical account of the Flood. As we bypass the Sunday School version about what a wonderful, nice story this is about a bearded five hundred year old Moses standing on top of his ark, zebras and kangaroos surrounding him, waving at whomever is drawing the picture, we notice the darkness of the story - what's at the root of this aquatic episode.
"The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth and his heart was troubled. So the LORD said, 'I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race that I have created - and with them the animals, the birds, and the creatures that move along the ground - for I regret that I have made them." (Genesis 6:6,7)
This story isn't about how nice the animals pranced with each other trapped up in a wooden cage for almost half a year. This is not a story about the animals as it is always made to be - the story of the salvation by wooden beams, this is what the ark is about. The entire human race, the writer of Genesis proclaims, has nothing but evil emanating from its heart. Enough evil to actually cause God's heart to be troubled and to have God himself be rueful about the actual creation, one he intended and saw to be 'Good!'
This is a story about the continued desecration of relationships (angels and women?), thoughts and actions overwhelmed with evil so that God's plan A is to erase the terrestrial chalkboard and start again. If only one could be found righteous, then everything could be started again.
Enter Noah - "Comfort."
We know the rest of the story, that after riding out the months, trapped up with all sorts of zoological, veterinary and scatological problems, not even to say what the squabbles between the carnivores and all the other species would be, we get this amusing blessing after stepping out of the boat.
Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands. Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you, just as I gave you the green plants, now I give you everything. (Genesis 9:1-3)
If I'm Noah, I'm thinking these three things:
1. Yes, vegetarianism ended!
2. You mean, now they're going to be afraid of me? For the last five months I've had two cows walking in front of me and I've been wondering what it would be like to cut one of them up, throw some nice pieces of it's ribs over a warm fire and eat them? Now you're telling me its okay to eat them? Now I have to chase them? (Did you ever wonder how Noah decided which ones would taste good? I have this vision of him chasing after a skunk...)
3. What am I going to do with all this wood?
Once again, that's not what this story is about, but my brain goes different places at different times.
To me, as we read the Flood account again, its important that we reflect on the purpose of the story; that humanity's turn away from the creator was actually the reason for the flood. It makes me wonder where our world is going today. God isn't going to flood the world again, but... Let's hope we can raid the ark for some idea of how to change the tune of hearts today. I'd hate to be put onto another ark with a pair of every kind of spider in the world.
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