A deluge of questions confronts us in the Genesis Flood Story. Modern, Western attempts to read and make sense of the account in Genesis 6–9 based on queries we bring to the text have led us in several directions. We have explored the scientific fields of geology, physics, biology, and chemistry; the literary disciplines of narrative and poetic analysis; the historical debates about chronology and archaeology; the textual investigations of what appear to be two originally separate stories intertwined into one by an inspired editor; global schemas of catastrophism and uniformism; the intellectual arena of faith and learning; and theological realms of sin, punishment and grace.

Without trying to avoid the deep waters some of these issues involve, I want to draw attention to the literary context of the story, which might help us understand and appreciate at least what the first hearers and readers sensed and how this gave them hope.

Genesis 6–9 is part of what scholars call the "Primeval Prologue," Genesis 1–11, which differs somewhat from what follows in Genesis 12 and beyond with its universal perspective and "prehistorical" flavor. A remarkable collection of accounts about divine origins of the earth and human faith and foibles, Genesis 1–11 proposes five cycles of collapse, correction, and gracious rescue, the fourth of which is the Flood Story. These can be represented as follows:

1. Adam and Eve in Genesis 3. All was "very good" until Adam and Eve collapsed under the temptation to arrogance in the face of God’s command about the tree. The corrective measure involved death on the day of eating the fruit, but God kindly intervened, rescuing the pair for reasons known only to grace.
2. Cain and Abel in Genesis 4:1–16. Cain succumbed to the rash decision to murder his brother, an act that did not result, as we might expect, in the punishment of "life for life," but in hard labor and exile east of Eden. Graciously, God protected Cain’s life with a visible mark, allowing him to marry and raise a family.
3. Lamech and his wives in Genesis 4:23–24. While the cycle of collapse, correction and rescue only partially unfolds here, Lamech ascends to arrogance, taking on himself the right to murder in revenge for an injury, thereby violating also the principle of "limb for limb." Neither expressions of punishment nor gracious intervention appear in this cycle.
4. Noah and the flood in Genesis 6–9. Because of disastrous and disgusting moral human collapse, God brings about the corrective response of a massive inundation intended to wipe out every living thing, only to intervene graciously by saving people and beasts in the ark of safety and pledging no repeat performances like this one—ever.
5. The Tower of Babel in Genesis 11. Arrogance again figures in the downfall of humans as they try to rise to the heavens. God confuses their language, thus preventing further construction of both the tower and the hubris it represents. Grace comes not so much in this story, but in the subsequent appearance of Abraham in Genesis 12.

The Flood Story thus does not occur in a vacuum. In context, it represents an increase in the intensity of human collapse to the point of a totally engulfing storm of evil and guilt. It reflects a rise in corrective punishment with the watery burial of everything known to humans. It also conveys increased divine favor, driven only by grace knows what, to rescue, redeem, and reclaim humanity and the world.

Although fourth among the five cycles of destruction and renewal, it appears to be the most important. Even the genealogies of Genesis 5 and 11 found in the three major textual sources (the Massoretic Text [Hebrew], the Samaritan Pentateuch [Hebrew], and the Septuagint [Greek]), although differing in the number of years assigned here and there, all place the flood at the center of known history.

This, combined with the pervasive ancient fear of water out of control—a deep-seated mythological angst over sea monsters stirring up chaos in the deep—contributes to the central dread this story generated for its initial audience.

Collapse before the flood. The nature of human collapse in the Flood Story is complex and multifaceted. On the one hand, Genesis 6:1–4 speaks of "sons of God" (the b’nay elohim) cohabiting with the daughters of men, connected in some fashion to the "Nephilim" (fallen ones) prowling the land. Are the sons of God descendants of Seth, as some have argued for reasons of biology, or celestial beings?

There is no exegetical precedent in the Old Testament for seeing sons of God as humans, since all other references to the b’nay elohim point to angelic beings (for example, Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7; Ps. 29:1; compare, Ps. 82). Later biblical and nonbiblical interpretations clearly opt for heavenly figures who, born of angelic and human parents, plague believers attempting to live good lives (see 1 Pet. 3:18–22; Jude 6–7; and many passages in the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha).

But Genesis 6 continues with additional charges against humankind, provided in two versions, each with a different name for God. Verses 5–8 describe "the Lord" and the immense human mischief the Lord was watching and his grief at creating people in the first place. Verses 11–13 note the human corruption and attendant violence "God" observes throughout the land.

Correction by means of the flood. Earth’s inhabitants experience an ordeal by water like none other. Threatened with total annihilation, virtually all earthly flora and fauna are swept away as the rain falls and the waters rise in a maelstrom of, well, biblical proportions. Everything appears washed down the drain. Nothing terrestrial could survive this onslaught of water, wind, and wave. The land groans, gasps, and gurgles, going down beneath the surface of tumultuous tides and swirling whirlpools. Nothing from the past could serve as a benchmark for this event. Nothing like it has ever been seen.

Rescue from the flood. But, as with Adam and Eve and Cain, there is hope. And again it surfaces surprisingly and, for the most part, without human justification. For reasons kept from us, "Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord"; "God remembered Noah." Grace emerges in the form of a boat, along with instructions on how to construct and crew it, and corral its intended occupants. The boat rescues pairs of all living things, protects them during the long storm, and delivers them safely at the end of a harrowing journey. Afterward, the Lord promises he will not "ever again destroy every living creature" (8:21); God pledges that "never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth" (9:11).

Thus, the story in Genesis 1–11 of God’s interaction with the world he created involves repeated examples of moral collapse and renewed corrective measures. In most cases, however, grace rises to the challenge, inundating whatever stands in its way. This is even more apparent in the Flood Story, where grace, to a greater extent than deep and dangerous floodwaters, overflows all that lives and everyone who believes. Although we are faced in this story with a deluge of questions, one thing is clear: in the end, we are flooded by grace.

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