Noe et Alluvio Magna

NOAH AND THE GREAT FLOOD,

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

Today's Old Testament Mass reading was about Noah and the Great Flood. The entire story is in Genesis chapters 7 and 8. I used both my Catholic Navarre Study Bible and my Protestant Henry Morris Study Bible. While I am not too keen about Dr. Morris' literalism, he has some key insights which I found valuable. In both cases, however, there is a wealth of symbolism just waiting to be unlocked, so it's important not to get lost in arguments about whether or not the Great Flood was truly world-wide or merely a local event constrained to the geographical location of the Middle East.

In Genesis 7:5 there is a contrast between Noah's obedience and Adam's disobedience. Hebrews 11:7 states:

By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, took heed and constructed an ark for the saving of his household; by this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness which comes by faith.

In Genesis 6:14-16 the Ark is built precisely to the dimensions God gave Noah, and in Genesis 7:7 Noah and his family enter it. St. Augustine explains the symbolism of the Ark's design in De Civitate Dei 15:26 as follows:

Moreover, inasmuch as God commanded Noah, a just man, and, as the truthful Scripture says, a man perfect in his generation — not indeed with the perfection of the citizens of the city of God in that immortal condition in which they equal the angels, but in so far as they can be perfect in their sojourn in this world — inasmuch as God commanded him, I say, to make an ark, in which he might be rescued from the destruction of the flood, along with his family, i.e., his wife, sons, and daughters-in-law, and along with the animals who, in obedience to God's command, came to him into the ark: this is certainly a figure of the city of God sojourning in this world; that is to say, of the church, which is rescued by the wood on which hung the Mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus 1 Timothy 2:5). For even its very dimensions, in length, breadth, and height, represent the human body in which He came, as it had been foretold. For the length of the human body, from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot, is six times its breadth from side to side, and ten times its depth or thickness, measuring from back to front: that is to say, if you measure a man as he lies on his back or on his face, he is six times as long from head to foot as he is broad from side to side, and ten times as long as he is high from the ground. And therefore the ark was made 300 cubits in length, 50 in breadth, and 30 in height. And its having a door made in the side of it certainly signified the wound which was made when the side of the Crucified was pierced with the spear; for by this those who come to Him enter; for thence flowed the sacraments by which those who believe are initiated. And the fact that it was ordered to be made of squared timbers, signifies the immoveable steadiness of the life of the saints; for however you turn a cube, it still stands. And the other peculiarities of the ark's construction are signs of features of the church.

Genesis 7:12 records that rain fell on the Earth 40 days and 40 nights. This prefigures the 40 year wandering of the children of Israel in the wilderness, the 40 year reign of King David, and the 40 day sojourn of Jesus in the desert before His temptation by the devil. 

In Genesis 8:4 the Ark is said to have finally rested on Mount Arat on the 17th day of the 7th month. Dr. Morris observes that the 7th month in the Hebrew calendar is Nisan (March / April). The 17th day is 3 days after Passover - a Sunday, the very day on which our Blessed Lord rose from the dead. The resting of the Ark on dry land after the world's destruction by flooding prefigures the resurrection of the Lord after his death by crucifixion.

Genesis 8:6-12 records that after 40 days Noah opened a window on the Ark to first let a raven go then a dove. The dove returned, having found no resting place. After 7 days he let the dove go again and she returned with an olive branch in her beak, and after a final 7 days he let the dove go and she did not return. Rubert of Deutz explains this symbology in his work, Commentarius in Genesim. He explains that the dove represents the Holy Spirit which comes to us three times: (1) when we are initially baptized into the Church (the Body of Christ which the Ark prefigures), (2) when we are confirmed by the imposition of hands from the Bishop, and (3) in the resurrection of the dead where we do not return to this world but remain with the Lord forever.

The whole story of the Great Flood is doubly symbolic: it stands for destruction and purification from evil on the one hand and for a means of salvation and a new start on the other hand. This dual symbology is repeated in the story of the Israelite exodus from Egypt. The waters of the Red Sea receding were a source of salvation for the Hebrews, but their collapse was a source of destruction for the Egyptians. Thus 1st Peter 3:20-21 states:

....who formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ....

St. Bede writes in Hexaemeron 2:

The Ark stands for the Church; the flood for the water of baptism whereby the Church in all its members is washed and sanctified.

There is much more symbolism of the Christ and the Church in these two chapters of Genesis. The real miracle isn't so much a world-wide flood (a story repeated by Summerians, Egyptians and others in their various mythologies). the real miracle is the God had planned all this out from the very beginning of time when He said let there be light in order to point the way to the Messiah. One cannot read the Old Testament without seeing Christ in each of its pages.