Episode 173. As we noted in the section on geology, there are two authors behind the biblical flood, the P and J authors. A redactor then later intertwines the P and J flood accounts. Please turn to page 47 in the class handouts. Embedded within the biblical flood account is a poetic structure of the P flood known as a chiasm. This is a common ancient near-Eastern literary device featuring mirror images of topics. For example, a with Noah and his Sons matches up with a prime Noah and his Sons. The chiasm focuses readers to the center and the main message which in this case is Genesis 8:1 God remembers Noah. We also find stylistic numbers in the P flood account. As we've noted the P author often uses fives and sevens. For example, the word God [FOREIGN] in Hebrew is used 15 times which is three times five in the P flood, seven times before the Chiastic structure and seven times after it. And there are 150 day periods to increase and decrease the flood waters, which is three times 50. The existence of this chiasm in the P flood, along with these stylistic numbers, is more evidence that there really is an independent P flood account that was used before Genesis 1-11 was integrated with the J flood. Turning now to some origins debate implications, Young Earth Creation claims that Noah's flood was global, but geology and archaeology reveal there's no evidence for a global flood. With this being the case, Noah's global flood never happened. Progressive Creation claims that Noah's flood was local. But the biblical flood account in Genesis 6-9 states that the flood covered the Ararat Mountains. In Genesis 8-4 these mountains are over 16,000 feet, therefore according to the Bible Noah's flood was not local. The Recycled & Reinterpreted Flood Motif Theory claims that real Mesopotamian floods and real flood heroes were morphed into the biblical flood and Noah. Consequently, Noah's flood never happened and Noah never existed. The biblical flood in Genesis 6-9 offers some valuable messages of faith. First, humans are sinner. Sin has consequences. God judges sin. And, God remembers the righteous person and saves them from his judgment. Genesis 10 is known as the Table of Nations. After the worldwide flood of Noah the world was repopulated through his three sons. Please turn to page 47 in the class handouts. It's notable that all the nations listed in Genesis 10, are ancient near-Eastern nations. In other words, this post-flood account is an ancient phenomenological perspective of the origin of nations. The etiological question in Genesis 10 asks, where do all the nations come from? And the answer is that they descend from Noah's three sons, Japheth, Ham and Shem. As Genesis 9:19 states, from them, that is the three sons, came the people who were scattered over all of the Earth. This chapter also deals with the question of, where does our Hebrew community come from? And the answer is we descend from God's chosen descendants of Shem. The post flood account also asks the etiological question of where do our enemies come from? The answer is that they descend from that sexual pervert Ham. Genesis 9:20-27 mentions that Ham sought Noah's nakedness. This is commonly understood to be a euphemism for having sex with his mother. See Leviticus 18:7-8. In this way, there is spiritual and political polemic against the enemies of the Hebrews by claiming they all descended from a pervert. End of episode.