The Bible as Science: Global Flood Legends

A flood story shows up on every continent and the details are strangely familiar. We keep pressing our “Bible as Science” series forward by asking a blunt question: if Noah’s flood in Genesis is only a myth, why do so many unrelated peoples preserve a deluge memory that tracks the same outline and often the same key events?

We walk through ethnology, the study of living races and their traditions, and compare flood accounts from American Indian legend, Chinese records, and the ancient Indian story of Manu. Across cultures, we keep hearing the same beats: human wickedness, a warning, a vessel, a remnant preserved, life saved through the catastrophe, and a new beginning after the waters fall. I also explain why God often uses physical judgments to speak to carnal hearts that ignore spiritual warnings.

Then archaeology takes the stand. We read from Babylonian cuneiform tablets dating back to roughly 3,000 BC and track the parallels that jump off the page: instructions to build a ship, “seed of life” preserved, a terrifying storm, the ship resting on a mountain, birds sent out, and sacrifice afterward. We also bring in additional Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and ancient British testimonies, plus a widely reported excavation finding in Mesopotamia that points to flooding on a massive scale. Finally, we preview the geological evidence we’ll examine next, because if a cataclysm happened, the earth itself should bear a record.

If you care about the Genesis flood, biblical archaeology, ancient flood legends, or whether the Bible can withstand scrutiny, listen through and weigh the witnesses. Subscribe, share this with a friend who loves evidence, and leave a review with the question you want answered next.

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Transcript

Welcome And Series Setup

0:07

Welcome to the Preaching the Cross Radio Podcast, featuring the radio ministry of Pastor James W. Knox of the Bible Baptist Church of DeLaunt, Florida. Our prayer is that these half-hour Bible study programs will bring the lost to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and enable the saved to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Savior. Now here's your host, Pastor James W. Knox. All right, thank you for that kind word of introduction. I'm Brother James. I greet you once again in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who is and was and always will be the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. I welcome you to the Preaching of the Cross Radio Broadcast. We are in the midst of a series of studies which we've entitled the Bible as Science. And on these studies, we are doing our very best to prove to you that a man who rejects the Word of God, a man who rejects the Bible as being absolute truth, using the pitiful argument that it is not scientific, is a man who just doesn't have the facts. He just hasn't done any study, hasn't done any research, and we are proving to you conclusively on these broadcasts that the Bible is not only accurate when it speaks scientifically, but as a matter of fact, is the most remarkable book of science to be found anywhere on the face of the earth.

Why God Uses Physical Judgments

1:32

We started on the last broadcast discussing the flood of Noah's day. We pointed out to you how that God uses physical judgments in nature to speak to man, because man being carnal, man walking after the flesh, after that which is physical, will not pay any attention to a spiritual voice. So God has to speak to him many times through the voice of the physical and will do so. We mentioned earthquakes, famines, and floods. Then we began to show you how that three major branches of modern science all support the truth and accuracy of the Genesis account of the flood. We began by discussing the the science of ethnology. This is simply the study of races and their traditions, and we we pointed out to you that there are thirty-eight major racial groups existing on planet Earth today, all of which have a record in their history and tradition of a flood, and in in all but a very few particulars, which we were honest enough to give you on the last broadcast, these records match in detail the biblical record of the flood. Now, we gave

Ethnology And Flood Traditions

3:05

you the traditional story from the Polynesian peoples, and we're going to look today at some of the other groups of uh uh other racial groups on the earth and some of their uh recorded uh histories of the flood, so that you can see and understand from the science of ethnology that there was indeed a universal flood, just exactly as it is recorded in the Bible Book of Genesis. So let's start in and and look at some of these records together on the program today. Let's look first at all at the record of the American Indians. They are very evidently of Mongolian or Asiatic origin, and they have traditions of the flood and its destruction of all life except a remnant, which Indian tradition bears a close resemblance to the Chinese. The one Indian legend with which we are best acquainted is the Modok record. Their story is of a man who floated his family on a raft of logs, while he picked up swimming animals of different kinds until he had two of each. He landed after many days of adventure on a high mountain, and from him and his rescued remnant the world was repopulated. Now we've heard other legends, however, from those who have worked with other tribes, and with some minor changes the story is essentially the same. The Chinese account is found in the book of Liqui L I K I It has many similarities to the Genesis account, ascribing as the cause of the flood the wickedness of man, who despised the counsels and laws of heaven. It gives the same causes for the flood from nature, saying the flood came when the pillars of heaven were broken, the earth fell to pieces, and the waters enclosed within its bosom burst forth with violence and overflowed. A goodly remnant were saved and repeopled the earth. The descent of Manu embodies the account of the flood in India. The warning was given to Manu by a great fish who said, A deluge will sweep all creatures away. Build a vessel and worship me, and when the waters arise, enter the vessel and I will save you. This Manu did, and when the flood began the fish towed the vessel to the mountains of the north, where they fastened it to a tree, and as the waters descended they floated down. Since all save Manu died in the flood, he peopled the earth anew. From British East Africa now part of Kenya, that region, roundabout, there's a weird account of a legend concerning the flood there. Also from the wilds of the South American jungles is a tribal tradition of the deluge. In the early records of Spanish explorers in the islands of the sea and the mainlands of new continents, we read of traditions of the flood, even from the primitive malays, the record is the same. So the summary's plain. Whenever we find a similarity of account from living witnesses, we say the story is true and the fact proved. All living races tell us there was a deluge. The witnesses agree. The fact stands established. That's the first branch of science which

India And Other Global Accounts

6:20

agrees with the Holy Bible regarding the deluge or the flood. Now the second science, which speaks up and demands a hearing on this matter, is the science of archaeology, which bears the same striking testimony. As ethnology is the science of the records and customs of living races, so archaeology is the science of races that are dead and gone. The men who have lived and labored, and who left their works covered by the dust of ages, still speak with a clarion voice from the tongueless records of forgotten things. Many wondrous testimonies

Why Shared Witness Matters

6:55

to the inspiration of the Bible have been advanced by the science of archaeology, for every time we sink a spade into an ancient dwelling of a past age, we find new light on the customs and histories of other days. In Egypt, in ancient Britain, in Palestine, in Asia and Asia Minor, in South America and North America, the archaeologists have been gathering startling confirmation of the truth of the Genesis account of creation and its record of men. Let's offer first the voice of ancient Babylonia. Now we give this witness first because it's the most striking and complete. This record is dated from about 3,000 BC. We have previously mentioned the clay tablets discovered by George Smith back in 1870. These cuneiform tablets told the story of the flood in hundreds and hundreds of words. It was an unabridged account, the heart of which uh I'll give you. The blank spaces will represent words that could not be made out of the broken segments of the tablets. And I'm quoting now from these tablets. Is Dubar to him also speaks, even to Ixuthrus, afar off. O Ixuthrus, why dost thou not again to me as I to thee? Why dost thou not again to me as I to thee, my heart to make war like space, I come up after thee, when thou didst take, and in the assembly of the gods didst obtain life. Ixurath to him also speaks, even to Isdubar, let me reveal to thee, Isdubar, the story of my preservation, and the judgment of the gods, let me relate to thee. The city of Suripak, the city which thou knowest on the Euphrates is placed, that city is ancient, and the gods are within it. To make a deluge or whirlwind, the great gods have brought their heart, even he, their father Anu, their king, the warrior Bel, their throne bearer Ninop, their minister, the Lord of Hades, Ninsikha, wife of Hia, with them sat, and there will he, that is Heah, repeated to his minister, the minister of the city of Kis. He declared what he had in mind. His minister heard and proclaimed attentively, Man of Surapak, son of Ubaratutu, build a house, make a ship to preserve the sleep of plants and living beings, store the seed and vivify life, cause also the seed of life to of every kind to go up into the midst of the ship. The ship which thou shalt make, six hundred cubits, shall be, its measure in length sixty cubits, the amount of its breadth and its height, blank space, and on the deep cover it, even it with a roof. I understand and say to heah, my lord, The building of the ship which thou commandest thus, blank space, I shall have made, blank space, the sons of the host and of the old men. Heah opened his mouth and said, speaks and says to me his servant, thou shalt say unto them, blank space, he has rejected me and it is upon me, blank space, like caves. May I judge above and below, blank space, close the ship. At the season which I will make known to you, in into it enter, and the door of the ship turn. Into the midst of it thy grain, thy furniture, thy goods, thy wealth, thy women, and thy handmaids, and the sons of the host, the beasts of the field, the wild animals of the field, as many as I would protect, I will send to thee, and thy door shall guard them. Adrach Hassis, his mouth opened and speaks, and says to Heah his lord, No one a ship has made, blank space, in the lower part of the ship has shut up, blank space, and I may see the ship in the lower part of the ship, blank space, the building of the ship which thou commandest me thus which in and then there's a a lengthy blank portion. In its circuit fourteen in all were its girders, fourteen in all it contained, above it I placed its roof, I enclosed it, I rode in it the sixth time, I divided its passages the seventh time, its interior I divided the eighth time, leaks for the waters within I cut off, I saw the rents and the wanting parts I added, three sari of bitumen I poured over the outside, three sari of bitumen I poured over the inside, three sari of men carrying baskets who carried on their heads food, I added a saros of food, which the people should eat, two sary of food the boatmen shared. I sacrificed oxen, I established, each day I established food and wine, I collected them like the waters of a river, and I collected like the dust of the earth, and in the ship the food with my hand I placed. Through help of Samus the seaworthiness of the ship was accomplished, like space. They were strong, and the tackling of the ship I caused to bring above it and below. They went in two-thirds of it. All I possessed I collected it, all I possessed I collected it in silver, I collected it in gold, I collected it in the seed of life of all kinds. I caused everything to go up into the ship, my slaves and my handmaidens, the beasts of the field, the wild animals of the field, the sons of the people, all of them I caused to go up. The season Psalmus fixed, and he spake, saying, In the night I will cause it to rain from heaven heavily, enter into the midst of the ship and shut thy door. That season came round, of which he spake, saying, In the night I will cause it to rain from heaven heavily. Of the day I reached its evening, the day of watching fear I had, I entered into the midst of the ship and shut my door. On closing the ship to Buzzer Sadai Rabbi, the boatman, the habitation I gave with its goods. Musarai in a Namare arose from the horizon of heaven, a black cloud. Rimon in the midst of it thundered, and Nebo, the wind god, went in front, the throne bearers went over the mountain and plain. Nurgal the mighty removes the wicked. Ninop goes in front, he cast down the spirits of earth, carried destruction in their terror, they shake the earth, of Riman his flood reached the heaven, the darkened earth to a waste was turned. The surface of the earth, they covered, it destroyed all, living beings from the face of the earth.

Archaeology Takes The Stand

12:45

The raging deluge over the people reached the heaven. Brothers saw not his brother, men did not know one another. In heaven the gods feared the whirlwind and sought a refuge, they ascended to the heaven of Anu. The gods like dogs were fixed, in a heap did they lie down. Spake Istar, like a child, the great goddess uttered her speech. All the clayer turned, and that which I in the presence of the gods prophesied, even evil has happened, as I prophesied in the presence of the gods evil, to evil were devoted all my people. The trouble I prophesied thus, I, the mother, have begotten my people, and like the young of the fishes they filled the sea. And the gods became because of the spirits of the earth are weeping with me. The gods on the seats are seated in lamentation, covered were their lips for the coming evil. Six days and nights passed. The wind, the whirlwind, and the storm overwhelmed. On the seventh day of its approach the rain was stayed, the raging whirlwind which had smitten like an earthquake was quieted, the sea began to dry, and the wind and deluge ended. I watched the sea making a noise, and the whole of mankind was turned to clay. Like reeds the corpses floated. I opened the window, and the light smote upon the fortress of my nostrils. I was grieved and sat down. I weep over the fortress of my nostrils with my tears. I watched the regions at the boundary of the sea. Towards all the twelve points of the compass there was no land. In the country of Nizir rested the ship, the mountain of Nizir stopped the ship, and to pass over it it was not able. The first day, the second day, the mountain of Nizir stopped the ship. The third day, the fourth day, the mountain of Nysir stopped the ship. The fifth day, the sixth day, the mountain of Nysir stopped the ship. On the seventh day, at its approach, I sent forth a dove, and it left. The dove went, it returned, and a resting place it did not find, and it came back. I sent forth a swallow and it left. The swallow went, it returned, and a resting place it did not find, and it came back. I sent forth a raven and it left. The raven went, and the carrion on the water it saw, and it did eat, it swam and turned away, it did not come back. I sent the animals forth to the four

Babylonian Tablets And The Flood

14:42

winds, I sacrificed the sacrifice, I built an altar on the peak of the mountain. By seven's vessels I placed at the bottom of them I spread reeds, pines, and juniper. The gods smelt the savour, the gods smelt the good savor, the gods like flies over the sacrifice were gathered. From afar also the great goddess in her approach lifted up the mighty arches, that is, the rainbow, which Anu had created as his glory, the crystal of those gods before me, that is the rainbow, never may I forget. Those days I devised with longing that I might never forget. May the gods come to my altar, may Bell never come to my altar, for he did not consider and had made a whirlwind, and my people he consigned to the abyss. From afar also Bell at his approach saw, the ship he stopped. Bell was filled with anger against the gods and the spirits of heaven. Let no one come out alive, never may a man live in the abyss. Ninip, his mouth opened, and spake. He says of the warrior Bell, who is it except he that performs a revolution? And he knows all things. Now this tablet goes on, and I'll just give you one more segment from it. The doer of sin bore his sin, the blasphemer bore his blasphemy, never may the just prince be cut off, never may the faithful be destroyed. Instead of thy making a deluge, may lions come and men be diminished, instead of thy making a deluge may hyenas come and men be diminished, instead of thy making a deluge, may a famine happen and the country be destroyed. Instead of thy making a deluge may pestilence come and men be destroyed. I did not reveal the judgments of the gods. Now, there are many of these Babylonian traditions. They may differ strikingly in their details, but isn't it remarkable that there is a record among these people? People who have have no use for the Bible and never had any use for the Bible, and the details of their record match the details given in the book of Genesis regarding the flood. There is a another record found in the Mesopotamian region of a warning being given by the gods because of sin and violence of an approaching deluge, a man tearing down his house and building an ark, taking a seed of every kind of life. His ark was ark was cubic, 140 cubits each way, had a mast and a pilot house, he pitched it within and without, and it's just incredible. This thing landed on the mountains of Armenia, and the man and his wife repeopled the earth. The similarity to the Genesis account is striking and unmistakable. Egyptian records also have been recovered by archaeologists. The ancient Egyptian account tells how a great flood wiped out all mankind except a few wandering shepherds, who escaped under the protection of the gods by climbing to the high mountains of Armenia, where Ararat is located. This flood was sent by the god who is the creator, who was angered by the sinfulness of man. He repented of his deed and swore never to destroy the race by a flood again. Again, striking similarity to the Genesis account. The legends of the Druids of ancient Britain have been on earth by the archaeologist. They tell of a flood which the supreme being sent on the earth because of the gross sin of mankind. The waves of the sea came higher than the hills of Britain, and the rain fell from the clouds in such violence that the waters soon covered the earth. One ancient patriarch, a man of high piety, was shut up in a stout ship with a select company of worshippers, and after riding safely through the cataclysm, these few people the earth with its present population. Now the oldest written record of the flood is in the Sumerian legends, and as evidence of their accuracy, I'm going to reprint this associated press item that originally appeared on March 16, 1936. Newspapers used to run stories like this, back before they were completely and wholly given over to the service of Satan. The biblical story of the flood, I'm quoting now from the newspaper article. The biblical story of the flood has the support of material evidence unearthed by science. Returning from an archaeological expedition in Mesopotamia, Professor C. Leonard Woolley said he had found an eight-foot layer of silt and clay deposited during an overflowing of the Euphrates River in the Biblical Deluge. Professor Woolley headed an expedition to the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania and the British Museum, which with a crew of 160 Arab workmen has been engaged for seven years in excavating the ruins of ancient Sumeria. Penetrating through a layer of evidence indicating a highly developed civilization about 4,000 BC, they suddenly came upon a layer of silt or sand in which all manifestations of human life ceased to exist. Beneath this deposit were utensils in the native fashion, an expertly molded brick, indicating a high peak of cultural development. Professor Willie emphasized that he attempted to prove nothing by his findings. We are not out to prove anything or disprove anything, he said. If we were, we would be bad archaeologists. We scientists use the things we dig up with any other kind of information which may be forthcoming. In this case, the previous information was in Genesis and the Sumerian and Babylonian legends. Willie went on to say, the eight foot deposit of clay in three places as much as two hundred yards apart can only have resulted from a flood of unexampled magnitude. This can only be the flood of Sumerian legend in history, the flood of the book of Genesis. Professor Willie said his discovery would indicate that the flood was not universal, but declared neither does the Bible story properly understood make such a claim. Well, it's too bad Willie messed up on that point, but nevertheless he is fine as very important.

Silt Layers And Fourteen Parallels

20:36

Genesis record, there was a delude. Archaeological record, there was a delude. Genesis record, the race of mankind was destroyed. Archaeological record, the race of mankind perished. Genesis record, a remnant was saved. Archaeological record, a select few escaped. Genesis record. These escape by God's help. Archaeological record, they escaped through the care of the gods. Genesis record, a warning was given. Archaeological record, a warning was given. Genesis record, an ark was built. Archaeological records, some form of boat was made. Genesis record. Animal life was preserved. Archaeological record, animals were saved with the man. Genesis record. The Ark floated under God's care. Archaeological record, the boat was saved by the aid of the gods. Genesis record. The Ark landed in the mountains of Ararat. Archaeological record, the boat landed in the Armenian mountains near Ararat. Genesis record. The released remnant offered sacrifices. Archaeological record, the saved few worshipped with sacrifice. Genesis record. The flood came because of sin. Archaeological record The deluge came because of human failure. Genesis record God promised not to destroy man again. Archaeological record The gods repented and pledged peace. Genesis record a sign was given of a rainbow. Archaeological record, a sign was given a rainbow. Genesis record, the saved few repeople the earth. Archaeological record, all men came from these few. Now, there are two, four, six, eight, ten, twelve, fourteen principal points in the Genesis record of the flood. All fourteen of these principal points match identically the findings of the modern science of archaeology. Both agree that the causes of the flood were rain and marine catastrophe. Now, in the case of ethnology, all witnesses agree. When we find such parallel agreement in legends among ancient people, we decide they live together or else had a common ancestry. So in this marvelous harmony of scripture and legend, we not only see proof of the reality and historicity of the deluge, but we have additional proof of common ancestry for all of Noah's descendants. Now, how could that possibly be? Were the Bible a myth, as some so foolishly suppose? Now, the third science whose testimony we would introduce

Geology Preview And Final Charge

23:28

is geology. The testimony of geology will be of great value, for geology is the science which deals with the physical earth. If there was a great cataclysmic deluge, the earth must bear some record of that fact, and never doubt but that the earth does. Those who laugh at the Genesis account of the flood do so out of the depths of profound ignorance of geology. Many scores of students have asked if the account of the flood in the Bible is history, why is there no record in geology? There is such a record. The school teachers just aren't allowed to talk about it. It's amazing the lengths to which men will go to justify their infidelity and their unbelief. But that's alright. God's word will stand. When heaven and earth have passed away, God's word will stand. When all the objections and arguments of science falsely so called are long gone, God's word will stand. Have no fear. Have no fear. The word of God will pass every test. The word of God will never, never, never fail when confronted by the arguments and reasonings of science, falsely so called. Now we're going to have to look at this geological evidence on the next broadcast. We're out of time for today.

Where To Listen And Learn More

24:58

Thanks for tuning in today. Join us every weekday for another episode of the Preaching of the Cross Radio Podcast. For hundreds of hours of in-depth expository Bible teaching, please visit our YouTube channel, James W. Knox Sermons. Our sermon audio page, Bible Baptist Land, or our website, Bible Baptistoland.com. Until next time and throughout eternity, may Jesus Christ be praised.