Flood question from Howard Ashton UK: “I used to think that when Noah’ s Flood had subsided, everyone came out of the ark onto nice lush grassland. But then I thought, after such a flood, there must have been a huge amount of mud around. So, when Noah and his family emerged from the ark, was it a messy sight which greeted them and were they up to their eyeballs in mud for some considerable time afterwards? Or were conditions somehow more in keeping with the fresh new start God had given them?”
Editorial Answer: Out here in Australia after massive floods, we notice that within two weeks of floodwaters subsiding, fresh grass is coming up through the mud, even when it has been under water for years – many plant seeds have incredible survival capacity even under water and in wet mud. The year of Noah’s Flood outlined in Genesis 7-9 is the most detailed chronological year in the Old Testament – worth a good look in detail. However, please note, during the final phase of flood, the water began to retreat off the tops of the mountains long before Noah and his family got off in the Mountains of Ararat (Genesis 8:4), so there was actually several months for regrowth of grass out of the mud, so it would have been lusher than you portray, although in the bottoms of the valleys, it was probably still fairly muddy. But even that would have soon been covered by new growth. It should be obvious that one reason for this prolonged wait after the land emerged was so there was food for the still vegetarian fauna that would get off the Ark.” (Ref. Ecology, vegetation, ecosystem)
Evidence News 29 October 2008
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