Genesis 7-9, wherein the earth is flooded and then something weird happens in Noah's tent, but I'm not quite sure what
Psalm 3, wherein the psalmist seeks deliverance from danger
Matthew 3, wherein Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist
There may be no greater example of history being written by the victors than the story of the great flood in Genesis. There may be bloodier stories in the Bible, but they don't often get painted on nursery walls. Don't get me wrong, the story of Noah is a good story, and who can resist imagining being on a boat with such a menagerie?
But spare a moment to think about this from a different perspective. 1998 was the year of the asteroid movie, and while Deep Impact was a plain also-ran compared to Armageddon and its unstoppable-please-make-it-stop Aerosmith theme song, it did feature the image of an estranged father and daughter making peace with one another on a beach, just as a monstrous tidal wave is about to consume them. This is, as far as I'm concerned, the only emotionally interesting moment in 4+ otherwise wasted hours of disaster porn. Yes, I saw both of them. In the theater. Judge not.
That one intimate moment, quickly swept away by the force of nature, may be a useful way to visualize the flood. The people drowned in this story had friends and families and children who didn't make it, lives and memories that disappeared when "all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened". It can be tempting to think that these dead deserved what they got, but I wouldn't be so quick.
Virtually the first thing Noah does when he's back on dry land is get completely plastered (by accident, but still) and then curse one of his sons for seeing him passed out naked (and whose fault is that exactly? This story is weird). This is the same man who a few chapters before was described as one who "walked with God." Perhaps he was never as righteous as he was earlier made out to be, or perhaps we have here an early indication that even the most righteous person can never fully merit God's grace on his or her own. I suspect that's a theme we'll come back to.
Psalm 3, wherein the psalmist seeks deliverance from danger
Matthew 3, wherein Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist
There may be no greater example of history being written by the victors than the story of the great flood in Genesis. There may be bloodier stories in the Bible, but they don't often get painted on nursery walls. Don't get me wrong, the story of Noah is a good story, and who can resist imagining being on a boat with such a menagerie?
But spare a moment to think about this from a different perspective. 1998 was the year of the asteroid movie, and while Deep Impact was a plain also-ran compared to Armageddon and its unstoppable-please-make-it-stop Aerosmith theme song, it did feature the image of an estranged father and daughter making peace with one another on a beach, just as a monstrous tidal wave is about to consume them. This is, as far as I'm concerned, the only emotionally interesting moment in 4+ otherwise wasted hours of disaster porn. Yes, I saw both of them. In the theater. Judge not.
That one intimate moment, quickly swept away by the force of nature, may be a useful way to visualize the flood. The people drowned in this story had friends and families and children who didn't make it, lives and memories that disappeared when "all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened". It can be tempting to think that these dead deserved what they got, but I wouldn't be so quick.
Virtually the first thing Noah does when he's back on dry land is get completely plastered (by accident, but still) and then curse one of his sons for seeing him passed out naked (and whose fault is that exactly? This story is weird). This is the same man who a few chapters before was described as one who "walked with God." Perhaps he was never as righteous as he was earlier made out to be, or perhaps we have here an early indication that even the most righteous person can never fully merit God's grace on his or her own. I suspect that's a theme we'll come back to.
No comments:
Post a Comment