06 Jul The World Before the Flood
Very little is told to us in the Bible about life before the flood, but from Genesis 4 and snippets in Genesis 5 we can glean some information. Additionally the flood story shows us what skills, ability and knowledge Noah and his family had, which presumably everyone else also had.
In Genesis 4 we notice that the sons of Adam and Eve were able to both grow crops and manage animals. They were both agricultural and pastoral. So right from the beginning of human history, from a literal biblical perspective, these were realities of normal lie. This stands in contracts to the narrative we often hear about people first being hunter-gatherers and then only later growing crops and managing animals.
In Genesis 4:17 Cain builds a city. This is not a city like New York, but is a place where people live together. So it is more expansive than just one home, and indicates that while some people may have been nomadic, others were not.
In Genesis 4:19 we note that a man called Lamech has two wives, so polygamy is already a thing.
In Genesis 4:21 a man called Jubal was the ‘father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes.’ So we have music in the ante-diluvian world. In verse 22 another man Tubal-Cain forged things out of bronze and iron. So we have metal work of both bronze and iron before the flood.
In Genesis 4 one of the biggest features is the story of Cain and Abel both of whom made sacrifices to God. So we see that religion and faith are a part of humanity back to the oldest times.
In Genesis 5 the biggest feature of that chapter is the long lives of the people listed there. While this is disputed by some, it shows that longevity was a thing, and presumably good health was a part of that.
Taking these things at face value, we find people before the flood who were intelligent, able to manage crops, animals, make music and work with metals. They lived a long time and had learned to worship and make sacrifice. All of this shows developed thinking, and society at work. Here is a short list of what they had before the flood, based simply on Genesis 4 and 5.
- Musical Instruments and Music Ability
- Metalwork with Iron
- Metalwork with Bronze
- Agriculture
- Pastoral Care and Animal Husbandry
- Longevity
- Worship/Religion, mindful of God/gods
- Cities, and Societal Administration
- Longevity
In addition to the above, in the flood story we see the ability to build a boat, a mega-structure that actually floated, and the awareness and ability to care for many animals, not just domestic animals.
This points to intelligence and smart people, as created by the Lord God, in His image.
NOTE: In the attached image, is the achaeological site of Gobeklitepe in Turkey, which may possibly be from a pre-flood society.
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