We have collected flood stories from around the world. They come from every continent and from every major culture. After reviewing over a hundred stories we discovered that most stories contain eight similar elements. These elements parallel those found in the Biblical Story. Each story is like a data point in our review of flood stories. The diversity of geographic location and culture leads us to the conclusion that all these flood stories point back to a single source story. A story that was told after the worldwide deluge, then repeated generation after generation, spreading out throughout the earth. The original source story is the one that Noah's descendants including Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses told their offspring. It is the story we read in the book of Genesis.
These stories from the Andes Mountains of South American and the Steppes of Eastern Africa tell us of a worldwide flood event. The Inca story tells us about a llama herder and his llamas. They are sad and depressed because they know a flood is coming.They warn our hero who through his actions save humanity from calamity. The Masai story tells us about Tumbainot who was chosen by God to build a giant boat to save his two wives and six sons from the flood that covers the earth. He saves a remnant of men and animals on his boat.
The Hindu Flood Story comes from the original Vedic writings. It is a very vivid and colorful story telling us about Manu who meets a tiny fish one day while bathing in the river. The fish gives Manu instructions on how he was to save men, animals and plants from a coming deluge by building a giant boat. The fish grows magically and eventually tows Manu to safety. In the Aboriginal Flood Story we meet a giant frog named Tiddalick who creates a drought by drinking all water in the ve flood.world. He later spews it out creating a massive flood. These two stories along with all the other stories point us to a worldwide flood event.
Native American Tribes from Northern Canada down to Texas and from coast to coast tell versions of the same exact same flood story. This story features a hero of great standing that defeats a fearsome water serpent deity and then survives the wrath of other deities that heave water on him to punish him. This causes flooding of the entire earth. He and all the good animals are saved by a beautiful young maiden who is guiding a watercraft. With the help of the animals, the earth is recreated and repopulated.
The Gun Yu Myth is a story that explains the origin of the Chinese dynasties. In the 24th century BCE an emperor battles flooding that is tearing his society apart. Through the use of magic self-expanding soil Gun tries to hols back the flood waters. His failure to control the inundation leads to the appointment of a new emperor and the banishment of Gun. His son Yu hailed as a genius engineer, with the aid of water spirits diverts the flood waters into the ocean. A regional story from the south of China, called the Miao Flood Story, tells about the capture of Lei Gong. the god of thunder. Through the compassion of the hero of the story, Lei Gong escapes and mankind is saved from a worldwide flood meted out in punishment by Yu Shi god of rain.
Hailed as the oldest recorded deluge story, the Babylonian flood story provides a very detailed account of an ancient king who achieved immortality by building a boat to save mankind from a worldwide flood. The story is remarkably close to the biblical account of Noah yet the differences are quite glaring. Learn why Dr. Smith rejects the notion that the Babylonians came up with the original flood story and then everyone else copied it.
Gilgamesh is seeking to become immortal. He finds a man named Utanapishtim who has achieved that very feat. In the telling of his story we learn the Babylonian Flood Story. This story has been used as an attempt to disprove and dismantle the Old Testament, calling it a collection of myths and stories co-opted from the Babylonians. Dr. Smith takes this subject head on by describing the historical and archaeological evidence supporting the early origins of the Tanakh.
The Greek flood story is an extension of the Greek creation story. The story has similarities to the Babylonian flood story and many scholars believe that the Greeks borrowed it from the Babylonians. At the beginning of this episode Dr. Smith makes a critical comparison between the Babylonian stories and the Hebrew stories. He compares the loving and compassionate Elohim versus the hateful and vindictive Babylonian pantheon.
The Egyptian Flood Story is called "The Destruction of Mankind." Parts of this story can be found in pyramids and tombs. The most famous inscription from this story appears on the back wall of King Tut's burial chamber. While this story does not describe a worldwide flood, it does contain elements that fit consistently with the elements of other flood stories flood stories. This is the last flood story we will tell before we present the Biblical story of Noah and his Ark.
The Biblical Flood Story is the gold standard against which we have compared all the other flood stories that we have collected from around the world. In this episode we take you right up to the closing of the door on the ark. Elohim tells Noah, "Go! Enter the ark" and in so doing reveals to us a Messianic Prophecy. Genesis describes for us three phenomena that had never been seen on the earth before this event. These phenomena happened simultaneously to create Elohim's flood of purification and judgment.
