What was the approximate date of the Flood?

[Achilles6129]

First of all, as many of you know I do adhere to a global flood. But what was its approximate date - when did it happen? My biblical chronologies have placed the creation of Adam somewhere around 4100 BC. The Flood happened approximately 1656 years later (I say approximately because we don't have the exact amount of months the person lived before begetting a child, only the years). That would place the global flood around 2450 BC or so. Thoughts?

 

[ChetSinger]

Here's one take on it, from creation.com, a popular YEC site.

The Date of Noah’s Flood

 

[Achilles6129]

Very interesting - so he takes the date of the Flood to be 2304 BC. I will take a closer look at the article. Thanks for the link.

 

[Roms916]

Archbishop James Ussher writes in The Annals of the World:

1656 Anno Mundi (years since the creation of the world) in autumn.
2365 Julian Period (year, starting from January 1, 4713 BC)
2349 BC (Years before the Christian Era)

On the tenth day of the second month of this year (Sunday, November 30), God commanded Noah that in that week he should prepare to enter the ark. Meanwhile the world, totally devoid of all fear, sat eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage (Gen 7:1, 4, 10; Matt 24:38).

In the 600th year of the life of Noah, on the seventeenth day of the second month (Sunday, December 7th), he, together with his children and living creatures of all kinds, had entered into the ark. God sent a rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights. The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days (Gen 7:4, 6, 11-13, 17, 24).

The waters abated until the seventeenth day of the seventh month (Wednesday, May 6), when the ark came to rest upon one of the mountains of Ararat (Gen 8:3,7).

The waters continued receding until, on the first day of the tenth month (Sunday, July 19), the tops of the mountains were seen (Gen 8:5).

After 40 days, that is, on the eleventh day of the eleventh month (Friday, August 28), Noah opened the window of the ark and sent forth a raven (Gen 8:6, 7).

Seven days later, on the eighteenth day of the eleventh month (Friday, September 4), as may be deduced from the other seven days mentioned (Gen 8:10), Noah sent out a dove. She returned after seven days, on the twenty-fifth day of the eleventh month (Friday, September 11). He sent her out again and towards the evening she returned, bringing the leaf of an olive tree in her beak. After waiting seven more days, on the second day of the twelfth month (Friday, September 18), he sent the same dove out again, but this time she never returned. Gen 8:8-12.

 

[juvenissun]

First of all, as many of you know I do adhere to a global flood. But what was its approximate date - when did it happen? My biblical chronologies have placed the creation of Adam somewhere around 4100 BC. The Flood happened approximately 1656 years later (I say approximately because we don't have the exact amount of months the person lived before begetting a child, only the years). That would place the global flood around 2450 BC or so. Thoughts?

This is only the "apparent" chronology.

Due to the apparent difficulties involved in applying this chronology, it forces me to go for unproven possibility. I would call the need of 4th and 5th dimensions to answer this question. If that possibility is proven, then this question could be answered in no time.

Limited by our current 3 1/2 dimension, I would suggest the global flood took place before the Cambrian time. The only limiting condition for this suggestion is the source of water.

 

[Achilles6129]

This is only the "apparent" chronology.

Due to the apparent difficulties involved in applying this chronology, it forces me to go for unproven possibility. I would call the need of 4th and 5th dimensions to answer this question. If that possibility is proven, then this question could be answered in no time.

Limited by our current 3 1/2 dimension, I would suggest the global flood took place before the Cambrian time. The only limiting condition for this suggestion is the source of water.

I'm sorry, you will have to elaborate a little bit more. Do you believe that the Flood took place billions of years ago? It is stated in Scripture that the Flood was not that long after the creation - about 1656 years. That means it would have had to have been thousands of years ago.

 

[Achilles6129]

Here's one take on it, from creation.com, a popular YEC site.

The Date of Noah’s Flood

OK I took a further look at the article and he makes a big blunder - he evidently leaves out the lifespan of both Isaac and Jacob!


I did some more figuring and I came up with a more accurate date for the Flood. Here's how I did it:


The Exodus occurred around 1445-1447 BC. We know this because Solomon's temple was built circa 965-967 BC and the Exodus was exactly 480 years prior to that:


"In the four hundred eightieth year after the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the house of the Lord." 1 Ki. 6:1 (NRSV)


Once we have a date for the Exodus we can know almost exactly when the creation of man occurred. Here's how:


"40 The time that the Israelites had lived in Egypt was four hundred thirty years. 41 At the end of four hundred thirty years, on that very day, all the companies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. " Ex. 12:40-41 (NRSV)


In this case, then Israelites must have come into Egypt around 1876 BC. When the Israelites came into Egypt Jacob was 130 years old, meaning that Jacob was born around 2006 BC. Isaac was 60 when Jacob was born, so the birth of Isaac is 2066 BC (+-1). Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born, so his birth was 2166 BC (+-2).


We can go all the way back to the Flood. The only small problem is Terah - he was 130 when Abraham was born (see Acts 7:4). So adding up the geneaologies from the birth of Abraham we get:


130+29+30+32+30+34+30+35+2=352. Since the birth of Abraham was in 2166 BC (+-2), then the Flood would have been in 2518 BC (+-11).


We then go back 1656 (+-9) more years for the creation of Adam:


4174 BC (+-20)


So the main dates are as follows:


The Creation: 4174 BC (+-20)
The Flood: 2518 BC (+-11)

 

[juvenissun]

I'm sorry, you will have to elaborate a little bit more. Do you believe that the Flood took place billions of years ago? It is stated in Scripture that the Flood was not that long after the creation - about 1656 years. That means it would have had to have been thousands of years ago.

In the world of 3 ½ dimension we live in, I have serious problem with that idea. We do not have enough water to cover the land that high. All these year counts are human's idea. The Bible does not say it and I do not accept it.

 

[Achilles6129]

In the world of 3 ½ dimension we live in, I have serious problem with that idea. We do not have enough water to cover the land that high. All these year counts are human's idea. The Bible does not say it and I do not accept it.

The land was vastly different in times past! It was lower. But the point here is not really to argue about the scientific implications of the Flood - if you want to do that you can go to a place like CMI (Creation Ministries International). The point is simply to try to find a Biblical date for the Flood.

 

[Dancing Mad]

23xx B.c.

 

[AmericanChristian91]

If you do your research you will find using the evidence, that the global flood happened in the year.......

0000 BC

 

[juvenissun]

The land was vastly different in times past! It was lower. But the point here is not really to argue about the scientific implications of the Flood - if you want to do that you can go to a place like CMI (Creation Ministries International). The point is simply to try to find a Biblical date for the Flood.

The Bible does not say the time in terms of chronicle year.
You can calculate, but we do not know all the variables. So, in fact, we can not calculate.

 

[Achilles6129]

The Bible does not say the time in terms of chronicle year.
You can calculate, but we do not know all the variables. So, in fact, we can not calculate.

Right, but we can know the approximate time frame. I did the calculations and I come up with a date around 2500 BC.

 

[juvenissun]

Right, but we can know the approximate time frame. I did the calculations and I come up with a date around 2500 BC.

I don't think we can "approximate" in this case.

2500 and 2,500,000 can not be approximation to each other. Any observable geological feature (for example, the river gravel deposit, or the beach sand deposit) will need the time in our world at least tens, or hundreds of thousands of years.

We are confined with the time system as we sensed it. Within this system, you simply can not have the global flood taken place thousands of years before now.

 

[greentwiga]

When people calculate the date for the flood, they assume that the writer of the passage meant the same thing by father and son that we do. The Bible uses father in many ways. There is the use as grandfather, great-grandfather, or some more distant ancestor. Ther is the use of father as founder of the tribe. There is father as ruler. There is also spiritual father as Paul was over some converts.

Thus, just counting the age at birth assumes literal father. That method does get to about 2200 BC. Another way to calculate is that you can add the total ages or the total age minus the birth age. Those methods result in a flood around 3,950 or 4,170 BC. Not knowing what method the ancients used, I would expect the flood to be within those extremes. Interestingly, we find a record of a flood with a Noah type figure at 3,000 BC. It was a regional flood, but it fits the account of Noah. Though I don't believe that the Sumerian or Babylonian accounts are accurate or that the Biblical version is a corrupted version of those accounts, I do accept that it is evidence in support of the account. Other cases of floods, such as the flooding of the Black Sea, though dramatic, are outside the time-frame, and the flood behaves differently than described in the Bible. Thus, I put the flood within a hundred years of 3,000 BC

 

[everready]

Cause of the Biblical Flood
The ice age re-examined
Evidence of cataclysm

I talked with Mr. Patton in the 70's when he had a film strip called "Cataclysm From Space 2800 BC" When i showed the filmstrip at a church meeting a teacher said if he were to show it at his school he would lose his job. It totally blows the doctrine of evolution sky high... i believe that filmstrip is available in a video I'd post it but it might be considered spamming..

Mr. Patton told me i should read his book "The Biblical Flood And The Ice Epoch" that would explain everything in detail, that book is provided in this link

The Biblical Flood and the Ice Epoch

To your spiritual health..

everready

 

[greentwiga]

Cause of the Biblical Flood
The ice age re-examined
Evidence of cataclysm

I talked with Mr. Patton in the 70's when he had a film strip called "Cataclysm From Space 2800 BC" When i showed the filmstrip at a church meeting a teacher said if he were to show it at his school he would lose his job. It totally blows the doctrine of evolution sky high... i believe that filmstrip is available in a video I'd post it but it might be considered spamming..

Mr. Patton told me i should read his book "The Biblical Flood And The Ice Epoch" that would explain everything in detail, that book is provided in this link

(Link removed so I could post)

To your spiritual health..

everready

I researched the Ice Age flood, such as when an Ice Dam broke, or when the sea levels rose. Neither of those great floods would last a year before returning to normal. I tried to make them fit, but had to reject those floods as being Noah's flood.

It is possible that. on top of the massive rain and flooding coming down the river, something happened out at Sea. There is scientific evidence of a meteor strike in the area about then. There is also a possibility that the rain caused a massive landslide into the Persian Gulf from Southern Iraq. Either could cause a tidal wave on top of the rest of the flooding.

 

[Achilles6129]

I don't think we can "approximate" in this case.

2500 and 2,500,000 can not be approximation to each other. Any observable geological feature (for example, the river gravel deposit, or the beach sand deposit) will need the time in our world at least tens, or hundreds of thousands of years.

We are confined with the time system as we sensed it. Within this system, you simply can not have the global flood taken place thousands of years before now.

I do not adhere to the evolutionary interpretation of the fossil record, sorry.

 

[juvenissun]

I do not adhere to the evolutionary interpretation of the fossil record, sorry.

I am not talking about fossils. There are many many other natural processes that do take a lot of time to accomplish. For example, soil formation and soil erosion. Go out to your yard and ask yourself: how long does it take to make all the soil there? If you want to compare, then put a rock into the soil and ask: when would that piece of rock become soil like its surrounding material?

It is hard to argue with the existence of these real life subjects. They do take a lot time to form.

 

[Achilles6129]

I am not talking about fossils. There are many many other natural processes that do take a lot of time to accomplish. For example, soil formation and soil erosion. Go out to your yard and ask yourself: how long does it take to make all the soil there? If you want to compare, then put a rock into the soil and ask: when would that piece of rock become soil like its surrounding material?

It is hard to argue with the existence of these real life subjects. They do take a lot time to form.

All this is based off of assumption. There is no way to know for a fact about these processes because there are always assumptions being made - for example, that present-day processes happen at the same speed as the past. Then, again, such interpretations in the fossil record are subject to misinterpretation. Creationists have their own interpretation of all of these things - see Creation Ministries International.