Ben Witherington , Noah's Ark and the problem of modern scholarship

In many many ways Ben Witherington is a fine New Testament Scholar. I have benefited from his writings on numerous occasions and learnt a lot from both his Grace in Galatia and His Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on Acts. Recently on his own blog he commented on the recent claim of Some Chinese Christians to have found Noah's Ark. Whilst he is right to be cautious about this pointing out that there have been several supposed finds in his life time. He is also open to the idea that it could quite possibly be Noah's ark. His cautious comments are encouraging he doesn't want Christians to make claims in their excitement that are needed to be withdrawn after the event. My issue is not with his caution but with his understanding of the Genesis account, he writes:

What I am prepared to attest to is that geologists have long pointed out that there is clear evidence of a huge flood in the ancient near east, a flood which was spoken of not only in the Bible but also in Enuma Elish another ancient source as well that tells the story of a Noah like figure named Utna-Pishtem (see Heidel's Babylonian Genesis ). The evidence suggests a flood of the then known world, not a world wide flood as we would consider it today. And indeed it would take one whopper of a flood to put a boat 11,000 feet up on a mountain in eastern Turkey. We will leave to the flood geologists and oceanographers the issues of how big a flood it would take to put a boat where this team of explorers say they found it.

Witherington is an evangelical scholar and like a lot of evangelical scholars he is prepared to give to much away for the sake of academic credibility. A flood of the then known world rather than a world wide flood is not what the Bible talks about. What the Bible says is enough for me, the Bible says the whole earth was flooded I believe it. However it is not just the Bible, there are flood stories from all over the world. I knew this and so I asked a friend of mine from India if he knew of any flood stories from there. He came back with two accounts and both of them had a universal flood, a speaking god and a massive boat. The Genesis account is about universal judgement, Ben Witherington, you and I are descendants of Noah and we are here today because God showed mercy to one family during the flood. The horror of the flood account is hard to take ,it is not a fairytale or a delightful children's story it is a judgement that the world has never seen before or since. Yet it also speaks of two other things, it speaks of a future judgement, also on a global scale. Even greater the Ark points to God's mercy we are told that the judgement was delayed for 120 years so others could repent. We are also told that Noah found grace in God's sight, Noah received God's mercy. Today there is still an Ark which can save from God's judgement, the LORD Jesus Christ, the ark of God's mercy. Only by trusting in Him will we be safe from the wrath to come. Again his wrath is delayed so that you might find mercy.

God Bless
Stephen <><