The Discovery Of Genesis

A Bleak World
aghast at the wickedness and violence conjured by the
human race, which He had wanted so much to be perfect
and holy! For yet another 120 years (Genesis 6:3),
God tolerated sinful mankind while Noah and his sons
under God’s direction built the mighty ark. Noah was
the 10th generation from Adam, and according to the
chronology of the genealogies (Genesis 5:3-30), it was
about the year 1656 after creation when God allowed
the devastating flood to sweep over the earth.
The ark, a tremendous vessel - 450 feet long, 75 feet
broad, and 45 feet high, (Genesis 6:15 Moffat), such
as no man had ever seen before, was to become a refuge 9
during the terrible storm. The Chinese character for boat
8‘G
$$2 gives this very representation. There are three ele-
boat
ments pictured : a vessel 8, eight A, and mouth 0 ,
meaning “people.” The word for boat, then, tells the
story of this first great ark which, in spite of the years of
warning and pleading by Noah to his compatriots, had
just eight passengers. “And Noah and his sons [Ham,
Shem, and Japheth] and his wife and his sons’ wives
with him, went into the ark, to escape the waters of the
flood” (Genesis 7 : 7).
One finds that these original eight people from whom
the earth was repopulated after the flood, play a very important
and prominent role in many Chinese characters.
It has been pointed out several times that this earth has
known two very different worlds, the first a perfect
creation extending from the time of Adam and Eve until
it was completely destroyedand buried by the devastating
flood. Many of the characters which were derived from
episodes involving Adam and Eve during the antediluvian
times had incorporated in them various symbols represen-
95
$jvessel
A eight