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Chapter 5
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Genesis, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
God, Humanity, and Creation
Mistrust, Disobedience, and Death
Covenants and Faith in God’s Promises
The Role of Women
Summary
Analysis
The LORD orders Noah and his household to go into the ark, because Noah alone is righteous in his generation. He also tells Noah to take seven pairs of “clean” animals into the ark, one pair each of unclean animals, and seven pairs of each kind of bird. In 7 days’ time, God will send rain on the earth for 40 days and nights. Noah does as God commands.
The distinction between “clean” and “unclean” animals refers to the sacrificial system, which is explained later in the Bible in the Book of Leviticus. Thus God is not only providing for the survival of the species he has made, but for humanity’s ongoing worship of him.
Themes
Noah is 600 years old when the flood begins. He and his family escape in the ark, along with the clean animals, unclean animals, and birds. The flood comes as God had said, and God seals Noah, his wife, Noah’s sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives inside the ark. As the rain continues to fall, the ark rises on the swelling waters; even the mountains are covered by the flood. Every kind of creature that lives on the earth dies, and all human beings die. Only Noah and his family remain, sailing in the ark for 150 days.
Other creation stories from the biblical period included flood stories—like the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Enuma Elish—although the details of the flood vary. For example, the story in Genesis is the only one where the flood is a divine response to humankind’s disobedience. It’s also marked by specific chronological details and a vivid description of the drama of the event. However, the details aren’t precisely clear whether the flood covers the entire world, or primarily engulfs the characters’ known world.
Themes
