Paul Seely wrote:
>The great deep is the oceans, tehom means seas and oceans. Gen 7:11 is
>very clear that the fountains are of the oceans, not of the land.
Not so clear, Paul. Since you seem to have read about the ancient Near East,
you surely have read the word "deep" translated from Sumerian writings
referring
to either their great rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, or to their
irrigation canals
which are "fountains."
In the Sumerian flood epic "Atrahasis," there is an extended period of drought
preceding the flood. Four times the phrase "fountain of the deep" or
"fountains
of the deep" is used in direct relationship to the drought and their fields
being
deprived of water.
Here is one verse:
"Be[low] the fountain of the deep was stopped, [that the flood rose not at
the source].
The field diminished [its fertility]"
Since oceans cannot water fields, I think the most reasonable
interpretation for
Genesis also is that the water overflowed the irrigation canals at the
inception of
the flood, and when the rain stopped, the irrigation canals stopped
overflowing
the land.
When the middle cities of Mesopotamia were excavated and clay layers were
discovered, which archaeologists dated to roughly 2900 BC, there was found
only
fresh water marine deposits - nothing from the sea whatsoever.
Dick Fischer - The Origins Solution - www.orisol.com
"The answer we should have known about 150 years ago."
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