Book Review: The Lost World of the Flood by Longman & Walton

The Lost World of the Flood, by Tremper Longman III & John H. Walton, follows the paradigm of Walton’s earlier books on Genesis 1 and Adam & Eve. The core of his ansatz is that we can best understand Scripture by taking account of the culture of the people to and through whom God revealed His word, as He communicated to them (the original recipients) in language they would understand. This is not just words and figures of speech, but includes their cultural view of existence based on beliefs, history, and mythology. Professor Walton has access to a large body of archaeological ancient texts from ancient Mesopotamia. This approach confronts the literalist approach to interpreting Scripture, in that metaphors and hyperbole are taken as meaning how people of that time understood them, and not as we of the 21st century would understand them. “The whole earth,” for example, to people of ancient Mesopotamia could have meant the world they knew about or perhaps, for rhetorical purposes, to emphasize how great destruction was.

The important point of the flood narrative in Genesis is not the scientific description of a destructive flood, but the divine imperatives that God is communicating to His people. As humankind filled the earth, they had been directed to bring order out of chaos, and given other specific directives by God. As the generations passed, ignorance and rejection of divine imperatives led to a chaotic, wicked state ... but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. The authors go into considerable detail about how God’s direction and intervention in the flood differed from the interpretations of other extant flood legends which invoked pagan deities. 

Part of the book considers the arguments for and against a literal worldwide flood as we would understand it today. This is probably the weakest part of the book. Geological evidence is strong but not compelling, as it may well in the future be interpreted differently. The authors’ rebuttal to the argument that the existence of flood legends around the world point to a worldwide flood is weak, amounting to mere assertion. Fortunately, this is not the primary focus of the book. The point is to understand how the flood account fits into the Biblical narrative of sin, judgment, and redemption from Adam to Abraham. God’s plan for mankind was stymied by humanity, but maintained a continuity of faith, until He was able to initiate the plan of  salvation with the call to Abraham.