A New Flood Chronology Based on Seven-Day Creation Cycles

Abstract

Many attempts have been made to decipher the chronology of the Flood by uncovering the calendar behind the detailed dating of key Flood events. This study begins by linking Flood chronology with Creation chronology, which simply has a sequence of seven literal days ending with a sabbath day. The seven-day cycle becomes the key to establishing Flood chronology with its seven-day cycles throughout the narrative. Four times the seven-day Creation cycles are mentioned in the Flood account (Genesis 7:4, 10; 8:10, 12). These are interpreted as weekly cycles starting with a first day (Sunday) and ending with a seventh day (sabbath). This means that the last day of a seven-day wait for the Flood, according to 7:4, 10, was a sabbath of rest, the last day before the fury of the Flood was unleashed. Based on this template of seven-day cycles, the Flood started on a Sunday and ended on a sabbath (Saturday) 370 full days later. The final sabbath in the Flood account was marked by an animal sacrifice and the establishment of the everlasting covenant signified by a rainbow (Genesis 9:15–21). All datable events are then assigned to days of the week. The assigning of days of the week to important Flood events has possible implications for the developing new Flood models or modifying existing Flood models. Chapters 1–2 of Genesis are then inextricably linked to chapters 6–9. The Flood narrative cannot be correctly interpreted without interpreting the seven Creation days as literal days because of seven-day cycles being buried throughout the Flood narrative.

Keywords: Chiasmus, chiastic, mabbul, kataklusmos, 7-day cycles, Creation week, de-creation, literal days, chronology, dischronologization, covenant, historicity, Masoretic Text (MT), Septuagint (LXX)