Wind, water, and battle imagery in Genesis 8:1--3

As the result of a number of intersecting socio-religious phenomena, Gen 8:1-3 has remained a scholarly lacuna. It is often deemed a hopeless jumble of poorly woven ancient flood traditions, or to contain mere physical links in a scientifically sensible chain of events leading from flood to dry ground. Modern translations often render Gen 8:1 as a summary of events detailed thereafter in Gen 8:2ff. When the text concludes, vayishku hamayim, one finds the equivalence of And God sent a wind to blow across the earth and the waters decreased . Ancient translations, however, interpret shkhakh as calmed and link ruah&dotbelow; with its divine sense in Gen 1:2; one finds the equivalence of And God sent a wind to blow across the earth and the waters calmed.;In this dissertation, I will demonstrate that Gen 8:1-3 contains more than mere physical links in a chain of events leading from flood to dry land. Gen 8:1 describes the calming of the waters prior to the cutting off of its sources, and both Genesis 6-9 and 8:1-3 share meaningful aspects of battle patterns with ancient flood traditions, ANE chaoskampf texts, and significant biblical creation and kingdom texts. While Genesis 6-9 is, by ANE standards, historical narrative, describing a flood and its dispersal, its artistic nuances and theological truths are found within this mythopoetic setting.;Though the waters are merely waters, no more than material tools in YHWH's cleansing of the earth, Gen 8:1-3 describes, metaphorically, the turning point in YHWH's battle against the waters of the flood, describing their humbling defeat before the divine ruah&dotbelow;, the cutting off of their life, and their scattering as YHWH reclaims the dry ground conquered by the waters in his re-creation of the inhabitable world with a new Adam and a new society based on divine law. Though the waters of the flood are created elements in complete submission to YHWH as creator, they remain, in the hearts of ancient readers, powerful and terrifying emblems of chaos, whose domination by YHWH in the flood story validates his lordship in convincing ways. The use of battle imagery without the necessity of actual battle emphasizes YHWH's power to rule over the whole of his creation.