Re-reading the Flood Narratives in Genesis 6--9 from the Exilic Historical Context and the Textual Perspective of "Huainanzi"

The previous studies on the flood narrative in Genesis 6 to 9 mainly focus on three points: The first is the interaction and relationship between the Yahwist and the Priestly Writer in this same text; the second deals with the reason of the deluge and the third concerns the meanings of the beginning and ending of the passage in Genesis 6:1-4 and Genesis 9:20-27 respectively. However, the importance of the historical background of the flood narrative in Genesis was largely neglected by scholars while answering these three questions separately. This thesis will concentrate on the exilic background and explore the three issues together by taking the flood narrative as a whole in Genesis. In light of the Chinese Classic Huainanzi which has a much clearer historical background than Genesis, it shows how various groups rewrite the ancient flood myths in diverse versions and try to express their perspectives on chaos and order during a specific historical moment when a meaningful belief and relevant theology is urgently needed. Taking the textual perspective of Huainanzi in the reading of Genesis it is believed that the former will shed light on the more or less similar community dynamics and historical circumstances of Genesis 6-9. Although some scholars try to put the Yahwist in the pre-exilic period, this thesis will regard both J and P as texts of the exile, they are reflections on the same historical event. The flood narratives in the Hebrew Bible are distinguished from the Ancient Near East ones in terms of the reason for the origin of the flood and its narrative order. For J, the humanity has never changed before and after the flood while God changed God's mind, such contrast shows how the Yahwist worried about the uncertain relationship between God and human beings during the flood and this also applies to and reflects the situation of the exile. On the other hand, P portrays and structures the flood in the creation-chaos-recreation scheme, everything was under God's control and the Priestly writer had a deep faith of God even in the face of the exile. The ending passage of the drunkenness of Noah in Genesis 9:20-27 then can be read as an etiology narrative, explaining how humanity multiplies after the flood. The author also tries to relate the flood hero to the forefathers of Israel from the perspective of the Yahwist. In this thesis it is further argued that instead of being the prologue of the Yahwist flood, the beginning section in Genesis 6:1-4 should be taken as another etiology narrative about human multiplication after the flood by the Priestly writer. The two parallel etiologies of J and P reveal the same concern for continuation and multiplication of the threathened community of Israel during the exile. In the crucial moment that Israel may lose their identity during the exile, retelling the ancient flood story which symbolizes social chaos and disordered reality, both J and P have their own reflections of the exile through narrating the flood story in Genesis.