After Cain killed Abel, Genesis says Adam and Eve had another son. His name was Seth, and God chose him to be the Godly seed since Abel was dead. In other words, there was a distinction between the two brothers. One was good. The other one was evil. That was evident when Lamech, one of Cain’s descendants, admitted to being crueler than Cain. Eventually, that cruelty and violence tainted almost all people. That is where the story of Noah’s flood enters the picture. This essay will explore the details of that flood, the ethics of everyone involved, and what God did.
By this point in the Genesis narrative, the original curse of sin in the Garden of Eden had its full effect on humans. It did, indeed, taint their hearts. Men became violent and cruel. Their hearts constantly dwelt on evil things. “And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He grieved in His heart.” 1Because of their wickedness — because of their poor ethics — God decided to judge them. Since they were so violent, God decided to wipe them out. He was going to send a flood to destroy everything on the earth, but creation found grace through the hand of one man: Noah. “So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, ‘The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” 2 Since Noah was righteous in the eyes of God — good ethics — God gave him mercy. He commanded Noah to build a boat. Noah could save his entire family and the animals and rebuild after the judgment. Without question, Noah immediately obeyed God. Once again, that’s a sign of his good ethics.
To make the story short, all of the animals — seven of each clean animal and two of each unclean animal3 — Plus Noah’s family got into the ark. Then God Himself shut the door.4 The waters lifted, the rain fell, and the entire earth flooded. It rained for forty days and destroyed everything.
After that, God stopped the rain. Noah let a dove out of the ark to see if there was dry land, but it just returned (meaning there wasn’t). Seven days later, he let the dove out again. It returned with an olive leaf. It was starting to dry up, but there was still water. Finally, after another seven days, Noah let the dove out, and it didn’t come back. The waters subsided, and everyone left the ark. Then God commanded Noah and his children to be fruitful and multiply.
When Cain killed Abel, he knew that was wrong. That’s why he tried concealing it and lied to God. The people knew that violence wasn’t appropriate. They knew it was a sin, but come, Noah, everyone was practicing it. That’s bad ethics. Humans understood that was a violation of God’s will and did it anyways. The summation of God’s command to the Garden of Eden was simple: Obey Him. All but Noah rejected that. Their fatal decision was rejecting God’s authority and following their hearts. For that, they received punishment. Noah was the opposite. He recognized God’s commands and followed them. Noah was blessed.
The conclusion of this story is simple: God wants obedience and hates sin. The contrasting ethics in Genesis resulted in contrasting rewards. The people during the worldwide flood had a choice to choose God or sin. They chose wrong.
Asher Sisneros 
Wow, good summary! Your conclusion paragraph was also really spectacular. 😀
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Much appreciated, Kate.
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