Page 26 - BV10

mountains! The critics are right -- Moses did record that mountains were COVERED with water.
However, most of us have not understood WHAT Moses actually intended when he used the He-
brew word for "covered." Or, perhaps, most of us have read into the word what we wanted it to
mean, based on the erroneous understanding we have had for years regarding the Flood account.
But, to come to the truth, we must ascertain what God (through Moses) means by this word or any
other word that is used. We must not read our own prejudices or misconceptions into them. Ex-
plains Martin --

The fact is, the mountains were indeed COVERED, but nowhere does Moses say (or even hint) that the
mountains were SUBMERGED! There is a perfectly good Hebrew word (ahphaph) which, without ambigu-
ity, means SUBMERGED (see II Sam. 22:5 and Jonah 2:5) and it could have been used by Moses if he in-
tended to show that the mountains were SUBMERGED. Moses is simply telling his readers that the
mountains (as well as all land masses including the oceans) were COMPLETELY DOUSED with 276
inches of rain that came "from above." The word "covered" does NOT mean "submerged." Even today we in
California often look at our mountains in winter and say how beautiful they are "covered with snow." In no
way do we mean that the snow is so deep that the whole state of California is under 15,000 feet of snow
so that Mount Whitney can be barely "submerged" (Solving the Riddle of Noah's Flood, p. 21).

While it is quite evident that the word "covered" does not mean "submerged" in the He-
brew -- does not Moses tell us in Genesis 8:5 that by the first day of the 10th month the tops of the
mountains finally became visible? He certainly does, but he doesn't mean what most of us think he
means! Think about this: With 15 cubits of water (276 inches) in the form of rain entering the
earth's atmosphere and falling to the surface, a supersaturated atmosphere would have resulted
creating thick clouds with extremely foggy conditions. This mantle of heavy clouds and rain sur-
rounded the surface of the earth for a period of several months, causing all the mountains to be ob-
scured from sight. In fact, Noah probably couldn't see a hand in front of his face -- at the best, not
more than 20 yards in any direction from the ark! This lasted for about five months.

After 150 days (five months) of intense supersaturation of the earth's atmosphere, we read
in Genesis 8:1 that God caused a STRONG WIND to pass over the earth. Gradually the impenetra-
ble fog and dense clouds dissipated and the atmosphere began to clear up. At the same time the
waters began to recede and, because of the drying effect of the wind, the lower parts of the moun-
tains could be seen through the clearing atmosphere. And, as Moses said in Genesis 8:5, "the wa-
ters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the
tops of the mountains were seen" because the fog and clouds had cleared up enough to enable much
better visibility.

If you examine the text carefully, you will see that Moses is only saying that the tops of the
mountains COULD BE SEEN -- not that they emerged from under thousands of feet of water! He
simply meant that the clouds and fog were dispersed by the "wind" that God produced on the earth
and that the tops of the mountains could now be seen for the first time. This is ALL that Moses
means, and this can be clearly demonstrated from the meaning of the Hebrew words he used. No-
tice --

When Moses said that the flood waters coming "from above" caused the mountains to be COVERED, the
Hebrew word he used was KAHSAH and that word has a basic meaning of "TO HIDE" or "TO CONCEAL."
It is translated "TO HIDE" in Genesis 18:17; Job 33:17; Psalm 32:5; Proverbs 10:18, and "TO CONCEAL"
in Proverbs 11:13 and 12:23. It is often used to mean "hiding one's flesh" by putting on clothing. With this
26