THE IMPORT OF THE FLOOD: A LINGUISTIC STUDY OF "NACHAM" IN GENESIS 6:6-7

Rezumat

Since God does nothing desultorily, what could be the import of the flood in Genesis 6? The flood must have been sent for a unique purpose and import other than punishment of sin. The New Testament itself did not present it as punishment on humanity. The understanding of the import of the Flood is not truly seen in verses 1-5 and 11-12, but in verses 6-7, precisely in the expression "it repented the Lord that he had made man" (KJV). The expression itself can mislead unless interpreted properly, and the key word in the expression is "repented". The research employed a linguistic approach to the study of "repented" in determining its actual meaning in the expression.  The finding was that the word does not really mean what English translations rendered it, and consequently the significance of the expression in the flood account has been hidden. The research pointed out that the linguistic understanding of nacham in the expression reveals the actual import of the flood.