Genesis 7: The Breath of Life Vs. The Flood

I am not well versed with sacred verse. So it was difficult for me to think of a passage of scripture whose structure surpassed others in quality. I thought of stories that might be mighty in description. It turns out I was right in my own right to do so. #Antanaclasis

In Genesis chapter 7, the Lord commands Noah to build an ark and to gather his family and two of every animal to survive the flood that was about to happen. This section of scripture contains various repetitions in the form of anaphora and epistrophe  and several uses of climax.


In this first section, we see the use of repetition that shows the importance of the items mentioned and God's care for them:

• And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.
• And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the Lord shut him in.

 First, the repetition of "And they went in" shows the obedience of those who entered the ark, emphasis coming from the repetition. Then, the repetition of "of all flesh" following parallel structures "two and two" and "male and female" serves to emphasize the following clause of both verses. First, the breath of life (allusion to Genesis 2 and the Creation), is a power that is granted to mortals through the union of man and woman and God wanted to preserve that power and gave them commandments to do so.

In the second section of the passage that I selected, the use of climax (mainly) serves to further emphasize the value of the previously mentioned: God's desire to preserve his creations, but He must preserve the obedient.

• And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth.
• And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.
• And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.
• Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
• And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man:
• All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.

 The first two verses show the great power of the flood using climax. That they were powerful, they increased in power, yet the Lord sustained the ark over the waters. Then, in a climax that extends through various verses, God reiterates the value of life by contrasting the first section. First, the water rose above the hills, then the mountains, but even greater than the water was the loss of so many lives: fowl, cattle, beast, and man.