The narratives of Noah’s flood and the tower of Babel are part of a repeating pattern that many people reject God, but those that follow God receive his help.
“Chiastic Structuring of the Genesis Flood Story: The Art of Using Chiasm as an Effective Compositional Tool for Combining Earlier Chiastic Narratives,” Steven R. Scott, BYU Studies Quarterly 59
This article outlines a basic chiasm in Genesis 6-9, with the covenant between God and Noah being the bookends and God remembering Noah (Genesis 8:1) as the center. Then the article examines evidence that suggests that the narrative was created from two earlier chiasms, pointing to use of chiastic structure by three different authors over a long period of history. Chiastic structure exists at the level of scenes, stanzas, and sentences.
“5 Answers to Difficult Questions about Noah and the Flood,” Stephen O. Smoot, LDS Living magazine
Latter-day Saints benefit from additional information about the flood in the book of Moses, but there are still many questions. Smoot looks at whether the flood was local or global, whether it is appropriate to call the flood a baptism of the earth, and other questions.
“The Flood and the Tower of Babel,” Donald W. Parry, Ensign January 1998
Many people discount the biblical narratives of Noah’s flood and the tower of Babel, but scriptural evidence and testimonies of God’s prophets give us reason to believe that these events happened, even though we may not understand how.
“Major Doctrinal Contributions of the JST,” Robert J. Matthews, The Joseph Smith Translation: The Restoration of Plain and Precious Truths
The KJV mentions a covenant with Noah but does not say what the covenant was. In the Joseph Smith Translation, the statement is clarified to show that it is the same covenant that was given to Enoch, which was the same as had been given to Adam and other prophets.
“‘All Things Denote There is a God’: Seeing Christ in the Creation,” Bruce A. Roundy and Robert J. Norman, Religious Educator
A major theme of the history of the covenant people is the spiritual bondage of sin which leads to physical bondage. That which destroys sin in the sinner or destroys the sinner who will not repent also purifies and saves the repentant. Therefore, the eight souls of Noah’s family are spoken of as being “saved by water” (1 Peter 3:20), which water also destroyed the wicked who “hearkened not” (Moses 8:20) to Noah. God told Noah that the rainbow represented his remembrance of the everlasting covenant that he made with Enoch.
“Jared and His Brother,” Thomas R. Valletta, Fourth Nephi, From Zion to Destruction
This chapter examines the typological correspondences between the pattern of exodus (found in the histories of Noah, the Jaredites, the Israelites, and Lehi) and the eternal plan of redemption. Jaredite vessels have ideas in common with Noah’s ark: both were directed by God, were made tight, and were symbols of exodus from wickedness.
“Insights into the Book of Genesis,” George A. Horton Jr., The Joseph Smith Translation: The Restoration of Plain and Precious Truths
The Joseph Smith Translation teaches us that Noah’s family were saved because they hearkened unto the Lord.
