הַמַּבּוּל מַיִם, “The Well of Waters”: Yahweh’s Fresh Water Reservoir beneath His Mountain-Palace

Abstract

The Noahic Deluge is commonly understood to have resulted from the infiltration of chaos waters into the ordered universe from two sources: one situated above the Rāqîaˁ and one underground. This interpretation does not find support in the HB and contradicts the precepts of the cosmological worldview of the ANE. According to Gen 6:17 Yahweh uses one single source of water to flood the land, referred to as הַמַּבּוּל מַיִם, “the well of waters.” There was a common belief in the ANE that there was a vast reservoir of fresh water in the underworld on the eastern horizon, beneath the palace of the sun god. The waters of Life (Ḥayya/Ea) therein, which must be distinguished from the saline primordial waters of chaos, were used for divine judgement. In spite of the consensus view that the chaos waters were permitted to enter the cosmos, not only during the Deluge but every time it rained, it is more likely that Yahweh lifted the waters of the well beneath his mountain-palace to execute justice and restore order to the land.