A Review of “The Rain: A Story of Noah and the Ark”

April 23, 2008 – 12:22 pm by sntjohnny. Filed under Blog, General, book reviews.

Buy The Rain on Amazon.com

by Chris Skates and Dan Tankersley

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Xulon Press (September 25, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 160477049X
• ISBN-13: 978-1604770490
• Website: www.bereadyministries.com

Book Description
Noah was in shock. It had been nearly one hundred twenty years since God told him this flood would come. Now that it was here, he couldn’t bear it. Noah understood quite well what was taking place outside and why God had determined it had to be that way. Still, the reality was agonizing. Why, oh why, did they not listen? Noah thought. He shed no tears. He had cried so much and so often in these recent days that his body could produce no more. He continued to stare into his lap. Noah wished the screams outside were not real. He wished to awaken from this nightmare. But he could only endure it. As the rain pounded the roof and the people outside suffered, minutes were like hours. Familiar voices were begging him to open the door. Noah knotted his fists into his cloak and tried to hold on.

A review by Anthony Horvath, All Rights Reserved

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The Rain is an engaging story of Noah and the building of the ark as recorded in Genesis. It is a fictionalized account which wishes to remain true to the assertions of fact which are contained in the Genesis account. It tells the story from alternating perspectives, though not usually Noah’s. His sons and daughter-in-laws carry the story with occasional vignettes from other perspectives.

There are some definite strengths to the story. For example, if the Biblical account is to be trusted, it is almost certain that when the waters began to rise, people would recognize that Noah hadn’t been insane after all. Their desperate pleas would have haunted the occupants of the ark. It is hard enough for people to believe that so many people deserved to be wiped out that the acknowledgment of the real effect this would have had on Noah and his family would have had helps reveal the magnitude of the event.

Another strength of the book is in its description of the kind of evil things that may have been going on in the world. It is easy to imagine that everyone was innocent in the world and so shake our fists at God, but what if it really was the case that they weren’t innocent and that they really had it coming? If they were involved in human sacrifice, or in more recent terms, frying Jews by the hundreds of thousands in prison ovens, wouldn’t you want God to take action?

The Rain discusses such possibilities so vividly that one of the authors, Chris Skates, feels compelled to offer an explanation for what some might think is ‘overly graphic or offensive.’ Skeptics are quick to scorn the justice of wiping out the whole world, but I suppose the skeptics would want God to intervene in something like, say, the Holocaust. The Genesis text does not explicitly tell us what people were doing but it isn’t fair to assume they were actually all on their best behavior, their only ‘crime’ choosing not to believe in Yahweh.

The Rain must be commended for the hard look at pain and suffering and evil and the deep unease any decent person might feel if such measures were taken.

Another strength of the book is laying out some of the possibilities for why the story is reported the way it is. In other words, skeptics like to try to think of ways in which certain features of the ark are ridiculous on their face. Though not a huge emphasis of the book, it does provide statements here and there that would undermine such preconceptions. If one wanted to consider Genesis innocent until proven guilty The Rain might help in its defense. If one insists on considering it guilty until proven innocent probably no evidence or narrative explanation will vindicate it.

I have to feel, though, that most skeptics are not going to be able to handle this book. Despite the fact that it addresses many of their common objections head on, since the book unashamedly respects the Genesis account it will immediately be dismissed. For a more objective reader who might be interested in what three scant chapters of Genesis might look like if played out into a longer story, some valuable insight will be had.

Christians who accept the Genesis account as actually happening might still find some surprises. I have to say that the authors raised issues that I can’t say I’d ever even thought of myself. For example, I’d failed to realize that Noah’s family were sexual creatures and hundreds of days on a boat in tight quarters- with no privacy- would take a toll.

My thinking is that Christian readers ages 17 and up will be the ones who most enjoy The Rain. It deals with difficult issues which need to be dealt with and makes the Gospel connection clear and plain. One is reminded of Jesus’ warnings about the end: two will be in a field… God keeps his promises. His promises to be merciful… and his promises to be just.