Genesis 7:23, Did the Flood Destroy All Life?

Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; men and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.

//This verse seems pretty clear on the matter. But since scientific study continues to insist there has been no worldwide flood, a number of Bible readers consider the flood story to be a local event. They point to other locations in scripture where “the whole world” appears to mean only the surrounding area of the writer.

The flood story, however, carries an unmistakable moral lesson: Life on earth would not have survived were it not for Noah’s faithfulness. Life was preserved only because Noah brought animals into the ark, to preserve these species on earth. That’s the entire point of the flood myth, isn’t it? God wiped out his creation and started over.

But not only does external evidence undermine this interpretation, the Bible itself does! If you believe all life on earth was destroyed, consider the following:

Genesis 6:4, The Nephilim were on the earth in those days–and also afterward–when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

This verse is provided to bolster the wickedness of mankind before the flood. The story reads as if God wished to destroy the Nephilim (giants) by the flood. But then comes this verse, long after the flood, describing the fearsome people inhabiting the promised land:

Numbers 13:33, We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

Perhaps the Nephilim were so tall that they were able to keep their heads above water?