I'm with Pseudo on this. I think the bible speaks for itself. I particularly like the consistency of the flood account!
Two different dates for the appearance of mountains after the flood:
Ch8 v4: and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest upon the mountains of Ar'arat.
Ch8 v5: And the waters continued to abate until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.
Two different dates for the waters to be dried off the earth.
Ch8 v13: In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry.
Ch8 v14: In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.
One more anomaly, Genesis 7 verse 11 gives the start of the flood:
In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened.
According to the account after 40 days and nights Noah sets free a dove to see if the water has subsided. When it returns with nothing he waits 7 more days and sets it free again. It then returns with a fresh olive leaf so Noah knows the waters have subsided (ch8 v6-11). This gives 47 days that the waters were on the earth. This conflicts with Chapter 7 verse 24 and Chapter 8 verse 3 which give 150 days until the waters abated.
Add to this the numerous repetitions in the account and the fact that some verses use Elohim and some use Yahweh for God then you can see that this story has been pieced together from two separate legends.
City 3 United 1
