Noah Revisited:
Was the flood regional or global is a good debate. The text's use of world could be used of regional or larger.
My position is a global flood best fits the case; however, Hebrew Scholar often make the case for a localized flood. Below is one such argument from a Hebrew Scholar. What do you think?
"The argument for a local flood proceeds along several trajectories aside from scientific arguments. Our concern is with the biblical text and its own evidence for a local flood. First, the phrases in the flood narrative that suggest a global event occur a number of times in the Hebrew Bible where their context cannot be global or include all people on the planet. For example the phrase, "the whole earth" (lol erets) occurs in passages that clearly speak of localized geography (eg. Gen 13:9; 41:57; Lev 25:9, 24; Judges 6:37; I Sam 13:3; 2 Sam 24:8). In such cases, "whole land" or "all the people in the area" are better understandings. Those options produce a regional flood event if used in Genesis 6-8 where the phrase occurs.
Second, Gen 9:19 clearly informs us that "the whole earth" as populated by the Sons of Noah. Genesis 10 (see 10:1) gives us the list of the nations spawned by the sons of Noah--all of which are located in the regions of the ancient Near East, the Mediterranean, and the Aegean. The biblical writers knew nothing of nations in another hemisphere or places like India, China, or Australia. The language of Genesis 10, therefore, allows Genesis 7:21 to be restricted to only (or even some) of the people listed in the Table of nations. That interpretation is consistent with a localized flood.
Third, the phrase "all humankind" (lol 'adam) used in Genesis 7:21 also appears in context that cannot speak to all humans everywhere (eg Jer 32:20; Psalm 64:9 can only refer to people who had seen what God had done, not people on the other side of the world). Lastly, Psalm 104:9 appears to forbid a global flood, since it has God promising to never cover the earth with water as had been the case at creation."
