Part 14 (1/2)

The importance of the Babylonian Deluge story does not rest in anything intrinsic to itself, for there are many deluge stories preserved by other nations quite as interesting and as well told. It derives its importance from its points of resemblance to the Genesis story, and from the deduction that some have drawn from these that it was the original of that story--or rather of the two stories--that we find imperfectly recombined in Genesis.

The suggestion of Jean Astruc that ”two fundamentally different accounts of a deluge have been worked up into a single story in the Bible” has been generally accepted by those who have followed him in the minute a.n.a.lysis of the literary structure of Holy Scripture; and the names of the ”Priestly Narrative” and of the ”Jehovistic Narrative”

have, for the sake of distinctness, been applied to them. The former is so called because the chapters in Exodus and the two following books, which treat with particular minuteness of the various ceremonial inst.i.tutions of Israel, are considered to be by the same writer. The latter has received its name from the preference shown by the writer for the use, as the Divine name, of the word _Jehovah_,--so spelt when given in our English versions, but generally translated ”the LORD.”

There is a very close accord between different authorities as to the way in which Genesis, chapters vi.-ix., should be allotted to these two sources. The following is Dr. Driver's arrangement:--

PRIESTLY NARRATIVE. | JEHOVISTIC NARRATIVE.

| Chap. Verse. | Chap. Verse.

Genesis vi. 9-22. |Genesis vii. 1-5.

vii. 6. | 7-10.

11. | 12.

13-16a. | 16b.

17a. | 17b.

18-21. | 22-23.

24. | viii. 2b-3a.

viii. 1-2a. | 6-12.

3b-5. | 13b.

13a. | 20-22.

14-19. | ix. 1-17. |

The Priestly narrative therefore tells us the cause of the Flood--that is to say, the corruption of mankind; describes the dimensions of the ark, and instructs Noah to bring ”of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.” It further supplies the dates of the chief occurrences during the Flood, states that the waters prevailed above the tops of the mountains, that when the Flood diminished the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat; and gives the account of Noah and his family going forth from the ark, and of the covenant which G.o.d made with them, of which the token was to be the bow seen in the cloud.

The most striking notes of the Jehovistic narrative are,--the incident of the sending out of the raven and the dove; the account of Noah's sacrifice; and the distinction made between clean beasts and beasts that are not clean--the command to Noah being, ”Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.” The significant points of distinction between the two accounts are that the Priestly writer gives the description of the ark, the Flood prevailing above the mountains, the grounding on Mount Ararat, and the bow in the cloud; the Jehovistic gives the sending out of the raven and the dove, and the account of Noah's sacrifice, which involves the recognition of the distinction between the clean and unclean beasts and the more abundant provision of the former. He also lays emphasis on the Lord's ”smelling a sweet savour” and promising never again to smite everything living, ”for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth.”

The chief features of the Babylonian story of the Deluge are as follows:--The G.o.d Ae spoke to Pir-napistim, the Babylonian Noah--

”'Destroy the house, build a s.h.i.+p, Leave what thou hast, see to thy life.

Destroy the hostile and save life.

Take up the seed of life, all of it, into the midst of the s.h.i.+p.

The s.h.i.+p which thou shalt make, even thou.

Let its size be measured; Let it agree as to its height and its length.'”

The description of the building of the s.h.i.+p seems to have been very minute, but the record is mutilated, and what remains is difficult to translate. As in the Priestly narrative, it is expressly mentioned that it was ”pitched within and without.”

The narrative proceeds in the words of Pir-napistim:--

”All I possessed, I collected it, All I possessed I collected it, of silver; All I possessed I collected it, of gold; All I possessed I collected it, the seed of life, the whole.

I caused to go up into the midst of the s.h.i.+p, All my family and relatives, The beasts of the field, the animals of the field, the sons of the artificers--all of them I sent up.

The G.o.d ama appointed the time-- Muir Kukki--'In the night I will cause the heavens to rain destruction, Enter into the midst of the s.h.i.+p, and shut thy door.'

That time approached-- Muir Kukki--In the night the heavens rained destruction I saw the appearance of the day: I was afraid to look upon the day-- I entered into the midst of the s.h.i.+p, and shut my door

At the appearance of dawn in the morning, There arose from the foundation of heaven a dark cloud:

The first day, the storm? . . . .

Swiftly it swept, and . . . .

Like a battle against the people it sought.

Brother saw not brother.