Part 5 (1/2)
[16:2] Tod's Hist. Raj., p. 581, quoted by Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i.
p. 404.
[16:3] L'Antiquite Expliquee, vol. i.
[17:1] Sir William Jones, the first president of the Royal Asiatic Society, saw this when he said: ”Either the first eleven chapters of Genesis, all due allowance being made for a figurative Eastern style, are _true_, or the whole fabric of our religion is false.” (In Asiatic Researches, vol. i. p. 225.) And so also did the learned Thomas Maurice, for he says: ”If the Mosaic History be indeed a fable, the whole fabric of the national religion is false, since the main pillar of Christianity rests upon that important original promise, that the seed of the woman should bruise the head of the serpent.” (Hist. Hindostan, vol. i. p.
20.)
[18:1] The above extracts are quoted by Bishop Colenso, in The Pentateuch Examined, vol. ii. pp. 10-12, from which we take them.
[18:2] ”_Cosmogony_” is the t.i.tle of a volume lately written by Prof.
Thomas Mitch.e.l.l, and published by the American News Co., in which the author attacks all the modern scientists in regard to the geological antiquity of the world, evolution, atheism, pantheism, &c. He believes--and rightly too--that, ”_if the account of Creation in Genesis falls, Christ and the apostles follow: if the book of Genesis is erroneous, so also are the Gospels_.”
CHAPTER II.
THE DELUGE.[19:1]
After ”man's shameful fall,” the earth began to be populated at a very rapid rate. ”The sons of G.o.d saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. . . . . There were _giants_ in the earth in those days,[19:2] and also . . . mighty men . . . men of renown.”
But these ”giants” and ”mighty men” were very wicked, ”and G.o.d saw the wickedness of man . . . _and it repented the Lord that he had made man upon the earth_,[19:3] and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said; I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord (for) Noah was a just man . . . and walked with G.o.d.
. . . And G.o.d said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them, and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood, rooms shalt thou make in the ark, (and) a window shalt thou make to the ark; . . . . And behold I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven, and every thing that is in the earth shall die. But with thee shall I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives, with thee. And 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. Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, _two_ of every sort shall come in to thee, to keep them alive. And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee and for them. _Thus did Noah, according to all that G.o.d commanded him._”[20:1]
When the ark was finished, the Lord said unto Noah:
”Come thou and all thy house into the ark. . . . 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. Of fowls also of the air by _sevens_, the male and the female.”[20:2]
Here, again, as in the Eden myth, there is a _contradiction_. We have seen that the Lord told Noah to bring into the ark ”of every living thing, of all flesh, _two_ of _every sort_,” and now that the ark is finished, we are told that he said to him: ”Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by _sevens_,” and, ”of fowls also of the air by _sevens_.” This is owing to the story having been written by _two different writers_--the Jehovistic, and the Elohistic--one of which took from, and added to the narrative of the other.[20:3] The account goes on to say, that:
”Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark. . . . Of _clean_ beasts, and of beasts _that are not clean_, and of _fowls_, and of _every thing_ that creepeth upon the earth, there went in _two and two_, unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, _as G.o.d had commanded Noah_.”[20:4]
We see, then, that Noah took into the ark _of all kinds_ of beasts, of _fowls_, and of every thing that creepeth, _two of every sort_, and that this was ”_as G.o.d had commanded Noah_.” This clearly shows that the writer of these words knew nothing of the command to take in _clean beasts_, and _fowls_ of the air, by _sevens_. We are further a.s.sured, that, ”_Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him_.”
After Noah and his family, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, the fowls of the air, and every creeping thing, had entered the ark, the Lord shut them in. Then ”were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, _and the windows of heaven were opened_.
And the rain was upon the earth _forty days and forty nights_. . . . .
And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. Fifteen cubits upwards did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered. And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man. And Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.”[21:1] The object of the flood was now accomplished, ”_all flesh died that moved upon the earth_.” The Lord, therefore, ”made a wind to pa.s.s over the earth, and the waters a.s.suaged. The fountains of the deep, and the windows of heaven, were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. And the waters decreased continually. . . . . And it came to pa.s.s at the end of _forty days_, that Noah opened the window of the ark, which he had made. And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth. He also sent forth a dove, . . . but the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark.” . . .
At the end of _seven_ days he again ”sent forth the dove out of the ark, and the dove came in to him in the evening, and lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf, plucked off.”
At the end of another _seven_ days, he again ”sent forth the dove, which returned not again to him any more.”
And the ark rested in the _seventh_ month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. Then Noah and his wife, and his sons, and his sons' wives, and every living thing that was in the ark, went forth out of the ark. ”And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord, . . . and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a sweet savour, and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake.”[21:2]
We shall now see that there is scarcely any considerable race of men among whom there does not exist, in some form, the tradition of a great deluge, which destroyed all the human race, except _their own_ progenitors.
The first of these which we shall notice, and the one with which the Hebrew agrees most closely, having been copied from it,[22:1] is the _Chaldean_, as given by Berosus, the Chaldean historian.[22:2] It is as follows:
”After the death of Ardates (the ninth king of the Chaldeans), his son _Xisuthrus_ reigned eighteen sari. In his time happened a great _deluge_, the history of which is thus described: The deity Cronos appeared to him (Xisuthrus) in a vision, and warned him that upon the fifteenth day of the month Desius there would be a flood, by which mankind would be destroyed. He therefore enjoined him to write a history of the beginning, procedure, and conclusion of all things, and to bury it in the City of the Sun at Sippara; and to build a vessel, and take with him into it his friends and relations, and to convey on board everything necessary to sustain life, together with all the different animals, both birds and quadrupeds, and trust himself fearlessly to the deep. Having asked the deity whither he was to sail, he was answered: 'To the G.o.ds;' upon which he offered up a prayer for the good of mankind. He then obeyed the divine admonition, and built a vessel five stadia in length, and two in breadth. Into this he put everything which he had prepared, and last of all conveyed into it his wife, his children, and his friends. After the flood had been upon the earth, and was in time abated, Xisuthrus sent out birds from the vessel; which not finding any food, nor any place whereupon they might rest their feet, returned to him again. After an interval of some days, he sent them forth a second time; and they now returned with their feet tinged with mud. He made a trial a third time with these birds; but they returned to him no more: from whence he judged that the surface of the earth had appeared above the waters.
He therefore made an opening in the vessel, and upon looking out found that it was stranded upon the side of some mountain; upon which he immediately quitted it with his wife, his daughter, and the pilot. Xisuthrus then paid his adoration to the earth, and, having constructed an altar, offered sacrifices to the G.o.ds.”[22:3]