Chronology of the Flood/2/en

Chronology of the Flood

Exegetical Approaches

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One Set of 150 Days Which Includes the First 40 Days

The two mentions of the 150 days refer to the same time period which encompasses the forty days of rain. The ark lands at the conclusion of these 150 days.

Sources:Qumran Scroll 4Q252Fragment 1 Columns 1-2About the Qumran Scrolls, the KaraitesYefet b. Eli Bereshit 8:4Aharon b. Yosef Bereshit 8:3-8Aharon b. Eliyahu Bereshit 8:3-6, rejected approach in Lekach TovBereshit 7:24About R. Toviah b. Eliezer, Ibn EzraBereshit 8:3-5Additional Commentary Bereshit 7:11Additional Commentary Bereshit 8:14Iggeret HaShabbatAbout R. Avraham ibn Ezra, R. Yosef Bekhor ShorBereshit 7:24Bereshit 8:3-10About R. Yosef Bekhor Shor, RidBereshit 7:12Bereshit 8:4About R. Yeshayah of Trani, approach in ChizkuniBereshit 8:3-13About R. Chizkiyah b. Manoach, both approaches in RambanBereshit 8:4-5About R. Moshe b. Nachman, Akeidat YitzchakBereshit 13About R. Yitzchak Arama, AbarbanelBereshit 7:24About R. Yitzchak Abarbanel, SefornoBereshit 7:24About R. Ovadyah Seforno, second approach of R. Eliezer AshkenaziMa'asei Hashem Bereshit 26About R. Eliezer Ashkenazi (Ma'asei Hashem), ShadalBereshit 7:24Bereshit 8:2Bereshit 8:4About R. Shemuel David Luzzatto, Hoil MosheBereshit 7:11About R. Moshe Yitzchak Ashkenazi, R. D"Z HoffmannBereshit 7:21-24About R. David Zvi Hoffmann, U. CassutoBereshit Introduction to the FloodAbout Prof. Umberto Cassuto

"וַתָּנַח הַתֵּבָה בַּחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִי בְּשִׁבְעָה עָשָׂר יוֹם" – Most of these commentators hold that the seventh months is being counted from the beginning of the year.  According to this all dates in the story of the flood are being counted from the same time.  R. Eliezer Ashkenazi points out that there is no need for the Torah to mention the date that the ark landed if it was the same with the date the 150 days ended on. Ramban in his first approach and R. Eliezer Ashkenazi explain instead that the seventh month is counted from the start of the flood and the ark landed a month after the end of the 150 days.¹

How do 150 days fit in five months? According to Ramban's first approach and R. Eliezer Ashkenazi there are six months between the start of the rain and the landing of the ark and the 150 days end before the landing.  However, the majority in this approach holds that between the start of the rain and the landing of the ark there are only five months and 150 days do not fit in five regular consecutive Hebrew months.  The commentators resolve this issue in different ways:

• Different calender – the Qumran scrolls calculate the dates based on their own calender in which two out of every three months has thirty days and the third month has thirty one days.  Yehuda HaParsi quoted in Ibn Ezra's Iggeret HaShabbat and options quoted in the Karaites explain that Noach was using the solar calender. According to both of these approaches there are two days after the end of the 150 days before the ark landed.  Ibn Ezra suggests instead that Noach was using a calender that adds to one month a few days.  R. Yosef Bekhor Shor, Seforno, and Hoil Moshe hold that Noach was using a thirty month calendar.  Hoil Moshe writes that in Noach's time people were not so knowledgeable regarding the length of months.
• Special Hebrew months – Yefet and Anan the Karaites wanted to prove from here that one declares the month based on eyewitnesses and not based on calculations that never have five months which are 150 days.  Yefet and Anan also explain that if one does not see the moon (like Noach when he was in the Ark) one counts the month as a thirty day month.²
• Rounded number – the Rid, the other Karaites, and U. Cassuto say that the months were real Hebrew months and instead reinterpret the 150 days and say that it is a round number.³

"בָּעֲשִׂירִי בְּאֶחָד לַחֹדֶשׁ נִרְאוּ רָאשֵׁי הֶהָרִים" – The commentators in this approach are consistent in their explanation of the tenth month and seventh month.  Ramban in his first explanation and R. Eliezer Ashkenazi explain also here that the month is counted from the beginning of the rain while most commentators explain that the month is the tenth month from the beginning of the year.

"וַיְהִי מִקֵּץ אַרְבָּעִים יוֹם" – According to Ramban and R. Eliezer Ashkenazi's approach the second forty days are from the first of the tenth month from the start of the rain and therefore the 21 days after the forty end around the first of the first month when Noach opens the Ark's cover.  Most of the other commentators who explain that the tenth month is from the beginning of the year say also the the second forty days are from the tenth month.  According to them ""

"וַיִּגְבְּרוּ הַמַּיִם" and "וַיַּחְסְרוּ הַמַּיִם"

Shifting water levels

One Set of 150 Days Which Does Not Include the First 40 Days

Both sets of 150 days are combined and in order to fit the forty days, the seven months are not counted from after the beginning of the year.

Sources:Seder Olam Rabbah4About Seder Olam Rabbah, Bereshit Rabbah33:7About Bereshit Rabbah, Sefer HaArukhs.v. קלAbout R. Natan b. Yechiel, RashiBereshit 7:12Bereshit 8:3-14Ms. Leipzig 1 Bereshit 8:5-6About R. Shelomo Yitzchaki, Lekach TovBereshit 7:24Bereshit 8:3-6Bereshit 8:10-14About R. Toviah b. Eliezer, ChizkuniBereshit 7:24Bereshit 8:3-13About R. Chizkiyah b. Manoach, R. Chaim PaltielBereshit 8:6About R. Chaim Paltiel, Tosafot HaShalemBereshit 8:4:8Bereshit 8:4:8 (in footnote)Bereshit 8:5:5About Ba'alei HaTosafot, Minchat YehudaBereshit 8:6About R. Yehuda b. Elazar, Daat ZekeinimBereshit 8:3About Daat Zekeinim, first approach of R. Eliezer AshkenaziMa'asei Hashem Bereshit 26About R. Eliezer Ashkenazi (Ma'asei Hashem)

"וַתָּנַח הַתֵּבָה בַּחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִי בְּשִׁבְעָה עָשָׂר יוֹם"

"בָּעֲשִׂירִי בְּאֶחָד לַחֹדֶשׁ נִרְאוּ רָאשֵׁי הֶהָרִים"

"וַיְהִי מִקֵּץ אַרְבָּעִים יוֹם"

What happened during the 150 days? These commentators hold that "וַיִּגְבְּרוּ הַמַּיִם עַל הָאָרֶץ" happened during the 150 days and the water started to abate only after the end of the 150 days and that is the meaning of "וַיַּחְסְרוּ הַמַּיִם מִקְצֵה חֲמִשִּׁים וּמְאַת יוֹם".  However, the commentators offer two explanations regarding what happened during the 150 days themselves:

• According to Seder Olam Rabbah and the Arukh after the forty days the water stopped increasing but stayed in its place. Seder Olam Rabbah explains that during these 150 days the wicked were each being sentenced for their actions.  The Arukh explains the language of "וַיִּגְבְּרוּ הַמַּיִם" to mean that they stayed in their strength.
• According to Ba'alei HaTosafot the water were still increasing throughout all the 150 days even though the rain stopped already after the first 40 days. Perhaps, the water may have continued coming out from underground.

Two sets of 150 Days Which Include the Second 40 Days

Sources:RadakBereshit 7:24Bereshit 8:3-14About R. David Kimchi

¹ R. Saadia also suggests that the seventh month is from the start of the flood but it is unclear what his position is in general.  He brings a similar case in Yirmeyahu 28:17 where Yirmeyahu prophesied that Chananyah will die by the end of the year but he dies on the seventh month which is the first month of the next year. Therefore, R. Saadia explains that the seventh month is from the time of Yirmeyahu's prophecy.

² R. Saadia quoted in Yefet questions this position that there is no reason Noach could not see the moon for the whole five months since it was only raining during the first month and even if he could not see the moon the calculations could have been made by Hashem and it would not matter if the moon was hidden.  R.  Saadia also questions their first claim that 150 days do not fit in five months.  R. Saadia says that if the five months started from Cheshvan one could have four of the five be full months if Cheshvan and Kislev were full that year and the year was a leap year in which the first of Adar is also full.

³ For other examples where the Torah uses round numbers see the Karaites and the Rid and see Round Numbers.