Difference between revisions of "Chronology of the Flood/2/en"
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| − | <point><b>"וַיִּגְבְּרוּ הַמַּיִם" and "וַיַּחְסְרוּ הַמַּיִם"</b> – The commentators disagree in how they understand the increasing and receding of the waters:<br/> | + | <point><b>"וַיִּגְבְּרוּ הַמַּיִם" and "וַיַּחְסְרוּ הַמַּיִם"</b> – The commentators disagree in how they understand the increasing and receding of the waters:<fn>The various opinions are motivated by an effort to understand several difficulties in the text:<br/>1) How did the ark land on Mt. Ararat so soon after the water stopped increasing, if at that point the water level had reached 15 cubits above the mountain tops?<br/>2) How is one to understand the shifting water levels described in the verses?  It seem as if he water decreases  15 cubits in about 2 1/2 months (from 7/17 to 10/1) but then in the following 3 months, until 1/1 when the land dries, it manages to decrease the height of a mountain, several thousand cubits!<br/>These issues will be discussed in the following points.</fn><br/> |
<ul> | <ul> | ||
<li><b>Water first decreased after 150 days</b> - The author of the Qumran Scroll, Yefet the Karaite, Ramban, and Seforno all understand the phrase "וַיַּחְסְרוּ הַמַּיִם מִקְצֵה חֲמִשִּׁים וּמְאַת יוֹם" to mean that the water did not begin to decrease until the end of the 150 days. Seforno suggests that even though the rain stopped after 40 days, the underground sources of water were still open,<fn>Chapter 7:17 speaks of the flood lasting for 40 days, but it is only in 8:2 that the text mentions the closing of the heavenly windows and subterranean sources of water.  This leads Seforno (and Ramban) to sugest that there were two stages.  However, the continuation of 8:2 reads, "וַיִּכָּלֵא הַגֶּשֶׁם מִן הַשָּׁמָיִם" which leads others to suggest that the two events happened simultaneously. </fn> causing continued water pressure during this entire period.<fn>His words are slightly ambiguous, and can be interpreted to mean either that the subterranean waters caused an increase in the water throughout this period or that they simply caused a continuous pressure, preventing the water from standing still or decreasing.</fn> Ramban, in contrast, seems to maintain that though the waters did not continue to increase after the fortieth day, due to the great humidity<fn>This was caused by the fact that the heavenly windows and subterranean water sources were still open.</fn> they retained their height throughout this period.</li> | <li><b>Water first decreased after 150 days</b> - The author of the Qumran Scroll, Yefet the Karaite, Ramban, and Seforno all understand the phrase "וַיַּחְסְרוּ הַמַּיִם מִקְצֵה חֲמִשִּׁים וּמְאַת יוֹם" to mean that the water did not begin to decrease until the end of the 150 days. Seforno suggests that even though the rain stopped after 40 days, the underground sources of water were still open,<fn>Chapter 7:17 speaks of the flood lasting for 40 days, but it is only in 8:2 that the text mentions the closing of the heavenly windows and subterranean sources of water.  This leads Seforno (and Ramban) to sugest that there were two stages.  However, the continuation of 8:2 reads, "וַיִּכָּלֵא הַגֶּשֶׁם מִן הַשָּׁמָיִם" which leads others to suggest that the two events happened simultaneously. </fn> causing continued water pressure during this entire period.<fn>His words are slightly ambiguous, and can be interpreted to mean either that the subterranean waters caused an increase in the water throughout this period or that they simply caused a continuous pressure, preventing the water from standing still or decreasing.</fn> Ramban, in contrast, seems to maintain that though the waters did not continue to increase after the fortieth day, due to the great humidity<fn>This was caused by the fact that the heavenly windows and subterranean water sources were still open.</fn> they retained their height throughout this period.</li> | ||
| − | <li><b>Water decreased after the forty days of rain</b> – Most of the other commentators in this approach<fn>See R"Y Bekhor Shor, Akeidat Yitzchak, Abarbanel,, Shadal, | + | <li><b>Water decreased after the forty days of rain</b> – Most of the other commentators in this approach<fn>See R"Y Bekhor Shor, Akeidat Yitzchak, Abarbanel,, Shadal, R. D"Z Hoffmann, and U. Cassuto.</fn> assume that the water started to recede right after the rain stopped. The phrase " וַיִּגְבְּרוּ הַמַּיִם עַל הָאָרֶץ חֲמִשִּׁים וּמְאַת יוֹם" simply means that the waters were is a state of strength (relative to normal water heights), not that they were increasing or even standing still.  Similarly, R"Y Bekhor Shor, R. Hoffmann and U. Cassuto explain the verse "וַיַּחְסְרוּ הַמַּיִם מִקְצֵה חֲמִשִּׁים וּמְאַת יוֹם"   to mean not that the water first began to rcede at this point but that the decrease was only noticeable to Noach when the ark landed.<fn>Until then, when the ark was still moving and Noach could only see water and sky he had no way of knowing if the water level was increasing, staying the same or decreasing.</fn></li> |
</ul></point> | </ul></point> | ||
| − | <point><b>How did the ark land so soon?</b> These commentators differ in how they understand how the ark managed to land right after the 150 days of strong waters, if the mountain tops had been covered  by fifteen cubits of water throughout that period:<br/> | + | <point><b>How did the ark land so soon?</b> These commentators differ in how they understand how the ark managed to land right after the 150 days of strong waters, if the mountain tops had been covered  by fifteen cubits of water throughout that period:<fn><p>Since the ark was only 30 cubits high, this would mean that half of it was submerged in water!</p></fn><br/> |
<ul> | <ul> | ||
<li><b>Receded over 110 days</b> – According to those who say that the water started to decrease already after the 40 days of rain, this is not an issue,<fn>There was a full 110 days for the water to recede enough for the ark to land.</fn> and is, in fact, one of the factors that motivate them to explain the verses as they do.</li> | <li><b>Receded over 110 days</b> – According to those who say that the water started to decrease already after the 40 days of rain, this is not an issue,<fn>There was a full 110 days for the water to recede enough for the ark to land.</fn> and is, in fact, one of the factors that motivate them to explain the verses as they do.</li> | ||
</ul> | </ul> | ||
<ul> | <ul> | ||
| − | <li><b>Receded over 2 days</b> – According to the Qumran Scroll, which asserts that the water maintained its strength throughout but that the 150 days ended on the fourteenth of the seventh month, there was a period of two days in which the water lessened, allowing the ark to land. | + | <li><b>Receded over 2 days</b> – According to the Qumran Scroll, which asserts that the water maintained its strength throughout, but that the 150 days ended on the fourteenth of the seventh month, there was a period of two days in which the water lessened, allowing the ark to land.</li> |
<li><b>Miraculous intervention</b> – Ramban, in contrast, is forced to assert that Hashem sent a miraculous wind which decreased the waters substantially in a very short period of time.<fn>Ramban compares this to Yam Suf where it says: "וַיּוֹלֶךְ י"י אֶת הַיָּם בְּרוּחַ קָדִים עַזָּה כׇּל הַלַּיְלָה וַיָּשֶׂם אֶת הַיָּם לֶחָרָבָה וַיִּבָּקְעוּ הַמָּיִם".</fn>  </li> | <li><b>Miraculous intervention</b> – Ramban, in contrast, is forced to assert that Hashem sent a miraculous wind which decreased the waters substantially in a very short period of time.<fn>Ramban compares this to Yam Suf where it says: "וַיּוֹלֶךְ י"י אֶת הַיָּם בְּרוּחַ קָדִים עַזָּה כׇּל הַלַּיְלָה וַיָּשֶׂם אֶת הַיָּם לֶחָרָבָה וַיִּבָּקְעוּ הַמָּיִם".</fn>  </li> | ||
| + | </ul></point> | ||
| + | <point><b>Shifting water levels</b><ul> | ||
| + | <li>If one asserts that the water first decreased after the 150 day period, it is difficult to understand how the water decreased at such a varied pace (15 cubits in the 2 1/2 months from 7/17 until 10/1, and then thousands of cubits<fn>If the mountain tops were first revealed on 10/1, the water had to recede the height of a full mountain in the following 3 months!</fn> from then until the land dried 3 months later on 1/1) Ramban asserts that there is no reason to think that the water decreased at a steady pace. Thus, in the first day, Hashem's intervention led to a vast decrease in the water.<fn>As he assumes that Mt. Ararat was one of the shorter mountain, this reduction is not limited to fifteen cubits.  He asserts that many of the taller mountain tops might have already been revealed, and had Noach been in their vicinity, he might have landed earlier.  It was only the shorter mountains in the region of Ararat that were first uncovered on the first of the tenth month.</fn> The pace then slowed, but picked up again at the end.</li> | ||
| + | <li>Those who posit that the water began to recede after the rain stopped would seem to have an even bigger problem, since it would seem that the water receded only 15 cubits in over 180 days!<fn>There was 110 days until the ark rested on the 17th of the seventh month and then another 73 days until the mountain tops were revealed on the first of the tenth month.</fn>   Shadal minimizes the problem by asserting that by the time the ark landed on 7/17, more than 15 cubits of water had already receded, since Mt. Ararat was not the tallest, but rather one of the shorter mountains.<fn>In other areas, the tops of the tallest mountains would have already been revealed.  It was the shorter mountain tops that were seen on 10/1.</fn>  There would, nonethless, still seem to be a significant increase of the rate of water reduction in the last 3 months, assuming that even the shorter mountains were a few thousand cubits high.</li> | ||
</ul></point> | </ul></point> | ||
<point><b>Chronology</b><ul> | <point><b>Chronology</b><ul> | ||
Version as of 11:15, 21 June 2015
Fatal 38: Unescaped '<' not allowed in attributes values
61: <mekorot>first approach in <multilink><a href="RambanBereshit8-4-5" data-aht="source">Ramban<multilink data-aht="<a href="MaaseiHashemBereshit26" data-aht="source">Ma'asei Hashem Bereshit 26</a><a href="R. Eliezer Ashkenazi (Ma'asei Hashem)" data-aht="parshan">About R. Eliezer Ashkenazi (Ma'asei Hashem)</a>"></multilink><multilink data-aht=""></multilink></a><a href="RambanBereshit8-4-5" data-aht="source">Bereshit 8:4-5</a><a href="R. Moshe b. Nachman (Ramban, Nachmanides)" data-aht="parshan">About R. Moshe b. Nachman</a></multilink>, <multilink><a href="MaaseiHashemBereshit26" data-aht="source">R. Eliezer Ashkenazi</a><a href="MaaseiHashemBereshit26" data-aht="source">Ma'asei Hashem Bereshit 26</a><a href="R. Eliezer Ashkenazi (Ma'asei Hashem)" data-aht="parshan">About R. Eliezer Ashkenazi (Ma'asei Hashem)</a></multilink></mekorot>