Difference between revisions of "Chronology of the Flood/2/en"
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<li><b>Different calendar </b>– Several sources question the assumption that the dates in the story are based on the Hebrew lunar calendar:</li> | <li><b>Different calendar </b>– Several sources question the assumption that the dates in the story are based on the Hebrew lunar calendar:</li> | ||
<ul> | <ul> | ||
| − | <li><b>Solar Calendar</b> –  Some commentators<fn>See one of the possibilities raised by <a href="YefetbElitheKaraiteBereshit8-4" data-aht="source">R. Saadia Gaon</a> in his arguments against the Karaitic position regarding the establishing of new months, the opinion rejected by Ibn Ezra, and the opinion of R. Yehuda HaParsi (quoted in Ibn Ezra's Iggeret HaShabbat).  The Qumran sect also use a solar calendar  which is divided into four quarters, in each of which two out of every three months has thirty days and the third month has thirty one days. They thus calculate that the 150 days lasted through the 14th of the seventh month, several days before the ark rested on 7/17. </fn> assert that the months mentioned relate to the solar calendar. According to this reckoning there are 152 days in five months and the 150 day period ended a couple of days before the ark rested.<fn>According to this approach, the 150 day period mentioned is not equivalent to the five month period and ends a couple of days before it. Yefet and Anan | + | <li><b>Solar Calendar</b> –  Some commentators<fn>See one of the possibilities raised by <a href="YefetbElitheKaraiteBereshit8-4" data-aht="source">R. Saadia Gaon</a> in his arguments against the Karaitic position regarding the establishing of new months, the opinion rejected by Ibn Ezra, and the opinion of R. Yehuda HaParsi (quoted in Ibn Ezra's Iggeret HaShabbat).  The Qumran sect also use a solar calendar  which is divided into four quarters, in each of which two out of every three months has thirty days and the third month has thirty one days. They thus calculate that the 150 days lasted through the 14th of the seventh month, several days before the ark rested on 7/17. </fn> assert that the months mentioned relate to the solar calendar. According to this reckoning there are 152 days in five months and the 150 day period ended a couple of days before the ark rested.<fn>According to this approach, the 150 day period mentioned is not equivalent to the five month period and ends a couple of days before it. The Karaites, Yefet and Anan, reject this possibility for this very reason. [See Ibn Ezra as well.] They assume that there have to be exactly 150 days between 2/17 and 7/17, asserting that only the receding waters, which began after the 150 days, could possibly explain why the ark was able to finally rest. [They assume that had the water decreased earlier, the ark would have rested earlier.] See below, though, for other explanations of how and when the water level fell and how this impacted the landing of the ark. <br/>See also R. Ashkenazi below, who makes an opposite argument, claiming that if the 150 days were equivalent to the five month period, it would be superfluous for the Torah to give both time markers.</fn></li> |
<li><b>Persian/Egyptian</b> – Ibn Ezra (in his שיטה אחרת) suggests, in contrast, that Noach was using a calendar like that of the Egyptians or Persians who would intercalate their year by adding 5 days to a certain month. The total days in the five month period can thus equal or surpass 150.<fn>Based on the math, one would think that such a calendar would allow for more than 150 days in the five month period.  Yet, Ibn Ezra himself seems to assume that such a calendar would equal exactly 150 days, since right beforehand and in his comments elsewhere, he rejects the possibility that Noach used a solar calendar because that would add to the days to the 150 given in the text.</fn></li> | <li><b>Persian/Egyptian</b> – Ibn Ezra (in his שיטה אחרת) suggests, in contrast, that Noach was using a calendar like that of the Egyptians or Persians who would intercalate their year by adding 5 days to a certain month. The total days in the five month period can thus equal or surpass 150.<fn>Based on the math, one would think that such a calendar would allow for more than 150 days in the five month period.  Yet, Ibn Ezra himself seems to assume that such a calendar would equal exactly 150 days, since right beforehand and in his comments elsewhere, he rejects the possibility that Noach used a solar calendar because that would add to the days to the 150 given in the text.</fn></li> | ||
</ul> | </ul> | ||
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<p>Some months are counted to creation and some are dated in reference to key points during the flood.</p> | <p>Some months are counted to creation and some are dated in reference to key points during the flood.</p> | ||
<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> | <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> | ||
| − | <point><b> | + | <point><b>Months</b> – According to the first option brought by Ramban and the second approach of R. Ashkenazi, the beginning and end of the flood (2/17 and 2/27) are dated to the beginning of the calendar year, but the months mentioned in the middle of the story (the landing of the ark on 2/17 and the revealing of the mountain tops on 10/1) are both dated to the start of the flood.<fn>See also one of the ought by R. Saadia Gaon.   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.</fn> The last date, though, when Noach opens the ark's cover on 1/1 is once again dated to the beginning of the year.  The obvious disadvantage of this approach is its inconsistency.<fn>R. Asheknazi attempts to defend the approach, pointing out</fn></point> |
| + | <point><b>How do 150 days fit in five months?</b> According to this approach there are really six months from the start of the flood until the resting of the ark.  This easily fits the period of 150 days of increasing waters, even leaving a month over afterwards.</point> | ||
| + | <point><b>"וַיִּגְבְּרוּ הַמַּיִם" and "וַיַּחְסְרוּ הַמַּיִם"</b> – Both Ramban and R. Ashkenazi assert that the waters maintained their strength throughout the 150 days and only began to abate afterwards. R. Ashkenazi even posits that the rain continued (but not in the manner of a flood) throughout this period.</point> | ||
| + | <point><b>Chronology</b> – This position does not need to assume any achronology in the verses.</point> | ||
| + | <point><b>How did the ark land so soon?</b> According to this position, there was a month between the 150 days and the resting of the ark, enough time for the water to recede sufficiently to allow the ark to find a  resting place.</point> | ||
| + | <point><b>Shifting water levels</b> – As this position reduces the time between the revealing of the mountain tops and the drying of the land to two months,<fn>See above that they maintain that  "the first of the tenth month" is dated to the beginning of the flood, making it really the first of the eleventh calendar month. At the same time, the day of the drying of the land, 1/1 is dated to the calendar year, leaving but two months between the two dates.</fn> it exacerbates the problem of the changing rate of reduction.  It has the waters reducing 15 cubits in about 2.5 months, while they are lowered thousands of cubits in 2 months.</point> | ||
| + | <point><b>"וַיְהִי מִקֵּץ אַרְבָּעִים יוֹם... וַיְשַׁלַּח אֶת הָעֹרֵב"</b> – This is dated from the previously mentioned event, the revealing of the mountain tops, which this position maintains occurred on the first of the eleventh month (the tenth month being counted from start of the flood).  As such, the sending of the final dove 61 days later,<fn>Apparently, R. Ashkenazi assumes that there was no waiting time between the sending of the crow and the dove.</fn> fell on the first of the first month, when the land dried.<fn>This date, unlike the previous one, is dated to the calendar year.</fn> This explains why it was only now, that it did not return.</point> | ||
</opinion> | </opinion> | ||
</category> | </category> | ||
Version as of 14:01, 21 June 2015
Fatal 38: Unescaped '<' not allowed in attributes values
64: <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>