FLOOD
FLOOD
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quired very different conditions from the tiger or the Ijoa-constrictor. How, again, is it conceivable that eiglit persons should have been suificient to attend to the wants of all these animals, as well as to their own ? But besides all this, there is no pro- vision for making the ark seaworthy. It is merely a huge wooden box liable to capsize, and quite in- capable of weathering a storm. The difficulties here pointed out readUy suggest the true answer. The Flood was not in the \vriter'8 view universal, as we should understand a universal Flood, simply because the world he is writing of is a totally different world from ours. It is a very little world. Men and animals are all living within easy reach of each other. Man is still the lord of creation. He can gather together the animals to be saved, whether beast of the field or fowl of the air, at his will. No difficulties, even such as would have occurred in the writer's o>vn day, have any
Elace in that ideal world of the distant past, where oly men walked with God, and there was no need of miracles, because everything was of course so difi'erent. That the writers and compilers of Genesis sincerely believed the story we need have no doubt, but In the light of scientific and historical criticism it must be frankly recognized as one of those many stories or legends which are found in the folk-lore and early literature of all peoples.
II. The Relation of the Bible Flood Stories TO SIMILAR Stories of other Peoples.— It was formerly supposed that the many Flood stories found in difterent parts of the world were all traditions of the Bible Deluge brought by various peoples from the ancient cradle of the human race. A comparison, however, of the stories with one another and with the Bible narrative makes it quite clear that they stand severally In a very difi'erent relation to the latter, and are due to many difi'erent causes. We may roughly divide these stories, according to their resemblance to the Flood story of Genesis, into the following classes : —
i. First and foremost stands the Babylonian or Accadian account of the Deluge. This is so like the Bible story, both in its general drift and many of its details, that it cannot be other than a different version of the same. The Babylonian legend itself exists in two forms. One is contained in the fragments of Berosus, an Egyptian priest of the 3rd cent. B.C., who wrote a history of Babylon. The second is contained in a cuneiform inscrip- tion on tablets preserved in the British Museum, and first deciphered by George Smith in 1872.
(a) Of these the first is very short and of com- paratively little importance, except that some difi'orences of detail in comparison with the other prove that the Babylonian story had a wide cur- rency. The main differences are the clay which Xisuthros, the hero of the Flood, finds on the legs of the birds when they return for the second time, and the translation of Xisuthros' daughter and the pilot of the ship, as well as that of Xisuthros him- self and his wile.
(6) The story of Berosus is altogether thro^vn Into the shade by the far fuller and more circum- btantial account found on the Accadian tablets. These contain an epic poem in 12 parts. Each pait is connected with a sign of the Zodiac, and the 11th, containing the Flood story, has the sign corresponding to Aquarius, ' the water-bearer.' In this part the deified Slt-napisti, or, as the name is sometimes written, Kliasisadra(Xisutliros), com- municates tlie history of the Flood at the mouth of the Euphrates to his grandson Gisdubar (the Nimrod of Genesis). Ea, the ijod of wisdom, reveals to S!t-nnpisti the intention of the gods of Surippak— Ann, Bel, etc.— to bring a Flood, and commands him to build a ship, and save what ho can of the germ of life. §!t-napisti
expostulates on the absurdity of building a ship on dry land, but finally consents. The making of the ship is then given in some detail, among other things its dimensions (according to G. Smith, 600 cubits long, 60 broad, 60 high ; omitted by Sayce), and the pouring of bitumen over its sides, inside and out. Food was brought into the ship, including beer and wine, and also all that he had of gold and sUver. ' Slaves and concubines, tlie cattle of the field, the beasts of the field, the sons of the people: all of these did I bring up.' The ship was built by the help of the sun-god Samas, who fixed the season for the Flood on the evening before Stt-napisti shut the door. A highly poetical description is then given "of the storm, brought about by the direct agency of the gods of wind, water, etc., so terrible that even the gods trembled and sought refuge in the heaven of Ann, where they crowded in a heap ' like a dog in his kennel,' and gods and goddesses wei)t for pity. For six days and nights the storm continues, and subsides on the seventh. The sea begins to drj'. Slt-napisti opens the windows and sees the corpses floating on the water. On the horizon he sees land, and the ship is steered for the mountain of Nizir, which it reaches the second day. On the seventh day after this he sends forth a dove, which finds no resting- place and returTis ; then a swallow, which does tlie same ; and lastly a raven, which feeds on tlie carrion and does not return. The animals are sent forth to the four winds, and a sacrifice is offered on an altar which he builds on the peak of the mountain. The gods smelt the savour, and ' gathered like flies over the sacrifice.' Thereupon tlie great godde.ss lighted up the rainbow which Anu had created. Bel, anfiry with the gods that liis will had not been fully carried out, alone refused to come to the altar. He stayed by the ship and would have stopped the exit of the survivors ; but Adar explained that Ea had revealed the counsel of the gods to Stt-napisti. Then Ea himself ex- postulates with Bel for wishing to destroy the faithful with the sinners. Better at any rate to send wild beasts, or famine, or plague. After all, it was only by a dream that he had revealed the determination of the gods. Then Bel enters the ship and very graciously makes a covenant with Sit-najniti, saying that henceforth he and his wife are to be as gods, and S!t-napisti is to dwell at the mouth of the river. * (Sayce, Fresh Light, ch. ii.)