NOAH (ny), Novd).—One of the daughters of Zelophehad the Manassite, about whose rights of inheritance a knotty point of law came up for settlement, Nu 26% 27! 36", Jos 17%. G. HARFORD-BATTERSBY. NOAH, BOOK OF.—In the use which was made of this book in the final redaction of the Ethiopic Book of Enoch we have an admirable example of the methods pursued by Jewish editors. Though the Book of Noah has not come down to us inde- pendently, it has in large measure been incorpor- ated in the Ethiopic Book of Enoch, and can in part be reconstructed from that book. The Book of Noah is mentioned in Jubilees 10 and 21°, That 60. 65-69" 106-107 belonged originally to it, is obvious even on a cursory examination. Thus in 60', which runs, ‘In the year five hundred, in the seventh month, on the fourteenth day of the month in the life of Enoch,’ it is clear that the final editor simply changed the name ‘Noah’ in the context before him into ‘Enoch,’ but very ignorantly ; for Enoch lived only 365 years, and the statement in the context is based on Gn 5®. Furthermore, the writer speaks of himself as the grandson of Enoch in 65°. Again, 65-69” is allowed to stand by the editor as a confessed constituent of the Book of Noah; for it contains Noah’s interview with his grandfather Enoch, and Noah’s version of the Deluge and of judgment. Finally, in 106-107 there is an account of the marvellous birth of Noah, in regard to whom Methuselah goes to the ends of the earth to consult Enoch. ut besides these indisputable fragments of the book, it is most probable that 547-55? is borrowed from the same source, and likewise Jubilees 735:39 101-16 In the earlier passage in Jubilees it is not only the subject-matter, iit also the carelessness of the editor or author of Jubilees, which leads to this identification ; for, after an account of the wicked- ness preceding the Flood given by the angel of God (7*°*), we come suddenly on a passage (76:39) in which Noah is represented as speaking in the first person, although throughout Jubilees it is the angel that speaks. Finally, it isnot improbable that 41° 43-44. 59 belonged originally to the Book of Noah. We shall now attempt a short sketch of this book. According to 106-107, a son was born to Lamech. ‘And fis body was white as snow and red as a blooming rose, and the hair of his head and his long locks were white as wool, and his eyes beautiful’ (1067), And his eyes lighted up the house like a sun, and he opened his mouth and blessed the Lord of righteousness. And Lamech in his fear consulted Methuselah, and Methuselah went off to the ends of the earth to consult Enoch (1005). Thereupon Enoch foretells the coming of the Flood in consequence of the wickedness wrought by the angels with the daughters of men, and the saving of this child Noah and his three sons, the fresh growth of sin after the Deluge, and the advent of the Messianic kingdom (106-107). And later, when Noah became a man, he had a vision, and he saw the earth sinking down, and its destruction drawing nigh (65'). And, as formerly his grandfather Methuselah, so he too went to consult Enoch at the ends of the earth, 65?-% And Enoch tells him that all the dwellers on the earth are doomed because they had learnt the secrets and sorceries of the angels, and the violence and hidden power of the Satans, and the mysterious arts of manufacturing metals, 65°%7. ere and elsewhere, in the Ethiopic Enoch as in Gn 2-4, the knowledge of such arts is held to transcend the limits of human nature. Civilization in its various aspects is traced to the fallen angels. As man Se forward in knowledge and culture he goes ackward in the fear of God, and becomes ever more and more alienated from the highest good.
NOAH, BOOK OF
Thus it was one Satan that taught men to make the weapons of war, and another that instructed them to write with ink and paper (69%%), and a fallen angel that made known the arts of painting the face and beautifying the eyebrows, and working in metals and precious stones, 8'. But to proceed : Enoch declares Noah to be guiltless of reproach concerning these secrets, and foretells his deliver- ance from the Flood, and the descent of a righteous race of men from him (65), After hearing some further disclosures, Noah leaves the presence of Enoch (66). ‘And in those days the word of God came unto me, and He said anto me; ‘‘ Noah, thy lot has come up before me, a lot without blame, a lot of love and uprightness.”’ Thereupon God in- forms Noah that the ark was being prepared by angels, that he and his seed might be saved and be established in the earth (67!-8). But as for the fallen angels, they should be imprisoned in the burning valley amongst the metal mountains in the West. From this place where the angels were punished came the hot springs to which the kings and the mighty resorted for the healing of the body. But later these waters will become the means of their punishment, even as they now are used to torment the angels (6748). The severity of this torment is set forth in a dialogue between Michael and Banas (68). Next, the names of the twenty-one chiefs of the fallen angels are enumer- ated, followed by those of five Satans (ἢ. The various evils wrought by the latter are then re- counted. To GAdreél, the third, is attributed the fall of Eve, and to the fourth, Pénémfe, the instruction of mankind in the art of writing (098: 5), Knowledge is the source of perdition (69"). After the mention of certain other Satans or angels, it is told how Michael is the guardian of the mys- terious oath or formula whereby heaven and earth were founded and all creation upheld (69%4*5),