The Astronomy of the Bible Part 14

The importance of the Babylonian Deluge story does not rest in anything intrinsic to itself, for there are many deluge stories preserved by other nations quite as interesting and as well told. It derives its importance from its points of resemblance to the Genesis story, and from the deduction that some have drawn from these that it was the original of that story--or rather of the two stories--that we find imperfectly recombined in Genesis.

The suggestion of Jean Astruc that "two fundamentally different accounts of a deluge have been worked up into a single story in the Bible" has been generally accepted by those who have followed him in the minute a.n.a.lysis of the literary structure of Holy Scripture; and the names of the "Priestly Narrative" and of the "Jehovistic Narrative"

have, for the sake of distinctness, been applied to them. The former is so called because the chapters in Exodus and the two following books, which treat with particular minuteness of the various ceremonial inst.i.tutions of Israel, are considered to be by the same writer. The latter has received its name from the preference shown by the writer for the use, as the Divine name, of the word _Jehovah_,--so spelt when given in our English versions, but generally translated "the LORD."

There is a very close accord between different authorities as to the way in which Genesis, chapters vi.-ix., should be allotted to these two sources. The following is Dr. Driver's arrangement:--

PRIESTLY NARRATIVE. | JEHOVISTIC NARRATIVE.

| Chap. Verse. | Chap. Verse.

Genesis vi. 9-22. |Genesis vii. 1-5.

vii. 6. | 7-10.

11. | 12.

13-16a. | 16b.

17a. | 17b.

18-21. | 22-23.

24. | viii. 2b-3a.

viii. 1-2a. | 6-12.

3b-5. | 13b.

13a. | 20-22.

14-19. | ix. 1-17. |

The Priestly narrative therefore tells us the cause of the Flood--that is to say, the corruption of mankind; describes the dimensions of the ark, and instructs Noah to bring "of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female." It further supplies the dates of the chief occurrences during the Flood, states that the waters prevailed above the tops of the mountains, that when the Flood diminished the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat; and gives the account of Noah and his family going forth from the ark, and of the covenant which G.o.d made with them, of which the token was to be the bow seen in the cloud.

The most striking notes of the Jehovistic narrative are,--the incident of the sending out of the raven and the dove; the account of Noah's sacrifice; and the distinction made between clean beasts and beasts that are not clean--the command to Noah being, "Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female." The significant points of distinction between the two accounts are that the Priestly writer gives the description of the ark, the Flood prevailing above the mountains, the grounding on Mount Ararat, and the bow in the cloud; the Jehovistic gives the sending out of the raven and the dove, and the account of Noah's sacrifice, which involves the recognition of the distinction between the clean and unclean beasts and the more abundant provision of the former. He also lays emphasis on the Lord's "smelling a sweet savour" and promising never again to smite everything living, "for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth."

The chief features of the Babylonian story of the Deluge are as follows:--The G.o.d Ae spoke to Pir-napistim, the Babylonian Noah--

"'Destroy the house, build a s.h.i.+p, Leave what thou hast, see to thy life.

Destroy the hostile and save life.

Take up the seed of life, all of it, into the midst of the s.h.i.+p.

The s.h.i.+p which thou shalt make, even thou.

Let its size be measured; Let it agree as to its height and its length.'"

The description of the building of the s.h.i.+p seems to have been very minute, but the record is mutilated, and what remains is difficult to translate. As in the Priestly narrative, it is expressly mentioned that it was "pitched within and without."

The narrative proceeds in the words of Pir-napistim:--

"All I possessed, I collected it, All I possessed I collected it, of silver; All I possessed I collected it, of gold; All I possessed I collected it, the seed of life, the whole.

I caused to go up into the midst of the s.h.i.+p, All my family and relatives, The beasts of the field, the animals of the field, the sons of the artificers--all of them I sent up.

The G.o.d ama appointed the time-- Muir Kukki--'In the night I will cause the heavens to rain destruction, Enter into the midst of the s.h.i.+p, and shut thy door.'

That time approached-- Muir Kukki--In the night the heavens rained destruction I saw the appearance of the day: I was afraid to look upon the day-- I entered into the midst of the s.h.i.+p, and shut my door

At the appearance of dawn in the morning, There arose from the foundation of heaven a dark cloud:

The first day, the storm? . . . .

Swiftly it swept, and . . . .

Like a battle against the people it sought.

Brother saw not brother.

The people were not to be recognized. In heaven The G.o.ds feared the flood, and They fled, they ascended to the heaven of Anu.

The G.o.ds kenneled like dogs, crouched down in the enclosures.

The G.o.ds had crouched down, seated in lamentation, Covered were their lips in the a.s.semblies, Six days and nights The wind blew, the deluge and flood overwhelmed the land.

The seventh day, when it came, the storm ceased, the raging flood, Which had contended like a whirlwind, Quieted, the sea shrank back, and the evil wind and deluge ended.

I noticed the sea making a noise, And all mankind had turned to corruption.

I noted the regions, the sh.o.r.e of the sea, For twelve measures the region arose.

The s.h.i.+p had stopped at the land of Nisir.

The mountain of Nisir seized the s.h.i.+p, and would not let it pa.s.s.

The first day and the second day the mountains of Nisir seized the s.h.i.+p, and would not let it pa.s.s.

The seventh day, when it came I sent forth a dove, and it left; The dove went, it turned about, But there was no resting-place, and it returned.

I sent forth a swallow, and it left, The swallow went, it turned about, But there was no resting-place, and it returned.

I sent forth a raven, and it left, The raven went, the rus.h.i.+ng of the waters it saw, It ate, it waded, it croaked, it did not return.

I sent forth (the animals) to the four winds, I poured out a libation, I made an offering on the peak of the mountain, Seven and seven I set incense-vases there, In their depths I poured cane, cedar, and rosewood (?).

The G.o.ds smelled a savour; The G.o.ds smelled a sweet savour.

The G.o.ds gathered like flies over the sacrificer.

Then the G.o.ddess Sirtu, when she came, Raised the great signets that Anu had made at her wish: 'These G.o.ds--by the lapis-stone of my neck--let me not forget; These days let me remember, nor forget them for ever!

Let the G.o.ds come to the sacrifice, But let not Bel come to the sacrifice, For he did not take counsel, and made a flood, And consigned my people to destruction.'

Then Bel, when he came, Saw the s.h.i.+p. And Bel stood still, Filled with anger on account of the G.o.ds and the spirits of heaven.

'What, has a soul escaped?

Let not a man be saved from the destruction.'

Ninip opened his mouth and spake.

He said to the warrior Bel: 'Who but Ae has done the thing?

And Ae knows every event.'

Ae opened his mouth and spake, He said to the warrior Bel: 'Thou sage of the G.o.ds, warrior, Verily thou hast not taken counsel, and hast made a flood.

The sinner has committed his sin, The evil-doer has committed his misdeed, Be merciful--let him not be cut off--yield, let not perish.

Why hast thou made a flood?

Let the lion come, and let men diminish.

Why hast thou made a flood?

Let the hyena come, and let men diminish.

Why hast thou made a flood?

Let a famine happen, and let the land be (?) Why hast thou made a flood?

Let Ura (pestilence) come, and let the land be (?)'"[176:1]

Of the four records before us, we can only date one approximately. The constellations, as we have already seen, were mapped out some time in the third millennium before our era, probably not very far from 2700 B.C.

When was the Babylonian story written? Does it, itself, afford any evidence of date? It occurs in the eleventh tablet of the _Epic of Gilgamesh_, and the theory has been started that as Aquarius, a watery constellation, is now the eleventh sign of the zodiac, therefore we have in this epic of twelve tablets a series of solar myths founded upon the twelve signs of the zodiac, the eleventh giving us a legend of a flood to correspond to the stream of water which the man in Aquarius pours from his pitcher.

If this theory be accepted we can date the _Epic of Gilgamesh_ with much certainty: it must be later, probably much later, than 700 B.C. For it cannot have been till about that time that the present arrangement of the zodiacal signs--that is to say with Aries as the first and Aquarius as the eleventh--can have been adopted. We have then to allow for the growth of a mythology with the twelve signs as its _motif_. Had this supposed series of zodiacal myths originated before 700 B.C., before Aries was adopted as the leading sign, then the Bull, Taurus, would have given rise to the myth of the first tablet and Aquarius to the tenth, not to the eleventh where we find the story of the flood.