Noah
Thursday, Heshvan 4th 5770
Commentaries Comparison: the Flood Timeline
Rabbi Shlomo Hecht
There are several verses in the Torah to describe the timeline of the flood:
Genessis 7: 11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the 17th day of the month, on the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. 12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
Genesis 8: 3 And the waters returned from off the earth continually; and after the end of a hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. 4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the 17th day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. 5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen. 6 And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. 7 And he sent forth a raven, and it went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth. 8 And he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground. 9 But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him to the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth; and he put forth his hand, and took her, and brought her in unto him into the ark. 10 And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. 11 And the dove came in to him at eventide; and lo in her mouth an olive-leaf freshly plucked; so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. 12 And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; and she returned not again unto him any more. 13 And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dried. 14 And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dry.
Verses presented in underline describe the amount of days, bold describe dates.
The discussion will assume that the flood started in Heshvan, but it can be easily changed to the other opinion of Iyar, so we do not take any position in this debate.
We look at the verses without any commentary:
1. Flood began Heshvan 17th,
2. It rained 40 days (until Kislev 27th)
3. The water decreased after 150 days - based on the account of one full month and one short month we will have five months and three days – Nissan 20th (if you start from the beginning of rainfall)
4. Nissan 17th the ark rests on the mountains of Ararat
5. Mountaintops were seen - Tammuz 1st.
6. Noah sent the raven after 40 days – Av 11th, and the pigeon apparently until Elul 1st.
7. The waters were dried up from off the earth – Tishrey 1st.
8. The earth was dry - Heshvan 27th.
What's Rashi’s problem in these verses?
A. the events in #3 happened after the #4, and it is not reasonable: how could the ark lay before the water began to diminish? (Rashi assumption is that the term "water shortage" is - began to be reduced)
B. Rashi assumes rate of decline of water is constant, and that the additional data in the verses has a meaning: the mountaintops were covered with 15 cubits of water, and it took a while until the highest mountaintops were seen.
C. Rashi assumes that the dove did not returned to the ark at the same time that the waters were dried up from off the earth, and does not allow a gap between the two events. Indeed, how will the dove find rest for the sole of her foot, if there are water on it?
So Rashi changes the simple meaning of the verses. He zigzags the months definitions:
- Second month - months of the year.
- Seventh month - the rains cease.
- Tenth month - rainfall.
So here is the schedule according to Rashi:
1. Flood began Heshvan 17th,
2. It rained 40 days (until Kislev 27th)
3. The water decreased after 150 days - after the end of the rain. based on the account of one full month and one short month we will have five months and three days – Sivan 1st.
4. Sivan 17th the ark rests on the mountains of Ararat
5. Mountaintops were seen - Av 1st.
6. Noah sent the raven after 40 days – Elul 11th, and the dove until Tishrey 1st.
7. The waters were dried up from off the earth – Tishrey 1st.
8. The earth was dry - Heshvan 27th.
So Rashi follows his method - events arranged in order, all information has a meaning, and the dove did not return only when there were no water on the earth.
Ramban questions almost all Rashi’s assumptions, mostly regarding counting months in different reference points:
כי אם נסבול לפרש ותנח התיבה בחדש השביעי ליום הזה הנזכר שכלא בו הגשם ושבו המים מעל הארץ הלוך וחסור שלא כמנין החדש השני הנזכר בהתחלת הפרשה (ז יא) וכמנין האמור בסוף הפרשה (ח יד) איך יתכן שיחזור מיד בפסוק השני ויאמר עד החדש העשירי למנין אחר שיהיה העשירי לירידת הגשמים?
Even if we allow for the seventh month to start after the end of the rainfall, and to be different from the second month, which counts the year months, how can the next verse refer to the beginning of the rainfall?
בנוסף הוא טוען שההנחה בדבר קצב ירידה קבוע של המים, שהיא הבסיס לשיטתו של רש"י, אינה הגיונית ואינה נצרכת:
In addition, he argues that the assumption of constant rate of decline of the water, which is the basis of Rashi's opinion, is illogical and is not required:
מפני שנותן חסרון שוה לכל הימים אמה לד' ימים אינה ראיה כי מן הידוע בחסרון המים כי הנחל הגדול כאשר יחסר בתחילתו אמה לד' ימים יחסר בסופו ד''אמות ליום אחד; והרי לפי החשבון הזה באחד לחדש אב נראו ראשי ההרים ובאחד בתשרי חרבו המים והנה בששים יום חסרו כל גובה ההרים הגבוהים שהם כמה אלפים אמה?
Because he gives equal diminishing each day (4 days per cubit) – this is not a proof, as we know that when the water decrease in the great river, it starts slowly and finishes rapidly.
More than that, according to this calculation, if at Av 1st the mountaintops were seen, and in two month the earth was dry? Howcan sixty days be enough for all this height?
And that Noah sent the dove on the 17th day of Elul, while water across the country covering the trees and they were all dried in ten days?
Another difficulty is engineering related - Ramban argues that if the ark cannot be sunked 11 cubits (out of total 30) in water and still not sink.
Ramban offers two methods. The simplest method is that during the flood months counting are indeed by the time of the flood rather than by days of the world, but they all refer to the same point of beginning of the flood:
1. Flood began Heshvan 17th,
2. It rained 40 days (until Kislev 27th)
3. The water decreased after 150 days. Based on the account of one full month and one short month we will have five months and three days – Nisan 17th.
4. Iyar 17th the ark rests on the mountains of Ararat (seventh month to rain start)
5. Mountaintops were seen - Av 1st (tenth month to rain start).
6. Noah sent the raven after 40 days – Elul 11th, and the dove until Tishrey 1st.
7. The waters were dried up from off the earth – Tishrey 1st.
8. The earth was dry - Heshvan 27th.
The Ramban says that this proposal resolves the problem of dove and the problem of the time difference between the water diminishing and the ark landing. He still uses two methods of months references, and it bothers him.
Therefore, he suggests a more daring method, whereby on the day that the water start diminishing God sends strong winds (which is not mentioned in verses) and water immediately lacked enough to let the ark land. To avoid the problem of timing between the 17th Nissan for the ark landing, and Nissan 20th for the water drawback he counts only full months (in fact he also uses it in the first method). Still, in this method there is the problem of a month's gap between the day when the dove does not returns and the drying of waters of the country.
1. Flood began Heshvan 17th,
2. It rained 40 days (until Kislev 27th)
3. The water decreased after 150 days. Nissan 17th.
4. Nissan 17th the ark rests on the mountains of Ararat (seventh month)
5. Mountaintops were seen - Tammuz 1st (tenth month).
6. Noah sent the raven after 40 days – Av 11th, and the dove until Elul 1st.
7. The waters were dried up from off the earth – Tishrey 1st.
8. The earth was dry - Heshvan 27th.
Ramban explains that the ark landed on the same day the water began to diminish, because during the 150 days of water was increased currents, eddies and foam raised the water level more than it really was, and as soon as it stopped, the ark could lay to rest on the mountains.
The Ramban says that the Ararat were not the highest mountains, so when enentually the mountaintops could be seen, on Tammuz 1st, it was already a very advanced stage of the land drying.
Shadal (Rabbi Shmuel David Luzato) follows Ramban’s method, but refines it in one far-reaching spot. He says that the water had already begun to decrease immediately after 40 days of rain, and separates in the verses between "high mountains" that were covered up with 15 cubit of water during the rain, and the "mountain", which their heads were seen on Tamuz 1st. And he removes the "invention" the whirlpools and currents of the Ramban. Abarbanel also follows this method.