Page:A critical and exegetical commentary on Genesis (1910).djvu/267

came upon the earth] as a result of the upheaval, v.¹¹.—The words forty days are a gloss based on 7^{4. 12} (v.i.); the Redactor treating J's forty days as an episode in the longer chronology: see on v.¹² (J).

18-21, 24. Magnitude and effect of the Flood.—While J confines himself to what is essential—the extinction of life—and leaves the universality of the Flood to be inferred, P not only asserts its universality, but so to speak proves it, by giving the exact height of the waters above the highest mountains.—18, 19. prevailed] (Hebrew characters), lit. 'be strong' (G (Greek characters), Aq. (Greek characters)). The Flood is conceived as a contest between the water and the dry land.—20. fifteen cubits] is just half the depth of the ark. The statement is commonly explained in the light of 8⁴: when the Flood was at its height the ark (immersed to half its depth, and therefore drawing fifteen cubits of water) was just over one of the highest mountains; so that on the very slightest abatement of the water it grounded! The explanation is plausible enough (on the assumption that 8⁴ belongs to P); but it is quite as likely that the choice of the number is purely arbitrary.—24. 150 days] the period of 'prevalence' of the Flood, reckoned from the outbreak (v.¹¹): see p. 168.

VIII. 1, 2a, 3b-5, 13a, 14. Abatement of the Flood.—The judgement being complete, God remembers the survivors in mercy. The Flood has no sooner reached its maximum than it begins to abate (^3b), and the successive stages of the subsidence are chronicled with the precision of a calendar.—1. remembered] in mercy, as 19²⁹ 30²² etc. The inclusion of the animals in the kindly thought of the Almighty is a touch of nature in P which should not be overlooked.—1b. The mention of the wind ought certainly to follow the arrest of the cause of the Deluge (^2a). It is said in defence of the present order that the sending of the wind and the stopping

19. (Hebrew characters)] G (Hebrew characters), with (Hebrew characters) as subj. (better). So v.²⁰.—20. (Hebrew characters)] G (Hebrew characters) ((Greek characters)), is preferable to MT (cf. Ps. 103¹¹).—(Hebrew characters)] G (and S) add (Greek characters) as in ¹⁹.—21. (Hebrew characters)] here distinguished from (Hebrew characters).

1. The addition of G (Greek characters) is here very much in place.—(Hebrew characters)] The [root] is rare and late: Nu. 17²⁰ (P),