Chapter 3.
CONCERNING THE FLOOD; AND AFTER WHAT MANNER NOAH WAS SAVED
IN AN ARK, WITH HIS KINDRED, AND AFTERWARDS DWELT IN THE PLAIN OF SHINAR,FJAJ 1.14
1. NOW this posterity of Seth continued to esteem God as the Lord of
the universe, and to have an entire regard to virtue, for seven generations;
but in process of time they were perverted, and forsook the practices of
their forefathers; and did neither pay those honors to God which were appointed
them, nor had they any concern to do justice towards men
But for what
degree of zeal they had formerly shown for virtue, they now showed by their
actions a double degree of wickedness, whereby they made God to be their
enemy
For many angels (11)
This notion, that the fallen angels were, in some sense, the fathers of
the old giants, was the constant opinion of antiquity.
of God accompanied with women, and begat sons that proved unjust, and despisers
of all that was good, on account of the confidence they had in their own
strength; for the tradition is, that these men did what resembled the acts
of those whom the Grecians call giants
But Noah was very uneasy at what
they did; and being displeased at their conduct, persuaded them to change
their dispositions and their acts for the better: but seeing they did not
yield to him, but were slaves to their wicked pleasures, he was afraid
they would kill him, together with his wife and children, and those they
had married; so he departed out of that land.FJAJ 1.15
2. Now God loved this man for his righteousness: yet he not only condemned
those other men for their wickedness, but determined to destroy the whole
race of mankind, and to make another race that should be pure from wickedness;
and cutting short their lives, and making their years not so many as they
formerly lived, but one hundred and twenty only, (12)
Josephus here supposes that the life of these giants, for of them only
do I understand him, was now reduced to 120 years; which is confirmed by
the fragment of Enoch, sect. 10, in Authent. Rec. Part I. p. 268. For as
to the rest of mankind, Josephus himself confesses their lives were much
longer than 120 years, for many generations after the flood, as we shall
see presently; and he says they were gradually shortened till the days
of Moses, and then fixed [for some time] at 120, ch. 6. sect. 5. Nor indeed
need we suppose that either Enoch or Josephus meant to interpret these
120 years for the life of men before the flood, to be different from the
120 years of God's patience [perhaps while the ark was preparing] till
the deluge; which I take to be the meaning of God when he threatened this
wicked world, that if they so long continued impenitent, their days should
be no more than 120 years.
he turned the dry land into sea; and thus were all these men destroyed:
but Noah alone was saved; for God suggested to him the following contrivance
and way of escape : - That he should make an ark of four stories high,
three hundred cubits (13)
A cubit is about 21 English inches.
long, fifty cubits broad, and thirty cubits high
Accordingly he entered
into that ark, and his wife, and sons, and their wives, and put into it
not only other provisions, to support their wants there, but also sent
in with the rest all sorts of living creatures, the male and his female,
for the preservation of their kinds; and others of them by sevens
Now
this ark had firm walls, and a roof, and was braced with cross beams, so
that it could not be any way drowned or overborne by the violence of the
water
And thus was Noah, with his family, preserved
Now he was the tenth
from Adam, as being the son of Lamech, whose father was Mathusela; he was
the son of Enoch, the son of Jared; and Jared was the son of Malaleel,
who, with many of his sisters, were the children of Cainan, the son of
Enos
Now Enos was the son of Seth, the son of Adam.FJAJ 1.16
3. This calamity happened in the six hundredth year of Noah's government,
[age,] in the second month, (14)
Josephus here truly determines, that the year that the Flood began, our
Hebrew and Samaritan, and perhaps Josephus's own copy, more rightly placed
it on the 17th day, instead of the 27th, as here; for Josephus agrees with
them, as to the distance of 150 days to the 17th day of the 7th month,
as Genesis 7. ult. with 8:3.
called by the Macedonians Dius, but by the Hebrews Marchesuan:
for so did they order their year in Egypt
But Moses appointed that
· Nisan, which is the same with Xanthicus, should be the
first month for their festivals, because he brought them out of Egypt in
that month: so that this month began the year as to all the solemnities
they observed to the honor of God, although he preserved the original order
of the months as to selling and buying, and other ordinary affairs
Now
he says that this flood began on the twenty-seventh [seventeenth] day of
the forementioned month; and this was two thousand six hundred and fifty-six
[one thousand six hundred and fifty-six] years from Adam, the first man;
and the time is written down in our sacred books, those who then lived
having noted down, (15)
Josephus here takes notice, that these ancient genealogies were first set
down by those that then lived, and from them were transmitted down to posterity;
which I suppose to be the true account of that matter. For there is no
reason to imagine that men were not taught to read and write soon after
they were taught to speak; and perhaps all by the Messiah himself, who,
under the Father, was the Creator or Governor of mankind, and who frequently
in those early days appeared to them.
with great accuracy, both the births and deaths of illustrious men.FJAJ 1.17
4. For indeed Seth was born when Adam was in his two hundred and thirtieth
year, who lived :nine hundred and thirty years
Seth begat Enos in his
two hundred and fifth year; who, when he had lived nine hundred and twelve
years, delivered the government to Cainan his son, whom he had in his hundred
and ninetieth year
He lived nine hundred and five years
Cainan, when
he had lived nine hundred and ten years, had his son Malaleel, who was
born in his hundred and seventieth year
This Malaleel, having lived eight
hundred and ninety-five years, died, leaving his son Jared, whom he begat
when he was in his hundred and sixty-fifth year
He lived nine hundred
and sixty-two years; and then his son Enoch succeeded him, who was born
when his father was one hundred and sixty-two years old
Now he, when he
had lived three hundred and sixty-five years, departed and went to God;
whence it is that they have not written down his death
Now Mathusela,
the son of Enoch, who was born to him when he was one hundred and sixty-five
years old, had Lamech for his son when he was one hundred and eighty-seven
years of age; to whom he delivered the government, when he had retained
it nine hundred and sixty-nine years
Now Lamech, when he had governed
seven hundred and seventy-seven years, appointed Noah, his son, to
be ruler of the people, who was born to Lamech when he was one hundred
and eighty-two years old, and retained the government nine hundred and
fifty years
These years collected together make up the sum before set
down
But let no one inquire into the deaths of these men; for they extended
their lives along together with their children and grandchildren; but let
him have regard to their births only.FJAJ 1.18
5. When God gave the signal, and it began to rain, the water poured
down forty entire days, till it became fifteen cubits higher than the earth;
which was the reason why there was no greater number preserved, since they
had no place to fly to
When the rain ceased, the water did but just begin
to abate after one hundred and fifty days, (that is, on the seventeenth
day of the seventh month,) it then ceasing to subside for a little while.
After this, the ark rested on the top of a certain mountain in Armenia;
which, when Noah understood, he opened it; and seeing a small piece of
land about it, he continued quiet, and conceived some cheerful hopes of
deliverance
But a few days afterward, when the water was decreased to
a greater degree, he sent out a raven, as desirous to learn whether any
other part of the earth were left dry by the water, and whether he might
go out of the ark with safety; but the raven, finding all the land still
overflowed, returned to Noah again
And after seven days he sent out a
dove, to know the state of the ground; which came back to him covered with
mud, and bringing an olive branch: hereby Noah learned that the earth was
become clear of the flood
So after he had staid seven more days, he sent
the living creatures out of the ark; and both he and his family went out,
when he also sacrificed to God, and feasted with his companions
However,
the Armenians call this place, (GREEK) (16)
This (GREEK), or Place of Descent, is the proper rendering of the Armenian
name of this very city. It is called in Ptolemy Naxuana, and by Moses Chorenensis,
the Armenian historian, Idsheuan; but at the place itself Nachidsheuan,
which signifies The first place of descent, and is a lasting monument of
the preservation of Noah in the ark, upon the top of that mountain, at
whose foot it was built, as the first city or town after the flood. See
Antiq. B. XX. ch. 2. sect. 3; and Moses Chorenensis, who also says elsewhere,
that another town was related by tradition to have been called Seron, or,
The Place of Dispersion, on account of the dispersion of Xisuthrus's or
Noah's sons, from thence first made. Whether any remains of this ark be
still preserved, as the people of the country suppose, I cannot certainly
tell. Mons. Tournefort had, not very long since, a mind to see the place
himself, but met with too great dangers and difficulties to venture through
them.
The Place of Descent; for the ark being saved in that place, its
remains are shown there by the inhabitants to this day.FJAJ 1.19
6. Now all the writers of barbarian histories make mention of this flood,
and of this ark; among whom is Berosus the Chaldean
For when he is describing
the circumstances of the flood, he goes on thus: "It is said there
is still some part of this ship in Armenia, at the mountain of the Cordyaeans;
and that some people carry off pieces of the bitumen, which they take away,
and use chiefly as amulets for the averting of mischiefs." Hieronymus
the Egyptian also, who wrote the Phoenician Antiquities, and Mnaseas, and
a great many more, make mention of the same
Nay, Nicolaus of Damascus,
in his ninety-sixth book, hath a particular relation about them; where
he speaks thus: "There is a great mountain in Armenia,
over Minyas, called Baris, upon which it is reported that many who fled
at the time of the Deluge were saved; and that one who was carried in an
ark came on shore upon the top of it; and that the remains of the timber
were a great while preserved
This might be the man about whom Moses the
legislator of the Jews wrote."FJAJ 1.20
7. But as for Noah, he was afraid, since God had determined to destroy
mankind, lest he should drown the earth every year; so he offered burnt-offerings,
and besought God that nature might hereafter go on in its former orderly
course, and that he would not bring on so great a judgment any more, by
which the whole race of creatures might be in danger of destruction: but
that, having now punished the wicked, he would of his goodness spare the
remainder, and such as he had hitherto judged fit to be delivered from
so severe a calamity; for that otherwise these last must be more miserable
than the first, and that they must be condemned to a worse condition than
the others, unless they be suffered to escape entirely; that is, if they
be reserved for another deluge; while they must be afflicted with the terror
and sight of the first deluge, and must also be destroyed by a second.
He also entreated God to accept of his sacrifice, and to grant that the
earth might never again undergo the like effects of 'his wrath; that men
might be permitted to go on cheerfully in cultivating the same; to build
cities, and live happily in them; and that they might not be deprived of
any of those good things which they enjoyed before the Flood; but might
attain to the like length of days, and old age, which the ancient people
had arrived at before.FJAJ 1.21
8. When Noah had made these supplications, God, who loved the man for
his righteousness, granted entire success to his prayers, and said, that
it was not he who brought the destruction on a polluted world, but that
they underwent that vengeance on account of their own wickedness; and that
he had not brought men into the world if he had himself determined to destroy
them, it being an instance of greater wisdom not to have granted them life
at all, than, after it was granted, to procure their destruction; "But
the injuries," said he, "they offered to my holiness and virtue,
forced me to bring this punishment upon them
But I will leave off for
the time to come to require such punishments, the effects of so great wrath,
for their future wicked actions, and especially on account of thy prayers.
But if I shall at any time send tempests of rain, in an extraordinary manner,
be not affrighted at the largeness of the showers; for the water shall
no more overspread the earth
However, I require you to abstain from shedding
the blood of men, and to keep yourselves pure from murder; and to punish
those that commit any such thing
I permit you to make use of all the other
living creatures at your pleasure, and as your appetites lead you; for
I have made you lords of them all, both of those that walk on the land,
and those that swim in the waters, and of those that fly in the regions
of the air on high, excepting their blood, for therein is the life
But
I will give you a sign that I have left off my anger by my bow [whereby
is meant the rainbow, for they determined that the rainbow was the bow
of God]
And when God had said and promised thus, he went away.FJAJ 1.22
9. Now when Noah had lived three hundred and fifty years after the Flood,
and that all that time happily, he died, having lived the number of nine
hundred and fifty years
But let no one, upon comparing the lives of the
ancients with our lives, and with the few years which we now live, think
that what we have said of them is false; or make the shortness of our lives
at present an argument, that neither did they attain to so long a duration
of life, for those ancients were beloved of God, and [lately] made by God
himself; and because their food was then fitter for the prolongation of
life, might well live so great a number of years: and besides, God afforded
them a longer time of life on account of their virtue, and the good use
they made of it in astronomical and geometrical discoveries, which would
not have afforded the time of foretelling [the periods of the stars] unless
they had lived six hundred years; for the great year is completed in that
interval
Now I have for witnesses to what I have said, all those that
have written Antiquities, both among the Greeks and barbarians; for even
Manetho, who wrote the Egyptian History, and Berosus, who collected the
Chaldean Monuments, and Mochus, and Hestieus, and, besides these, Hieronymus
the Egyptian, and those who composed the Phoenician History, agree to what
I here say: Hesiod also, and Hecatseus, Hellanicus, and Acusilaus; and,
besides these, Ephorus and Nicolaus relate that the ancients lived a thousand
years
But as to these matters, let every one look upon them as he thinks
fit.FJAJ 1.23