Old Testament Noah and his children. Noah and his sons
Some time passed after the fall of the first people and fratricide (Cain killed Abel). People continued to inhabit the Earth, but, alas, they led a completely unrighteous life, did not honor the Lord, and did evil deeds. Yet among them was one righteous man named Noah. Noah had a family and three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. Noah is a biblical character, thanks to whom the human race has survived, despite all the atrocities in the past.
Here is the life of Noah: Noah was a righteous man and blameless in his generations; Noah walked with God.
(Genesis chapter 6)
Noah: history
Seeing how unrighteously people live, the Lord turned to Noah, the only righteous man.
And the Lord saw that the corruption of men on earth was great, and that all the thoughts and thoughts of their hearts were evil at all times;
and the Lord repented that he had created man on earth, and grieved in his heart.
And the Lord said: I will destroy from the face of the earth the people whom I created, from man to cattle, and the creeping thing and the birds of the air, for I repented that I created them.
Noah found grace in the sight of the Lord.(Genesis chapter 6)
God did not like what He saw on Earth, He regretted that He created man, seeing his deeds and decided to destroy the human race, leaving only Noah and his family. The Lord commanded Noah to make a large ark out of gopher wood, to take resin to pitch it inside and out, so water would not penetrate into the cracks. Inside, many compartments had to be made, and a door on the side, a window on top so that you could look out.
The construction of the ark is described in Bilia in sufficient detail.
Make yourself an ark out of gopher wood; you shall make compartments in the ark, and cover it with pitch inside and outside.
And make it thus: the length of the ark is three hundred cubits; its width is fifty cubits, and its height is thirty cubits.
And thou shalt make a hole in the ark, and bring it down to a cubit at the top, and make a door into the ark at its side; arrange in it the lower, second and third housing.(Genesis chapter 6)
In this ark, Noah and his family were to be saved when the rain sent by the Lord poured from heaven and the water covered the whole earth. The Lord warned that many days would have to be spent in the water and also said to take a couple of all the animals on the ark.
From the birds according to their kind, and from the cattle according to their kind, and from every creeping thing on the ground according to their kind, two of them will come in to you, that they may live.
But you take to yourself all the food that they eat, and gather for yourself; and it will be food for you and for them.
And Noah did everything: as God commanded him, so he did.(Genesis chapter 6)
great flood
As soon as Noah completed the ark, rains poured down on the earth. Noah and his family - Noah's wife, his sons and their wives entered the ark, and behind them, as the Lord commanded, all the animals in pairs, birds and reptiles. The Lord closed the door behind everyone. The flood lasted 40 days and 40 nights, it was called the Great Flood. The water rose so high that everything, even the highest mountains, were under it.
And the flood continued on the earth for forty days, and the waters multiplied, and lifted up the ark, and it was exalted above the earth;
but the waters increased and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the waters.
And the waters increased exceedingly on the earth, so that all the high mountains that are under the whole sky were covered;
fifteen cubits the waters rose above them, and the mountains were covered.
And all flesh that moved on the earth, and birds, and cattle, and beasts, and all creeping things that crawled on the earth, and all people, lost their lives;
everything that had the breath of the spirit of life in its nostrils on dry land died.
Every creature that was on the surface of the earth was destroyed; from man to cattle, and creeping things, and the birds of the air, everything was destroyed from the earth, only Noah remained, and that was with him in the ark.
The waters were strong on the earth for a hundred and fifty days.(Genesis chapter 7)
Finally the rain stopped...
Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark withstood all the tests, because Noah built it exactly as God told him to. A strong wind came up and the clouds dispersed. The ark no longer sailed, but stood in place near the Ararat mountains. Noah tried to open the window at the top of the ark and released the raven, but the raven did not find a single piece of land and returned to the ark with nothing. Then Noah released a dove. The dove, having flown by, also did not see land and again ended up on the ark.
Another seven days passed. Noah released the dove again. Returning to the ark, the dove held an olive leaf in its beak ... Noah waited another seven days to release the dove again. This time the dove did not return. The earth has become dry. God commanded Noah and his family to get out of the ark, after them all the animals, birds and reptiles came out on land.
And Noah built an altar to the Lord; And he took from every clean livestock and from every clean bird, and offered it as a burnt offering on the altar.
And the Lord smelled a pleasant fragrance, and the Lord said in His heart: I will no longer curse the earth for man's sake, because the thought of a man's heart is evil from his youth; and I will no longer strike every living thing, as I have done:
henceforth, all the days of the earth, sowing and reaping, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will not cease.(Genesis chapter 8)
Sons of Noah
The Lord blessed Noah and his descendants, pointing to the rainbow, He pointed out to them, "This is the sign of the Covenant that I have placed between Me and between every living soul on earth."
And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them: be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.
let all the beasts of the earth fear and tremble at you, and all the birds of the air, everything that moves on the earth, and all the fish of the sea: they are given into your hands;
everything that moves that lives will be food for you; like green grass I give you everything;
only flesh with her soul, with her blood, do not eat;
I'll take your blood too wherein your life, I will exact it from every beast; I will also exact the soul of a man from the hand of a man, from the hand of his brother;
whoever sheds human blood, his blood will be shed by the hand of man: for man is created in the image of God;
but ye be fruitful and multiply, and spread over the earth, and multiply in it.
And God said to Noah and to his sons with him:
behold, I establish my covenant with you and with your offspring after you,
and with every living soul that is with you, with the birds and with the cattle, and with all the beasts of the earth that you have, with all that came out of the ark, with all the animals of the earth;
I establish my covenant with you, that all flesh will no longer be destroyed by the waters of the flood, and there will be no more flood to destroy the earth.
And God said, This is the sign of the covenant that I am making between Me and between you and between every living soul that is with you, forever and ever:
I put My rainbow in the cloud, so that it may be a sign of the covenant between Me and between the earth.
And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud upon the earth, that a rainbow will appear in the cloud;
and I will remember my covenant, which is between me and between you, and between every living soul in all flesh; and there will be no more water as a flood to destroy all flesh.
And there will be a rainbow in the cloud, and I will see it, and I will remember the eternal covenant between God and between every living soul in every flesh that is on earth.(Genesis chapter 9)
The whole earth was settled by the sons of Noah. However, we know that an episode happened next, because of which Ham became a household name. Noah cultivated the land and planted vineyards. One day he drank wine, got drunk and lay naked in a tent.
Ham saw his father's nakedness and told his brothers about it, they went and covered their father, not looking at him out of respect for him.
Noah woke up from his wine and knew what his younger son had done to him,
and said, Cursed be Canaan; he will be a servant of servants to his brothers.Then he said: Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem; Canaan will be his servant;
may God expand Japheth, and may he dwell in the tents of Shem; Canaan will be his slave.
And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.
All the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died.(Genesis chapter 9)
Noah: veneration in religion
Noah is revered not only in Orthodoxy.
- IN Islam Nuh (Noah) is the first of the five great prophets (nabis) and messengers (rasul) of Allah to people. The name Nuha is found in many verses of the Qur'an. His story is told as a warning to the peoples who knew their prophet but did not believe him.
- Noah is the progenitor of humanity and Judaism.
The image of Noah in art
Biblical stories have become the basis for many films. The Great Flood is one of the most famous stories in Scripture. The epic film "Noah" (2014) directed by Darren Aronofsky deviates from the canonical version in many episodes, but the authors of the film do not hide that this is their creative fantasy on the topic.
The story of Noah and his descendants after the flood is described in book of Genesis. In this article you will find an interpretation of the story of Noah and his sons Filaret of Moscow Drozdov. Particular attention is paid to the genealogy of Noah and his sons: Japheth, Shem and Ham.
DISPERSION / DISSOLUTION OF THE PEOPLES AFTER THE FLOOD
The beginnings of the human race after the flood
9:18 The sons of Noah that came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan.
9:19 Cuu three were the sons of Noah. From these the whole earth was peopled.
Shem, Ham and Japheth. Not for the first time Moses counts the sons of Noah, but here it is not in vain. Now he answers the questions: did not the human race multiply during their stay in the ark, and did Noah have more sons after the flood?
Ham was the father of Canaan. This is said either in order for the Jews to see the origin and predestination of the Canaanites, whose land was to be occupied, or in order to prepare for the understanding of the curse, about which below, that fell through Ham on Canaan.
From these the whole earth was peopled. This is the resolution and purpose of this story about the sons of Noah. The entire human race today is descended from them.
Noah's lifestyle
9:20 Noah began to till the land and planted a vineyard.
Since nature after the flood could not suddenly be enriched with both fruits and animals used for food, it is not surprising that Noah mainly turned to agriculture. In particular, the waters, perhaps permanently damaged in springs by sea waters, the imperfection of the food substances on the earth corrupted by the flood, and his own old age, requiring refreshing and encouraging drinking, could induce him to plant a vineyard and drink wine.
A fall
9:21 One day a pylon of wine became drunk and lay naked in the middle of his tent.
Drunk. Church Fathers: Chrysostom (Nosh. XXIX. in Genes), Theodoret (Quaese. LVI. in Genes), Ambrose (De. Noe et Area, c. 29), Basil (De jejun. horn. I) excuse the Patriarch in this fall , believing that the power of wine was hitherto unknown to him. In fact, it has not been proved that wine belonged even to the luxury of the first world (Matt. XXIV. 38).
Nude. The sequence of the story shows that this was in a dream.
Properties of Noah's sons
9:22 Ham the father of Canaan saw his father's nakedness and spoke to his two brothers in the courtyard.
9:23 Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laying it both on their shoulders, they went backwards and covered their father's nakedness; and as their faces were turned away, they did not see the nakedness of their father.
In order to feel the obscenity of Ham's act, one must imagine that Noah's nakedness would have remained closed to Shem and Japheth if Ham had not told them about it. So this one opened it up again. This revealed in him pride, comforted by the fall of another, a lack of modesty inherent in chastity, and disrespect for a parent.
Shem and Japheth, who had never seen the nakedness of their father, showed disgusting qualities in themselves.
The fate of the sons of Noah
9:24 When Noah woke up from his wine and knew what his younger son had done to him,
9:25 Then he said, Cursed is Canaan; he will be a servant of servants to his brothers.
9:26 He also said, Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem; Canaan will be his slave.
9:27 May God expand Japheth, and he dwell in the tents of Shem; Canaan will be his slave.
After the fall of Noah, invisible, it was necessary to wait for repentance; but we see only his anger at his son, who scolded his fall. We will not, however, blame the righteous man for this, who, of course, admitted and made amends a hundred times over his error, but we learn from this the intention of the narrator, who wished here to reveal not so much the virtue of Noah, which was no longer subject to doubt after the Divine witness about it, but his prophetic the path and fate of his offspring.
Although Noah's words are addressed to his three sons, they are divided into two parts, that is, a curse and a blessing. Their content and subsequent experience show that they contain not so much human judgment as God's; and not simple desires, but predictions clothed with the power of the Spirit of God.
Cursed be Canaan; he will be a servant of servants to his brothers. Wishing to explain how, for the act of Ham, the curse fell on his son Canaan, the Jews say that this first saw the nakedness of his grandfather and told his father about it (Bereschith rabba, 37); others add that Noah spared Ham, respecting the blessing of God, in which he participated after the exit from the ark, or wished to reduce the curse to one branch of the family instead of the whole offspring. The matter will be completely explained if we unite in Noah the foreknowledge of the future with the condemnation of the present sin. Ham is punished in that son, or in that tribe, to whom he leaves his sins as a legacy: the punishment is the most sensitive for the ancestor, but no less righteous in relation to offspring; the punishment is even merciful, because the double crime of the ancestor and the clan is marked once.
When Canaan is called the slave of slaves, that is, the most contemptible slave, this shows that slaves will also come from other tribes, but the slavery of the tribe of Canaan will be the most painful and shameful. Such was the slavery of the Canaanites, first sinful and then civil ( Gen. XV. 16. 18–21).
Blessed be the God of Sims. This blessing is very important, because instead of Shem, God is blessed, as if Noah expressed not his goodwill to Shem, but his thanksgiving to God ( Gen. XIV. 19.20), and that even God - an apparently daring thought - is assimilated by Shem. The more unexpected such expressions in this place, the less it is permissible to weaken their significance.
Blessed be God. It is not Shem who receives the blessing, but his blessing will be attributed to God. This, then, is not the blessing of nature or merit, but of Grace.
Blessed be the God of Sims. Of the three tribes of Noah, God will be blessed in the tribe of Shem, that is, it will preserve the true knowledge of God and worship.
Sim God. God will not only be known and honored in the tribe of Shem, but will also belong to them through an incarnation from them.
Canaan will be his slave. This was fulfilled on the Canaanites, who by the Israelites, the descendants of Shem, were partly exterminated, partly subjugated, from the time of Joshua to Solomon.
May God expand Japheth. Indeed, the descendants of Japheth occupied Europe, Asia Minor and the whole north, which later was, according to Iornand, a nest and a hotbed of peoples. And may he dwell in the tents of Simov. Some understand this about God and refer to His dwelling in the tabernacle of witness and the temple of Solomon (Ps. CXXXI. 13:14). But the union of these words with those before and after requires that they be applied to Japheth. The content of this prophecy was repeated by Balaam (Num. XXIV. 24), and the Greeks and Romans showed its event when they entered with weapons into the countries of the offspring of Simov. In addition, the tents of Shem, the dwellings of strangers and strangers of the earth, instead of the dwelling of God blessed by Shem, the God of Shem, can mean the Church, preserved in the offspring of Shem and, finally, taking under her roof and in the participation of her inheritance (Col. I. 12) and Gentiles, the descendants of Japheth.
Canaan will be his slave. This happened when the Macedonians and Romans conquered Syria and Palestine, Tire and Sidon with their settlements in other countries.
Noah's reckoning
9:28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.
9:29 All the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years; and he died.
Following the Jewish chronology of the Patriarchs, some are surprised at the numerous vicissitudes that Noah saw in the course of his life, since, according to this reckoning, he lived for several more years with Abraham.
Noah, drunk, naked, subject to reproach, covered, cursing, blessing, not without decency, is revered as a prototype of Jesus Christ, who drank the entire cup of God's wrath, or more than his own love for man; naked on the cross, subject both in himself and in his members to the reproach of carnal men, but for that leaving them under a curse and in bondage to sin; with reverence embraced under the cover of faith by the true children of God from Jews and Gentiles and blessing, spreading, consecrating, reigning. Only this image is not clearly indicated by the word of God, but acquired by the contemplation of the Church Fathers, such as Jerome (Contra Lucifer), Augustine (deciv. Dei. L. XVI, p. 2), Cyprian (Epise. LXI).
A brief enumeration of the first descendants of Noah according to his three tribes in connection with the narrative of Moses has the benefit of paving the way for the understanding of Noah's prophecy, in consideration of its event, and gradually introduces the narrator into the history of the people of God. That is why the genealogy begins with Japheth and ends with Shem.
It is not surprising that parts of this genealogy do not represent the same completeness, nor a strict order of time. The narrator names only those who left their names to the countries and peoples that existed in his time and deserve special attention in terms of their fate, past or future.
The search for the whereabouts of the descendants of Noah and the origin of the peoples from them cannot be done in such a way that it satisfies curiosity with clarity and accuracy, but it can be done with the benefit of the sacred antiquities and the antiquities of the world.
Genealogy of the sons of Noah (1) Moses arranges into three parts according to the number of ancestors, which are: Japheth, 2-5, Ham, b-20, and Shem, 21-32.
Offspring of Japheth
10.1 Here is the genealogy of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. After the flood, their children were born.
10.2 Sons of Japheth: Homer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech and Firas.
10.3 Sons of Homer: Askenaz, Rifat and Togarma. 4. The sons of Javan: Elisha, Tarshish, Kittim and Dodanim.
10.5 From these came the settlements of the pagan peoples, divided in their lands according to their languages, according to their tribes, in their peoples. Sons. This word, by the nature of the Hebrew language, does not always signify the actual sons, but also indefinitely the descendants of one ancestor (20, 21). The writer expresses himself more precisely and more thoroughly when he speaks about his son (8.15).
Homer. The people of this name Ezekiel believes to the north of Judea or Chaldea ( Ezek. XXXVIII. 6). Flavius finds the descendants of Homer in the Gomarians, the ancient inhabitants of Galatia, Bochart in the Phrygians, Michaelis in the Cimbri or Celts (Bochare. Phal. et Can. Michael, spicil. Geogr. ext. Hebr. ejusd. suppl. adLex. Hebr).
Maror. And this should be looked for in the north, according to the direction of Ezekiel ( XXXVIII. 2. XXXIX. 12). Joseph, Theodoret, Jerome produce from him the Scythians, under whose name the ancient Greeks concluded all the peoples of the north (Serab. L. XI). Bokhart finds the name of Gog or Magog in the name of the Caucasus, which the Colchians and Armenians called Goghasan, Gog's fortress. Madai. In books Daniel (V.28) And Esther (I.3) this name unquestioningly means Midian. Flavius also produces them from Madai; and everyone agrees on that.
Javan. This name can be abbreviated as Ion, and from this the name Ionian is derived, which was once called the majority of the Greek tribes, mainly Asia Minor. Homer calls the inhabitants of Delos Jaons (Himn. Apol.). King Javan in Daniel (III. 21) means Alexander the Great.
Tuval. According to the pronunciation of seventy interpreters: Fauvel. From this, probably, the Tibarians originated. Flavius says that these are the Ivers, formerly called Fovels. Meshech, or Mosoch. From this Moskhi, according to Flavius, the Cappadocians. Fovel and Mosoch in Ezekiel repeatedly unite ( Ezek. XXVII. 13.XXXVIII. 2. XXXIX. 1). With this, according to Strabo, Iverov also believes in the land of Moskhov ( L.XI).
Firas. Everyone agrees that this is the father of Thracian. Askenaz. Traces of this name are found in Bithynia and lesser Phrygia in the names of the lake, the bay, the Ascanian islands, as well as the city and region of Ascania. Bochart thinks that the Pontus Aksenos among the Greeks also means the Pontus Aksenazov, for the sign of the inhospitable contradicts the property of the Pontic peoples. In the prophecy of Jeremiah (LI. 27) Ararat, Minni and Askenaz are called to Babylon; Bochart, applying this to the present study, proves from Xenophon (Sutor. L. VII) that Cyrus, having conquered Phrygia, brought out a strong army from it.
Rifat. According to the book of Chronicles, however, not in all of its lists (I. 6).
Rifat. Flavius, and after him Bochart, give him Paphlagonia, whose inhabitants were once called Riphates (Pomp. Mel. L. I). Others from this produce the name of the Riphean mountains, which Mela (L. I) believes on the eastern side of the Don, and the people of the Arimfeevs, meek by name ךיף and according to the description of Herodotus15.
Fogarma. Ezekiel's house of Fogarm appears to be full of horses and riders (XXXVII.14). By this sign, Bohart finds it in Cappadocia. But this sign, according to Xenophon (Exped. Cyr. L. IV.) and Strabo (Georg. L. XI), also befits Armenia. The Armenians have legends about their origin that agree with this latest conjecture.
Elisha. His dwelling, according to his father, should be sought in Greece. It is, according to the Chaldean interpreter, Ellas or Hellas אלם; according to Flavius, Aeolia; according to Bochart, Elis and the Peloponnese in general. The purple from the Isles of Elisha, mentioned by Ezekiel (XXVII. 7), is a product of Laconia and the neighboring countries.
Tarshish. The signs of the land of Tarshish are: a position remote from Palestine, in the west ( Ps. LXXI. 10), coastal ( Ps. XLVII..8), trade with Tyre, and an abundance of metals ( Ezek. XXVII. 12). With probability they think that this is Spain, where the harbor and the island of Tartessus and the city of Tarsius (Polib. L. III) and where the abundance of metals in ancient times was unusual (Serab. L. III. Died. L. V. Pirn. 3. H. L. Ill, with .3).
Kittim. Bochart from this produces Italy, referring the prophecies of Balaam ( Number XXIV. 24) and Daniilovo ( XI. 29.30) about the ships of Kittim to the Romans and thinking that the name Latium is a translation of the Arabic Ketam, which means hidden. They believe with greater solidity that Kittim is Macedonia, for in this signification the writer of the first book of Maccabees uses this name ( I. 1. VIII. 5), with this sign agree with the event all the prophecies about the land and the islands of Kittim ( Is. XXIII. 1. Ezek. XXVII. 6), and the ancient name of Macedon, Macketta, or Maketia, is very close to the name Kittim.
Let's add. According to some copies of the book of Chronicles (1 Chr. I. 7), Rodanim. Those who follow this last reading look for the Rodanim tribe either on the island of Rhodes, as the seventy interpreters and Jerome do, or near the mouth of the Rodana (Rhone) river and the city of Rodanusia, like Bochart. If we prefer the first reading, then the village of Dodanim can be assumed in Epirus, where the soothsayer, the river and the city have the same name: Dodona. The antiquity of the oracle of Dodona, testified by Herodotus (L. II, p. 52), and the legends preserved about it confirm this conjecture. Divination was given, according to the legends of the Egyptians, by a priestess, and according to the fables of the Dodonian priests, by a dove: this contradiction is explained by the Phoenician or Hebrew name יונית Yavanif, or Ionif, which can mean both a woman from the tribe of Javan and a dove. Settlements. This meaning of the word יא, taken from the Arabic language, apparently, is the root meaning of it. The meaning of the island, which is given to it here by seventy interpreters, however, ordinary, does not befit this place. That the Jews, by the same name, meant the lands lying on the sea, beyond the sea, and generally remote and little known, this is in accordance with the state of land writing in ancient times and with the position of their own land. And other Asian peoples considered only Asia as a solid land (Herod. L. II, p. 103). The chronicler, pointing to the settlements of the pagan peoples, seems to have wanted to draw the attention of his compatriots especially to the little-known and still emerging tribes of Europe at that time.
Offspring of Ham
10.6 The sons of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Fut and Canaan.
10.7 Sons of Kush: Seva, Havila, Savta, Raama, Savteha. Sons of Raama: Sheva and Dedan.
10:8 Cush also begat Nimrod: he began to be strong on earth.
10:9 He was mighty in hunting before God, therefore it is said, As Nimrod is mighty in hunting before God.
10:10 His kingdom was originally Babylon, Erech, Akkad, and Halneh in the land of Shinar.
10:11 Asshur came out of the land and built Nineveh, Rehoboth, Kalah
10:12 and Resen, between Nineveh and between Calah, a great city.
10:13 From Mizraim came Ludim, Anamim, Legavim, Naftukhim,
10.14 Patrusim, Kasluchim (from where the Philistines came) and Caphtorim.
10:15 From Canaan were born Sidon, his firstborn, Het,
10.16 Ievusi, Emori, Girgashi,
10.17 Khivvi, Arki, Sini,
10.18 Arvadi, Tsemari and Hamafi. Subsequently, the Canaanite tribes dispersed.
10:19 And the frontier of the Canaanites went from Sidon to Gerar, to Gaza, thence to Sodom, Gomorrah, Adma, and Zeboim, as far as Lasha.
10:20 These are the sons of Ham, according to their tribes, according to their tongues, in their lands, in their peoples.
Kush. Cush is Ethiopia, both the original Arabian and the African descended from it. The first is proved by the confusion of the names Cush and Midian in the story of Moses ( Ref. III. 1. Number. XII. 1), the contiguity of the land of Cush with Arabia ( 2 Par. XXI. 16) and the wars of the people of Kush in Asia ( 4 Kings XIX. 2.2 Par. XIV. 8). The latter is also undoubted, according to Flavius (Antic. L. I, p. 6), according to the Syriac and Arabic translations of the New Testament, according to which Ethiopia, Kush and Abyssinia are one ( Acts. VIII. 27), and according to the natural sign of the Ethiopians in Jeremiah (XIII.23).
Mizraim. This name in the Holy Scriptures constantly signifies Egypt. This name can often be seen among the Prophets among the peoples of Africa ( Jer. XLVI. 9. Ezek. XXX. 4. 5. Naum. III. 9). Flavius says that this is Libya, and also finds among the Greek writers the region and the river Fut, which Pliny also mentions (L. V. p. 1).
Canaan. This gave the inhabitants and the name of the land of Canaan, which included Judea, Phoenicia and Syria.
Seva. His offspring is mentioned in the prophecy of Isaiah ( XLV. 14), where God gives Cyrus the trade of Cush and Saveev. Flavius shows the city of Sava in African Ethiopia.
Havila. This name is still among the sons of Jektan. From Havila, the son of Khusov, they produce Havlan, otherwise Yemen, in Arabia.
Savta. Dark traces of the settlement and resettlement of his offspring are found in the names: Saffa (the city of happy Arabia by Ptolemy), Saffa (an island or peninsula of the Persian Gulf by the same writer), Messavata (which Pliny believes within Persia).
Raam. According to the pronunciation of seventy interpreters Regma. Signs of this tribe in Ezekiel ( XXVII. 22) probably show a country in Arabia near the Persian Gulf, where the city of Regma, according to Ptolemy.
Savtekha. A name that is no longer found in the sacred books and which it is useless to pursue by conjecture.
Sheva. The same name occurs again in this genealogy and also in the genealogy of Abraham ( XXV. 3). To the ancestor mentioned here, Bohart refers those places of Holy Scripture where the name Sheva is combined with the names of Kush or his descendants ( Ps. LXXI. 10. Ezek. XXVII. 23.XXXVIII 13), and his descendants believe in the Persian Gulf, where the people of Asaba, according to Ptolemy, and the mountains of Sabo near Arrian.
Dedan. One tribe of this name lived in the neighborhood of the Edomites ( Jer. XXV. 23. XLIX. 8), but descended from Dedan, the grandson of Abraham ( Gen.XXIV.3). Another, according to the description of Ezekiel (XXVII. 15. XXXVIII. 13), should be considered by the sea in the neighborhood of Sheba. From here may be the city of Daden on the Persian Gulf.
Cush also begat Nimrod. This man's fame caused Moses to speak of him separately from his brothers. The name Nimrod means rebel or prideful.
This began to be strong on earth. Sim means power and wealth ( Ps. CXI. 2.3), and sometimes dominance ( Ps. L.I. 3).
He was powerful in hunting before God. These words can mean both that Nimrod was skilled in hunting, and that by this art he achieved power over people. The strong before God is the same as the strong without an example among people. Such expressions in the sacred language are reflections of the pious feeling of those who formed and used it ( Ps. LXXIX. 11. Ion. III. 3. Acts. VII. 20).
That is why it is said: how powerful Nimrod is in hunting before God. To show that the memory of Nimrod still existed in folk tradition, Moses used here either a proverb or a fragment of some folk poem. The meaning of this saying is that a courageous ascetic or a cunning oppressor was compared with Nimrod.
Babylon. This city got its start before the division of the peoples and was appointed to be the capital of the world ( Gen. XI. 4), but Nimrod, who probably had a great part in the intent of the pandemonium, took advantage, by confusion of languages, of the labors of the whole human race, as if the strongest.
Erech. According to the Targum, Ephraim the Syrian and Jerome, this is Edessa.Akkad. According to Ephraim's explanation - Nizibis.Khalne. Bohar thinks that Halne is the main city of Chilonitida in Assyria, later known under the name of Ctisiphon.
Shinar. It is known that Babylonia is signified by this name, but the space of its signification is not defined.
Out of this land came Assur. This is how the ancients used to translate this place. The newest, taking אשור instead of אשורה, of which there are examples ( 3 Kings III. 15, 2 Sam. VI. 10), for the most part they translate as follows: from this land he went out, that is, Nimrod, into Assyria. And he built Nineveh. Nineveh Bochart finds one at the Euphrates, and the other beyond the Tigris; here, apparently, the latter should be understood.
Rehoboth-ir, or Rehoboth-city, was so called, perhaps to distinguish it from another city, Rehoboth-gannagar (Gen. XXXVI.37). According to Ephraim, this is Adiabene.Kalakh. According to Ephraim, Chetro, or Garth.
Resen. Instead of the great city of this name, Ephraim found only a place.
Ludim. The name is, no doubt, not of a person, but of a tribe. Isaiah's mark of this people ( LXVI19) and Jeremiah ( XLVI 9) is the art of archery. Housing is in Africa.
Anamim. Bokhart thinks that this is the people of Gammana or Garamanta, who roamed around the temple of Jupiter Ammon. Legavim. Bochart applies this name to the Livio-Egyptians, who lived west of the Thebaid, in a sandy and hot country. להבה legawa means flame and heat ( Joel. I.19).
Naftukhim. Neffis, according to Plutarch (Lib. deIside), among the Egyptians means the seaside edge of the earth. Therefore, some are looking for the dwellings of the people of Naftukhim near the Mediterranean Sea, where the pier Ffia near Ptolemy.
Patrus. From Jeremiah XLIV. 15) and Ezekiel ( XXIX. 14) it is known that the land of Patros belonged to Egypt. But Isaiah XI. eleven) is separated from him. Bochart interprets this about the Thebaid, finding the position of the country of Patros indicated in the calculation of the parts of Egypt in Jeremiah ( XLIV. 1), where they are named in order, starting from the side of Palestine, Magdol (at the Black Sea), Takhpankhes at Herodotus, Nof (otherwise Moth, that is, Memphis) and Patros Thebaid, where the Pafurit region, according to Pliny.
Kaslukhim. Bochart means by this the names of the Colchians, immigrants from Egypt, but this settlement is not so ancient. Others place this tribe between Gaza and Pelusium.
From Kasluchim the Philistines are produced here, and in other places, as in Jeremiah (XLVII. 4) and Amos (IX. 7), from Caphtor. Maybe the Philistines migrated more than once, just like the Jews.
Caphtorim. The ancients, starting from seventy interpreters, call them Cappadocians (Jer. XVII. 4. Am. IX. 7). Michaelis thinks that Caphtor is Cyprus. Sidon. From this, Sidon is the chief city of Phoenicia before Tyre.
Het. His tribe lived in the southern region of Judea near Hebron ( Gen. XXIII. 23).
Jebusi. This descendant dwelt in Jerusalem until the time of David ( Is. Nav. XV. 63. 2 Kings IV. 6–9).
Emory. This tribe was strong beyond the Jordan ( Number XXI. 26).
Girgashi. This tribe fought with the Jews in the west of the Jordan ( Is. Nav. XXIV. eleven). Therefore, it is difficult to honor it as one with the Gergesins ( Matt. VIII 28).
Khivvi. This tribe lived in Lebanon (Judg. III. 3), and before the war with the Jews in other places of Palestine ( Is. Nav. XI. 19).
Arches. From this, Bochart produces the city of Arka at the foot of Lebanon, mentioned by Josephus and Ptolemy.
Blue. Jerome (Quaese. Heb. In Genes) writes that Sini was not far from the Arch. Strabo ( L. XVI) mentions a fortified place in Lebanon called Sinna.Arvadi. From this, it seems, the inhabitants of Arad, an island opposite the mouth of the river Eleuthera.
Tsemari. From this, perhaps, the city of Simira near Eleuthera got its start.
Hamafi. According to the book of Numbers XIII. 22.XXXIV. 7.8.) Hamaf is the northern limit of the land of Israel. Chaldean interpreters take it for Antioch, but Joseph says that it was a city among the Greeks, called Epiphany. For the Jews, who were soon to occupy the land of the Canaanite tribes, Moses describes it and its limits in general (19). He bypasses it, starting from the north, west, south and east, and points to the most famous cities. Less well-known Lasha, according to Jerome, is the Fox, otherwise Kallirroe.
These are the sons of Ham, according to their tribes, according to their tongues, etc. By this conclusion of the genealogical list, the writer explains that this is not a total census of the closest descendants of the Khamovs, but that only those of them are named here, whose names have become the names of tribes, languages, lands and peoples.
Sim's offspring
10:21 Shem also had children, the father of all the sons of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth. 22. The sons of Shem: Elam, Assur, Arfaxad, Lud and Aram.
10.23 Sons of Aram: Uts, Khul, Gether and Mash.
10:24 Arfaxad begat (Cainan, Cainan begat) Sala, Sala begat Eber.
10:25 Eber had two sons; the name of one is Peleg, because in his days the land is divided; his brother's name is Joktan.
10.27 Gadoram, Uzal, Dikla,
10.28 Oval, Avimail, Sheva,
10:29 Ophir, Havilah and Jobab. All cuu were children of Joktan.
10:30 Their settlements extend from Mesha to Sephar, the mountain of the east,
10:31 These are the sons of Shem, according to their tribes, according to their tongues in their lands, according to their peoples.
10:32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, in their genealogical order, among their nations. From these peoples spread over the earth after the flood.
Father of all the sons of Eber. From Hebrew, some of the newest translate: to the father of all the sons of that side, that is, those living beyond the Euphrates. But the first translation, common among the ancients, is justified by the fact that the expression עבר בני is not so complete as to be able to replace the following: הנהר מעבר אנשי ( Ride IV. 10, 11. 2 Kings. x.16), and that the name Eber is a well-known name of a person in this very genealogy, which later turned into a folk ( Gen. XIV. 13.XL. 15. Number. XXIV. 24), and therefore there is no need to look for another origin and meaning for it. Why, at the beginning of the general genealogy of Simov, Moses often calls him the father of the sons of Eber, the reason for this is that the writer gradually enters from the general into the private history of the sons of Eber, or, in a word, the Jews. Elder brother Japheth. It can also be translated from Hebrew: brother Japheth the elder. Only in the latter case, due to the nature of the language, it would be necessary to say more fully, for example: the eldest son of Noah. That Japheth was the firstborn, this conjecture can be deduced from a comparison of the chronology of the life of Noah with the chronology of the life of Shem ( Gen. V. 32.VII.11. XI. 10). But it could happen that in the first of these places a round number is placed instead of a non-circular one, just as three sons are mentioned without distinction of their birth times; the strictness of the reckoning is left to the other two places. On the contrary, that Simbyl is the first-born, it is noticeable from the fact that, in the number of brothers, he usually comes first ( V. 32, VI. 10. VII. 13.IX. 18. 23. H. 1) - Departing here from this order and placing the genealogy of Shem after the genealogies of his brothers, the writer had reason to remind the reader that Shem is the elder brother of Japheth, whose genealogy is placed ahead of the rest, without deigning to name the third brother with them, already separated from them and disposition, and curse.
Elam. From this originates Elimaida, the country between Susiana and Media, with whom in the Holy Scriptures she often unites ( Is. XXI. 2. Jer. XXV. 25. Acts. 11.9. Ride IV. 9), and sometimes even mixed with the first ( Dan. VIII. 2).
Assur. This name means happy. It means Assyria, and it is worthy of this name ( 1 Kings XVIII. 32).
Arfaxad. A weak trace of this name is found by Bochart in Ptolemy in the name of Arrapachitis, which was part of Assyria. In Holy Scripture, no nation, below the country, is called by the name of Arfaxad. Of the sons of Simov, he was given the best glory - to be among the Patriarchs of the chosen people.
Ludg. Joseph, Jerome, Eusebius, Isidore revere Lidyan.Aram as descendants of Lud. This name was also called the grandson of the Nahors from Camuel ( Gen. XXII. 21), and there are a lot of countries: Aram-Nagaraim (Aram interfluve, that is, Mesopotamia) ( Gen. XXIV. 10), Padan-Aram or Sede-Aram (Polish Aram) ( XXVIII. 7. Os. XII. 13), Aram Vefrekhov, Aram Tsova ( 2 Kings x.6.8), Aram Dammesek (Damascus) ( 2 Kings VIII. 5). Even the homeland of Nahor and the homeland of Jacob is called Aram ( Gen. XXV. 20. Deut. XXVI. 5). In the prophecy of Amos ( IX. 7) God says that He brought the Aramites out of Cyrus, which some countries are looking for near the Cyrus River in Persia or near Kur in Iberia. Of so many countries of the Aramites, there is no way to recognize the one that was the first homeland of the Aramites. And the Greeks used the name Arameans or Arims, and then began to call them Syrians (Strab. L. XVI).
Uts. This name is also called the firstborn of Nahor ( Gen. XXII. 21) and one of the descendants of Esau ( XXXI. 28). The first-born of Aram, mentioned here, according to the legend of the ancients, created Damascus and gave his name to the Damascus plain, which the Jews call Uz, and the Arabians call Gaut.Hul. Bokhart from him produces Holoboten (בית חול house of Hula), part of Armenia, Michaelis - Tsele-Syria.
Gefer. A trace of this name is found in the name of the river Keitripa. Mash, according to the book of Chronicles, Meshech (1 Chr. I. 17). From these names, Bokhart derives the name of Mount Masiya.Kainan. This name is not in the Hebrew text between the descendants of Shem. But it is found in the oldest and best Greek manuscripts of the Old Testament and the Gospel of St. Luke ( III. 36) and in the antiquities of Josephus Flavius.
Joctane. The Arabs call him Qahtan and revere him the father of many tribes of happy Arabia and of the Arabic language itself. Traces of his name are shown by the people of Catanita. Ptolemy and the city of Vaisaf-Iektan in the vicinity of Mecca.
Moses, describing the descendants of Joktan, considers their limits in the west to Mesha, which is probably Musa, the trading port of the Red Sea in Arabia in the east of Sephar, a city and a chain of mountains, which the Greeks called Climax, that is, a ladder. According to this instruction, the sons of Joktan should be sought in Arabia.
Almodad. From this, according to Boharg, Allumeota, in the middle of happy Arabia.
Shalef. From this Salapena.
Hazarmavef. According to the Arabic pronunciation of Hadhramaut. From this word, due to the difficulty of its pronunciation, the names were born among the Greeks: Adramita, Hatramis, Hatramitis. The country they signify is rich in myrrh and frankincense, but not healthy; and this last property corresponds to the name חצרמות Country of death. Measures. This name means the moon. Bochart compares it with the name of the people Αλιλαιοι of the ancients, now בני הלאל Bne-gilal, child of the moon. Gadoram. From this, according to Bochart, the Dreamats, the inhabitants of Cape Hodorom in the Persian Gulf.
Knot. This name is still called among the Arabian Jews the city of Tsanaa, among the ancients Auzar, from Auzar myrrh. Dikla. This name from Syrian means a palm tree or a palm forest. Such a place, and on this basis, the offspring of Dikla, Bochart finds in southern Arabia.
Oval. To this tribe, Bochart appoints a place in Africa opposite Arabia, where there was a pier of Avalit. Avimail. According to Bochart, there is the father of the Malites, whom Theophrastus considers among the four peoples of happy Arabia, famous for their incense.
Sheva. This tribe Bokhart believes between the Minei and Katavans near the Red Sea.
Ofir. This name among the Arabs means rich. The translation of this finds Bochart in the name of the Kassanites, which comes from the word חסן hasan, to hide the treasure. Havila. Farther away is the country of Havlan, near the land of Saveev.
Jobab. Ievav, from Arabic, desert. Such was the land of the Iovarites (perhaps the Iovavites), according to Ptolemy.
Scattering of nations
11:1 While all the earth spoke one language and one speech,
11:2 it happened that the people, moving from the East, found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
11:3 And they said to one another, Let us make bricks and burn them with fire. Thus, they had bricks instead of stones, and earthen tar instead of lime.
11:5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men were building.
11:6 And the Lord said, Behold, there is one people, and they all have one language, and this is what they have begun to do;
11:7 Let us go and confuse their language there, so that one does not understand the language of the other.
11:8 Then the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth; and they stopped building the city.
11:9 Therefore a name was given to her: Babylon; for there the Lord confounded the language of all the earth, and from there the Lord scattered them over all the earth.
After speaking of the spread of the human race through the flood, in the first or noblest tribes, Moses explains how different peoples came from one great family of the human race.
According to the most natural order, he shows first the state of the human race in its unity (1), then the case for division on the part of the people themselves (2-4), then the judgment and determination of God about this division, and, finally, the very action of division (8, 9 ).
The whole earth spoke one language and one dialect. Literally from Hebrew: the whole earth had one mouth and one word. Expressions like this in the Hebrew language often signify like-mindedness or unanimity ( Is. Nav. IX. 2. 3 Kings XXII. 13. Ref. XXIV. 3), but what is used here exactly means one common language ( Is. Nav. XIX. 18). So, Moses depicts the unity of human society in a universal language, and not the universal agreement of people in the intention of pandemonium.
It is asked, what was this first and universal language of the human race?
Some who have examined this question assert that, although traces of it are more or less visible in the ancient Oriental languages, yet none of them is more original, just as in our times neither French, nor Italian, nor Spanish is ancient Latin.
Others give primacy to the Jewish, without denying, however, that he, too, has undergone a change from time to time. This opinion is justified:
history. With the help of the long life of the Patriarchs and their constancy in opinions and customs, the language of Adam should have been preserved without great damage until Noah, the language of Noah - until Abraham, while the language of Abraham is Hebrew. Sacred history gives us no reason to confuse the blessed tribe with the sons of men (5) both in the crime of pandemonium and in the punishment of confusion of tongues. Some consider the natural language of the tribe of Abraham to be Chaldean, because they find it in the native country of this tribe, and even in the mouth of Laban (יגר־שהרותא iegar sagadufa, hill of testimony. Gen. XXXI. 47), but is it not more likely that the tribe of Nahor, left in the midst of a mixture of languages and peoples, little by little changed the language of their ancestors to the language of their neighbors, than what Abraham did, separated by God from all peoples and not wanting with anyone to have an intimate communication as soon as with your ancient family?
property of the Hebrew language itself. Until now, it predominantly retains the dignity of the original language, that the properties of things are visible in its names. In Holy Scripture, he explains from himself the most ancient names of places and persons, except for a very few whose roots have been lost or preserved only in other languages closest to him. That this advantage cannot be attributed to the art of the writer of holy books, this is proved by the names of which education was not in his power and which had to start along with the language, as, for example, אדס from אדמה, אישה from איש and so on.
Comparing it with other ancient languages. Most of all, he has purity, simplicity and correctness in his education. The most ancient names of peoples, countries, pagan deities and many other words, whose beginnings are invisible in other languages, are explained from Hebrew. In general, the antiquities of languages converge in it, like streams at a source.
The occasion for the division of the nations was the pandemonium, of which Moses notices the place, form and intention.
Moving from the East, they found a plain in the land of Shinar. From Armenia, where the first dwelling of the human race was after the flood, the path to the land of Shinar lies to the south. So, here either the first migration is not already mentioned, or the name of the east is used in a very indefinite signification ( Is. IX. 12). The use of bricks instead of stones and earthen tar instead of lime in the building of Babylon is explained by the nature of the land of Shinar.
The words city and tower mean either a jointly fortified city, or separately a city with one tower for strengthening and splendor ( Court. IX. 51).
Up to heaven. This is a tense expression of immensity, not unparalleled among the Jews ( Deut. 1, 28, IX. 1) and not alien to the true story, although, however, from it, in all likelihood, a pagan fable was born about giants who wanted to conquer the sky.
Let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered over the face of the whole earth. To make a name, in the language of the Holy Scriptures, means to gain glory ( 2 Kings VII. 13. Is. LXIII. 12. Jer. XXXII. 20). So, one of the motives for pandemonium was love of glory; another reason (if we follow the simple exposition of the Hebrew text) was the desire to prevent the scattering and division of the human race, which could previously be feared according to the meaning of Noah's prophecy. It is likely that the tribe of Ham, which was most threatened by this prophecy, before other tribes received the idea, if possible, to keep all of them in a state of union by the decree of one universal center and the capital of the world; in order to escape from the curse of slavery announced to him, hastened to universal dominion. It is not difficult to judge whether an enterprise was worthy of punishment, so much contrary to the known will of God, and whether the Wise One justly calls it unanimity of slyness ( Prem. XII. 5).
The Lord came down to see. God descends, explains Augustine, when He creates something on earth that, having been created miraculously against the ordinary course of nature, reveals His presence in a certain special way. In the likeness of men, a twofold procession is attributed to God here: the first is the descent, as it were, not so close to vision; the second is the nearest coming for action: let us go and confuse their language there.
Under the name of the sons of men, on whom God turns an angry gaze here, some do not understand the entire human race, but with the exception of the sons of God, that is, pious people, which division was used in this mind by Moses in the history of the first world ( Gen. VI. 2). Others, without exception, honor all people as the creators of the pillar, because they are called the whole earth; because the great undertaking of pandemonium required the participation of all people, not yet very numerous after the flood; because it was not so illegal as to frighten the pious, and, finally, because it is incredible that after the flood the division of the faithful from the unbelievers was so quick. But it can be opposed to this reasoning, that the expression all the earth in Moses refers not to the action of pandemonium, but to the universal original language; that the tribe of Eber means nothing to the number of those building the pillars of Babylon; that the prophecy of Noah, which mentions the spread of people over the earth and the division of villages, and which, no doubt, was known and respected in the tribe of Eber, sufficiently showed the absurdity of the intention to create the capital of the world and that the division of the faithful from the unfaithful, which already existed between the three sons of Noah, nothing surprising in their offspring.
Let us go and confuse their language there. Some think that God is introduced by those who say this imitatively, in response and in reproach to the words of people: let us build ourselves a city; Augustine relates the words of the Lord to the Angels in whom he lives (De. civ. ei. L. XVI, p. 5). Others imagine here the conversation of the three hypostases of the Holy Trinity.
The confusion of languages is explained by some - by the instantaneous or gradual, but miraculous formation of several new languages in various tribes; others - the disagreement that arose between the builders of Babylon, since this can be called not only a confusion, but also a division of languages, as in the Psalmist (LIV. 10); others, finally, by a disorder into which for some time the actions of memory and imagination were brought in people, so that the memory did not give out the words that the mental images demanded, as it naturally happens in some diseases.
According to the power of the first explanation, Origen says that the Angels, the guardians of the peoples, gave each of them their own language, except for the Jews, who, being the lot of God himself, preserved the language given by God to Adam.
Many ancients determine the number of languages born during the pandemonium, according to the number of seventy, or, according to the Greek text, seventy-two descendants of Noah, named by Moses ( Gen. X.5.32) and according to the number of the children of Israel ( Deut. XXXII. 8) that entered Egypt ( Gen. XLVI. 27, according to the Hebrew text); but these conjectures cannot be considered important. Inasmuch as among the descendants of Noah numbered by Moses in the tenth chapter of the book of Genesis there are those who, even after the pandemonium, no doubt spoke one common language, like the descendants of Canaan; there are those who did not participate in the pandemonium, like Arfaxad, Shelah, Eber; and there are those who were born after the pandemonium, like the sons of Joktan. Also, when Moses says that God set the limits of the nations according to the number of the children of Israel, even the number of the children of Israel (12 or 70?) is not shown here, much less the number of different languages.
Those who prefer the second explanation of the confusion of tongues, presenting this event as completely natural, diminish its importance and make superfluous the solemn depiction of the judgment of God in the narrative of Moses.
The third explanation, as much as it agrees with the spirit of the sacred narration, allowing for the direct action of the Divine in the confusion of languages, so much favors the natural and experienced origin of languages, connecting with their confusion the existence of one original, which, after the end of the miracle of confusion, could still remain common, until the passage of time changed and was not divided into many in different places and tribes. Therefore, the ancient languages: Chaldean, Syrian, Canaanite, Phoenician, Arabic, Armenian, Ethiopian, Persian - have the form of branches of one root, which is the Hebrew language. It must be thought that the languages: Greek, Latin, Slavic, Teutonic (ancient German), Tatar, Chinese, revered as indigenous, are such only in distance from the first and common root.
In the punishment of the confusion of tongues and the scattering of peoples, the beneficent intentions of God are revealed together:
to protect human societies from extreme oppression; for if the whole human race were united under one ruler, such as Nimrod was, then power would take an excessive advantage over freedom, and innocence, oppressed by force, could not find security;
to prevent the corruption of morals, which in one universal kingdom was to become universal for the human race; but which, after the division of peoples, destroying one of them, leaves the other in the distance and obscurity to arise and intensify with the help of simplicity and purity of morals;
to prevent strife, which would be endless if the human race were ashamed of one center by their villages.
Then the Lord scattered them from there over the whole earth. The fulfillment of God's determination Moses, as usual, remarks briefly. However, there is no doubt that the scattering of peoples over the face of the whole earth did not take place suddenly, but gradually.
Babylon. The origin of this word is not so clear in Hebrew - בבל Babel from בבל balal, as in Chaldean - בבל Babel from בלבל bilbel; however, in both forms there is one root of this and a sign of confusion.
Genealogy and chronology of Simov's offspring
11:10 Here is the genealogy of Shem. Shem was a hundred years old when he begat Arphaxad, two years after the flood.
11.11. After the birth of Arphaxad, Shem lived five hundred years and begat sons and daughters (and died).
11.12. Arfaxad lived thirty-five years (135) and begat Cainan. After the birth of Cainan, Arfaxad lived 330 years and begat sons and daughters, and died. Cainan lived 130 years and begat Sala.
11.13. After the birth of Sala, Arfaxad (Kainan) lived four hundred and three (330) years and begat sons and daughters (and died).
11.14. Salah lived thirty (130) years and begat Eber.
11.15. After the birth of Eber, Shelah lived four hundred and three (330) years and begat sons and daughters (and died).
11.16. Eber lived thirty-four (134) years and begat Peleg.
11.17. After the birth of Peleg, Eber lived four hundred and thirty (370) years and gave birth to sons and daughters (and died).
11.18. Peleg lived thirty (130) years and begat Raghava.
11.19. After the birth of Ragava, Peleg lived two hundred and nine years and begat sons and daughters (and died).
11.20. Raghav lived thirty-two (132) years and begat Serug.
11.21. After the birth of Serug, Raghav lived two hundred and seven years and begat sons and daughters (and died).
11.22. Serug lived thirty (130) years and begat Nahor.
11.23. After the birth of Nahor, Serug lived two hundred years and begat sons and daughters (and died).
11.24. Nahor lived twenty-nine (79) years and begat Terah
11.25. After the birth of Terah, Nahor lived one hundred and nineteen (129) years and begat sons and daughters (and died).
11.26. Terah lived seventy years and begat Abram, Nahor, and Arran.
The history of the first world Moses gave the completeness and continuity possible in brevity through the genealogy and chronology of the seed of the woman; he does the same with the history of the world after the flood, before entering into the particular history of the chosen people.
The same difference that exists between the Greek and Hebrew reckoning of the Patriarchs who lived before the flood is noted here, but the Samaritan text almost agrees with the Greek. The difference in reckoning from the flood to Abram can stretch from 700 to 900 years, according to different ways of reckoning.
A particular difficulty presents itself in the reckoning of Abram, and precisely in finding the time of his birth.
Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. According to these words, it seems that Abram was the firstborn. But being such, at the death of his father, whose whole life lasted 205 years (32), he should have been 135 years old from birth. On the contrary, at that time he was seventy-five years old ( Gen. XII. 4).; So, it must be assumed that Abram was born after 130 years of the life of Terah; he was placed first among his brothers, not by birth order, but by his personal superiority. The above words of Moses' narrative without compulsion allow this explanation and can be resolved as follows: "Being 70 years old, Terah began to give birth to children, among whom the most famous was Abram, the eldest before him was Nahor, and the first of all Aran" (for the daughter of this latter was the wife of second, 29).
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From the first minutes of life, the relatives of the newborn Noah were sure that the boy had a great future. And they weren't wrong. A man who believed infinitely in the power of God saved the human race from complete annihilation. However, not only people should thank Noah, animals and birds are also indebted to their descendants.
Noah's story
The biography of a righteous man who lived among unimaginable sinners is revealed in the Old Testament (chapters 6-9 of the Book of Genesis). Researchers have found many similarities between the biblical legend and the actual flood. That is, the legend of the Great Flood has a prototype.
The first mention of a flood and a man who built a ship to escape dates back to the second millennium BC. Sumerian legends tell of King Ziusudra, who received word from the god Eia about an impending flood. From the violence of the elements, Ziusudra himself and the king's wife manage to get out.
The motif is later repeated in Babylonian legend. A man named Ut-napishti learns from the god Eia about the imminent flood and builds an ark into which he takes the animals and his own wife. Cuneiform tablets describing Ut-napishti date back to the 17th century BC.
There is a noticeable difference between pagan traditions and biblical motifs. In the legends of the ancient peoples, the theme of morality is not touched at all. Flooding is considered a whim of the gods, and not at all a punishment for misconduct.
The New Testament is also full of references to the story of Noah. and his supporters in sermons mention the feat of the man chosen by God and present the legend as a historical fact. claims that the legend of Noah is a vivid example of the fact that God will punish all the fallen and save all believers.
great flood
A descendant of Adam in the tenth generation was born in 1056 from the Creation of the World. From the moment the child was born, close relatives had high hopes for the boy:
“Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years and begat a son, and called his name: Noah, saying: he will comfort us in our work and in the labor of our hands in cultivating the land that the Lord has cursed.”
For the first fifty years, the life of the righteous man proceeded calmly. The man firmly believed in God and did not deviate from his own faith. This behavior set Noah apart from the crowd and eventually made the man a hermit. Noah had no one to share his righteous life with.
Already in adulthood, the man married a girl named Noema (Noah's sister by father). There is a theory that the reason for late marriage is the unwillingness of the righteous to have offspring in a sinful world. God insisted on the marriage, telling Noah in a dream. Noema gave birth to a man of three sons - Shem, Ham and Jephet.
At the age of 500, the righteous man received a revelation from the Lord:
“The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I will destroy them from the earth. Make yourself an ark... And behold, I will bring a flood of water on the earth... everything that is on earth will lose its life.
The only one who must be saved during the disaster is Noah and his family. The man was obliged to build an ark, place a pair of all living creatures on the ship (“clean” animals Noah would take 7 pairs for sacrifices) and wait for the Great Flood to descend on Earth.
The construction of the ship took 120 years. And after the completion of the work, the Lord gave sinful mankind one more chance - the gates of the ship remained open for a week. But the people did not believe Noah's warnings. As soon as the righteous man with his family ascended the ark, water fell on the Earth. The flood lasted 40 days and flooded the entire district.
After 150 days, the water began to gradually decrease. Noah's ark withstood the test of the elements. On the seventh day of the seventh month, the ship landed on Mount Ararat. To make sure that the elements no longer rage, Noah released a raven, which returned to the ark with nothing.
Then Noah sent out a dove, but he "found no resting place for his feet" and returned to the ark. A week later, the righteous man again released the dove, which, returning, brought an olive leaf in its beak. Noah waited another seven days and released the dove a third time, and the bird never returned.
Noah dared to leave the ark only after a vision in which God blessed the righteous man. The first thing a man did when he stepped on solid ground was to make a sacrifice to the Lord. In response, God promised not to cause a flood again if the descendants of the survivors kept the commandments:
"I establish my covenant with you and with your offspring after you ... that all flesh will no longer be destroyed by the waters of the flood, and there will be no more flood to desolate the earth."
A new stage in the development of mankind has begun. Noah and his sons took up the cultivation of the land, and later mastered the art of winemaking. Because of the alcoholic drink, the righteous man committed the fall, which, however, the Lord forgave the man.
After drinking too much wine, Noah fell asleep in the tent without clothes. The naked father was discovered by Ham and his son Canaan. The men laughed at the old man and reported the shameful deed to the other sons of Noah. Then Shem and Japheth covered the body of their father. For disrespect to the parent, Noah cursed his son Ham, who witnessed the shame of his grandfather.
The righteous lived in the world for another 350 years, living up to the 950th anniversary. Nothing is known about the death of the elder; apparently, Noah's death occurred quickly and painlessly.
Screen adaptations
One of the first attempts to transfer ancient biblical legends to the screens was the film "Bible". The film was released in 1966 and consisted of several parts. The film tells the viewer the story of Adam and the biography of Abraham and the construction of the ark. The role of Noah was played by actor John Huston.
The cartoon "Noah's Ark" shows the legend through the eyes of the animals that got on the ship. The animals have their own point of view on who should stay in the ark and how many. The proximity of predators and herbivores creates no less problems. Noah had to deal with all the problems, the voice of which was given by Joe Carali.
The most large-scale film dedicated to the life of a righteous man was released in 2014. "Noah" deviates from the original plot, so the film caused discontent among radical believers. The actors involved in the filming of the blockbuster had to temporarily move to Iceland, where they were working on the scenes of the flood.).
- The meaning of the name Noah is consolation, peace.
- There is a legend that Noah took not only living creatures to the ark - the bones of Adam were transferred to the ship, which Shem later buried in Jerusalem.
- Islam also contains references to the Great Flood, only the saved righteous is called Nuh.
- After the flood, the Earth was inhabited by the children of Noah, the man himself took a vow of abstinence.
- Theologians argue that Mount Ararat, mentioned in Scripture, has nothing to do with the modern Armenian Highlands. The legend speaks of the territory on which the ancient state of Assyria was located.
King David and Solomon, the Pharisees and Caesar, the prophet Elijah and many other such familiar and, at the same time, unfamiliar names. Who were all these biblical heroes? How well do we know who is who in the Bible? Do not sometimes confuse with some of these or other mythological characters? To understand all this, "Thomas" opened a project of short stories. Today we are talking about who Noah is.
"Noah releases a raven and a dove", Dutch miniature, 1450-1460
Noah, according to the biblical enumeration of genealogy (genealogy), is the tenth after the first man Adam. He stands about halfway between him and Abraham (Gen. 5 and 11). In the Bible, Noah is the first vinedresser and inventor of wine.
The name of Noah is associated with the story of the global flood and a special ship - Noah's ark.
When God saw that the thoughts of people at all times were evil, He repented that He had created man on earth, and decided to destroy him. The Lord sent a heavy rain, because of which a worldwide flood began, in which all living things perished. Only the righteous Noah and his family were saved.
Before the flood, God told Noah to build a special ship (which later became known as Noah's ark). It looked like a rectangular box (approximately 134 × 22 × 14 m in size; displacement of about 43 thousand tons), was built of wood and tarred inside and out, and had three tiers (like covered decks). Noah, his wife and sons with their wives were saved in this ship. They took a pair of each type of animal (in another version, seven pairs of clean animals and a pair of unclean ones (Gen. 7:2-3, and this is the first time the animals are separated according to the principle of uncleanness).
When the flood ended, the ark landed on the mountains of Ararat (8:4), Noah offered sacrifices to God, and God blessed him and his offspring by making a covenant with him, including certain prescriptions regarding the eating of animal meat and the shedding of blood (Gen. 9: 1–17). The symbol of the covenant was the rainbow - a kind of guarantee that humanity will never again be exterminated by water.After drinking wine for the first time, Noah became drunk and lay naked in his tent. Son Ham saw his father and told the brothers about it so that they would laugh at him, but they entered the tent without looking at Noah and hid him. When Noah woke up and learned about what had happened, he cursed his grandson, the son of Ham Canaan. “Noah wanted to punish Ham for his crime and the insult inflicted on him, and at the same time not to violate the blessing already given by God:“ God blessed, - it is said, - God Noah and his sons, ”when they left the ark (Genesis 9:1 )"- St. John Chrysostom explains this moment.
In the book of the prophet Ezekiel (14:14-20) Noah is named one of the three righteous men of antiquity along with Daniel and Job. In the Gospel of Luke (3:36) is mentioned among the ancestors of Jesus Christ.
Fragment on the announcement "Noah releases a raven and a dove", Dutch miniature, -
Adam at 130 begat Seth, Shet begat Enosh at 105, Enosh at 90 begat Kenan, Kenan begat Maalalel at 70, Maalalel begat Yered at 65, Yered begat Hanoch at 162, Hanoch begat Methuselah at 65, Methuselah at the age of 187 he begat Lemekh and Lemekh at the age of 182 begat Hoax.
Noah's name comes from the word "lighten". It is understood that he was supposed to make life easier for people. Before Noah, they did not have tools for working the land, but he made them. Because of the curse to which the first man was given, the earth produced thorns and thorns when it was sown with wheat, and was quiet in the days of Noah.
A chronological table compiled from this data shows that Noah was the first person to be born after Adam's death. His birth is the dawn of a new era of mankind. When Noah was 500 years old, he begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
During Noah, the process of merging the two civilizations began. The descendants of Cain, despite the development of the arts and technological progress, reached a dead end due to the lack of a moral basis. The descendants of Shet, who were brought up in the spirit of love for the Almighty, began to marry daughters from the clan of Cain and were influenced by the ideology and way of life of that civilization, which is based only on the physical capabilities and mental abilities of a person. All mankind began to forget about the Almighty and cultivate the evil that is fraught with human nature. This was the first warning of the tragedy of marriage to idolaters.
The Almighty decided to bring the Flood to the world if people do not stop their atrocities. For this, he gave them one hundred and twenty years, so that people could comprehend their behavior, leave bad deeds and repent. Although there were witnesses to the death of the generation of Enosh, when the ocean rose and flooded a third of the world, the generation of the Flood did not humble itself, did not want to learn from it.
Even before the descendants of Sheth began to marry daughters from the line of Cain, there were giants in the world. Their unusual physical strength made them famous, they were treated like heroes by those around them. However, fame and glory, which are based only on physical strength, are never durable. Their fate is to disappear from the face of the earth and be forgotten. A person, nation or generation that does not correspond to the lofty plan of the Creator cannot exist for a long time. And the human race will take its origin from Noah.
People did not hide their sins and did everything openly. Even cattle, beast and bird happened to individuals of other species. The perversion of the ways by animals has led to the appearance of malformed hybrids that have filled the whole earth. Wherever you find debauchery and idolatry, ruin falls on the world and indiscriminately destroys the good and the bad. They were finally sentenced for nothing more than robbery.
Hoax is called in the Torah a righteous man - despite the injustice and outright villainy that triumphed throughout the world at that time, he managed to remain unstained and unspoiled by this process of moral degradation common to all his contemporaries. But on the other hand, he belonged to a generation in which a person who retained only elementary decency was called a righteous man; had Noah lived during the time of Abraham, he would not have been considered a righteous man at all.
It took Noah 120 years to build the ark. The Almighty did not speed up its work in a miraculous way - the ark was not completed in a shorter period to enable people to repent of their sins and correct their behavior. Noach's contemporaries watched his work with curiosity. When asked what he was doing, Noah explained that the Almighty had pronounced a verdict on the destruction of mankind, and if people did not come to their senses, in 120 years they would be destroyed. But no one believed him, everyone laughed, not attaching any importance to his words.
The size of the ark was: three hundred cubits - the length of the ark, fifty cubits - its width, and thirty cubits - its height (cubit - about 60 cm). Noah's contemporaries said: "As soon as we see that he enters the ark, we will break the ark and kill him." The Almighty protected Noah so that the ark would not be broken: he surrounded him with bears and lions, and they killed those who planned evil.
In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the fountains of the great abyss were opened and the openings of heaven were opened. The ark was immersed in the water eleven cubits, like a laden ship, part of which is in the water. The waters rose 9 meters above the highest mountain and all mankind perished, except for those who were in the ark. But the fish that did not die in the sea.
Flood
After forty days of continuous rain, the waters reached their highest level, where they remained for one hundred and ten days. After one hundred and fifty days had passed, the waters began to recede. And the fountains of the abyss and the openings of heaven were closed, and the rain from heaven ceased. The ark stopped on the mountains of Ararat. Here Ararat is used as the name of the area. The Septuagint translates the name Ararat as "Armenia". In the monuments of Assyrian cuneiform Armenia is mentioned as Urartu. The height of Mount Ararat is about 5000 meters above sea level.
After forty days, Hoax opened the window of the ark and let out a raven. Noah chose the carrion-eating raven, believing that the remains of all living things that died during the Flood should cover the earth in many places, and if the raven does not return, this will be a sign that the earth has largely been freed from water and he could find food. When the raven returned, Noah released a dove. Most likely, Noah released a dove in the morning, and he, apparently, flew a long distance, as he returned only in the evening. Noah realized that a significant part of the earth's surface is still covered with water.
When the inhabitants of the ark came to dry land, Noah built an altar, as he felt an inner need to express gratitude to the Almighty.
Unlike the first man, Adam, the descendants of Noah were given permission to eat meat. In the Torah, blood often appears as a symbol of vitality. In fact, the blood delivers all the essentials to all organs of the body. If the organism loses blood, the vital forces quickly decrease until life itself is interrupted. Any complex form of life has an element of holiness, since the life forces are given directly by the Supreme. Therefore, although permission to eat animal meat was given, there was an additional strict restriction: before a person takes any part of the meat of an animal for consumption, life must completely leave the animal.
A person does not have the right to use the power in which the secret of life lies to satisfy his material needs, he is forbidden to eat a piece cut off from a living one. There are two sides to this prohibition: the prohibition to use the life force, and the prohibition of the barbaric treatment of animals. Subsequently, additional restrictions were imposed on the Jewish people, but their meaning is exactly the same: the law of slaughter (“shchitah”) is a way of instantly and painlessly killing an animal, the prohibition of eating any blood released from meat is a continuation and development of the prohibition to use in food piece from the living.
The Almighty also commanded the descendants of Noah to be fruitful and multiply. This command expresses the fundamental desire of the Almighty to fill the earth with people and once again emphasizes how disgusting the murder is to the Almighty. The Talmud condemns a person who deliberately does not marry in order not to have children, and equates him to one who sheds blood. Such a comparison of murder and unwillingness to fulfill the command of the Almighty “be fruitful and multiply” follows from the expression we are considering (“be fruitful and multiply”), which in this place of the text is perceived as an opposition to murder.
The sages explain that this passage of the Torah text, containing the laws given by the Almighty to Noah after the Flood, actually consists of seven commandments, which are commonly called the "commandments of the sons of Noah":
1. duty to establish fair courts everywhere;
2. prohibition of disrespect for the name of the Almighty;
3. prohibition of idolatry;
4. prohibition of murder;
5. prohibition of incest;
6. prohibition of theft and robbery;
7. prohibition to eat a piece of a living one.
Scholars might call these laws the "Code of Natural Religion" since they are the bare minimum to sustain society. In Jewish law, this set of seven commandments applies only to non-Jews. If a non-Jew wishes to live among the Jewish people in the land of Israel, he must accept the execution of these seven laws, otherwise he will not be allowed to settle within the Holy Land.
Rainbow
After the Flood, the first rainbow appeared. Commentators disagree on the nature of this sign.
Ramban believes that from that moment the rainbow became a sign, indicating that an alliance was concluded between the Creator and people.
However, Malbim believes that there are two conditions for the appearance of a rainbow: the penetration of the sun's rays into a loose cloud, their refraction and diffraction, or when the clouds do not cover the entire sky. Immediately before and during the Flood, these conditions were absent, as dense and dense clouds covered the entire sky. Now the very fact of the appearance of a rainbow indicates that there was not enough water collected to flood the earth.
Noah lived in total for nine hundred and fifty years.
