Page:A critical and exegetical commentary on Genesis (1910).djvu/269



discovered that the northern mountains are in reality higher than those of Kurdistan.

5. the tops of the mountains] i.e. (as usually explained) the other (lower) mountains. The natural interpretation would be that the statement is made absolutely, from the viewpoint of an imaginary spectator; in which case it is irreconcilable with v.$4$ (cf. Hupf. Qu. 16 f.).—13a, 14. On New Year's day the earth's surface was uncovered, though still moist; but not till the 27th of the 2nd month was it dry (arefacta: cf. Jer. 50$38$).

15-19. Exit from the ark: blessing on the animals.—17b. A renewal of the benediction of 1$22$, which had been forfeited by the excesses before the Flood. The corresponding blessing on man is reserved for 9$1ff.$.—19. The animals leave the ark according to their families,—an example of P's love of order.

The Chronology of the Flood presents a number of intricate though unimportant problems.—The Dates, according to MT and G, are as follows:

1. Commencement of Flood     600th year,    2nd mo.,         17th day (G 27th) 2. Climax (resting of ark)       "          7th  "           17th  "  (G 27th) 3. Mountain tops visible          "         10th (G 11th),   1st  " 4. Waters dried up            601st year,    1st mo.,          1st  " 5. Earth dry                     "          2nd  "           27th  "

The chief points are these: (a) In G the duration of the Flood is exactly 12 months; and since the 5 months between (1) and (2) amount to 150 days (7$24$ 8$3$), the basis of reckoning is presumably the Egyptian solar year (12 mo. of 30 days + 5 intercalated days). The 2 months' interval between (3) and (4) also agrees, to a day, with the 40 + 21 days

5. ] 'went on decreasing' (G-K. § 113 u); less idiomatic than $3a$ (J).—Tenth] G eleventh.—13a. After G adds  (7$11$).

15. ] G .—17. [E]GS read ; so v.$19$.—] Why Qrê substitutes in this solitary instance is not clear: see Kön. i. p. 641.—] G (Impv.), omitting the previous. This is perhaps the better text: see on 9$1ff.$ V reads the whole as Impv.—19. —] G (better) .—] (Jer. 15$3$); the pl. of (P's word in ch. 1) is not in use (Ho.).