Page:The Deluge in Other Literatures and History.djvu/7

 name of the ark. The length of the ark according to the Bible being six to one, the Assyrian ten to one; a difference as to occupants, the Assyrian account including the ship builders and relatives. There is nothing in the Assyrian account concerning the clean and unclean. In the Assyrian account the duration is seven days, the birds being sent out seven days after. The Assyrian story includes among the birds, besides the dove and raven, the swallow which is not found in the Hebrew story. The place according to the Assyrian story is Nizir, east of Assyria; the Hebrew story the mountains of Ararat. The fate of the hero in each case is different. In the one case he is deified; in the other he is allowed to live a long period of years. It would be interesting here to take up the question of relative age of the two stories — the Hebrew and the Assyrian, but such consideration may perhaps be best postponed.

The dissimilarities in reference to the spirit and purpose are greater. The Assyrian story is grossly anthropomorphic; including the representation of the gods crouching like dogs, and again of the gods gathering like flies before the master of the sacrifices ; while the anthropomorphic element in the Hebrew story is very slight indeed and never grotesque. The Assyrian account is polytheistic; the Hebrew everywhere monotheistic. There is no purpose in the Assyrian account except to explain the deification of man. The purpose of the Hebrew story stands out in every verse. One reads the Assyrian story and discovers no teaching whatever; while in the Hebrew account the greatest of all teaching is found; punishment for wickedness, deliverance for righteousness. We find nowhere in the Hebrew story allusions to spirits quarrelling among the gods, to the deification of man. And as to the relative influence of the two stories, who can fail to see the superiority of the Hebrew ?

IV. Our Estimate of the Biblical Material.

1. Is it a naturalistic myth of rain, or the setting of the sun, or of the cosmogony ? No.

2. Is it an historical legend ? An event — an impression made upon the mind — the impression colored or embellished — and this