came upon the earth] as a result of the upheaval, v.11.—The words forty days are a gloss based on 74. 12 (v.i.); the Redactor treating J's forty days as an episode in the longer chronology: see on v.12 (J).
18-21, 24. Magnitude and effect of the Flood.—While
J confines himself to what is essential—the extinction
of life—and leaves the universality of the Flood to be
inferred, P not only asserts its universality, but so to speak
proves it, by giving the exact height of the waters above
the highest mountains.—18, 19. prevailed] (
Hebrew characters), lit. 'be
strong' (G (Greek characters), Aq. (Greek characters)). The Flood is conceived
as a contest between the water and the dry land.—20.
fifteen cubits] is just half the depth of the ark. The
statement is commonly explained in the light of 84: when
the Flood was at its height the ark (immersed to half its
depth, and therefore drawing fifteen cubits of water) was
just over one of the highest mountains; so that on the very
slightest abatement of the water it grounded! The explanation
is plausible enough (on the assumption that 84 belongs
to P); but it is quite as likely that the choice of the number
is purely arbitrary.—24. 150 days] the period of 'prevalence'
of the Flood, reckoned from the outbreak (v.11): see p. 168.
VIII. 1, 2a, 3b-5, 13a, 14. Abatement of the Flood.—The judgement being complete, God remembers the survivors in mercy. The Flood has no sooner reached its maximum than it begins to abate (3b), and the successive stages of the subsidence are chronicled with the precision of a calendar.—1. remembered] in mercy, as 1929 3022 etc. The inclusion of the animals in the kindly thought of the Almighty is a touch of nature in P which should not be overlooked.—1b. The mention of the wind ought certainly to follow the arrest of the cause of the Deluge (2a). It is said in defence of the present order that the sending of the wind and the stopping
19. (Hebrew characters)] G (Hebrew characters), with (Hebrew characters) as subj. (better). So v.20.—20. (Hebrew characters)] G
(Hebrew characters) ((Greek characters)), is preferable to MT (cf. Ps. 10311).—(Hebrew characters)] G (and S) add
(Greek characters) as in 19.—21. (Hebrew characters)] here distinguished from (Hebrew characters).
1. The addition of G (Greek characters) is here
very much in place.—(Hebrew characters)] The [root] is rare and late: Nu. 1720 (P),
