beside Thee; look upon us in mercy; deliver us from this deluge of water for the sake of the pangs of Adam, the first man whom Thou didst make; for the sake of the blood of Abel, the holy one; for the sake of just Seth, in whom Thou didst delight; number us not amongst those who have broken Thy commandments, but cover us with Thy protection, for Thou art our deliverer, and to Thee alone are due the praiser; uttered by the works of Thy hands from all eternity." And all the children of Noah responded, "Amen, O Lord."[1]
Noah is said to have left the ark on the tenth day of the first month of the Mussulman year, and to have instituted the fast which the Mahommedans observe on that day, to thank God for his deliverance.
According to the Book of Enoch, the water of the Flood was transformed by God into fire, which will consume the world and the ungodly, at the consummation of all things.[2]
The Targum of Palestine says that the dove plucked the leaf she brought to Noah from off a tree on the Mount of Olives.[3]
The Book Jasher supplies an omission in Genesis. In Genesis it is said of Lamech, on the birth of Noah, "He called his name Noah; saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed;"[4] but Noah signifies rest, not comfort. The Book Jasher says that Methuselah called the child Noah, rest, because the land rested from the curse; but Lamech called him Menahem, comfort, for the reason given in the text of Genesis. The sacred writer has given one name with the signification of the other.[5]
XV.
HEATHEN LEGENDS OF THE DELUGE.
ARARAT has borne this name for three thousand years. We read in the Book of Genesis that "the ark rested, in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the
- ↑ Fabricius, i. pp. 74, 243.
- ↑ Ed. Dillmann, c. 67.
- ↑ Ed. Etheridge, i. p. 182.
- ↑ Gen. v. 20.
- ↑ In the Midrash Rabba, this want of connection between the name and the signification is remarked upon, and Solomon Jarki in his commentary says that, for the meaning assigned, the name ought to have been, not Noah, but Menahem.
