30.05.2014 Views

Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered - The Preterist Archive

Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered - The Preterist Archive

Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered - The Preterist Archive

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

(references are to primeval dates, columns and lines):<br />

1:1-3 <strong>The</strong> author understood Gen. 6:3 to mean that only 120 years remained to antedeluvian man<br />

before the judgement of the flood. Whether the replacement of the Masoretic 'he will judge' with 'he<br />

will live' represents an interpretation or a textual variant is unclear, but the substitution of 'their days'<br />

for 'his days' in Line 2 affects the meaning drastically.<br />

1:10 and following. <strong>The</strong> author's chronology of the flood (according to the years of Noah's life) is as<br />

follows:<br />

(1) 17.2.600 <strong>The</strong> flood begins (Line 4; Gen. 7:11).<br />

(2) 26.3.600 <strong>The</strong> rain ceases to fall 40 days after it began (Lines 6-7; Gen. 7:17). <strong>The</strong> author counted<br />

17.2.600 as the first day in his calculations.<br />

(3) 14.7.600 <strong>The</strong> waters begin to recede 150 days after the flood began (Line 8; Gen. 7.24, 8:3). Thus<br />

the author counted the 40 days of Gen. 7:17 as part of the 150 days. Note that the dates given in the<br />

Biblical text work only on the basis of a calendar of 30 days per month; they also allow the<br />

intercalation of two days between 17.2 and 14.7 precisely the calendar of Jubilees and many Qumran<br />

texts.<br />

(4) 17.7.600 <strong>The</strong> ark comes to rest on the mountains of Ararat on the third day of the waters' recession<br />

(Line 10; Gen. 8:4). <strong>The</strong> author calculated the two days mentioned in Line 9 by comparing Gen. 7:24,<br />

8:3 and 8:4.<br />

(5) 1.10.600 <strong>The</strong> tops of the mountains become visible (Line 11; Gen. 8:5).<br />

(6) 10.11.600 Noah opens a window of the ark and sends the raven (Lines 13-14; Gen. 8:6-7).<br />

(7) 17.11.600 Noah sends the dove out for the first time (Lines 14-15). Thus the author understood the<br />

words 'and he sent' of Gen. 8:8 as concealing an unstated lapse of seven days. This is a logical<br />

assumption, since there would be no reason to send the dove and the raven at the same time. Further, a<br />

seven-day lapse is suggested by what follows.<br />

(8) 24.11.600 <strong>The</strong> dove goes out a second time, and it returns with an olive branch (Lines 15-18a;<br />

Gen. 8:10-11).<br />

(9) 1.12.600 Noah sends the dove out for a third time, and it does not return (Lines 18b-20a; Gen.<br />

8:12).<br />

(10) 1.1.60 1 Noah removes the covering of the ark (Lines 206-2:1; Gen. 8:13). <strong>The</strong> waters have<br />

completely receded.<br />

(11) 17.2.601 <strong>The</strong> land is dry, and Noah leaves the ark at the end of precisely one full year (2:1-3; cf.

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!