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In Genesis, the floodwaters arrive seven days after God closes the ark. Rabbinic tradition in tractate Sanhedrin interprets these seven days as the days of mourning for Methuselah, teaching that mourning the righteous postpones disaster.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Genesis 7:10
Hebrew Bible
9 male and female, came into the ark to Noah, just as God had commanded him. 10 And after seven days the floodwaters engulfed the earth. 11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month—on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst open and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.
Sanhedrin 108b
Babylonian Talmud
Rabbinic
Rav says: These were the days of mourning for the death of Methuselah; and this is to teach you that eulogies for the righteous prevent calamities from ensuing. Alternatively, “after seven days” means that the Holy One, Blessed be He, altered the order of Creation for that generation, i.e., in seven days He reversed the process of Creation, so that the sun would emerge in the west and set in the east. Alternatively, it means that the Holy One, Blessed be He, designated a substantial period for them, one hundred and twenty years, to repent, and thereafter designated a brief period for them, an additional seven days, as a final opportunity for them to repent. Alternatively, “after seven days” means that during those seven days, God gave them a foretaste of the delights of the World-to-Come, which will be actualized during the seventh millennium, so that they would know what munificence their sins prevented them from receiving.
Date: 450-550 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
... “Methuselah”: Babylonian Sanhedrin 108b expands the mention of Methuselah: What was the nature of these seven days? Rab said: “They were the days of mourning for Methuselah. This teaches that mourning for the righteous postpones retribution.” Another explanation: after the seven days during which the Holy One, blessed be he, reversed the natural order, with the sun rising in the west and setting in the east. Another explanation: the Holy One, blessed be he, gave them a long time and then a short time. Another explanation: after the seven days during which he allowed them a foretaste of the world to come, that they might be aware how great was the good of which they were depriving themselves. That is also said in Bereshit Rabbah 32.7: “This teaches that the Holy One, blessed be he, gave them a respite during the seven days of mourning for Methuselah the righteous, so that they might repent…” Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said: “The Holy One, blessed be he, mourned for seven days for his world, before he brought the flood.” ...
Bowker, John
The Targums and Rabbinic Literature: An Introduction to Jewish Interpretations of Scripture
(p. 163) Cambridge University Press, 1969
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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