One of the prominent aspects of the flood narrative is the numerous references to specific dates and time periods, 7:4,11,12,17,24; 8:4-6,13,14. Why are these dates important? For instance, 8:5 records that on the first day of the tenth month, the tops of the mountains were visible. Was Noah and his family able to see the tops of the mountains? Why is this significant? Conceivably the Torah could have recorded the events of the flood in a few verses. Why all the dates? One answer is from S. R. Hirsch (1989, p. 154) who writes that these dates "raise the whole catastrophe out of the realm of the blind workings of the forces of nature, and stamps it as the free-willed administration of the Divine Providence." Or, maybe the dates are a literary way to convey the magnitude of the flood. Or, maybe these dates are to contradict the possible thought that the flood was just a metaphor and did not happen.
A different set of questions is how do all the dates mesh together? No date is given for the first communication between G-d and Noah, 6:13-21, maybe since it was not clear how long it would take Noah to build the ark. Cassuto (1964, p. 43) suggests that the first communication was on the first day of the first month, but then Noah would have had to build the ark in forty days, which seems very difficult even if he had easy access to wood. Rashi (on 6:3,14) follows the idea in Chazal that it took Noah 120 years to build the ark, but this seems too much. More likely, it took Noah several years to build the ark.
The second communication between G-d and Noah, 7:1-4, was on the tenth day of the second month since 7:4 records that the rain would start in seven days and 7:11,12 record that on the 17th day of the second month, there began torrential rains for forty days. Note we do not know which is the second month, and if these dates, the tenth and the 17th, have any importance. It could be that the tenth day of the second month was close to the time that Noah finished building the ark.
If every month is 30 days, then the forty days of rain starting from the 17th day of the second month ended on the 27th day of the third month, while if a month is reckoned as 29.5 days (the more exact calculation), then forty days of rain might have ended on the 28th day of the third month.
The next verse which refers to the timing of the flood is that 7:24 records that the water swelled for 150 days. What is the connection between the forty days of rain, 7:4,12,17 and the 150 days when the water swelled, 7:24? One possibility is that these were two separate periods, altogether 190 days (Rashi on 8:3-5, Radak on 7:24), and then 7:24 is referring to the 27th of the eighth month (if a month is 30 days) or the 30th of the eighth month or the first of the ninth month (if a month is 29.5 days). The second option is that the forty days of torrential rains are part of the 150 days (Ramban on 8:4), and then the 150 days ended on 17th of the seventh month (if a month is 30 days) or the 20th of the seventh month (if a month is 29.5 days). A third option, is that I believe that already on the tenth of the second month, water started to rise from the depths of the earth (see our discussion on 7:1-11, “
Water from the great depths of the earth”), and then the 150 days when the water swelled would include the forty days of torrential rains and the seven days when only the water from the depths rose to the surface. With this calculation, the swelling of water referred to in 7:24 would have ended on the 10th of the seventh month (if a month is 30 days) or on the 13th of the seventh month (if a month is 29.5 days).
The next date is that 8:3 records that the waters began to dimmish and this diminishment occurred for 150 days. This diminishment of the water for 150 days is parallel to the water swelling for 150 days (see Radak on 8:3). Presumably, these 150 days of the water level diminishing began immediately after the 150-day period of the water swelling ended, and there would be three sets of possibilities as to when this second 150 period ended. If the first set of 150 days did not include the forty days of torrential rains, then the second set of 150 days ended on 27th day of the first month of the second year (if a month is 30 days) or on the 3rd day of the second month of the second year (if a month is 29.5 days). Note that as we discuss below, this possibility cannot be correct since it contradicts 8:13. A second set of possibilities would be if the first set of 150 days included the forty days of torrential rains, and then the second set of 150 days ended either on the 17th day of the 12th month (if a month is 30 days) or on the 23rd day of the 12th month (if a month is 29.5 days). The third set of possibilities follows my idea that waters starting come up from the depths of the earth on the 10th day of the second month, and then the second set of 150 days ended on either the 10th of the 12th month (if a month is 30 days) or on the 16th of the 12th month (if a month is 29.5 days).
8:4 then records that the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat on the 17th day of the seventh month. This verse begins a new section of the episode as the 17th day of the seventh month was way before the end of the second set of 150 days for all three possibilities.
One question about 8:4 is whether the ark would have rested on the mountain when the water was rising or only when the water was dropping? If it was only when the water was dropping, then this means that the waters had to start receding by the 17th of the seventh month. This could only have happened if the first set of 150 days included the 40 days of torrential rain, and each month is 30 days, as then the ark would have lodged into the mountain immediately when waters stopped rising, or if the first set of 150 days includes the 40 days of torrential rains and the seven days when the water was rising from the depths of the earth, as then the water peaked on the 13th of the seventh month, and began to recede on the 14th day of the seventh month.
A second question about 8:4, is did the ark stayed lodged in the mountain until the end of the flood? I believe that many people think that the ark did not move from this point, but I doubt this since it is unlikely that Noah and his family left the ark high up in the mountains. More likely, the ark rested for a short time on the mountains of Ararat, but then as water continued to diminish, the ark went down with the water. If this is true, then this mention of the ark being on the mountains was to show how high the waters reached, similar to 7:20 when the water level was rising.
8:5 then records that on the first day of the tenth month, the water receded enough that the tops of the mountains could be seen. This implies that the ark was now below the mountains and not on the mountains of Ararat. This might indicate that the ark reached its final resting point. This information was also to show the magnitude of the flood, similar to the information in 7:19. Cassuto (1964, p. 106) notes that the word here ad, until, does not indicate that the waters stopped receding at this point, just that it reached a significant point, as in Bereshit 28:15.
8:6 then records that at the end of forty days, Noah opened the window in the ark. We do not know when these forty days began. Cassuto (1964, p. 106) writes that the forty-day period began on the first day of the tenth month since this was the date in the preceding verse, and then Noah opened the window on the tenth day of the eleventh month. This seems reasonable. This forty-day period from the first day of the tenth month to the tenth day of the eleventh month parallels the forty-day period of torrential rains in the beginning of the flood. Also, in the first forty-day period, the ark remained in one spot even as the water was rising, 7:17, while possibly now when the water was receding, the ark remained in its final spot for forty days. Also, at the beginning of the first forty-day period, G-d closed up the ark, 7:16, while at the end of the second forty- day period, Noah opened the window in the ark. Furthermore, the first 40 days was part of the first 150 days, and the second set of 40 days was part of the second set of the 150 days.
After Noah opened the window on the tenth day of the eleventh month, he sent out a raven and three doves, 8:7-12. Between the sending of the first and second doves and second and third doves, the Torah records that Noah waited seven days, but we do know how soon Noah sent out the raven after he opened the window, and how much time elapsed between when Noah sent out the raven and when he sent out the first dove. Cassuto (1964, p. 44) writes that Noah immediately sent out the raven when he opened the window and that there was a week between the sending out of the raven and the first dove. If this correct, then it took twenty-one days to send out the birds, and this process ended around the first day of the 12th month. This could be, but maybe Noah did not send out the raven right after he opened the window and maybe the end of the process of sending out the birds coincided with the end of the 150 days of the diminishment of the water. Also, the two seven days period between the sending out of a dove a second and third time corresponds to the seven-day period when G-d spoke to Noah on the tenth of the second month, 7:1-4. Note the seven-day period prior to the 40 days of torrential rains is mentioned twice, 7:4,10, and twice the Torah mentions Noah waiting seven days in between the sending the doves, 8:10,12.
The next date recorded is on the first day of the first month of the second year, and this was significant since on that day Noah took off the roof of the ark, 8:13. Until this point, Noah, and whoever was awake on the ark, was only able to look out of window.
8:13 also records that the land had dried out, which Rashi (on 8:13) writes means that it was still muddy, as there were no large puddles, but still the ground was soft. This description of the ground as dry, even if muddy, contradicts the possibility mentioned above that the first set of 150 days did not include the 40 days of torrential rains since with that possibility there was still water on the earth on the first month of the second year. With the other two possibilities as to when the first set of 150 days began, the first day of the first month of the second year was at most twenty days after the second set of 150 days period of the diminishment of the water ended.
Most likely, it took Noah some time to remove the roof, as it was 300
amot by 50
amot, and that he started to take off the roof after the third sending of the dove. This period would correspond to the period of the building of the ark, and both periods were not part of either of the two periods of one hundred and fifty days.
8:14 records the last date in the chronology of the flood and this was the 27th day of the second month, when the land was dry, and apparently on this day, Noah, his family and the animals left the ark, 8:15-19. This was one solar year from the time the rain started on the 17th day of the second month of the previous year if one counts both days and a month is 29.5 days. It could be that the need to have a complete solar year is why Noah, his family and the animals were unable to leave the ark earlier. Also, during the time from when the roof was removed until they left the ark, Noah and family could have looked at the earth from the ark. This seeing parallels 6:12 that G-d looked at the earth before he spoke to Noah the first time.
With this chronology, we have six parallel periods in concentric order: One, the looking at the world in the very beginning and the end of the flood, 6:12 and 8:14. Two, the building of the ark and taking apart its roof, 6:13-22 and 8:13. Three, the seven days periods, 7:1-5, and 8:7-12. Four, the two forty-day periods, 7:6-17 and 8:5,6. Five, the covering and then seeing the tops of the mountains within the two periods of 150 days, 7:19,20 and 8:4,5. Six, the two periods of 150 days, 7:18-24, and 8:3. The center of this literary structure is that G-d remembered Noah, and all of the animals, and stopped the water, 8:1,2. One could even add a seventh parallel to this structure, that 6:5-8 corresponds to 8:20,21. (Two other scholars, Wenham (1978) and Radday (1981) have also argued for a chiastic structure in the flood narrative centering on 8:1, though with different structures than what is presented here.)
Bibliography:
Cassuto, Umberto (1883-1951), 1964, A commentary on the book of Genesis, part two: From Noah to Abraham, Jerusalem: Magnes Press.
Hirsch, S. R. (1808-1888), 1989, The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy, second edition, Gateshead: Judaica Press.
Radday, Yehuda T., 1981, Chiasmus in Hebrew Biblical Narrative, in Chiasmus in Antiquity: Structure, Analysis, Exegesis, ed. John W. Welch, Provo, UT: Research Press, pp. 99–100.
Wenham, Gordan J., 1978, The Coherence of the Flood Narrative, Vetus Testamentum, 28, pp. 336–348.