Babylonian Talmud

Rodkinson 1918 — source 16, scan section 36

of Biram. It reads [ibid, vi, 12] : " For all flesh has corrupted his way upon the earth." Said R. Johanan: Infer from this that cat- tle, beast and men had intercourse with each other. Said R. Aba b. Kahana : All of them returned to their usual manner of propagation, except the bird Thushl'mi.* It reads [ibid., ibid. 13] : " The end of all the flesh is come before me." Said. R. Johanan : Come and see how severe is the force of robbery, as the generation of the flood had com- mitted all kinds of crimes and their evil decree was not sealed until they stretched out their hand to robbery, as it reads (13) " for all the earth is filled with violence through them, and I will destroy them with the earth," and also [Ezek. vii. 11]: " The violence is grown up into the staff of wickedness : noth- ing is left of them, and nothing of their multitude and nothing of theirs; and there shall be no lamenting for them." Said R. Elazar: Infer from this passage that the violence itself has grown up as a cane and placed itself before the Lord, saying: Lord of the Universe; nothing shall be left of them, etc. The disciples of R. Ismael taught : In that evil decree Noah was included, but found favor in the eyes of the Lord, as it reads [Gen. vi. 7 and 8] : " For it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." It reads [ibid., ibid. 6] : " And it repenteth the Lord that he had made man on the earth." When R. Dime came from Pales- tine, he said : (The Lord said) I have not done well that I prepared for them graves in the earth. (As it might be that if I would leave them alive, they would repent.) And this is in- ferred from the analogy of the expression " and it repented," * It is a kind of bird unknown to the commentators, as well as to us. TRACT SANHEDRIN (SUPREME COUNCIL) 353 which is to be found here and in [Ex. xxxii. 14] : " And the Lord bethought himself." It reads [Gen. vi. 9] : " Noah was a just, perfect man in his generation;" according to R. Johanan in his generation, but not in others who were more righteous. And according to Resh Lakish: In his generation, which was wicked, so much the more in other generations. Said R. Hanina : As a parable to that of R. Johanan, may be, e.g., if one places a barrel of wine among barrels of vinegar. In that place, the good smell of wine is marked, which would not be the case if placed among other barrels of wine. And a parable to that of Resh Lakish, said R. Oshia, may be, e.g., a glass of perfume which was placed in a filthy place, and the smelling was marked, so much the more would it be marked if placed among spices. It reads further on [Gen. vii. 23] : " And it swept of¥," etc. If man sinned, what were the sins of the animals? It was taught in the name of R. Jehoshua b. Kar'ha: It is similar to one who made a canopy for his son, and prepared all kinds of delicacies for the wedding-meal, but his son dies before the wedding and he destroys all what he prepared, saying: All this was done only because of my son ; now, as he is dead, to what purpose do I need the canopy and all what I prepared? So the Holy One, blessed be He, said : To what purpose have I created cattle and beast, only for the sake of man ; now, when man has sinned and is to be destroyed, to what purpose do I need all other creatures? [Gen. vi. 22]: "All that were on dry land died," but not the fishes in the sea. R. Jose of Tcsarius lectured: It reads [Job, xxiv. 18]: " Swift are such men (to flee) on the face of the water; accursed is their field on the land." Infer from this that Noah, the up- right, warned them, saying : Repent and pray to God, for if not He will bring the flood upon you and will make your corpses swim upon the water like bags filled with air; and not only this, but ye will be accursed to future generations (i.e., one will curse this enemy that his lot shall be like yours). And they an- swered : Let him do so, who prevents him? And he answered : There is one pigeon among ye which must be taken away from this evil (i.e., Methushelech, the upright, who must de- part, not to see the evil). And they answered: If it is so, then we will continue on our way and will not hide ourselves in the vineyards. Rabha lectured: It reads [Job, xii. 5]: "To the unfor- 23 354 THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. tunate there is given contempt — according to the thoughts of him that is at ease — prepared (also) for those whose foot sHppeth." Infer from this that Noah, the upright, warned them in hard words. But they scorned him, saying: Thou old man, why buildest thou the ark? And to his answer: The Lord will bring the flood, they said: A flood of what? If a flood of fire, then we have an animal by the name of Elita which ex- tinguishes fire. And if of water, we have iron plates with which we can pave the ground (to prevent water coming up). And if of the sky, we have a thing named Akeb or Ikosh, which can prevent it. And Noah answered: He will bring you (the flood) from under your heels, as the just cited verse reads, " prepared for those whose foot slippeth." Said R. Hisda : With their hot blood have they sinned, and they were punished with hot water, and it is inferred from an analogy of the expression [Gen. viii. 3] : " And the water was appeased," and [Esther, vii. 10] : " And the fury of the king was appeased." It reads [Gen. vii. 10] : " And it came to pass after the seven days that the waters of the flood were upon the earth." Seven days of what? Said Rabh: The seven days' mourning for Methushelech. From this you may learn that the lamenta- tion of uprights delays the chastisement to come. Another ex- planation : The Lord appointed for them at first a long time for repenting, and thereafter a short time. And still another explanation : The seven days in which was given them a taste of the world to come, for the purpose that they shall know what good they are losing. [Ibid., ibid. 2] : " Of every clean heart thou shalt take to thee seven pair of each, the male and his female." Have these animals wives? Said Samuel b. Na'hman in the name of R. Jon- athan : It means from those with whom a crime was not com- mitted. And whence did he know this? Said R. Hisda: He passed them by the ark, and those who were accepted by the ark he was certain that no crime was committed, and those who were not, he was certain that a crime was committed. R. Abuhu said : It means from those animals which came by them- selves. [Ibid. vi. 14] : "An ark of gopherwood." What is meant by gopher? R. Adda, in the name of the school of Shila, said: It means an oak tree, and according to others, a cedar tree. [Ibid., ibid. 16] : " A window shalt thou make." Said R.