Why?
Who?
When?
Where?
Cataclysm Journalism
Just like we looked at the origin of humans, we will explore the journalistic questions: who, what, when, where, why, and how.
Usually we would end with “why” because it wraps up everything we learn. This time we will begin with that question.
Why? Because Moses begins there so that what he tells us will make sense.
Why?
Unlike the comfortable comet theory which posits a huge asteroid crossing earth’s path and being sucked in by gravity, the event commonly called Noah’s Ark is always initiated by one or more gods who deign to punish humans.
The corrupt acts vary from a woman who drank from a stream during her menses to disrespect of the gods to complete wickedness. A few cultures say it wasn’t evil that triggered the event, but overpopulation.
How did humans disrespect the gods? Here are some examples: the gods were miffed by the King of Alba setting himself up as a god equal to Jupiter, general rudeness and lack of hospitality when a god came in the guise of a poor person, or outright disregard of required sacrifices and worship.
Here are some specific wicked behaviors listed by different cultures:
They didn’t know how to act as humans. (Lakota: indigenous American)
Imperious and depraved (Chaldean: ancient Mesopotamian)
Idleness, wantonness, rapacity (Hebrew legend, not from Genesis)
Wicked, lazy, and didn’t wash (Munda: India)
Wasted fish, polluted the pond until all of the fish were poisoned (Sui: China)
Genesis 6: 5 says that “every inclination of the thoughts of (man’s) heart was only evil all the time.”
Well! That covers it!
And since we know that according to Moses, God had already ejected Adam and Eve from the garden and prevented humans from returning, had allowed the DNA decay and defect processes to begin, and had cut human life time to 120years, we see that God is progressively angrier.
God wasn’t going to take it anymore! He was going to destroy everything on earth!
But then, he remembered Noah….
Who?
It is amazing how many cultures use “Noah” or a derivative for the protagonist of the story!
These cultures use Noah: Genesis (Hebrew Bible), Islam, Russian, the Hershel Island Eskimos (Canadian Yukon). The Zapotecs of ancient Mexico called him Noéh.
Here are related names: Nama (Altaic: central Asia), Noj (Sagaive: eastern Siberia), Nol (Lifou: New Caledonia), Nu’u (Hawaii), Nanaboujou (Ottawa: indigenous American), and Nu-mohk-muck-a-nek (Ottawa).
Other cultures refer to the same protagonist by a descriptive name.
Several cultures refer to him as a son of a god, although he may have a different name. Ancient Greeks called him Deucalion, the son of Prometheus.
According to the ancient Chaldeans, he was the tenth king of Babylon. Well, Noah was the tenth generation from Adam. It seems the Babylonians considered the Genesis genealogy to be their king list!
The ancient Sumerians called him a priest-king, which is who ruled their culture. Is Noah where the idea came from?
Another popular title was “Long of Life.” This is the meaning of Ziusudra of Sumer, Utnapishtim of Assyria, and Xisudthrus of Chaldea: all of which were ancient civilizations. Tuvinian (Soyot, north of Mongolia) and Lifou call him the Old Man. According to Genesis, Noah lived 950 years. No later person’s age was worthy of comment.
Noah was known to the Vogul (western Siberia) as the Great Man, to the Maori (New Zealand) as Hero, and to the Cree (indigenous American) as the Old Magician (Wise One).
But to me, the description that is the most tantalizing is from Sumer: The Mariner. I’m interested for two reasons: because Sumer is the oldest scientifically proven civilization, and because “The Mariner” is that specific.
The synonyms closest to “mariner” are seaman, seafarer, navigator, and sailor.
Sailor is a more general word. A sailor can work on lakes or rivers as well as the sea.
A seaman, seafarer, or mariner specifically sails the sea, and by extension the ocean. Yet, there are differences.
A seaman is one who works as a sailor, especially below the rank of an officer. That’s not Noah. He was the highest ranking person on the ark.
Seafarer can be anyone who serves aboard a marine (sea-going) vessel, or a sea traveler, often an adventurer. Yes, that could be Noah.
Mariner is the oldest of the three synonyms, dating from Latin in which “mare” means “the sea.” Mariner then means “man of the sea” or “man from the sea.” It gives the feeling that the sea is not just a job to this man. Somehow, it has become his identity.
Isn’t that true of Noah? Whenever anyone says, “Noah” the usual response is to think of the ark on the sea.
A navigator, however, is a mariner who directs the route of the ship. That was not in Noah’s job description.
When?
Ussher dates the Genesis event 2349-2348 B.C.
Most cultural legends are vague: “in the time of the stone giants,” “after the dream time,” “in the time of the first men.”
The Greeks are more specific: “Zeus sent a flood to destroy the men of the Bronze Age.” Now, that’s odd. If this legend first arose before the ancient Greece civilization we think of, the Greek tribes existed during the Bronze Age! Why didn’t the speaker just refer to that? After all, a civilization ties everything to itself.
Could it be that this is corroboration of the first bronze age: the world that Tubal-Cain invented? That is exactly when the flood occurred according to Genesis! Wow!
Where?
We don’t know where Noah lived. Surely, there was still plenty of room in Turkey for everyone to live. But maybe some went exploring.
We do know that the whole earth would be affected by the event.
What and How?
Ah, that’s the story isn’t it? And it deserves its own post.
See you next time!
Photo credit: globalmoments on Unsplash.com