Comentario citado sobre Génesis 7:11

A further comment in Mechilta (Shirah, 2): the words כי גאה גאה are a reminder that anyone who dares act arrogantly in the knowledge that there is a G’d who is superior to him will be punished. A number of examples are listed there. 1) The Egyptians expressed their arrogance by boasting of their unfailing water supply, the river Nile. Hence G’d punished them through water. The generation of the deluge boasted that they did not need rain (a symbol of blessing from heaven) as they depended on the mist rising from the earth (compare Genesis 2,6). As a result of this boast G’d punished them by water (40 days unceasing rain, plus the opening of subterranean sources of water gushing forth, Genesis 7,11). The people of Sodom, etc., boasted of their wealth and the gold and silver they had amassed. They were so arrogant that they legislated against anyone staying in their cities overnight so that they should not have to share their wealth with any traveler. As a result of this insufferable behavior G’d wiped out both them and their belongings. This is the meaning of Job 28,4: “they open up a shaft far from where men live, in places forgotten by wayfarers, destitute of men, far removed.” We also read in Job 12,5: ”in the thought of the complacent; there is contempt for calamity; it is ready for those whose foot slips.” Ezekiel 16,49 describes the sin of the people of Sodom in the following words: “only this was the sin of your sister Sodom: arrogance! She and her daughters had plenty of bread and untroubled tranquillity; yet she did not support the poor and the needy.” Pharaoh boasted of the might of his chariots as we read in 13,14: “he took 600 choice chariots.” As a result of his reliance and boast of the invincibility of these chariots, G’d punished him by means of these very chariots as we read in 15,4. Siserah also was proud of his iron chariots (horse-drawn tanks), as reported in Judges 4,13. G’d punished him by means of these chariots as we know from Judges 5,20. Samson who had boasted of getting what was “good in his eyes,” was punished by being deprived of his eyesight (Judges 14,3 and 16,1). He had committed a sin at Azzah by sleeping with a harlot (Judges 16,1). He was taken prisoner at Azzah and humbled (Judges 16,21). Avshalom used to boast of his hair only to be eventually caught by it which led to his violent death (Samuel II 18,9). Sancheriv, King of Assyria used to boast of his chariots (Isaiah 37,24). In the end G’d sent an angel to destroy his entire military encampment (Kings II 19,35). Nebuchadnezzar had also boasted saying that he would ascend to the clouds and match the Most High (Isaiah 14,14). G’d dealt with him by consigning him to the deepest part of gehinom (Isaiah 14,15). He said to him: “you elevated yourself above mankind, I will separate you from mankind by placing you far below” (Compare Daniel 4,22). The Torah wrote in our verse גאה גאה to teach us this lesson.

On Kislev 27 the rains ceased. You might ask: Did Rashi not say before (7:12) that they ceased on Kislev 28? The answer is: There, Rashi explained that they ceased on Kislev 28 because the first day did not count in the forty days of rain. It did not count because its [preceding] night did not have rain. For it says (7:11), “On that day, all the wellsprings... burst open.” This means at daytime, not at night. Nevertheless, it was considered a [half] day. Thus, Marcheshvan counted for twelve full days and one [half] day, and Kislev counted for twenty-seven full days. And the rain did not cease until the morning of the 28th. So the last night, when added to the first day, completed the forty full days. Thus it could be said that the rains ceased on Kislev 28, as they still fell on its [preceding] night. And it could be said that the rains ceased on Kislev 27, because in the daytime of the 28th there was no rain.

AND THE ARK RESTED IN THE SEVENTH MONTH, ON THE SEVENTEENTH DAY OF THE MONTH. Rashi wrote: “From here you may infer that the ark was submerged in the water to a depth of eleven cubits.” This he wrote on the basis of the calculation written in his commentaries, and it is so found in Bereshith Rabbah.¹¹⁰33:10. But since in certain places Rashi minutely examines Midrashic traditions and for the same verses also takes the trouble to explain the simple meanings of Scripture, he has thus given us permission to do likewise for there are seventy ways of interpreting the Torah,¹¹¹Midrash Othiyoth d’Rabbi Akiba. and there are many differing Midrashim among the words of the Sages. And so I say that this calculation which they have mentioned does not fit into the language of Scripture unless we bear with that which explains And the ark rested in the seventh month as referring to that day mentioned above [in Verses 2-3] when the rain was withheld and the waters receded from the earth and decreased continually. [This interpretation of the seventh month is] unlike the counting of the second month¹¹²Above, 7:11. mentioned in the beginning of the section, [which Rashi explains there as being “the second month” of the creation calendar], and unlike the counting stated at the end of the section [in Verse 13: in the first month, which Rashi similarly explains as being “the first month” of the creation calendar]! And how is it possible that in the second verse Scripture should immediately retract [from using the withholding of the rain as a reference point for counting] and state, until the tenth month,¹¹³Verse 5. and proceed to another reference point, counting it, as Rashi explains, as the tenth month with reference to the coming of the rains!
The evidence Rashi brings from the submergence of the ark in the waters is no proof for he attributes an equal decrease of water to each of the days — namely, a cubit every four days — and it is known in nature concerning the decrease of water that a great river which decreases at first a cubit every four days will at the end decrease four cubits in a day. Thus according to this calculation of Rashi, on the first day of the month of Ab the tops of the mountains were seen,¹¹⁴Rashi, ibid. and on the first day of Tishri the earth dried.¹¹⁵Rashi, Verse 13. Thus in sixty days the waters decreased the entire height of the high mountains consisting of many thousands of cubits, [surely a greater rate than four cubits a day, as Rashi would have it]! Besides, when Noah sent forth the dove on the seventeenth day of the month of Ellul,¹¹⁶The raven was sent by Noah forty days after the tops of the mountains were seen on the first day of Ab. (See Verses 5-6). This brings us to the tenth of Ellul. Seven days later, on the seventeenth day of Ellul, he sent forth the dove. the waters were yet on the face of the entire earth,¹¹⁷Verse 9. and the trees were covered, and in a matter of twelve days¹¹⁸From the eighteenth of Ellul to the first of Tishri is a period of twelve days. the whole earth dried! And by way of reason, if the ark was submerged in the waters eleven cubits, that being more than a third of its height [which was thirty cubits],¹¹⁹Above, 6:15. it would have sunk because it was wide at the bottom and finished to a cubit at the top,¹²⁰Ibid., Verse 16. contrary to the structure of ships, and there was also in it great weight!
From the simple interpretation of Scripture it appears that the hundred and fifty days mentioned in connection with the prevailing of the waters¹²¹Above, 7:24. include the forty days of the coming down of the rains¹²²Ibid., Verse 12. since the main increase and prevailing of the waters took place during these days. Thus the waters began decreasing on the seventeenth day of Nisan,¹²³From the seventeenth day of Cheshvan (the beginning of the rains) to the seventeenth day of Nisan there are 150 days. This is contrary to Rashi, who said that the decrease of the waters began forty days later on the first of Sivan. and thirty days later — the seventeenth day of the month Iyar,¹²⁴According to Rashi this was on the seventeenth of Sivan. which was the seventh month from the time the rain began to fall¹²⁵According to Rashi, “the seventh month,” mentioned in connection with the resting of the ark upon the Ararat mountains, was the seventh month after the rains stopped, as explained above. — the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat. Seventy-three days later, on the first of Ab, which was the tenth month from the time the rain began to fall, the tops of the mountains were seen. We have thus made a small correction in the interpretation of the language of Scripture, [namely, that all counting begins from the time the rain began to fall].
But the correct interpretation appears to me to be that the hundred and fifty days¹²¹Above, 7:24. were from the seventeenth day of the second month, namely, the month of Marcheshvan, to the seventeenth day of the seventh month, namely, the month of Nisan, and that was the day when the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat.¹²⁶This is unlike his opinion above that the ark rested thirty days after the seventeenth of Nisan. For then G-d caused a strong east wind to pass all the night and made the waters dry land,¹²⁷Exodus 14:21. Also see Verse 1 here in Chapter 8. meaning that they decreased very much, and the ark rested. The proof for this is that Scripture does not say here, “and the waters decreased on such a month and on such a day and the waters decreased continually until the seventh month, and the ark rested, etc.,” as it said concerning the other decrease when the tops of the mountains were seen, for on the very day the waters began decreasing, the ark rested. The order of events in this matter was thus: on the day the rain began to fall all the fountains of the great deep were broken up,¹¹²Above, 7:11. and the windows of the heavens were opened and the rain came down for forty days. During that time the waters prevailed fifteen cubits above¹²⁸Above, 7:19. [the summits of all the mountains]. The rain stopped at the end of forty days, but “the fountains of the deep” and “the windows of the heavens” remained open. The atmosphere was very damp, and the whole earth was full of water, not like waters poured down a precipice,¹²⁹See Micah 1:4. nor ever to become dried. And they stood thus in their power until one hundred and fifty days from the day the rain began were completed. Then G-d caused a very powerful wind to pass through the heavens and over the earth, and the fountains of the deep were stopped¹³⁰Verses 1-2. for the water that flowed from them returned to its place until the deep filled up as it was before the flood, and the openings of its fountains were locked, as were “the windows of the heavens.” And the air was dried very much by a drying wind, and the water on the earth was licked up.¹³¹See I Kings 18:38. Thus the waters decreased exceedingly on that day, and the ark, which was submerged in the waters about two to three cubits, rested. Seventy-three days after that — on the first day of the tenth month, namely, the month of Tammuz — the tops of the mountains were seen. At the end of forty additional days — on the tenth day of the eleventh month, Ab — Noah opened the window of the ark, and three weeks later the dove left him; thirty days later, he removed the covering of the ark.

בשבעה ועשרים ON THE TWENTY-SEVENTH [OF THE MONTH] —The rain had begun to fall in the second month on the seventeenth day (Genesis 7:11): the ten days are those by which the solar year exceeds the lunar year; for the punishment of the generation of the Flood lasted a full (i.e. a solar) year (Genesis Rabbah 33:17).