THE DELUGE OF NOAH 147 



it must, if genuine, have come down nearly in its 

 present form from the time of the catastrophe which 

 it relates. It follows that the narrator leaves no place 

 for the current questions as to the universality of the 

 Deluge. It was universal so far as his experience 

 extended, but that is all. He is not responsible for 

 what occurred beyond the limits of his observation 

 and beyond the fact that man, so far as known to 

 him, perished. If, therefore, as some have held, 1 

 Balaam in his prophecy refers to Cainite populations 

 as extant in his time, or if Moses declines to trace 

 to any of the postdiluvian patriarchs the Rephaim, 

 Emim, Zuzim and other prehistoric peoples of Pales- 

 tine, we may infer, without any contradiction of our 

 narrative, that there were surviving antediluvians 

 other than the Noachidse, whatever improbability 

 may attach to this on other grounds, and more 

 especially from the now ascertained extension of 

 the post-glacial submergence over nearly all parts of 

 the northern hemisphere. 



Let it also be noticed that beyond the prophetic 

 intimation to Noah, and the one expression, Jahveh 

 * shut him in,' which may refer merely to providential 

 care, there is, as already remarked, nothing miraculous, 

 in the popular sense of that term ; and that mythical 

 elements, such as those introduced into the Babylonian 

 narrative, are altogether absent. The story relates to 

 plain matters of fact, which, if they happened at all, 

 any one might observe, and for the proof of which 



1 Motais, Deluge Biblique. 



K 2 



