Noah gathered the animals, God made the animals repair the Ark
God only allowed Noah to let animals lay down (not stand) into the Ark
Seven days later, flood lets loose
Bunch of people beg to be let on the Ark
Noah criticizes them for previously claiming there’s no God, but now they want to believe
Sinners try to get into the Ark; the beasts surrounding the Ark attack, many die (either by beasts or by flood)
Before flood, sinners claimed the floodwater wouldn’t reach to their necks, and that if water came from the ground, they could clog it with their feet
The floodwater came from Gehenna (demon world), which made the water incredibly hot, thus burning the sinners
Noah, his wife, his three sons, their wives, and all animals were only ones on Ark
Ties Reem (huge animal that looks like unicorn) to the back of the Ark (he was too big to fit into Ark), and lets giant (Og) ride him and they are pulled along by the Ark
Earth returned to normal at the end of the year
However, Noah refused to leave the Ark until God tells him to
God tells him he can leave, but Noah still refuses (he’s afraid of another flood)
God swears to never bring another flood
Noah sees the destruction/death, starts crying and claims God should have had mercy on the others
God gets mad at Noah for only listening to him if God had something good to say
Noah apologizes; Shem performs sacrifices as an offering to God (offers an ox, a sheep, a goat, two turtle doves, two pigeons)
God blesses Noah/sons for sacrifice; gives them same task as Adam/Eve (be fruitful and multiply the Earth)
Ham, a dog, and a raven get punished for no doing so (Ham’s punishment was having dark-skinned descendants)
God sends rainbow into the sky as proof that he will not destroy the Earth again
God allows Noah/descendants to kill animals for food (Adam was never allowed to do that)
He still maintains that man may not kill another man, or he too will be punished with death
Nimrod was king, but his acts were very sinister. He was very full of himself, and made men turn away from God
Begin building Tower of Babel as a rebellion against God
600,000 men in charge of building it, wanting to wage warfare with God, worship idols, and shoot at the heavens with bows/spears
Tower was so tall that it took a year to get to the top- bricks became more important than man because of how long it took to get a brick to the top
Men would shoot arrows to Heaven, they would come back covered in blood- they believed everything in Heaven was now dead
God cursed them so that no one could understand what each other was saying
Workers started miscommunicating (like handing one a brick when they wanted mortar)
Workers would get mad at each other and kill one another
Many people were cursed; people turned into apes/phantoms, people turned against each other
Tower falls apart; one part sinks into Earth, another part destroyed by fire
Anyone who passes by the Tower forgets all he knows
Source: The Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg (1909)
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