CHAPTER II
From the Deluge, to the Settlement of the Jews in Canaan.
AFTER the Flood had prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days, and had decreased for an equal time, Noah became convinced, by the return of a dove, with an olive-branch, that the land had again emerged. The time when this great event took place was, according to the common computation, in the 1656th year of the world; though other dates have been assigned by different chronologists. Many other nations, in the mythological part of their history, narrate circumstances attending vast inundation, or universal deluge, which in their essential particulars correspond with the scriptural account, and are supposed to owe their origin to it. The Chaldeans described a deluge, in which all mankind was destroyed, except Xisuthrus and his family. According to the traditionary history of the Greeks, the inhabitants of the earth all perished by a flood except Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha. By the Hindoos it is believed that a similar catastrophe occurred, and that their king, Satyavrata, with seven patriarchs, was preserved in a ship from the universal destruction. Even the American Indians have a tradition of a similar deluge, and a renewal of the human race from the family of one man. But these accounts being unsupported by historic evidence, it would be an unprofitable occupation of the reader's time to comment on them. We shall therefore merely observe, that many ingenious theories have occupied the attention of distinguished men in their endeavors to account for this universal catastrophe. The Mosaic account simply tells us, that the windows of heaven were opened and the fountains of the deep were broken up, and that as the flood decreased the waters returned from off the face of the earth.
According to the narration of the inspired writer, the individuals preserved from the deluge were Noah and his wife, and his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japhet, with their wives; in all, eight persons. We are informed that the ark rested on mount Ararat (in Armenia); but whether Noah and his sons remained long in the neighborhood must be left to the mere conjecture. We merely learn that the greatest portion of the human race were some time afterwards assembled on the plains of Shinar, where they began to build a tower, with the foolish and impious intention of reaching the skies, or, in the language of Scripture, "whose top may reach unto heaven." But this attempt, we are informed, was frustrated by the Almighty, who confounded their language, so that they no longer understood each other's speech. The scene of this abortive undertaking is supposed to have been upon the Euphrates, where Babylon was built, not far from which are extensive masses of ruins; and the remains of a large mound, called by the Arabs the Birs Nimrod, or Nimrod's tower, is generally believed to be the foundation of the tower of Babel.
From the families of the three sons of Noah, then, are all the nations of the earth descended. The children of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram. Elam settled in Persia, where he became the father of that mighty nation; the descendants of Asshur peopled Assyria; and Arphaxad settled in Chaldea. To the family of Lud is generally assigned Lydia; and Aram is believed to have settled in Mesopotamia and Syria.
The children of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Phut, and Canaan. The descendants of Cush are supposed to have removed from the south-east of Babylonia, afterwards called Khusestan, to the eastern parts of Arabia; from whence they by degrees migrated into Africa. Mizraim peopled Egypt, Ethiopia, Lybia, and the rest of the northern parts of the same continent. No particular country has been assigned to Phut, who is believed to have settled somewhere in Arabia near to Cush. But Canaan is supposed to have settled in Phœnicia; and to have founded those nations who inhabited Judea, and were for the most part subsequently exterminated by the Jews.
The seven sons of Japhet were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Jubal, Meshech, and Tiras. Gomer, according to Josephus, was father to the Gomerites or Celts, viz., of all the nations who inhabited the northern part of Europe, under the names of Gauls, Cimbrians, Goths, etc., and who also migrated into Spain, where they were called Celtiberians. From Magog, Meshech, and Jubal, proceeded the Scythians, Sarmatians, and Tartars; from Madai, Javan, and Tiras, the Medes, Ionians, Greeks, and Thracians.
The first considerable national revolution on record is the migration of the Israelites out of Egypt, and their establishment in the land of Canaan. This event was attended with a terrible catastrophe to the Egyptians. The settlement of the Jews in the land of Canaan is supposed to have happened about 1491 B.C. For nearly 200 years after this period we find no authentic account of any other nations than those mentioned in Scripture.