DELUGE
foBsUs
are
found
on
the
tops
of
hills
cannot
be
used
as
an
argument,
for
(i.)
the
same
argument
could
be
used
—
and
is
actually
used
by
native
tribes
—
to
prove
other
flood-stories
in
various
parts
of
the
globe;
and
(ii.)
though
it
proves
that
some
spots
which
are
now
at
the
tops
of
hills
were
at
one
time
submerged,
that
is
not
equivalent
to
asserting
that
a
flood
ever
occurred
which
covered
the
whole
planet
—
apart
from
the
extreme
im-probability
that
the
submergence
of
mountains
was
within
the
period
of
man's
existence.)
The
difficulties
in
the
story
as
it
stands
are
immense.
(a)
All
the
water
in
the
world,
together
with
all
the
vapour
if
reduced
to
water,
would
not
cover
the
whole
earth
to
the
height
of
Mt.
Ararat.
And
if
it
had,
it
is
impossible
to
imagine
how
it
could
have
dried
up
in
a
year
and
10
days
(not
to
speak
of
40
days),
or
whither
it
could
have
flowed
away.
(6)
If
only
a
single
family
survived,
it
is
impossible
to
account
for
the
wide
variety
of
races
and
languages,
(c)
The
means
of
safety
is
not
a
ship,
but
simply
a
huge
chest,
which
would
instantly
capsize
in
a
storm.
It
is
popularly
assumed
that
it
had
a
hull,
shaped
like
that
of
a
ship;
but
of
this
nothing
is
said
in
the
Heb.
narrative,
(d)
The
collection
by
Noah
of
a
pair
of
every
kind
of
animal,
bird,
and
creeping
thing,
which
would
include
species
peculiar
to
different
countries
from
the
arctic
regions
to
the
tropics,
is
in-conceivable.
And
no
less
so
the
housing
of
them
all
in
a
single
chest,
the
feeding
and
care
of
them
by
eight
persons,
the
arrangements
to
prevent
their
devouring
one
another,
and
the
provision-
of
the
widely
diverse
conditions
of
life
necessary
for
creatures
from
different
countries
and
climates.
From
every
point
of
view
it
is
clear
that
the
story
is
legendary,
and
similar
in
character
to
the
legends
which
are
found
in
the
folk-lore
of
all
peoples.
3.
The
Cause
of
the
Deluge.
—
This
is
stated
to
be
rain
(T'""-
'2),
and
the
bursting
forth
of
the
subter-ranean
abyss.
It
must
be
studied
in
connexion
with
other
flood-stories.
Such
stories
are
found
principally
in
America,
but
also
in
India,
Cashmir,
Tibet,
China,
Kamschatka,
AustraUa,
some
of
the
Polynesian
Islands,
Lithuania,
and
Greece.
In
the
great
majority
of
cases
the
flood
is
caused
by
some
startling
natural
phenomenon,
which
often
has
a
special
connexion
with
the
locality
to
which
it
belongs;
e.g.
the
melting
of
the
ice
or
snow,
in
the
extreme
N.
of
America;
earthquakes,
on
the
American
coastlauds
where
they
frequently
occur;
the
submergence
or
emergence
of
islands,
in
districts
liable
to
volcanic
eruptions;
among
inland
peoples
the
cause
is
frequently
the
bursting
of
the
banks
of
rivers
which
have
been
swollen
by
rains.
Sometimes
the
stories
have
grown
up
to
account
for
various
facts
of
observation
;
e.g.
the
dispersion
of
peoples,
and
differences
of
language;
the
red
colour,
or
the
pale
colour,
of
certain
tribes;
the
discovery
of
marine
fossils
inland,
and
so
on.
In
some
cases
these
stories
have
been
coloured
by
the
Bible
story,
owing
to
the
teaching
of
Christian
mis-sionaries
in
modem
times,
and
often
mixed
up
with
other
Bible
stories,
and
reproduced
with
grotesque
details
by
local
adaptation.
But
there
are
very
many
which
are
quite
unconnected
with
the
story
of
Noah.
(For
a
much
fuller
discussion
of
the
various
flood-stories
see
the
valuable
art.
'
Flood
'
in
Hastings'
DB
ii.)
It
is
reasonable,
therefore,
to
treat
the
Hebrew
story
as
one
of
these
old-world
legends,
and
to
look
for
the
cause
of
it
in
the
natural
features
of
the
land
which
gave
it
birth.
And
we
are
fortunate
in
the
possession
of
an
earlier
form
of
the
legend,
which
belongs
to
Baby-lonia,
and
makes
it
probable
that
its
origin
is
to
be
ascribed
to
the
inundation
of
the
large
Babylonian
plain
by
the
bursting
forth
of
one
of
the
rivers
by
which
it
is
intersected,
and
perhaps
also,
as
some
think,
to
the
incursion
of
a
tidal
wave
due
to
an
earthquake
somewhere
in
the
South.
This,
among
a
people
whose
world
was
bounded
by
very
narrow
limits,
would
easily
be
magnifled
in
oral
tradition
into
a
universal
Deluge.
DEMETRIUS
4.
The
Babylonian
story.
—
(o)
One
form
of
the
story
has
long
been
known
from
the
fragments
of
Berosus,
an
Egyptian
priest
of
the
3rd
cent.
B.C.
It
differs
in
certain
details
from
the
other
form
known
to
us;
e.g.
when
the
birds
return
the
second
time,
clay
is
seen
to
be
attaching
to
their
legs
(a
point
which
flnds
parallels
in
some
Ni.
American
flood-legends)
;
and
not
only
the
nero
of
the
story,
Xisuthros,
and
his
wife,
but
also
his
daughter
and
the
pilot
of
the
ship
are
carried
away
by
the
gods.
(6)
The
other
and
more
important
form
is
contained
in
Akkadian
cuneiform
tablets
m
the
British
Museum,
first
deciphered
in
1872.
It
is
part
of
an
epic
in
12
parts,
each
connected
with
a
sign
of
the
Zodiac;
the
Flood
story
is
the
11th,
and
is
connected
with
Aquarius,
the
'water-
bearer.'
Gilgamesh
of
Uruk
(Erech,
On
10'°),
the
hero
of
the
epic,
contrived
to
visit
his
ancestor
Ut-napishtim,
who
had
received
the
gift
of
immortality.
The
latter
is
in
one
passage
called
Adra-hasis,
which
being
inverted
as
Hasis-adra
appears
in
Greek
as
Xisuthros.
He
relates
to
Gilgamesh
how,
for
his
piety,
he
had
been
preserved
from
a
great
flood.
When
Bel
and
three
other
gods
deter-mined
to
destroy
Shurippak,
a
city
'
lying
on
the
Euphrates
,'
Ea
warned
him
to
build
a
ship.
He
built
it
120
cubits
in
height
and
breadth,
with
six
decks,
divided
into
7
storeys,
each
with
9
compartments;
it
had
a
mast,
and
was
smeared
with
bitumen.
He
took
on
board
all
his
possessions,
'the
seed
of
life
of
every
kind
that
I
possessed,
'
cattle
and
beasts
of
the
field,
his
family,
servants,
and
craftsmen
.
He
entered
the
ship
and
shut
the
door.
Then
Ramman
the
storm-god
thundered,
and
thespirits
of
heaven
brought
lightnings;
the
gods
were
terrified;
they
fled
to
heaven,
and
cowered
in
a
eap
like
a
dog
in
his
kennel.
On
the
7th
day
the
rain
ceased,
and
all
mankind
were
turned
to
clay.
The
ship
grounded
on
Mt.
Nisir,
E.
of
the
Tigris,
where
it
remained
6
days.
Then
Ut-napishtim
sent
forth
a
dove,
a
swallow,
and
a
raven,
and
the
last
did
not
return.
He
then
sent
the
animals
to
the
four
winds,
and
offered
sacrifice
on
an
altar
at
the
top
of
the
mountain.
"The
gods
smelled
the
savour
and
gathered
like
flies.
The
great
goddess
Ishtar
lighted
up
the
rainbow.
She
reproached
Bel
for
destroying
all
mankind
instead
of
one
city
only.
Bel,
on
the
other
nand,
was
angry
at
the
escape
of
Ut-napishtim,
and
refused
to
come
to
the
sacrifice.
But
ne
was
pacified
by
Ea,
and
at
length
entered
the
ship,
and
made
a
covenant
with
Ut-napishtim,
and
translated
him
and
his
wife
to
'
the
mouth
of
the
rivers,'
and
made
them
immortal.
The
similarities
to
the
Heb.
story,
and
the
differ-ences
from
it,
are
alike
obvious.
It
dates
from
at
least
B.C.
3000,
and
it
would
pass
through
a
long
course
of
oral
repetition
before
it
reached
the
Hebrew
form.
And
herein
is
seen
the
reUgious
value
of
the
latter.
The
genius
of
the
Hebrew
race
under
Divine
inspira-tion
gradually
stripped
it
of
all
its
crude
polytheism,
and
made
it
the
vehicle
of
spiritual
truth.
It
teaches
the
unity
and
omnipotence
of
J";
His
hatred
of
sin
and
His
punishment
of
sinners;
but
at
the
same
time
His
merciful
kindness
to
them
that
obey
Him,
which
is
shown
in
rescuing
them
from
destruction,
and
in
entering
into
a
covenant
with
them.
6.
It
is
strange
that,
apart
from
Gn
9^8
10'-
'^
ll'»,
there
are
only
two
allusions
in
the
OT
to
the
Flood,
Is
54'
and
Ps
29"'
(the
latter
uncertain;
see
com-mentaries).
In
the
Apocr.:
2
Es
3»'-,
Wis
10«,
Sir
44"'-(40'"
in
LXX,
but
not
in
Heb.).
In
the
NT:
Mt
24»8t-,
Lk
17",
He
11',
1
P
32«,
2lP
2'.
A.
H.
M'NurLE.
DEMAS
(
=
Demetrius?).
—
A
companion
of
St.
Paul
in
his
first
Roman
imprisonment
(Col
4",
Philem
^4).
There
is
some
indication
(cf.
Ph
2"")
that
even
then
Demas
was
not
altogether
trusted
;
and
later
he
forsook
the
Apostle,
'
having
loved
this
present
world
'
(2
Ti
4'").
He
was
apparently
a
native
of
Thessalonica.
A.
J.
Maclean.
DEMETRIUS.—
1.
Soier,
the
son
of
Seleucus
Philo-pator.
In
his
boyhood
he
was
sent
(b.c.
176)
to
Rome
as
a
hostage,
but
made
his
escape
after
the
death
of
his
uncle,
Antiochus
Epiphanes.
Landing
at
TripoUs,
he
was
joined
by
large
bodies
of
the
people,
and
even
by
the
bodyguard
of
his
cousin,
Antiochus
Eupator.
Eupator
was
soon
defeated
and
put
to
death,
and
in
B.C.
162,
Demetrius
was
proclaimed
king
(1
Mac
T-*,
2
Mac
141-
2;
Jos.
Ant.
xii.
x.
1).
After
seven
years,
Alexander
Balas
(wh.
see)
was
set
up
as
a
claimant
to
