Genesis 4:88And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. (Genesis 4:8). The present reading of the text is very unsatisfactory. The Hebrew word which our translators have rendered “talked,” will not bear this meaning, but not finding anything that was spoken on the occasion, they have ventured to intimate that there was a conversation indefinitely. In the most correct edition of the Hebrew Bible there is a hiatus, a deficiency marked, which is supplied in the ancient versions, and in the Samaritan text. According to these, the text is clear and consistent, thus: “And Cain said unto Abel his brother, Let us go out into the fields. And it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up,” etc.
5:3. The chronology differs in the Hebrew Text, the Samaritan, the Septuagint, and Josephus. The Septuagint adds 100 years to each of the patriarchs, Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, and Enoch, before the birth of their sons, while it takes 20 from the age of Methuselah, and adds 6 to that of Lamech. This the space from the creation to the deluge is made 2242 years according to the Vatican copy, but 2262 by the Alexandrine; and the sum total by Josephus is 2265, by the Samaritan, 1307, and the Hebrew Text, 1056. The sum total from the deluge to the 70th year of Terah, according to these authorities, is, Hebrew 292, Samaritan 942, Septuagint Vatican 1172, Alexandrine 1072, and Josephus 1002.
6:5. Every imagination, or the whole imagination. The Hebrew word signifies not only the imagination, but also the purposes and desires.
6:19. The cubit being nearly 22 inches, and the ark being 300 cubits in length, 50 in breadth, and 30 in height (ver. 15), its size was equal to 547 feet long, 91 feet broad, and 54 feet high; and it is computed to have been 81062 tons burthen. These dimensions were sufficient to contain all the persons and animals in it, and food for more than a year. It was 150 feet shorter, but 10 feet broader than the “Great Eastern” steamship.
8:4. After much controversy, it is now generally admitted that Ararat was situated in the North-Eastern part of Armenia. The mountain is now known to the Armenians by the name of Massis, to the Turks by the name of Agri-Dah, or steep mountain, to the Persians by the name of Kuh-i Num, or Noah’s Mountain. It rises as a rocky island out of a tea of plain to a height of from 6,000 to 7,000 feet above the level of the sea, presenting a surface of extensive plains, whence, as from a fresh base, spring important and lofty mountain ranges, having a generally parallel direction from the East to the West, and connected with each other by transverse ridges of moderate height.
Its geographical position. The Armenian plateau stands equidistant from the Euxine and the Caspian Seas on the North, and between the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean on the South. The climate is severe; winter lasts from October to May, and is succeeded by a brief spring, and a summer of intense heat. The contrast between the plateau and the adjacent countries is striking; in April when the Mesopotamian plains are scorched with heat, and on the Euxine shore the azalea and rhododendron are in bloom, the Armenian plains are still covered with snow, and in the early part of September it freezes keenly at night. The vegetation is more varied and productive than the climate would lead us to expect. Trees are not found on the plateau itself, but grass grows luxuriantly, and furnishes abundant pasture during the summer months to the flocks of the nomad Kurds. Wheat and barley ripen at far higher altitudes than on the Alps and the Pyrenees, the volcanic nature of the soil, the abundance of water, and the extreme heat of the short summer, bringing the harvest to maturity with wonderful speed. At Erzrum, more than 6,000 feet above the sea, the crops appear above the ground in the middle of June, and are ready for the sickle before the end of August. The vine ripens at about 5,000 feet, while in Europe its limit, even south of the Alps, is about 2,500 feet. The general result of the observations, as bearing upon the Biblical narrative, would be to show that, while the elevation of the Armenian plateau constituted it a natural resting place of the ark after the deluge, its geographical position, and its physical character secured an impartial distribution of the families of mankind to the various quarters of the world. The climate furnished a powerful inducement to seek the more tempting regions on all sides of it. At the same time, the character of the vegetation was remarkably adapted to the nomad state in which the early generations of Noah’s descendants lived.