Cyberdov

Tamar shared with us (while she was home for Simchat Torah and fall break) a tidbit from the Mythology course she audited this past summer. A common thread in Greek and other mythologies is a cataclysmic event (war or natural disaster) that is introduced as population control, because lifespans are either very long or never-ending. Also, these events tend to separate ‘God-time’ from ‘mortal time’. Similarly, The flood in Genesis precipitates a sharp drop-off in lifespans.

I also noticed that this gives some context to a verse that has always puzzled me, right before the flood occurs (Genesis 6:3) - ‘My spirit shall not abide in man for ever, for that he also is flesh; therefore shall his days be a hundred and twenty years.’  Some commentators have interpreted this as a 120-year advance warning of the flood, i.e. mankind now has only 120 years to live, but this doesn’t seem right to me. Taking the above into account, it suddenly fits right in!

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