Noah / נח / نوح . - Noah in other traditions?

Noah / נח / نوح . my 95th great grandfather.

These flood stories might have at least three well-known origins:

1. Black Sea Deluge occurring roughly 7,600 years ago, or,

2. Gun-Yu Flood occurring roughly 5,000 years ago, or,

3. ***this is my favorite - The Epic of Ziusudra (roughly 5,000 years ago) is from a Sumerian Tablet. The tablet is describing the flood. A terrible storm raged for seven days, "the huge boat had been tossed about on the great waters," then Utu (Sun) appears and Ziusudra opens a window, prostrates himself, and sacrifices an ox and a sheep. After another break, the text resumes, the flood is apparently over, and Ziusudra is prostrating himself before An (Sky) ["Aten"?] and Enlil (Lordbreath) ["el"?], who give him "breath eternal" and take him to dwell in Dilmun. This tablet adds an element at lines 258–261 not found in other versions, that after the river flood[12] "king Ziusudra ... they caused to dwell in the land of the country of Dilmun, the place where the sun rises". Dilmun is usually identified as Bahrain, an island in the Persian Gulf on the east side of the Arabian peninsula. In this version of the story, Ziusudra's boat floats down the Euphrates river into the Persian Gulf (rather than up onto a mountain, or up-stream to Kish).[13] The Sumerian word KUR in line 140 of the Gilgamesh flood myth was interpreted to mean "mountain" in Akkadian, although in Sumerian, KUR did not mean "mountain" but rather "land", especially a foreign country.

We have no evidence that Noach ("Nuh" in Islam, "Noah" in xtianity) is anything other than an archetype referring to a law-giver or a collection of tribes who abode by a uniform legal code, who builds upon the laws of Seth, who in-turn builds upon the laws of Adam. All of whom seemingly predate the bronze age. What is important about the Noachide laws is that they are generally referring to a time in mankind's history when they moved from hunter-gatherer societies to a sedentary lifestyle based upon domestication of plants and animals. According to Midrash, the emergence of Noachide Laws signals the transition from a vegetarian diet to one which includes meat of animals.

The flood, of the Pentateuch, is regarded among many people as a metaphor for the righteous and law-abiding people being overwhelmed by a "flood" of idolaters, sodomites, those who engage in incest & bestiality, murderers, rapists and people who behaved like beasts of the field. The Flood is also seen metaphor for renewal when those errant members of mankind were wiped out by flood.

According to most streams of Judaism, as expressed in Talmud Bavli and Yerushalmi, בני נח B'nei Noah (Hebrew, "Descendants of Noah", "Children of Noah") refers to all of humankind who adopted the Laws of Noach. The Talmud also states: "Righteous people of all nations have a share in the world to come" (Sanhedrin 105a). Any non-Jew who lives according to these laws is regarded as one of "the righteous among the gentiles".

Maimonides writes that this term "Bnei Noach" refers to those who have acquired knowledge of God and act in accordance with the Noachide laws out of obedience to God rather than threat of death of supernatural affliction. According to what scholars consider to be the most accurate texts of the Mishneh Torah, Maimonides goes on to say that anyone who upholds the Noachide laws because they appear logical is not one of the "righteous among the nations," but rather he is one of the wise among the righteous.

Talmud states that the instruction not to eat "flesh with the life" was given to Noah, and that Adam and Eve had already received six other commandments. Adam and Eve were not enjoined from eating from a living animal; they were forbidden to eat any animal. The remaining six are exegetically derived from the sentence "And Hashem commanded man saying, of every tree of the garden you may freely eat." in Gen 2:16.

The Noachide Laws are regarded as the way through which non-Jews can have a direct and meaningful relationship with God, or at least comply with the minimal requisites of civilization and of divine law.

Maimonides states, in Mishneh Torah that a non-Jew who is precise in the observance of these seven Noachide commandments is considered to be a Righteous Gentile and has earned a place in the world to come. This follows a similar statement in the Talmud. Maimonides had much to say about Nachide Law:

http://en.wikinoah.org/index.php?title=Chart_of_Maimonides%27_Noahi...

Noachide law differs radically from Roman law for gentiles (Jus Gentium), if only because the latter was enforceable judicial policy. Rabbinic Judaism has never adjudicated any cases under Noachide law (per Novak, 1983:28ff.), although scholars disagree about whether Noachide law is a functional part of Halakha ("Jewish law").

In recent years, the term "Noahide" has come to refer to non-Jews who strive to live in accord with the seven Noachide Laws; the terms "observant Noahide" or "Torah-centered Noahides" would be more precise but are infrequently used. Support for the use of Noahide in this sense can be found with the Ritva, who uses the term Son of Noah to refer to a Gentile who keeps the seven laws, but is not a Ger Toshav.[19] The rainbow, referring to the Noachide or First Covenant (Genesis 9), is the symbol of many organized Noahide groups, following Genesis 9:12-17. A non-Jew of any ethnicity or religion is referred to as a bat ("daughter") or ben ("son") of Noah, but most organizations that call themselves בני נח (b'nei noach) are composed of gentiles who are keeping the Noachide Laws.

Islam and xtianity are generally regarded as two religions which have adopted the Noachide Laws as part of their Jurisprudence.

So, if you are still reading this, I can only say that literal interpretation of translations of texts, [which are in turn flawed translations of texts which are in turn flawed translations of of texts] can lead you into dead-ends which require esoteric interpretation to justify.

Please lets NOT each post our lineage to Noah. It only clutters things up, and sends notifications to the hundreds of people who manage and/or follow this profile.

In any case, any lineage that claims ONLY 95 generations to Noah is short AT LEAST 35-40 generations. This is relatively easy to verify as we have solid dates for many later biblical figures such as Zerubbabel 3rd Exilarch / זרובבל (born circa 600-550 BCE), just about 2500 years ago. Zerubbabel was 48 generations from Adam, so with an average generation being 25 years long, and 2500 years, that gives us 100 generation, for a total of ~150. Some lines will be up to 20 generations longer or shorter, so that gives us a range of 130 to 170 generations.

I just noticed that due to some strange connections, this linage takes a few "short-cuts", which generates these smaller numbers. I will see what can be done to fix them.

Shmuel-Aharon Kam,
Curator of the Biblical Tree.