Dating the Book of Job (PDF) - Ancient Hebrew Research Center

Dating the Book of Job 17
Because we are told that the flood began on the 17th day of the 2nd month and that 150 days
later was the 17th day of the 7th month, we can derive that Noah was counting a month as being
exactly 30 days in length (150 days divided by 5 months).
The six-month-year interpretation of the flood story makes more sense than the twelve-monthyear
interpretation because, in the six-month-year version, every day from when they entered the
ark until when they left is accounted for. With the twelve-month-year version, six months of time
have to be inserted … somewhere …
Also, the six-month-year interpretation of Noah’s flood recognizes the repetition in the story.
Notice in particular the parallel between Genesis 8:3-6 and Genesis 8:13-14.
– … At the end of one hundred and fifty days the waters diminished, so that in the seventh month, on the seventeenth
day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. … At the end of forty days, Noah
opened the window of the ark that he had made. (Genesis 8:3-6 NJPS)
– And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first, the first of the month, that the waters were
dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of
the ground was dry. And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried.
(Genesis 8:13-14 NKJV)
Notice the bad grammar in the above excerpt from Genesis 8:13-14. They have been omitted
from the above excerpt to illustrate the point, but the NKJV translation adds the words “month”
and “day” to attempt to make sense of the peculiar wording (you will probably see them italicized
in your Bible). The Hebrew word for month – שׁדֹח ֶ (chodesh) – is used 9 times from Genesis 7:11
to 8:14. Why should it be left out here? Likewise, the Hebrew word for day – םוֹי (yom) – is used
15 times from Genesis 7:4 to 8:22. Why should the word be omitted here? The peculiar wording
here in 8:13 and earlier in 8:5 is an indication of possible corruption of the original text (more to
come about Genesis 8:5).
There is also the problem of the earth being declared dry on two occasions that are well over a
month apart in Genesis 8:13-14. The NJPS translation addresses this latter problem by translating
the text “In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the waters
began to dry from the earth; and when Noah removed the covering of the ark, he saw that the surface
of the ground was drying. And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the
earth was dry”. The NJPS translation is obviously more sensible unless severe flooding of which
we are not told occurred between the first and second drying of the earth. So, Genesis 8:13-14
is telling us that at some point (the exact time of which is uncertain due to the corruption of the
text) the “waters began to dry from the earth” until the 27th day of the 2nd month of Noah’s 601st
year when the earth was dry. Genesis 8:3-6 also tells us that on the 17th day of the 7th month the
waters began diminishing and 40 days later Noah opened the window of the ark to send out birds
to test the land. Coincidently, when the 40 days of Genesis 8:6 are subtracted from the 601/2/27
of Genesis 8:14 the result is 601/1/17 which just happens to be the 17th day of the 7th month on a
six-month per year calendar! This means that Genesis 8:13-14 is a reiteration of the 40 days from
when the ark landed on the mountain to when the earth was dry (dry enough to start sending out
the birds that is). It is likely that the fist part of Genesis 8:13 originally read “And it came to pass
in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the seventeenth day of the month …”.
The removal of the covering of the ark, as stated in Genesis 8:13 was probably a one-time
event. The “covering” was probably some massive sheet over the top of the ark to prevent any of
the immense quantity of rain water that poured down over the 150 days from getting into the ark. It