It's not just a random deluge, according to some fascinating interpretations. to one such reading from the Midrash of Philo, which offers a unique perspective on the story of Noah and the flood.
Did you catch that detail in the biblical text about the months? The Midrash of Philo points out something curious. Scripture sometimes refers to a month as both the "seventh" and the "first." How can that be? The key, it suggests, lies in understanding the relationship between time and nature. The seventh month, in terms of counting, is like the first in the natural cycle, specifically, the beginning of the equinox.
Now, consider this: The Midrash of Philo emphasizes that the flood began on the twenty-seventh day of the seventh month – and ended on the same day of the same month. Why is this significant? Because the flood and its removal both coincide with the equinox, marking a shift in the natural world. The text explains that the seventh month is synonymous with the equinox. Then the ark rested on the mountains also on the twenty seventh day.
So, according to this midrash, at the equinoxes there is power of selection for seven months and twenty seven days. The flood began in the seventh month, coinciding with the vernal equinox – seventh in time, but first in nature. The cessation of the flood, a display of mercy, also occurs in the seventh month, but this time during the autumnal equinox – seventh in nature, but first in time.
The Midrash of Philo goes on to say that the complete drying up of the evil (the floodwaters) happens again in the seventh month, on the twenty-seventh day of the vernal season. The beginning and the end find their boundary at the same season.
What's remarkable is the precise timing. The deluge, calculated meticulously, lasted exactly one year. It began in Noah's six hundredth year, on the twenty-seventh day of the seventh month, and concluded at the same point in the vernal equinox a year later.
The Midrash of Philo draws a powerful image: After the destruction, the earth, cleansed of evil, was once again teeming with seeds and fruit-bearing trees, mirroring the abundance of spring. It aligns with the idea that the earth, having undergone the flood, was restored to its pre-deluge state.
And here's a kicker: The Midrash of Philo asks us not to be surprised that the earth brought forth everything – seeds, trees, herbs, grains, and fruits – in a single day, through divine power. After all, during creation, God perfected the plant kingdom in one of the six days. It suggests that just as the earth was created swiftly, so too was it restored after the flood. These fruits were suitable and corresponding to the season of spring. After all, all things are possible to God, who scarcely requires time to effect anything.
What does this tell us? Perhaps the flood story isn't just about punishment and destruction. It's also about renewal, the cyclical nature of time, and the power of God to restore and create anew. It's a reminder that even after the most devastating events, life finds a way, and the earth can once again blossom with abundance.
Do you not see that he here calls that month the seventh, which a little while before he styles the first? for the seventh, as far as related to time, is the same, as I have said before, as that which is the first in nature, being the beginning of the equinox. But it is with great propriety that the beginning of the deluge is fixed to the seventh month, and the twenty-seventh day of the month; and again, the end and cessation of the deluge is fixed to the same seventh month and the same day; for, both the deluge and the removal of life took place at the equinox; the principle of which we have indicated a little time ago; for the seventh month is found to be synonymous with months and days of this time, and then again, the twenty seventh day occurs with the same meaning, when the ark rested on the mountains. This is the month which by nature is the seventh, but in point of time the first, which in fact is the month of the equinox. Therefore, at the equinoxes a power of selection is given for seven months and twenty seven days; for the deluge took place in the seventh month, on which the vernal equinox takes place; so that it is in time the seventh, but in nature the first. And the cessation of the deluge and the display of mercy belong to the same measure, when the ark rested on the tops of the mountains; again in truth in the seventh month, but not the same month, but in that in which the autumnal equinox occurs; that is to say, the seventh by nature, but the first in point of time. But the most perfect cure, the fact of the evil being wholly dried up, is again fixed to the seventh month and the twenty-seventh day of the vernal season; in order that both the beginning and the end of the deluge might find its boundary at the same season; and that the middle season when human life is repaired, is fixed to the intermediate season. In the meantime that expression is more certainly to be observed, namely, that the whole year, by a strict computation of days, made the deluge equal to the exact time of the remedy; for it began in the six hundredth year of Noah's age, in the seventh month, and on the twenty-seventh day; so that the whole space of the intermediate time completed a perfect year, the beginning being placed at the vernal equinox, and the flood also ending equally at the same epoch of the vernal equinox. And in this manner, after all things on earth, things full of fruit, had undergone destruction, as I have said before, now that the persons who used the fruits were also destroyed, the earth being wholly relieved of all evil was again found full of seeds and fruit-bearing trees, according to the production of spring; for he thought it reasonable that, as the earth after it had suffered the deluge was in a similar condition when dried again to that in which it was before, so it should now show itself, and pay the debt which it owed to nature. Nor ought any one to wonder that in one day the earth when left to itself produced every thing by divine virtue, both seeds and trees, all complete, entirely and suddenly, with perfect and excellent herbs, and grain, and plants, and fruits; since in the creation of the world on one day of the six he finished and brought to perfection the whole generation of plants. But the present fruits were already perfect in themselves, and produced all kinds of fruits in a manner suitable and corresponding to the season of spring; for all things are possible to God, who scarcely requires time to effect any thing.
