События в шестом столетии третьего тысячелетия

Cainan, the son of Arphaxad and the grandson of Shem, having lived 130 years, gave birth to Salah, and then other sons and daughters. Saint Noah, in the nine hundred and thirtieth year of his life, and from the beginning of the world (according to George Kedrin) in 2572, by the command of God, called his sons, Shem, Japheth and Ham, and divided the land between them. He ordered Shem to take Asia, Japheth to take Europe, and Ham to take Africa, so that each of them would settle in his own part with his own tribe. He also commanded them not to cross each other’s borders, so that enmity, quarrel and warfare would not arise between them, but that each of them should be content with his lot. George Kedrin also reports that Noah wrote down this covenant and gave it to Shem as his eldest son, who was then (according to Kedrin) 431 years old. However, subsequent tribes descended from these brothers did not observe this covenant of the forefather Noah, since they began to oppress and embitter each other, resorting to abuse, which will be clear later. Righteous Noah lived 350 years after the flood, reaching 950 years in his entire life. He called his sons, grandsons and great-grandsons and taught them with fatherly instructions, so that they would know God, their Creator, believe in Him and work for Him, doing good deeds and keeping themselves from evil deeds, so as not to anger God and not unexpectedly inflict any punishment on themselves. He also taught them to have love among themselves, not to offend each other, but to live their lives in peace and meekness. Then, having blessed everyone, he died in 2592 from the beginning of the world (according to George Kedrin), and the entire human tribe that multiplied after the flood mourned him Anyone who wants to see a dubious calculation of years in our Russian Bible, let him look here (Gen. 9, 28–29; 11, 10–11). Noah lived after the flood for 350 years and died; And Shem his son, having given birth to Arphaxad in the second year after the flood, lived 335 years and died. Thus Shem died thirty years before his father Noah. In the “Tale of the Court and the Serpent,” attributed to Saint Chrysostom and printed in the great Moscow Sobornik on the back of page 455, there is a legend that in those ancient times before and after the flood, a son never died before his father, with the exception of Lamech, the son of Methuselah, who lived before the flood. When three thousand three hundred or more years had passed since the creation of the world, Arran died before his father Terah, for God was angry with Terah for idolatry and killed his third son Arran. In agreement with Chrysostom, Saint Epiphanius also speaks about this. Therefore, it seems that in the Russian Bibles the calculation of years is erroneous, according to which it turns out that it was not Noah who died before his son Shem, but Shem who died before his father Noah. Meanwhile, it is certain that Shem was alive at the death and burial of his father Noah and received the last blessing from him; and he also accepted the covenant handed over to him (as was said above), and then, after his death, having lived for many years and seeing his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, he passed from this life to eternity. News of this is found in Bibles written in other languages, as well as in Jerome’s Bible, which he translated from Hebrew; It is written there that after the birth of Arphaxad Shem lived another 500 years, gave birth to other sons and daughters and died, and according to this reckoning it turns out that Shem’s death followed many years after the death of Noah, his father: let anyone who wishes to consider, calculate and see for himself. If our Russian Bibles are not mistaken in calculating years, then the word that is placed in the Collection under the name of Chrysostom is untrue, as well as the above-mentioned Epiphanius understanding that sons never died before their father until the event of the death of Arran, the son of Terah. In the same way, one would have to consider untrue the legend of the ancient Greek historiographer, Tsaregrad resident Georgiy Kedrin, who wrote that Shem lived 150 years after Noah’s death. But Kedrin’s story about Shem’s years of life and the understanding of Saint Epiphanius and Saint Chrysostom are worthy of great credibility. You might be interested in: