simultaneously; in their case, it was not a matter of gradual deterioration.

FLOOD LEGENDS

Such a cataclysm as the Deluge, which washed the whole world of that time out of existence, would never be forgotten by the survivors. They would talk about it to their children and their children’s children. For five hundred years after the Deluge Shem lived on to relate the event to many generations. He died only ten years before the birth of Jacob. Moses preserved the true account in Genesis. Sometime after the Flood, when God-defying people built the Tower of Babel, Jehovah confused their language and scattered them “over all the surface of the earth.” (Gen. 11:9) It was only natural that these people took with them stories of the Flood and passed them on from father to son. The fact that there are more than ninety different stories about that great Deluge, and that such stories are found among the traditions of many primitive races the world over, is a strong proof that all these people had a common origin and that their early forefathers shared that Flood experience in common.

These folklore accounts of the Deluge agree with some major features of the Biblical account: (1) a place of refuge for a few survivors, (2) an otherwise global destruction of life by water, (3) a seed of mankind preserved. The Egyptians, the Greeks, the Chinese, the Druids of Britain, the Polynesians, the Eskimos and Greenlanders, the Africans, the Hindus, the American Indians—all these have their Flood stories. This similarity impressed one traveler who said: “Among the 120 different tribes which I visited in North, South, and Central America, not a tribe exists that has not related to me distinct or vague traditions of such a calamity, in which one, or three, or eight persons were saved above the waters upon the top of a high mountain.”—The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, Vol. II, p. 822.

Certain primitive people (in Australia Fiji and Society Islands, Peru, Mexico and other places) have preserved a possible remnant of these traditions about the Flood by observing a festival in November, a ‘feast to ancestors.’ The Hindus celebrate this festival on the seventeenth day of November, the Egyptians on the seventeenth of Athyr, the same day they say the Flood began.

SCRIPTURAL CONFIRMATION

Stronger evidence of the historicalness of the Deluge than the pagan traditions of primitive people is the endorsement other Bible writers gave under inspiration. The only other place where the same Hebrew word (mab·bulʹ, deluge) occurs outside the Genesis account is in David’s melody where he describes Jehovah as seated “upon the deluge.” (Ps. 29:10) However, other writers make reference to and confirm the Genesis account, as, for example, Isaiah. (Isa. 54:9) Ezekiel also endorses the historicity of Noah. (Ezek. 14:14, 18, 20) Peter draws heavily upon the Deluge account in his letters. (1 Pet. 3:20; 2 Pet 2:5; 3:5, 6) Paul testifies to the great faith Noah displayed in constructing the ark for the survival of his household. (Heb. 11:7) Luke lists Noah in the lineage of Messiah’s forebears.—Luke 3:36.

And both Luke and Matthew report what Jesus said about the days of the Deluge. Far more than just a simple endorsement of the veracity of the Deluge account, Jesus’ words show the pictorial and prophetic significance of those ancient events. In answer to the disciples’ question, ‘What will be the sign of your presence and the conclusion of the system of things?’ Jesus said, among other things: “For just as the days of Noah were, so the presence of the Son of man will be. For as they were in those days before the flood, eating and drinking, men marrying and women being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark; and they took no note until the flood came and swept them all away, so the presence of the Son of man will be.” (Matt. 24:3, 37-39; Luke 17:26, 27) There is, therefore, abundant evidence from the inspired Holy Scriptures themselves to support the authenticity and genuineness of the Deluge account. It does not rest on mere traditions of men, on the folklore of primitive people, or on geological and archaeological findings.

DEMAS

(Deʹmas) [possibly, popular, or, contraction of “Demetrius,” meaning “belonging to Demeter”].

A one-time fellow worker of the apostle Paul. Demas was in Rome with the apostle during his first imprisonment there, his greetings being included in letters to the Colossians and Philemon. (Col. 4:14; Philem. 24) When Paul wrote to Timothy during his second imprisonment, Demas had forsaken the apostle and departed to Thessalonica, perhaps his hometown.—2 Tim. 4:10.

The exact nature and extent of Demas’ forsaking Paul ‘because of his love for the present system of things’ is not disclosed. The apostle does not say Demas became an apostate or opposer. Perhaps Demas’ love for material things and worldly pleasures became stronger than that for spiritual things. Fear of martyrdom with Paul may have caused Demas to seek a safer place and thus preserve his life in the then-existing system of things. In any event, when conditions became unfavorable, Demas failed to use his marvelous opportunity to strengthen his brother Paul.

DEMETRIUS

(De·meʹtri·us) [belonging to Demeter (a Greek goddess of agriculture)] .

1. A silversmith of the city of Ephesus in Asia Minor who stirred up a riot against the apostle Paul and his companions at the close of Paul’s stay of between two and three years in Ephesus (c. 53-55 C.E.), in the course of his third missionary journey. Paul’s preaching had been blessed with signal success, many turning from the practice of magic and burning their books. Demetrius, who conducted a flourishing business of making silver shrines of the pagan goddess Artemis, becoming alarmed at the prospect of loss of income through Paul’s success in making disciples of Christianity, roused the craftsmen and others. With a twofold argument of threatened loss of business and the danger of disrepute to the temple of Artemis, he succeeded in causing the entire city to be thrown into confusion.

After about two hours the city recorder managed to quell the disturbance, pointing out that if Demetrius and the craftsmen had a charge against Paul and his companions, there were courts to handle the matter legally, but that this disorderly demonstration made the city liable to a charge of sedition by the Roman government. The crowd then quieted down, releasing Paul’s fellow workers and leaving the theater, the scene of the disgraceful riot. Shortly afterward Paul set forth for Macedonia.—Acts 19:18, 19, 23-41; 20:1.

2. A Christian mentioned favorably by the apostle John in a letter to Gaius, about 98 C.E. Demetrius may have delivered the letter to Gaius. John’s recommendation of Demetrius may have been to encourage hospitality on the part of Gaius, as it seems to have been a custom of the congregations to assist in providing food and lodging for the faithful brothers who traveled in behalf of the good news.—3 John 1, 12.

DEMON

An invisible wicked spirit creature, sometimes called a ‘fallen angel,’ having superhuman powers. The demons as such were not created by God. The first to make himself one was Satan the Devil (see SATAN), who became the ruler of other angelic sons of God who also made themselves demons. (Matt. 12:24, 26) In Noah’s day these disobedient angels materialized, married women, fathered a hybrid generation known as Nephilim (see NEPHILIM), and then dematerialized when the Flood came. (Gen. 6:1-4)