La generación del diluvio según la descripción del Midrás Levítico Rabbá

Abstract

This article analyses the image of the Flood Generation as portrayed in Midrash Leviticus Rabbah. In addition to the early description of the Antediluvians provided by the book of Genesis, later literary texts added new traditions, trying to answer relevant matters that go unmentioned in the Biblical text, such as, for instance: What kind of sins did they commit in order to arouse God’s wrath? What were the virtues and the faults of the Flood Generation? Did they suffer additional punishments? Several of these literary traditions are already found in the Bible, and experienced an intricate development, while others were created later on. We can observe in Leviticus Rabbah several passages which, compared to Gen 6-8, do offer us a novel perception of the Flood Generation.