02- Noach

נח -"Noah"
Weekly parashah #2: Noach Torah: Bereshit (Genesis) 6:9-11:32 Haftarah: Yesha'yahu (Isaiah) 54:1-55:5 Greek Scriptures: Matityahu (Matthew) 3 & 4

Genesis 6:9

These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God.

The Hebrew Word

The name of this week's parashah, נח, (Noach) comes from the Hebrew root word for "rest" and refers to the Patriarch of the Flood. It is (Strong's #5146) and the word is used 46 times in 39 verses in the Tanakh. All of these instances refer to the man spoken of in this week's parashah.

First use in Scripture

The first time Noach is used in Scripture is in Genesis 5:9.

Last use in Scripture

The last time Noach is used in Scripture is in Ezekiel 14:20.

Ezekiel 14:19-20

"Or if I should send a plague against that country and pour out My wrath in blood on it to cut off man and beast from it, even though Noah, Daniel and Job were in its midst, as I live," declares the Lord GOD, "they could not deliver either their son or their daughter. They would deliver only themselves by their righteousness."

Parashah Outline

• The Flood - Genesis 7:1
• The Flood Subsides - Genesis 8:1
• Covenant of the Rainbow - Genesis 9:1
• Descendents of Noach - Genesis 10:1
• Universal Language, Babel, & Confusion - Genesis 11:1
• Descendents of Shem - Genesis 11:10

Portraits of Messiah

The ark of Noach's Flood is a portrait of Messiah. Consider these parallels:

• Both were given the purpose of protecting humanity.
• Humanity goes in and they are saved.
• G-d shuts the door and seals humanity in. There is nothing we can do to seal ourselves in.
• There is nothing we can do to remove ourselves from the ark until we are taken to our final destination.

Dates

Consider the story of Noach's flood. It is a story of salvation and redemption of humanity as G-d saves Noach and his family from the judgment in the Flood. This pictures the work of Messiah. There is an interesting detail that Scripture provides that intimately ties G-d's saving work in the story of Noach with G-d's saving work in the story of Messiah: dates.

No...not the fruit. The calendar dates certain events happened provide the link. Consider Genesis 8:4-

Genesis 8:4

In the seventh month, on the 17th day of the month, the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat.

What's so important about that date?

Before G-d established the beginning of the calendar year for the Israelites with their Exodus from Egypt (in Exodus 12:2) the calendar year was reckoned as beginning with Creation. Hence this verse is telling us that in the seventh month of the 600th year (Genesis 7:6) of Noach's life in the seventh month the ark rested in the mountains of Ararat.

What's so important about the seventh month? Here is a list of the Hebrew months in a calendar that begins with Creation:

We see that the seventh month from Creation is the month of Nisan... the month in which Pesach occurs. The 14th day of Nisan is Passover (Exodus 12:1-11). We know that Messiah was slain on Pesach. 1 Corinthians 5:7 calls Him "our Passover".

If the 14th day of the 7th month is Pesach then what happened three days later on the 17th day of the 7th month? Messiah's resurrection!

Just as G-d completed His work of redemption by bringing the ark (and Noach's family) safely to rest (Genesis 8:4) so, too, G-d completed His work of redemption with Messiah's resurrection from the dead.

Verse by Verse Notes

Other Observations

Parashah Names

Noach is the first parashah named after a person. It is interesting to note that the person that is the focus of this parashah is considered by Scripture to be a righteous man. Sarah's name is also included in a parashah name as are Yitro, Korach, Balak, and Pinchas.

Antediluvian Forefathers

Below is a chart of the antediluvian (pre-Flood) forefathers. It lists when they were born and when they died, when their firstborn son was born, and how long between when they died and the Flood. (Click the chart to enlarge it.)

Shem was alive the first 110 years of Avraham's life. He could have related to Avram (and Yitzchak!) the events of the Flood. He could have also provided a third-hand story of the Garden of Eden: Adam could have told Metushelach (Methuselah) who could have told Shem.

Traditionally speaking, there are no mitzvot found in this parashah. It is interesting that the only mitzvah found in last week's parashah (be fruitful and multiply) is found again in this week's parashah in Genesis 9:1.

It may be that G-d did not want any commandments included in the parashah that described a world so filled with sin that He felt it was necessary to destroy the entire world in the Flood.

Noachide Laws

Since the Middle Ages traditional Judaism has identified seven "Noachide Laws" although there are actually only three commandments found in this parashah:

• Do not eat flesh with its life blood still in it (Genesis 9:4)
• Do not commmit murder (Genesis 9:6)
• Be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 9:1,7)

This last command to be fruitful and multiply is surprisingly not found among the Noachide Laws. The other five (prohibitions against idolatry, blasphemy, theft, sexual immorality, and establishing courts of justice) are generally attributed to Genesis 2:16 which states:

Genesis 2:16

The LORD God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;"

It would seem to be a great leap in logic to deduce the additional five Noachide Laws from this simple passage.

FFOZ made this observation regarding the Noachide Laws in their "Messiah Journal":

The rabbis of early Judaism made some logical inferences to derive seven general laws that they believed to be binding on all of humanity. They assumed monotheism to be self-evident, so they created laws pertaining to belief in [G-d], a prohibition on idolatry, and a prohibition on sexual immorality. They derived the prohibitions on idolatry and sexual immorality from the Torah's condemnation of the Canaanite nations' practice of both. The Canaanites were punished and driven from Canaan for those sins. The rabbis also noted that the sin of violence and robbery was one of the moral deficiencies which brought about the Flood, so they added a prohibition on theft. They saw that the requirement for man to spill the blood of a murderer could be misunderstood as an endorsement of vigilante-styled justice, so they steered it toward a more civil form of jurisprudence by mandating the establishment of courts of law.¹

Genesis 6:9 (Blameless in his time) Gen 17:1 Deut 18:13

Genesis 6:9 (Walked with God) Gen 5:24

Genesis 6:11 (Corrupt in the sight of God) Deut 31:29

Genesis 6:18 (My covenant with you) Gen 9:9-16; 17:7

Genesis 6:18 (You shall enter the ark--you and your sons and your wife, and your sons' wives with you) Gen 7:7

Genesis 6:19 (And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female) Gen 7:2, 14, 15

Genesis 6:20 (Of the birds after their kind, and of the animals after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive) Gen 7:3

Genesis 6:21 (food which is edible, and gather it to yourself; and it shall be for food for you and for them) Gen 1:29, 30

Genesis 6:22 (Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did) Gen 7:5

Genesis 7:1 (Then the LORD said to Noah, "Enter the ark, you and all your household) Gen 6:9

Genesis 7:2 (Clean Animals) Lev 11:1-31 Deut 14:3-20

Genesis 7:4 (Seven days) Gen 7:10

Genesis 7:4 (Forty days and forty nights) Gen 7:12, 17

Genesis 7:4 (Forty days and forty nights) Gen 7:12, 17

Genesis 7:4 (Every living thing that I have made) Gen 6:7, 13

Genesis 7:5 (Noah did according to all that the LORD had commanded him) Gen 6:22

Genesis 7:6 (Noah did according to all that the LORD had commanded him) Gen 5:32

Genesis 7:7 (Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him) Gen 6:18; 7:13

Genesis 7:8 (Of clean animals and animals that are not clean and birds and everything that creeps on the ground) Gen 6:19, 20; 7:2, 3

Genesis 7:10 (the seven days, that the water of the flood came upon the earth) Gen 7:4

Genesis 7:11 (six hundredth year of Noah's life) Gen 7:6

Genesis 7:11 (the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened) Gen 8:2

Genesis 7:12 (The rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights) Gen 7:4, 17

Genesis 7:13 (Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark) Gen 6:18; 7:7

Genesis 7:15 (By twos of all flesh in which was the breath of life) Gen 6:19; 7:9

Genesis 7:17 (Forty days) Gen 7:4

Genesis 7:20 (And the mountains were covered) Gen 8:4

Genesis 7:21 (All flesh that moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind) Gen 6:7, 13, 17; 7:4

Genesis 7:22 (In whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died) Gen 2:7

Genesis 7:24 (The water prevailed upon the earth one hundred and fifty days) Gen 8:3

Genesis 8:1 (God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark) Gen 19:29, Ex 2:24

Genesis 8:1 (God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided) Ex 14:21; 15:10

Genesis 8:2 (The fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky were closed) Gen 7:11

Genesis 8:2 (The rain from the sky was restrained) Gen 7:4, 12

Genesis 8:3 (Of one hundred and fifty days the water decreased) Gen 7:24

Genesis 8:4 (The ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat) Gen 7:20

Genesis 8:4 (Window of the ark which he had made) Gen 6:16

Genesis 8:13 (Six hundred) Gen 7:6

Genesis 8:17 (Breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth) Gen 1:22, 28

Genesis 8:20 (An altar to the LORD) Gen 12:7, 8; 13:18; 22:9

Genesis 8:20 (Clean animal and of every clean bird) Gen 7:2 Lev 11:1-47

Genesis 8:20 (Burnt offerings on the altar) Gen 22:2 Ex 10:25

Genesis 8:21 (Smelled the soothing aroma) Ex 29:18, 25

Genesis 8:21 (Curse the ground on account of man) Gen 3:17; 6:7, 13, 17

Genesis 8:21 (The intent of man's heart is evil from his youth) Gen 6:5

Genesis 8:21 (And I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done) Gen 9:11, 15

Genesis 9:1 (Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth) Gen 1:28; 9:7

Genesis 9:3 (As I gave the green plant) Gen 1:29

Genesis 9:4 (Its blood) Lev 7:26; 17:10-16; 19:26 Deut 12:16, 23

Genesis 9:5 (Your lifeblood) Ex 20:13; 21:12

Genesis 9:5 (From every beast I will require it. And from every man, from every man's brother I will require the life of man) Ex 21:28, 29

Genesis 9:6 (Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed) Ex 21:12-14, Lev 24:17, Num 35:33

Genesis 9:6 (In the image of God, He made man) Gen 1:26, 27

Genesis 9:7 (Be fruitful and multiply; Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it) Gen 9:1

Genesis 9:9 (I Myself do establish My covenant with you) Gen 6:18

Genesis 9:11 (Never again be cut off by the water of the flood) Gen 8:21

Genesis 9:12 (The sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations) Gen 9:13, 17; 17:11

Genesis 9:15 (I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh) Lev 26:42, 45 Deut 7:9

Genesis 9:15 (Never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh) Gen 9:11

Genesis 9:16 (Everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth) Gen 17:13, 19

Genesis 9:18 (Ham was the father of Canaan) Gen 9:25-27; 10:6

Genesis 9:19 (From these the whole earth was populated) Gen 9:1, 7; 10:32

Genesis 9:25 (Cursed be Canaan) Deut 27:16

Genesis 9:26 (Blessed be the LORD, The God of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant) Gen 14:20; 24:27

Genesis 9:27 (May God enlarge Japheth, And let him dwell in the tents of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant) Gen 10:2-5

Genesis 10:10 (Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh) Gen 11:9

Genesis 10:10 (Shinar) Gen 11:2; 14:1

Genesis 10:15 (Heth) Gen 23:3

Genesis 10:16 (the Jebusite and the Amorite and the Girgashite) Gen 15:19-21

Genesis 10:19 (The territory of the Canaanite extended from Sidon as you go toward Gerar, as far as Gaza) Num 34:2-12

Genesis 10:19 (Sodom and Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboiim) Gen 14:2, 3

Genesis 10:22 (Elam and Asshur) Gen 14:1, 9

Genesis 10:22 (Arpachshad) Gen 11:10

Genesis 10:24 (Shelah) Gen 11:12

Genesis 10:32 (Out of these the nations were separated on the earth after the flood) Gen 9:19

Genesis 11:2 (Shinar) Gen 10:10; 14:1

Genesis 11:3 (Tar for mortar) Gen 14:10

Genesis 11:4 (Reach into heaven) Deut 1:28; 9:1

Genesis 11:4 (A name) Gen 6:4

Genesis 11:4 (Will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth) Deut 4:27

Genesis 11:5 (The LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built) Gen 18:21, Ex 3:8; 19:11, 18, 20

Genesis 11:6 (The same language) Gen 11:1

Genesis 11:7 (Let Us go down) Gen 1:26

Genesis 11:7 (Confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another's speech) Gen 42:23, Ex 4:11, Deut 28:49

Genesis 11:8 (Scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city) Gen 11:4

Genesis 11:9 (Babel) Gen 10:10

Genesis 11:10 (These are the records of the generations of Shem. Shem was one hundred years old, and became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood) Gen 10:22-25

Genesis 11:27 (Haran) Gen 11:31; 12:4

Genesis 11:27 (Lot) Gen 13:10; 14:12; 19:1, 29

Genesis 11:28 (Ur of the Chaldeans) Gen 11:31

Genesis 11:29 (Nahor) Gen 24:10

Genesis 11:29 (Sarai) Gen 17:15; 20:12

Genesis 11:29 (Milcah) Gen 22:20, 23; 24:15

Genesis 11:30 (Sarai was barren; she had no child) Gen 16:1

Genesis 11:31 (Ur of the Chaldeans) Gen 15:7

Genesis 6:9 (Blameless in his time) Job 1:1

Genesis 6:11 (Corrupt in the sight of God) Judg 2:19

Genesis 6:11 (Filled with violence) Ezek 8:17

Genesis 6:13 (The end of all flesh has come before Me) Is 34:1-4; Ezek 7:2, 3; Amos 8:2

Genesis 8:1 (God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark) 1 Sam 1:19

Genesis 8:1 (God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided) Job 12:15

Genesis 8:12 (The dove; but she did not return to him again) Jer 48:28

Genesis 8:21 (Curse the ground on account of man) Is 54:9

Genesis 8:21 (The intent of man's heart is evil from his youth) Jer 17:9

Genesis 8:22 (Day and night) Jer 33:20, 25

Genesis 9:4 (Its blood) 1 Sam 14:34

Genesis 9:11 (Neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth) Is 54:9

Genesis 9:13 (Bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth) Ezek 1:28

Genesis 9:15 (I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh) Ezek 16:60

Genesis 9:16 (Everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth) 2 Sam 23:5

Genesis 9:22 (Saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside) Hab 2:15

Genesis 9:25 (A servant of servants, shall be to his brothers) Josh 9:23

Genesis 9:27 (May God enlarge Japheth, And let him dwell in the tents of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant) Is 66:19

Genesis 10:2 (Gomer and Magog) Ezek 38:2, 6

Genesis 10:2 (Madai) 2 Kings 17:6- It appears that the city of the Medes is potentially where the descendents of Madai lived.

Genesis 10:2 (Javan and Tubal) Is 66:19

Genesis 10:2 (Meshech and Tiras) Ezek 38:2

Genesis 10:3 (Ashkenaz) Ezek 38:2

Genesis 10:3 (Togarmah) Ezek 27:14

Genesis 10:4 (Tarshish, Kittim and Dodanim) Ezek 27:12, 25

Genesis 10:7 (Seba and Havilah and Sabtah) Is 43:3

Genesis 10:7 (Raamah and Sabteca) Ezek 27:22

Genesis 10:7 (Sheba) Ezek 27:22

Genesis 10:7 (Dedan) Ezek 27:15, 20

Genesis 10:11 (Into Assyria) Mic 5:6

Genesis 10:13 (Ludim) Jer 46:9

Genesis 10:15 (Sidon) Jer 47:41

Genesis 10:22 (Lud and Aram) Is 66:19

Genesis 10:23 (Uz and Hul and Gether and Mash) Jer 25:20

Genesis 11:2 (Shinar) Dan 1:2

Genesis 11:4 (A name) 2 Sam 8:13

Genesis 11:7 (Confuse their language, so that they will not understand ne another's speech) Is 33:19, Jer 5:15

Genesis 11:24 (Terah) Josh 24:2

Genesis 11:26 (The father of Abram, Nahor and Haran) Josh 24:2

Genesis 6:9 (Righteous man) Ps 37:39

Genesis 6:12 (All flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth) Ps 14:1-3

Genesis 8:1 (God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark) Ps 105:42

Genesis 8:1 (God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided) Ps 29:10, Is 44:27, Nah 1:4

Genesis 8:21 (The intent of man's heart is evil from his youth) Ps 51:5

Genesis 8:22 (Summer and winter) Ps 74:17

Genesis 9:19 (From these the whole earth was populated) 1 Chr 1:4

Genesis 9:21 (Became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent) Prov 20:1

Genesis 10:2 (The sons of Japheth) 1 Chr 1:5-7

Genesis 10:6 (The sons of Ham were Cush and Mizraim and Put and Canaan) 1 Chr 1:8-10

Genesis 10:14 (Pathrusim and Casluhim (from which came the Philistines) and Caphtorim) 1 Chr 1:12

Genesis 10:15 (Sidon, his firstborn) 1 Chr 1:13

Genesis 10:22 (The sons of Shem) 1 Chr 1:17

Genesis 10:23 (Uz and Hul and Gether and Mash) Job 1:1

Genesis 10:25 (Two sons were born to Eber; the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother's name was Joktan) 1 Chr 1:19

Genesis 11:4 (Reach into heaven) Ps 107:26

Genesis 11:8 (Scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city) Ps 92:9

Genesis 11:31 (Ur of the Chaldeans) Neh 9:7

Genesis 6:9 (Righteous man) 2 Pet 2:5

Genesis 6:13 (The end of all flesh has come before Me) 1 Pet 4:7

Genesis 6:17 (I, even I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth) 2 Pet 2:5

Genesis 6:22 (Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did) Heb 11:7

Genesis 7:7 (Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him) Matt 24:38, Luke 17:27

Genesis 7:23 (Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark) Matt 24:38, 39, Luke 17:26, 27, Heb 11:7, 1 Pet 3:20, 2 Pet 2:5

Genesis 8:21 (The intent of man's heart is evil from his youth) Rom 1:21; 3:23 Eph 2:1-3

Genesis 9:4 (Its blood) Acts 15:20, 29

Genesis 9:6 (Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed) Matt 26:52

Genesis 10:24 (Shelah) Luke 3:35

Genesis 11:8 (Scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city) Luke 1:51

Genesis 11:31 (Ur of the Chaldeans) Acts 7:4

39 verses that include Noach (Strong's #5146)