Brian Somers Torah: Genesis 6:9 – 11:32
Haftarah: Isaiah 54:1 – 55:5
New Testament/Brit Chadassah: Matthew 24:36-46
We begin the second week of the Torah cycle with the parashah (portion) aptly named Noach (Noah) as he is the central human figure of this portion. YHVH, however, is the true central being because it is He who decides judgment is necessary and He who selects Noah for salvation from that judgment. YHVH is the One who gives the orders and the One whom Noah obeys.
When Moses introduced Noah to his readers, there were four things about him that Moses felt worthy of mention.
First, Noah was righteous. This word is the translation of the Hebrew צדד׳ק “tzaddik” (H#6662).
| Strong’s Number: 6662 |
| Original Word צדד׳ק Word Origin from (06663) Transliterated Word Tsaddiyq |
| Definition |
| just, lawful, righteous, just, righteous (in government) just, right (in one’s cause) just, righteous (in conduct and character) righteous (as justified and vindicated by God) right, correct, lawful |
Second, Noah was blameless: this word is the translation of the Hebrew תמ׳ם “tamim” (H#8549).
| Strong’s Number: 8549 |
| Original Word תמ׳ם Word Origin from (08552) Transliterated Word ‘taw-meem’ |
| Definition |
| complete, whole, entire, sound, complete, whole, entire, whole, sound, healthful, complete, entire (of time) sound, wholesome, unimpaired, innocent, having integrity, what is complete or entirely in accord with truth and fact |
Third, Noah walked with YHVH though he was not taken like Enoch was (Genesis 5:21-24).
Fourth, Noah became a father to three sons.
The first three points attest to Noah’s personal character, but I find it interesting that Moses through divine inspiration wanted us to know that Noah’s fatherhood was important. I can think of two reasons why this would be important. The first would be that Noah obeyed the command to be “fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28). Second, for a man chosen to repopulate the earth, a demonstrated capacity to reproduce makes a certain amount of sense. Perhaps the reader might think of other reasons.
Before moving on, I wish to take note of the Hebrew תמ׳ם “tamim” which means blameless, without spot, undefiled. This calls to mind James 1:27 which reads thus:
“27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”
James 1:27
The Greek word used translated as “unstained” that has a very similar meaning is “aspilos” (G#784) which as shown below means “free from vice, unsullied”.
| Strong’s Number: 784 | |
| Transliterated Word Aspilos | |
| Definition | |
| spotless; metaph.free from censure, irreproachable, free from vice, unsullied |
The phrase “orphans and widows” call to mind the following verse from Psalm 68:5:
A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows,
Psalm 68:5
Is God in His holy habitation
The verb that took the orphans and widows as its object is the Greek word episkeptomai (G#1980).
| Strong’s Number: 1980 | |
| Transliterated Word episkeptomai | |
| Definition | |
| to look upon or after, to inspect, examine with the eyes in order to see how he is, i.e. to visit, go to see one the poor and afflicted, the sick to look upon in order to help or to benefit to look after, have care for, provide for: of God to look (about) for, look out (one to choose, employ, etc.) |
Looking after, having care for, providing for is exactly what Boaz did for Ruth before she became his wife. Did James have that in mind when he wrote this verse? In 1 Timothy 5, Paul also considered the widow and gave instruction to Timothy and the congregations. Peter G. Rambo, Sr. analyzed this passage on widows in his Appendix H essay in Authority, Headship and Family Structure (AHaFS, 2020). The section on widows is found in pages 416-419. In this section, Rambo demonstrated that marriage of younger widows was encouraged as appropriate and Paul was saying through his scriptural references that righteous elders could follow Boaz’s example in marrying younger widows in order to provide for them and their children, if any.
Returning to Noah, there is no hint that he himself took more than one wife, possibly because there were no surviving widows to marry after the Flood.
Moses wrote in two places that Noah was obedient and did everything that YHVH commanded him to do.
22 Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did.
Genesis 6:22
5 Noah did according to all that the Lord had commanded him.
Genesis 7:5
Undoubtedly offending modern sensibilities, Moses ordered the people in Noah’s family in such a manner that showed a clear hierarchy in the form of patriarchy. In three places in the Flood story, twice in Genesis chapter 7 and once in chapter 8, the order is Noah, his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives.
7 Then Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him entered the ark because of the water of the flood.
Genesis 7:7
14 On the very same day 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…
Genesis 7:14
18 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him.
Genesis 8:18
There is something else I want to discuss and that is the number eight, as in 8 souls that were saved from the water (see I Peter 3:20). According to Bullinger, the number eight represents “superabundance” and is a new beginning.
As seven was so called because the seventh day was the day of completion and rest, so eight, as the eighth day, was over and above this perfect completion, and was indeed the first of a new series, as well as being the eighth.
http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/number12.htm
Where before, Adam and Eve were the two parents that started the human race, eight would be brought through the water to replenish the earth. Since the animals were brought into the ark in male-female pairs, so were the humans.
Developing this a little more, those animals that were unclean were brought into the ark as a single male-female pair. Speaking of the number two, Bullinger had this to say:
We now come to the spiritual significance of the number Two. We have seen that One excludes all difference, and denotes that which is sovereign. But Two affirms that there is a difference—there is another; while One affirms that there is not another!
This difference may be for good or for evil. A thing may differ from evil, and be good; or it may differ from good, and be evil. Hence, the number Two takes a two-fold colouring, according to the context.
It is the first number by which we can divide another, and therefore in all its uses we may trace this fundamental idea of division or difference.
The two may be, though different in character, yet one as to testimony and friendship. The Second that comes in may be for help and deliverance. But, alas! where man is concerned, this number testifies of his fall, for it more often denotes that difference which implies opposition, enmity, and oppression.*
http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/number06.htm
The clean animals came in as 7 pairs of male-female animals. They totaled fourteen. Of this number, Bullinger noted:
[Fourteen] being a multiple of seven, partakes of its significance; and, being double that number, implies a double measure of spiritual perfection.
The number two with which it is combined (2×7) may, however, bring its own significance into its meaning, as in Matthew 1, where the genealogy of Jesus Christ is divided up and given in sets of 14 (2×7) generations, two being the number associated with incarnation.
http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/number17.htm#14
Another word for “clean” is unspotted. We see here a clear connection between cleanness and spiritual perfection. While YHVH certainly valued unclean animals enough to preserve them, He valued the clean animals much more. That’s a lesson the Hebrew Israelite man should take to heart. He must strive to be clean and blameless in addition to being accounted righteous, like Noah was.
After the flood waters subsided and Noah and his family were able to exit the ark, Noah showed that he could function in the priestly role when he offered sacrifices of the clean animals to YHVH (Genesis 8:20). This sacrifice of thanksgiving was followed by the determination of YHVH to never again destroy the earth by water.
In the next chapter, YHVH blessed Noah and his sons. Their wives were not party to this covenant, though they were blessed by it and would be helping their husbands achieve this commandment.
1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2 The fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the sky; with everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given. 3 Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I gave the green plant.
Genesis 9:1-3
From specifically blessing the men, they were responsible for replenishing the earth. In addition, we see that men were to be the primary providers of food, as hunters and farmers.
4 Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 Surely I will require your lifeblood; from every beast I will require it.
Genesis 9:4
The principle of not consuming blood was set centuries before the covenant at Mount Sinai. James the Just applied this rule of not drinking blood to the new converts so they would be clean and able to enter the synagogue. (Acts 15:20,29).
And from every man, from every man’s brother I will require the life of man.
6 “Whoever sheds man’s blood,
By man his blood shall be shed,
For in the image of God
He made man.7 “As for you, be fruitful and multiply;
Genesis 9:5b-7
Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it.”
The men are responsible to preserve life. They are also authorized to execute judgment on one of their number if that person committed murder by taking the life of the murderer. This responsibility was not given to the women.
We come now to the disgrace, shame and embarrassment inflicted on Noah. I will not take the time here to discuss what “uncovering Noah’s nakedness” implies. I will note that Canaan was blamed and cursed. Ham showed disrespect to his father by laughing about his shameful situation, but Shem and Japheth respected their father. For their respect, they were blessed.
We turn now to the Haftarah reading which is a reading that the ancient rabbis chose to pair with the Torah reading, usually because there is at least one thematic connection. The Haftarah reading for this portion is Isaiah 54:1 – 55:5. In this instance, the major connection is Isaiah 54:9. YHVH is saying that His determination to reclaim his rejected wife would be like his commitment to never again destroying the world with water.
With this commitment in mind, there is a clear equivalence made with the “desolate woman” and a “widow” (Isaiah 54:1,4). The customary modern definition of a widow is a wife who has lost her husband to death. This passage makes it clear that the scriptural definition of widowhood is broader than that.
This is confirmed by a passage from the second book of Samuel describing concubines that Absalom had gone in onto during his revolt against his father, King David (II Samuel 16:21) now being shut up as living widows for the rest of their lives because David could not go into any of them, having lain with the now-deceased Absalom.
3 Then David came to his house at Jerusalem, and the king took the ten women, the concubines whom he had left to keep the house, and placed them under guard and provided them with sustenance, but did not go in to them. So they were shut up until the day of their death, living as widows.
II Samuel 20:3
Because women cannot leave one man to go to a second man, and then come back to their first man (see Deuteronomy 24:1-4; Jeremiah 3:1) without causing pollution, David showed us what it means to be “tamim”, “unspotted”. David also showed us that the simplest and yet broadest definition of widow is a woman who has lost her husband, whether due to death, divorce or rejection. David had had no other choice but to reject the ten concubines, but he still took care of them.
To summarize, Noah’s attributes of righteousness, blamelessness, walking with YHVH, and being a father to his three sons inspired a journey of exploration and investigation into these attributes, especially blamelessness. Modern Hebrew Israelites need to imitate Noah in these attributes, and one more should be added, the willingness to obey YHVH in doing everything He says. YHVH showed in this portion that He works through and with the men, and expects the women to follow their men. He inspired James to say that He expects the men to take a wide view of what it means for a woman to be a widow and to visit them and their fatherless children in their needs. Post-flood, YHVH gave men the right to use clean animals as sources of food so they could feed their families and those widows or children who needed sustenance. Equally, He expects men to be respectful of and honor their parents. Just as Noah blessed Shem and Japheth for their respectful behavior towards him, so does YHVH reinforce this exact point in the Mount Sinai covenant in the Ten Words.
12 Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.
Exodus 20:12
Post-flood, men were given the obligation to enforce the law against murder, and in this way, provide protection for those under their care.
Indeed, righteous and blameless men can and do walk with YHVH by doing all these things.