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ב״ה |
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“… out of Tziyon will go forth Torah,
the word of ADONAI from Yerushalayim.” (Isaiah 2:3) |
The summary of the entire Torah is as simple as this:
Love what HaShem loves; hate what HaShem hates. All else is commentary.
Please read the Introductory Notes to this commentary.
WARNING: The text
used for my commentary is my own
paraphrase and must not be
considered
“a translation” or authorative in any way. It is, in fact, simply my commentary.
Maps, when used, are from
BibleAtlas.org. Created
using BibleMapper 3.0.
Additional data from OpenBible.info.
Source of Dates Used
Parashah 2: Noach (Continued)
(Noach, Gen. 6:9-11:32)
[Mesopotamia [MAP] 2105 BCE, 1656 AC]
5. HaShem’s Final Instructions (7:1-5)
[Methuselah Dies, April 2319 BCE]
Sheni (Second) 1 Yehovah[GN] said to Noach, “Go into the ark, you and all your family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. 2You are to take with you seven[2a] of every kind of clean animal,[2b] a male and his mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and his mate. 3Also seven of every kind of the bird of the air, male and female, in order to preserve their offspring on the face of all the earth. 4For seven days[4] from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living thing that I have made.”
5And Noach did everything that Yehovah had commanded him.
6. Final Week’s Preparations (7:6-10) [May 10, 2319 BCE]
6Now Noach was 600 years old[6] when the floodwaters came upon the earth. 7Noach entered the ark, along with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, to escape the floodwaters. 8Clean and unclean animals, birds, and everything that crawls along the ground 9came to Noah[9] to enter the ark, two by two, male and female, as Elohim[GN] had commanded Noach.
7. Floodwaters Begin (7:11-12) [May 17, 2319 BCE]
10After seven days, the floodwaters came on the earth.[10]
11In the six
hundredth year of Noach’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second
8. Noah’s Family Enters the Ark (7:13-16)
13On that very day [May 10, 2319 BCE] Noach entered the ark, along with his sons Shemשם, shem, name, Hamחם, cham, hot, and Yefetיפת, yepheth, opened, and his wife, and the three wives of his sons,[13] 14they and every species of wild animal, livestock, crawling creature, bird, and winged creature. 15They came to Noah to enter the ark, two by two, of every creature with the breath of life. 16And they entered, the male and female of every living thing, as Elohim had commanded him; then Yehovah shut him in.[16]
9. Destruction Beneath the Waters (7:17-24)
Shlishi (Third) 17 For forty days the flood[17a] kept coming on the earth, and the waters rose and lifted the ark high above the earth.[17b] 18So the waters continued to surge and rise greatly on the earth; and the ark floated on the surface of the waters. 19Finally, the waters completely inundated the earth, so that all the high mountains under the whole sky were covered. 20The waters rose and covered the mountaintops to a depth of fifteen cubits.[20] 21And every creature that had moved upon the earth perished — birds, livestock, animals, every creature that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind. 22Of all that had been on dry land, everything that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. 23Every living thing on the face of the earth was destroyed, including man, livestock, crawling creatures, and birds of the air; they were blotted out from the earth, and only Noach remained, and those with him in the ark. 24And the waters prevailed upon the earth for 150 days.
[11 Things You Didn't Know About Noah and the Great Flood]
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2a. “Pairs of every species of animals, except the tenants of the deep, were to be taken for the preservation of their respective kinds. This was the general rule of admission, only with regard to those animals which are styled ‘clean,’ three pairs were to be taken, whether of beasts or birds; and the reason was that their rapid multiplication was a matter of the highest importance, when the earth should be renovated, for their utility either as articles of food or as employed in the service of man. But what was the use of the seventh? It was manifestly reserved for sacrifice; and so that both during Noah's residence in the ark, and after his return to dry land, provision was made for celebrating the rites of worship according to the religion of fallen man. He did not, like many, leave religion behind. He provided for it during his protracted voyage.” (JF&B) But be careful! The Bible says that Noah was to take kinds of animals, not species of animals. In our current system of animal classification, the biblical kind more likely refers to family or genus, but certainly not species. [BACK]
2b. The Church teaches that HaShem’s food regulations are part of Torah (what the Church calls “the Law of Moses”) and are only for Jews (Israel), not for Gentiles. However, it needs to be pointed out that Noach and his family were Gentiles, not Jews (Jews did not exist as a people group at the time of Noach), yet Noach knew the difference between “clean” and “unclean” animals. This can be only because HaShem taught the difference to Adam, and Adam passed that information to his descendants. That divine instruction is therefore meant for all of humanity. [BACK]
4. This would be the day that Methuselah died. According to Jewish tradition, “Methuselah, the longest-lived human being of all time, died at the age of 969 years on the 11th of Cheshvan of the year 1656 from creation (2105 BCE) — exactly seven days before the beginning of the Great Flood.” (Chabad.org, accessed 22 October 2019) [BACK]
6. Tradition holds that the task of building the ark took Noach and his sons a hundred years. Quite an undertaking for a man who was five hundred years old at the outset. Gen 5:32 tells us that Noach was over five hundred years old before his sons were born, so they were about 100 years old by this time. [BACK]
9. Critics say that Noach could not have possibly gone out and rounded up mating pairs of all species. Note the Torah says that they came to him. Which is more difficult for HaShem: to have created the entire universe out of nothing in only six days by the power of His spoken word, or to call mating pairs of each species to the Ark by His spoken word? (See also note 10.)
“The number would not be so large as at first sight one is apt to imagine. It has been calculated that there are not more than three hundred distinct species of beasts and birds, the immense varieties in regard to form, size, and color being traceable to the influence of climate and other circumstances.” (JF&B) [BACK]
Pre-Flood Pangea
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10. Jewish tradition holds that Methuselah died on Cheshvan 11 (October 17) and the flood began on Chechvan 17 (October 24). Some think Noah’s flood was only local, but the description of the flood in chapters 6 through 8 makes the idea that the flood was only a local event is patently absurd. “Science” tells us that at one time, all the land mass of the earth was a single continent called Pangea. Creation Science holds that the global deluge was part of the literally earth-shattering event that caused Pangea to break apart and the continents to move into their current positions. So Noah certainly didn’t have to go to Australia to collect two kangaroos, two emus, two koalas, etc. If the flood was only local, Noah had at least 120 years to migrate his family out of the area to safe ground! Why waste all that effort building a big boat and gathering representatives from all of the animals? In 120 years he could easily have moved to the farthest and highest point on Pangea and there was absolutely no threat to the world’s animal population! With the possible exception of Psalm 29:10, the word מַבּוּל (mabbul) always refers to Noah's flood. The real reason for insisting on a local flood is the acceptance of evolution with its long geological ages. Most holding that view are not willing to allow a global flood to have happened less than 5000 years ago. To admit such eliminates the need for the geological ages, for most (if not all) of the geological column would have been rapidly laid down by Noah’s flood within the span of a single year. [BACK]
11a. Note how HaShem provides the exact dates for these events. Myths and legends do not provide exact dates. The narrative, however, is not in strict chronological order. [BACK]
11b. “Science” holds that even a very severe downpour of rain for forty days and forty nights is not sufficient to inundate the entire earth, so the Flood story must be a myth. This was no ordinary rain. All of the water vapor that had been suspended in the atmosphere since the beginning of creation, plus the possible ice sheath which surrounded the earth (note on Gen. 1:6), was released to fall as rain. Also the Torah says, “on the same day all the fountains of the great deep were burst open,” indicating that in addition to the condensation of all the water vapor in the atmosphere, there was a major tectonic upheaval of the entire earth (resulting in the separation of Pangea into the present continents), and enormous amounts of underground water were included in the flood waters. See note 8a on Genesis 2. [BACK]
13. The text says that they entered the ark “that very day.” This is referring back to verse 4, the day on which God had issued the command to board the ark.
On this date [10 Cheshvan] in 2105 BCE (1656 from Creation), Noah and family entered the Ark. It wasn't until seven days later, however, that the intense rains began for 40 days and 40 nights. The delay was to allow a proper mourning period for Methuselah, the righteous grandfather of Noah who had just died at the age of 969 years, history's oldest human being. Noah and his family (and the animals) would remain on the Ark for over a year, until the flood waters had sufficiently subsided. (aish.com/dijh/Cheshvan_10.html, accessed 30 June 2021) [BACK]
16. The opportunity to repent had been available for at least 120 years, after which God literally shut the door. The same opportunity is available now, but there will come a day when God will again firgurative shut the door, after which comes the final judgment. But wait a minute. Kefa (2Peter 2:5) calls Noah a “preacher of righteousness.” Certainly he would not have just started his “preaching” after God announced the Flood. So he may well have been “preaching” for 400 years or longeer. [BACK]
17a. The word translated “flood” is מַבּוּל (mabbul), also translated as deluge. Noah’s flood submerged the entire planet earth under water for about a year. [BACK]
17b. If didn’t just rain for 40 days and nights. It rained for 40 days and 40 nights before the water was high enough to even begin lifting the ark. [BACK]
20. A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimeters. The Royal, or Long,[GN] cubit used in the construction of the Egyptian pyramids and mentioned in Ezek. 40:5 is 20.63 inches (52.5 centimeters). The Torah indicates that floodwaters “prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered.” This indicates that the floodwaters rose to at least fifteen cubits (22.5-25.8 feet) above the tops of the highest mountains that existed at that time (we have no way of knowing the elevation of the highest mountain at the time the flood began). The Torah indicates an horrific tectonic event as part of the flood. It is not unreasonable to assume that many of the highest mountains on earth are at least partly the result of that tectonic shift. [BACK]
Other commentaries on Genesis 7
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
Pulpit Commentary
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
 ANXIOUSLY WATCHING FOR MASHIACH’S RETURN, SPEEDILY AND IN OUR DAY. MARANA, TA! |
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Except where otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are
taken from the Complete Jewish Bible, copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern.
Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc.
Distributed by Messianic Jewish Resources Int’l. www.messianicjewish.net.
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