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ב״ה
“… 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.

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Please read the Introductory Notes to this commentary.

Maps, when used, are are from BibleAtlas.org. Created using BibleMapper 3.0.
Additional data from OpenBible.info.
Source of Dates Used

בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית • B'resheet
(“In Beginning” or “At First”)
The First Book of Moses,
Commonly Called

Genesis


~ 7 ~

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) 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 month,[11a] all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.[11b] 12And the rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

8. Noah’s Family Enters the Ark (7:13-16)

13On that very day [May 17, 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 thjey entered, the male and female of every living thing, as Elohim had commanded him; then Yehovah shut him in.[16]

[TO PARASHAH TOP] 

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]

Continue Reading

____________

  1. Jewish tradition says Noah died on October 17 (11 Cheshvan) and the flood began on October 24 (17 Chechvan). [BACK]

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) [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?

“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]

10. Jewish tradition says Noah died on October 17 (11 Cheshvan) and the flood began on October 24 (17 Chechvan). Some think Noah’s flood was only local. However the description of it found in chapters 6 through 8 makes this idea patently absurd. If it was local, Noah had 120 years to migrate out of the area to safe ground! Why waste all that effort building a ship, who knows how far from the nearest deep water? In 120 years he could easily have moved to the farthest and highest point on the continent! With the possible exception of Ps 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 of the geological column would have been rapidly laid down by Noah’s flood. [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 is strict chronological order. [BACK]

11b. Some earth scientists claim 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. Remember that it had never rained on earth before this. All of the water vapor that had been suspended in the atmosphere since the beginning of creation 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, and enormous amounts of underground water were included in the flood waters. [BACK]

13. The text says that they entered the ark “that very day” on which the flood began; i.e., “the seventeenth day of the second month” (17 Cheshvan). Jewish tradition holds, however, that the floodwaters began seven days after they had boarded.

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 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. [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 Torah indicates that floodwaters “prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered.” This seems to indicate that the floodwaters rose to at least fifteen cubits (22.5 feet) above the tops of the highest mountains. 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]

Originally posted on Wednesday, 12 August 2020
Added dates and a few notes and comments on Wednesday, 30 June 2021

Page last updated on Monday, 27 March 2023 02:31 PM
(Updates are generally minor formatting or editorial changes.
Major content changes are identified as "Revisions”)

Anxiously awaiting Mashiach’s return
ANXIOUSLY WATCHING FOR MASHIACH’S RETURN,
SPEEDILY AND IN OUR DAY. MARANA, TA!

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