[A child’s exposure to bible stories surely includes the account of Noah and the Ark. It is so easy to visualize, what with the ark’s design and best of all, the parade of animals boarding the vessel. We wonder how they would all fit in, what they would eat for 40 days and nights, the mess they would make to get rid of food! Not to worry, said one bible storyteller, God put all the animals in hibernation, so no problem for the Noah family. The feminists complain that the account never names the wives, only Noah and his three sons. Oh well . . . . We’ve heard the basic story enough that often we miss details that surface only after a closer reading of this chapter. For instance, we always thought that the distinction between ‘clean’ and ‘unclean’ animals was only taught in Wai’qrah/Leviticus 11; well, it turns out that Noah already knew the difference since the instructions to him was a pair of unclean and 7 pairs of clean animals. For what? Presumably for the beginning of the consumption of meat in man’s diet, as well as for sacrifice or ‘offering’ to God which would have been observed by Noah’s time. What about the dinosaurs and their ilk? The Regan cartoon took care of that, see Revisited: No wonder they’re extinct . . .
The commentary here is, as usual, from Pentateuch and Haftorahs, ed. Dr. J.H. Hertz; translation and extra commentary by EF/Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses and RA/Robert Alter, The Five Books of Moses..—Admin1.]
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Genesis/Bereshith 6
THE GROWING CORRUPTION OF MANKIND
1 Now it was when humans first became many on the face of the soil and women were born to them, 2 that the divine beings saw how beautiful the human women were, so they took themselves wives, whomever they chose.[P&H] sons of God. Is the literal translation of the Heb. phrase beney Elohim.
[ET] divine beings: Or “godlings.”
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[P&H] Among several ancient peoples there was a belief that there once existed a race of men of gigantic strength and stature, who were the offspring of human mothers and celestial fathers, and we are supposed to have an echo of that legend in this Biblical passage. Philo, Josephus and the author of the Book of Jubilees were misled into this interpretation by the analogy of these heathen fables. There is, however, no trace in Genesis of ‘fallen angels’ or rebellious angels; and the idea of inter-marriage of angels and human beings is altogether foreign to Hebrew thought. The mythological explanation of this passage was in all ages repelled by a large body of Jewish and non-Jewish commentators, though it has been revived by many moderns.
Others render beney Elohim by ‘sons of the great’ (in poetic Hebrew, elohim often means ‘mighty, Ps. XXIX,1). This verse would thus state that the sons of the nobles took them wives of the daughters of the people, who were powerless to resist. These marriages were the result of the licence and oppression in that time.
‘Sons of God’ may, however, also mean those who serve God and obey Him, those nourished and brought up in the love of Him as their Father and Benefactor (Exod. IV,22; Deut. XIC, I; XXXII,5; Isa. I,2; Hos. II,1). It is quite in accord with Biblical usage that those who adhered to the true worship of God—the children of seth—are called ‘sons of God’; and that, in contrast to these, the daughters of the line of Cain should be spoken of as ‘daughters of men’ (Ibn Ezra, Mendelssohn, S.R. Hirsch, W.H. Green).
Verses 1-4 would then point out the calamitous consequences to mankind with the pious sons of Seth merged with those who had developed a Godless civilization and who, with all their progress in arts and inventions, had ended in depravity and despair. ‘Through intermarriage, the sons of Seth sink to the level of the ungodly race; and likewise deserved the doom that, with the exception of one family, was to overtake mankind. These verses are thus the first warning in the Torah against intermarriage with idolaters.
3 YHWH said: My rushing-spirit shall not remain in humankind for ages, for they too are flesh; let their days be then a hundred and twenty years!
[P&H] abide in. The above interpretation is borne out by this verse. For, if ‘fallen angels’ were in question, and if it was wrong for them to marry human women, the angels surely were the chief offenders; and yet the sentence falls exclusively upon man. ‘In God’s judgments there is no unrighteousness, partiality, or even the appearance of partiality’ (Keil).
for that he also is flesh. Another translation is, ‘by reason of their going astray they are flesh.’ Despite the fact that man is created in the Divine image, he has proved by his proneness to err that he is ‘flesh’; i.e. his days are numbered: but I will not at once destroy him. ‘There shall be yet an interval of 120 years, before I bring the Deluge upon mankind (Targum); a respite to the human race to give them time for repentance (Ibn Ezra).
[EF] for they too are flesh: Hebrew difficult. The text uses the singular. a hundred and twenty years: Some early interpreters take this to specify a “grace period’ for humanity before the Flood. The text seems to be setting the limits of the human life span.
4 The giants were on earth in those days, and afterward as well, when the divine beings came in to the human women and they bore them (children)— they were the heroes who were of former ages, the men of name.[P&H] Nephilim. Or, ‘giants.’ They existed before the intermarriages took place. The mention of Nephilim in Num. XIII,33 is no reason to assume that they survived the Flood. The excited imagination of the Spies expresses its terror at the men of great stature whom they saw at Hebron, by saying that they must be the old antediluvian giants (W.H. Green).
men of renown. By reason of their abnormal physical strength, they gained for themselves a reputation as heroes. But enduring fame does not rest upon such qualifications as these Nephilim possessed. Their fate was to disappear from the earth, and humanity was to continue through Noah, ‘a righteous man, and blameless in his generation.’
[EF] came in to: The common biblical term for sexual intercourse. The concept, also expressed in Arabic, is of the man entering the woman’s tent for the purpose of sex.
[RA] 1-4.This whole passage is obviously archaic and mythological. The idea of male gods coupling with mortal women whose beauty ignites their desire is a commonplace of Greek myth, and E.A. Speiser has proposed that both the Greek and the Semitic stories may have a common source in the Hittite traditions of Asia Minor. The entourage of celestial beings obscurely implied in God’ use of the first-person plural in the Garden story (compare 3:22) here produces, however fleetingly, active agents in the narrative. As with the prospect that man and woman might eat from the tree of life, God sees this intermingling of human and divine as the crossing of a necessary line of human limitation, and He responds by setting a new retracted limit (three times the formulaic forty) to human life span. Once more human mortality is confirmed, this time in quantitative terms.
Nephilim. The only obvious meaning of this Hebrew term is “fallen ones”—perhaps, those who have come down from the realm of the gods; but then the word might conceivably reflect an entirely different, un-Hebraic background. In any case, the notion of semidivine, heroic figures—in Numbers the Nephilim are thought of as giants who are offspring of miscegenation between gods and women—again touches on common ground with Greek and other mythologies.
5 And YHWH saw that great was humankind’s evildoing on earth and every form of their heart’s planning was only evil all the day.[P&H] wickedness. This verse and the two that follow form the climax to the previous four verses, in which the moral depravity of the age is depicted. Retribution is swiftly coming.
imagination. The desires; the whole bent of his thoughts.
heart. In Heb. the heart is the seat of the mind, intellect, purpose.
[EF] And YHWH saw . . . evildoing. In contrast to the refrain of Chapter I, “God saw that it was good.” every form of their heart’s planning: This lengthy phrase indicates human imagination (Spenser: “every scheme that his mind devised”). “Heart” (Heb. lev or levav) often expresses the concept of “mind” in the Bible.
[RA] heart’s devising. In the Bible the heart is usually thought of as the seat of intelligence, only occasionally as the seat of emotion; thus many modern translators use “mind” here. But man’s evil heart is pointedly meant to stand in contrast to God’s grieving heart (the same Hebrew word) in the next verse.
6. Then YHWH was sorry that he had made humankind on earth, and it pained his heart.[P&H] repented. (Note from II,2: This ascribing of human actions to God is called anthropomorphism, and is employed in the Bible to make things intelligible to the finite human mind that which relates to the infinite. The Talmudic saying, ‘The Torah speaks the ordinary language of men,’ became a leading principle in later Jewish interpretation of Scripture.) Here the feelings of a human being are ascribed to God. ‘He who destroys his own work seems to repent of having made it’ (Ibn Ezra).
grieved Him. A touching indication of the Divine love for His creation.
7 YHWH said: I will blot out humankind, whom I have created, from the face of the soil, from man to beast, to crawling thing and to the fowl of the heavens, for I am sorry that I made them.[EF] man to beast: Or, “human to animal.”
8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of YHWH.
9 These are the begettings of Noah. Noah was a righteous, wholehearted man in his generation, in accord with God did Noah walk.[P&H] these are the generations. i.e. this is the story of Noah. This phrase, as in II,4, introduces a new section of the history.
righteous. In his actions, in his relationship with his fellows.
wholehearted. ‘Blameless’ (RV); faultless.
in his generations. The Rabbis point out that these words may be understood as stating that, despite the depravity which raged around him, he remained unspotted and untainted by corruption. It may, however, also mean that in his generations, i.e. judged by the low standard of his age, Noah was righteous; but had he lived in the period of Abraham, he would not have been conspicuous for goodness.
Noah walked with God. But Abraham, Scripture later tells us, walked before God. A father takes his young child by the hand, so that the latter walks with him, but he allows an older, maturer child to walk before him. In moral strength, Abraham was the superior of Noah (Midrash).
[EF] righteous: A term with legal connotations, “in the right” or “just.” righteous, wholehearted: Foreshadowing Avraham, of whom similar vocabulary will be used (17:1). “Whole” (below “wholly-sound”) is used of animals fit for sacrifice. Others, “perfect” or “unblemished.”
[RA] lineage. The listing of Noah’s three sons in the next verse supports this sense of toledot, but it might also mean “story.”
10 Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Yefet.
[P&H] A new section begins with v. 9. Hence the sons who had been enumerated in v. 32 are again referred to, because they figure in the story which forms the theme of this section.
11 Now the earth had gone-to-ruin before God, the earth was filled with wrongdoing.
[P&H] the earth. i.e. the inhabitants of the earth. So again, in XLI,57.
corrupt. The Rabbis understand this as an allusion to gross immorality.
before God. Either in open and flagrant defiance of God, or what they did was an offence in the sight of God.
violence. Ruthless outrage of the rights of the weak by the strong.
[EF] 11-12 Now the earth . . .: A poetic summary of the situation. before God: In his sight.
[RA] filled with outrage. Humankind had been enjoined to multiply and fill the earth, but the proliferation of human population leads to a proliferation of lawless behavior. This is one of several verbal echoes of the Creation story, suggesting, first, a perversion of creation by man and, then, a reversal of creation by God.
12 God saw the earth, and here: it had gone-to-ruin for all flesh had ruined its way upon the earth.[P&H] all flesh. Including the animals. Their corruption manifested itself in the development of ferocity.
way. Manner of life, conduct.
[EF]God saw the earth, and here: it had gone-to-ruin: A bitter echo of 1:31, “Now God saw all that he had made,/ and here: it was exceedingly good!”
[P&H] is come before Me. i.e. has come before God’s mind, has been determined by Him.
with the earth. With the things that are upon the surface of the earth.
[EF] has come before me: Has been determined by me.
[RA] 13-21. God’s pronouncement of imminent doom and His instructions about the ark are the longest continuous speech up to this point in Genesis, considerably exceeding the triple curse in chapter 3. Most of the length is dictated by the necessity to provide specifications for the construction of the ark and the arrangements for the animals. But the writer also uses the speech as a vehicle for realizing God’s awesome presence in the story: the language is not arranged in actual verse but it sounds a drumroll of grand formal cadences, stressing repeated terms and phrases that rhythmically or semantically parallel.
14 Make yourself an Ark of gofer wood, with reeds make the Ark, and cover it within and without with a covering-of-pitch.
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[P&H] make thee an ark. i.e. a ship. The Rabbis say that the construction of the Ark occupied Noah for 120 years, in order to give his contemporaries an opportunity to repent. Their curiosity would naturally be aroused by what Noah was doing; and he would answer their inquiry by warning them of the judgment which God was bringing on mankind. They, however, scoffed at him and gave no heed to his words.
gopher wood. A resinous wood, which would not admit the water; probably the cypress.
rooms. lit. ‘nests’; separate stalls for the different species of animals.
[EF] Ark: English as well as Hebrew etymology points to a box or chest, not strictly a boat. God, not human engineering, is the source of survival in the story. gofer: Identification unknown. reeds: Reading Heb. kanim for traditional text’s kinnim (“compartments).
15 And this is how you are to make it: Three hundred cubits the length of the Ark, fifty cubits its breadth, and thirty cubits its height.[P&H] this is how. These are the measurements and directions.
a cubit. Roughly 18 inches. [EF] cubits: A cubit equaled a man’s forearm in length, about 17 1/2 inches.
16 A skylight you are to make for the Ark, finishing it to a cubit upward. The entrance of the Ark you are to set in its side; with a lower, a second, and a third deck you are to make it.[P&H] a light. The unusual word here used for light means in the plural (dual) ‘noon’. Legend relates that it was a precious stone, which illuminated the whole interior of the Ark. [EF] skylight: Hebrew obscure, including the end of the phrase.
to a cubit. The precise meaning of these words is doubtful. The ‘light’ (which must be thought of as a kind of casement near to the roof) was to measure a cubit in height; or there was to be a space of a cubit between the roof and the top of the casement.
17 As for me, here, I am about to bring on the Deluge, water upon the earth, to bring ruin upon all flesh that has rush of life in it, from under the heavens, all that is on earth will perish.[P&H] and I, behold I. These emphatic words bring out the thought of the terrible necessity of the Flood.
[EF] Deluge: Heb. mabbul. Others suggest the more conventional word “Flood,” but the term may be an Assyrian loan-word.
18 But I will establish my covenant with you: you are to come into the Ark, you and your sons and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you,
[P&H] covenant. A covenant means an agreement or compact between two parties, for the observance of which pledges are given. Here it is used in the simple sense of a promise. God will fulfill His promise to spare Noah and his family.
[EF] covenant: An agreement or pact, most notably (in the Bible) one between God and individuals or between him and the people of Israel.
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[P&H] thus did Noah. i.e. he made the ark and collected provisions. The act of bringing the animals into the ark is described in the next chapter.
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On the Flood and its parallels in Babylonian literature, additional background.
The primeval traditions recorded in the early chapters of Genesis stretch away into prehistoric times, and enshrine, in outline, great universal truths that touch the origin and meaning of Life and Man. The Rabbis tell us that the Patriarch Jacob spent 14 years in the centres of ancient Semitic learning, the ‘academies of Shem and Eber’, acquiring the ancient traditions which he handed on to his descendants. Among these was the memory of a fearful upheaval with an all-destroying Flood that caused a complete breach in the continuity of civilization in the primitive dwelling-place of mankind. Striking evidence is now at hand that the Bible story of the Flood is an event in historic times, approximately about the year 3800 before the Common Era. ‘New discoveries have brought history so close to the Flood period and have produced so many phenomena requiring for their explanation just such an event as the Flood is supposed to have been, that the a priori denial of the Flood becomes thoroughly unscientific. We are justified in asking for more evidence, but there can be little doubt which way that evidence will trend’ (L. Woolley). As it was recounted in the families of the Patriarchs, the story of that Flood is of great ethical and religious value. The Deluge was a Divine judgment upon an age in which might was right, and depravity degraded and enslaved the children of men. There were giants on earth in those days; they were the ‘men of renown’; and life to these super-men meant unscrupulous selfishess and the deification of power and pleasure.
Among these men of violence, one man alone was upright and blameless, Noah, who believed in justice and practised mercy. He preached to the men of his generation—the Rabbis tell us—and warned them that a Deluge was coming, peradventure they might desist from iniquity and turn to righteousness. In vain. He saw that entire generation swept away; but he also lived to see the Rainbow of Promise, and the beginnings of a better world that was eventually to gain in strength, and to find lasting expression in Abraham and his descendants.