The names of God and the two flood stories

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Two narratives run through the early chapters of Genesis. One describes the relationship between mankind and the aspect of God Elohim and the other between mankind and the aspect of God YHWH.

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There is a pattern to this in the early sections of Genesis. Hence, creation is described by two narratives, the first being an Elohim-narrative and the second a YHWH-account. By contrast, the Noah narrative is composed of interlocking Elohim and YHWH passages. As in the creation stories, these passages sometimes show contradictions. It is possible to prize apart these two accounts and each to an extent can stand alone, although understandably both are truncated compared to the complete narrative. As an example, YHWH-passages provide no instructions to Noah as to how he should build the ark, and he, his family and the animals enter into a ready-made ark so to speak. The instructions are contained in a previous Elohim-passage.

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This essay considers the Torah to have been composed by a single Divine author. It considers the Noah account as being composed of two allegorical rather than historical narratives that are by their nature somewhat contradictory because of the different types of relationship between man with Elohim and YHWH.

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By contrast, the Documentary Hypothesis regards these two accounts as being composed by different authors, regarded as J and P sources, which were skillfully joined together by a redactor. The J source contains the name of God YHWH and in this part of the Torah the P source is about Elohim. Moreover, Bible critics view the Redactor as having such reverence for his original sources, that obvious contradictions were not eliminated.

 

Three examples will be shown of the interlocking nature of Elohim and YHWH passages and their differences will be elaborated upon.

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The first example is God’s decision to bring about a flood. The composite story is shown initially and this is followed by its two separate components, which I have labelled as a Yahwist passage and Elohim-passage.  

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5. And YHWH saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6. And YHWH regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 7. And YHWH said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, to creeping things, and the birds of the air; for I regret having made them. 8. And Noah found grace in the eyes of YHWH. 9. These are the generations of Noah; Noah was a righteous man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with Elohim. 10. And Noah fathered three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 11. And the earth had become corrupt before Elohim, and the earth was filled with corruption. 12. And Elohim looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth. 13. And Elohim said to Noah, The end of all flesh has come before me; for the earth is filled with corruption through them; and, behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth. 14. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood . . . .” (Genesis 6:5-13).

 

YHWH ACCOUNT OR PROPOSED “YAHWIST” SOURCE    

Chapter 6:5. And YHWH saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6. And YHWH regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 7. And YHWH said: “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, to creeping things, and the birds of the air; for I regret having made them.” 8. And Noah found grace in the eyes of YHWH. 7.1 Then YHWH said to Noah: Go into the ark you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. . . .

 

ELOHIM ACCOUNT OR PROPOSED “PRIESTLY” SOURCE

Chapter 6:9. These are the generations of Noah; Noah was a righteous man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked (hithalech) with Elohim. 10. And Noah fathered three sons, Shem, Ham and Yaphet. 11. And the earth had become corrupt before Elohim, and the earth was filled with corruption. 12. And Elohim looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth. 13. And Elohim said to Noah: “The end of all flesh has come before me; for the earth is filled with corruption through them; and, behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth. 14. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. . .  

 

In the YHWH-passage, God is cognizant of the ways of humanity, discerns their thoughts, and recognizes the total corruption of man. Noah, on the other hand, has developed a relationship with YHVH based on his spirituality and deeds, and his righteousness makes him worthy to be saved. 

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It is noteworthy that YHWH seems to display emotions. He feels in His heart the sinfulness of man. He regrets that he created mankind. He also views Noah in an emotive way, almost as a friend whom He favors. Nevertheless, considering YHWH as subjective would be an incorrect way of reading the text. He is very objective, but is nevertheless is being described in a subjective way.

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For many reasons, YHWH, the God of relationships needs to display these features. If YHWH was unbending, there would be no reason to attempt to draw close to Him and no point in praying to Him other than to glorify Him and praise His unchangeable decisions.

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The objectivity of God can be readily appreciated from the adjacent Elohim passage. According to Elohim, Noah was righteous, perfect and walked with God. Looking down on the world from the heavens above, Elohim knows that the world cannot endure like this. Noah is seen by Elohim not in terms of a relationship, but with respect to his suitability for repopulating the earth. Since the flood story is, in the main, a passage about Elohim’s judging of humanity, the Noah story is predominantly an Elohim-account. 

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In this second passage below, the Elohim and YHWH components contain contradictions in the number of animals that Noah is to bring into the ark and how they will arrive. This will need elucidation:

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6:18. “But with you will I establish my covenant; and you shall come into the ark, you, and your sons, and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. 19. And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shall you bring into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. 20. Of birds after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every sort shall come to you, to keep them alive. 21. And take to you of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to you; and it shall be for food for you, and for them.” 22. Thus did Noah; according to all that Elohim commanded him, so did he. 7:1. Then YHWH said to Noah: “Come you and all your house into the ark; for you have I seen righteous before me in this generation. 2. Of every clean beast you shall take to you seven pairs, a male and its mate; and of beasts that are not clean one pair, the male and his female. 3. Of birds also of the air by seven pairs, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. 4. For in another seven days I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth”. 5. And Noah did according to all that YHWH had commanded him (Genesis 6:18-7:5).

 

ELOHIM ACCOUNT OR PROPOSED “PRIESTLY” SOURCE 

Chapter 6;18. “But with you will I establish my covenant; and you shall come into the ark, you, and your sons, and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. 19. And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shall you bring into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. 20. Of birds after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every sort shall come to you, to keep them alive. 21. And take to you of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to you; and it shall be for food for you, and for them.” 22. Thus did Noah; according to all that Elohim commanded him, so did he.  

 

YHWH ACCOUNT OR PROPOSED “YAHWIST” SOURCE

Chapter 7:1. Then YHWH said to Noah: “Come you and all your house into the ark; for you have I seen righteous before me in this generation. 2. Of every clean beast you shall take to you seven pairs, a male and its mate; and of beasts that are not clean one pair, the male and his female. 3. Of birds also of the air by seven pairs, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. 4. For in another seven days I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth. 5. And Noah did according to all that YHWH had commanded him.

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In the Elohim-passage to the right, Noah is asked to bring one pair of all living things, male and female, into his ark and they are to come to him of their own accord. In the subsequent YHWH-account, Noah is requested to bring seven male and female pairs of each pure animal and bird and one pair of each impure beast and bird. However, Noah needs to locate them and bring them into the ark.

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These contradictions can be explained as follows. The YHWH and Elohim aspects of God have different agendas. With but one exception, all sacrifices in the Torah were offered to YHWH. There is logic to this, since a sacrifice is a means of drawing close to an immanent Deity. The single exception is with respect to Jethro, and this also can be explained through the names of God that are used.1 Hence, following his deliverance from the flood, Noah offers sacrifices to YHWH using all the pure animals and birds in his possession.1 YHWH is also intimating in this way that offering a sacrifice is a desirable way of giving thanks to Him:

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Then Noah built an altar to YHWH, and took of every pure animal and of every pure bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar” (Genesis 8:20).

 

Elohim, on the other hand, is concerned with the general providence of the world and directs all animals to come in pairs to the ark of their own accord. Noah then brings them into the ark as instructed (Genesis 6:20)..

 

A third example of the connecting YHWH and Elohim passages: In general, the presumed redactor of the Documentary Hypothesis limited his “cut and paste” activity to complete sentences, and it is most unusual for two names of God to be found within a single sentence. When it occurs, as in this sentence describing the family’s entry into the ark, it is quite illuminating:

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And those who went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as Elohim had commanded him; and YHWH closed him in (Genesis 7:16). 

 

The Documentary Hypothesis would regard this is an example of the redactor doing his best to maintain the flow of the narrative even if it means joining two sources into a single sentence. However, there is an alternative explanation. This verse is a transitional one. The transcendent God Elohim has instructed Noah to bring all animals into the ark, but it is YHWH who will now care for Noah as the earth reverts to its primeval beginnings. Noah and his family are in a rudderless ark, without a crew other than family members, and are totally dependent on the protection of YHWH. It is appropriate, therefore, that YHWH, in an embracing manner, takes them into the ark.

 

The duration of the flood

 

There is a major challenge to a unitary account, and this is that the two flood stories seem to be of different durations — the flood of the YHWH-story lasting for 40 days, and the flood of the Elohim-story lasting 150 days:

 

YHWH ACCOUNT OR PROPOSED “YAHWIST” SOURCE

 (7:17). And the flood was on the earth forty days, and the waters increased and raised the ark and it was lifted above the earth; (22). All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life died, of everything that was on dry land, died. (23). And He wiped out   all existence that was on the face of the ground – from man to animals to creeping things and to the bird of the heavens; and they were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah survived and those with him in the ark. (8:2). And the rain from heaven was restrained.

 

(8.6) And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made.

 

ELOHIM ACCOUNT OR PROPOSED “PRIESTLY” SOURCE 

(7:18). The waters strengthened and increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark drifted upon the surface of the waters. (19). And the waters strengthened very much upon the earth, all the high mountains which are under the entire heavens were covered. (20). Fifteen amos [a measure] above did the waters strengthen and the mountains were covered.  (21). And all flesh that moves upon the earth expired – among the birds, the animals, the beasts, and all the creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all mankind. (24). And the waters strengthened on the earth a hundred and fifty days. (8:1) Elohim remembered Noah and all the beasts and the animals that were with him in the ark, and Elohim caused a spirit to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. (2). The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed (3). And the waters diminished at the end of a hundred and fifty days. (4). And the ark came to rest in the seventh month, on the seventeenth of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. . . .

 

The Biblical timeline of the flood has puzzled Biblical exegetes throughout the ages. Discussions can be found in the Midrash and Talmud,2 and the topic is discussed extensively by Medieval biblical commentators such as Rashi and Nachmanides, albeit without consensus.3 However, an explanation that hangs well together is provided by the biblical scholar Cassuto.4 Cassuto integrates the 40 days of the YHWH-passage with the 150 days of the Elohim-passage and shows that they both fit neatly into the dating provided by the Torah of a flood lasting one solar year. In this calculation, Cassuto counts the 150 days once and the 40 days twice, as seems evident from Genesis 8:6. His explanation is quite detailed, and is discussed in the reference section.

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YHWH-sentences avoid dates. But note how eviscerated the dating system is when the Elohim-verses stand alone. Completeness only exists when they are together with YHWH verses.

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An interesting literary format present in the Noah story are chiastic structures, i.e., sentences with mirror image symmetry. In the excerpts below it can be seen that just as the flood develops in relation to days 7, 40 and 150, it also dissipates in relation to days 150, 40 and 7, with the order of the days being reversed. 

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And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth. (Genesis 7:10). . . .  And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights” (Genesis 7:17). . . .  And the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days (Genesis 7:24).

 

Followed by:

 

And the waters then receded from upon the earth, receding continuously; and the waters diminished after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated (Genesis 8:3). . . . And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made (Genesis 8:6). . . . And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark (Genesis 8:10). . . . And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which did not return back to him anymore (Genesis 8:12).

 

An even more elaborate chiastic structure has been pointed out that encompasses almost the entirety of the flood story as shown below.5 The center of the chiasmus (i.e., the tip of the horizontal pyramid) is the summarizing verse:

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God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the animals that were with him in the ark (Genesis 8:1).

 

A1. Noah  (6:10)  [P]

B1.   Shem, Ham and Japheth (6:10)  [P]

C1.       Ark to be built (6:14-16)  [P]

D1.            Flood announced (6:17)  [P]

E1.               Covenant with Noah (6:18-20)  [P]

F1.                  Food in the ark (6:21)  [P]

G1.                   Command to enter ark (7:1-3)  [J]

H1.                       7 days waiting for the flood (7:4-5)  [J]

I1.                           7 days waiting for the flood (7-10)  [J]

J1.                                Entry to ark (7:11-15)  [J and P]

K1.                                   Yahweh shuts Noah in (7:16)   [J and P]

L1.                                        40 days flood (7:17a)   [J]

M1.                                           Waters increase (7:17b-18)  [J and P]

N1.                                                Mountains covered (7:19-20)   [P]

O1.                                                   150 days waters prevail (7:21-24) [P]

P1.                                                         GOD REMEMBERS NOAH (8:1)   [P]

O2.                                                    150 days waters abate (8:3)   [P]

N2.                                                 Mountain tops visible (8:4-5)

M2.                                              Waters abate (8:5)   [P]

L2.                                         40 days (end of) (8:6a)   [J]

K2.                                     Noah opens window of ark (8:6b)   [J]

J2.                                   Raven and dove leave ark (8:7-9)   [J]

I2.                                7 days waiting for waters to subside (8:10-11)   [J]

H2.                            7 days waiting for waters to subside (8:12-13)  [J and P]

G2.                        Command to leave ark (8:15-17)  [P]

F2.                      Food outside ark (9:1-4)   [P]

E2.                Covenant with all flesh (9:8-10)  [P]

D2.      No flood in the future (9:11-17)  [P]

C2.    Ark (9:18a)   [J]

B2.   Shem, Ham and Japheth (9:18b)   [J]

A2. Noah (9:19)   [J]

 

These chiasmi show God’s total involvement in every aspect of the flood from its beginning to its end. Moreover, they also show that despite its internal contradictions, the Noah story is an integrated whole.

 

It is difficult to envisage how these types of chiasmi could have been built up if the Noah story had been composed from different literary sources in different historic periods.   

In one of his popular books, the influential Bible critic Richard Friedman notes that the Torah contains a pleasing “balance between the personal and the transcendent quality of the Deity.” To Friedman this is coincidental and occurred with no intention on the part of the redactor.5 The reality is very different. This balance is a fundamental construct of the Torah. 

 

Number associations in the Noah account

 

The Noah story is allegorical prose and not history. It also contains many of the literary formats typical of biblical writing. One of these is number associations. This topic was introduced in relation to the creation story and it will be expanded upon here. 

 

In ancient Mesopotamia, a system based on number 6 was frequently used to describe aspects of the natural world.7 We have vestiges of this today with our 60-minute hour (6 x 10), 24-hour day (6 x 4), and 360-degrees circle (6 x 60). These time periods are otherwise completely arbitrary. The physical world was created by Elohim, and God’s creative activity is therefore described in the Torah within the framework of six days of creation.

 

In Mesopotamian literature, the number seven, one above six, was considered to be a number reflecting the activity of the gods. Consider the following passage from the Gilgamesh myth:

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For six days and [?] nights

The wind blew, flood and tempest overwhelmed the land;

When the seventh day arrived the tempest, flood and onslaught

Which had struggled like a woman in labor, blew themselves out (?). . . .

When the seventh day arrived,

I put out and released a dove.

The dove went; it came back,

For no perching place was visible to it, and it turned round.8

 

In the Bible, the number seven reflects the absolute perfection of God and is found throughout the Torah in sentences related to both Elohim and YHWH. In some instances this number becomes a code for the involvement of God. The seven cows and sheaths of grain in Pharaoh’s dreams are examples of this (Genesis 41:25-28). 

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At the beginning of the Book of Genesis, the number seven is with Elohim, and the seventh day of the week becomes sanctified by Elohim as the Sabbath day. It is also in Elohim-sentences that Noah waits seven days before setting foot in the ark, and it is in an Elohim-section that the birds are sent at seven-day periods seeking land.

 

Another use of number seven is through indicating keywords. Words may be repeated within a paragraph seven times and they then become keywords i.e., words that define the subject matter of a paragraph and that should be focused on. The most important word in the following paragraph regarding the appearance of the rainbow after the flood is the word “covenant,” and it is repeated seven times:9

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And Elohim spoke to Noah, and to his sons with him, saying: “And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; and with every living creature that is with you, of the bird, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth. And I will establish my covenant with you; nor shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; nor shall there anymore be a flood to destroy the earth.” And Elohim said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for everlasting generations. I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud. And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between Elohim and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.” And Elohim said to Noah: “This is the sign of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.” (Genesis 9:8-17)

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The significance of this repetition of the word covenant may be that the rainbow was always part of the natural world. However, now that it is a symbol of Elohim’s covenant it becomes elevated one step above the natural and serves a loftier purpose.

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The number forty is found a number of times in the Bible and is associated exclusively with YHWH. It is indicative of a very strong and tangible relationship between man and the Divine from a mainly spiritual perspective. Hence, Moses was twice secluded with God for 40 days on Mount Sinai. The Children of Israel wandered for 40 years in the wilderness. YHWH encloses Noah within the ark for 40 days. These number associations are not incidental to this story but an integral aspect of this account.

 

The role of the descendants of Shem in the moral development of civilization

 

The Noah account is more than just a story about a righteous individual who survived a calamitous flood. Rather, it is part of a continuous narrative leading to the appearance of Abraham.

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A passage in the Noah story has puzzled exegetes throughout the centuries, since it seems to imply that nothing changed after the flood, including man’s propensity to do evil:  

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YHWH smelled the pleasing aroma and YHWH said in his heart: I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing, as I have done. Continuously, all the days of the earth, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease (Genesis 8:21-22). 

 

The Torah will say this because the appearance of Shem and his descendants on the world stage is about to initiate a new stage in the moral development of mankind, in that he, his family and his descendants will develop an ongoing relationship with YHWH. This family line will be the antidote to the depravity of the generation of the flood. Immorality and unrighteousness will always exist in the world since “the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Genesis 8:210), but there will now be a family embedded within humanity that will disseminate sparks of righteousness. 

 

This is why Noah says in a prophetic vein after a nighttime episode that ends in his cursing his grandson Canaan:  

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“Blessed is YHWH, the God of Shem. . . .”  (Genesis 9:26).

 

Within several generations, Abraham, a descendant of Shem, will receive a call from YHWH to leave his homeland and make his way to Israel to become the progenitor of a nation that will be a moral beacon to the rest of humanity.

 

Interesting word plays

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Before leaving the story of Noah, it is worth examining some interesting wordplays in this section of the Torah. While not related to mythology, they provide a deeper understanding of the text and elaborate more on the previous section of my essay about the progression of the biblical account.

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A wonderful overview of the early stories of Genesis is provided by R’ Menachem Leibtag.10 He notes that all the early stories are introduced by a genealogy list beginning with the words “these are the generations of . . . . (eleh toldot. . . “). Hence, the flood story is introduced in chapter 5 by a genealogy list of the ten generations from Adam to Noah. This list begins “This is the account of the generations of Adam — on the day of Elohim’s creating of man, He made him in the likeness of Elohim (ibid 5:1). The list ends with Noah’s father Lemech making a wish or prayer regarding his baby son Noah:

 

And he [Lemach] called his name Noah (Noach) (נֹחַ) saying: “This one will comfort us (yenachamenu) (יְנַחֲמֵנו) from our work and from the toil (me’itzvon) of our hands, from the ground (ha’adamah) which YHWH had cursed” (Genesis 5:29).

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The curse that Lemech is talking about is the curse imposed on the ground by God in the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve had eaten of the forbidden fruit:

 

To Adam He said: “Because you listened to the voice of your wife and ate of the tree about which I commanded you saying: “You shall not eat it, accursed is the ground because of you, through suffering (be’itzavon) shall you eat of it all the days of your life (ibid 3:17).

 

In this verse, God makes a link between the ground and man, in that the status of the ground becomes a reason for the suffering of man.

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In actuality, as Rashi points out, Lemech has misnamed Noah.11 A better name grammatically would have been Menachem, which is a closer proper name derivation from the verb lenachem to comfort. A sounder translation of the name Noah is not comfort but to rest, from the verb lanuach (to rest).

 

Nevertheless, the Bible seems to assume that the name Noah (Noach) is linked to the verb lenachem, meaning “to comfort.” This root also has another meaning of “to regret, grieve or be sorry.” That the same root should have such different meanings may seem strange, but there is logic to it. One derives comfort from something that starts off as undesirable and regrettable, and which then improves. The Torah will play on these meanings when YHWH describes a few sentences later why He intends to destroy everything on the land, even though it pains him to do so.12

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YHWH saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth and that every product of the thoughts of his heart was but evil always. And YHWH reconsidered (vayinachem) (וַיִּנָּ֣חֶם) having made man on earth (ba’aretz) and He was pained (vayitatzev) in His heart. And YHWH said: “I will dissolve Man whom I created from upon the face of the earth ­(ha’adama) — from man to animal, to creeping things, and to birds of the sky; for I regret (nichamti) (נִחַמְתִּי) My having made them.” And Noah (Noach) (וְנֹחַ) found grace (chen) (חֵן) in the eyes of YHWH (Genesis 6:5-8).

 

There is another world play at the end of this last sentence. The letters of the word Noah (Noach in Hebrew) (נֹחַ) are the reverse of “chen” (חֵן) (grace). 

 

What do all these word plays mean, especially as there is no indication at first that Lemech’s wish will be fulfilled and that Noah will provide comfort to the world?

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However, the word plays do not end here.

 

Following the sacrifice offered by Noah:

 

YHWH smelled the pleasing aroma and YHWH said in his heart: I will not continue to curse the ground (ha’adama) anymore because of man; for the design of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing, as I have done. Continuously, all the days of the earth, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease (Genesis 8:21-22).13 

 

The Biblical commentary the Akeida formulates the problem in this way: man’s bad qualities brought about the flood in the past, why should they not do so in the future? Does God then play favorites?”

However, the answer becomes clearer when we see that these two verses above are referring back to the earlier verses quoted — that Noah will bring relief to the curse on the land and “that every product of the thoughts of his heart was but evil always” (Genesis 6:5).

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When Lemech made his wish, it seemed very farfetched. As a single individual, Noah could not change the fate of the world. However, the family that emerged from the ark did have the potential to change the world, and attention will be focused on the seed of Shem, and in particular on Abraham. God even had sufficient confidence in Noah’s family to remove the curse on the ground that was instituted in the Garden of Eden.

 

In sum, a single, righteous person cannot change the fate of the world. By contrast, a tribe from which will come a righteous nation can influence the fate of the world and provide the “comfort” to the land that was implied by Noah’s name.14

One should not view these early stories in Genesis in isolation. There is a continuous narrative being told here that will lead eventually to the election of Abraham.

 

References

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1.   Lecture 3, More about the Divine Names in the Documentary Hypothesis and the Composition of the Pentateuch by Umberto Cassuto, p40, Shalem Press, Jerusalem and New York, 2006. Also, Sifre Numbers 143.

      In the Book of Exodus, following the delivery of the Israelites from Egypt, Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses and a priest of Midian, arrives at the Sinai encampment together with Moses’ wife and two children: 

 And Jethro said: “Blessed be YHWH, who has saved you from the hand of the Egyptians, and from the hand of Pharaoh, who has saved the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that YHWH is greater than all gods; for in the thing where they dealt proudly, He was above them.” And Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for Elohim; and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before Elohim.” (Exodus 18:12)

 

       It would seem that Jethro recognizes YHWH as the God of Israel who delivered them from Egypt. In the midrashic literature he is even considered to have converted to Judaism (Rashi to Exodus 18:1). However, the names of God used in this passage suggest something entirely different. Jethro cannot wrench himself away from his background and his position in Midian as priest. In his worship to God, Jethro’s thoughts are not to the national God of Israel, but to Elohim, the universal God of mankind. What the Bible is describing here is the first monotheistic, interfaith prayer meeting in human history!  

      There is, however, a surprising omission from this sacrificial gathering. Aaron and the elders are present, but Moses, Jethro’s son-in-law, is not mentioned as being at the gathering. There could be a good reason for this. Moses was on a different spiritual level to everyone around him. How could a person with direct communication with YHWH sacrifice to a distant, universal God? Moses knew Jethro well from the many years he had spent in his home. His father-in-law would never change, which is why Moses excused himself.   (According to Rashi to Exodus 18:12 and based on a Mechilta, Moses was serving the meal to his father-in-law, and this is why he is not mentioned as being at the meal).

 

2.   Midrash Genesis Rabah 33:7 assumes that the 150 days follow the first 40 days of flooding. However, if this were the case, the ark would have rested on Mount Ararat too early, on the 17th of the 7th month, when the waters were still engorging. The Midrash resolves this problem by reinterpreting the seventh month to mean not the 7th month of the year, but the 7th month from the beginning of the flood, which would be the 17th day of the 9th month, i.e., one month later. Following a strict lunar calendar, the flood would then have ended on the 1st of the 9th month, and during this 16-day period the waters would have subsided sufficiently for the ark to come to rest on Mount Ararat.

 

3. Nachaminides to Genesis 8:5. Nachmanides has a problem with the interpretation of Genesis Rabah since it seems to deviate from the plain meaning of the text, especially as the midrash will go back to using the normal months of the year a few verses later (Genesis 8:13). This leads him to the interpretation that the 40 days of the flood are included within the 150 days. Hence, the rain commenced on the 17th of the 2nd month, and 150 days later (i.e., 5 months later) on the 17th of the 7th month the ark came to rest. On that very day “God caused a spirit to pass over the earth and the waters subsided” (Genesis 8:1), with the waters subsiding from being 15 amos above the mountains to an amount sufficient for the ark to come to rest on Mount Ararat. Nachmanides assumes that the waters started to abate from the time the ark rested on Mount Ararat.  

 

4.   The Chronology of the Flood, in A Commentary on the Book of Genesis, Part Two. From Noah to Abraham, A Commentary on Genesis V19-XI32 by U Cassuto, p43, First English Edition, The Magnes Press, P.O. Box 7695, Jerusalem 91076, Israel. 

 

 Cassuto uses the dates mentioned in the Bible for elucidating his timeline. Hence, we read: “And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the waters had dried from upon the earth” (Genesis 8:13), and this section continues: “And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried [completely].” (Genesis 8:14). The midrash Bereishis Rabba resolves the contradiction between these two sentences by explaining that on the first day of the first month there was still a crust of mud on the earth making it difficult for Noah and his family to leave the ark. (Bereishis Rabba 33:7. See also Rashi to Genesis 8:13). It was only by the 27th day of the second month that the earth had dired sufficiently for them to step outside. There is no reason to reject this explanation. But why the first day of the first month in Genesis 8:13? Prior to the Exodus, this date was Rosh Hashona (literally the Head of the Year), the Jewish festival commemorating the creation of the world;22 and it is likely that the Bible is implying here that with the survival of Noah and his sons, the earth was destined for a new beginning. The 27th day of the 2nd month is exactly one solar year after the flood began, suggesting perhaps that God was totally in control of the natural elements both by solar and lunar dating. (Rashi to Genesis 8:14). A regular solar year is 365 days. A regular lunar year, in which 6 months have 29 days each and 6 months have 30 days each, contains 354 days).

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      Cassuto’s explanation makes a number of assumptions. Like Nachmanides, he assumes that the forty period of the flood is included within the 150 days. He also assumes that this 150-day period is equivalent to five 30-day lunar months. In actuality, 5 lunar months is 147 days (and the Talmudic explanation does account for the days in this manner). He also assumes that the “fountains of the deep” and the “windows of the heaven” were closed at the end of 40 days, i.e., on the 27th day of the third month. During the first 40 days the full strength of the flood was maintained and was sufficient to cover the mountaintops to a depth of 15 amos (Genesis 7:20). He also suggests that the word vayigburu in Genesis 7:24 means not that the waters strengthened, but that the waters prevailed, i.e., that the waters had sufficient power that they did not decline appreciably until after the 150-day period had passed. Nevertheless, during these 150 days the waters were already receding back into the “tehom (depths)” so that by the end of the 150-day period they had diminished sufficiently for the ark to rest upon a mountaintop. This is exactly five months from the onset of the Flood.  He also assumes that the birds were sent out at seven-day intervals. The text does not explicitly state that the dove was first sent out seven days after a raven had been sent out, although the Bible does mention that he waited yet another seven days (Genesis 8:10) with respect to sending out the dove a second time. Note in particular the 7th line of the table below (marked by an asterisk) in which the raven from a P source is sent out exactly 40 days from the tops of the mountains becoming visible, which also is a P source. This 40-day period is found in a J sentence which is part of the chiastic structure and is also a J number. 

 

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​​​6.   Chapter 14 The World that the Bible Produced in Who Wrote the Bible? by Richard Elliott Friedman, HarperCollins Publishers, 1997. For imaginative political intrigue, this is excellent reading. Whether it bears any relationship to anything that actually happened is another matter entirely. 

7.   The Names of God in The Koren Siddur by Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks, pxiv, Koren Publishers, Jerusalem, Israel, First Hebrew/ English Edition, 2009. 

8.   Gilgamesh, tablet XI in Myths from Mesopotamia. Creation, The Flood, Gilgamesh and Others by Stephanie Dalley. iv, p113-114, Oxford University Press, Revised edition 2000.

9.   Twelfth paragraph: the Sign of the Covenant in A Commentary on the Book of Genesis, Part Two. From Noah to Abraham by U Cassuto, p134, First English Edition, The Magnes Press, P.O. Box 7695, Jerusalem 91076, Israel.

10. Sefer Toledot, the Tower of Babel and the Purpose of the Book of Genesis by Rav Menachem Leibtag in Torah Mietzion. New Readings in Tanach, Bereishit, p69. Maggid Books, Jerusalem 2011.

 

11. Rashi to Genesis 5:29. Rashi also reflects the midrashic idea that Lemech’s wish was that Noah would make an agricultural discovery, such as a plough, that would relieve the curse on the ground.

 

12. There is a theological issue here discussed by some commentators as to how God who knows the future can suddenly change His mind. Rashi in his comments to Genesis 6:6 provides an analogy, and suggests that although He knew the course of the world, He nevertheless created it as described “because of the righteous who are destined to arise from them.” An alternative explanation is that this type of flexibility is a feature of the YHWH aspect of God.

 

13. A suggestion made by Midrashic and later commentators is that there would be changes in the nature of the world after the flood that would limit man’s ability to sin. Hence, Bereishis Rabba 34 suggests that climatic changes after the flood had the effect of limiting man’s ability to sin, since he would no longer be able to move swiftly from one part of the world to the other. Another change mentioned in the Torah is that after the flood man was permitted to eat meat, whereas previously he had been a vegetarian. This may relate to a change in man’s role in the world, in that he no longer has complete sovereignty over the animal world, and to an extent is now part of it. However, no such changes are mentioned in the text other than that the fear of man would now be upon the animal kingdom (Genesis 9:2-3).   

 

14. Nahum Sarna in his JPS Torah Commentary on Genesis also points out the wordplay between nachem (נחם  ) and nechama (נחמה), indicating a deep connection between Noah's name and the theme of divine regret. He suggests that Noah, who was named for comfort, becomes the instrument of salvation for humanity, despite God's sorrow over creation's wickedness. Noah’s actions provide a kind of "comfort" in the face of divine judgment.