Noach (Noah / Rest)
Genesis 6:9–11:32; Isaiah 54:1–55:5; Luke 1:5–80

“This is the account of Noah and his family.  Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.”  (Genesis 6:9)

This model of Noah’s Ark was created in the Netherlands by Johan Huibers, who used the measurements found in Genesis 6 as a guide.

Last week in Parasha Bereisheet, Adam and Chava (Eve) were exiled from the Garden of Eden because of sin. They became fruitful and multiplied, as God intended, but sin manifested in their son Cain when he murdered his brother Abel.

This week’s Torah portion specifically identifies that by the time of Noah, the earth was filled with violence (hamas – חָמָ֖ס).

God decided to cleanse the world from that hamas by sending a Great Flood upon the earth that would destroy every living thing He had created.

“So God said to Noah, ‘I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence [hamas] because of them.  I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.’”  (Genesis 6:13)

Noah and His Ark (1819), by Charles Willson Peale

Noah Means Rest

“By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family.  By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.”  (Hebrews 11:7)

Although the world was filled with injustice, cruelty and violence, God found one man worth saving.  Noach (Noah) was in his generation the only ish tzadik (righteous man).

In Hebrew, the name Noach means rest or consolation.  It is related to the word for comfort.

His father called him Noach believing that he would bring him rest from hard labor over the ground that was cursed because of sin.  (Genesis 5:29)

Perhaps his father also foresaw a greater calling of Noach to bring rest.

Because Noach was a righteous man, God instructed him to build the ark to save himself, his family, and the world’s animals from the coming deluge.  In that way, those who followed Noah into the ark found rest from God’s judgment.

When his family left the ark, they entered what was essentially a new world.

The Dove Returns to Noah, by James Tissot

The Obedience of Faith

Though Noach likely could not even imagine a flood so severe that everything and everyone on earth would be destroyed, he obeyed God.

Year after year, he labored in the sun, following through on God’s instructions.

He did not need to see evidence of the coming rain; he had faith in God.

It was Noah’s great faith that led him to work obediently with Godly fear to build an ark for the saving of his family.  (Hebrews 11:7)

It must be noted, however, that Noah’s Ark (Tevat Noach) guaranteed only their physical salvation, not their spiritual destiny.

The ark seems to foreshadow the protection of the Israelites through the blood of the lamb on the doorpost in Egypt.

Like the ark, that blood only guaranteed the physical safety and deliverance from the final plague in Egypt, the death of the firstborn.  (Exodus 12:12)

Building the Ark, by James Tissot

It also did not guarantee that those who survived as a result of that blood would make it to the Promised Land.  Each person determined their own entry into that Land.

Tragically, just as most of the people perished in the flood, the vast majority of the children of Israel also died in the wilderness due to unbelief.

Only two men, Caleb and Joshua, who walked with God wholeheartedly, were given the right to enter the Promised Land.

Unbelief leads to disobedience that robs us of the rest of God.

An elderly orthodox Jewish man walks with other Israelis and tourists
outside the Old City walls of Jerusalem.

“And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed?  So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.”  (Hebrews 3:18–19)

The faith of Noach is something of a parallel with our own walk with God and entrance to the “New Jerusalem.”

It is by faith that we inherit the promises, not good deeds, though good deeds and obedience are essential hallmarks of a living faith.

After all, Noach did not establish his faith only with words; he demonstrated it with faithful obedience.

“But someone will say, ‘You have faith; I have deeds.’  Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.”  (James 2:18)

Thanksgiving after Leaving Noah’s Ark (1901), by Domenico Morelli

The Rainbow: the Sign of the Covenant

After Noah and his family emerged from the Ark, they sacrificed to God an offering of the clean animals carried on the Ark for that purpose.

God promises Noah that He will never again curse the earth because of the wickedness of man, and never again destroy every living, breathing creature on earth as He had done in the flood:

“And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma.  Then the Lord said in His heart, ‘I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.’”  (Genesis 8:21)

God sets a rainbow in the sky as a sign of the covenant (ot brit / אוֹת בְּרִית) with all people of the earth: “I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.”  (Genesis 9:13)

This is not the only covenant that God has made.  Other covenants were to follow, and each one comes with its own particular sign (ot).  The sign of the Abrahamic covenant is circumcision of all male infants on the eighth day.

The sign of the Mosaic covenant is the keeping of the seventh-day Sabbath.

Yeshua said that the great hallmark of faith in Him — of having the Torah written inside our hearts and minds in the Brit Chadashah (New Covenant) — is love:

“By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:35)

Jewish women chat in an Israeli cafe.

Haftarah (Prophetic Portion)

“To Me this is like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth. So now I have sworn not to be angry with you, never to rebuke you again.

“Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you.”  (Isaiah 54:9–10)

The Haftarah portion of this week’s reading highlights God’s covenant with Noah to never again destroy the earth through flood.  It also emphasizes God’s unfailing love for Israel and His forgiveness, redemption, and restoration through His covenant of peace.

God promises that exiled Israel, who was punished for their sins, will one day be forgiven, redeemed, and returned to her Land in fulfillment of Bible Prophecy.

“For a little moment I left you, and with great mercies I will gather you up.” (Isaiah 54:7)

The daily newspaper Davar with Ben Gurion’s historic message regarding the establishment of the State of Israel on May 15, 1948.

As in the Days of Noach

A final judgment and destruction is coming upon the world; but just as was in the days of Noah before the flood, most continue on with life as usual, completely unaware of what is coming.

“But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.  For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away.”  (Matthew 24:36–39)

Those who love God and are faithful to His Word will not be consumed, but will see His glory displayed in the new heavens and the new earth:

“As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before Me, declares the LORD, so will your name and descendants endure.  From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before Me, says the LORD.”  (Isaiah 66:22–23)

Today, we live in perilous times, when the nations of the earth are being shaken with terrible floods, fires, hurricanes, tsunamis, famines and earthquakes—one natural disaster after another, as Yeshua prophesied would happen in the last days before His second coming:

“Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.  There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.”  (Matthew 24:7)

Yeshua has promised to be a safe place of refuge for us; therefore, no matter what trials we may endure, we can rest in His promise of eternal security.

May we emerge from this ark of salvation to see the establishment of the new heavens and the new earth of peace and righteousness and perfect justice under the rule of Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Messiah).

“Watch, therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”  (Luke 21:36)