Torah Portion Noach - A New Beginning

By Dan & Brenda Cathcart

The video version is available at: https://youtu.be/wENqajZSB3w

The Torah reading is Genesis 6:9-11:32

As Creation week ended, God pronounced that it was good, and He rested on the seventh day. Adam, the crown of creation, was created in God’s image and, thus, had the ability to choose whether or not to serve God. Adam, along with Eve, gave in to the temptation presented by Satan and sin entered the world. Adam and Eve were exiled from the garden, but that didn’t solve the problem of sin and rebellion. In fact, the problem escalated. Adam and Eve sinned against God. Their firstborn son Cain sinned against his brother murdering him out of jealously. This downward spiral continued until God declared that He regretted creating Adam.

Genesis 6:5-7 NKJV 5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 So the LORD said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them."

God declared that He would destroy His creation. How would this destruction lead to a new beginning and a new creation?

In the midst of the corruption of the whole earth, God offered a glimmer of hope. Noah was a man who walked with God.

Genesis 6:9 NKJV 9 This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God.

The name Noah, number 5146 in Strong’s Concordance, means rest. The root word for Noah’s name is “noo-akh,” number 5117 meaning to rest or settle down. Let’s explore this concept of rest. God uses the word “noo-akh” when He declares that He rested on the seventh day of creation.

Exodus 20:11 NKJV 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

Noah became the haven of rest for his family and for the remnant of the animals that entered the ark. They had entered a place of rest while the rest of mankind, all flesh and even the earth were destroyed. The writer of Hebrews explains the importance of entering into rest comparing it to the children of Israel entering the Promised Land. Those who rebelled against God in the wilderness did not enter God’s rest. However, the writer of Hebrews proclaims that there remains a rest for the people of God.

Hebrews 4:9-11 NKJV 9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. 11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.

Noah was the agent of God’s rest in his generation. Yeshua is the agent of rest in our generation and throughout all generations. Let us, as the writer of Hebrews urges, strive to enter into that rest.

Now, let’s look at the description of Noah as just and perfect. The Hebrew word translated as “just” is “tsad-deek,” number 6662, meaning just, lawful, or righteous. Noah upheld God’s standards to love God and to love his fellow man which Adam and Cain had first broken. The word “perfect” is from the Hebrew word “taw-meem,” number 8549. In its simplest definition, it means whole or entire. Any offering brought before the LORD must be taw-meem, whole, entire, without blemish or defect. Noah’s perfection is qualified by the phrase “in his generations.” There is debate about how to understand this phrase. It could be meant as additional praise of Noah that even among the corruption of his day, he remained just and whole. However, it could also be that in comparison to the wickedness of his generation, Noah was perfect. In either case, Noah found mercy resulting in the salvation of a portion of God’s creation.

As we continue the account of Noah, we learn that God decided to destroy not only mankind, but all flesh and even the earth itself. God stated that all flesh had corrupted itself.

Genesis 6:11-13 NKJV 11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 13 And God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

To accomplish this, God told Noah to build an ark for himself, his family, two of each created kind of animal, seven pairs of each type of bird, and seven pairs of each clean animal. This remnant of creation would remain after the destruction of the earth. Then, in order to make sure the ark would survive, God told Noah to coat it with pitch.

Genesis 6:14 NKJV 14 "Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch.

The word “cover” is the Hebrew word “kaw-far,” number 3722 meaning to cover. The word pitch is the word “ko-fer,” meaning a cover such as pitch or bitumen. God had Noah provide a protective covering for the ark. Noah would have died along with the rest of the “flesh” of the earth if not for the protective covering of the pitch, the “ko-fer.” The word for “Kip-poor,” #3725 which we translate as atonement, comes from this word to cover. Atonement, literally, is a covering protecting us from the judgment that comes from God due to sin. Noah and his family symbolically died in the flesh but were given new life because of the covering God instructed Noah to use on the ark.

After Noah entered the ark, God closed the door and the flood began seven days later. Contrary to popular belief, the source of the waters was not just rain from the sky. God opened the earth to release the fountains of water that were under the earth. He probably also raised the ocean floor to allow the oceans to rise over the earth.

Genesis 7:11-12 NKJV 11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. 12 And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.

The entire earth was covered with water. The only sign of life was the ark moving on the surface.

Genesis 7:18-20 NKJV 18 The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters. 19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. 20 The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered.

God accomplished His purpose of destroying all flesh, mankind, and even the earth.

Genesis 7:23-24 NKJV 23 So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. 24 And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days.

The waters remained over the earth for one hundred fifty days. At this time, the earth resembled the earth as it was at the beginning of creation when water covered the earth.

Genesis 1:2 NKJV 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

The waters of the flood receded only after God closed up the fountains of the deep returning the waters from under the earth to their place and causing the rain to stop.

Genesis 8:1-2 NKJV 1 Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. 2 The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained.

The wind or the spirit, the ruach, passed over the earth like the spirit hovered over the waters at creation. The process of the waters receding took an additional one hundred fifty days. Note the symmetry of these events.

Genesis 8:3-4 NKJV 3 And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. 4 Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat.

As the waters receded off the earth, Noah released a raven and a dove from the window in the ark. The dove did not find a resting place and, so, returned to the ark where Noah or rest could be found.

Genesis 8:9 NKJV 9 But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself.

In Genesis chapter one when the spirit hovers over the water, the word hovers is translated from the Hebrew word “raw-khaf,” number 7363 meaning to brood or flutter.  Moses uses the same word in Deuteronomy 32:11 when describing an eagle fluttering over her young. God sent the ruach to hover over the waters, and Noah sent the dove. We can imagine the dove as it moved over the water fluttering its wings seeking any place to rest or any sign of life.

Finally, the dry land began to appear, but only after God shut off the fountains of the deep. This mirrors the second day of creation when God gathered the waters and dry land appeared.

Genesis 8:5 NKJV 5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.

Noah sent out the dove a second time and the dove returned with the olive leaf.

Genesis 8:11 NKJV 11 Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth.

This, of course, matches the third day of creation when God brought forth plants on the earth. Two months after the dry land appeared, Noah removed the covering from the ark.

Genesis 8:13 NKJV 13 And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry.

Before Noah removed the covering, his only view of the outside world was through the window. Now, it is as if the sun, the moon, and the stars have been returned to him. This is the fourth day of creation.

Then God instructed Noah to open the ark and bring out all the animals reenacting the fifth and sixth days of creation and completing the new creation.   

Genesis 8:15-17 NKJV 15 Then God spoke to Noah, saying, 16 "Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives with you. 17 "Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth."

God gave Adam and Eve the command to fill the earth on the sixth day of creation. Now, God gives Noah the command to fill the earth. Noah built an altar and brought an offering that had a soothing aroma.

Genesis 8:20-21 NKJV 20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 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.

The word translated as “soothing” is “ne-kho-ach,” which is related to the word “nuwach.” “Ne-kho-ach” means restful. The offering had a restful aroma! God received the offering and declared that He would not respond to mankind’s sin again by cursing the ground.

Unfortunately, the flood did not correct the problem of man’s inclination to disobedience. Even as God is accepting Noah’s offering, God declares that man’s heart is evil from his youth! Paul writes that nothing good lives in his flesh.

Romans 7:18 NKJV 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.

So, now what? God said He would not destroy the earth again because of man’s sin, but what can be done to redeem this new creation which is still filled with the disposition to do evil? God begins by giving man not only plants to eat, but the flesh of animals as well. However, He prohibited eating the blood of the animal.

Genesis 9:3-4 NKJV 3 "Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. 4 "But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.

The word life in verse four is the Hebrew word “neh-fesh,” number 5315 meaning a breathing creature from the root word “naw-fesh” meaning to breathe. In the Torah portion Breisheet, we examined God giving life to Adam by breathing into Adam’s nostrils and, thus, he became a neh-fesh, a breathing creature. The breath of life is connected here to the blood of that living creature. God will later clarify the relationship between life, “neh-fesh,” and blood in His instructions to the children of Israel.

Leviticus 17:11-12 NKJV 11 'For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.' 12 "Therefore I said to the children of Israel, 'No one among you shall eat blood, nor shall any stranger who dwells among you eat blood.'

In this translation, the word neh-fesh is translated as soul. God gave the blood on the altar to make atonement or covering for the breath of life. God goes on to explain to Noah that each man is accountable for his own blood.

Genesis 9:5-6 YLT 5 `And only your blood for your lives do I require; from the hand of every living thing I require it, and from the hand of man, from the hand of every man's brother I require the life of man; 6 whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man is his blood shed: for in the image of God hath He made man.

The words “lives” and “life” are both the Hebrew word “neh-fesh.” God will require the breath of life, the neh-fesh, through the accounting of blood.

Just like in the time of Noah, the death of all flesh is required because man’s heart is evil from his youth. Paul tells us that neither Jew nor Gentile is righteous.

Romans 3:9-10 NKJV 9 What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. 10 As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one;

However, God preserved Noah and his family in the ark which was covered with pitch. We can say that the pitch is their covering or their atonement. The writer of Hebrews tells us that Yeshua’s blood made atonement for us.

Hebrews 9:13-14 NKJV 13 For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, 14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

Peter tells us that Yeshua was put to death in the flesh.

1 Peter 3:18 NKJV 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,

Redemption comes through the shed blood of Messiah Yeshua. The same spirit that raised Yeshua from the dead gives new life to those who believe in Him.

Romans 8:11-13 NKJV 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. 12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors--not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

We are to live, then, in this new creation as a new creation ourselves, dying to the flesh as Noah symbolically died in the flesh. We are to embrace the new life given to us by the atonement or covering provided by Yeshua’s blood. We are to take this new life and live by the Spirit.

At the time of Noah, God destroyed mankind, all flesh, and the entire earth. At the same time, He essentially recreated the earth going through the sequence of creation over again. After the one-thousand-year reign of Messiah, God will once again create not only a new earth, but a new heaven!

Study Questions:

Teaching Questions

 

1.      In what ways is the earth after the flood a new creation? How is this communicated through the flood account? Through the covenant given to Noah and all living creatures in Genesis 9:8-17?

 

2.      Noah’s name means rest. What is the significance of the meaning of Noah’s name? How does it point to a time when the earth will no longer be filled with violence?

 

3.      How does the introduction of the sanctity of blood and that man is accountable both for his own blood and the blood of his brother address the issue of man’s evil heart? What is the connection with the breathing creature, the neh-fesh?

 

General Portion Questions

 

4.      The flood did not solve the problem of man’s heart being evil from his youth. How does this show up in the rest of the Torah portion after the flood? (Genesis 9:18-11:32?)

 

5.      The Hebrew word for ark is tay-baw. number 8392 in Strong’s Concordance. This is the same word used for the basket Moses is placed in (Exodus 2:3). Moses’ basket like the ark was coated with pitch or bitumen. How is Moses like Noah?

 

6.      What other insights did you gain from this teaching? What indicators are there in this Torah Portion that point to Messiah Yeshua?

 

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