PARASHAH NOACH (NOAH)
B’RESHEET ~ Genesis 6:9-11:32, Week 2
“The days of Noah” were characterized by: Spiritual Anarchy, Bloodlust, Evil, Chaos, Rebellion.
As if the young earth would return to its pre-creation state of TOHU VAVOHU (Genesis 1: 1-5), the earth returned, during the flood, to the waters of Creation.
Noah was not arbitrarily spared from God’s imminent destruction, but was recognized, REMEMBERED by God, as righteous, TZADIK, one who walked with God. Our Lives MATTER!
NOACH: Means Rest
TZADIK: Means Righteous; To the Tzadik, life is a journey to draw near to a holy God.
HALAKAH: Means Walk (Our spiritual journey; walk with God)
CHEN: Means Favor (Favor of God)
CHATA’AH: Means to Sin or miss the mark!
N’FILIM: Means Giants, Bullies, Tyrants (There is much debate on this term. Re-read Gen. 6:1-4)
MABBUL: Means Flood (Dor Ha Mabbul: The Generation of the Flood)
TA’VA: Means Ark or Floating Boat… The 4 Arks of the Bible have a divine intersection — Salvation!
1) Ta’va: Noah’s Ark, designed by God, held the treasure of LIFE, and upheld God’s creation design
2) Aron: The Ark of the Covenant, designed by God, held the treasure of LIFE, TORAH!
3) Tebah: A small Ark held baby Moses, designed by God, saving Moses saved Nation of Israel
4) Sukkah: Trough or Manger, held infant Yeshua, designed by God, saving baby Yeshua from the ‘pogrom’ of King Harrod / The Manger as ARK, saved the SAVIOR of the WORLD!
MESSIAH: Meaning Anointed One (to anoint means to appoint; ordain; commission; bless)
BERITH: Means Covenant; treaty, compact, agreement between two parties (first used in God’s covenant with Noah: Gen 6:18, 9:9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17). The word CUT is part of the understanding of Covenant.
In order to bind an agreement, blood was shed, thus the ancient term: Cut a Covenant which was solemn and binding between two parties, with reciprocal functions, benefits, or penalties! (Blessing or Curse)
CIRCUMCISION: Was the seal of the Covenant between ADONAI and the Nation of Isra’el.
ZAKAR: Means to Remember, to Memorialize. Remembering which leads to ACTION by GOD. Adonai’s remembering the righteousness of Noach brought forth the command to build the ARK in order to provide SALVATION!
NOAHIC COVENANT: God’s “War Bow” or “Rainbow of PROMISE” that He would not destroy the earth and all living creatures and mankind by flood, again. The earth was subdued by water purification for 150 days. Earth awaits purification by FIRE in the Acharit Hayamim (End of days).
B’RESHEET 2:15 (ELOHIM to Lucifer, (the Being of Light) now turned into a serpent in the Garden.
“I will put animosity between you and the woman, and between your descendant (seed) and her descendant (seed) he will bruise your head and you will bruise his heel.”
This is the first Gospel message ever recorded in the Scriptures of the promised Messiah!
We know the descendant of Eve foreshadows Yeshua Ha Massiache, but WHO is the descendant of the Serpent?
Speaking to the Pharisees, Jesus said:
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.
Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?
He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.
John 8:44-47
Those who do not do the will of God, but live in sin are the devil’s seed.
He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.
Matthew 12:30
By the words of Messiah, the descendants of Satan are those living in spiritual rebellion against the Words and Instructions of The Lord God Almighty
Interesting Facts which bolster our faith!
The Flood: Some scholars believe before the flood, it had never rained, as the earth was watered by a mist which God caused to come UP from the ground and irrigate the earth as described in Genesis. Ancient historical documents recount a flood like the one in Genesis: The Gilgamesh Epic of Babylonia, makes a clear account of a world-wide flood of the earth. Some scholars believe it was a local flood, meaning just the area of earth where Noach could see from the ARK, as flooded. Some scientists believe in the literal flood because of the sediment deposits over all the earth which would have to be consistent with a world-wide flood.
The Ark: 450 ft. long, 3 stories high, coated inside and outside in pitch to withstand the flood. The architectural dimensions and design of the ARK as given by The Divine Architect, have impacted the shipping industry to this day. The ARK was the very first Container Ship!
These exact dimensions are still used today for building container ships to withstand the crossing of the Seas around the world as they deliver goods.
Historical Facts about Noah:
Noah was of the 10th Generation from Adam and Eve on the eternal family tree
Noah was a righteous man in the eyes of God: Tzadik means righteous
Noah was said to have ‘Walked with God’: ‘Halak’…or to have ‘Halakah’…a journey with God
Noah found favor and grace with God…Hebrew word is “Chen”
Noah was a foreshadow of Messiah Who saves, who gives comfort and rest.
Noah was 600 years old when the rain and flooding of the ground began!
Noah was 601 when the Ark rested atop Mt. Ararat, as the waters receded.
Noah was obedient to God in the building and preparations of the Ark to every detail. This is a sign of great humility and meekness. Humility and meekness precede holiness.
Noah, a farmer, was the first to plant a vineyard.
Noah’s 3 sons (Shem, Ham, Japeth) re-populated the earth into 70 Nations
Noah’s descendants fell away from Adonai, going “The Way of Cain” (idol worship).
There were 10 generations from Noah, to Abraham.
See Noah and his 7 family members who were saved as a foreshadow of the end of days remnant of righteous, to be saved in the last days on earth before the final trampling of the Wine Press of Judgement begins on earth…to purify, forever, the effects of sin!
The number 8 signifies a NEW BEGINNING, biblically. God set apart 8 righteous people and saved them in an Ark of safety, from His wrath. Our lives matter in eternal ways!
The Rainbow, translated from Hebrew to mean “War Bow”, represents ELOHIM’S covenant to never again destroy the earth with water. This is a symbol of His everlasting covenant with His chosen Nation, Israel. Should we expect to see God’s rainbow “On That Day” of full restoration of Israel? This is referred to today as the Noahide Covenant.
The Covenant Offering: Noah’s burnt offering atop Mt. Ararat was very pleasing to the Lord. It was this obedient sacrifice and expression of thanksgiving to God which prompted Adonai to make The Noahic Covenant promising to never again destroy the earth by flood, on the heels of destroying His creation in order to REFINE it through a tiny remnant of 8 people led by Noah.
Be amazed at the magnanimous nature of Adonai, as He smells the fragrance of Noah’s burnt thanksgiving offering! The Heavenly Father is WAITING for our WORSHIP!
“I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, since the imaginings of a person’s heart are evil from his youth, nor will I ever again destroy all living things as I have done. So long as the earth exists, sowing time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will not cease.”
Noah’s obedience and worship brought BLESSINGS!
God blessed Noah and his sons and said:
- Be Fruitful and Multiply and fill the earth (Prosper as Image Bearers of the Adonai)
- Every moving thing will be food for you but of its blood you are NOT to eat (Dietary Laws)
- I will demand from every human being an accounting for the life of his fellow human being. This was the institution of Capital Punishment – 9:6 – a deterrent for murder. The Life for Life Principal!
Noah became drunk on his wine from his own vineyard and was SEEN by Ham, his son, who had opened his father’s private tent uninvited, in a dishonorable way.
There is Midrash as to what this meant.
After much research and soul searching in contemplating the sin of Ham against his father Noah, I have come into agreement with much of my research from a Rabbinical, Hebraic place of understanding. It is not necessarily accurate to agree that Ham, upon SEEING the nakedness of his father, castrated or sodomized his father. This is ancient Midrash or opinion. What God’s word tells us must be our plumb-line as we learn the stories of the Patriarchs.
We read that upon TELLING of Noah’s drunken nakedness, Japheth and Shem walked BACKWARDS into the privacy of Noah’s tent to cover him up, restoring honor to their father.
Ham entered uninvited into his father’s private dwelling place, which was dishonorable, and there he witnessed the scene. Instead of discreetly “covering” his father’s nakedness, Ham entered uninvited, then verbalized “Lashon Hara” or “The Evil Tongue” against his father. This is the deeper understanding of the Hebraic logic and cultural honor code for a father by a son. If son Ham had never entered the privacy of Noah’s tent, the entire episode would not be recorded in the Bible for all time.
BOUNDARIES BRING BEAUTY! BREAKING BOUNDARIES BRINGS CHAOS!
Do your own research about Ham and the subsequent curse on his son Kena’an. Consider how the curse on Kena’an may have been a prophecy by Noah, of how the sin of son Ham would pass onto his grandson in a generational curse from sin. Consider that the nations of Sodom and Gomorrah came from the lineage of the son, HAM. See how generational sins of the fathers affect children and history!
LESHON HAKODESH: One language … Noah’s descendants remained a “single people” with ONE language all understood for 10 generations. It was Noah’s descendants who built the Tower of Babel, to make A NAME FOR THEMSELVES!
Consider the Tower of Babel; and the spirit behind its creation, versus the Towers to Adonai, built as altars and monuments pointing up to heaven to honor the Creator by the patriarchs of Torah!
Noah’s descendants eventually went “The Way of Cain” developing a religion of idol worship. This was a true “Falling Away” from Adonai. This characterizes the GREAT FALLING AWAY in the Acharit Hayamim! The world has gone the Way of Cain!
The Tower of Babel is a great discussion, and the Babylonian destruction of the first temple is the example of the war between good and evil! Even though God came down to destroy the Tower of Babel to SAVE mankind from evil, the spirit of this Tower was alive in Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon who destroyed God’s Temple in Jerusalem in 587 BC!
It is important to note the genealogy of Noah’s descendants which identifies Terach the Chaldean, as the father of Abraham, and a wealthy patriarch of the UR of CHALDEAS. Terach was the Gentile who fathered the nation of Israel, as Abraham’s father.
The most important reason Torah lists the genealogy from Adam and Eve is to highlight historical ‘order’ and genealogical mapping to our Savior, Yeshua Ha Massiache!
Jesus was not only the Son of God, Divine and part of the Godhead, but also Son of Man, completely human, and a historical Jew who intersected time, space, and human history!
Haftarah (Old Covenant) Reading Is. 54:1-55:5:
“Briefly I abandoned you, but with great compassion I am taking you back. I was angry for a moment and hid my face from you, but with everlasting grace I will have compassion on you, says Adonai your Redeemer. For me, this is like Noah’s flood. Just as I swore that no flood like Noah’s would ever again cover the earth, so now I swear that never again will I be angry with you or rebuke you. For the mountains may leave and the hills be removed, but my grace will never leave you, and my covenant of peace will not be removed, says Adonai, who has compassion on you.”
“All you who are thirsty come to the water! You without money, come, buy and eat! Yes, come! Buy wine and milk without money, it’s free! Why spend money for what isn’t food, your wages for what doesn’t satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and you will eat well, you will enjoy the fat of the land. Open your ears, and come to me, listen well, and you will live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, the grace I assured David. I have given him as a witness to the peoples, a leader and lawgiver for the peoples. You will summon a nation you do not know, and a nation that doesn’t know you will run to you, for the sake of Adonai your God, the Holy One of Israel who will glorify you.” Parallel verses in Revelation 22:17
Brit Chadashah (New Covenant) Reading: Matt. 24: 36-46, 1 Peter 3:18-22
Matthew: “But when the day and hour will come no one knows, not the angels in heaven, or the Son, only the Father. For the Son of Man’s coming will be just as it was in the days of Noah. Back then before the Flood, people went on eating and drinking, taking wives and becoming wives right up ‘till the day Noah entered the ark; and they didn’t know what was happening until the Flood came and swept them all away. It will be just like that when the Son of Man comes. Then there will be two men in a field, one will be taken and the other left behind. There will be two women grinding flour at the mill, one will be taken and the other left behind. So, stay alert, because you don’t know on what day your Lord will come. But you do know this; had the owner of the house known when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore, you too must always be ready, for the Son of man will come when you are not expecting him.”
“Who is the faithful and sensible servant whose master puts him in charge of the household staff to give them their food at the proper time? It will go well with that servant if he is found doing his job when his master comes. Yes, I tell you that he will put him in charge of all he owns. But if that servant is wicked and says to himself, “My master is taking his time; and he starts beating up his fellow servants and spends his times eating and drinking with drunkards; then his master will come on a day the servant does not expect at a time he doesn’t now, and he will cut him in two and put him with the hypocrites, where people will wail and grind their teeth!”
1 Peter: For the Messiah himself died for sins, once and for all, a righteous person on behalf of unrighteous people, so that He might bring you to God.
He was put to death in the flesh, but brought to life by the Spirit; and in this form he went and made a proclamation to the imprisoned spirits, to those who were disobedient long ago in the days of Noah, when God waited patiently during the building of the Ark, in which a few people to be specific, eight, were delivered by means of water. This also prefigures what delivers us now, the water of immersion, which is not the removal of dirt from the body but one’s pledge to keep a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Yeshua the Messiah. He has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels and authorities and powers subject to Him.
Saved by the immersion of water:
1)Noah and his 7 family members inside the Ark of life (mankind and animal-kind)
2)Infant Moses, escaped the edict of death in Egypt, in the Ark, and saved the Nation of Israel from bondage
3)The new Nation of Israel was saved by entering in the immersion into the Red Sea
4)The Mikveh or immersion bath of the priesthood, led to Baptism. (John the Baptist calling out into the wilderness for all to come, be cleansed and be saved!)