Noach – Once Upon a Week

Read the transcript below, or watch a video of the teaching by Yehuda Bachana.

Parashat Noach (“Noah”) begins after we read last week’s harsh words:

We witness a cruel and ruthless world. People of the flood generation were ruled by their desires alone, and as a result, “the earth was filled with violence” (Genesis 7:13). Then came the flood and wiped out the world.

In the days of Noah, every person, or every small group, cared only for themselves and their own needs, on the account of others. Humans turn into bands of animals, that fight for food, shelter and hunting ground. They killed and raped to satisfy themselves.

The world turned into an endless warzone, where everyone is an enemy, and people lived in constant fear of death, rape, or other violent outcome. With no rules or limitations. Violence and wickedness filled the earth.

This Torah portion tells us about Noah, his sons and grandsons. It tells us about the new world that Noah and his family build, but once again it ended sadly: the story of the Tower of Babel, when God scattered men all over the earth.

We learn that as long as a man sees himself as the lord of the land, and does not accept divine authority — as long as he sees himself as God, in charge of his own destiny — such a world cannot continue to exist.

At the end of the “Bereshit” (Genesis) portion we read about Noah’s birth. His father, Lamech, called his son “Noah” — meaning comfort — as a sign of hope, or as a prophecy, that:

It shows an understanding, that our world is broken, and we, as humans, are able to fix and to improve it.

I believe that our job is to improve the existing situation, to see what we can do in order to make things better. Even more so — we need to search for things that we can improve, to search for what and where we can fix, repair, and make better. We have to rise up and act, in every area of our lives!

It is clear that the first place where we can act is our family. From there, we can proceed to our surroundings: neighborhood, workplace, and society.

God called Noah. God found him suitable for the task ahead, because Noah was a man of action. It is written that:

“Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.” — Genesis 6:9

The Torah describes Noah as a righteous man. But in my opinion, he was also called because of his abilities. Noah worked on the land, he was capable to take care of God’s creation, to replant and to repair what the flood had destroyed.

He was both willing and able to act, to build the ark, to provide all the needs of his zoo in the ark, and more or less to restore and recreate the entire world. God made us in His image, with ability to build and to create.

As Messianic believers, we are called to be workers in the kingdom of heaven. In the New Testament, Yeshua teaches us that the work is overwhelming, but the workers are few (Matthew 9:37).

Yeshua is calling us to invest and to build the kingdom. And that is why there are so many Messianic charities that help those in need. We help the poor around us, donate to hospitals, to children at risk, to troubled families. We help with new immigrants, and more.

We do not do this so we can convert those in need into our religion. We are doing it because Yeshua commands us to help wherever we can.

There is much to do, and the work is not easy. It wears us down. But we are called to be like Noah, to invest in the future. We are called to build the ark of salvation for everyone who is willing to hear about the coming flood.

Noah’s ark was much bigger than his family needed. We are called to provide and to take care of those in the ark.

Let’s think about Noah. Do you think it was easy for him and his family? They invested everything they had in the ark, and then they spent over a year locked in a stuffy, crowded place, filled with noise and the smell of the animals, like in the zoo, only it was a small, crowded, closed zoo, floating on water.

If we think that serving God is “easy” or “pleasant”, think again. More than anything it depends on our willingness to serve and on the focus of our hearts. Serving God can be easy, and it can be difficult, depending on our attitude.

And sometimes, it can be difficult, regardless of our attitude. Look at the prophets, most of them did not have it easy.

Why did God save Noah? God told Noah:

We learn that God tests His creation. He hurts when we sin, especially when we hurt one another. God also tests our hearts, to see if we are faithful and follow Him.

Ezekiel points out Noah’s righteousness:

The New Testament speaks of Noah as a man of great faith. He believed God, that the flood is about to come, and he was ready for it:

What does the author of Hebrews means by “things not yet seen”? According to the traditional Jewish viewpoint, there was no rain before the flood, but rather dew watered the plants on earth.

It means that Noah believed God, that water will fall from the sky, even though he never saw “rain” before. Noah proved his faith by investing everything into the construction of the gigantic ark. According to Jewish tradition, Noah remained faithful to God’s command, even when his neighbors mocked and despised him.

Our portion begins and ends with two important events — the flood and the Tower of Babel. The destruction of the world and the scattering of mankind throughout the earth.

This week’s Haftara is taken from Isaiah 54:1-10, which is written as a poem. It describes Israel in a metaphoric way. The prophet compares Israel to a barren widow, and gives her a promise of hope and redemption from disgrace.

The Bible is full of stories about barren women who gave birth. Women like Hannah, the mother of Samuel, and Rachel, the mother of Joseph and Benjamin.

Rabbinical tradition also speaks about Leah as being barren, until God opened her womb. Even Sarah was barren.

Barrenness is a period of preparation; it teaches us the value of the child. Children born of these women are the heroes of our people, fathers of our nation. And the most important child, also born under special circumstances — He is Yeshua the Messiah.

In verse 2, the prophet Isaiah tells Jerusalem to enlarge its place and prepare for all her sons, who will arrive. the Jerusalem of today is the largest and the most advanced in history. And who are these sons that will come to inherit the land?

The children of Israel are the sons of promise. However, Paul is linking Isaiah’s promise to all the believers. In Galatians 4:27 he quotes Isaiah and says that all who believe in Yeshua become children of the promise, to God. And since all believers in Yeshua join the family, the family of Israel, they are obligated to turn their lives towards Jerusalem, towards Israel.

Undoubtedly, the nation of Israel is God’s firstborn. In Romans, Paul compares the nations of the world to the young branches, that were grafted into the root of an olive tree. This tree is the nation of Israel.

In the end of the Haftara we have a clear connection to the story of Noah. God’s promise to bless Israel and not to hide His face from us is as strong and as stable as His promise not to destroy mankind by flood:

The Lord’s mercy for the children of Israel and for those who were added to His nation will stand forever.

This portion also teaches us the principal of “measure for measure”. From the very first stories of the Torah, till the last teaching of Yeshua, they all stand upon this simple principle.

When the flood destroyed the earth, it was as a punishment of equal measure to the corruption of the world:

So, God corrupted the earth with the flood. In Hebrew it’s a play on words. And right after the flood, a clear rule was set:

The most obvious examples of the “measure for measure” principle in the Torah, are the verses from Exodus:

Yeshua also teaches us the “measure for measure” principle:

And:

In the verse:

…lies the foundation of all Yeshua’s teachings.

The exact opposite of the flood generation; the generation that drowned in its own lust and desire, the generation that only thought of itself. Yeshua demands from us: what you wish for yourselves, do it for others.