Shalom All, 

Welcome to this week’s Torah / bible study section titled Noach (Noah / Rest).  Genesis 6:9–11:32; Isaiah 54:1–55:5; 1 Peter 3:8–22.  “This is the account of Noah and his family.”  (Genesis 6:9) 

In last week’s  section we restarted the yearly Torah reading cycle of the Word of God from the very beginning with the study by the same name: Bereisheet (In the Beginning).  This week, we continue our study in the first book of Moses with the Biblical character of Noah, the only righteous man “of his generation”.  “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.”  (Genesis 6:9).    

In this section we should also note the existence of many things that are commonly taught to have originated with Moses and the creation of Israel.  i.e. The year and a new beginning  Gen 8:13  And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry. Exo 12:2  This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.

 So as we go through the 52 weeks of bible study this year let us see if indeed God is Act 10:34  Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: Act 10:35  But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.  Some people tend to divide the bible into 3 parts; before Moses, after Moses or Israel and the New Testament with Yahshua.  Or even three groups of people; before Israel the Jews, Israel the Jews and New Testament gentiles.  Then some say in each section God had different requirements for salvation or what He accepted and what He did not i.e. laws.  Your salvation depends on you finding out what is biblically true and what is not.  Empty your cup and let us fill it up solely with Word of God. 

Summary of last week: Evening and morning starts and ends a day not midnight.  Light part is morning i.e day light of our afternoon.  Dark part is evening.  Annual Holy periods of convocation were part of creation in Gen 1:14 and the weekly one of the 7^th day Sabbath 2:3.  There are 3 heavens, two earthly 1:17, 20.  “Woman” and “wife” is the same Hebrew word H802.  Man’s body is living “soul” 2:7.  God made all things of all colours and textures so even if god has a colour (being spirit) it does not mean His creations, human or other, have the same colour and texture. Just like a designer of today.  Tree of life in garden and in Revelations. In Gen 3:22 it was denied.  In Rev 2:7 it is given to overcomers.  To overcome use Rev 22:14  Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

Murder and first fruit sacrifices existed before reiterated to Moses Gen 4:3, 4, 8. [See Num 18:17; Pro 3:9].  People knew the name of the Lord i.e YHWH (not name or title Lord).  Sin existed which means there must have been laws of God, as did grace Gen 6:8  But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. 

Noah: A Righteous Man!.

“The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.  So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted HIS way on the earth” (Genesis 6:11–12).  The Hebrew Scriptures describe Noah as tzadik (צַדִּיק righteous) and tamim (תָּמִים pure, innocent, complete and faultless).  Noah stands in contrast to the time in which he lived.  Only six chapters into the Bible and the world is already filled with violence and corruption.  God vowed to destroy every person, all except Noah and his family.  These eight people would be miraculously saved in an ark that God instructed Noah to build.  Noah obeyed God even though he saw no evidence of the coming deluge.  For that reason, the book of Hebrews (11:7) includes Noah as one of the heroes of our faith:

“By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”  

Noah's absolute faith in God, which resulted in uncompromising obedience, was the reason he was able to truly enter a place of blessed rest.  In fact, the name Noah, or Noach in Hebrew, means rest.  He was not a man who “leaned on his own understanding” of a situation, but trusted wholeheartedly in the Word of Yahweh and obeyed.

We will also come to this place of peace and rest when we learn to simply trust and obey God at His Word.  Too often we try to reason everything out and make sure something makes sense or agrees with our theology before complying with God’s commands. “Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.”  (Hebrews 4:11). 

The Great Flood.  

“And I, behold, I do bring the flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is in the earth shall perish” (Genesis 6:17).

In this study section, God instructs Noah to build a huge ark (called a teivah תֵּבָה in Hebrew) capable of holding at least a pair of every kind of animal.  A terrible deluge of water is about to come, which would wipe out every living thing on earth except for those saved on the ark.  God’s grief over the corruption of mankind is so intense that He has decided to wipe the slate clean and establish His covenant with Noah:  “But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall come into the ark, you, and your sons, and your wife, your sons' wives with you.  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.”  (Genesis 6:18–19).

Noah is not a boat builder by trade and the job is no small undertaking.  He is to seal it inside and out with pitch (tar) in order that it will float on the water and keep everything dry within. The boat requires a high standard of craftsmanship.  It is seems likely that God gave him a supernatural gifting and impartation of wisdom similar to what He did with the craftsmen building His tabernacle in Moses’ time. 

Exo 31:1-7  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, To devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass,

And in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship.  And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan: and in the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded thee;  The tabernacle of the congregation, and the ark of the testimony, and the mercy seat that is thereupon, and all the furniture of the tabernacle,… 

Not only is the boat to carry an astonishing array of animals and a massive quantity of provision, it also has to withstand rain for 40 days and 40 nights.  Even after the rain stops, another 150 days will pass before the waters recede.  Infact Noah and His family will be in the Ark for 1 year.

Gen 7:11-13  In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.  And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark;  Gen 8:4  And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.  Gen 8:14  And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried. 

The ark finally comes to rest on Mount Ararat.  Noah devises a method for determining when it is safe to leave the ark by observing the behaviour of birds.  He sends out a raven that comes back when it finds no place to rest.  A week passes and he sends out a dove.  It comes back as the raven did.  Later, Noah again sends out a dove, and when it returns with an olive branch, he knows the waters have dried up sufficiently to allow vegetation to begin growing again.  Another week passes before Noah sends the dove again. When it doesn't return at all, he understands it is safe to emerge from the ark.  Yet he does not use his own understanding; but waits for God to tell him to leave. 

In a scene reminiscent of Creation (Genesis 1:28), God commands Noah and his family to go out and replenish the earth, to be fruitful and multiply.  God again instructs the eating of green herbs and now allows humankind to eat the flesh of animals; nevertheless, God forbids the eating of blood.  Gen 1:28  And God blessed them (Adam and Eve), and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. Gen 9:1  And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. 

God also continues the death penalty for murder, reminding them that man has been created in God’s image and therefore, the life of every human being is very precious  (remember Cain who killed Abel in Genesis 4:8).  This passage is a reminder to us that when we look at others, we must see them as having been created in the image and likeness of the Almighty God (unless they prove otherwise by their actions).  “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man.”  (Genesis 9:6). 

The Rainbow: the Sign of the Covenant.

After Noah and his family emerge from the Ark, they sacrifice to God an offering of the clean animals carried on the Ark for that purpose.  Thus sacrifices are not always for sin as is generally taught (see for example Lev 1:3-4; 2:1; 3:1) As well as what many call the moral laws of murder, this sacrifice also shows what many wrongly call ceremonial laws, were present before passed on through Moses and Israel (See Lev 11 as told to Moses which deals with clean and unclean animals).  God promises Noah that He will never again destroy earth by flood because of the wickedness of man nor ever again destroy every living, breathing creature on earth as He had done in the flood:

“And Yahweh smelled a soothing aroma.  Then Yahweh 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 His Sabbaths which are the seventh day weekly one AND the annual ones of Lev 23.  Exo 31:13  Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.  Rom 11 says then all Israel will be saved (physical and spiritual) when the spiritual are grafted into the olive try of the physical.  Both must have the sign of the covenant.  

So whoever wants the promise and blessings that come with the covenant, must keep its sign.  Israel included all those by birth or grafted in (Exodus 12:38).  One new covenant does not cancel the old.  We still have and have had since Noah, rainbows.  Yahshua (the Messiah, son of God) said that the great hallmark of faith in Him, of having the Torah (His father’s instructions given through Moses) 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), 2Jn 1:6  And this is love, that we walk after his commandments…  1Jn 5:2  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.   Joh 14:15  If ye love me, keep my commandments.  Joh 15:10  If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. 

These instructions, way of God, were present from creation.  It was the transgression of this way that got them killed. Gen 6:12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.  Grace also existed at that time, it is not a New Testament concept.  Gen 6:8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of Yahweh. 

Noah and Messiah compared:  Noah has a lot in common with the Messiah. The account of Noah and the flood illustrates the human condition, man’s sin, God's reaction, the horror of divine judgment and the need for salvation. Noah was the saviour of the world. In the days of Noah, the Almighty held a terrible, universal judgment over the world.  The whole earth was corrupt, but Noah “was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God” (Genesis 6:9). 

Noah proclaimed a message of repentance to a wicked and adulterous generation. The apostles called him a “preacher of righteousness” who called his generation to repent (2 Peter 2:5).  He warned the people of his time about an imminent day of divine fury and judgment.  Noah offered men a means of deliverance through which they could be saved from the fate about to befall their generation.  The name Noah (Noach, נח) also alludes to Messiah. When Noah was born, his parents named him Noach, saying, “This one will give us rest (nacham, נחם) from our work and from the toil of our hands” (Genesis 5:29).  The name Noach (נח), which also means “comforter,” is a form of the word menachem (מנחם) and is used in Lamentations 1:16 refers to the Messiah as the menachem, i.e., the “comforter.”   Yahshua told His disciples that the Father would send them another Comforter, indicating that up until then, He had filled that title.  The apostles refer to the Messiah as our “Advocate with the Father,” a term employing the Greek equivalent for Menachem. 

The apostles also compared the salvation God brought through Noah to the salvation that God brings through the Messiah.  Unlike Noah, who saved only himself and his family, however, the Messiah will bring salvation to the repented persons of the whole world.   Messiah is the second Noah, the comforter and the saviour of the world. 

Noah the Righteous Man:  One description for Noah is “tzaddik (צדיק)”, that is, “a righteous man.”  God spared Noah from the flood because he “was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time” (Genesis 6:9). Righteousness (tzedakah, צדקה) implies behaviour conforming to a standard set by God, that is, living by HIS rules of virtue and morality.  A righteous man conducts himself according to ethical principles of God and treats others fairly and impartially by the same standards.  The same as listed in the Laws given to Moses and summarised by Yahshua [Mat 22:37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. Mat 22:38  This is the first and great commandment. Mat 22:39  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Mat 22:40  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.]  A righteous person lives a life of obedience to God: “Noah did according to everything God commanded him, so he did” (Genesis 6:22).  The Bible refers to breaking God’s rules as sin. Righteousness is the opposite of sin. 

There may be a differentiates between the righteous man (tzaddik) and the completely righteous man (tzaddik gamur).  Noah was righteous and perfect according to the scriptures Gen 6:9  These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.  Yet he found grace in God’s eyes.  I cannot say whether that perfection came from being forgiven of any sins, thus made perfectly clean or him being sinless.  However, we also can be saved like Noah by learning what is sin and sincerely confessing transgressed ones. 

By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. (Hebrews 11:7).  Noah demonstrated his faith in the unseen by obediently building the ark.  His obedience demonstrated that he possessed the fear of Yahweh: “In reverence [he] prepared an ark.” His reverent obedience manifested his assurance of things hoped for and his conviction of things not seen. “Faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected” (James 2:22). Therefore, he “became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith,” which is to say that he believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.  If we today exercise that same faith in the word of God in believing by calling on the sacrifice of His son He God will forgive our sins, then we too can be saved. 

The Generational Curse of Ham.

After leaving the Ark, Noah plants a vineyard.  Although he is a righteous man, he becomes drunk on wine and is found by his son, Ham, passed out naked in his tent.  Noah blesses two of his sons, Shem and Yafet, because they walk in backwards and cover his nakedness; however, Noah’s son Ham is punished for dishonouring his father. So the law of Lev 18:7  The nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou not uncover: she is thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness   existed before passed on through Moses.  This is a strong lesson for all of our children.  The command to honour our mother and father comes with a promise that we will live a long and blessed life.  "Honour your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you” (Exodus 20:12).  Teaching children to properly respect their parents protects their future. 

Although Noah’s entire family is saved physically, each one still has to choose the way of spiritual salvation, a transformation of the heart.  Shem and Yafet show a right heart and right spirit, while their brother Ham, shows that his heart needs to be regenerated.  This curse over Ham did not end with him, but carried on down the generations.  Such is the power of the tongue!  Likewise, we may unknowingly also carry curses upon our lives from generational sins of our family before us.  Exo 20:5  Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 

The atoning blood of Yahshua can be called on to pay for all our sins and has the power to break these curses; however, we must receive, proclaim and walk in accordance with what is required for the forgiveness.   Mat 19:17 … if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. 

One of Ham’s sons was Cush.  His son, Nimrod, began the kingdom of Babel (modern day Iraq).  Nimrod also built the wicked city of Nineveh, to which God sent Jonah to preach repentance.  The Tower of Babel was built in the land of Shinar, which is in Babylon (Iraq).  In Hebrew, Babel means confusion.  The people of the world unified in their goal of building the tower of Babel, but their motives were founded in control and rebellion against God.  They wanted to control their destiny.  In the book of Jasher it says they wanted to reach into heaven and war against God and His angels.  “And they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth’”  (Genesis 11:4). 

Jasher 9:25  25. And the building of the tower was unto them a transgression and a sin, and they began to build it, and whilst they were building against the Lord God of heaven, they imagined in their hearts to war against him and to ascend into heaven.  26. And all these people and all the families divided themselves in three parts; the

first said We will ascend into heaven and fight against him; the second said, We  will ascend to heaven and place our own gods there and serve them; and the third part said, We will ascend to heaven and smite him with bows and spears;  and God knew all their works and all their evil thoughts, and he saw the city and  the tower which they were building. 

To save humankind from uniting to do evil, God confuses their language.  “Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”  (Genesis 11:7). 

It is ironic that the very thing they feared, being scattered and divided across all the earth, is exactly what happened to them when they attempted to secure their own future without relying on God.  “So Yahweh scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city” (Genesis 11:8).

By examining our motives in everything we do, we can see if we are attempting to be the "master of our own fate" or to “build a name for ourselves” or working to build the Kingdom of God.   All that is built with impure motives will be destroyed on the Day of Judgment.  Still, there is a principle here that we must not miss: when the people come into unity of heart, mind and purpose, nothing is impossible for them!  “And Yahweh said, ‘Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them’”  (Genesis 11:6). 

Compare this unity to do evil with that to do good and spread the gospel of Yahshua.   Act 1:14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Yahshua and with his brethren.

Act 2:1  And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. Act 2:46  And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, 

God Himself acknowledges that such unity is a powerful force.  When we submit to the tactic of divide and conquer, we succumb to weakness and defeat.  That is why the enemy of our souls works overtime to cause division in churches, families and marriages.  It is in unity, rooted in righteousness and Godliness, that God commands His blessing:  “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! ...  For there Yahweh commanded the blessing , Life forevermore.”  (Psalm 133:1, 3).  Imagine what Believers can accomplish when they are motivated by love and united in God's purposes. 

Remember Joh 13:35  By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.  Communicating in the unity of God’s love language is one way we can identify those who are living in the spirit of Yahshua and are truly His disciples. 

This is how we speak God's love language to others: we instruct, exhort, rebuke, encourage and respond to others with the fruit of His Spirit; love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22–23).  This is how God speaks His love language to Israel:  In Isaiah 53, He describes for them their Messiah, who will suffer for and heal them from their sins once and for all.  In the prophetic reading for this week, He tells them why He loves them so much, even after they have forsaken Him so many times:

“For this is like the days of Noah to Me, When I swore that the waters of Noah would not flood the earth again; so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, nor will I rebuke you” "For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, but My loving kindness will not be removed from you, and My covenant of peace will not be shaken,’ says Yahweh who has compassion on you”  (Isaiah 54:9–10).

God so loved Israel that He sent them a righteous yet suffering servant so that a right relationship with God could be restored and eternal salvation guaranteed those who follow Yahshua, His son.  While Noah saved himself and his family by following the instructions of God, following His instructions through Messiah Yahshua also leads to our salvation.  Noah was the first family who were supposed to keep God’s commandments as they spread throughout the world.  From the names of his sons the word Gentile meaning nation came Gen 10:4  And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. Gen 10:5  By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.    Israel was the first holy nation via whom the knowledge of God’s ways is supposed to spread to the other nations (Gentiles) whether the inhabitants are Jews or non gentile by birth.

Isa 49:6  And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. Isa 60:3  And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.

Luk 2:32  A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. Act 13:47  For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. Act 26:23  That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles. 

The Coming Judgement.

Just like the flood in the days of Noah, in the end times, judgment will come suddenly (Matthew 24:36–41).

But those who know Yahweh (and Yahshua) need not fear, for He will provide a safe shelter, a teivah, from the raging storm of tribulation just as He provided the ark for Noah and his family.  The prophet Isaiah wrote,

“Come, My people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment, until the indignation is past”  (Isaiah 26:20).  May we emerge from the Ark of God’s shelter in the unity of faith to establish the new heavens and the new earth of peace and righteousness and justice under the rule of the Messiah, Yahshua. 

Isaiah 54:1 – 55:10

Isa 54:10  For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee.

Isa 55:1  Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Isa 55:2 Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Isa 55:3 Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.  Isa 55:5  Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of Yahweh thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee. Isa 55:6 Seek ye Yahweh while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:  

Shalom.