Torah Portion Noah
Presented 10/16/04

Torah Reading: Genesis 1:1-6:8
Haftorah Reading: Isaiah 42:5-43:10

As the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be . . .

Genesis 6:9-13 This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 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 their way on the earth. 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. We start this weeks portion with a connection tying Matthew 24 and the end-times prophecy of Yeshua to the story of Noah, particularly the statement all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. In verses 37-39 of Matthew 24, we read as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38For 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, 39and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

When we read these verses eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage we can easily relate this passage to a sign that indisputably identifies our generation. The words marrying and giving in marriage are gameo and ekgamizo. They literally mean that in the days of Noah, men and women were giving themselves to one another in 'marital' (sexual) relationships and even going so far as to be doing the same with their daughters. The commentary on the verses in Genesis relates a similar activity. The commentators say that in the days of Noah, “mankind indulged in promiscuous sexual enjoyment without the intention to procreate,” thus the reason for the first command to man after the destruction of the flood . . . be fruitful and multiply. Genesis 9:1.

There is another very interesting connection between these two verses. We see the terminology used in the opening words of the parsha, the earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. . . . and God said "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. (Genesis 6:11, 13). Amazingly, the Hebrew word for violence is spelled chet, mem, samech in Hebrew. . . (Strongs #02554) and is transliterated chamas ( hamas ! !) meaning injustice, false, violence. Specifically, a wrong, cruel and unrighteous oppressor. Today we see the rise of Islamic Hamas . . . one violent arm of Islamic terror, and another fulfillment of the prophecy in Matthew 24 that as in the days of Noah . . . so also will the coming of the Son of Man be and the earth is full of hamas (violence).

Og: a survivor of the Flood?

We see in Deuteronomy chapter 3, that there is a King named Og who had continued being an adversary of Israel. Who was Og? Some say he was a descendant of Cain. Our assumption has been that all of Cain's descendants perished in the Flood, along with all living souls; GOD clearly states that I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die.(Genesis 6:18) and, the report given after the flood states that every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; men and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark. (Genesis 7:23).

The Torah (on the surface) seems to indicate, however, that Og somehow survived! Deuteronomy 3:11, For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the giants. Indeed his bedstead was an iron bedstead. Nine cubits (14') is its length and four cubits (6') its width, according to the standard cubit. Og is called "ha' palit", (Hebrew) meaning 'the escapee,' for 'apparently,' he escaped from the flood. How is this possible? The Torah clearly states that all living things on the face of the earth died, yet we see many references to giants who lived! The Nephilim, Rephaim, Anakim, and Emim were all 'giants.' These 'giants' are first mentioned in Genesis 6:4 as the Nephilim. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that". The "also after that" is clearly represented as meaning "after the Flood" as the giants appear many times in scriptural narration after that event. How is it possible that these 'giants' remained 'after that' . . . meaning after the flood?

There are at least 4 options to choose from, the first 3 coming from Hebrew legends:

Og hung on to the side of the Ark and was fed for a year by the sons of Noah, after promising to 'serve' them faithfully as a servant after the flood.
Og rested on top of the Ark, feasting on the carrion as they floated by
Ham's wife was pregnant with Og, after being involved with the entire sexual scandal as outlined earlier in the chapter.
The word 'Rephaim', is taken from the word rapha', pronounced raw-faw, meaning, 'a giant, (figuratively) a ghost (as dead; in plural only):' In the case of the word dead, it is generally accepted that this is referring to the spirit of the dead giants destroyed by the Flood. The only logical conclusion that we can reach is that the Rephaim (Og was a Rephaim) were those who carried within themselves the same evil spirit as their earlier ancestors, the Nephilim. We can come to the conclusion (or assumption) that the flesh of the evil ones were indeed destroyed in the flood, and that their evil spirit lived on in the manifestation of the Rephaim, Anakim, and Emim.

Seven each of every clean animal

Genesis 7:1-2 Then the LORD said to Noah, "Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation. You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female; two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female.

The distinction between clean (Heb. tahor) and unclean (Heb. tamei) animals appears for the first time in Torah. GOD's intent was that there was to remain a 'seed' of these various types of animals to serve their purpose after the flood, those purposes being (1) to use for sacrifices . . . Genesis 8:20 . . . after the flood Noah "took of every clean beast and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar that he had built to the Lord," and (2) to provide clean (tahor) food for consumption according to the dietary laws later given at Sinai. (Leviticus 11).

As we move on to Chapter 9:1-3, we seem to find another dilemma. So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. Does this verse imply that man has the freedom to eat whatever he desires, thus abrogating the Dietary laws found in Leviticus 11? We have two obvious options. First, the dietary laws were given at Sinai, nearly 1400 years after this event, and man was free to use for food any living animal, until Sinai, or secondly, that there was, even in Genesis 9 a designation to be recognized between tahor and tamei, clean and unclean, as indicated in chapter 7. To explain the second option more fully, we must refer to the creation of animals in Genesis 1:30, Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that moves on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food"; and it was so. It is interesting that the verse in chapter 9:3 and in chapter 1:30 sound nearly identical. There is, however, a very significant distinction between the two verses.

We are taught that man was vegetarian until after the flood. This is clarified in the above verse in chapter 1:30, I have given every green herb for food. Another key to understanding is that the word used in this verse in reference to the animals as living is (life) is nefesh. Nefesh (soul or life) designates that which breathes, simply, it has life within, a living soul. It is the same word used in Leviticus 17:11, the life (nefesh) is in the blood. The word used in Chapter 9 for life or lives as it is written is chai. Chai (from chayyah) refers to a higher level of creation, that which has within it an elevated purpose for GOD's use. It is the intent of chapter 9, verse 3 to reveal to mankind that he is now free to eat certain animals . . . those that are designated as clean, to be more fully made clear at the revelation of Torah at Sinai. Many look to this verse to reason that man is free to eat anything that he pleases, thus abrogating his responsibility to keep the dietary laws found in Leviticus 11. The error in this type of thinking is obvious. If chapter 9 frees man from any form of dietary control or restrictions, then this certainly was negated when the dietary laws became clear after Moses revealed the commandments at Mt. Sinai. GOD desires that we observe His dietary laws.

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