Bereshit/Genesis 6:9 – 11:32
The opening words of the parashah define the essence of what the Torah is trying to teach us “ele toldot Noach…” “these are the generations of Noach”… these are our generations too.
Ivrim/Heb 9:27 it awaits men to die once, and after this the judgment.
When we walk in the fear of YHVH and in the light of His Torah, we realize the extreme importance of how we live our lives here on earth in our mortal bodies.
The ten generations from Adam to Noach ended in failure. The generations of Cain ceased to exist after the flood. In our mortal bodies we get only ONE chance to determine what will happen to us after we die. Modern day spirituality does not seem to take this truth very seriously.
We find the essence of the good news captured in the meanings of the names of the first 10 generations of mankind. (Ber/Gen 5:1-29)
“Man is appointed to mortal sorrow, the one whom Eloha praises went down, he is initiated. His death sends the miserable one comfort.”
The generations of Noach (including us) will also have only one chance to determine their destiny.
Rev 21:8 “But as for the cowardly, and untrustworthy, and abominable, and murderers, and those who whore, and drug sorcerers, and idolaters, and all the false, their part is in the lake which burns with fire and sulphur, which is the second death.”
While we are alive on this earth we have this amazing opportunity to come to terms with our mortality. The teaching of this parasha introduces a key understanding in our preparing for the world to come – “olam ha ba” revealed in the “mikvah”(baptism)
This “mikvah” (immersion) represents a kind of dying to self and to any kind of notion that we can somehow make it on our own. This ordained “mikvah”or immersion of mankind is YHVH’s chosen method of bringing about a NEW CREATION. (Resurrection through death)
The sages teach ““What is the meaning of this Mitzvah/commandment? What is the Mikvah’s religious purpose? We understand that a ritual bath with 40 measures of water must be a place of transformation and rebirth. This is indeed the case. After all, who goes to a Mikvah? In Temple times, Mikvah immersion was an integral part of regaining ritual purity; especially important for Kohanim/priests, but also, at times, vital for all Jews. Restored purity conferred new status on the individual; he was spiritually refreshed, reborn. Nowadays, the Mikvah is only halakhically required for converts and married women. When a gentile converts, he or she takes on a new religious identity. A convert, say the Sages, is like a newborn child. What about a woman, whose visits are coordinated with her monthly cycle? Quite simply, a woman’s physical change at that time of the month indicates that her body’s preparation to create life was not actualized. The ritual impurity that results reflects the Torah’s recognition of this loss of potential life. The Mikvah’s 40 seah of water soothe and restore; they help a woman become sensitive to the potent, spiritual force inherent in her body’s ability to create life.
Hasidic men, unwilling to cede the Mikvah experience entirely to women, immerse every erev Shabbat, to elevate themselves in preparation for the seventh day. Ashkenazic men typically limit their Mikvah use to the days immediately prior to Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. In tandem with repentance, the Mikvah helps us refashion our inner selves.” End quote.
Hasidic men, unwilling to cede the Mikvah experience entirely to women, immerse every erev Shabbat, to elevate themselves in preparation for the seventh day. Ashkenazic men typically limit their Mikvah use to the days immediately prior to Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. In tandem with repentance, the Mikvah helps us refashion our inner selves.” End quote.
We now can understand the importance of this practice by Yochanan the immerser prior to Yashua’s first coming. Will we see an emergence of this practice again in these days?
We see this doctrine or “teachings of immersions” is one of the foundational principles of our faith in Messiah Yahshua. We see that unless this and other foundational principles are established in our lives we will not be able to move on into spiritual maturity.
Ivrim/Heb 6:1 Therefore, having left the word of the beginning of the Messiah, let us go on to perfection,1 not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of belief toward Elohim, Footnote: 1Mt. 5:48.
Heb 6:2 of the teaching of immersions, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of everlasting judgment.
Heb 6:3 And this we shall do, if Elohim indeed permits.
There is a reference to the events of this parasha in the apostolic writings that gives us important insight into the significance of this event:
1Pe 3:18 Because even Messiah once suffered for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to Elohim,1 having been put to death indeed in flesh but made alive in the Spirit, Footnote: 1Rom. 5:18.
1Pe 3:19 in which also He went and proclaimed unto the spirits in prison,
1Pe 3:20 who were disobedient at one time when the patience of Elohim waited in the days of Noaḥ, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight beings, were saved through water,
1Pe 3:21 which figure now also saves us: immersion – not a putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward Elohim – through the resurrection of יהושע Messiah,
1Pe 3:22 who, having gone into heaven, is at the right hand of Elohim, messengers and authorities and powers having been subjected to Him.
Hegg comments on this scripture and says “But the idea that Yeshua ascended to Hades (apparently during the time His body was in the tomb) is not substantiated by any other Scriptures, and is not taught by the text in Peter’s epistles. Rather, those who were “in prison” describe those who lived in the days of Noach, who were doomed by their unrighteousness and perished in the flood.
When it states that Yeshua, “in the spirit” went and preached to those who were in prison, we should understand Peter’s words to mean that the spirit of Messiah was active in the message of Noach as he called his generation to repentance and submission to YHVH. Even as the Messiah is active today in the whole proclamation of the good news, so He was active in Noach’s day as well. Noach preached the same message as we proclaim today. This is the point of Peter’s message: The good news comes to us with the same message as in Noach’s day: repentance toward YHVH, and faith in YHVH’s promise of redemption (centered in the Promised One).”
Whether we as modern day Christians accept it or not, we are all “under the Torah” if we do not make “teshuvah” that is to repent and turn away from all our ways that are contrary to His ways. To “be under the Torah” can also mean to “be under the curse of the Torah”. Messiah will not redeem us from ongoing willful disobedience to YHVH’s Torah. Many of the dangerous heresies of the Christian church come as result of making a separation between “law and grace” If any one continues to willfully break YHVH’s laws there will be no favour (grace), only a fearful judgment.
When we enter into a mikvah we humble ourselves. We immerse ourselves into a watery grave because our sinfulness has brought death into our lives. We are raised to the hope of new life when we come up out of the mikvah.
The message of this Torah portion seems to clearly teach us that only through turbulence and death will we reach our destination. Yahshua and his talmdim/disciples teach the same message.
Yoch/Joh 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
Act 14:22 strengthening the beings of the taught ones, encouraging them to continue in the belief, and that through many pressures we have to enter the reign of Elohim.
At the very heart of Paul’s revelation of Yahshua and the Torah of YHVH was the realization that in and of ourselves we had no chance whatsoever of ever achieving righteousness in our own strength. With this revelation Paul basically declares himself as good as dead.
Rom 7:9 And I was alive apart from the Torah once, but when the command came, the sin revived, and I died. (Paul was “alive” as long he thought he was justified by his Jewish status and observance of Torah, however when his eyes were opened by Yahshua as to his true state, like Yeshayahu he realized that he was undone – just as good as dead)
Gal 2:20 “I have been impaled with Messiah, and I no longer live, but Messiah lives in me. [1] And that which I now live in the flesh I live by belief in the Son of Elohim, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Footnote: [1]Rom. 8:10, 2 Cor. 6:16, 2 Cor. 13:5, Eph. 3:17, Col. 1:27, 1 John 4:4.
We see then through this Torah portion that it is through this watery grave that a new creation was made possible. It is through death and dying to self that we are made into the likeness of our Messiah. The Hebrew word for “likeness” is “damuth” (daleth, mem, vav, tav) The word death in Hebrew is “mut” It is the same word as likeness only with a “daleth” added. We can assume from the construction of this word that death is the doorway (daleth) to bring us into the likeness of Yahshua.
Today religious men still continue to seek transformation through their own faith, self effort, religious experiences and so called special prophetic revelation. Genuine transformation can only take place through death to everything that will stand in the way to our genuine and everlasting transformation.
This Torah portion teaches us that it is through death that mankind is saved.
Blessing for the Torah:
Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-O’lam, asher bachar banu m’kol ha-amim,
v’natan lanu eht Torah-to. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”
(Blessed are you, YHVH, our Elohim , King of the Universe,
(Blessed are you, YHVH, our Elohim , King of the Universe,
you have selected us from among all the peoples,
and have given us your Torah. Blessed are you, YHVH, giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)
Torah: (aliyiot) This is how they read the Torah in the tents of Shem.
- 6:9-22
- 7:1-16
- 7:17 – 8:14
- 8:15 – 9:7
- 9:8-17
- 9:18 – 10:32
- 11:1-32
- Maftir: 11:28-32
Haftarah: (Ashkenazi tradition) Isaiah 54:1 – 55:5 (Sephardic tradition) Isaiah 54:1-10
Aliyah Rishon 6:9-22
Gen 6:9 This is the genealogy of Noaḥ. Noaḥ was a righteous man, perfect in his generations. Noaḥ walked with Elohim.
The Hebrew word for “perfect” (8549) is an adjective and comes from the verb “tammam”(8552).
“tammam” means to “complete or to make it to the end” – Php 1:6 being persuaded of this, that He who has begun a good work in you shall perfect[1] it until the day of יהושע Messiah. Footnote: [1]Mt. 5:48.
“Elohim hithalech Noach” or “Elohim walked about with Noach” – note the order of the sentence and the use of the hitpael verb. It was YHVH who walked about with Noach.
Yoch/Joh 15:16 “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in My Name He might give you.
Ber/Gen 6:10 And Noaḥ brought forth three sons: Shĕm, Ḥam, and Yepheth.
Noach means “rest”. Shem means “name” and implies authority honour and character (Ha Shem) Ham or Cham means “hot”. Canaan was the son of Cham and we all know what he did!!! These descendants seemed to have spawned civilizations that were deeply involved in depraved sexual behaviour. Yepeth means “opened” the 3rd son of Noah whose descendants after the flood settled on the coastal lands of the Mediterranean spreading north into Europe and parts of Asia.
Gen 6:11 And the earth was corrupt before Elohim, and the earth was filled with violence. (chamas)
The Hebrew says - “All the earth had become corrupt”. The Hebrew word for “corrupt” is “shachat” This word clearly conveys a meaning that an object or person in this state is beyond human redemption.
Humpty dumpy sat on a wall …….. if everything else fails we can call Rambo.
According to popular opinion it was sin and rebellion that caused the flood to come, yet the word “sin or rebellion” is not used once in this parasha.
“Shachat” is the Hebrew word used as the reason for the destruction of the flood. It is found in different places in the scriptures:
Yirmeyahu/Jer 18:4 And the vessel that he made of clay was ruined (shachat) in the hand of the potter, so he remade it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.
The vessel could not be repaired, it had to be remade.
Yeshayahu/Isa 52:14 As many were astonished at You – so the disfigurement (shachat) beyond any man’s and His form beyond the sons of men –
This is referring to the state of our Messiah – commentators say that this was the deepest degradation possible for any human being to undergo.
Without Messiah we are a “shachats” people. Sadly most of our teaching and preaching today does not even remotely address the seriousness of our condition. Our pulpits are filled with motivational messages and a clear understanding that “things” are not “so bad”.
When Yeshayahu saw YHVH his own condition was revealed and he cried out:
Yes/Isa 6:5 And I said, “Woe (oivai) to me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips – for my eyes have seen the Sovereign, יהוה of hosts.”
Ber/Gen 6:12 And Elohim looked upon the earth and saw that it was corrupt – for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth – niphal verb is used which means “become corrupt” (nishchat)
Ber/Gen 6:13 and Elohim said to Noaḥ, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence (chamas) through them. And see, I am going to destroy them from the earth.
Vs 11,12,13 all contain word ‘shachat’ Strongs 7843 which means “ marred beyond recognition”
Gen 6:14 “Make yourself an ark of gopherwood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with tar.
Gen 6:15 “And this is how you are to make it: The length of the ark is three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.
Gen 6:16 “Make a window for the ark, and complete it to a cubit from above. And set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks.
Gen 6:17 “And see, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life from under the heavens – all that is on the earth is to die.
Gen 6:18 “And I shall establish My covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.
Note how immediately after speaking about covenant YHVH speaks about animals. Covenants were always made through some kind of offering. There was always a cutting and death involved in making a covenant.
Gen 6:19 “And of all the living creatures of all flesh, two of each, you are to bring into the ark, to keep them alive with you – a male and a female.
Gen 6:20 “Of the birds after their kind, and of the cattle after their kind, and of all creeping creatures of the earth after their kind, two of each are to come to you, to keep them alive.
Gen 6:21 “As for you, take of all food that is eaten and gather it to yourself. And it shall be food for you and for them.”
Gen 6:22 And Noaḥ did according to all that Elohim commanded him, so he did.
Vs 22 also appears in Ex 40:16 And Mosheh did according to all that יהוה had commanded him, so he did.
We see many comparisons between the ark of Noach and the tabernacle of Moshe. Both were designed and initiated by YHVH and built by man. Both had three main sections. Both had one entrance. Both were made with wood and covered. Both were mobile, one moved by water and one moved through the desert. Both travelled, one for period for 40 days and one for 40 years. Both had special features that measured one cubit by one cubit, the window in the ark and the golden altar of incense and both point us to Messiah’s ministry and our call to be co heirs with him.
Aliyah Sheni 7:1-16
Gen 7:1 And יהוה said to Noaḥ, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.
And YHVH said to Noah... Come into the ark (7:1)
The Hebrew word for "ark," teivah, also means "word." "Come into the word," says YHVH; enter within the words of prayer and Torah study. Here you will find a sanctuary of wisdom, meaning and set apartness amidst the raging floodwaters of life - Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov
Gen 7:2 “Of all the clean beasts take with you seven pairs, a male and his female; and of the beasts that are unclean two, a male and his female;
(It is interesting to see that the revelation about clean and unclean animals existed already at the time of Noach. That did not mean that the clean animals could be eaten. Man could not eat meat before the flood. The difference between clean and unclean animals was, at that time, only in connection with the offerings. The clean animals were able to serve as food for YHVH. In Bemidbar/Numbers 28:2 we see that offerings were considered by the Almighty as his food. When man later had permission to eat animals, the clean animals are named as those that would serve as food for the people that were created to be like Elohim. If the unclean animals could not serve as food for YHVH then they don’t serve as food for His children either, who are called to be set apart as He is set apart. See Vayiqra/Leviticus 11, especially verses 43-44.)
Gen 7:3 and of birds of the heavens seven pairs, male and female, to keep offspring alive on the face of all the earth.
Gen 7:4 “For after seven more days I am sending rain on the earth, forty days and forty nights, and shall wipe from the face of the earth all that stand that I created.”
Gen 7:5 And Noaḥ did according to all that יהוה commanded him.
Gen 7:6 Now Noaḥ was six hundred years old when the flood-waters were on the earth.
Gen 7:7 And Noaḥ and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives went into the ark because of the waters of the flood.
Gen 7:8 Of the clean beasts and of the beasts that are unclean, and of birds, and of all that creep on the earth,
Gen 7:9 two by two they went into the ark to Noaḥ, male and female, as Elohim had commanded Noaḥ.
Gen 7:10 And it came to be after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth.
Gen 7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noaḥ’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 the heavens were opened.
Gen 7:12 And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.
Gen 7:13 On that same day Noaḥ and Shĕm and Ḥam and Yepheth, the sons of Noaḥ, and Noaḥ’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, went into the ark,
Gen 7:14 they and every living creature after its kind, and every beast after its kind, and every creeping creature that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort.
Gen 7:15 And they went into the ark to Noaḥ, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life.
Gen 7:16 And those going in, male and female of all flesh, went in as Elohim had commanded him, and יהוה shut him in.
Aliyah Shlishi 7:17-8:14
The torrential rains lasted for forty days and nights. The waters rose to great heights and covered even the highest mountains, killing all humans and animals; everything died aside for Noach and the other occupants of the teivah. After the waters raged on the earth another 150 days, YHVH caused the waters to subside. The teivah eventually rested on the Ararat Mountains, (on the 17 th Aviv) and shortly thereafter the mountain peaks came into view. Noach opened the window of the teivah and dispatched birds to see whether it was time to leave the teivah. First he sent a raven, which refused to execute its mission and just circled the ark. He then sent out a dove. On its second attempt the dove went and did not return, signalling that the earth was once again habitable. After one full year in the teivah, the earth had dried.
Gen 7:17 And the flood was on the earth forty days, and the waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth.
Gen 7:18 And the waters were mighty and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters.
Gen 7:19 And the waters were exceedingly mighty on the earth, and all the high mountains under all the heavens were covered.
Gen 7:20 The waters became mighty, fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered.
Gen 7:21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth – birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping creature that creeps on the earth, and all mankind.
Gen 7:22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died.
Gen 7:23 So He wiped off all that stand, which were on the face of the ground – both man and beast, creeping creature and bird of the heavens. And they were wiped off from the earth. And only Noaḥ was left, and those with him in the ark.
Gen 7:24 And the waters were mighty on the earth, one hundred and fifty days.
Gen 8:1 And Elohim remembered Noaḥ, and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark. And Elohim made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.
Gen 8:2 And the fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were stopped, and the rain from the heavens was withheld.
Gen 8:3 And the waters receded steadily from the earth, and at the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters diminished.
Gen 8:4 And in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat.
Gen 8:5 And the waters decreased steadily until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains became visible.
Gen 8:6 And it came to be, at the end of forty days, that Noaḥ opened the window of the ark which he had made,
Gen 8:13 And it came to be 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 Noaḥ removed the covering of the ark and looked, and saw the surface of the ground was dry.
Gen 8:14 And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.
Aliyah Reviee 8:15-9:7
YHVH commanded Noach to leave the teivah, along with all his fellow teivah-mates. Noach built an altar and offered offerings. This pleased YHVH, who then promised to never again curse the earth as He had just done. Instead, the regular seasons (which had not functioned during the year of the mabul) would continue perpetually. YHVH then blessed Noach and his sons: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth." YHVH allowed mankind to eat meat, but prohibited murder, suicide, and the consumption of a limb ripped from a living animal.
Gen 8:15 And Elohim spoke to Noaḥ, saying,
Gen 8:16 “Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives with you.
Gen 8:17 “Bring out with you every living creature of all flesh that is with you: of birds, of cattle and all creeping creatures that creep on the earth. And let them teem on the earth, and bear and increase on the earth.”
Gen 8:18 So Noaḥ went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him,
Gen 8:19 every beast, every creeping creature, and every bird, whatever creeps on the earth, according to their kinds, went out of the ark.
Gen 8:20 And Noaḥ built an altar to יהוה, and took of every clean beast and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
And Noah built an altar to G-d (8:20)
The location of the Altar [in the Set Apart Temple] is very exactly defined, and is never to be changed... It is a commonly-held tradition that the place where David and Solomon built the Altar, on the threshing floor of Arona, is the very place where Abraham built an altar and bound Isaac upon it; this is where Noah built [an altar] when he came out from the ark; this is where Cain and Abel brought their offerings; this is where Adam the First Man offered a korban when he was created -- and it is from [the earth of] this place that he was created. Thus the Sages have said: Man was formed from the place of his atonement. (Maimonides)
Gen 8:21 And יהוה smelled a soothing fragrance, and יהוה said in His heart, “Never again shall I curse the ground because of man, although the inclination of man’s heart is evil from his youth, and never again smite all living creatures, as I have done,
Gen 8:22 as long as the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.”
Gen 9:1 And Elohim blessed Noaḥ and his sons, and said to them, “Bear fruit and increase, and fill the earth.
Gen 9:2 “And the fear of you and the dread of you is on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the heavens, on all that creeps on the ground, and on all the fish of the sea – into your hand they have been given.
Gen 9:3 “Every moving creature that lives is food for you. I have given you all, as I gave the green plants.
Gen 9:4 “But do not eat flesh with its life, its blood.
Gen 9:5 “But only your blood for your lives I require, from the hand of every beast I require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I require the life of man.
Gen 9:6 “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood is shed, for in the image of Elohim has He made man.
Gen 9:7 “As for you, bear fruit and increase, bring forth teemingly in the earth and increase in it.”
Aliyah Chamishi 9:8-17
YHVH told Noach that he is establishing a covenant to never again bring a flood to destroy the world. YHVH designated the rainbow as the sign of this covenant: "And it shall come to pass, when I cause clouds to come upon the earth that the rainbow will appear in the cloud. And I will remember My covenant..."
Aliyah Shishi 9:18-10:32
Noach planted a vineyard, made wine, became drunk and fell into a deep drunken slumber -- while naked. Noach's son, Cham, saw his father naked, humiliated him, and informed his two brothers of their father's state. The brothers, Shem and Japeth, modestly approached their father and covered him. When Noach awakened, he cursed Cham's son, Canaan, and blessed Shem and Yepeth. This section then names Noach's seventy grandsons and great-grandsons, the antecedents of the "seventy nations," and their adopted homelands.
Gen 9:18 And the sons of Noaḥ who went out of the ark were Shĕm and Ḥam and Yepheth. And Ḥam was the father of Kena’an.
Gen 9:19 These three were the sons of Noaḥ, and all the earth was overspread from them.
Gen 9:20 And Noaḥ, a man of the soil, began and planted a vineyard.
Gen 9:21 And he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent.
(The Hebrew text does not say “his tent” but “HER TENT” (In the Hebrew text there is a feminine possessive form when it mentions the tent that Noach had undressed in. It was obviously not his own tent that he was laying in, but his wife’s.
Gen 9:22 And Ḥam, the father of Kena’an, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside.
Gen 9:23 So Shĕm and Yepheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father, but their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.
Gen 9:24 And Noaḥ awoke from his wine, and he knew what his younger son had done to him,
Gen 9:25 and he said, “Cursed is Kena’an, let him become a servant of servants to his brothers.”
Gen 9:26 And he said, “Blessed be יהוה, the Elohim of Shĕm, and let Kena’an become his servant.
Gen 9:27 “Let Elohim enlarge Yepheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shĕm. And let Kena’an become his servant.”
Targum Onkelos takes the subject to be YHVH: “Adonai shall enlarge Yapheth, and he shall make his Shekinah to dwell in the tabernacles of Shem.” Rashi likewise takes the subject to be YHVH: “He shall cause His divine presence to dwell in Israel.”
Aliyah Sheviee 11:1-32
This section recounts the story of the Tower of Babel. Noach's descendents gathered in the Babylonian valley and started building a tower, in an attempt to reach the heavens – attempting to be like YHVH. However YHVH disrupted their "plan" by causing them each to speak a different language, thus destroying their communications. This caused them to disperse and settle in different lands. The Torah then lists the ten generations of Shem's descendents. The tenth generation is Avram/Abram (later to be known as Avraham (translated in English as Abraham)), who married Sarai (later to be known as Sarah).
Two Major Opposing Themes – Spirituality of the Father verses Man’s religious thinking.
Or man’s way of trying to be righteous opposed to the Father’s way of declaring us righteous.
These two themes are revealed in the construction of the Ark and the construction of the Tower of Babel.
It is believed that the tower of Babel was built out of fear that there may be another flood. Let us consider the following:
1.Noach was involved in the construction of the Ark
Nimrod was involved in the construction of the Tower.
2. Noach means rest comfort
Nimrod means rebellion
3.The Ark was YHVH’s idea of saving His people
Religious man creates structures and organizations to try and save man.
4. The Tower built by the masses
The Ark was built by handful of people
Secret to spiritual power is smallness and anonymity
5. The Ark was built in obedience
The Tower was built in defiance
6. The Ark points to the future – true spirituality points to the future. (8th day)
The Tower points to the past – false spirituality builds itself on the traditions of men. (successes of earlier revivals and ministries)
7. The Ark was completed - The Tower never was.
8. The Ark was built in faith – The Tower was built in fear.
9. The Ark speaks of Messiah s Torah – and brings confinement, but also freedom.
The tower promises freedom and liberty, yet it produces lawlessness (Torahlessness) and bondage.
10. Noach builds an altar and worshiped the Father.
Nimrod builds a tower to show his equality with YHVH
11. The Spirit of Nimrod says – “ME FIRST”
The Spirit of Noach (Messiah) says – “you first”.
12. If we refuse to walk in the truth, we will be handed over to worship false gods
“Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-‘Olam, asher natan lanu Toraht-emet, v’chay-yeh o’lam nata-b’tochenu. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”
(Blessed are you Yahweh, our Elohim, King of the Universe, you have given us your Torah of truth, and have planted everlasting life within our midst. Blessed are you, Yahweh giver of the Torah - Ameyn.
Please note these notes are under construction and are subject to correction and are in no way a final authority on any subject