Some Thoughts about Noah

In our Christian Bibles, we have chapters and verses, but in Jewish Bibles, there are no such chapters. Instead there are portions called parshas. These parshas, or portions, are much longer than the chapters we’re familiar with. For example, the Bible’s first parsha spans six chapters! Gen. 1:1 - Gen. 6:8 is the Torah’s opening act in a Hebrew Bible. It begins with creation and runs continuously until Genesis 6:8, when Noah finds grace in the eyes of the LORD. That’s quite a lot for the first act! But there it is, all in one portion without pause: the beauty of the Garden to the fall of man, the murder of a brother to the corruption of all humankind. I like to imagine God in the audience, watching this act unfold and shaking His head in disgust. He wants to leave, but wait!––right at the last second, right before the curtain drops––Noah finds grace in the eyes of the LORD! The stage goes to black, the curtains close, and God turns to His angels and says, “Let’s stay for the next act!”

Indeed, “Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD” ...the line that saved the play! It is even better in Hebrew, too, due to the word play. The word “grace” is “Noah” spelled backward:

Noah: נח (letters: nun, chet) 

Grace: חן (letters: chet, nun)

*The letter nun stands up if at the end of a word

Who is this Noah who found grace in the eyes of the LORD? Well, we’re first introduced to him when he receives his name. He is named “Noah” because, as his father Lamech says in Genesis 5:28-29, “[Noah] will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed.” The word translated as “comfort” is the word nacham in Hebrew, and nacham (נחם) is Noah (נח) with one extra letter at the end (ם). The words are closely related. Suffice to say, nacham is the word Lamech was thinking about when he named his son Noah.  

Here’s something intriguing: this word nacham makes its next appearance in Genesis 6:6-7. We see it twice as we read, “The LORD regretted (nacham) that He had made human beings on the earth, and His heart was deeply troubled. So the LORD said, ‘I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created––and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground––for I regret (nacham) that I have made them.’” And then comes the line that closes the act: “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.” 

I find it intriguing that the word Noah’s dad was thinking of when he named his son Noah is the same word that God was thinking of when He looked at His creation and Noah came to mind. I am puzzled by this, but it just goes to show the depth of what we’re reading, and also the poetry of the Hebrew language––how one word can encompass so much meaning. 

Here’s the word nacham in Hebrew:

You can see it’s Noah’s name plus the letter mem at the end. 

In Jewish thought, mem is the letter of water. (This is a common association, well known to any Hebrew speaker.) The letter mem also has a numerical value of 40. Interestingly, the sky will rain water for 40 days and 40 nights after Noah climbs abroad the ark.  

If I write nacham vertically, it looks like this:

See what we’ve done? We’ve just set Noah on the water. We’ve just lifted him with 40. In this way, the word nacham tells the story of Noah and the flood.

I will include one last note of interest as it has to do with the word nacham. We see nacham show up again in Exodus 32:14. Now this is fascinating––stay with me as I give you the context of the chapter. Moses has been talking to God atop Mount Sinai for 40 days. But back at the camp, the Israelites have meanwhile constructed a golden calf and they are eating and drinking and indulging in revelry. God says to Moses, “Go down, because your people have become corrupt. They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them . . . I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them...” (Exodus 32:7-10, shortened for our purposes). Do you see the parallels stacking up between this and the story of Noah? 

But wait, it goes on! Picking up in verse 11: But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God. “Lord,” Moses says, “why should your anger burn against your people? . . . Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent (nacham) and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel...” . . . Then the Lord relented (nacham) and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened. (Exodus 32:12-14)

Moses then goes down the mountain, carrying with him the two tablets with the ten commandments. “The tablets were the work of God” (Exodus 32:15). “When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. And he took the calf the people had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.” (Exodus 32:19-20)

Let’s compare the story of the flood and the story of the golden calf. In one story, Noah has to deal with corruption. In the other story, Moses has to deal with corruption. We will see numerous symmetries: