בְּרֵאשִׁית

BeReshit/Genesis

CHAPTER 6

With Commentaries

“But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.”

Listen to this chapter in Hebrew

And when Adam began to multiply upon the face of the land and daughters were born to them,

1 וַיְהִי כִּי־הֵחֵל הָאָדָם לָרֹב עַל־פְּנֵי הָאֲדָמָה וּבָנוֹת יֻלְּדוּ לָהֶם׃

א

Remember that when the Torah says Adam, it means to say mankind because we all come from Adam, and because Adam is the masculine word for the word earth, and Adama is the feminine counterpart or the word earth. This means that we are from the earth or made from earthly substances.

Chapters 1-8 A Prelude to the Great Flood.

The Torah gives an account of the state of the world just before the Great Flood and the actions that HaShem took because of man’s sin on earth.

and the sons of the gods/rulers saw that the daughters of the Adam were good-looking/attractive. And they took for themselves women/wives from within them choosing any of them that they wanted.

2 וַיִּרְאוּ בְנֵי־הָאֱלֹהִים אֶת־בְּנוֹת הָאָדָם כִּי טֹבֹת הֵנָּה וַיִּקְחוּ לָהֶם נָשִׁים מִכֹּל אֲשֶׁר בָּחָרוּ׃

ב

בְנֵי־הָאֱלֹהִים/sons of the gods

This is one of the few cases in which Elohim does not refer to God Himself (self-made gods; click on the link to see examples of men who were worshiped as self-proclaimed gods in history). In this case, the verse says that the rulers of the world, the people of wealth and power (this being self-named gods), and everyone that could, for that matter, were choosing and kidnaping women of low status, people with no means, and people in desperate conditions for themselves and choosing the women with the most desirable traits, like, beauty and physical appearance. They, being of high status, wealth, and resources, did not care for helping the people who were starving and dying, and the wealth of the world was disproportionate. People of high status hugged the resources while the rest of mankind went hungry.

Sadly, today's world looks more and more like it did back then. A disproportionate distribution of resources is present. You can see countries where most people are hungry without water, food, or resources. Even in the world's most prosperous countries, you have a few numbers of people with vast wealth to their name. And they still work all the way to their death, trying to gain more wealth, and the rest of the people are struggling even to buy a house. Also, a trend is gaining ground where people are looking, not for a meaningful relationship, but for gaining a partner with suitable characteristics that the populous deems worthy, like height, physical build, beauty, and wealth.

And YHVH said, “My Spirit shall not abide/contend/judge inside Adam forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.”

3 וַיֹּאמֶר יהוה לֹא־יָדוֹן רוּחִי בָאָדָם לְעֹלָם בְּשַׁגַּם הוּא בָשָׂר וְהָיוּ יָמָיו מֵאָה וְעֶשְׂרִים שָׁנָה׃

ג

Rashi (1040-1105) Commentary: My spirit shall not contend. Seeing that mankind had not lived up to His aspirations; God resolved that He would not wait much longer, debating with Himself, as it were, whether to destroy it because of its sins or to show mercy, Sforno (1470/1475-1549) added, because he is but flesh and cannot survive without compassion.

Rashi (1040-1105) and Ramban (1194-1270) Commentary: A hundred and twenty years, God would wait 120 years before bringing the Flood so that mankind would have ample opportunity to repent.

Ibn Ezra (1089/1092-1167/1167) Commentary: He interprets that the human life span would gradually decrease until a maximum of 120 years and not hundreds of years life span.

Two different opinions are held about the decrease in life span over the years. I always try to stay within the boundaries of what the Torah says and what the rest of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) says and in my way of understanding. HaShem decreased the number of years because of several reasons. The most important one is that Hashem’s spirit suffers inside man. The people of that time were evil and lived hundreds of years. And, HaShem’s נִשְׁמַת/Nish’Mat/spirit/soul/breath of God or רוּח/Ruakh/spirit/soul inside all mankind is like our conscience. That feeling inside that eats you up when you do something you regret. The emotion is intense for a person who tries to be good because the spirit/soul is strong, but for an evil person, the feeling goes numb. The spirit of HaShem withdraws because of the suffering it goes through inside this person, like a person who withdraws emotionally and has to seek help. HaShem’s spirit inside us is acting to make you a good person; in the case of evil people, it is a struggle, a war. It is a war that the spirit is fighting with the choices you make or make because of the body’s wants, like lust, greed, anger, etc. This internal war/struggle is something that HaShem decided that He would not put His spirit through. Not for that long. HaShem is acting to save His spirit from an unreasonable amount of time suffering. Yes, HaShem’s spirit is part of you, but it is also a separate entity from you. With it, you live; without it, you are just an animal or dead.

Another reason I see for cutting our lives-span short is that HaShem saw to slow us down. What do I mean? See in the 1,600 years before the Great Flood. People lived hundreds of years and developed society and technology way too fast. Being able to live for hundreds of years means that knowledge does not get lost. But if mankind lives for 70 to 120 years. Then, you must learn and pass on your knowledge to the new generation before you die. Every new generation has to learn known knowledge, try to improve on it, and then pass it on to the next generation, and it goes on like this. Just think of the technology we would have if we still lived hundreds of years for all this time from the time of the Great Flood. But sadly, knowledge is not the only thing that HaShem found out we are capable of. With knowledge came other things, bad things. We would get bored, and with boredom comes bad thoughts, and evil thoughts lead to bad decisions. The proof is the destruction of the pre-flood civilizations.

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days and also afterward, so the sons of the gods/rulers came into the daughters of man, and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown/the name.

4 הַנְּפִלִים הָיוּ בָאָרֶץ בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם וְגַם אַחֲרֵי־כֵן אֲשֶׁר יָבֹאוּ בְּנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים אֶל־בְּנוֹת הָאָדָם וְיָלְדוּ לָהֶם הֵמָּה הַגִּבֹּרִים אֲשֶׁר מֵעוֹלָם אַנְשֵׁי הַשֵּׁם׃

ד

Rashi (1040-1105) Commentary: The Nephilim. Rashi says they were the same race that terrified Moses’ spies (Numbers 13:33). He says that they were given this title from the root נּפל, which means to fall because they fell and caused others to fall.

Gur Aryeh, a work of Judah Loew ben Bezalel (1512/1526-1609) Commentary: He adds to Rashi saying that they fell because of their egregious sinful-ness.

Ibn Ezra (1089/1092-1167/1167) Commentary: Alternatively, they were so-called because the hearts of those who saw them fell in amazement at their size.

The N’Filim/Nephilim/The Fallen, were they giants?

Maybe so, but not as I pictured them, like in the movies, where they towered over the trees and such, but tall by average standards. We must remember that the people of this time were not only the closest to creation and Adam, but they were near perfect and had the purest genetics of the first created man, Adam. Also, let's not forget what the wealthy people of that time were doing: to pick and choose the most desirable females, and maybe that was to go for the tallest, most attractive females. With time, that would breed people who would be taller and bigger in size. Add to that the wealth and resources they were herding. That would give them the advantage of good nutrition, contributing to bigger, taller people. It is true, however, that Moses’ spies encountered men who seemed like giants compared to them; they were described as they, the spies (or at least that was assumed), being like grasshoppers to those giants, and they were identified as N’Filim/Nephilim/The Fallen in that chapter of Numbers chapter 13 that is in the Torah.

Also, it says in Numbers of the Torah that Moses’ spies were scared and talked to the people, telling them of their findings, and the people were also aware and scarred. Maybe they enveloped the findings just a bit, and I am sure that they knew the legends of old, being that they are the descendants of Abraham and were under Moses. They knew all the stories of the Nephelim, from Adam to the Great Flood to Abraham, Isaak, and Jacob; of course, they did. In Numbers 13, Moses was taking them to the promised land, and they knew they would have to fight. War is scary, especially to people who have never known war. Needless to say, they lost their hearts and lacked courage, so HaShem punished them for not having faith in Him. The people of Cannan might have been Giants or not, but Israel had HaShem on their side.

Another thought I had overnight is that maybe when Moses’ spies were saying that they seemed like grasshoppers to them, they were not talking of themselves but of the Israelites as a whole. I mean, in the Torah, it is said that the nations, especially Cannan, knew of Israel, the nation that came out of Egypt and was in the desert. The nations of Cannan knew they were coming, but they probably were not worried about them because they were bigger and established nations that knew war and were prepared. So, Moses’s spies probably meant that compared to Cannan, the Nation of Israel was like grasshoppers to the nations of Cannan. Israel, a small nation compared to an established nation, probably seemed like a losing battle if they did not have HaShem on their side. To drive this home, in 1 Samuel, this is written.

1 Samuel 17:4

And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.

This is part of the story of David and Goliath, and in it, this is what it is said of the giant David killed. It gives a measurement of the giant, who was six cubits and a span tall. That comes out to roughly 9 feet 9 inches. For perspective, Sultan Kosen from Turkey was 8 feet and 11 inches tall before he died, and it is said that he was still growing; these measurements were according to recorded history. See the video below for a reference scale.

Video of Sultan Kosen from Turkey was 8 feet and 11 inches tall. The tallest man in recorded history.

David’s Goliath was ten inches taller than Sultan, but Sultan is the closest reference we have. If the Nephilim were around Sultan’s height, they were extremely tall, but giants, like in my imagination, were not.

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days and also afterward

This means that this Nephilim existed before and after the Great Flood. Could some of them have survived? I do not think so because HaShem wiped out all living life on earth with the Great Flood (except for Noakh and his family), and if the Torah says everyone died, then they did. What I think happened is that the people of the Cannan region after the Great Flood produced or kept the tradition of the pre-flood custom of choosing and picking the woman only to have children for a specific outcome. And that was to make a people of tall height to keep the tradition of pre-flood glory. To bring back the Nephilim and have an advantage over other nations.

Men of Renown

If you translate the words אַנְשֵׁי הַשֵּֽׁם used here from Hebrew to English, it says they were men of the name. Which is to say, men who made a name for themselves. In what manner? I say in war and conquest. If you have Nephilim fighting for you, you will have an advantage, and stories of greatness will follow.

And YHVH looked, for there was much distress/evil in the earth from the Adam/Man, and all their intentions plotted in his heart altogether were evil all day.

5 וַיַּרְא יהוה כִּי רַבָּה רָעַת הָאָדָם בָּאָרֶץ וְכָל־יֵצֶר מַחְשְׁבֹת לִבּוֹ רַק רַע כָּל־הַיּוֹם׃

ה

HaShem looked.

I notice that a lot, if not all of the time, HaShem is going to pass judgment on someone, the Torah says. Something like, “He looked, or that He comes to see.” I think it is for us to know that the punishment these people will go through is not for nothing.

I think that saying this phrase means the people before the Great Flood had reached their peak sinfulness. As we progress in our studies, we will discover that HaShem, as is written in the Torah, says things like “their sin is not full yet” or “the cry of the people has reached His ears.” Telling me that HaShem waits until the sinful ways of mankind have reached a certain level before HaShem passes judgment on us or that we cause a certain amount of suffering to someone. Meanwhile, HaShem lets us be so that we see our sinful ways, rectify ourselves, sin no more, and start doing good and because of this, if we are sinful, we get this scene of security and keep on sinning because we stop caring. Because HaShem lets you be, our sinful way has not caused any negative effect, meaning that we don’t seem to get punishment from God; we then keep doing it. But a day comes when HaShem has been looking at us all this time, watching us and waiting till the time comes when action has to be taken.

Since this subject came up, I will say that I think that HaShem does not necessarily punish us every time we sin. And I say this because if He did that, our free will would be taken away. We are free to do as we please, but not forever. A time comes when, if you keep sinning, you will get judged and punished, or do good in the eyes of God and be rewarded in the case of regular people, who go through their lives both sinning towards others and being good to some. They reach the end of their allotted time and pass away. This is when the end of days judgment comes in. It is a check and valance; either you did too much sin that it overshadows your good deeds, or you were so good of a person that your good deeds overshadow your sin.

רָעַת/Raat

This word means harm/evil/misery/distress/injury/wrong/evil (ethically).

This is what mankind had turned itself into before the Great Flood. They were constantly plotting and skimming to do evil. Distortion, robbery, adultery, murder, conquest, rape, herding resources, always me, me, me. They never considered the needy or respected others, the environment, or the animals. Remember, we have to try to be like HaShem. Would you say HaShem thinks only of Himself, or does He think of His Creation? Always looking, always listening upon His Creation. I do not know who is reading this or if anyone will ever read it; at this point, I am doing it for myself. And I will summarize the whole Nanakh, (Hebrew Bible) very simply, and you tell me if He looks over us and if what He has in mind is not for us.

Starting with the six days of Creation and to the creation of Adam on the sixth day, later ten generations turned to evil, but God found one man alone who still loved Him and did everything right in His eyes. Brought the Great Flood and only saved Noakh and his family. Later, ten more generations came from Noakh to sin in the world until Abraham came along, who was called God’s friend by HaShem God Himself (Isaiah 41:8). God made a covenant with Abraham to turn him into a great nation. God told Abraham that this nation that would come from him was going to be in bondage for 400 years, and it happened. And God also told Abraham that this nation that would come from him, HaShem, would liberate them, and it happened. HaShem additionally told Abraham that He would give them a land flowing with milk and honey, and it happened. HaShem established them there and told them to be careful and follow His Laws, and if they did follow the Law, they would live happily there under God’s protection. And if they did not follow the law, the land would have no rain, and their crops would die. Deacese would come if they kept doing wrong. That other nations would come and take over the land and that they would be spread over the other nations. All this was said before it happened, and it did happen. It has happened repeatedly, which we know just by looking into the written history of Israel. HaShem God also promised Abraham’s nation (Israel) that they would be returned after repentance. Israel has returned and taken over again, and they are still struggling with other nations to this day.

This is where we are now in the Hebrew Bible and in this current time. As we are still watching Israel struggle and by their actions bringing truth to what HaShem said. There is a promise of things to happen in the future to make all right and perfect in this world for eternity, and this is what the whole world is waiting for that study Tanakh. In the Hebrew Bible, the prophets, men that speak in HaShem God's stead, foretold of a man from Adam, meaning from a man and a woman, a descendent of the lineage of David and Salomon. These are some of the events told by the prophets that would happen in the future when this man comes so that we can recognize that it is true: nations will be rebuked by him not by his judgment but by the law of the Torah, and the nations will listen and will not be able to deny he is the man prophetized; all the nations that are left will. Also, there will be peace, and the world will no longer know war or hunger. All people of the world will know who the real Creator God is, and there will be no disagreement over it, and all the people of the world will come to know that the religions that they were following were all lies and made up. There will only be one belief, and there will not be different religions in the world. Also, the third and final temple will be constructed and stand forever, and that man who will be the Meshiach will bring a sin offering to the temple for himself and the people. So, this means that he will not be without sin. This man will be the Messiah sent by HaShem when the world is ready. If these things have not happened yet, and they have not, then the Messiah has not come.

You see, HaShem has said everything ahead of time, and I know that ancient history is hard to prove or disprove, but known and written history cannot be disproved, and by just looking at the nation of Israel’s history and to this day, we can see that it is true. Everything that HaShem said would happen to the nation of Israel did happen and still is happening. HaShem has been looking, listening, and guiding history, the present, and the future toward a planned future. A future that will come to pass, just like the things of the past that HaShem said would happen did happen. Israel is proof of a promise and of HaShem God’s existence. Whether you want to be part of the future, HaShem leaves this to your free will. It is your choice. HaShem’s love is not like a religion in which they try to scare you with hell and eternal damnation. HaShem gives you a choice. He says I created everything and set some rules in this creation. He says to follow them, and you will be ok, or choose not to follow them, and you will be no more. What is to be no more? No one knows, and HaShem does not say. Why? Because Hashem will not say something that can not be proved. HaShem only said things that can be proved through Moses' writing and the rest of the Hebrew Bible and with Israel’s trouble in known history and the present. You will not find any threats in the Hebrew Bible of a hell in which your soul will burn forever. It is just not there because it can not be proven.

Why is it taking so long!?

Well, because HaShem is eternal, and time is key. All I have said in this verse, starting with the summary, has happened for the last 5,000 years plus change. In which God has been telling us everything beforehand. Someone could predict or guess something to happen in a month or ten years; I will even give you fifty or one hundred years, but not like HaShem, who has been telling us the future since the creation of man that covers 5,000 plus years. From creation to now and into the future from now. And if you study the Bible and look into history, you will prove to yourself that it is true. Also, you will see that the hand of HaShem has been in the world, guiding us all along to this day and into the future. Never has HaShem God left us alone.

Altogether, all day.

This phrase means that everyone at that time was evil—all of the time. Before the Great Flood, everything alive on earth died except for Noakh and this family, and Noakh’s family was saved for Noakh's sake and HaShem’s plan. And I often thought to myself, how can all people of this time be so evil and only one person be good? I questioned. I asked myself, Surely, there must be a mixture of good and bad people of various degrees? How can they all be evil people? I thought about it every time I thought of this verse. And I came to this conclusion. Yes, it is possible. Let me tell you how or try to explain with an example. Recently, I watched a video about a streamer/person who went to Japan, and he was out on the street interviewing ladies of various ages. He was asking the question, “Is it ok for your man/boyfriend/husband to go to a prostitute for sex?” And I was surprised to hear that 95% of the ladies answered “Yes.” All the ladies who answered yes justified it by saying it was better for their man to go to a sex worker rather than for them to find another woman and have an emotional attachment with them. That as long as it was just sex with no emotional attachment, it was ok. Some said that it was the norm in their culture.

These are the dangers of normalization. When an immoral law of God gets normalized, it becomes a standard way of life and ok for the people, especially for the new generations. The new generation grows up not accepting but being born and growing up with this new norm, not even knowing that it was once evil to do or why it was an evil act. The new generations do not consider it an immoral thing to do anymore. This happened to the people of the Great Flood. Where sin became the norm, and if you did not go along with it, you were considered an outsider, a strange person. Unfortunately, this is slowly becoming true today, with many things varying from country to country.

And YHVH felt sorry to have made the Adam on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

6 וַיִּנָּחֶם יהוה כִּי־עָשָׂה אֶת־הָאָדָם בָּאָרֶץ וַיִּתְעַצֵּב אֶל־לִבּוֹ׃

ו

Sorry and Grieved

This passage sometimes makes people question HaShem's ability to know the things of the future. Questioning why He was sorry and why He was grieving if He knew this was going to happen. But, is it any different from a mother who brought up an unruly child with difficulty, only to see him on the streets getting into trouble? Getting rumors of her son dealing and using drugs, having a gun, and stories of him using these guns to harm other people. I would assume that this mother has long been waiting for a phone call or someone to come and tell her that her son killed some people or that he is dead. It is to be expected. The chances are very high. Don’t you think that more than once, she looked back and felt sorry for giving birth to him and asked herself if there was something different that she could have done, blaming herself for her child’s behavior? And don’t you think that when she did get the phone call from someone to tell her that her son was dead? Even though it has been expected for a long time. Would she not grieve for her son? Because no matter what her son was, she was still his mother who loved him.

And YHVH said, “I will blot out the Adam whom I have created from the face of the land to the Adam and animals and creeping things and to birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”

7 וַיֹּאמֶר יהוה אֶמְחֶה אֶת־הָאָדָם אֲשֶׁר־בָּרָאתִי מֵעַל פְּנֵי הָאֲדָמָה מֵאָדָם עַד־בְּהֵמָה עַד־רֶמֶשׂ וְעַד־עוֹף הַשָּׁמָיִם כִּי נִחַמְתִּי כִּי עֲשִׂיתִם׃

ז

אֶמְחֶה/Em’Khe

I will blot out.

In several places in the Torah, HaShem has passed judgment on people. This one is one of them. This one, in particular, shows us that HaShem takes absolutely no pleasure in doing so. In fact, He tells us that it pains Him to do so. However, it also shows us that this is a thing that needs to be done. Even though it pains HaShem to do so, he tells us that it will be done, and it also tells us why it must be done. It also tells us or shows us the consequences of our actions.

Ezekiel 18:23

Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares my Lord YHVH, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?

But Noakh found favor in the eyes of YHVH.

8 וְנֹחַ מָצָא חֵן בְּעֵינֵי יהוה׃

ח

Ve’Noakh | Matza | Khen | Be’Eyney | YHVH

Sforno (1470/1475-1549) Commentary: וְנֹחַ מָצָא חֵן/But Noakh found grace. God’s grace was needed in order to save Noakh’s family, otherwise only he would have been spared. Although Noakh himself was righteous, he did not try to influence the rest of his generation to know God and to repent. Since he did not attempt to help others, his merit would have been insufficient to save others. If a righteous person attempts to make others righteous, God may spare them for his sake, because there is hope he can influence them to repent.

These are the generations of Noakh. Noakh was a righteous unblemished man, in his generation. Noakh went/walked with THE ET ELOHIM.

9 אֵלֶּה תּוֹלְדֹת נֹחַ נֹחַ אִישׁ צַדִּיק תָּמִים הָיָה בְּדֹרֹתָיו אֶת־הָאֱלֹהִים הִתְהַלֶּךְ־נֹחַ׃

ט

בְּדֹרֹתָיו/Be’Dorotayv/inside his generation

There are different interpretations of the phrase in his generations: Some Sages maintain that it is in his praise: Noakh was righteous even in his corrupt generation; how much more righteous would he have been if he lived in a genuinely righteous generation — if he had had the companionship and inspiration of Abraham! According to others, however, it is critical of him — only in his generations, by comparison with his extremely wicked contemporaries, did Noakh stand out as a righteous man; but had he lived in the time of Abraham, he would have been insignificant (Rashi 1040-1105). Accordingly, the righteous of each generation must be judged in terms of their own time (Sefer HaParshiyos).

It is true that Noakh was not nearly as great as Abraham, but it is fair to say that he would have been far greater had he not been surrounded by corrupt and immoral people.

Ramban (1194-1270) Commentary: With God. He feared only God and was not enticed by astrology and surely not by idolatry. He walked in the path God showed him, for he was a prophet.

And Noakh begot three sons, Shem, Kham, and Yafet.

10 וַיּוֹלֶד נֹחַ שְׁלֹשָׁה בָנִים אֶת־שֵׁם אֶת־חָם וְאֶת־יָפֶת׃

י

Names Meanings

שֵׁם/Shem

This name means: Name

חָם/Kham

This name means to be Hot as a verb יחם (yakham) also means to be hot, but mostly in a mental sense: to be excited or angered. The noun חמה (hema) mostly refers to a severe mental "burning": anger or rage.

יָפֶת/Yafet

This name's meaning comes from the root יפה (y-p-h), which means "beauty.” In this case, the name would mean "beautiful."

Sanhedrin 69b commentary: Three sons. They are not named in the order of their birth. Yafet was the eldest, but Shem is mentioned first because Scripture enumerates them according to wisdom, not age.

Ramban (1194-1270) Commentary: Once the Torah mentions Shem, it names Ham, who was next in line; otherwise, all three would be listed out of order.

Radak (1160–1235) Commentary: Though they had been named above, the Torah mentions them after telling of Noakh’s righteousness to indicate that he also inculcated such behavior into his children.

B’Reshit/Genisis 10:21

And Shem, also to him were born; he was the ancestor of all those who lived on the other side, the brother of Yafet the elder.

B’Reshit/Genisis 9:24

When Noakh awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him,

(This verse talks about Kham for what he had done to Noakh).

So if Kham is the youngest son and Yafet is the older son, then Shem is the middle son. The birth order is Yafet first, followed by Shem, and lastly, Kham.

And ruined was the earth in the face of the gods/rulers, and the earth was filled with violence.

11 וַתִּשָּׁחֵת הָאָרֶץ לִפְנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים וַתִּמָּלֵא הָאָרֶץ חָמָס׃

יא

הָאֱלֹהִים/HaElohim/The God/The Dods

This verse is commonly translated to mean that “the earth was ruined/corrupt before God.” But it does not say “before God,” but it does say “before the Elohim.” I could be wrong, but I strongly believe that this verse means that the earth was corrupt/ruined before or because of the world's self-proclaimed gods/kings/rulers. And because of it, the world was filled with violence. Or also to say that these self-proclaimed gods/kings/rulers failed the people and became corrupt, and because of their corruption, the rest of the people became corrupt.

And ELOHIM saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.

12 וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים אֶת־הָאָרֶץ וְהִנֵּה נִשְׁחָתָה כִּי־הִשְׁחִית כָּל־בָּשָׂר אֶת־דַּרְכּוֹ עַל־הָאָרֶץ׃

יב

This verse goes back to saying “ELOHIM” and not “The Elohim.” It says that “ELOHIM saw”; therefore, this is our Creator, the real ELOHIM.

When it says in this verse, “And ELOHIM saw.” It does not mean that HaShem just realized what mankind has become; it is saying that God has given the people of the earth enough time and saw that their sin has reached its capacity. As an example,

B’Reshit/Genisis 15:15-16

As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete/full.”

I have commented on this before. If you do according to God’s commands, He will look after you and take care of you, but if you don’t and instead live a sinful life, it is like you, not God, walking away from Him. You are detaching yourself from God, and God will let you go on your sinful ways without His care because you have free will and you choose to follow God or not. HaShem, Bless be His Name, will not force you to follow him or have a relationship with Him if you don’t want to. He will let you live in your sins where you find pleasure, but when your sin reaches fullness (for you), God will have you answer for those sins, and punishment will come.

Commentary Verses 11 - 12

In my Hebrew Bible (Hebrew to English translation), this is written: The behavior of people deteriorated. At first, they were corrupt — guilty of immorality and idolatry — and came filled with robbery — which was evident to all. Then, the entire earth was corrupted because man is the essence of the world, and his corruption infects all of Creation (Zohar). Such is the progression of sin. It begins privately when people still have a sense of right and wrong. However, once people develop the habit of sinning, they gradually lose their shame, and immoral behavior becomes the accepted — even the required — norm. In Noakh’s time, the immoral sexual conduct of the people extended to animals, as well, until they, too, cohabited with other species.

The Midrash teaches that they stole from one another in petty ways that were not subject to the court's authority. Though this is not the gravest kind of sin, it is morally damaging in the extreme because thievery within the letter of the law weakens the conscience and corrupts the social fabric (R’ Hirsch 808-1888).

And ELOHIM said to Noakh, “The end of all flesh has come before me, for they have filled the earth with violence. And behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

13 וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים לְנֹחַ קֵץ כָּל־בָּשָׂר בָּא לְפָנַי כִּי־מָלְאָה הָאָרֶץ חָמָס מִפְּנֵיהֶם וְהִנְנִי מַשְׁחִיתָם אֶת־הָאָרֶץ׃

יג

Make yourself an ark of gofer wood. Make rooms in the ark and cover it inside and out with pitch.

14 עֲשֵׂה לְךָ תֵּבַת עֲצֵי־גֹפֶר קִנִּים תַּעֲשֶׂה אֶת־הַתֵּבָה וְכָפַרְתָּ אֹתָהּ מִבַּיִת וּמִחוּץ בַּכֹּפֶר׃

יד

The dilemma of the עֲצֵי־גֹפֶר/Gofer Wood/Tree

When I tried to translate this word name, I did not know what I was getting myself into. All I found was confusion and assertions based on nothing. Things like this tree type only grow in the United States. There are also arguments that these United States tree families are not the same family as the Bible’s, and this type of tree does not exist anymore.

What is true, though, is that this word, גֹפֶר/Gofer, only appears in the Hebrew Bible only once, and it does not have a translation to English or any other language. I also found that this word could mean not a tree type but the shape of the cuts for the tree or the process to be used for the trees. Basically, this word’s meaning is lost to time.

I found this website where this person goes into a very intense research of this word (gofer) that sounds very interesting but is to be taken with a grain of salt. To make things short, because the webpage is very long to read, this person comes to a conclusion that is not definite but very interesting. In his/her conclusion to the research, he/she came up with this possible translation.

“Make an ark of wood from the best, biggest, greatest trees.

The cover (gopher) trees. The ones that form the top of the canopy and cover over all the others.

The giant trees.”

If you want to read the whole explanation and how he/she came up with it.

Click on this link

And this is how you are to make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits.

15 וְזֶה אֲשֶׁר תַּעֲשֶׂה אֹתָהּ שְׁלֹשׁ מֵאוֹת אַמָּה אֹרֶךְ הַתֵּבָה חֲמִשִּׁים אַמָּה רָחְבָּהּ וּשְׁלֹשִׁים אַמָּה קוֹמָתָהּ׃

טו

Just for Contrast

Three hundred cubits is 506.25 feet, and a football field is 300 feet. This is how long the ark was. Fifty cubits is about 75 feet, and a football field is 160 feet wide. Thirty cubits is about 45 feet, and a football field uprights goals are 35 feet on its highest point.

I know that without believing in God. There is a lot of criticism or lack of belief in the possibility of a ship made of wood to survive the type of water that Noakh’s Ark went through. Also, the possibility of the ark's capacity to hold all the animals that the Bible says it held. Well, who said that the animals were full-grown? For example, baby hippos typically weigh about 50 to 100 pounds and have a height of 4 feet at birth. They continue to grow in size until they are about 25 years old. How much do elephants weigh at birth? Newborn Asian elephant calves weigh about 90 to 113 kilograms (200 to 250 pounds). Baby African elephants weigh about 91 kilograms (200 pounds) as well. These calves can walk only about an hour after birth, and they stand about one meter (three feet) tall. Compared to any other animal, a baby giraffe is a giant, weighing 150 pounds and standing six feet tall when it drops out of its mother's womb. Baby giraffes don't stay tiny for long, and the baby will nearly double its height in the first year! So, about 12 feet in one year, which is how long the flood lasted from the start to the time that Noakh, his family, and all the animals came out of the ark.

As for the ark's construction, I will link to a more in-depth webpage with insane details of the ark. The only thing I can say, though, is that I heard somewhere that the dimensions or proportions of the ark are still used today in ship designs. Link to the webpage of the ark construction theory.

Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit (approximately 18 inches) above, and make a door for the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks.

16 צֹהַר תַּעֲשֶׂה לַתֵּבָה וְאֶל־אַמָּה תְּכַלֶנָּה מִלְמַעְלָה וּפֶתַח הַתֵּבָה בְּצִדָּהּ תָּשִׂים תַּחְתִּיִּם שְׁנִיִּם וּשְׁלִשִׁים תַּעֲשֶׂהָ׃

טז

I do not know if the floors were equal in height, but if they were, they would have been about fifteen feet each. In this case, a baby giraffe would fit on one of these floors.

Three floors multiply the ark's capacity threefold. Now, it can fit three times the capacity.

And behold, I will bring the flood’s waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which there is Ruakh/breath/wind/spirit of life.

17 וַאֲנִי הִנְנִי מֵבִיא אֶת־הַמַּבּוּל מַיִם עַל־הָאָרֶץ לְשַׁחֵת כָּל־בָּשָׂר אֲשֶׁר־בּוֹ רוּחַ חַיִּים מִתַּחַת הַשָּׁמָיִם כֹּל אֲשֶׁר־בָּאָרֶץ יִגְוָע׃

יז

The Ruakh/breath/wind/spirit of life

The one thing we do from the moment we are born to the last breath we take before we die all the days of our lives is breathe in Ruakh/breath/wind/oxygen/spirit. The blood distributes Ruakh through our bodies. This Ruakh is what keeps us alive. Blood is the life of the body; without it or with diseased blood, we die. And what keeps all of this, the Ruakh and the blood, in harmony and healthy is the נִשְׁמַת/Nish’Mat/Soul/Spirit/Breath of God of HaShem. Sin, however, puts the Nish’Mat through a battle that weakens it. Therefore, the harmony of the Ruakh intake and the ability of the blood to take Ruakh properly into the body gets compromised. Weakening the Nish’Mat of HaShem through sin causes the Nish’Mat to weaken, which causes you to get diseases because it can not keep the Ruakh and the blood in harmony, and taking sin all the way to full kills you.

And I will 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.

18 וַהֲקִמֹתִי אֶת־בְּרִיתִי אִתָּךְ וּבָאתָ אֶל־הַתֵּבָה אַתָּה וּבָנֶיךָ וְאִשְׁתְּךָ וּנְשֵׁי־בָנֶיךָ אִתָּךְ׃

יח

A Fresh Start

My covenant, a promise, an agreement. It is not a new covenant but a continuation from Adam to Noakh with new rules, which will be talked of later when they come up in the next few verses and chapters. We will find out later in future chapters that every time HaShem makes a covenant with someone. HaShem does not change the old covenant or replace it but adds to it, making new covenants in addition to the previous covenants. The previous covenants still stand and are not replaced.

And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female.

19 וּמִכָּל־הָחַי מִכָּל־בָּשָׂר שְׁנַיִם מִכֹּל תָּבִיא אֶל־הַתֵּבָה לְהַחֲיֹת אִתָּךְ זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה יִהְיוּ׃

יט

From the birds to their kinds, and of the animals to their kinds, from all creeping things of the earth/land to its kinds, two of all are to come to you to keep alive.

20 מֵהָעוֹף לְמִינֵהוּ וּמִן־הַבְּהֵמָה לְמִינָהּ מִכֹּל רֶמֶשׂ הָאֲדָמָה לְמִינֵהוּ שְׁנַיִם מִכֹּל יָבֹאוּ אֵלֶיךָ לְהַחֲיוֹת׃

כ

And you, take for yourself from all foods which to eat. And gather to you and for them food to be eaten.”

21 וְאַתָּה קַח־לְךָ מִכָּל־מַאֲכָל אֲשֶׁר יֵאָכֵל וְאָסַפְתָּ אֵלֶיךָ וְהָיָה לְךָ וְלָהֶם לְאָכְלָה׃

כא

And Noakh made all of which he was commended of him from ELOHIM.

22 וַיַּעַשׂ נֹחַ כְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר צִוָּה אֹתוֹ אֱלֹהִים כֵּן עָשָׂה׃

כב

Noakh finds himself in a world that finds him a strange man—not following the masses, where the people corrupt themselves physically and morally. Where cheating people for profit is the norm. Where killing is common practice, war is everywhere, and sex is a recreation to be done to all sexes and animals alike, where animal and human abuse and experimentation are done without thinking of the suffering of the creatures, in a world that follows many gods and has forgotten about HaShem, the real God that created them. I say be like Noakh, no matter what the world is doing. Cling to HaShem’s commandments, even if they see you as strange, but unlike Noakh, take every opportunity to tell others of your beliefs when they see that you act differently and when they see that your way of life is different from theirs. I get asked all the time, why don’t you eat pork or shrimp? Why don’t you shave your beard? When I get asked what religion I follow and why? All of these questions about the behavior you portray by following the Laws of God that set you apart are opportunities for you to set them straight. Do not force it upon others; listen and answer with the truth. To tell them that you only follow the One God of Creation. Answer all their questions if you can. Perhaps you will find that one person who listens. And if you do, God will find this as a righteous act.

A word about the ark and Noakh

I encounter people on the internet or in person who question the ark's ability to do its job or how all the animals fit in it. I do not, however, see much discussion of the undertaking that Noakh had to go through to build this massive thing. We are talking about a vessel longer than a football field and taller than the goal uprights. This ark had to be soundly made to withstand a storm of epic proportions. How knowledgeable do you have to be? What kind of technology must you acquire to do this? How much manpower is required? On top of this, Noakh had to acquire all the food for himself, his family, and the animals.

It also can be asked why HaShem didn’t do all this differently. In a way that Noakh did not have to do all that work and in which all life on the earth did not suffer? Well, for one, the sinning people of the earth had to pay for their sins, and two, imagine the whole population of the earth just dropping dead, decaying where they dropped. In that case, Noakh and his family probably had to endure pestilence and even maybe death from disease. With the Great Flood, the whole earth would be cleansed. Plus, mankind was left in charge of this world and everything in it. We are to tend and keep it. That is one of the reasons for being on this earth. So, it was up to Noakh to build this massive ship and save the animals. Noakh’s efforts were necessary to save the animals and ensure the repopulation of the earth. Nowadays, many people of any faith pray for things, putting minimal effort into it and, if possible, wanting them without effort, not knowing that HaShem gives the things people need according to their efforts, not their wants.