Noach - Genesis 6:9 through 11:32

Imagine a Bible without covers. Imagine that it is unbound, a sheaf of papers piled together a little haphazardly. Are the pages numbered? Are the separate books clipped together? If you dropped it, would you ever get it back together and in order again?

The Hebrew Bible as we know it has covers. It has a Table of Contents, pagination and even an ISBN number. It is not just a "canon" but The Canon, fixed, unchanging in black and white. This can make us hard to remember that the Bible is not really a thing, but rather a collection of things. It’s a grouping of assorted poetry, history, just-so-stories, works of praise, travelogues and even a building manual and recipe or two. And it certainly did not spring full-fledged, ISBN number and all, from the hand of Moses like Athena springing full-grown from Zeus’ head. It took a lot of time and arguing for people to decide just what should be included in the Bible, and what should be left out.

Both Judaism and Christianity have myths about how their Scriptures came to be canonized, but these are idealized stories that do not tell even a portion of the tale – the debates, infighting and suppression of books which for some reason were out of fashion or that some groups in power found ideologically or theologically suspect. Many of the books in the OT and NT canons barely made it in there… imagine a bible without the Song of Songs, without Esther, without the Gospel of John or the Letter to the Hebrews?

But what about all those works that were left out? Did the people who loved and preserved these books just drop them like hot potatoes because somebody in charge suddenly decided that they were not “scripture?” No… these (now-parabiblical) traditions continued to be preserved, venerated, and of assistance for generations of theologians and thinkers who turned to them for guidance and biblical interpretation. Sometimes works of biblical interpretation - which were never meant to be read as Scripture in and of themselves – became so venerated over time that they attained the quality of scripture and were thought to relate the “truth.” We’ll meet examples of both trends now, pertaining to the main character in this week’s bible portion: Noah.

Debate swirled around the character of Noah in ancient times. What were we to make of this hero’s essential nature? He certainly starts out well, all that ark building and command obeying, but the whole drunkenness and exposure bit in Genesis 9 gave interpreters pause. Was he righteous, or wretched? Saint or sot? Here are some ancient “votes” on the issue:

Very early Jewish texts like 1 Enoch and the Genesis Apocryphon (discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls) imagine Noah as exceedingly righteous – almost divine. Both these works preserve a story of Noah’s miraculous birth and attributes as an infant. Noah is so disconcertingly special that his father Lamech thinks that he must be illegitimate – his mother must have been fooling around with those naughty angels who were marrying human women in Genesis 6:1-4! Lamech finds out that Noah is his son, but only after putting his poor wife through misery; in the Genesis Apocryphon she begs him to remember their enjoyment during lovemaking in order to prove that she is faithful. Whoever said ancient texts were boring? Click here for a link to excerpts of these stories: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddbxqpcb_1hjmtw3cf

The bible does seem to indicate that Noah was righteous, but many rabbinic interpreters focused on the follow up to that statement:
Then the LORD said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you alone are righteous before me in this generation. (Gen 7:1)

Why in this generation? Maybe, some said, Noah was simply the best of a bad lot? See this discussion:

R. Johanan said: In his generations, but not in other generations. Resh Lakish maintained: [Even] in his generations — how much more so in other generations. R. Hanina said: As an illustration of R. Johanan's view, to what may this be compared? To a barrel of wine lying in a vault of acid: in its place, its odour is fragrant [by comparison with the acid]; elsewhere, its odour will not be fragrant. B. Sanhedrin 108a

In the New Testament, however, Noah’s saintliness was upheld and he was likened to Christ:

For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight people, were saved through water. And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.
1 Peter 3:18-22.

Of course, this typology overlooks Noah’s drunkenness… something many ancient rabbis (in response to Christian claims of Noah-Christ connections?) refused to do:

Noah, after having been called A righteous man (Gen. VI, 9), is called A MAN OF THE GROUND; but Moses, after having been called An Egyptian man (Ex. II, 19), was then called The man of God (Deut. XXXIII, 1). He was more beloved than Noah, who ended as a castrate. AND PLANTED A VINEYARD. As he was going to plant the vineyard the demon Shimadon met him and proposed, ' Come into partnership with me [in this vineyard], but take care not to enter into my portion, for if you do I will injure you.’ Genesis Rabbah 36:3

By the time we arrive at the story of Noah in the Qur’an – retold more than seven times in this work – Noah is an indubitably perfect prophet, and a type of Muhammad:

27 We did send Noah unto his people, ‘Verily, I am to you an obvious warner; 28 that ye should not worship any save God. Verily, I fear for you the torment of the grievous day. 29 But the chiefs of those who misbelieved amongst his people said, ‘We only see in thee a mortal like ourselves; nor do we see that any follow thee except the reprobates amongst us by a rash judgment; nor do we see that you have any preference over us; nay more, we think you liars!’ 30 Said, ‘O my people, Let us see! If I stand upon a manifest sign from my Lord, and there come to me mercy from him, and ye are blinded to it; shall we force you to it while ye are averse therefrom? 31 ‘O my people, I do not ask you for wealth in return for it; my hire is only from God; nor do I repulse those who believe; verily, they shall meet their Lord. But I see you, a people who are ignorant. 33 O my people, who will help me against God, were I to repulse you? Do ye not then mind? I do not say that I have the treasures of God; nor do I know the unseen; nor do I say, "Verily, I am an angel;" nor do I say of those whom your eyes despise, "God will never give them any good!" God knows best what is in their souls-verily, then should I be of the unjust.’ Sura 11

The end of this week’s reading introduces another figure – one whose righteousness is not in doubt in Judaism, Christianity or Islam: Abraham. One of the most fun and interesting traditions relating to Abraham in antiquity was a story of his actions as a young boy: Abraham Smashing the Idols. Most Christians I teach have never heard this story; many Jews in my classes know it so well that they are surprised to discover that it isn’t in the bible! To read Jewish and Muslim versions of this tale, click here:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddbxqpcb_2c88gxjhd&hl=en

Enjoy!

In the Beginning... Bereshit; Genesis 1:1 through Genesis 6:8

These comments related to the chapters and verses indicated in the lesson's title, above.
Genesis 1:1-5 thrusts the reader into the formless and void of nothing-ness from which creation emerges:

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

(Please note that I usually refer to the NRSV translation - unless otherwise specified.)

Targum Pseud0-Jonathan, also called Targum Yerushalmi (an Aramaic translation of the Torah of unknown date) relates the first moments of creation slightly differently:

With wisdom the Lord created. And the earth was vacancy and desolation, and solitary of the sons of men, and void of every animal; and the Spirit of mercies from before the Lord breathed upon the face of the waters. And it was evening, and it was morning, in the order of the work of the creation, the First Day.

It is a beautiful statement: "with wisdom the Lord created." And yet, are we to understand this "wisdom" as a descriptor of God's approach to creation...or maybe as "Wisdom," a second divine person present at the creation? Although this interpretation may seem far-fetched, we would do well to remember the words of Proverbs 8:22-31:

The Lord created me [Wisdom] at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of long ago. Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water.

Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth—

When he had not yet made earth and fields,or the world’s first bits of soil.
When he established the heavens, I was there,

when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,

when he made firm the skies above,

when he established the fountains of the deep, when he assigned to the sea its limit,

so that the waters might not transgress his command,

when he marked out the foundations of the earth,

then I was beside him, like a master worker;

and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always,

rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the human race.

The Hebrew word for wisdom is Hokmâ, a female noun. We see that Proverbs envisions God creating Wisdom first, as almost a heavenly help-mate, who then joins the Lord in the creation of the world, and they rejoice together in their work. But how does God create? through speech: then God said, ‘Let there be light.’

In Aramaic translations of biblical texts, the term Memra is often used to denote the creative or directive word of God. The meaning of Memra is "the word," - understood to be a manifestation of the divine in the human realm. The Greek translation of this "word"? -- logos.

Although the Gospel of John is often said to be the "least Jewish" of the gospels, it is easy to see that the same sentiments expressed in Proverbs and preserved in the relatively late Targum are present in John's prologue where he describes Creation as a partnership: (John 1: 1-5)

In the beginning was the Word (logos) and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

As in Genesis 1:1-5 this New Testament text describes creation from "the beginning" to the separation of "darkness and light."

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Notice that the verses covered in this lesson describe not one, but THREE separate creations, three worlds through which humanity passes, striving and failing: the Garden of Adam and Eve, the world outside the Garden, and following the destruction of this world by water, the world after the Flood.

Please click on the following link to view a table comparing these three worlds side-by-side.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddbxqpcb_0cc9qxvht

You'll notice that there is a progression from world to world:

Garden -
The first story describing Adam and Eve in the garden envisions an intimate relationship between humans and God, parental. God explicitly forbids; God is the one who pronounces the curses. Sin is external. The attainment of knowledge threatens the boundary between God and humans.

Farm -
In the second story, God is more distant. He speaks to Cain, but interacts less. God warns rather than forbids; Cain is a free moral agent. God again pronounces the curse. Sin is an internal struggle. The theme of knowledge is addressed again - this time the problem is Cain's denial of knowledge and responsibility.

Vineyard -
In the third story, describing Noah's drunkenness, God is absent. There is no divine warning- and it is Noah who utters the curse. Sin is both external and confusing... it is difficult to understand exactly what sin occurred, and who was to blame (Ham? Canaan? Does Noah bear some blame as well?). Noah voluntarily forfeits knowledge.

Notice that the third and final world - the world of Noah's Vineyard after the Flood - is our world. Sin is complex and confusing, blame often difficult to discern and assign, and it is all too tempting to forfeit knowing-ness and choose sleep, or wine, television or similar distractions.

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Sura 23 of the Qur’ān verses 12-16, titled "The Believers," describes the creation and existence of humans like this:

وَلَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الإنْسَانَ مِنْ سُلالَةٍ مِنْ طِينٍ

Man We did create from a quintessence (of clay);

ثُمَّ جَعَلْنَاهُ نُطْفَةً فِي قَرَارٍ مَكِينٍ

Then We placed him as (a drop of) sperm in a place of rest, firmly fixed;

ثُمَّ خَلَقْنَا النُّطْفَةَ عَلَقَةً فَخَلَقْنَا الْعَلَقَةَ مُضْغَةً فَخَلَقْنَا الْمُضْغَةَ عِظَامًا فَكَسَوْنَا الْعِظَامَ لَحْمًا ثُمَّ أَنْشَأْنَاهُ خَلْقًا آخَرَ فَتَبَارَكَ اللَّهُ أَحْسَنُ الْخَالِقِينَ

Then We made the sperm into a clot of congealed blood; then of that clot We made a (fetus) lump; then we made out of that lump bones, and clothed the bones with flesh; then we developed out of it another creature. So blessed be Allah, the best to create!

ثُمَّ إِنَّكُمْ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ لَمَيِّتُونَ

After that, at length ye will die

ثُمَّ إِنَّكُمْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ تُبْعَثُونَ

Again, on the Day of Judgment, will ye be raised up.

It is a vivid description, almost clinical in its specificity, and extremely reverent of the Creator, narrating the span of a human life - and afterlife - in the space of four verses.

What do you think about the stories and ideas covered?

Share your thoughts!

The Boundless Bible

…also known as “The Bible Unbound” and “Torah with a Twist.” Not your usual bible study! Over the course of a FULL YEAR, this online class takes a look at the entire Torah, or Pentateuch, from “let there be light” to the Promised Land. The goal of this class is never to tell you what the Bible means; instead we explore what is has meant to centuries of interpreters. The emphasis is on the varied – and sometimes wacky – way these stories have been understood in Jewish, Christian and Muslim circles.

Remember when Abraham passed off Sarah as his sister because he knew that Pharaoh would want her, even at such an advanced age? We’ll read an ancient text describing her ravishing beauty – in terms that would probably have made her blush!

Was Isaac merely bound on Mount Moriah, or was he actually killed in the process? Or was it Ishmael, and not Isaac after all?

These sorts of questions guide our study. Join us! The class will be conducted in a blog-like format. Each week there is an assigned reading from the Bible, and I will post an Instructor Commentary discussing some interpretations of interest. Your job is simply to read, reflect and RESPOND! Comment! Argue! Let others know what you think. The first lesson will be posted on October 20th, 2008. Its subject? B’reishit: Genesis 1:1-6:8.