Genesis 6:2 h.בני האלהים THE SONS OF ELOHIM — The sons of princes and rulers (Genesis Rabbah 26:15). Another explanation of בני האלהים is that these were princely angels who came as messengers from God: they, too, intermingled with them (the daughters of men). Wherever the word אלהים occurs in the Scriptures it signifies authority, and the following passages prove this: (Exodus 4:16) “and thou shalt be his (אלהים) master”, and (Exodus 7:1) “See, I have made the (אלהים) a master.”
h.כי טבת הנה THAT THEY WERE FAIR — Rabbi Judan said, “It is written here טבת, for when they were being made to appear “good” by being decked out to be taken beneath the marriage canopy one of the lords would come and carry her off first (Genesis Rabbah 26:5).
h.מכל אשר בחרו OF ALL WHOM THEY CHOOSE — even if it were a married woman or a man or an animal (Genesis Rabbah 26:5).
Genesis 6:3 h.לא ידון רוחי באדם MY SPIRIT SHALL NOT STRIVE AGAINST MAN — My Spirit shall not be in a state of discontent and shall not strive with Myself because of man.
h.לעולם ALWAYS — for a long time. Behold, My Spirit has been contending within Me whether to destroy or whether to show mercy: such contending (deliberation) shall not be forever — meaning, for a long time.
h.בשגם הוא בשר FOR THAT HE ALSO IS FLESH — This is the same as בְּשָׁגַּם — that is to say: because this quality is also in him viz., that he is only flesh, and yet he does not humble himself before Me; what would he do if he were of fire or of some other resisting matter! Similarly we find שַׁ for שָׁ, (Judges 5:7) עד שַׁקמתי דבורה “Until I Deborah arose”, where it is the same as שָׁקמתי; so also (Judges 6:17) שַׁאתה מדבר עמי “that it is thou who talkest with me”, where it is the same as שָׁאתה — so also here.
h.והיו ימיו וגו THEREFORE HIS DAYS SHALL BE etc. — For 120 years I will be long-suffering with them, and if they repent not I shall bring a flood upon them. If, now, you object, saying that from the birth of Japheth until the Flood there were only 100 years, remember that there is no “earlier” or “later” in the Torah (events are not always related in chronological order) (Pesachim 6b): the decree (regarding the Flood) was issued twenty years before Noah had any children — so we find in Seder Olam. There are many Midrashic explanations of the words לא ידון but this is transparently its plain sense.
Genesis 6:4 h.הנפילים THE GIANTS — Thy were called נפילים because they fell (נפלו) and caused the downfall of (הפילו) the world (Genesis Rabbah 26:7). In Hebrew the giants are usually called בימים ההם
h.ענקים IN THOSE DAYS — In the days of the generations of Enosh and the sons of Cain (Genesis Rabbah 26:7).
h.וגם אחרי כן AND ALSO AFTER THAT — Although they witnessed the destruction of the generation of Enosh when the Ocean rose and flooded a third part of the world, yet the generation of the Flood did not humble itself and take a lesson from them (Genesis Rabbah 26).
h.אשר יבאו WHEN [THE SONS OF GOD] CAME IN, they (the women) bore children, giants like them (the fathers) (Genesis Rabbah 26:7).
h.הגבורים MIGHTY — in rebellion against God.
h.אנשי שם MEN OF RENOWN (literally, men of name) — Men who bore distinctive names: עירד, מחויאל, מתושאל being so named because these names have reference to their destruction, for they were wiped out and torn out from the world (מחוי-אל would signify “wiped-out-by-God”, מתושאל “Torn-out-by-God). Another explanation is that they were men of devastation (אנשי שם-מון) — who devastated the world (Genesis Rabbah 26:7).
Genesis 6:6 h.וינחם ה' כי עשה AND THE LORD REPENTED THAT HE HAD MADE — (The first word is connected with that which means “comfort”) It was a consolation to Him that He had created man on earth, for had he been one of the heavenly beings he would have incited them also to rebel against God (Genesis Rabbah 27:4).
h.ויתעצב GRIEVED HIM — means, in the mind of God man became an object to be troubled (punished): it entered God’s heart to grieve him. This is how the Targum of Onkelos understands the verse. Another explanation of verse 6: וינחם AND [THE LORD] REPENTED — The thoughts of God turned from Divine mercy to Divine justice: He considered what to do with man whom He had made on the earth. Wherever this term is used in the Scripture it means “considering what to do”. Examples are: (Numbers [18]:19) “nor the son of man that He should consider (ויתנחם)”; (Deuteronomy 32:36) “and reconsider (ויתנחם) regarding His servants”; (Exodus 22:14) “and the Lord reconsidered (וינחם) regarding the evil”; (1 Samuel 15:2) “I am reconsidering (נחמתי) that I have set up Saul to be king” — all these passages denote a change of mind.
h.ויתעצב אל לבו AND IT GRIEVED HIM AT HIS HEART— He mourned at the failure of His handiwork. Similarly (2 Samuel [19]:3) ‘The king grieved (נעצב) for his son”. (Similarly here: God grieved for his (man’s) heart: that it had changed from good to bad). The following extract from the Midrash Rabbah I am writing in order that you may know how to refute the arguments of certain heretics: A gentile once asked Rabbi Joshua, the son of Korcha, saying to him, “Do you not admit that the Holy One, blessed be He, knows what is to happen in the future?” He replied, “Yes.” The gentile retorted, “But is it not written ‘and He was grieved in His heart’?” He answered: “Have you ever had a son born to you?” The reply was “Yes.” He asked (the gentile): “And what did you do?” He replied: “I rejoiced and I made others rejoice also.” The Rabbi asked him: “But did you not know that he must die?” The heathen replied: “At the time of joy, let there be joy, at the time of mourning let there be mourning”. The Rabbi then said: “Such, too, is the way of the Holy One, blessed be He: although it was clear to Him that in the end men would sin and would be destroyed, He did not refrain from creating them for the sake of the righteous men who were to issue from them” (Genesis Rabbah 27:4).
Genesis 6:7 h.ויאמר ה' אמחה את האדם AND GOD SAID I WILL BLOT OUT THE MAN — He is dust and I shall bring water upon him and blot him out: that is why this root מחה is used (it expresses the idea of sponging out by means of wet or dampness) (Genesis Rabbah 28:2).
h.מאדם ועד בהמה — FROM MAN, TO BEAST — These also corrupted their way (Genesis Rabbah 28:8). Another explanation is: All things were created on man’s account; when he ceases to be, what need of them? (Sanhedrin 108a)
h.כי נחמתי כי עשיתים means for I have thought out what to do because I have made them. (Cf. this with Rashi’s second explanation of וינחם 5:6).
Genesis 6:9 h.אלה תולדת נח נח איש צדיק THESE ARE THE PROGENY OF NOAH: NOAH WAS A RIGHTEOUS MAN — Since the text mentions him it sings his praise, in accordance with what is said, (Proverbs 10:7) “The mention of the righteous shall be for a blessing.” Another explanation is: since after stating “These are the progeny of Noah”, it does not at once mention the names of his children but declares that he “was a righteous man”, Scripture thereby teaches you that the real progeny of righteous people are their good deeds (Genesis Rabbah 30:6).
h.בדורותיו IN HIS GENERATIONS — Some of our Rabbis explain it (this word) to his credit: he was righteous even in his generation; it follows that had he lived in a generation of righteous people he would have been even more righteous owing to the force of good example. Others, however, explain it to his discredit: in comparison with his own generation he was accounted righteous, but had he lived in the generation of Abraham he would have been accounted as of no importance (cf. Sanhedrin 108a).
h.את האלהים התהלך נח NOAH WALKED WITH GOD — In the case of Abraham Scripture says, (Genesis 24:40) ‘‘[God] before whom I walked”; Noah needed God’s support to uphold him in righteousness, Abraham drew his moral strength from himself and walked in his righteousness by his own effort (Genesis Rabbah 30:10).
h.התהלך HE WALKED — This word is in the past tense. The following is the usage of this verbal form: in the “heavy” (כבד) conjugation one grammatical form is used both as future (i. e. the imperative, since the imperative calls for on action to be done in the future relative to the time when the command is given) and as past tense e. g., (13:17) קום התהלך “arise walk” is future (i. e. imperative); התהלך נח “Noah walked” (in this passage) is past; (1 Samuel 12:19) התפלל בעד עבדיך “Pray for thy servants” is future (i. e. imperative) and (1 Kings 8:42) ובא והתפלל אל הבית הזה “When he shall come and shall pray toward this house” is past, only that the ו at the beginning of the word changes the tense into the future (it is Vav conversive).
Genesis 6:11 h.ותשחת [THE EARTH] WAS CORRUPT — It means lewdness and idolatry, as (Deuteronomy 4:16) פן תשחיתון “lest ye deal corruptly” (the following words show that this refers to idolatry) and as ‘כי השחית כל בשר וגו “for all flesh had corrupted etc.” (in next verse of this chapter where Rashi states that this has reference to lewdness) (Sanhedrin 57a).
h.ותמלא הארץ חמס AND THE EARTH WAS FILLED WITH VIOLENCE — means robbery.
Genesis 6:12 all flesh
h.כי השחית כל בשר FOR ALL FLESH HAD CORRUPTED — even cattle, beasts and fowl did not consort with their own species (Genesis Rabbah 28:8).
Genesis 6:13 h.קץ כל בשר THE END OF ALL FLESH — Wherever you find lewdness and idolatry, punishment of an indiscriminate character comes upon the world killing good and bad alike (Genesis Rabbah 26:5).
h.כי מלאה הארץ חמס FOR THE EARTH IS FILLED WITH VIOLENCE — Their fate was sealed only on account of their sin of robbery (Sanhedrin 108a).
h.את הארץ [I WILL DESTROY THEM] WITH THE EARTH — It is similar to מן הארץ "from the earth”; other examples of this use of את are: (Exodus 9:29) בצאתי ‘‘when I go forth” את העיר which means מן העיר “from the city” and (1 Kings 15:23) חלה ‘‘he suffered” את רגליו which means מן רגליו ‘‘from his feet”. Another explanation of את הארץ is: “together with the earth” — for the earth was blotted out and washed away to the depth of a furrow of three handbreadths (Genesis Rabbah 31:7).
Genesis 6:14 h.עשה לך תבת MAKE THEE AN ARK — There are numerous ways by which God could have saved Noah; why, then, did he burden him with this construction of the Ark? So that the men of the generation of the Flood might see him employed on it for 120 years and might ask him, “What do you need this for”? and so that he might answer them, “The Holy One, blessed be He, is about to bring a flood upon the world” — perhaps they might repent (Sanhedrin 108b) (literally, return to God).
h.עצי גופר GOPHER WOOD — Thus is its name. Why of this species (גפר)? Because of the (גפרית) “sulphur” by which it was decreed that they were to be blotted out.
h.קנים ROOMS — Separate cabins for each kind of cattle and beast.
h.בכפר WITH כפר — This is an Aramaic term for the Hebrew זפת “pitch’’, and in the Talmud (Shabbat 67a) we find the noun כופרא “pitch”. In the case of the ark (cradle) in which Moses was placed, since the waters were not rapid it sufficed that it should be daubed with slime inside and with pitch outside; and a further reason for this was that this righteous person (Moses) should not smell the bad odour of the pitch (Sotah 12a). Here, however, because of the rough waters he had to cover it with pitch inside as well as outside.
Genesis 6:16 h.צהר A LIGHT — Some say this was a window; others say that it was a precious stone that gave light to them (Genesis Rabbah 31:11).
h.ואל אמה תכלנה מלמעלה AND TO A CUBIT SHALT THOU FINISH IT UPWARD — Its covering (roof) slanted upwards so that it narrowed at the top to a cubit, in order that the water should run off on both sides.
h.בצדה תשים THOU SHALT SET [THE DOOR] IN THE SIDE THEREOF — in order that the rain might not penetrate.
h.תחתים שנים ושלישים WITH LOWER, SECOND AND THIRD STORIES — Three stories one above the other: the top rooms for the human beings, the middle ones as cabins for the cattle, and the bottom was for the refuse (Sanhedrin 108b).
Genesis 6:17 and I behold I do bring
h.ואני הנני מביא AND I, BEHOLD, I DO BRING — God says, “Now I am prepared to agree with those angels who cautioned Me and long ago said to Me (when I was about to create man), (Psalms 8:5) “What is man that thou art mindful of him” (Genesis Rabbah 31:12).
h.מבול A FLOOD — so called because it ruined (בלה) everything; because it cast everything into confusion (בלל), and because it brought (הוביל from root יבל) everything down from the heights to a lower level. And this last explanation underlies the translation of Onkelos who translates it by טופנא (Ar. טוף = Heb. צוף) because the Flood caused everything to float about and brought it (the Ark) to Babel which is a low-lying district. That is the reason why it (Babylon) is called, also, Shinar (שנער): because all those who died through the Flood were shaken out (ננערו) into it (Shabbat 113b).
Genesis 6:18 establish my covenant
h.והקמתי את בריתי BUT I WILL ESTABLISH MY COVENANT — A covenant was necessary for the sake of the fruits that they should not rot or decay; and also that the wicked people of that generation should not kill him (Genesis Rabbah 31:12)
h.אתה ובניך ואשתך THOU, AND THY SONS AND THY WIFE — Males separately and females separately. From this one may infer that they were not permitted to live together in the Ark as man and wife (Sanhedrin 108b).
Genesis 6:19 h.ומכל החי AND OF EVERY LIVING THING — Even of demons (Genesis Rabbah 31:13).
h.שנים מכל TWO OF EVERY SORT — Even of the least numerous amongst them there were not less than two—one male, the other female.
Genesis 6:20 h.מהעוף למינהו OF THE FOWLS AFTER THEIR KIND— those that had kept to their own species and had not corrupted their way (taking the words to mean, “of the fowls that had kept to their own kind”). All these came of their own accord, but only those which the Ark was allowing to pass in did Noah permit to enter (Sanhedrin 108b).
Genesis 6:22 h.ויעש נח THUS DID NOAH — This refers to the building of the Ark (Genesis Rabbah 31:14)