Biblical Parallels Index – Bereshit 6-9/0

Biblical Parallels Index – Bereshit 6-9

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Creation and Re-creation Post Flood

Tanakh Lab¹ demonstrates that Bereshit 6, 7, 8, and 9 are the chapters in Tanakh that have most in common with Bereshit 1. The two stories parallel each other, with the recreation of the world after the flood mirroring the original creation, perhaps to highlight how, after destruction, Hashem gave man a fresh start, returning the world to its innocent beginnings. The various differences in the two accounts, however, demonstrate that the second creation was not totally identical to the first, with adaptations made for the new reality post-sin.

Tools

• See the Tanakh Lab to compare the two sets of chapters and view their linguistic parallels.

Articles

• See Undoing and Redoing Creation for an analysis of the flood as a story of undoing and redoing creation, highlighting how God gave the world a second chance. The new world, though, is not created in exactly the same manner as the first, and Hashem's view of and relationship to man changes. The miraculous nature of the original construction is replaced by a much more natural development, Hashem is more distant, and He no longer evaluates each act of creation as "good", instead noting that the nature of man "is evil from his youth"..
• See The First World and the Second by R. Yonatan Grossman for an exploration of the ways in which man’s essential mission changed after the flood.² Beforehand, man was given dominion over all other creatures, and was meant to act as their king. As such, he was not allowed to eat meat, for a king does not eat his subjects. Afterwards, however, man lost this status. Though he is still at the top of the hierarchy of created beings, he is considered one of them, a part of nature rather than a ruler over it.
• R. Zvi Grumet’s article The Ideal and the Real explores the notion that Tanakh often presents Hashem’s ideal blueprint, followed by a description of the reality as it played out within this world. This idea can be adapted to the description of the recreation of the world after the Flood.³
• See המחדש בטובו מעשה בראשית: הקבלות והבדלים בין פרק א' ובין פרק ח' בבראשית, by Dr. Yehoshua Berman, for comparisons and contrasts between the two narratives. He, like others, views the story of Noach as a story of the world's recreation, bit notes that there is an important difference  between the two creations.  In Bereshit 1 God blesses man, and then notes that "all is good". In Bereshit 8, God blesses man only after He expresses pleasure in His creation.  The new world is not made from nothing, but out of the remnants of the old broken one, and thus, now, to merit blessing, Noach must first bring  a sacrifice and attain atonement.

Noach's Vineyard and the Garden of Eden

There are several, perhaps unexpected, parallels between the two stories. Both involve planting a tree and the eating of its fruit. In one case this brings knowledge and the need to clothe one's self, in the other a lack of awareness (drunkenness) and undressing.

Articles

• See R. Zeev Weitman's Creation Anew who questions whether the recreation of the world after the flood was any better than the original, focusing on the story of Noach's drunkenness and its parallels to the story of the Garden of Eden. He suggests that Noach had attempted to reverse the wheels of history and return to the Garden of Eden, to an era before the sin. He realized, however, that this return is not progress, but rather a dangerous regression. The present world is adapted to a new version of mankind that already possesses the ability to distinguish between good and evil and thus it is subject to different standards.⁴

Noach and Avraham

Both Avraham and Noach are referred to as being "תמים" (faultless) and "walking before/with God", leading the reader to compare the two.

Sources

• Tanchuma Noach 5 compares the two figures, noting that Avraham surpassed Noach in status, for while Noach walked with God, in need of His support, Avraham walked before Him.

Tools

Using the concordance helps one find points of contact between Avraham and Noach:

• The concordance demonstrates that only a few individuals in Tanakh are described by the narrator as being "תמים", highlighting the comparison between Avraham and Noach.⁵
• By clicking on the word ברית in the Mikraot Gedolot on Bereshit 6:18, we see in the concordance that Noach is the first person with whom Hashem establishes a covenant (and that this word appears eight times in his story).  The next person with whom Hashem establishes a covenant is Avraham.  
• By clicking on the word מזבח in the Mikraot Gedolot on Bereshit 8:20, we see in the concordance that Noach is the first person to build an altar to Hashem (although he is not the first person to bring sacrifices), indicating that he developed the idea that sacrifices should be brought in a consecrated place.  The next person who continues this practice is Avraham.

These similarities reflect the ways in which Noach begins a tradition that finds fuller expression in the lives of the Avot. 

Articles

• While the concordance highlighted two important similarities between Noach and Avraham, see The Spiritual Legacy of Noah and Avraham, by R. Michael Rosensweig, for a discussion of the differences between their aspirations and accomplishments. R. Rosensweig sees Noach as essentially "a crisis manager and survivor,” lacking the enthusiasm, initiative, idealism, and impact on others that was embodied by Avraham. 

Noach and Yonah

Both the story of the Flood in Bereshit 6-8 and the Book of Yonah revolve around Hashem's decision to destroy a group of degenerate people, guilty of violence (חמס). In one, the world is actually obliterated, while in the other repentance averts the decree. The stories contain several points of contact, inviting the reader to compare the two episodes.

Tools

• Tanakh Lab – Use the Tanakh Lab to compare the two stories. Some of the common linguistic words / phrases include: "חָמָס", " וַיִּנָּחֶם הָאֱלֹהִים", "אַרְבָּעִים יוֹם" and "וַיַּרְא הָאֱלֹהִים אֶת" (and the role of a "יונה").  However, one must evaluate how unique and significant such phrases are to determine if one story is really alluding to the other.

Articles

• See וינחם האלהים על הרעה – וינחם ה' כי עשה את האדם: בין סיפור יונה לסיפור נח by R. Yitzchak Amar for an exploration of the idea that Yonah represents a culmination of the story of Noach and Hashem's promise to never again bring total destruction by flood. Hashem's changing modes of justice, from strict justice to mercy, explain the different outcomes of the sin of the generation of the Flood and the people of Nineveh.
• See Noah, Jonah, and Life After Catastrophe by R. Chaim Steinmetz for an analysis of the ways in which Yonah carries on the legacy of the story of the flood, sharing the belief that the wicked deserve just punishment. In Yonah’s view, humanity should fundamentally be destroyed for its flaws, and Hashem’s decision to be merciful in the wake of the flood is simply a loophole.  R. Steinmetz suggests that the message of Sefer Yonah is one of compassion: notwithstanding Yonah’s perspective, Hashem cares about people and does not seek their destruction.  R. Steinmetz applies this idea to the theological challenges of the Holocaust, citing the teachings of the Piaseczner Rebbe that Hashem loves His children and suffers alongside them in their times of distress. 
• See The Flood and the Destruction of Nineveh for a comparison of the two stories.  The article notes many parallels between the narrative including: the decree of destruction, the crime of violence that led to the decree, a period of forty days associated with destruction, the image of a boat sailing through stormy waters, sacrifices offered after salvation, a role played by animals in the story, and a “yonah” as a key figure in the narrative. The article considers why in one case the crime of violence (חמס) led to destruction, but in the other repentance was able to avert the decree .⁶

Noach and Korach

Tools

• Concordance and Tanakh Lab – If one highlights the words "אַנְשֵׁי הַשֵּׁם" in Bereshit 6:4 and chooses the concordance feature from the drop-down menu,⁷ one can see that the phrase occurs in only two stories: in the introduction to the Flood, and in the story of the rebellion of Korach. The uniqueness of the parallel might lead one to compare the two incidents. [It should be noted, however, that there are not a significant number of other unique linguistic parallels between the stories, as seen by a comparison of the two in the Tanakh Lab.]

Primary Sources

• Bereshit Rabbah 26:7 compares the destructive qualities of rebellion and dispute by the member's of Korach's coalition to the generation of the flood, pointing to the linguistic parallel of "אַנְשֵׁי הַשֵּׁם" noted above.

Articles

• For a comparison of the narratives of Noach and Korach, see בין נח לקרח: מקבילות לשוניות בשתי הפרשות by Dr. Azarya Baitner. Both stories involve sin which leads to destruction, but is followed by a promise that such destruction will not take place again. The promise, in both cases, is accompanied by a token (the rainbow in the case of the Flood and Aharon’s staff in the case of Korach). Linguistic similarities between the stories serve to highlight the extreme destructiveness of Korach’s rebellion, suggesting that it is comparable to the sins of the generation of the Flood. The parallels also imply the universal responsibility of humankind to avoid such sins in the future. As such, the signs of the rainbow and staff serve not only as a promise that each punishment will not be repeated but also encourage all people to take responsibility to avoid such sins in the future.  

“These Are The Generations”

Tools

• Makbilot Bamikra points out the many times that the phrase “אלה תולדות”  appears in Sefer Bereshit (see, for example, Bereshit 10:1, 11:1, and 11:27).

Articles

• In this article R. Menachem Leibtag demonstrates that genealogical lists (marked by the language of “אלה תולדות”) introduce every major narrative unit of the book of Bereshit.⁸ Tracing the usage of the term highlights how the book focuses on man's successes and failures in realizing the goal of publicizing and glorifying the name of Hashem. In the first unit of the book, which focuses on humanity as a whole, each genealogy list highlights a story of failure (Adam in Eden, the Flood, and the Tower of Bavel). The second unit of the book (Bereshit 12-end) focuses on the election of Avraham and his descendants, with each list highlighting either a rejected line (Yishmael and Esav's descendants) or a chosen line (Terach, Yitzchak, and Yaakov's descendants).

¹ In the Tanakh Lab, click on the Torah icon to view the chapters which are most linguistically similar to Bereshit 1.

² His starting point is the question of why, after the Flood, man is granted permission to eat meat, while beforehand this was not allowed.

³ The article's focus is the difference in the accounts of creation in Bereshit 1 and 2. R. Grumet notes how the first chapter of Sefer Bereshit describes what an ideal world would look like, followed in the second chapter by an account of the world as it actually existed. As such, Chapter 1 describes a harmonious world, marked by order, and evaluated as "good", without sin or strife. Chapter 2, in contrast, describes a creation that appears to lack an ordered plan, where mankind makes mistakes, and not all is good.

⁴ See also R. Alex Israel's article, Noach in the Garden of Eden for a similar analysis.

⁵ Yechezkel, too, is so described.

⁶ This topic draws off the article by R. YItzchak Amar cited above.

⁷ To weed out unwanted results, one can choose the specific form "אנשי" by manually toggling between שורש (root) and צורה (form) and inputting "אנשי" rather than "איש" in that field.

⁸ See also Overview – Sefer Bereshit which details each mention of "אלה תולדות" and the role the phrase plays in the book's structure.