Literary Devices – Bereshit 6–9

Chiastic Structure

One of the most prominent literary conventions in Tanakh is the use of chiastic structure (a-b-c-b-a). Chiastic structure serves to delineate a narrative unit and to highlight the turning-point within the narrative. Often too, it serves to highlight reversals in a plot.  In this case it traces the destruction of the world through flood, and then the waning of the flood and decision never to destroy the world again.

Wordplay (לשון נופל על לשון)

In Parashat Noach, the language with which Hashem promises destruction plays on and parallels the language with which humanity’s sins are described.  In this case, the purpose of the wordplay is to underscore man’s unwitting responsibility for his own fate: 

Triple "ויאמר"

In many verses, one finds that the word "וַיֹּאמֶר" is mentioned twice despite there not being an an intervening response or explicit change in speaker in between. This might indicate resistance or opposition of some sort on the part of the other participants in the conversation. [For further discussion of the phenomenon and many other examples, see Redundancy.]

• The first example of this convention is found in Bereshit 9:8-17, where Hashem promises Noach not to send another flood in verse 8. This is followed by another statement in verse 12, introduced by a second "וַיֹּאמֶר", that the rainbow will be the sign of the covenant, and then by a third "וַיֹּאמֶר" statement in verse 17 where the sign is confirmed.
• Robert Alter¹ explains: “Here, God flatly states His promise never to destroy the world again. The flood-battered Noah evidently needs further reassurance, so God goes on ... to offer the rainbow as an outward token of His covenant.”

Keywords

Tanakh Lab demonstrates that the three words that appear with greatest frequency in the story of the flood (Bereshit 6:5-9:29) are: אֶרֶץ,  תֵּבָה, and מַיִם, and when looking at relative frequency compared to the rest of Tanakh, also מבול. Given the plot of the story, this is somewhat expected.