{"id":1746,"date":"2020-10-22T00:38:38","date_gmt":"2020-10-22T00:38:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/?p=1746"},"modified":"2020-10-30T03:54:42","modified_gmt":"2020-10-30T08:54:42","slug":"the-greatness-of-noah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/the-greatness-of-noah\/","title":{"rendered":"The Greatness of Noah…."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Despite the fact that Torah plainly describes Noach as \u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05e6\u05b7\u05d3\u05bc\u05b4\u05d9\u05e7 \/ ish tzaddik:<\/em> \u201ca righteous man,\u201d \u201cblameless in his generation\u201d (\u05ea\u05bc\u05b8\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05b8\u05d9\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05bc\u05b0\u05d3\u05e8\u05ea\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5), and a man who \u201cwalked with God\u201d (\u05d0\u05b6\u05ea\u05be\u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05d4\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05b4\u05ea\u05b0\u05d4\u05b7\u05dc\u05bc\u05b6\u05da\u05b0\u05be\u05e0\u05d7\u05b7), Jewish tradition takes a somewhat ambiguous view of him, especially<\/em> when he\u2019s compared to Abraham, the father of the Jewish people… In the Midrash Tanchuma (\u05de\u05d3\u05e8\u05e9 \u05ea\u05e0\u05d7\u05d5\u05de\u05d0), for example, it is said that Noach was righteous “in his generation” — though he would not<\/em> be so regarded in other generations. In other words, Noah was “relatively righteous” compared to the world at large, at least according to sages like Rashi, Maimonides, etc. However such an assessment is surely unfair, lashon ha’ra<\/em>, and even chillul HaShem<\/em>! After all, is not Noah ben Lamech perhaps one of the greatest examples of a person of faith given in the Torah? He was a descendant of the godly line of Seth who lived in a world filled with rampant and unbridled wickedness (Gen. 6:5), and yet he found grace<\/em> in the eyes of the LORD (\u05de\u05b8\u05e6\u05b8\u05d0 \u05d7\u05b5\u05df \u05d1\u05bc\u05b0\u05e2\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4) because of his faith as he walked with God (Gen. 6:8-9).\u00a0 Indeed the very first time the word “grace” (\u05d7\u05b5\u05df) appears in the Torah concerns Noah: “Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD” (\u05d5\u05e0\u05d7 \u05de\u05e6\u05d0 \u05d7\u05df \u05d1\u05e2\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4) — a phrase later ascribed to Moses himself (Exod. 33:12, 17).<\/p>\n

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…<\/span><\/p>\n

Moreover the New Testament affirms Noah’s greatness as a tzaddik<\/em>: “By faith Noah, when he was warned about things not yet seen, with reverent regard constructed an ark for the deliverance of his family. Through faith he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith” (Heb. 11:7). Noah was a \u201cpreacher of righteousness\u201d (\u03b4\u03b9\u03ba\u03b1\u03b9\u03bf\u03c3\u1f7b\u03bd\u03b7\u03c2 \u03ba\u1f75\u03c1\u03c5\u03ba\u03b1) who faithfully completed the incredible task of constructing an enormous ark (\u05ea\u05bc\u05b5\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4) to deliver life from God’s judgment (2 Pet. 2:5).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/gen6-9b-jjp.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

…<\/span><\/p>\n

The “ark” (i.e., teivah<\/em>: \u05ea\u05bc\u05b5\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4) that Noah built was not a ship that had a rudder but was a box-shaped vessel designed simply to rise above the deluge of the flood (\u05de\u05b7\u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05dc) and be carried up by God’s providence. Spiritually understood, then, an “ark” represents a vessel completely surrendered to God’s care, and the \u201cTorah of the Ark\u201d (\u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b7\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05ea\u05bc\u05b5\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4) teaches that we must cast ourselves upon the waters of the Father\u2019s great mercy (\u05d0\u05b2\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd) and completely trust that He will guide our passage through the storms of this life (1 Pet. 5:7).<\/p>\n

Noah trusted in the unseen love and care of his Heavenly Father, despite circumstances that were incomprehensibly dreadful… Like all the other tzaddikim<\/em>, Noah \u201cwalked by faith, not by sight\u201d (2 Cor. 5:7) while looking forward to a “new heavens and earth” (2 Pet. 3:11-15). Yes, of course father Abraham was a marvelous tzaddik<\/em> who was greatly tested when he offered his beloved son of promise during the Akedah<\/a>, trusting in the LORD’s heart and good will to rectify all things, but we should not underestimate the greatness of Noah’s faith, as he labored for over 100 years building the ark without any physical evidence that the great cataclysm would come. Moreover, it would do well for the rabbis to celebrate Noah\u2019s example and to remember that Abraham himself owes his life to Noah’s obedience of faith, since Abraham is a direct descendant from Noah through his son Shem (Gen. 11:10-32).<\/p>\n

The story of Noah reminds us that the great Day of the Lord (\u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd\u05be\u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d2\u05bc\u05b8\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc) will surely come (2 Pet. 3:10) and indeed is drawing near (Zeph. 1:14). Yeshua himself forewarned that the spiritual condition of the world would be one of anarchy<\/em> and moral chaos<\/em> wherein the wickedness of humanity would be great, and that “every design of the thoughts of people’s minds would be full of evil continually” (Gen. 6:5). As in the days of Noah, in the midst of worldwide corruption, our Messiah will return in final judgment (Matt. 24:37-38; Luke 17:26-27). Maranatha<\/em> – Even so, come Yeshua Adoneinu…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/zeph1-14a-jjp.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite the fact that Torah plainly describes Noach as \u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05e6\u05b7\u05d3\u05bc\u05b4\u05d9\u05e7 \/ ish tzaddik: \u201ca righteous man,\u201d \u201cblameless in his generation\u201d (\u05ea\u05bc\u05b8\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05b8\u05d9\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05bc\u05b0\u05d3\u05e8\u05ea\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5), and a man who \u201cwalked with God\u201d (\u05d0\u05b6\u05ea\u05be\u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05d4\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05b4\u05ea\u05b0\u05d4\u05b7\u05dc\u05bc\u05b6\u05da\u05b0\u05be\u05e0\u05d7\u05b7), Jewish tradition takes a somewhat ambiguous view of him, especially when he\u2019s compared to Abraham, the father of the Jewish people… In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,15,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-dvar","category-hebrew-reading-practice","category-torah"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1746"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1940,"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1746\/revisions\/1940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}