The Name Noah

This is the line of Noah.—Noah was a righteous man; he was blameless in his age; Noah walked with God.—

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).

And he named him Noah, saying, “This one will provide us relief from our work and from the toil of our hands, out of the very soil which the LORD placed under a curse.”

(2) And he called his name Noach - Rabbi Yochanan and Rabbi Shimon Ben Lakish dispute. Rabbi Yochanan said: "The midrash is not the name, and the name is not the midrash. Rather, the verse only needed to say "Noach, this one will comfort us", or "Nachman , this one will comfort us". Rather, in the hour that the Holy One created Adam HaRishon (the First Human), He made him rule over all, the cow would listen to the plowman and the furrow would listen to the plowman. Since Adam sinned they rebelled against him, the cow would not listen to the plowman and the furrow would not listen to the plowman. When Noach stood/was established, they rested (nachu). And from where do we have this? Here we have the expression of rest (nichah), and there we have the expression of rest: "so that your ox and your donkey will rest (yanuach)" (Ex. 23:12). Just as in that case the expression has to do with the ox resting, so too here. Rabbi Shimeon Ben Lakish said: "The midrash is not the name, and the name is not the midrash. Rather, the verse only needed to say "Noach, this one will comfort us", or "Nachman, this one will comfort us". Rather, until the moment Noach stood the waters would not cease to come up and flood them inside their graves. Twice, as it is written: "Who summons the waters of the sea [and pours them out upon the earth— His name is Ad-nai!]" (Amos 5:8) this is regarding the two times [per day] that the waters come up and flood them inside their graves, once in Shacharit (morning) and once in Arvit (night), since it is written: "[abandoned among the dead,] like corpses lying in the grave [of whom You are mindful no more], and who are cut off from Your care." Their "bodies lying in the grave" were "abandoned corpses" - and when Noach stood up, they found rest. Here we have the expression of rest (nichah), and there we have the expression of rest: "Yet they shall come to peace, they shall have rest on their resting place, [the ones who walked straightforward]." (Isaiah 57:2). Just as in that case the expression has to do with the resting in the grave, so too here. Rabbi Eliezer said: Noach was named after his sacrifice (korban) as it is written: "And Ad-nai smelled the pleasing [hanichoach] odor" (Gen. 8:21). Rabbi Yosi bar Rabbi Chanina said: He was named after the resting of the ark, as it says "and the ark rested [tanach]" (Gen. 8:4). Rabbi Yochanan said: the celestial spheres did not move that entire twelve months. Rabbi Yonatan said to him: they did move, but their movements were not marked. "(So long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night) shall not cease" (Gen 8:22) - Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbu Yehoshua dispute. Rabbi Eliezer said: shall not cease, from here [we infer] that they did not cease. And Rabbi Yehoshua: shall not cease, from here [we infer] that they did cease.

זה ינחמנו THIS WILL COMFORT US — He will ease from off us (ינחמנו) the toil of our hands. For until Noah came people had no agricultural instruments and he prepared such for them. The earth had brought forth thorns and thistles when they sowed wheat in consequence of the curse imposed upon Adam Harishon: in the days of Noah, however, this ceased (Tanchuma 1:1:11). This is what is meant by the word ינחמנו (viz., ינח מנו). If, however, you do not explain it in this manner, but from the root נחם “to comfort”, then the meaning you give to this expression (connecting it with the idea of “comfort”) will have no application to the name נח, and you would have to call him מנחם “Comforter”.

He will give us rest. Bereishis Rabbah says: Was Lemech a prophet, that [when Noach was born] he knew about this? R. Shimon ben Yehotzedek said: Noach was born circumcised. For when Hashem cursed the earth, Adam said to Him: O Master of the World! Until when? Hashem told him: Until you beget a circumcised person. Once Noach was born circumcised, they said: He will give us rest! (Divrei Dovid)

This one will bring us rest (or “consolation”). Adam informed Lemech through prophecy that his son would bring about the salvation of the world.

ויקרא את שמו נח, לאמור זה ינחמנו ממעשינו, our sages (Bereshit Rabbah 25,2) say that לא השם הוא המדרש, ולא המדרש הוא השם, that the name נח is not compatible with the allegorical explanation offered by the Midrash, neither is the Midrash compatible with the name נח. Lemech should not have related the name נח to נחמה, but should have related it to נח זה יניחנו, “this one will bring relief,” as opposed to: “this one will comfort us, i.e. the meaning of the word נחמה. On the other hand, if what he had in mind by naming his son נח, was נחמה, the comfort that he expected or hoped that his son would bring to the world, he should have named him נחמן זה ינחמנו. “this one will bring us comfort, consolation.” The Midrash is absolutely correct. However, if someone finds rest, relief after having experienced troubles, this is in itself his comfort, his consolation. The Hebrew language does not make such fine distinctions when it comes to the names reflecting linguistically accurately what the giver of the name had in mind. When Chanah named her first born son, the one for whom she had prayed in the Tabernacle at Shiloh, שמואל, giving as her reason for this name כי מיהוה שאלתיו, “for I have borrowed him from the Lord,” she should have called him שאול, if she had taken the words of our Midrash to heart. (Samuel I 1,20) The word שאול means something or someone borrowed. The name שמואל is close enough to make us realise what she had had in mind. In fact Chanah’s thoughts are reflected more accurately in the name שמואל than they would have been in the name שאול. The name שמואל actually contains not only the thought that he has been borrowed, or asked for, but that he had been borrowed, or asked for from G’d. Similar considerations apply to the name יעבץ, derived from עצב, anguish, sadness, (Chronicles I 4,9) His mother mentioned that she named him so because he had been born out of pain. There are more such examples to be found throughout the Bible.
According to our sages Lemech must have been a great prophet, for how else could he predict that Noach, his son, would turn out to be a boon to mankind? What did he see or know that caused him to make such a prediction? According to Tanchuma Bereshit 11, people did not know what a plough was and they had to do all their work on the soil by hand. Noach invented the plough, thus becoming a great benefactor of mankind. He trained oxen and donkeys to pull a ploughshare, thus easing the labour the farmers had to perform. This was the relief and consolation he provided for all of the human species. When Lemech referred to ממעשי ידינו, “from what we had to do with our hands,” he meant that henceforth due to his son, animals could perform some of the labour which, up until then had been performed by each farmer literally with his own hands. [In accepting this interpretation, we must assume that the name Noach was not bestowed on Noach at birth. Ed.] The word מעשה as applying to working one’s field, appears in Judges 19,16 ממעשהו מן השדה, “from his work, from the field.” Even though the word מעשה can apply to any kind of work, it is used in the main in connection with work in the field. ומעצבון ידינו, from the frustration we have been experiencing over the work of our hands 'אשר אררה ה, which the Lord had cursed. Lemech referred to 3,17 where G’d had told Adam that as a result of his having listened to his wife, the earth would be cursed and he would have to eat his bread only after experiencing עצבון. In spite of Noach having invented the plough, people after him continued to work very hard to gain their livelihood through tilling the soil. However, he had definitely made their chores easier due to his clever invention.
According to the plain meaning of the text, when Lemech had said זה ינחמנו, he had certainly not expressed a prophetic vision with these words, but he had called Noach by that name as a sort of prayer, seeing in his birth a special blessing. [perhaps the fact that he had not become a father until he was 182 years old had something to do with this. Everyone else mentioned in the chapter fathered a son at a much younger age. Ed.] When Rachel gave birth to Joseph, she called him Joseph as a good omen, saying that she named him thus so that G’d might give her another son. (Genesis 30,24). Moses recorded, at the command of G’d, all these vital statistics of the people from Adam until Noach, in order that we, who have inherited the Torah, should know that the universe has not always existed but was created by G’d, an important fact for every human being to be aware of.

And when Lamech was one hundred and eighty-one years of age, he went and took Ashmia, ‎the daughter of Elisha, son of Enoch his uncle, to wife, and she conceived. At that time the ‎sons of man sowed and had somewhat of a harvest in return. But the people did not turn from ‎their evil ways and they revolted against their masters.‎ And after a year came around the wife of Lamech bare a son, and Methuselah called his name ‎Noah, saying: The earth has ceased in his days to destroy the seed. But Lamech his father ‎called him Menachem, saying: This one will comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our ‎hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed.‎ And the boy grew up and was weaned, and he walked in the paths of his sire Methuselah, ‎ever upright and perfect with the Lord.‎

(12) The rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.)

(1) ויהי הגשם על הארץ AND THE RAIN WAS UPON THE EARTH — But later on (v. 17) it says. “And the Flood was upon the earth”! But the explanation is this: when He poured down the water at first He made it fall in mercy (gently), in order that if the people would repent, it might prove a rain of blessing; but when they did not repent it became a destructive flood (Genesis Rabbah 31:12) .(2) ‘ארבעים יום וגו