Noach: A Whole New World

(29) 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). This is what is meant by the word ינחמנו

(26) And God said, "Let us make man:" A [separate] proclamation was designated for the creation of man, because of his stature - since his nature is not like the nature of animals and beasts that He created in the proclamation that precedes it. And the correct simple meaning of the word, 'let us make,' is that which you have already been shown, to know (above, verse 1) that God created something from nothing on the first day alone, and afterwards He formed and made [everything] from the fundamental elements. And when He gave power of swarming in the water to swarm living creatures, the proclamation was (verse 20), "let the waters swarm;" and the proclamation with the animals was (verse 24) "let the earth bring forth;" [and] with man He said, "let us make." That is to say, I and the earth - that was mentioned - let us make man: the earth will bring forth the body form the elements as it did with the beasts and the animals, as it is written (Genesis 2:7), "And the Lord, God, formed man, dust from the earth;" and He, may He be blessed, gave him the spirit from the mouth of the Highest, as it is written (Ibid.) and He blew into his nostrils, a living soul." And it stated, "in our image, in our likeness," since he would be similar to both of them: in the configuration of his body, to the earth from which he was taken; and he would resemble the higher ones in his soul, which is not a body and does not die. And the second verse (27) states, "in the image of God did He create him," to tell of the wonder which separates him from all the creatures. And this simple explanation of the verse I found from Rabbi Yosef Kimchi and it is the most plausible of all that have been thought. And the explanation of [the word,] image (tselem), is like an appearance, [as in] (Daniel 3:19), "and the appearance of his face changed," and also (Psalms 39:7) "As an appearance does man walk," and (Psalms 73:20) "in the city will You disgrace their appearance," [meaning] the description of what he looked like. And likeness (demut) [means] similarity in form or action; such that [things] that share a resemblance in a matter are called likenesses of each other. And behold man is similar to the lower beings and the upper beings in [his] appearance and his glory. As it is written (Psalms 8:6), "and with honor and glory have you crowned him" [concerning his resemblance to the upper beings], and this refers to the direction of his countenance towards wisdom and knowledge and skilled action. And in his likeness, his body completely resembles the dirt, and his soul, the upper creatures. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea: Because of [man's] being male and female, it states, "let them have dominion over the fish of the sea," in the plural. And in Bereishit Rabbah 7:5, they said, "'let the earth bring forth living creatures (souls) according to their species' (verse 24), Rabbi Elazar said, 'living souls, this is the spirit of man.'" And it is not at all possible that Rabbi Elazar would explain that "let the earth bring forth..." is to be explained as referring to the soul of Adam. But rather, he intended to say that which I mentioned: that the formation of the spirit of man which is in his blood was made from the ground, as per the proclamation for the animals and the beasts - as all souls of movement were made together; and afterwards, He made bodies for them - first He made the bodies of the beasts and the animals, and afterwards, the body of man and He put into him a soul; and after that, He blew into him a higher soul, [meaning that] it was that separated soul that had a different proclamation designated for it, by God who gave it, as it is written (Genesis 2:7), "and He breathed into his nostrils a living soul." And the true way in this verse will be known to the one that understands the [next] verse and it is possible that Rabbi Elazar intended this and expounded [the verse], "let the earth (haarets) bring forth," as the 'land (erets) of the living' which should bring forth a soul of its type that will exist forever. And so [too], what it stated (verse 27), "male and female He created them," is because the creation at the beginning was from the male and the female and [man's] soul was included in both of them; but the [subsequent] formation was [only] a formation for the man and a building [from man's] side (rib) for the woman, as is told at the end. And for this reason, creation is mentioned here and formation in the section below. And the learned one will understand. And the [meaning] of "and they will have dominion" is that they should rule powerfully over the fish and the fowl and the beast and all that crawls. And the beasts [in this verse] includes the animals (which are not mentioned separately). And it states, "and over all the earth," [to mean] that they should rule over the earth itself: to uproot and to smash and to dig and to quarry copper and iron. And the expression, dominion (rediyah), [is like the] rulership of a master over his slave.

(1) God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark, and God caused a wind to blow across the earth, and the waters subsided. (2) The fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky were stopped up, and the rain from the sky was held back; (3) the waters then receded steadily from the earth. At the end of one hundred and fifty days the waters diminished,