Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“This is the history of the generations of Noah: Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time. Noah walked with God. Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. God saw the earth, and saw that it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.“
(Genesis 6:9-12)

Noah was ‘blameless’ which is the Hebrew word tamim (taw-meem’). It means entire (whether literally, figuratively, or morally), without blemish, without spot, complete, and full. This is the same thing God said about Job (Job 1:1; 2:3). Noah was not PERFECT, but God found him to be UNDEFILED. He had not given himself over to his wants, desires, and feelings. Noah had stayed loyal and true to God. And God’s GRACE found him blameless. Noah walked with God. Enoch also had walked with God. This is our proof that Noah was living a godly life because we know Enoch was living a godly life.

Unlike other patriarchs in the genealogy of Seth, at this point Noah had ONLY had sons. He had no daughters. If he HAD had daughters, they would have had a place in the ark, but only eight people were taken inside – Noah, his wife, Shem and his wife, Ham and his wife, and Japheth and his wife (1 Peter 3:20).

All flesh had been corrupted. Animal as well as human. All means ALL. And violence is what God specifically cites here. We saw that with Cain’s line and it obviously had spread. Was violence spreading through the animal kingdom too? Well, if we remember that all flesh was meant to eat vegetation (Genesis 1:29-30), and violence was something God had against all flesh, we can suppose that this is when animals began to differentiate between herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores. This is when animals began to eat other animals and scavengers began to scavenge. A world that had been created to be a place of LIFE and BEAUTY was being covered in violence, death, and flesh-eating (John 10:10). How sad that must have made God. Sin is a cancer and it can infect anything breathing. Until Jesus, there was no way to rid yourself of it. It took Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross before we had a way to accept true cleansing (instead of just covering). If God hadn’t judged them, then sooner or later Noah and his line would also have fallen. God judged, but He saved a remnant so that humanity could continue.

There’s a man of God who wonders whether just as Noah was found to be undefiled, whether there were animals who had been undefiled. He wonders whether those were the animals gathered into the ark and therefore able to survive without killing each other and remaining healthy on dried feed. It’s an interesting question.

The sage Ramban writes: ‘HE WAS A RIGHTEOUS MAN AND WHOLE-HEARTED. Scripture mentions that he was guiltless and perfect in his righteousness in order to inform us that he was worthy to be saved from the flood without any punishment whatever since he was whole-hearted in righteousness. For a tzadik (a righteous person) is one who is found guiltless in judgment as opposed to the wicked person, as Scripture says, And they come unto judgment, and the judges judge them, by justifying the righteous, and condemning the wicked; and also, For Thou art just in all that has come upon us, for Thou hast dealt truly; similarly, In righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor. But in the case of Abraham, concerning whom it says, that he will command his children to do ‘tz’dakah’ and ‘mishpat,’ Scripture praises him for righteousness which is synonymous with judgment, and for mercy which is synonymous with tz’dakah.
And Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra said, “Righteous in deeds; whole-hearted in his heart.” However, it is written, Thou art whole-hearted in thy ways; [the term “whole-hearted” is thus used in connection with “ways” and not with matters of the heart].
Now after Scripture said that Noah was a righteous man, meaning that he was neither a man of violence nor one who perverted his ways as did the guilty ones of his generation, it further said that he walked with the glorious Name, fearing Him alone. He was not enticed by the astrologers, enchanters and soothsayers, and surely not by idolatry, and he paid no heed to them at all; to G-d alone he did always cleave, and he walked in the way G-d chose or taught him for he was a prophet. This is analogous in meaning to the verse, After the Eternal your G-d shall ye walk, and Him shall ye fear, which is stated in connection with the removal of him who prophesies to encourage the worship of idols and gives a sign or wonder to verify his words, as I will explain. I will again mention this in connection with the verse, Walk before Me, and be thou whole-hearted, if He Who is perfect in knowledge will be with me.
Now since Noah was a righteous man and undeserving of punishment, it was fitting that his sons and his household be saved by his merit for if his sons were to perish, it would have been a punishment upon him. Or it may be said that he was a perfectly righteous man, and his sons and household were also righteous since he taught them; this is analogous to that which is written concerning Abraham: For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household.’