Fear No Fear

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

“God said to Noah, “I will bring an end to all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them and the earth. Make a ship of gopher wood. You shall make rooms in the ship, and shall seal it inside and outside with pitch.“
(Genesis 6:13-14)

God ALWAYS makes provision for His children. ALWAYS. Here He was going to bring an end to every air-breathing creature and human on the face of the Earth BUT He made a provision to save some. To keep humanity going. To continue down the path that was going to provide them with SALVATION. The cancer of Sin and the choice to embrace ungodly thinking which were spreading like wildfire were going to be brought to an end. But God was ensuring that on the other side there was going to be LIFE.

Noah wasn’t being saved by his own merit, but because of God’s grace. But Noah had to be obedient. God wasn’t going to make the boat. God was not going to seal the boat. Noah had to do what he had been told to do. Noah had to engage with the command of the Lord in order to gain the benefit of the mercy he had been shown. There are times we are supernaturally saved without any effort from us. Sometimes we are supernaturally saved with an effort from us. In both cases, obedience to God’s words is the deciding factor. He protects His obedient children. He shows grace and mercy to us all (in that generation with the ark, in ours with Jesus), but we need to obey in order to receive it. We MUST trust in Him.

The sage Ramban writes: ‘VIOLENCE, that is, robbery and oppression. Now G-d gave Noah the explanation [that the flood was due to the fact that the “the earth is filled with] violence” and did not mention “the corruption of the way” [recorded in the preceding verse] because violence is a sin that is known and widely publicized. Our Rabbis have said that it was on account of the sin of violence that their fate was sealed. The reason for it is that the prohibition against violence is a rational commandment, there being no need for a prophet to admonish them against it. Besides, it is evil committed against both heaven and mankind. Thus He informed Noah of the sin for which the end is come — the doom is reached.’

The sage Sforno writes: ‘והנני משחיתם את הארץ, so that now I will destroy them together with the earth. I will destroy the climate which could support life on earth by interfering with the sun’s orbit and rearranging it from the beginning of the deluge for the entire future. We find that G’d explained this to Job In Job 38, 4-15. This accounts for the lifespan of man having been drastically reduced after the deluge. The climate of the earth changed, there were greater extremes of heat and cold, the produce of the earth was considerably less capable of supporting a long lifespan. As a by-product of this deterioration in the quality of the vegetable products, man was allowed to eat meat as a compensation.’

The sage Or HaChaim writes: ‘Noach became convinced from what G’d told him that any prayer of his would be futile, that the fate of these people had been sealed beyond reprieve. All of this is contained in the words: “the end of all flesh has come before Me, here I am about to destroy them.” When G’d told Abraham (Genesis 18,20-21) about the sinful nature of the people of Sodom He did not use such kind of language at all. On the contrary, He told Abraham that He was going to examine if what had come to His attention was indeed so, etc. While it is true that in the case of Sodom G’d carried out His decree as soon as He had confirmed the true state of affairs, G’d wanted to demonstrate to Abraham that He does not exercise His power arbitrarily. We have explained in that connection that G’d spoke to Abraham in a manner that invited him to pray on behalf of the doomed cities. Something similar occurred during the episode of the golden calf when G’d proclaimed His intent to wipe out the Jewish people in such a way that Moses saw an opening for his prayer. None of these openings were provided for Noach.’