“God saw that man’s wickedness on earth was increasing. The entire thrust of his thoughts was only for evil, all day long… The world was corrupt before God, and the land was filled with crime” (Bereishit 6:5, 11). This was the state of affairs before the Great Flood. Humanity had descended from the heights of the Garden to the depths of immorality. It was time to start over.
“God said to Noach, ‘…I am going to destroy the world. Make yourself an ark…I will bring the flood… All that is on land will die…From all life, all flesh; bring two of each kind into the ark to live with you. They shall be male and female. From each separate species of bird, from each separate species of livestock, and from each separate species of land animals, bring to yourself two of each kind to live. Take with you all the food that will be eaten…’” (6:13-14, 17, 19-21).
Is there no easier way to do this? Why put Noach through the trouble of building, managing, and living in a floating zoo and aviary? A flood is such a hassle. A simple bubonic plague would do the trick just as effectively and far more efficiently, with no need for ark or zoo.
For the answer to this basic question, we need to take a closer look at the sins that doomed the world’s population in the first place. The Torah says that the people were guilty of “hashchasah” and “chamas” (6:11), which are loosely translated as corruption and crime. But through the usage of these terms elsewhere we can glean more precise definitions. We find that “hashchasah”, which we translated as “corruption”, refers specifically to sexual immorality (see 6:12, 38:9, 6:1-4), and “chamas”, which we translated as “crime”, refers specifically to theft (see Yonah 3:8). Apparently, sexual immorality and theft were rampant in the pre-flood era. A clearer image of that decadent society is beginning to emerge, and it’s not pretty.
The sins of sexual immorality and theft share a common denominator. They are both purely self-serving, with no concern or care for anyone other than the self. They indicate a self-absorbed and narcissistic character, the very antithesis of the selflessness, kindness, and giving that God stands for and that God made man capable of achieving. This is why God brought the flood. For when man descends into animal behavior there is no longer any purpose to his continued existence. The world has plenty of animals; what God wants is a few good men.
Before the flood, the Torah tells us that Noach was “perfect in his times”. What does that mean? Rashi explains that, as righteous as Noach might have been, he would not have measured up well compared to the people of Avraham’s day. The evil society that surrounded Noach had a negative influence on him. But it’s all relative. For his times, he was perfect.
We can actually see how Noach was affected by the callous society in which he lived. In our Haftorah we find the flood described as the “Waters of Noach” (Isaiah 54:9). Why would Noach receive the dubious distinction of having the Great Flood named after him? The Zohar (67:2) explains that when Noach heard that God intended to destroy the world, he should have prayed. He should have begged God to save the people as Avraham did when he heard that God intended to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. But Noach did not pray. His prayers might have saved the world, so on some level he is held accountable. That is why the flood is called the “Waters of Noach”. Clearly then, Noach did not love people as much as Avraham did. That is the natural result of living in a world of crime.
Fortunately, God had a plan for the world’s future. God wanted to ensure that history would not repeat itself, that man would never again sink to such depths of depravity. God wanted to instill within man a predisposition for selflessness even more powerfully than He did at man’s creation. God wanted to recreate man in His Image. So God brought a flood.
The nature of man is that his behavior changes his internal reality. The Chinuch (13th cent., anonymous) states this truth clearly, “Know that man is acted upon by his own actions, and his heart and mind follow after whatever he might be doing, whether good or bad. Even if his heart is completely evil, and the entire thrust of his thoughts is only for evil, all day long, if he is inspired and consistently puts his efforts into Torah and Mitzvot, that will immediately turn him toward goodness, and the power of his acts will slay his evil inclination, for the heart follows the actions” (Mitzvah 16).
The function of the flood was not merely to destroy the wicked; it also served to create the righteous.
The experience of building the ark, feeding the animals, and caring for world’s future transformed Noach into a selfless giver, a man who lives not for himself, but for others. Spending a year’s time absorbed with giving and caring generated within Noach’s heart a boundless love for all of life. In the ark, Noach was forced to emulate God, and that made Noach God-like.
Noach was Adam II, the forerunner of a New World of selflessness. At the very end of our parsha, we see the success of God’s plan. From Noach arises the ultimate man of kindness and giving, the foundation stone of the Jewish Nation, our grandfather Avraham. After a false start, the great drama of Jewish history is ready to begin.
