Noah

 

Noah — Birth, Name, Tools, and the Flood

Quick Facts

Lineage

Son of Lamech • 10th generation from Adam

Born

Year 1056 from Creation (2704 BCE)

Died

Year 2006 from Creation • Lived 950 years

Sons

Shem • Ham • Japheth (born when Noah was 500)

A Combined Narrative

In the year 1042 from Creation (2718 BCE), in the 55th year of Methuselah’s rule, Seth, Adam’s son, passed away and was buried in Arbel. At that time Methuselah’s son Lamech was 168 years old, and there was a famine in the land.

Thirteen years later (2705 BCE), Lamech married Ashmaa. Methuselah told him that Lamech would have a son whose descendants would populate the world. Methuselah — described as a great sage — warned him not to reveal the child’s true name, because a sorcerer needed a person’s real name to perform witchcraft against him.

Name & Meaning

“This one will comfort us from our work and from the toil of our hands, from the ground which the Lord has cursed.”

A year later, in the year 1056 from Creation (2704 BCE), a son was born to Lamech — the first child born after Adam’s passing. Since Adam’s sin, the earth was cursed and creatures rebelled against mankind. Adam had asked how long the curse would endure; he was told it would be lifted when a child would be born circumcised. This child was indeed born circumcised. Lamech called him Menachem (“comforter”), while his grandfather Methuselah gave him the hidden name Noach (Noah) to shield him from sorcerers.

Tradition adds that Noah was the first born with separated fingers — earlier human hands were not divided into fingers.  Noach  was an albino with white hair. After Noah’s birth, the famine ended and the curse was eased: the earth began to yield produce and animals ceased resisting human beings.

Tools, Farming, and “Rest”

The Sages connect the name Noach with menuchah (rest). Before Noah, people had no proper plows. Noah is credited with inventing the plow, sickle, and hoe to cultivate the land — replacing bare-hand labor. People rejoiced at the improvement and sang; later custom associates especially strong singing with plowing.

Righteousness, the Flood, and the Ark

Noah found favor in God’s eyes and was commanded to build an ark to be saved from the Flood: “For you I have seen as righteous before Me in this generation.” When Noah was 500, he fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth (Genesis 5:32). The Flood came when he was 600. At the end of the year the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat. Noah and his household left the ark, and God blessed them: “Be fruitful and multiply… swarm upon the earth and multiply in it” (Genesis 9:7), promising never again to destroy all flesh with a flood.

Sacrifices, Meat, and Blood

Noah built an altar and offered sacrifices from the pure animals and birds he had brought into the ark. God permitted humanity to eat meat, but warned against consuming blood.

Vineyard and Vulnerability

Noah was the first to plant a vineyard, but he became intoxicated and his disgrace was exposed (Genesis 9:20). Midrash adds: on that very day he planted, on that very day he drank, and on that very day his shame was revealed.

How the Sages Read “Righteous in His Generations”

Critical Reading

Rabbi Yehudah: “In his generations” implies he was righteous relative to his time — but not compared to the generation of Moses or Samuel.

Praising Reading

Rabbi Nechemiah: If he was righteous in a corrupt generation, all the more so he would have been righteous in a greater one.

Noah and Abraham's lifetimes overlapped by 58 years, in fact נח (Noah) in Hebrew has the numerical value of 58! Noah  is also described as “of little faith” — believing and not fully believing the Flood would come — and only entering the ark when the waters pressed him in. The prophet later mentions Noah together with Job and Daniel as figures whose righteousness rescued their generation (Ezekiel 14:14, 20). Tradition has it that Noah spent the last years of his life in what later became known as Italy.