The eteacherbiblical team would like to welcome you to our Christmas ebook and thank you for downloading. The Holiday season gives everyone around the world a moment to pause and reflect on the year that has been, our experiences, what we have learned, and to look ahead in preparation for the new year to come. As you celebrate and share gifts with your family, we thought we would share a little gift of ours with you. We offer an excerpt from the story of Noah and the Flood, a reminder of God s greatness and intent for a kinder and gentler world, a wish we all share and pray for. In our ebook, we delve into some of the subtleties of the text to see there is so much to be learned from the richness of the original language of the Bible. Now is as good a time as ever for you to start your journey towards greater understanding of scripture by learning Biblical Hebrew with eteacher. Enjoy our ebook, our gift to you, and we welcome you to join our learning community. Happy Holidays to you and yours, The eteacherbiblical Team // Page 1
Shalom to our community! When I try to explain why Biblical Hebrew and the Holy Bible are such a huge part of my life, I am often at a loss for words. You see, I feel like Biblical Hebrew is an infinite ocean that never ends. In every course that I teach, whether it s for beginners or advanced students, I explain to my students that we are all swimming together in order to understand just that little bit more about this beautiful language that we are reading. As a Biblical Hebrew teacher, I am excited to introduce to you one of the very best stories to help you start your journey, the story of Noah and his ark, which you are about to read. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and look forward to studying with you soon! Eli Dahan completed his MA at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2007, focusing on Bible study. He teaches our Biblical Hebrew courses from levels A to D. He also writes our newsletter, our blogs and our articles on Biblical and Modern Hebrew. Eli teaches Bible, Jewish Philosophy and Mathematics at the Beit Hinuch High School in Jerusalem. He s a homeroom teacher for twelfth grade students as well as the school's social coordinator. Eli is married and has three children; he likes to dance and hike the Israel Trail. // Page 2
The story of Noah and his Ark is a famous one that we all learned as children. It is found in Book of Genesis, the beginning, which of course relates to us at this festival season as we prepare to celebrate the coming of the Savior, who helped bring light and salvation into the world. In the story of Noah, we learn that God was unhappy with the world and decided to wipe the slate clean, as it were, by flooding the Earth. He instructed his servant Noah, who, ו נ ח, מ צ א ח ן בּ ע ינ י LORD "found grace in the eyes of the (Gen 6: 8) to build an ark, to collect pairs of animals "י הו ה and small flocks of animals and birds for re-breeding and to wait out the storm. We can begin to understand this story even better by going back a chapter, to where Noah, son of Lamech, was first introduced: But in order to truly understand this story, we must delve a little deeper into the language. The study of Biblical Hebrew helps us understand some of the finer points of the text. // Page 4 www.eteacherbiblical.com
Firstly, we must try to understand why Noah was chosen as the builder of the Ark. We can understand from the text that God was unhappy with the Earth: // Page 5 www.eteacherbiblical.com
But Noah was righteous. What made Noah righteous? The text does not speak of his deeds. It speaks of his generation -.בדורותיו This leaves us to wonder, was Noah truly a righteous man, or was he simply the least evil of a generation that God chose to destroy? // Page 6 www.eteacherbiblical.com
In his generation: Some of our [בּ ד ר ת יו Sages interpret it [the word favorably: How much more so if he had lived in a generation of righteous people, he would have been even more righteous. However, others interpret it derogatorily: In comparison with his generation he was righteous, but if he had been in Abraham s generation, he would not have been considered of any importance. בדורותיו: יש מרבותינו דורשים אותו לשבח, כל שכן שאלו היה בדור צדיקים היה צדיק יותר, ויש שדורשים אותו לגנאי, לפי דורו היה צדיק, ואלו היה בדורו של אברהם לא היה נחשב לכלום. [Sanh. 108a, Gen. Rabbah 30:9, Tan. Noach 5] // Page 7 www.eteacherbiblical.com
Returning to the Biblical text, God saw violence and corruption in flesh. For this reason, God chose to destroy all things noted as :בשר flesh Let s focus on בשר - flesh, meat. We remember that in this context, it means humans and animals. Biblical Hebrew is rather economical in that way, often giving multiple meanings to a single word. Here it seems clear that all flesh had simply become so morally corrupt that God had no choice but to destroy them and start the world all over again. // Page 8 www.eteacherbiblical.com
Fish are not considered flesh, and perhaps that is why God chose a flood to destroy the earth, saving the fish who had not partaken in this corruption. God s plan was to cleanse the earth of all of this indecency and to re-sow the seeds of creation after the flood with a mating pair of each species. // Page 9 www.eteacherbiblical.com
Speaking of which Though we are originally taught that God instructed Noah to bring onto the Ark two - שניים of every kind of animal, God actually specifies in the text additional numbers (seven (שבעה for the לא clean" animals and only two of the "not טהורה - "clean" animals, perhaps as a precursor to the creation of Jewish טהורה dietary laws. // Page 10 www.eteacherbiblical.com
Those laws, though stated more explicitly later on in the Book of Exodus, suggest that "clean" animals are those that chew their cud and have split hooves, which are herbivores, not predators. It seems that it was important to God, who saw corruption in "flesh", to specifically repopulate the earth with gentler, less predatory creatures. In a time of moral corruption and darkness, God sought to bring light back into the world, through His loyal servant and creations. // Page 11 www.eteacherbiblical.com
SUMMARY In these few passages we are left with so much to ponder. What was it that made Noah righteous in his generation? What was the corruption of flesh in particular that so reviled God? Why, in this episode, are we already introduced to a separation of "clean" and "not clean" animals? Why the numbers two and seven? And what was the criteria for cleanliness? The study of Biblical Hebrew is what helps better understand our Bible, its history and context in a way we never could before. At this festival season, we reflect back on our own history, our own story, as we once again celebrate the birth of God's Son and His journey to help bring salvation to the people. // Page 12 www.eteacherbiblical.com
Did you enjoy this ebook? It s likely that it left you with more questions than answers, which is precisely why we re here to help. eteacherbiblical is here to start you on your journey of greater understanding. We offer a complete online experience so that you can study in the comfort and convenience of your home, with fully accredited teachers and state-of-the-art technology. We welcome you to our community and invite you to join our Biblical Hebrew Course today, to help you start to delve deeper into the meaning and truths of the Bible! // Page 13 www.eteacherbiblical.com
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