Noach | God’s Revelation to Noach

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One of the questions arising from the story of the Flood concerns God’s revelation to Noach. Before the Flood, God appears to Noach, telling him of the impending disaster and commanding him to build an Ark. After the Flood, God appears to Noach again, blessing him and forging a covenant with him. During the Flood, while Noach is in the Ark, there is no revelation, until the earth dries out. We might initially think that there is simply no need for a revelation before the end of the Flood, but the fact is that even at its conclusion, Noach must determine for himself whether all the water has dried up (by sending first the raven and then the dove) – because God has not told him whether the earth is dry. Why does God hide His face from Noach while water covers the earth?

To explain this, let us consider God’s providence over His creations. As we shall see, there is a clear distinction between God’s providence over land and His providence over water – and this is the key to understanding why God did not reveal Himself while the whole world was covered with water.

Revelation in water

There are many differences between the descriptions of Creation in Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 of Bereishit. The Gemara in Chullin 27b notes that in Chapter 1, birds are described as being created from the water (Bereishit 1:20), while in Chapter 2 they are said to be created from the ground (2:19). Further study of Chapter 2 reveals that the chapter makes no mention of the creation of fish, nor of the sea, nor any water at all.

It seems that this difference between the two chapters is bound up with another difference between them: in Chapter 2, God reveals Himself to Adam, commands him, and creates the woman as a helpmate; in Chapter 1, God does not reveal himself to Adam at all.[1] It seems that, for whatever reason, God does not reveal Himself where there is water. For this reason, it is not written that God created water. Even prior to Creation, God’s spirit “hovers over the face of the water” (1:2), and later, He creates only the heavens and the earth. Clearly, then, the creation of water is separate from the creation of the earth and the heavens.[2] A similar distinction may be noted in the creation of different types of creatures: the verb “b-r-a” (create) is used in Chapter 1 with regard to the heavens and the earth, with regard to Man, and with regard to the creatures that live in water. Again – the creatures of the water occupy a special category, separate from other animals.

There are many indications that the water is a kingdom that is not God’s focus. Of course, this does not mean to say that the sea is not part of God’s dominion, but it is not a place that “the eyes of the Lord are upon it from the beginning of the year to its end” (Devarim 11:12). Just as Eretz Yisrael has a special status in relation to all other countries, so the dry land has a special status in relation to the sea; the sea is further removed from the Divine Presence.

And just as the sea is a place that is devoid of God’s revelation, so too, the creatures of the sea are devoid of Divine commands and obligations. At the beginning of the parasha, the Torah states that “all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth” (Bereishit 6:12), and so Noach is commanded to bring into the Ark “of the fowl after their kind, and of the cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind” (6:20). Rashi, commenting on Bereishit 7:22 (and on the basis of the Gemara in Sanhedrin 108a), explains that the fish of the sea did not sin. We might understand this as meaning that the fish of that generation – in contrast to everything else in the world – did not “corrupt their path,” but it can also be understood as meaning that fish are incapable of corrupting their path, since they are not commanded in any way.

For this reason, the Torah contains no restrictions on how fish are to be eaten. Any fish that has fins and scales – in other words, a fish that is suited to living in water – may be eaten without shechita (ritual slaughter) or any other preparatory act. Likewise, there are no laws of tum’a that apply to creatures of the sea. The Rambam rules that “vessels made from the bones or skin of a sea creature are [considered] ritually pure” (Hilkhot Kelim 1:3). The Mishna stipulates explicitly that “Everything that is in the sea is ritually pure” (Kelim 17:13). The Torah has no explicit laws concerning the sea and there are no special mitzvot to be performed with water on its own,[3] nor do we find restrictions on the use of water. This phenomenon is especially pronounced over the course of the trials and tribulations of Bnei Yisrael in the wilderness. When God gives them manna, He prohibits them from gathering it on Shabbat. When He responds to their longing for meat by having quail fall from the sky, He commands them to take care not to gather a large quantity. But when the people of Israel are thirsty and God brings forth water from the rock, there is no limitation attached; they may drink as much as they wish.

It therefore comes as no surprise that the prophet Yona, in his attempt to flee from God, boards a ship. There, however, in the middle of the sea, God demonstrates His complete mastery of the sea and its creatures: the fish swallows Yona and later spits him out, both at God’s command.

As the Mishna says, “Everything that is in the sea is ritually pure.” The sea is in fact not connected to holiness, and is thus disconnected – along with the fish that live in it – from the world of purity and impurity, a system of laws that belongs to the realm of the Temple. A person who immerses in the water of a mikveh is cut off, for a few moments, from the world of purity and impurity, and emerges in a state of purity that is like a rebirth.

Now we can return to our question. When God decided to punish the entire earth and to wipe out all of existence, He removed His Divine providence – and the entire world was filled with water. Only Noach, inside the dry Ark with his family, continues to exist under God’s providence, but even he experiences no Divine revelation during this time. During the Flood, while the entire world is covered with water, there is no Divine revelation to anyone. Only after the earth dries up does God appear to Noach once again.

The Flood and the Splitting of the Sea

The splitting of the Sea of Suf is, to a considerable degree, the inverse of the phenomenon of the Flood: whereas the Flood turned dry land into water, the splitting of the sea turned water into dry land. The two events do share many parallels: in both cases the water drowned sinners, and both involved a disruption of the regular cycle of day and night. On the other hand, during the Flood, the heavenly luminaries did not give their light – as though God had removed His providence even from that realm – while at the time of the splitting of the sea, the luminaries played a role in the deliverance of Am Yisrael: night turned into day for them, and day turned into night for the Egyptians.[4] The Spitting of the Sea has dual significance: it is the final and complete victory over the Egyptians, and it is also proof that God’s dominion extends over the water.

We may conclude, then, that God does not extend His direct providence over the water, and where there is water, there is no revelation of the Divine Presence. At the splitting of the sea, when the sea turned into dry land, “a maidservant at the sea saw what [even] Yechezkel ben Buzi did not see in his prophecy” (see Rashi, Shemot 15:2). Conversely, during the Flood, when the dry land became a sea, God did not reveal Himself even to the righteous Noach.[5]

However, there is a change in store. The Gemara tells us there are depths of water beneath the Beit Ha-mikdash with the power to inundate the world (Sukka 53). And one day, Yechezkel tells us, a stream will emerge from the Holy of Holies and become a sea that revives the Dead Sea (Yechezkel 47:1-12). It is specifically from the Temple – God’s abode in this world – that a river of living waters is destined to emerge at the end of days, bringing life rather than destruction to the world.

(Translated by Kaeren Fish; edited by Sarah Rudolph)

*This shiur covers a number of areas; owing to space limitations, the explanation of some ideas is necessarily brief. Apologies to the reader.

[1] The blessing to Adam in Chapter 1 – “Be fruitful and multiply” – is similar to that given to the animals, and is not indicative of revelation (just as God certainly was not revealed to the animals).

[2] The scope of the shiur does not allow for a close reading and discussion of the opening verses of the Torah.

[3] The “nisuch ha-mayim” (water-pouring ceremony) performed in the Temple on Sukkot is not mentioned explicitly in the Torah.

[4] Shemot 14:20; see commentaries there.

[5] In Sefer Yehoshua, we are told that the waters of the Jordan River split when the feet of the kohanim carrying the Aron touched them. Just as God is revealed when the water becomes dry land, so the water becomes dry land at the time of revelation. At the moment when the Ark – symbolizing God’s constant watchfulness over Am Yisrael – came into contact with the Jordan River, the water immediately parted and became dry land.