NOAH and BLOODSHED-7/The Heavenly Court in Session Before the Flood

 

© 2022 by Rabbi Dr Zvi Aviner
Noahidesevencommandments.com
Genesis-and-seven-laws-of-noah.com

 

NOAH and BLOODSHED-7/

The Heavenly Court in Session Before the Flood

“And the Earth corrupted before ELoKiM”

 

1: The text

 

 

Do you wish to see the Heavenly Court in session? Here is the chance of your life.
In the following text, the Heavenly Court (G-d) decides the fate of –

Noah’s generation  to perish

Noah and his family to survive.

The text reads as follows:

And YHVH saw that the evilness of Adam was great on Earth,
and that all the impulses of his heart are evil all day long,
so YHVH regretted that He/She had made Adam on Earth,
and was saddened to His/Her Heart, and YHVH said,
I will wipe out Adam whom I had made from the face of the Earth
both Man and Cattle to creeping things and the bird of the air
for I regret making them. And Noah found face in the eyes of YHVH.

These are the generations of Noah.
Noah was a complete, righteous man In his generations,

With ELoHiM Noah walked, and Noah begot three sons, Shem ham and Yafet.
And the Earth corrupted before ELoKiM
and ELoKiM saw The Earth and behold it was corrupt;
for all flesh filled with hamas, and corrupted its way on Earth.
And ELoKiM said to Noah, the end of all flesh has come before me,
for the Earth is filled with their hamas,
and I shall destroy them with Earth
and I, myself, shall bring the Flood on Earth
to destroy all flesh In which is breath of life
from Under the Heavens, and everything that is on Earth shall die.” (Genesis 6:5-13)

This is what you see in the Bible’s text.
The following is the same unedited text showing its unique structure.
It comes in two parts or WINGS.
The first wing (in blue) describes YHVH’s assessment
The second  wing (in red) describes ELoKiM’s judgment

Each segment has  an extension  in the middle (in brown)

describing  the Attributes’ assessment of Noah and his sons

Thus the text presents the Heavenly Court (HC) comprising of the two Attributes “in session.”
The  beauty of this presentation of the Court is unparalleled.

The Heavenly Court is depicted as a ‘butterfly” with two Wings: That of YHVH and that of ELoKiM.

Each Wing expresses the assessment  of One Attribute.

 

Then comes the expression “I myself” (in purple) that presents

the final verdict of the Court (The  SELF) in Oneness and agreement.
Let’s read the text attentively:

 

2: The two Wings of the Heavenly Court

 

 And YHVH saw that the evilness of Adam was great on Earth, and
That all the impulses of his heart are evil all day long, and
YHVH
Regretted that He had made Adam on Earth, and was
Saddened to His Heart, and
YHVH said,
I will wipe out Adam whom I had
Made from the face of the
Earth, both Man and
Cattle to creeping
Things and the
Bird of the air,
For I regret
Making them.”

And NOAH found face in the eyes of YHVH

  These are the generations of NOAH,
NOAH
was a complete, righteous man in his

Generations, with ELoHiM NOAH walked, NOAH   
begot three sons, Shem ham and Yafet 

 

“And the Earth corrupted

before ELoKiM, and the Earth fille

with hamas, ELoKiM saw the Earth and

behold it was corrupt, for all flesh corrupted its

way on Earth, and ELoKiM said to NOAH the end

of All flesh has come before me, for the Earth is filled

with their hamas, and I shall destroy them with Earth, and

 

“I, MYSELF, shall bring the Flood on Earth to destroy

all flesh in which is breath of life from under the Heavens
and everything that is on Earth shall die” (Genesis 6: 5-13)

  

***


Here is a unique opportunity to learn about the Heavenly Court:

Note the Court’s Protocol: YHVH speaks first then ELoKiM.

The same ‘protocol’ would be followed  throughout the Bible.

 

Thus, at the Sinai revelation,

YHVH also peaks first –  about the human heart

then ELHM speaks the Laws – the Ten Commandments.

 

The Attribute of MERCY, YHVH, speaks first, because “She” can override the verdict of ELHM.

This  is also an opportunity to know what Each attribute is standing for.

YHVH always speaks about the human heart,

while ELHM always speaks about the Laws.

 

Note the perfect symmetry of the two Wings:
YHVH’s Wing (in blue) carries Her Name 4 times
ELoKiM’s Wing (in red) carries His Name 4 times.

Moreover:
YHVH assesses Mankind first 3 times, then Noah once.
ELoKiM’s assesses Noah once  then Mankind 3 times, in reverse order of  YHVH.

Hence ELoKiM’s Wing continues where YHVH has ended.
YHVH has ended with Noah, whereas ELoKiM starts with Noah.
Hence the two sections can be seen as two Wings of a ‘butterfly’  standing against each other.
The Wings  are ‘united’ at their ‘bottom’ with Noah.

The Attributes’ concerns
As we’ve just said, this extraordinary text clearly shows

what each Attribute is concerned about.  Let’s see that in details
 

 

YHVH WING

 

 

1. YHVH is concerned about the human heart

“And YHVH saw that the evilness of Adam was great on Earth,
and that all the impulses of his HEART are evil all day long…”
(Genesis 5:5 )

 

The Merciful YHVH, who dwells in our heart, is concerned about our heart.

Note that YHVH is NOT concerned about Man’s violating  the LAW,

as much as about the bad thoughts in our HEART: plotting evil all day long.

What is evil in human heart?
King David in Psalms  describes “evil people” who  stab their innocents fellowmen in the back, who take advantage of the weak and the poor.
In the story of Sodom and Gomorra , YHVH hated the Sodomites because they were “exceedingly evil to YHVH”(Genesis 13:13.)

 The  Sodomites excelled  in cruelty and in indifference to the plight of the sick and hungry, as the sages have explained.

2. Evil is always in YHVH’s eyes

Note that the term ‘evil’ appears ONLY in YHVH Wing. You’d never see evil  related to ELoKiM.

As a rule, ‘evil’ in the Bible is a perspective in YHVH eyes.

Evil is  people’s misbehavior- in YHVH’s eyes.

 

Evil It is YHVH’s emotional reaction to Man’s merciless heart

and Man’s cruel thoughts as well as deeds.

 

In YHVH eyes, Noah’s generation was ‘evil,’ merciless, lacking compassion and unforgiving.

 

One should not  mix the  European  imagination of Satan and  Demons , with the “evil’ in the Bible.

The only ‘evil’ in YHVH eyes is  Man who perform  whatever YHVH hates.

 

 

3. YHVH Regretted Making Adam

 

”And YHVH regretted that HE/SHE had made the Adam….”

 

Such a misunderstood verse! Many ‘scholars’ expressed a wonder about  “G-d’s childish regret”.

Unfortunately,  they are unaware of the  Attribute  of  G-d  involved.

Indeed, ELHM, the Attribute of JUDGEMENT, would never ever “regret” anything He had done.

Only  YHVH, the Attribute of MERCY, has expressed a regret.

For  YHVH  is here on contingency – She entered our world,  as seen in Genesis Chapter One, to participate in Man’s creation (Rashi).  She has joined the heavenly Court to offer Mankind the option of repenting  and be forgiven.

But Her Her presence in ELKM’s world depends on Man’s accepting Her, inviting Her to enter our heart.

 So, if  YHVH finds Man’s heart  full of evil – thoughts and deeds –  She would  “fly away from us, and from our world, returning to Her Universe – the Eternal Sabbath.

Regretting making Adam means that YHVH was considering ‘going back’ to Her World, leaving us in the Hands of the Harsh Attribute of Justice,  ELKM.

If that happens, ELKM would terminate our world to nothingness. Or, He would wipe out the sinners by WATERS, that are His whip as it is said: “And the Spirit of ELKM was hovering over the waters,” (Genesis 1:2) implying He would use water as His whip.

4: YHVH was saddened to Her heart

 

And He/She was saddened to His/Hers heart”

In addition of  regretting Man’s creation, YHVH became “saddened to Her heart” by Man’s evilness.

She was disappointed and sad.

She had expected Mankind to accept Her into  our heart, but instead, Mankind choose to accept ‘evil’ in our heart,   As you can see, YHVH reaction is always EMOTIONAL.

Note that here YHVH was not ‘enraged.’   She would be enraged by the Sodomites’ behavior, and Her reaction would be – not water like ELKM – but rather a shower of  fire and brimstones.

Never, never enrage YHVH!

 

 

5. YHVH verdict

 

“And YHVH said, I will wipe out Adam whom I had made from the face of the Earth,

both Man and Cattle to creeping things and the Bird of the air…”

 in YHVH’s eyes, Mankind (besides Noah) was doomed to be wiped out.

6: YHVH assessing Noah

 

From assessing Mankind, YHVH moves  to assess Noah:

“And Noah found face in YHVH eyes.”

How short and  accurate that passage is! YHVH liked Noah!

This kind of emotional reaction we would never see with ELKM.

YHVH LIKED Noah because he was compassionate with Man and Animals.

He could care for the animals in his ark.

 ,

 

ELOKIM’S WING

 

 

 

Now that the Torah has presented YHVH’s assessment, the Torah turns to ELKM.

As we see in the text, ELHM judges  Noah first, then Mankind. The opposite  of YHVH’s Wing.

ELHM picks  up where YHVH has finished – NoH,  then proceeds with judging Mankind.

Let’s see the judgment  conducted by ELHM.

1: Noah the Righteous

 

“These are the generations of Noah, Noah was a complete righteous man

in his generations. With ELoHiM Noah walked.”

 

Unlike YHVH who assesses the heart, ELoKiM judges Noah and Mankind by their deeds.

In ELoKiM’s eyes, Noah is deemed righteous, for “With ELoKiM Noah walked,”

meaning that  Noah abided by Adam’s Six Commandments. No word here about Noah’s heart.

The term ‘righteous’ refers to one who has won  a trial –  even in human court (Maimonides.)

Noah was righteous since he walked with ELHM Laws.

Hence Noah ‘walked’ with ELoKiM Laws and ‘found face’ in YHVH eyes.

He  abided YHVH ELoKiM Oneness.

After judging Noah,  ELoKiM turned to judge his generation:

 

 

2: The Earth Corrupted – with IDOLATRY and ADULTERY

 

“And the Earth Corrupted before ELoKiM”

 

The term  ‘corrupted’ is traditionally used for SEXUAL PERVERSIONS, including ADULTERY.

Thus, Noah’s generation sled from IDOLATRY -worshipping one Attribute at as time – to ADULTERY.

We remember Demon Naama, the priest of sexual perversions, who was Noah’s sister in law.

3-4-5: The Earth Filled by BLOODSHED and THEFT

 

ELoKIM’s judgement  continues:

”And the Earth filled with hamas”

 

The term ‘hamas’  refers to a deadly combination of BLOODSHED  and THEFT.

 We recall Tubal Cain’s gangues and Enosh’s disciples who committed  heinous crimes.

Both camps, that of Enosh and that of Cain, committed the same  “Hamas.”

6: Having Transgressed All the Commandments

 

“And ELoKiM saw the Earth and behold, it was corrupt;
for all flesh corrupted its way on Earth.”

 

‘All flesh’ corrupted, even animals. The Demon Naama, as we’ve learned,  led her generation to cohabit with animals , and even taught animal to cohabit unnaturally with different species.

Thus, in ELoKiM’s eyes, Mankind  exhausted all possible transgressions.

 

In Eden, Adam and his wife had only two Commandments to abide with: IDOLATRY and ADULTERY. Once they violated both Commandments, they were driven out.

Now on Earth, once Mankind has violated the entire Six Commandments of Adam, they lost their  right to live on Earth. .

 

The Commandments’ order

Note also that ELoKiM’s Wing counts Adam’s’   Six Commandments in the order we’ve been using in our classes: IDOLATRY, ADULTERY, BLOODSHED, THEFT, INJUSTICE and BLASPHEMY.

 

 

The Final Verdict of The ‘Self’

 

“And I, myself, shall bring the Flood on Earth
to destroy all flesh in which is breath of life from Under the Heavens
and everything that is on Earth shall die.”

YHVH  spoke first, then ELoKiM, and finally the “I, Myself” which is “the ‘Arbiter’ or the ‘Supreme Self’ or  The Essence” of G-d.  While YHVH and ELKM are Attributes, the “”I Am” is the superior SELF.

Note that once the Essence has spoken, the verdict is final.

Noah and his role

 

Noah keeps the wings together
Noah is seen as if supported by the two Wings – of YHVH ELHM –

as if to be lifted over the mighty waters of the Flood.

The two Wings support Noah, but Noah also supports them – keeps them glued together.

Had Noah worshipped only one Wing, either YHVH or ELoKiM, he would have been fallen down into the water bellow.

Whoever practices YHVH ELHM’s Oneness. He/She supports the Wings, and the Wings supports him/her