Isaiah 54:5-6A: “For your Maker is your husband, The Lord of hosts is His name; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole Earth. For the Lord has called you”
The ‘parsha’ (‘Torah’ portion) this week is ‘Parsha Noach’ (‘Noah’), found in Genesis 6:9 – 11:32; the corresponding ‘haftorah’ (reading of the prophets) is found in Isaiah 54:1–10.
‘Parsha Noach’ is the second weekly ‘Torah’ portion in the annual Jewish cycle of ‘Torah’ reading, and the second in the book of Genesis.
‘Parsha Noach’ tells the stories of the flood, Noah’s ark, Noah’s subsequent drunkenness and his cursing of Canaan, as well as the account of the Tower of Babel.
Noah was a righteous man who walked with G-d and he had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.
G-d saw that mankind had become corrupt and lawlessness abounded. G-d told Noah that He was going to bring a flood to destroy all of mankind. G-d directed Noah to build an Ark of gopher wood and to cover it with pitch inside and outside. The Ark was to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high; it had to have an opening for daylight near the top, an entrance on its side and three decks.
G-d told Noah that He would establish a covenant with him, and that he, his sons, his wife, his sons’ wives and two of each kind of beast — male and female — would survive in the Ark.
Seven days before the Flood, G-d told Noah to enter the Ark with his household and to take seven pairs of every clean animal and every bird. G-d also told Noah to take one pair of every other animal to keep their species alive.
Our ‘parsha’ tells us that Noah was six hundred years old when the flood came. That same day, Noah, his family and the beasts went into the Ark, “and the LORD shut him in” (Genesis 7:16).
The rains fell forty days and forty nights and all flesh died, except for Noah and those who were with him on the Ark.
‘Parsha Noach’ tells us that when it had rained one hundred and fifty days, G-d caused a wind to blow and the waters to recede steadily from the earth. The flood lasted a full year until the ark came to rest upon the mountains of Ararat.
Noah waited forty days and then he sent a raven from the ark to test the conditions in the flooded world outside. The raven proved uncooperative; so a week later, Noah sent a dove. The dove returned, finding nowhere to rest; so Noah waited another seven days and sent the dove out again. This time, the dove came back with an olive leaf in her mouth. Then Noah sent out the dove a third time; after seven days it had not returned to the ark. When the waters had completely drained, Noah removed the covering off the ark.
Finally, on the 27th day of the second month, G-d commanded Noah to get out the ark with his family and all the animals that were in the ark.
Noah then built an altar to the L-rd and he brought offerings of every pure beast and of every pure bird to the L-rd.
G-d then blessed Noah and his sons that they “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” and issued a number of instructions regarding the new world they were to build.
Man was given dominion over all life forms, and the fear of man was instilled in all animals. Man was allowed to kill animals for food for the first time (Adam was only given license to eat plants). However, G-d forbade man to eat meat or blood taken from an animal while it was still alive.
G-d declared human life sacred, and murder was punishable by death. If a human court failed to punish a murderer, G-d, Himself would seek redress – “From the hand of every man's brother I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man.” (Genesis 9:5-6).
G-d then made a covenant with Noah and his sons to never again destroy mankind and to never again destroy the earth with a flood. G-d told Noah that the sign of the covenant would be the rainbow in the clouds.
Noah was the first person to plant a vineyard and he drank wine until he was drunk and uncovered himself in his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers. Shem and Japheth placed a cloth against both their backs and, walking backward, covered their father without seeing Noah’s nakedness.
When Noah woke up and learned what Ham had done to him, he cursed Ham’s son, Canaan, to become the lowest of slaves to Japheth and Shem. He then prayed that G-d would enlarge Japheth, and he blessed the G-d of Shem.
Noah lived to the age of nine hundred and fifty and then he died.
The ‘Torah’ lists the seventy nations that were formed when the descendants of Noah's three sons - Shem, Ham and Japheth dispersed across the earth. It then tells the story of how this dispersion came about.
Parsha Noach’ tells us that everyone on earth spoke the same language. As people migrated from the east, they settled in the land of Shinar; people there sought to build a city and a tower that would reach to the sky, to make a name for themselves so that they not be scattered over the world. G-d came down to look at the city and the tower and remarked that, as one people with one language, nothing that they sought would be out of their reach.
G-d then confounded their speech so that they could not understand one another and He scattered them all over the earth and they stopped building the city. The city was called Babel, for there the L-rd confused the language of the entire earth.
Genesis 11 sets forth the descendants of Shem. Eight generations after Shem came Terah, who had three sons: Abram, Nahor and Haran. Haran had a son, Lot, as well as two daughters, Milcah and Iscah. Haran then died in Ur during the lifetime of his father Terah.
Abram married Sarai and Nahor married Haran’s daughter, Milcah.
‘Parsha Noach’ concludes by telling how the entire family set out from their hometown, Ur, to journey to the Land of Canaan. They stopped at Haran where Terah died at the age of two hundred and five.
In ‘Haftorah Noach’, found in Isaiah 54:1-10, forsaken Jerusalem is likened to a barren woman devoid of children. However, G-d charged her to rejoice, for the time would soon come when the Jewish nation would return and flourish, repopulating Israel's once desolate cities.
The prophet assured the Jewish people that G-d had not forsaken them; although He has momentarily hid His countenance from them. The prophet also said that G-d would gather Israel from their exiles with great mercy.
‘Haftorah Noach’ also compares the final Redemption to the pact G-d made with Noah in this week’s ‘Torah’ reading. Just as G-d promised to never again bring a flood over the entire earth, so too He would never again be angry at the Jewish people – ““For the mountains shall depart And the hills be removed, But My kindness shall not depart from you, Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,” Says the LORD, who has mercy on you.” (Isaiah 54:10).
The account of Noah and the Ark is an amazing testimony of one man’s obedience to his calling.
We read many accounts in the bible of people who courageously walked in obedience to G-d’s calling on their lives. Some examples are: Abraham; Moses; King David; Elijah; ‘Rav Shaul’ (Paul) and, of course, Noah.
However Noah’s story is unique. Why do I say this? No one knows exactly how long it took Noah to build the Ark. Some say fifty five years; others say ninety eight years some say a hundred and twenty years.
It’s not important to know the exact timeframe; however we know that it took him a very, very long time.
During the time of building this huge Ark, people must have wondered why Noah was building an Ark inland. They may have asked him and, in all likelihood, he would have replied that he was building the Ark in obedience to G-d’s command to him because G-d was going to flood the earth and destroy mankind.
I can just imagine the response: “He’s crazy; a lunatic”. “He thinks he hears from G-d”. “Who does he think he is, a prophet?”
And what about thirty or forty years down the line: “Hey Noah, so where’s this flood?”
In today’s world, he would probably have been committed to a mental institution. I wonder how many people laughed at him and ridiculed him.
Genesis 6:22 tells us that Noah steadfastly kept on building – “Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.”
The result of his obedience is that when the flood did come, he and his family – together with the beasts and the birds – were saved; and when the flood stopped, they repopulated the earth.
I wonder how many people laughed at Noah when the rains began to fall; how many people thought that Noah was crazy then?
You, too, are called by G-d. You also have a calling on your life and you need to walk in obedience to your calling without hesitation.
This is exactly how Emet Ministries began. G-d called my late wife of blessed memory and I to begin a prayer group, praying for the salvation of the Jewish people and praying for Israel. As we walked in obedience to G-d’s call, G-d turned the prayer group into a ministry which ministers together with our partners in Johannesburg and Cape Town, as well as with ministries, churches and a Messianic network, Chosen People Ministries, around the world.
And this undeserving servant of the Most High G-d, together with my precious late wife, has been facilitating Emet Ministries for eighteen years. I did nothing; G-d did it all. All my wife and I did was walk in obedience to His calling on our lives.
And we have flown all over the world, meeting wonderful men and women of G-d; preaching the gospel; teaching the church about G-d’s heart for the Jewish people and Israel and fulfilling G-d’s calling on our lives – to take the gospel to the Jewish people and all people in South Africa and around the world.
And, like Noah, we are just ordinary people.
And the L-rd is calling you! Scripture tells us that, before the foundations of the world, G-d had a purpose for you; he then created you to fulfill that purpose - Ephesians 2:10: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
So here is my challenge to you: Will you walk in obedience to G-d’s calling on your life without hesitation – even if it seems impossible, crazy and laughable?
For G-d, nothing is impossible. Abraham and Sarah found this out; Moses and Aaron found this out; the prophets found this out; Paul found this out and, if you allow Almighty G-d to lead and guide you into His calling for your life, you, too, will find this out.
Not everyone is called into ministry. However, G-d wants to use you to build His Kingdom; to show His love; to bring hope to a world in darkness; to stand in the gap and pray.
In John 15:16, Yeshua Himself declares “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit”.
And for Gentile Christians, there is another calling on your life; a mandate to spread the gospel to the Jewish people – Romans 11:12-14: “I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness! 13 For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, 14 if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them.”
Like Noah, allow G-d to do the impossible through you – even if it flies in the face of conventional thinking. Don’t let peoples’ looks or ridicule put you off. Allow G-d to use you to show His love and His salvation to those in your sphere of influence.
As I begin to conclude, G-d has confirmed His calling on mankind by making a covenant with mankind; it’s called the New Covenant!
G-d allowed His only begotten Son, Yeshua, to be sacrificed for your redemption and mine; Yeshua willingly allowed Himself to be cruelly tortured and sacrificed on the cross in order to take mankind’s sin upon Himself and grant those who believe in Him, eternal life in heaven.
The New Covenant – the reconciling of mankind to the Father - can only come about through confessing your sin, repenting of your sin, believing in the death and resurrection of the Jewish Messiah, Yeshua, and inviting Him into your life as your L-rd and Saviour…and this is for both Jews and Gentiles.
To do this, simply pray the prayer of salvation found at the end of this article.
No matter how much wrong you have done in your lifetime, if you truly repent of your sins, G-d’s mercy will abound to you and He will forgive your sins. And, if you accept G-d’s covenant by inviting Yeshua into your life, G-d’s covenant of eternal life in heaven will come about for you.
Then, like Noah, be obedient as G-d calls you to fulfill the plans and the purposes He has for your life.
Genesis 7:16 declares: “So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the LORD shut him in.”
This seems to imply that G-d took Noah under his special protection and, as He shut him in, so He shut the others out. G-d had waited one hundred and twenty years for that generation to repent, and they did not repent. Instead, they filled up the measure of their iniquities - and then G-d’s wrath came upon them.
Don’t be like that generation. Invite Yeshua into your life; don’t shut Him out…because the Day might come when it will be too late, and you will be shut out of heaven…again, this is for both Jews and Gentiles.
Finally, every time you see a rainbow, remember G-d’s covenant; remember Yeshua, our Great L-rd and Saviour; and remember that G-d loves you so much that all He wants is His very best for you.
We love you.
Shalom.
Scripture of the week: Isaiah 54:4-10
SALVATION PRAYER
Thank you Yeshua for Your love for me.
Thank you for giving up Your life on the cross for me and for taking my sins upon Yourself.
I confess that I have sinned.
I repent of my sins and I turn from everything I know to be wrong.
I invite You to come into my life as my Messiah, my Saviour.
By Your grace I will serve You all the remaining years of my life.
