Allusions in rabbinic literature to the Biblical character Noah, who saved his family and representatives of all the animals from a great flood by constructing an ark, contain various expansions, elaborations and inferences beyond what is presented in the text of the Bible itself.
Although the Torah calls Noah "a just man and perfect in his generations",[1] nevertheless the rabbis debated the degree of his righteousness.
These same rabbis go still further and assert that Noah himself was included in the divine decree of destruction, but that he found grace in the eyes of the Lord (Genesis 6:8) for the sake of his descendants.
[5] One explanation is that Noah, foreseeing that a flood would destroy the world on account of its corruption, refused to marry on the ground that his offspring would perish.
[6] Alternatively, God rendered him impotent until the age of 500, saying: "If his children be wicked, he will be afflicted by their destruction; and if they be upright like their father, they will be troubled with making so many arks".
On being informed of the end of the world, Noah exhorted his contemporaries to repentance, foretelling them that a flood would destroy the earth on account of the wickedness of its people.
When the people asked him why he prepared so many trees, he told them that he was going to make an ark to save himself from the Flood which was about to come upon the earth.
The construction of the ark lasted 52 years; Noah purposely working slowly, in the hope that the people would take warning therefrom and would repent.
[15] Sefer haYashar describes another method for distinguishing them: the clean animals and fowls crouched before Noah, while the unclean ones remained standing.
[16] Others declare that Noah waited for God's directions to enter the ark, just as he awaited His permission to leave it.
[17] When Noah and his family and everything that he had taken with him were inside the ark, the people left outside asked him to admit them too, promising repentance.
The people then assembled in great numbers around the ark in order to break into it; but they were destroyed by the lions and other wild animals which also surrounded it.
[21] When Noah sent the raven to see whether the waters were abated, it refused to go, saying: "Thy Lord hates me; for, while seven of other species were received into the ark, only two of mine were admitted.
Satan thereby indicated to Noah that after drinking the first cup of wine, one is mild like a sheep; after the second, courageous like a lion; after the third, like an ape; and after the fourth, like a hog who wallows in mud.