I Like You! (Gen 6:8)

Adam’s Aftermath

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⁸ But YHWH liked Noah. וְנֹ֕חַ מָ֥צָא חֵ֖ן בְּעֵינֵ֥י יְ׳הוָֽה׃

With this verse, we close the first of the 54 parshiyot, the weekly readings (according to Jewish tradition) from the Pentateuch. We started reading together precisely two years and one day ago, so … uh … times 54 … carry the one … okay, we will not be finishing the Torah together unless there are some dramatic changes. How far will we get in Genesis? No telling. I, for one, am learning a lot at this pace that I did not know before I started the column. I’m sure you are too.

We’ll talk more about the big picture when we start the second parashah, next time. For now, I’ll revert to my usual practice of discussing the little picture. As you know, I do that to make we have as firm a foundation as possible when we zoom out to think about larger topics. There’s lots to talk about in this verse, but let’s start with the littlest picture of all, וְ.

It’s the reason old-fashioned Bible translations seem to be saying and all the time; that’s what v’- usually means, but English doesn’t repeat it as often as Hebrew does. (Hebrew learners understand, or will soon understand, why it appears more often in the Bible.) There’s nothing about the letter ו itself that tells us to say but instead of and here; what’s telling us that is two things: (1) grammatically, the reversal of the subject and verb; (2) the context.

YHWH has just declared his decision to wipe all life off the dry land. But we know that — just as Darth Vader’s little space pod left the Death Star moments before he (and five sequels) would have been blown to smithereens — someone is going to escape the worldwide destruction and perpetuate the human race after all. It’s going to be Noah. But why?

The answer is simple: YHWH liked him. Your translation says that Noah “found favor” (or “grace”) with the Lord or perhaps even “in the Lord’s eyes.” My translation is what that expression means. Let’s have a look at the details.