Noah Did It (Gen 6:22)

The Flood

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²² Noah did it. Everything God had commanded him — that is what he did.

 וַיַּ֖עַשׂ נֹ֑חַ כְּ֠כֹל אֲשֶׁ֨ר צִוָּ֥ה אֹת֛וֹ אֱלֹהִ֖ים כֵּ֥ן עָשָֽׂה׃ ס

The instructions are complete. They may seem to us to be lacking (ahem) some crucial details; no matter. Noah has been told what to do. Ronald Hendel writes:

This is a formula of execution in P, which often concludes a narrative section.

And indeed, we see at the end of the verse the little ס, the Hebrew letter in the biblical text that codes for a semi-paragraph, as explained here. When our story resumes, we’ll be starting Genesis 7, listening to the Torah’s “J” voice, and calling God by his personal name, YHWH. This is one of the three little breaks marked in the longer story, which runs from 6:9–9:17. (Could the Masoretes tell when one of the biblical voices changed to another? You bet they could.)

This conclusion is not, however, the same thing as saying “and they all lived happily ever after.” The “formula of execution” (meaning that somebody did something he was told to do) doesn’t just “conclude a narrative section” in some automatic way. It’s got a precise point to make. Let’s take a look at how our text does that — after which we’ll see where else the Bible does it. If you suspect I am going to end up talking about creation again, you are 100% right.