Genesis 5.29: the 'comfort' of Noah?

[Paul]

Hello again, or should I say peace to you.
Hope you are all doing well.

I have a few questions on a passage in Genesis at the time of Noah:

and called to the name his Nwe (Noah) saying this one shall comfort us from the work ours and from the grief of the hands ours and from the earth which cursed the Lord our God
- the book of Genesis 5:29

Why did he say this, is it such a terrible thing to farm the land?

In what way was it so grevious, was there a greater curse on the earth before the flood?

And how did Lamech know this - that Nwe would do this, and in what way did he?
For man still had to work the earth didn't they,

was it less grevious after?
Or did he comfort them in that they may now farm with joy and purpose?

The earth it says was wicked in those times, as in most of the people who occupied it, was it the wickedness of the people and living among them, that made the work of the righteous grevious?

Could it be in some ways like working in a workplace, where everybody else fooled around, and maybe did wicked things and neglected their work, and only you and a few took on all the work even at the mocking of others, and they all around you comtinue in laziness and mocking and wicked deeds?
Would this then maybe make even your honest work more of a trial, more grevious in some way?

What is supposed to have happened at the time of Nwe, were Angels suppose to have procreated with women, or a certain righteous tribe with a foreign tribe who maybe neglected the way of God?

and saw the sons of God the daughters of man that good they were and took for themselves wives from all which they chose
- the book of Genesis 6:2

Be grateful of your replies.
Thanks.
Paul

[Rick James York]

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Hello again, or should I say peace to you.
Hope you are all doing well.

I have a few questions on a passage in Genesis at the time of Noah:

and called to the name his Nwe (Noah) saying this one shall comfort us from the work ours and from the grief of the hands ours and from the earth which cursed the Lord our God
- the book of Genesis 5:29In the NKJV it reads differently. Click this link to see (Gen. 5:29).

The cursing of the ground mentioned happened in (Gen. 3:17) click it to see.

So what is being said in (Gen. 5:29) is that Lamech's son is called Noah and he (Noah) will make recompence or amends for the curse brought onto the land from Adam's sin and Noah will bring comfort to Lamech and his ancestors after they had toiled working the land that was cursed with the necessity of hard work in order to bring forth its fruit.

In other words, Lamech was prophesying of Noah's virtue and favor in the 'eyes' of God. He was foreseeing Noah's singular loyalty to God out of all other men.


and saw the sons of God the daughters of man that good they were and took for themselves wives from all which they chose
- the book of Genesis 6:2This was covered in another thread, click this (Gen. 6:2), but basically, the sons of God are the righteous descendants of Seth and the sons of men were the unrighteous sons of Cain, the first murderer.

The descendants of Seth are called "sons of God" because Seth was loyal to God and obedient to his father Adam who was described as the son of God (Luk. 3:38).

So, the sons of Seth are also the sons of Adam, who is the son of God. Adam actually looked like the Son of God, Christ.

I think that this will answer all the questions in your post.

In +, James

[M.C. Steenberg]

Dear Paul, with thanks for your recent post. You wrote:


I have a few questions on a passage in Genesis at the time of Noah:

and called to the name his Nwe (Noah) saying this one shall comfort us from the work ours and from the grief of the hands ours and from the earth which cursed the Lord our God
- the book of Genesis 5:29

Why did he say this, is it such a terrible thing to farm the land?

In what way was it so grevious, was there a greater curse on the earth before the flood?

And how did Lamech know this - that Nwe would do this, and in what way did he?
For man still had to work the earth didn't they,

was it less grevious after?
Or did he comfort them in that they may now farm with joy and purpose?

An interesting question! Perhaps it is best to start with the text itself. The Septuagintal version of Genesis has the passage like this (with apologies for the lack of accentuation):

και επωνομασεν το ονομα αυτου Νωε λεγων ουτος διαναπαυσει ημας
απο των εργων ημων και απο των λυπων των χειρων
ημων και απο της γης ης κατηρασατο κυριος ο θεος
This translates as:

And he called his name Noah, saying, “This one shall cause us to cease from our works, and from the toils of our hands and from the earth which the Lord God hath cursed.”
It is worth noting that this is rather different from the Masoretic (Hebrew) version, on which most English translations are based. The Authorised Version (a.k.a. King James' Version) somewhat softens the Hebrew:

And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed.
The NASB is slightly more accurate to the Hebrew:

Now he called his name Noah, saying, "This one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the LORD has cursed."
In this, the NASB gets a far better feel for the authentic meaning of the Hebrew verse; but what is significant is that neither fully correlates to the strong statement in the Greek. This is one of the passages in which the Church's scriptural text, which is the Septuagint, differs notably from the Hebrew, and very significantly.

The LXX reads that Noah will 'cause us to cease from our works, and from the toils of our hands and from the earth which the Lord God hath cursed'; not that he will comfort us in them, but that he will bring about their end. In Noah, there shall be a cessation of the struggles of man in the consequences of his sin -- for that is where these 'toils' have their origin.

In the fathers of the Church, Noah is a critical and key type of Christ. St Luke traces Christ's genealogy through his lineage, and innumerable fathers consider Noah as among the great foretellings of Christ's incarnation. So for the fathers, this text is deeply significant: as Noah is a type of Christ, and indeed an ancestor in the Son's incarnational history, so through Noah there is an end to the toils of sin, for through Noah there is redemption and new life. The fulfilment of Lamech's promise is not Noah's virtue and righteousness (though these are important), but Christ who said, 'Come to me you who labour, who are heavy-laden, and I shall give you rest'. This is a verse that points directly to Christ, and the revelation of Christ in all precedent human history. Lamech's prophecy has only very reduced meaning apart from this Christological truth, which is so apparent in the Septuagint, and so hard to discover in the Hebrew.

With thanks for a question that brings up very interesting issues!

INXC, Dcn Matthew